Director Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu presented a classical take on the vampire subgenre. This reimagining of director F.W. Murnau’s original film and Bram Stoker’s Dracula goes against several vampire tropes, particularly with Orlok drinking blood from characters’ chests in Nosferatu rather than their necks. However, one notable trait about Bill Skarsgård’s Orlok in Nosferatu is that he isn’t shown turning people into vampires after sucking their blood.

Since this ability isn’t explicitly shown in Nosferatu, one may question if Orlok could actually create more vampires. This power could’ve allowed him to transform Thomas into a vampire and possibly an unᴅᴇᴀᴅ servant in his quest for Ellen. Since Orlok seemed to exert a dark influence over Thomas after biting him, it seems possible for the former to make him a vampire and use this power on other characters in Nosferatu, including Ellen.

Thomas Is Nearly Corrupted By Orlok

Thomas Almost Succumbed To Orlok’s Power After He Sucked His Blood

While Thomas stays with the powerful Count Orlok in Nosferatu, the vampire repeatedly feeds on his blood. This leaves Thomas weak and ill, forcing a local monastery to purify his infected body with prayers and holy water. Had they not exorcised Orlok’s dark magic from Thomas’s body, chances are that he would’ve died and become a vampire as well.

While most modern vampire stories have required vampires to have a human taste their blood to transform them, this has not always been the case. For instance, 1979’s Nosferatu the Vampyre had the тιтular monster repeatedly sucking the blood of Jonathan Harker, making him sick and turning him into a vampire by the film’s end.

Though Thomas regains consciousness after escaping Orlok’s castle in Nosferatu, he is shown to have much of Orlok’s influence lingering in his weakened body. Orlok clearly had no intention of turning Thomas into a vampire, as he chose to let his dogs feed on the latter’s corpse. The Count likely did so to make sure Thomas couldn’t stand in the way of claiming Ellen. However, Orlok showed he still had control over Thomas’s still-recovering body, as shown when he made him kick Ellen out of his bedroom after returning to Wisborg.

Orlok May Have Created Another Vampire In The Film

Another Vampire Is Found Near Orlok’s Castle In Nosferatu

Orlok isn’t the only vampire who appeared in Nosferatu. Early in the film, when Thomas stays at a Romani village during his travels, he sees the villagers killing a vampire sleeping in a nearby graveyard. Given the Romani’s knowledge of Count Orlok and their proximity to his castle, it is implied that the man whose unᴅᴇᴀᴅ corpse they exhumed had been turned into a vampire by Orlok.

It is also implied that the people Orlok infected with the plague in Wisborg could have become vampires as well. For instance, after Friedrich dies from the plague and Orlok kills Anna and their children, Prof. Von Franz burns their corpses, claiming that the flames will “sanctify” their “infected bodies.” This statement implies that Orlok’s dark magic persisted in them, which would have eventually transformed them into bloodsucking vampires like him.

Did Orlok Want To Turn Ellen Into A Vampire?

Orlok Wanted To Be Ellen, But It’s Unclear If He Wanted A Vampire Bride

Since Orlok seems to have the power to turn humans into vampires, the question remains whether he intended to turn Ellen into a vampire as well. He spends the film obsessively pursuing Ellen and reforging the pact they made years ago so she would become his wife again. In the film’s first scene, he even asks her if she will become his “ever-eternally,” implying that he wants her to be his even beyond death, hoping that she will be his immortal vampire bride.

However, when Ellen and Orlok finally embrace each other at the end of Nosferatu, the vampire spends the night siphoning the blood from Ellen’s body. She is then shown to have died from her extreme loss of blood, with the film cutting to black without Ellen turning into a vampire. However, it’s unclear if Orlok would have helped her survive had he not been killed by the rising sun. Throughout the film, he’s more focused on making Ellen his bride and feeding on Ellen’s blood.

All in all, Nosferatu suggests that Count Orlok can turn people he bit into vampires. It’s just that he chooses not to during the film. He didn’t want Thomas to stand in the way of his plan to reunite with Ellen. Orlok also seemed more interested in hunting for Ellen, getting what he couldn’t have by feeding on her blood, rather than making her another vampire. Whether Orlok can or can’t make more vampires, his main goal was to claim Ellen rather than unleashing an army of the unᴅᴇᴀᴅ.