I liked the first season, although I definitely felt that their version of history favored the ottomans. But I didn't know that part of history that well so I let it go. However the second season angered me so much I couldn't even sleep.
First of all - the sets were beautiful, the shots were gorgeous and so were the effects. I even loved the clothes - especially what they were at war and in Walachia - quite accurate since those I have the knowledge to judge, although very much on the dark side, probably meant to match the atmosphere...people actually liked colors back then too The actors that played Muhamed the conquerer and Vlad the Impaler were great, special shoutout to the one that played Vlad - I could tell from a mile off that he is romanian, and that he lived that role, not just acted it. I also loved the ones that played Mara Brancovici and Giovani Lungo - they have great screen presence. And Charles Dance's voice is always amazing as narrator.
Now, I am an actual romanian, born and raised in walahia (walachia is about a third of current day romania, btw), and I am quite proud of my country's history, so couldn't help but pick up on so much historical inaccuracy and turkish propaganda. But it's a turkish docuDRAMA, so it's expected. While I dislike the portrail of Vlad Tepes, and won't be recommending this show, I have to say I appreciated it. I'm happy that now there's a version on tv of Dracula that is more realistic and has nothing to do with vampires. I'll take mad prince over vampire any day.
Now on to the complaining
To begin with, the Ottomans were always the good guys...according to the Turks. It is understandable, all of our heroes were villains for someone else, all of our countries's history gets filtered through a patriotic filter and then half is forgotten and partially replaced by fables. As someone who loves history, I have nothing but respect for great conquerers and empires, however they might have risen of fallen. And in my country, although everyone knows that the ottomans were our historical nemesis, no one has eny leftover "ancestral" anger towards the turks - we actually have quite a good impression of them, from what I've seen much better than other, more western countries, have.
But as impressive as the Ottoman Empire was, it was a force of conquest and testament of power, not a force of good that came over other countries to enlighten them. They conquered because they wanted, and the conquered countries were forced to convert to islam, with many dying for refusing to give up their cristian faith. It was a time when religion was much more important to people, and even as an atheist, I can't help but be impressed by the many of my country's rulers that chose to lose their lives and have their entire family follow then to give up their souls. And about those countries that got conquered and forcibly converted - lets count s Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania - on them it was imposed a money tax, quite high, and also a blood tax. That one was a practice that started in the 14th century, couple of decades at most before the setting of the show, and through which the ottomans forcibly took children, starting from age 7 and up, converted them to islam and trained them, making them into that famous army of jenesarries or yenicers or however you spell it (in romanian it's ieniceri). And make no mistake, these were slaves whose lives were not valued as much as those of normal foot soldiers, brainwashed and forced to fight many times against their own mother countries. Yes, some rose in ranks, but many died as mere animals.
I'm not writing this just to show what good people the ottomans were, but also to point an innacuracy. Vlad and Radu weren't just given as political prisoners, they were taken, and they were first imprisoned along with their father for a year. Then he was released and the ottomans started to raise them for the purpose of making them puppet rulers, loyal to the ottomans before their own people, as they had royal blood and the time to use them might come one day. And they succeeded with the young radu - he was more tame and agreeable and didn't have the violent nature of vlad. Later on, when vlad is on the throne and the vassals are sent to demand years worth of the money tax (he didn't have the money to pay it), they also demanded the blood tax. That angered vlad, as he himself saw his political imprisonment as hell, and he had it easy as he was a prince. He was asked for 500 children, tax which he refused to pay. But I guess were not showing that. Kudos here to the writers, I enjoyed the part where where he killed the messengers - if anyone missed it, he bolted their hats to their heads, to ensure they never take their hats off in front of anyone - that one is from the legends.
I found it amusing that in the last episode the sultans actually said "Unleash the jenissaries!". Like unleash the dogs..
On the topic of their childhood - vlad was a year or two older than muhamad, but their friendship isn't an actual thing. So all those scenes where they spar are innacurate, especially considering muhamad was more of a strategic genius that commanded the troops from behind than a warrior at the front of the troops, as vlad was. His childhood friend was, in fact, radu, and there are records that state that their relationship later was that of lovers, but I am willing to accept that that might have been walachian propaganda, even though the chronicars that tell those thories are greek - radu died of siphilis too. And radu was known as both radu the beautiful and radu the coward. He enjoyed culture and parties and easy life, and when he was put on the walachian throne it was actually the ottomans in charge and everyone knew and accepted it. Vlad was probably as much of an edgelord as he is portrated, being famous for describing himself as a prisoner and making life at the ottoman court horrible for himself by not complying. I like the kid actor playing him, the rest of the kid actors are meh.
I feel like I have to make my own views clear here - I value peace, and I value freedom, but I value loyalty and patriotism so much more. Betray your country for selfish reasons, like your own safety, and I don't like you. I might not expect this from regular people, but I expect it from leaders and kings. So I'l always prefer a king that will take his country into war for the sake of freedom to one that will choose peacefull opession,and the ottoman terms were not particularely good, even if kept as vassal country and not actual part of the empire.
On the tactics of war - yes, Vlad fought a guerrilla war, and he poisoned the water and burned the granaries before the ottomans arrived. But he evacuated the people. He never touched the ones loyal to him, tho he did hated cowards. He is loved by all romanians now, yes, but even back then he was loved by the small people. Because yes, he was black and white. He appreciated the good and loyal and righteous people and protected them, and the bad ones, the thieves and thugs and traitors ... well they were mostly treated with impalement. And the lords and politicians were always, as they are everywhere, on the bad side rather than the good - selfish and corrupt. So yes, he got betrayed, and yes, he at multiple points ended up executing his own people. He was cruel and violent and probably mad, but he was not indiscriminately cruel and violent and mad. He simply had no mercy for those whom he considered sinners and/or enemies of his people. His cruel nature was most evident in that (the Walachians were not conquerors; they just wanted to protect their own lands, but they did invade sometimes to get revenge or show power, and in those moments it didn't matter whether you were man, woman or child).
Also, he married three women and didn't really love either, supposedly his love belonged to another with whom he had 5 bastards, I don't remember her name. Stories tell that after the bargain was struck with mattias corvinus and he falsely imprisoned vlad, radu decided to take control of his lands, including Poenari castle, where his first wife did suposedly killed herself after hearing of her husband's fate, but it was in fear of meeting the same fate aka ottoman prisoner. So the whole sidequest of his brother is made up, as is his whole presence in the field. He only went "conquering" after Vlad was imprisoned and it was with the whole backing of the ottoman empire
During the night attack, vlad went for the biggest tents, got to two of them, and they were of two of sultan's pasas, which he killed. No brother soap opera drama there. And his head did end up at the gate of constantinopol, but it was 16 years later, shortly after he had taken his throne back and expelled the turks out of walachia
I generally think that the people that learn about him, even if just from this docudrama, and still think he was just some bloodthirsty madman, are either idiots of have roots in the ottomans - I don't judge the latter. But the rest, hear this - the hurgarians betrayed his and didn't show up when they promised. His and Walachia's fight, along with the likes of Stefan the Great of Moldavia (his cousin, Moldavia is another third of current day romania) and Skanderbeg of Albania (with whom I think it was more rebellion than opposition) - they are the only reason the ottoman expansion stopped there and didn't enter central europe. They stood a wall against islam entering europe, and against war plaging so many others. Yes, Vlad did horrible things, but he didn't just do them for fun. He fought what he perceived as evil with everything he had at his disposal, including evil. Orthodox christians are hardheaded and I don't doubt they would've died by the thousands if islam came over them, and romanians, then and now, were very patriotic and would have never stood to be conquered - which is why they kept on fighting the ottomans for centuries to come.
First of all - the sets were beautiful, the shots were gorgeous and so were the effects. I even loved the clothes - especially what they were at war and in Walachia - quite accurate since those I have the knowledge to judge, although very much on the dark side, probably meant to match the atmosphere...people actually liked colors back then too The actors that played Muhamed the conquerer and Vlad the Impaler were great, special shoutout to the one that played Vlad - I could tell from a mile off that he is romanian, and that he lived that role, not just acted it. I also loved the ones that played Mara Brancovici and Giovani Lungo - they have great screen presence. And Charles Dance's voice is always amazing as narrator.
Now, I am an actual romanian, born and raised in walahia (walachia is about a third of current day romania, btw), and I am quite proud of my country's history, so couldn't help but pick up on so much historical inaccuracy and turkish propaganda. But it's a turkish docuDRAMA, so it's expected. While I dislike the portrail of Vlad Tepes, and won't be recommending this show, I have to say I appreciated it. I'm happy that now there's a version on tv of Dracula that is more realistic and has nothing to do with vampires. I'll take mad prince over vampire any day.
Now on to the complaining
To begin with, the Ottomans were always the good guys...according to the Turks. It is understandable, all of our heroes were villains for someone else, all of our countries's history gets filtered through a patriotic filter and then half is forgotten and partially replaced by fables. As someone who loves history, I have nothing but respect for great conquerers and empires, however they might have risen of fallen. And in my country, although everyone knows that the ottomans were our historical nemesis, no one has eny leftover "ancestral" anger towards the turks - we actually have quite a good impression of them, from what I've seen much better than other, more western countries, have.
But as impressive as the Ottoman Empire was, it was a force of conquest and testament of power, not a force of good that came over other countries to enlighten them. They conquered because they wanted, and the conquered countries were forced to convert to islam, with many dying for refusing to give up their cristian faith. It was a time when religion was much more important to people, and even as an atheist, I can't help but be impressed by the many of my country's rulers that chose to lose their lives and have their entire family follow then to give up their souls. And about those countries that got conquered and forcibly converted - lets count s Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania - on them it was imposed a money tax, quite high, and also a blood tax. That one was a practice that started in the 14th century, couple of decades at most before the setting of the show, and through which the ottomans forcibly took children, starting from age 7 and up, converted them to islam and trained them, making them into that famous army of jenesarries or yenicers or however you spell it (in romanian it's ieniceri). And make no mistake, these were slaves whose lives were not valued as much as those of normal foot soldiers, brainwashed and forced to fight many times against their own mother countries. Yes, some rose in ranks, but many died as mere animals.
I'm not writing this just to show what good people the ottomans were, but also to point an innacuracy. Vlad and Radu weren't just given as political prisoners, they were taken, and they were first imprisoned along with their father for a year. Then he was released and the ottomans started to raise them for the purpose of making them puppet rulers, loyal to the ottomans before their own people, as they had royal blood and the time to use them might come one day. And they succeeded with the young radu - he was more tame and agreeable and didn't have the violent nature of vlad. Later on, when vlad is on the throne and the vassals are sent to demand years worth of the money tax (he didn't have the money to pay it), they also demanded the blood tax. That angered vlad, as he himself saw his political imprisonment as hell, and he had it easy as he was a prince. He was asked for 500 children, tax which he refused to pay. But I guess were not showing that. Kudos here to the writers, I enjoyed the part where where he killed the messengers - if anyone missed it, he bolted their hats to their heads, to ensure they never take their hats off in front of anyone - that one is from the legends.
I found it amusing that in the last episode the sultans actually said "Unleash the jenissaries!". Like unleash the dogs..
On the topic of their childhood - vlad was a year or two older than muhamad, but their friendship isn't an actual thing. So all those scenes where they spar are innacurate, especially considering muhamad was more of a strategic genius that commanded the troops from behind than a warrior at the front of the troops, as vlad was. His childhood friend was, in fact, radu, and there are records that state that their relationship later was that of lovers, but I am willing to accept that that might have been walachian propaganda, even though the chronicars that tell those thories are greek - radu died of siphilis too. And radu was known as both radu the beautiful and radu the coward. He enjoyed culture and parties and easy life, and when he was put on the walachian throne it was actually the ottomans in charge and everyone knew and accepted it. Vlad was probably as much of an edgelord as he is portrated, being famous for describing himself as a prisoner and making life at the ottoman court horrible for himself by not complying. I like the kid actor playing him, the rest of the kid actors are meh.
I feel like I have to make my own views clear here - I value peace, and I value freedom, but I value loyalty and patriotism so much more. Betray your country for selfish reasons, like your own safety, and I don't like you. I might not expect this from regular people, but I expect it from leaders and kings. So I'l always prefer a king that will take his country into war for the sake of freedom to one that will choose peacefull opession,and the ottoman terms were not particularely good, even if kept as vassal country and not actual part of the empire.
On the tactics of war - yes, Vlad fought a guerrilla war, and he poisoned the water and burned the granaries before the ottomans arrived. But he evacuated the people. He never touched the ones loyal to him, tho he did hated cowards. He is loved by all romanians now, yes, but even back then he was loved by the small people. Because yes, he was black and white. He appreciated the good and loyal and righteous people and protected them, and the bad ones, the thieves and thugs and traitors ... well they were mostly treated with impalement. And the lords and politicians were always, as they are everywhere, on the bad side rather than the good - selfish and corrupt. So yes, he got betrayed, and yes, he at multiple points ended up executing his own people. He was cruel and violent and probably mad, but he was not indiscriminately cruel and violent and mad. He simply had no mercy for those whom he considered sinners and/or enemies of his people. His cruel nature was most evident in that (the Walachians were not conquerors; they just wanted to protect their own lands, but they did invade sometimes to get revenge or show power, and in those moments it didn't matter whether you were man, woman or child).
Also, he married three women and didn't really love either, supposedly his love belonged to another with whom he had 5 bastards, I don't remember her name. Stories tell that after the bargain was struck with mattias corvinus and he falsely imprisoned vlad, radu decided to take control of his lands, including Poenari castle, where his first wife did suposedly killed herself after hearing of her husband's fate, but it was in fear of meeting the same fate aka ottoman prisoner. So the whole sidequest of his brother is made up, as is his whole presence in the field. He only went "conquering" after Vlad was imprisoned and it was with the whole backing of the ottoman empire
During the night attack, vlad went for the biggest tents, got to two of them, and they were of two of sultan's pasas, which he killed. No brother soap opera drama there. And his head did end up at the gate of constantinopol, but it was 16 years later, shortly after he had taken his throne back and expelled the turks out of walachia
I generally think that the people that learn about him, even if just from this docudrama, and still think he was just some bloodthirsty madman, are either idiots of have roots in the ottomans - I don't judge the latter. But the rest, hear this - the hurgarians betrayed his and didn't show up when they promised. His and Walachia's fight, along with the likes of Stefan the Great of Moldavia (his cousin, Moldavia is another third of current day romania) and Skanderbeg of Albania (with whom I think it was more rebellion than opposition) - they are the only reason the ottoman expansion stopped there and didn't enter central europe. They stood a wall against islam entering europe, and against war plaging so many others. Yes, Vlad did horrible things, but he didn't just do them for fun. He fought what he perceived as evil with everything he had at his disposal, including evil. Orthodox christians are hardheaded and I don't doubt they would've died by the thousands if islam came over them, and romanians, then and now, were very patriotic and would have never stood to be conquered - which is why they kept on fighting the ottomans for centuries to come.