Biography

NOTE: For brevity's sake, I will refer to Mircalla Karnstein as 'Carmilla' since it is what she is called for the majority of the original novella and is the name she primarily goes by.

CHILDHOOD

Countess Mircalla Karnstein (Carmilla) was born in approx. 1680 in Styria, a duchy of Austria on the Hungarian border. She comes from a respectable, aristocratic family. She grew up in the care of her mother. Her father was a man known for cruelty, especially to those socially and/or economically below him. Carmilla was at least somewhat aware of his tendency for rage and violence as she mirrored it upon occasion.

Overall, she had a relatively normal childhood marked by no strange events or foreboding omens. Austria's conflict with the Ottoman Empire didn't affect her because of her family's wealth. She grew up as a wealthy lady in the 1600s and found herself pursued by a young man of her social standing, though she felt nothing romantic or sexual for him.

DEATH

Carmilla dies which causes her lover, a young man, to be inconsolable. His grief and distress was too much for him to bear and he took his own life. After this, Carmilla is haunted by a demon in the afterlife. It is this very demon that turns her into a vampire.

Though she can now walk the earth once more, Carmilla must feed upon victims in order to do so. Alone and afraid, she is found by a vampire older than her. This woman, her "vampire mother", takes care of her and procures victims for her in return for Carmilla's loyalty.

The dynamic between Carmilla and her "vampire mother" works for some time and Carmilla does anything she says. At some point, she is drawn to six-year-old Laura's bedroom where she briefly feeds from her. Laura wakes up in pain and her cries for help alert the household servants. Carmilla hides herself and flees.

EVENTS DIRECTLY PRIOR TO THE NOVEL

Twelve years later, Carmilla and her vampiric mother, called only "Countess", attend a ball at the castle of Count Carlsfeld. Here, the two women approach General Spielsdorf and his niece Bertha Rheinfeldt. Carmilla, going by the name Millarca, stays with General Spielsdorf and Bertha after the Countess reveals Millarca is in poor health and is having difficulty traveling. Bertha asks her uncle to let Millarca stay for the three weeks the Countess would be gone and he concedes. The Countess tells him not to ask revealing questions to Millarca, creating an air of mystery around her true identity.

Soon after Millarca's arrival at the General's home, Bertha falls ill. She speaks of terrifying dreams and ghosts, unaware that this is Millarca feeding off of her at night. Worried for Bertha's health, the General consults a doctor who gives him a letter pointing to a vampire attack as the cause of Bertha's illness and detailing how to defeat said vampire.

The General watches over Bertha at night with his sword, preparing to kill the vampire. Millarca/Carmilla appears to feed on Bertha, but flees upon seeing the General and his sword. When Bertha dies the following morning, General Spielsdorf, vows revenge on Carmilla and plans to hunt her down and kill her, calling her a monster and a murderer.

LAURA

After this, Carmilla moves in on Laura, the daughter of a wealthy English widower. The two grow close with Carmilla developing feelings for Laura. Their relationship is one of attraction and repulsion with Laura able to come to terms with Carmilla's feelings by wondering if she is secretly a boy in disguise come to romance her. During this time, Carmilla feeds off of two local peasant girls, killing one. She also transforms into the figure of a black cat to feed off of Laura one night. The feeding is slowly changing Laura, increasing the amount of affection Carmilla feels for her. Carmilla is unable to bring herself to kill Laura when the time comes.

Laura, meanwhile, has grown suspicious of her friend. She and her father, after seeing a portrait of the late Countess Mircalla Karnstein, travel to the tomb of the deceased countess. There, Carmilla appears and sees General Spielsdorf, the uncle of her victim Bertha. He attacks Carmilla with an axe in attempt to kill her, but she manage to escape.

Baron Vordenburg, a descendant of a Moravian (now present-day Czechoslovakian) vampire hunter who purged the area of vampires long ago and was allegedly the very man who had feelings for Carmilla when she was human, arrives to lead the group to the tomb of Mircalla Karnstein. The group exhumes the body and prepares to stake her through the heart. Carmilla is severely wounded by the group who then attempt to behead and set her on fire. She manage to crawl into a river and escape, but the General, Baron Vordenburg, Laura, and Laura's father believe she is dead.

Carmilla's vampire mother abandons her because she failed to kill Laura. This leaves her alone as she wanders the globe for her next victim.