Original subtitles

[ominous music playing]

[laughter echoes]

[sinister murmurs]

[knife unsheathes]

[blood gurgling]

[sinister laughter]

- [Mehmed's scream echoes] No! - [laughter echoes]

[Gulbahar screams] Mehmed!

[man 1 wheezes]

Who goes there? State your business.

- [wheezing] Help me. Help me. - [man 2 yells] Alarm!

[confused shouting]

[voice echoes] You unleashed this curse

upon the House of Osman when you stepped onto Wallachian soil.

[grunts]

[Vlad] Now you will know the pain

of being ripped from your family,

of dying alone.

- No! - [Gulbahar screaming indistinctly]

[Mehmed] Vlad! No!

- [man 2] Alarm! - [thunder crackling]

- [man 2] Alarm! - [screaming]

- [gasping] - [man 2] Alarm!

- [gasping] - [alarm sounding]

[man 2] Alarm!

[clamoring]

[man 2] Watch out!

[exhaling]

- [man 2] Alarm! - [horn sounds]

[man 2] Alarm!

Alarm!

[indistinct shouts]

[man 2] Alarm!

[narrator] After chasing Vlad Dracula for two weeks,

Mehmed II and his invading army find themselves caught

in a nightmare come to life deep within the Wallachian forest.

[arrows whizzing]

- [battle cries] - [arrows whizzing]

[soldiers screaming]

[Ali] Don't touch any of them!

[yells indistinctly]

[bodyguard] We're under attack on the eastern perimeter of the camp!

Summon the rest of the guards!

[attacker yells]

[grunting]

[attacker grunts]

[attacker exhales]

[panting]

[battle cries continue]

[theme music playing]

What in God's name?

Plague.

We found two more of the wretched creatures inside the camp,

and we killed them.

There could be more of them.

Search every tent.

Use spears and bows, but no one is to touch them.

We will burn the bodies.

[Radu] This is the work of the devil.

The devil, indeed.

[narrator] Many legends have arisen out of Mehmed's invasion of Wallachia in 1462.

One speaks of Vlad Dracula launching a biological attack against the Ottomans

to slow their march to his capital city, Târgovişte.

Vlad Dracula opened his prisons and released hardened criminals

to go amongst the Ottomans with tuberculosis and bubonic plague

so that they could infect the Ottoman soldiers.

[Varlik] I think of plague like an atomic bomb,

just killing a very large percentage of people in a very short period of time.

It could kill very fast.

We're talking about mortality rates between 30 to 60%.

If plague or another epidemic disease spread in the army,

it would have been devastating.

Sultan...

we've killed more of the invaders.

Good. Double the watch for the rest of the night.

If anyone or anything shows itself, kill them.

You stay with me.

Vlad is here.

You saw him?

I'm certain of it.

[narrator] In June of 1462, Vlad's campaign of terror

temporarily slows the Ottomans,

who are encamped 65 miles southwest of Târgovişte.

But without reinforcements, there is only so long

that the Impaler Lord

can keep Mehmed's mighty war machine at bay.

[Vlad] If Corvinus and the Hungarians don't get here soon,

they'll be scraping us...

off the boots of the Ottomans.

Were you able to speak with our... friend from the camp?

No.

However,

I discovered the sultan has four guards outside his tent

and additional men stationed nearby,

but it seems we spooked them nicely.

[chuckles]

[Vlad] I don't think Mehmed or his men will get much sleep tonight.

[somber music playing]

He uses these poor souls as weapons.

How can he hope to win like this?

It's a diversion.

He's playing for time.

We must move faster.

There's growing talk amongst the soldiers about demons and jinn.

They think this land is cursed.

Have faith, Mahmud Pasha.

I always have a plan.

What about your safety, Sultan?

I beg you, take half of the army and return to Istanbul.

With 30,000 soldiers, we'll finish Vlad.

The Prophet says, "Run from the leper as you would run from the lion,"

but I will not run from Vlad.

His fate and my own

are bound together.

Forever.

[young Vlad] Why are we spending the afternoon in this old dungeon?

We should be out there sparring.

[young Mehmed] We sparred until our hands bled yesterday.

You must also train your mind and think about the future.

Your father will soon release me to reclaim my throne in Wallachia.

That is my future.

All the more reason to know what fate has in store for you.

[exhales]

Our destiny can be found here, The Iliad.

What are you talking about?

Bibliomancy.

[narrator] Bibliomancy was used by the Ottomans

and many other cultures throughout the medieval world

to divine the future.

But, in Islam,

it's forbidden to tell the future,

because that's involving trying to predict the will of God,

and only God knows the will of God.

And one of the ways that you can kind of get around the heretical side

of fortune-telling is to use different kinds of books

to tell the future.

And they would let the book fall open at whichever page might fall open to,

and then the eye would be drawn immediately to a particular line

or a particular verse, and whatever that verse or line said,

that's an indication of what's going to happen to you.

"Let me not then die ingloriously and without a struggle,

but let me first do some great thing that shall be told amongst men hereafter."

Your turn.

[exhales]

"Hateful to me as the Gates of Hades

is that man who has one thing in his heart

and speaks another."

When you have your own kingdom...

what will be in your heart?

Are you questioning my loyalty?

I'm asking, which family will you choose?

I will do what is best for Wallachia.

If that should put us on opposite sides of the battlefield someday...

Let's hope it never comes to that,

but should that day come,

I will do everything in my power to destroy you.

Loyalty is a... is a word that carries a lot of weight, doesn't it?

But it's so easily discarded,

and that's true for both Mehmed's life and for Vlad's lives.

They both feel betrayed by different crucial figures throughout their lives,

whether it's family members, or advisors, or generals, or allies.

It's the parallel nature of the journeys of Mehmed and Vlad

that make this story particularly compelling.

Maybe there were some personal differences between Vlad and Mehmed.

As far as I can see, they were very much alike.

They were strong leaders. They were young leaders.

They were warriors. They wanted to rule.

[men yelling battle cries]

[Vlad yelling battle cry]

[soldiers respond]

[narrator] Fourteen years later,

Vlad presses an increasingly desperate guerrilla campaign

from the shadows, hoping to demoralize the Ottomans...

[grunting]

...and slow Mehmed's march north...

- [Vlad yells] - [harsh whoosh]

...before vanishing yet again.

- [battle cries continue] - [epic choral music playing]

[narrator] Elsewhere, the hunt intensifies

for Vlad's operatives in the imperial palace.

- [Gulbahar] I'm so happy to see you. - Oh, dear.

I returned as quickly as I could.

It was terrible.

And the prince?

Shaken, but unharmed.

Do you still have the gift I gave you?

It never leaves my side.

Good.

If the assassins are still lurking within the palace, I will find them.

Do you have any news of Mehmed?

They have crossed the Danube, but that is all I know.

Don't worry about Mehmed.

He is without equal on the battlefield.

And remember, if you can't cut their throat,

slip the blade between their ribs,

and twist.

Not many people know about the roles played by these royal mothers

of these princes of the Ottoman dynasty.

First and foremost, to protect their son.

Gulbahar Hatun played this role, and she left a legacy in that sense.

[Uygur] The harem was called the "Sultanate of Women."

The reign of women, where mothers of sultans played very important role.

They are said to rule the empire behind the curtains.

There's a wolf within our walls. We must hunt him down.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Mehmed has pushed his army within 45 miles of Târgovişte,

but Vlad Dracula's hit-and-run campaign from the shadows

has left the sultan's troops on edge.

So too have rumors of Vlad's spies operating within the camp.

Radu, this is Luca Rares,

a boyar from one of the oldest families in Bucharest.

Prince Radu,

the last time I saw you, you were just a young boy

chasing after your father and older brothers.

That was a long time ago.

The sultan and I have been in discussions

through intermediaries for many months now.

Since your brother started this

ill-advised war...

We now share a common foe.

Wallachia has enjoyed a long and lucrative relationship

with the Ottomans and our neighbors,

but Prince Vlad's provocations have destroyed much of our trade.

The country starves because of his war.

I cannot control my brother.

But you will soon

have his throne.

I know there is bad blood between the boyars and your family.

I escaped the Easter banquet where

your brother mounted many of my friends and their families on pikes,

and displayed them like scarecrows outside the city walls.

Perhaps, he feared their betrayal

and knew it might be his head on the city walls if he did nothing.

Time is short, so I'll get to my point.

Vlad Ţepeş killed many of his enemies that day,

but in doing so, created many more.

There are powerful people, like myself,

willing to support your reign

if

you kill your brother.

But if you fail,

it will be you and I strung from the walls of Târgovişte.

[Radu] That man is a snake.

Why wasn't I told about this?

Remember who you are talking to, Prince Radu.

Luca Rares and his friends are the scum

that helped the Hungarians kill my father and brother, Mircea.

They are not to be trusted.

The only thing I trust is their love of money.

It exceeds even their hatred of the House of Drăculeşti.

Make them your allies, and Vlad will have nowhere to turn.

Their power will be your power.

I can help you take the throne, but the boyars can help you keep it.

But first, we must flush your brother out of hiding.

We are a five-day's march from the capital,

and Vlad grows more desperate by the day.

My brother is at his most dangerous when he's cornered.

That is why we must draw him out into the open and finish him

before the Hungarians come to his aid.

How do we do that?

You.

I'm not sure I follow, Sultan.

I will pressure Vlad by marching on Târgovişte,

while you draw him out of hiding

by taking the one thing he loves as much as his throne.

Princess Anastasia?

- When he finds out... - Yes.

He will be enraged, and that will be his undoing.

Princess Anastasia is not to be harmed, which is why it is you who must go.

Of course.

You will leave tonight under cover of darkness with a unit of Janissaries.

Our spies say Princess Anastasia is at Vlad's castle at Poenari.

Soon, it will be your castle.

[narrator] Fourteen years earlier, in 1448,

the Ottomans prepare to release 17-year-old Vlad Dracula

to fight for the throne in Wallachia,

leaving his younger brother's fate hanging in the balance.

Radu?

[Radu] I need your counsel.

Vlad has given me until tomorrow to decide if I will ride with him to Wallachia

and fight for the throne.

I know I should go, but...

You fear him?

When he's angry, he sees enemies everywhere.

What if he sees me as the enemy one day?

A rival for the throne?

Is that what you want?

The throne?

Mehmed will someday rule the world,

and Vlad, he will rule Wallachia.

There is no place for me.

When I came here, I was just a little older than you.

A Christian princess from Serbia,

unsure of who to trust,

but I was treated with kindness

and discovered that family takes many forms,

and that loyalty runs far deeper

than the blood that runs through your veins.

We are your family, Radu.

Vlad will choose his own path.

Just as you must choose yours.

We think that living in a palace

with all these luxuries is just, you know, dolce vita.

It's a... It's a sweet life, but it wasn't the case.

These rulers found themselves, from a very young age,

in the middle of these court intrigues.

One misstep could cost them their throne, their lives, their freedom.

It is not an easy game to play.

[battle cries]

[narrator] As the invasion enters its third week,

the relentless pressure of Mehmed takes a toll on Vlad.

He's lost hundreds of men in skirmishes with the Ottomans

and finds himself leading an army

in dire need of food and reinforcements from Hungary.

[Philippides] Vlad was exhausted.

He had carried out a scorched-earth policy against Mehmed,

and he had nowhere to rely on food for himself either.

There was nowhere to go anymore.

He became a prisoner of his own scorched-earth policy.

[Dimitrie] They're preparing to head out in the morning.

We'll hit them with a small unit.

Slow them down a bit. Remind Mehmed we're still out here.

- Prince. - Yes?

A message from the border.

- [chuckles] - News?

[inhales] Hmm.

Hungarian scouts have been spotted in Wallachia.

[exhales deeply]

Perhaps you'll be back with Princess Anastasia

by the early winter after all.

Scouts!

Send a unit to meet them and see if more are coming.

While the king drags his feet, we are running out of time!

Prince, the Hungarians have finally answered the call.

- This is what you waited for. - A few scouts are not an army!

[distant cannonade]

Today, it's target practice,

but soon those cannons will be trained on the walls of Târgovişte.

I cannot let Mehmed take the capital.

He's taken enough from me already.

[Hamza] We should depart soon if we are to make the main road by nightfall.

- Yes, Hamza Bey, have you seen my brother? - No, Prince.

[narrator] Fourteen years earlier,

young Vlad Dracula makes final preparations to ride to Wallachia

and fight for the now vacant throne,

a position for which the Ottomans have groomed him for years.

I came to see you off.

[Vlad] How kind of you.

My father has given you Hamza Bey and some of our best soldiers.

The throne will be yours by fall.

But you have my brother, in case things don't work out.

Radu has chosen to stay here of his own free will.

He is the only family I have, yet you keep him like a pet.

We are the ones giving you soldiers to take the throne.

[Hamza] Prince.

We should be going.

I will send word of my progress from Wallachia, brother Mehmed.

[Talbot] So Vlad is sent off to do

the big political business, and Radu's left behind.

It's not clear whether he does this willingly or unwillingly,

whether he remains a hostage or he stays willingly at the court.

It may be a bit of both, that he's there as another bit of insurance

for the Ottomans,

uh, but also, he seems to have taken quite nicely to Ottoman court life,

and to all the attractions and power that that brings.

[horses whinnying]

[Vlad] Family is the dearest gift we possess.

Loyalty is everything.

[man] Prince Radu, we're ready.

[thunder rumbling]

It's a little late to be wandering about the palace.

My apologies.

I thought Gulbahar Hatun might want some fresh water

before she retires for the evening.

She won't be needing anything further tonight.

Yes, milady.

[narrator] 400 miles away from the imperial palace,

as the Ottomans continue their grueling slog north towards Târgovişte...

- [Mehmed shushes] - [horse whinnies]

[narrator] ...a growing sense of unease hangs over Mehmed and his troops.

The Ottoman troops are constantly being picked off by hit-and-run attacks.

And then at night, anybody outside of the trenches

is suddenly disappearing.

This is true terror.

[ropes creaking]

[Mehmed sighs]

[dramatic sting]

[Mehmed] Mahmud Pasha, have them cut down at once.

[ominous music playing]

[Radu] We'll arrive not long after sunup.

Our spies say there's only a small unit of guards at Poenari.

No harm is to come to Princess Anastasia.

I will personally capture her.

[Konstantin] Prince Radu,

when was the last time you saw your brother?

Ten years ago.

I haven't seen my own brother since I was nine.

When I was taken for the sultan's army.

But this is my family now.

We are the children of Fatih,

and we'll sacrifice everything to bring him honor and glory.

Even my own brother.

[narrator] As Mehmed's army closes on Târgovişte...

Touch my food again, and I will cut your hand off!

Let me go!

[narrator] ...tensions flare in the Ottoman camp,

where food and water are in increasingly short supply...

[man] Bastard!

[narrator] ...and rumors of the Hungarian army joining Vlad

grow by the day.

[Mahmud] Sultan, you wish to see me?

[Mehmed] Yes.

Tonight,

I saw two men

fight like dogs for a scrap of meat.

I saw an army that was lifeless, heartless.

Primed for defeat.

Sultan, our men are tired and hungry.

Mahmud Pasha, you were not with me at Constantinople.

No, Sultan.

Standing knee-deep in mud and blood,

and the bodies of my men outside those towering walls for weeks,

I faced a fear and exhaustion unlike anything I'd ever known.

The pirates...

Giustiniani...

did not indulge in the gruesome theatrics Vlad is fond of.

[scoffs]

But I can assure you,

he was a nightmare unto himself.

I saw that nightmare in the faces of my men.

Every time, fewer and fewer of them came back from fighting him in the moats.

Yet you triumphed, Sultan.

[Mehmed] Yes.

Because my cause was righteous,

and because I had sworn an oath that I would take Constantinople.

Just as I've sworn to punish Vlad for his betrayal.

We lost valuable hours today,

and the Hungarian threat is real now.

We are running out of time.

Tomorrow, we begin the final push towards Târgovişte.

Gather the men in the morning before we depart.

I want them to know exactly what is at stake.

[dramatic music playing]

Today, that terrible sun will burn like the fires of hell upon our heads,

just like it has for the last 12 days.

I know you're thirsty and hungry,

and that we are besieged by evil on all sides.

But fear not!

A great and cruel reckoning is coming for our enemies!

[whistles]

[battle cries]

Vlad Dracula has nowhere left to run.

He hides like a rat!

At the walls of Târgovişte, he will taste the steel of our swords

and cower before the roar of our mighty cannons!

We will avenge Hamza Bey!

We will avenge all of our brothers, and sisters, and children

who we lost in this godforsaken place!

Let's go!

[dramatic music intensifies]

[distant cannonade]

[screaming]

We will destroy the Impaler Lord and burst open the gates of Europe!

- [battle cries] - [men screaming]

Buda, Vienna, Roma!

- The world! - [battle cries]

[army chanting] Fatih! Fatih! Fatih!

[chanting continues] Fatih! Fatih! Fatih!

Fatih! Fatih! Fatih!

[battle cries]

Find Princess Anastasia! Find her!

Princess, go back to your room!

- [men grunts] - [blood splashing]

[panting]

[brooding music playing]

[grunting]

[pounding]

Leave us.

Little Radu.

[Radu] I'm here to protect you.

If you come with me, I promise you won't be harmed.

So you've come for Vlad's kingdom

and now his wife?

I never wanted any of this.

That's a lie! This is all you've ever wanted.

You're weak. A coward!

Less than a man.

You don't deserve to call Vlad your brother.

I tried to save Vlad.

It didn't have to end like this.

Vlad is dead?

And you will be too if you don't leave with me now.

No harm will come to you.

I promised him.

[somber music rising]

I made a promise too.

No!

[dramatic sting]

[Mahmud] Sultan, you need to see this.

[Mehmed] Vlad Dracula's seal.

[Mahmud] This was discovered in Radu's tent.

Unfortunately, we did not find the letter.

Keep this between us.

Sultan, we must do something.

I will deal with him personally.

[horse approaching]

[messenger] Prince Vlad.

What is it?

[messenger] The Ottomans, they came to Poenari.

[Vlad] Anastasia?

She's...

[nervously] She's... She's dead.

Prince...

It was... It was...

- [slashes] - [agonized scream]

Mehmed!

[theme music playing]