Renfield's 6 Powers Explained (& How They Compare To Dracula) (2024)

Warning: This post contains major spoilers for Renfield

Renfield showcases its titular character’s powers, and how they compare to Count Dracula’s. Directed by Chris McKay from a screenplay by Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ridley, Renfield turns the spotlight on Dracula’s familiar, Robert Montague Renfield, who abandons his family to join the vampire in his endeavors and, after being in servitude for so long, wants to leave the codependent relationship he has with Dracula.

Having served Dracula for a century, Renfield is psychically connected to his master, and is bound to his every want and need. One of Renfield’s primary responsibilities is procuring people for Dracula to feed on so that he can rejuvenate himself. Thanks to his role as Dracula’s familiar, Renfield has quite a few powers of his own, ones he usually employs to fight or lure people to Dracula. However, Renfield is not as powerful as Nicolas Cage's Count Dracula, and he’s limited in his skillset by comparison, and his actions are often due to the direct influence the vampire has on him. Renfield is still formidable in his own right, with several abilities to utilize when needed.

6 Super Strength

Throughout Renfield, Nicholas Hoult’s character obtains brute strength and is able to take down his enemies. While Dracula gains his strength from feeding on people and drinking their blood, Renfield must ingest bugs — spiders, ants, etc. — to unlock this specific power. When he does, however, anyone standing in his way better watch out because Renfield gets brutal. The familiar’s super strength is so intense that he is able to tear the limbs off of aggressors and then use them as weapons.

Granted, Renfield’s strength is not as powerful as Dracula’s, but he gets the job done given that he’s far stronger and more agile than a regular human being. By the end of Renfield, Hoult’s codependent character shows off the full breadth of his strength, even taking down Teddy Lobo — the secondary antagonist who is dosed with Dracula’s blood, thus giving him the very same abilities as Renfield — and a bunch of his henchmen before squaring off with Dracula himself. But with Dracula now gone, it’s unclear whether Renfield will retain his super strength or if eating bugs will still allow him to Hulk out.

5 Superhuman Speed

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Renfield isn’t exactly The Flash by any means, but his super strength and stamina does give him the ability to move very quickly across short distances after eating bugs. Renfield can speed past his opponents, especially while in the middle of a fight. Renfield is agile, moving so fast that no one can see before reappearing behind or in front of someone before taking them out. Count Dracula also has the power of super speed, employing the same superhuman speed techniques to move from one place to another undetected.

4 Immortality

Like Dracula, Renfield is immortal and has lived for over a century thanks to Dracula’s blood and eating insects for their life force. Renfield can be severely injured, and even die, as Teddy Lobo can attest after his brief stint as Dracula’s familiar, but Dracula’s blood is able to heal Renfield whenever his life is in peril. Thanks to his unique position, Renfield ages slowly, maintaining his physical appearance from a century before. Unlike Dracula, however, Renfield is immortal because of the vampire, whereas Dracula himself is immortal thanks to a purported deal with the devil, and he can heal from most of the wounds inflicted on him (save for the ones meant to kill him).

Now that Dracula is dead — at least for the foreseeable future — it could be that Renfield will begin to lose his immortality over time, especially if the bugs stop giving him power. By the end of Renfield, the titular character is stronger and more youthful than ever after being given more of Dracula’s life-saving blood and is finally free of his boss after a century of servitude. Renfield’s immortality doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon, but without Dracula providing his blood on a consistent basis (the pitcher of blood can only last for so long), the codependent’s life hangs in a perilous balance.

3 Ability To Withstand Sunlight

Renfield doesn’t have an aversion to sunlight — be it as a familiar or after having absorbed some of Dracula’s blood during Renfield’s final battle. Renfield is able to walk around in broad daylight, running errands for Dracula and otherwise passing as a regular human, picking out people for the vampire to feed on later. Whereas Dracula is highly sensitive to light and can be burned when in direct contact with the sun, Renfield is able to be bathed in it without being physically affected or harmed. This gives him a major advantage; he doesn’t have to hide during the day, nor does he freak people out by showing his face.

Additionally, Renfield doesn’t seem to be affected by crosses or the magic circle that is so often used to trap Dracula. To that end, Renfield maintains certain aspects of his humanity, and isn’t completely transformed into a supernatural being in the same way that Dracula has been. The ability to stand in the sunlight without being burned or even marginally impacted is a testament to that.

2 Psychic Abilities

Renfield isn’t clear on whether the titular character can contact others through a psychic connection, but because he shares one with Count Dracula, Renfield is able to communicate with his boss this way. He can hear Dracula’s instructions and thoughts in his own mind, reacting viscerally to it, all without saying a word. Theirs is such a powerful connection that Renfield typically stops in his tracks whenever Dracula reaches out to him via their psychic link.

Comparatively, however, Dracula’s psychic abilities are superior, and it’s the ancient vampire himself who establishes such a connection with his familiars. Dracula is shown to reach out first, taking advantage of his telepathy to get what he wants, and to read Renfield’s own thoughts on the matter. To that end, Dracula’s psychic talents are far more honed than his familiar’s, and it’s likely he will no longer be able to receive messages telepathically now that Dracula has been chopped up into tiny pieces by the end of Renfield.

1 Flight

Renfield's agility and speed makes it seem like he can actually fly, especially when the familiar is in the midst of combat. Though he can move through the air quite seamlessly, Renfield doesn't have the power of flight in the same way that Dracula does. The ancient vampire can actually defy gravity and fly in a limited capacity, even shape-shifting into bats that fly off together to another location. Renfield can certainly defy gravity, but it's only to a certain extent. He can jump high and glide over a small space with his feet lifted above the ground, but it's typically done when he's in super strength mode, the adrenaline rushing through his veins.