| “ | ” | |
— Ericka greeting the monsters, also her first line | ||
Ericka Dracula (née Van Helsing), also known as Captain Ericka, is the secondary antagonist-turned-deuteragonist of Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation and its video game adaption Hotel Transylvania 3: Monsters Overboard, and one of the two tritagonists (alongside Dracula) in Hotel Transylvania: Transformania. She was the captain of a luxury cruise ship called the Legacy. After getting to know Dracula during the cruise, she learned that monsters weren't how her grandfather, the famed monster hunt Abraham Van Helsing had taught her, she became Dracula's fiancé.
She was voiced by Kathryn Hahn...
Official Profile[]
Physical Appearance[]
Short curly platinum blonde hair, blue eyes, white captain's suit with gold accents, white heeled boots, pink lipstick, gold earrings and red polished nails, sunflower jumper, wet suit, white suit
Personality[]
Ericka is charming and flirtatious towards those she meets, and dazzles passengers with her charismatic and fun demeanor. She easily hides any ill-intentions she has towards Dracula and all the other monsters with a fluttering laugh and an innocent smile.
Despite being very goal-oriented and loyal to her family bloodline, Ericka is shown to be impatient, narcissistic and hot-headed enough that she would jeopardize her great-grandfather's 120-year-long plan to kill Dracula, just so that she could have the chance to do him in herself. She is prone to physical tantrums and sulking when she does not get her way.
After warming up to Drac, Ericka shows a much softer side of her personality. She is tentative to share about her dissatisfaction of being pushed into becoming a captain and she is genuinely concerned when Drac shares that he was a widower and single-father.
Early Life[]
Ericka never knew her parents and she was instead raised by Abraham Van Helsing where she spent most, if not all, of her life living aboard the Legacy. During this time, she was taught by her great-grandfather to hate and hunt monsters.
Inspired by her family's legacy, Ericka was determined to succeed where her great-grandfather had failed and finally destroy the immortal vampire named Dracula.
Abilities[]
- Peak Human Strength: Ericka is very strong as she can easily carry both Wayne and Wanda at the same time where she also carries and holds up Drac with no apparent effort.
- Peak Human Agility: Ericka possesses extraordinary agility as she can traverse any kind of terrain with great skill and speed. She is comfortable leaping and flipping through the air, and can do so quite gracefully.
- Martial Arts & Hand-to-Hand-Combatant: Ericka appears to be trained in hand-to-hand combat as she attempts to show off to Abraham Van Helsing as proof that she can handle Dracula alone.
- Multilingualism: She appears to be multilingual, as Ericka speaks English, French, Chinese, Russian, German, Spanish, and Monster Languages when welcoming passengers.
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation[]
First appearance[]
Ericka first appears when she hops on the rail bars, leaps off of a high ledge and does acrobatics on a rope in front of the crowd. She lands on the Crow's nest and happily welcomes the monsters in multiple different languages. She slides down onto the deck and finished her introduction, then continues greeting passengers. She waves hello to other monsters before she notices Dracula staring at her. She smiles and she starts to walks directly toward him and she becomes very flirtatious with him as she believes his babbling to be him speaking in Transylvanian. She attempts to copy what he says until Frank bumps in.
After the Pack hurries Dracula away, Ericka greets more monsters as she travels across the deck. She uses a secret passageway that leads deep into the bowels of the ship and enters a room at the end of a walkway. Once she is inside, she drops her cheerful smile and scowls at a portrait of Abraham Van Helsing as she expresses her disgust to him about the monsters on board. She said she hates monsters and wants to destroy them. Abraham then appears from the shadows in a much older looking and agrees with her.
Ericka confirms that Dracula is one of the passengers and then appears bored listening to her great-grandfather's plan about obtaining the Instrument of Destruction. She is impatient and tries to convince him to abandon the plan and let her handle Drac by herself, but he shuts her down. She is forced to promise him that she will not to try to kill Dracula and his family. But after Van Helsing suddenly falls asleep, Ericka smiles and says that she won't "try" to kill Dracula, she "will" kill Dracula.
The Cantina[]
After several failed attempts at killing Dracula, Ericka overhears him speaking with his friends about possibly asking her out on a date. She decides it's the perfect opportunity to get him alone and makes her presence known to the group. Despite Drac's immensely awkward attempt at asking her out, Ericka agrees with a smile. She makes a show of closing his mouth and coyly telling him, "Cantina. Midnight. Don't be late.", before walking away confidently.
At the cantina, Ericka is pleasantly surprised when Drac compliments her outfit and pulls out her seat for her. When she's asked about her last name, she panics until the waiter brings chips and guacamole, which she uses to redirect the conversation. After distracting Drac that the moon is behind him, she pulls out a bottle of garlic oil and pours it over the guacamole, in which she believes to be deadly for vampires. She makes sure Drac gets as must as possible by hand-feeding him literal fistfuls of chips. Unfortunately for her, garlic is not fatal to vampires as Drac toots (meaning he made a fart sound) instead of dropping dead.
Ericka is unhappy with her newest failed attempt on his life and sulks on her side of the table until Dracula apologizes. He confesses that he is very nervous as he hasn't had a date since his wife died. Ericka is curious and concerned as she asks how old Mavis was at the time. Dracula tells her that Mavis was only an infant and that he raised her the best he could as a single father.
This strikes a chord with Ericka and she reveals that she never knew either of her parents and she was raised solely by her great-grandfather. She tells him that she was brought up on board the ship, and expresses some dissatisfaction that her career as a captain was decided for her. Drac reassures her that he understands, but while family is important and that they must honor the past, that they still make their own futures.
Drac's words are comforting to Ericka that she begins to see him in a different light. Both begin to lean over the table, but before anything more can happen, Mavis interrupts them angrily. Ericka watches Drac attempt to explain himself before excusing herself to avoid the awkward situation.
The following morning, Ericka is walking around the ship sulking about her conflicted feelings for Dracula. She is caught by Abraham and attempts to lie about her whereabouts all evening, but her outfit gives her away. He scolds her for risking the safety of the Legacy and insists that his plan will end Dracula and all monsters once and for all. Their conversation is overheard by Wayne and Wanda, but when Van Helsing darts them with tranquilizers, Ericka forces them down one of the exhaust pipes. She carries them both to a closet and locks them inside.
Atlantis[]
Upon arriving in Atlantis, Ericka is sent on her most important mission by Van Helsing; to obtain the Instrument of Destruction. She is easily able to sneak through the distracted crowd of gambling monsters by wearing a wide-brimmed hat and khaki jacket. She enters an area labeled off-limits for construction, unaware that Dracula saw her and is following her into the ruins. Ericka follows her great-grandfather's instructions about all of the secret passages and arrives at an underground pool.
She removes her clothes to reveal a white wet suit hidden underneath and dives into an underwater passage inside a giant, semi-submerged stone nose. When she surfaces, she can see the artifact at the end of a massive staircase, being held between the thumb and index finger of a gigantic stone hand. In her excitement, Ericka fails to be aware of her surroundings and trips a booby trapped step, sending a battle ax flying right toward her unsuspecting head. Before it hits her, Dracula catches it and flings it away with ease.
Ericka is shocked that he would save her life, but Drac is very nonchalant about it, saying they are all the same. Ericka frowns in guilt, but is quickly distracted from her feelings when she realizes she doesn't know why Drac is here at all. He lies, saying that vampires can tell the future, but Ericka smiles and doesn't appear to believe him. When Dracula asks her the same, she scrambles to make up an explanation that she's retrieving a family heirloom, and that she can handle herself from here. She immediately sets off another trap, and Drac again saves her from being split by a battle ax.
Embarrassed, Ericka tries to laugh off her carelessness and asks him jokingly how many times he can save her life. When Drac replies with "I don't know, every time?", she decides to test how serious he is by jumping blindly into the next trap. Flames begin to erupt from the stone steps, but before she can be burned, Drac rushes to lift her, letting the fire burn him instead.
This elates Ericka and she continues triggering booby traps all the way up the stairs. Dracula guilds her lovingly through them all in a tango, taking the brunt of all of the traps for her. By the time they reach the top, Drac is full of darts and arrows, and has several snakes latched onto his arms, but Ericka is unharmed. She finds his skill and loyalty to his promise incredible and stares at him adoringly until he reminds her to get her family heirloom. Ericka scrambles up the stone statue and snags it, once more unintentionally setting off a trap, though this time it's every trap all at once.
Ericka can only hold onto the Instrument of Destruction while Drac carries her as fast as he can away from the collapsing room and through the underwater passage again. They shoot out of the water and land safely on the sand surrounding the pool. Ericka smiles at him and they both laugh that he has a battle ax stuck in his head. She offers to remove it for him, but as she grabs hold of the handle, Mavis appears from behind a fallen column and gasps in horror, thinking that Ericka has attacked her father.
Mavis grabs Ericka with magic and holds her up in the air, tightly enough that it actually causes Ericka pain. When Mavis refuses to release her, Drac confesses that he zinged with Ericka, which surprises Mavis enough to remove her hold on her. Ericka questions him about what a zing is and Drac tries to explain it is similar to "love at first sight". Ericka is horrified and immediately rejects the idea, knowing that she would never be allowed to love a monster. She tells him as much and hurriedly leaves with the artifact.
Dance Party[]
Ericka returns to the ship to deliver the Instrument of Destruction to her great-grandfather and hesitates with a sad sigh before opening the door. Her depressed mood goes unnoticed by Abraham as she stares out into the open ocean sadly while he celebrates. She accompanies him to the dance party he organized as a trap for the monsters.
At first, Ericka remains hidden while Abraham announces himself to Dracula from the DJ booth, only appearing by his side meekly when he makes mention of her. She's too ashamed to look directly at Drac, but Abraham instructs her to tell the devastated count who she really is. After some hesitation, she confesses that her full name is "Ericka Van Helsing" and that she is the great-granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing. Ericka stutters and tries to explain further, but Abraham cuts her off and opens the Instrument of Destruction. She stands by as he plays the evil song inside of it and brainwashes the Kraken to attack the crowd below.
When the Kraken begins to crush Dracula, Ericka looks at Dracula being crushed in nervousness. She finally chooses to act as she cries out "No!", leaps down from the DJ booth and begins to run to Drac's aid. She flips onto one of the Kraken's leviathan tentacles and starts sprinting toward where Drac is being held, when Dennis instructs Tinkles to assist her. The giant dog chases after her and throws her onto his back, traveling up the tentacle much faster than she could. Ericka is happy for the help and Tinkles gives her a boosted launch off of his back toward the Kraken's face. She spins several times before double-kicking him in the eye.
The pain from Ericka's attack surprises the Kraken and he releases Drac. Ericka rolls into a run on one of the other tentacles, then jumps to catch Dracula mid-air. She lands on her feet on another tentacle and skates down it, avoiding the other tentacles trying to grab them, until she leaps off and the pair roll toward a cliff edge. Ericka grabs onto the ledge and snatches Drac's wrist before he can fall into the water below.
She calls out to Abraham, demanding that he stop the attack. She tells him that he's wrong about monsters and that Dracula had actually saved her life. Ericka turns her attention back to Drac, who is still lifeless, and confesses to him completely; she explains that while she was trying to kill him before, she began to see how wrong her mentality was, and that she zinged with him too.
Ericka's love confession wakes Drac from his unconscious state. When Abraham questions what a zing is, Ericka informs him confidently that it's a monster thing, and that he wouldn't understand. Abraham attacks them both when Dracula compares it to "true love", but they appear again, with Ericka proclaiming that it's time they "start a new legacy" - a "monster-human" legacy.
Abraham strikes them with one of the Kraken's massive tentacles, and Ericka is pushed through the stone floor with Drac on top of her. Despite being dazed, this does not severely injure her, as she is able to leap across the broken dance floor to save Sunny from falling. Ericka is seen dancing the "Macarena" with the rest of the crowd as Johnny and Dracula defeat Abraham.
When Abraham falls from the cliff after his defeat, Ericka yells in distress, prompting Drac to catch him before he falls into the ocean. Ericka holds Drac's hand upon his return and contently leans in closer to him while Tinkles aggressively licks her great-grandfather. She turns to face him and tells him that he's amazing. They look into each other's eyes and this time, Ericka's eyes visibly shine as she zings!
Epilogue[]
Immediately after returning to the hotel, Ericka is seen sneaking around with a giddy Dracula. He leads her by hand through the lobby, up to the thirteenth floor, and onto the hotel roof. She teases him, calling him "sneaky pants" and asks if he's brought her up to the roof to suck her blood, "bleh-bleh-bleh!". Ericka is speechless when instead he asks her to marry him.
She begins stammering nervously, similar to how Drac did when they first met. After all of their friends and family appear on the other side of the roof to ask what her answer is, she blurts out excitedly, "Yes!" and the spider engagement ring jumps onto her ring finger. The monsters cheer while she and Drac share a romantic hug before Tinkles chases them off of the roof.
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania[]
Ericka Van Helsing is now in the fourth movie of the final Hotel Transylvania film.
Memorable Quotes[]
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation[]
- "I could not be more excited to have all of you on board our first ever monster cruise!"
- "Don't worry great-grandfather. I won't 'try' to kill him, I will kill him."
- "Aww, what a cute family. What!? No it's not! Dracula bad! Dracula bad!"
- "The food here is to die for."
- "I've got to be a little more careful. I mean, how many times can you save my life, right?"
- "No, I could never be with someone like you. I could never be with a monster!"
- "You can't do this! You're wrong about monsters! Dracula, he saved my life!"
- "I'm so sorry, Drac. I was trying to kill you this whole time, but then I realized how wrong I was, how wrong ALL of this is... and then... I zinged!"
- "It's time to start a new legacy!"
- "Oh why? Are you going to suck out my blood? Blah Blah Blah!"
- "I... woo-bi-dee-ba-doo-bee? I mean, I woo-be-do-bee-dee? ...YES!"
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania[]
- "I have just the thing!"
- "Hey! Do NOT make me come back there, I will turn this blimp around!"
- "Yeah, sorry about that. *chuckles*"
- "All this? This is the old me. Your dad helped me leave that all behind."
Etymology[]
- The name Ericka means "ever kingly" in Scandinavian.
Trivia[]
- Ericka can speak Spanish (Bienvenido), German (Willkommen), Russian (Dobro pozalovat) and Chinese (Huanyíng).
- It's possible that she only knows how to welcome passengers in each language.
- Ericka can perform magic tricks as seen when she pulls a flower from her sleeve.
- Concept art shows that Ericka was going to have buck-teeth similar to Abraham Van Helsing.
- Ericka's outfit for the cantina scene was originally planned to have red, orange and yellow ruffled sleeves, a large red rose in her hair and a red choker, but it was changed to the off the shoulder sunflower jumper.
- Erika bears a striking resemblance to Ellen DeGeneres.
- She was born in 1974 (around 47 years old)
- She is now in the final movie Hotel Transylvania 4, on Hotel Transylvania official Twitter the trailer clip shows Dracula and Ericka holding hands flirting each other talking to each other that also make Mavis feel disgusted.
- In the fourth and final movie, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is the first time that Ericka mention Mavis, Johnny and Murray's names.
Gallery[]
- Main article: Ericka Van Helsing/Gallery
Videos[]
