Alraune (
German for Mandrake) is a novel by German novelist
Hanns Heinz Ewers published in 1911. It is also the name of the female lead character.[1] The book originally featured illustrations by Ilna Ewers-Wunderwald.[2]
Legend
The basis of the story of Alraune dates to the
Middle Ages in Germany. The
humanoid-shaped
mandrake root or Mandragora officinarum was widely believed to be produced by the semen of
hanged men under the
gallows.
Alchemists claimed that hanged men
ejaculated after their
necks were broken and that the earth absorbed their final "strengths". In some versions, it is blood instead of semen.[3] The
root itself was used in love philtres and
potions while its fruit was supposed to facilitate pregnancy.
Witches who "made love" to the mandrake root were said to produce
offspring that had no
feelings of real love and had no
soul.[citation needed]
Fiction
The novel deviates from the myth by concentrating on the issues of
artificial insemination and individuality:
genetics versus
environment. A scientist, Professor Jakob ten Brinken, interested in the laws of
heredity, impregnates a prostitute in a
laboratory with the semen of a hanged murderer. The prostitute conceives a female child who has no concept of love, whom the professor adopts. The girl, Alraune, suffers from obsessive sexuality and perverse
relationships throughout her life. She learns of her unnatural origins and she avenges herself against the professor.
Adaptations
A number of films and other works are based on or inspired by the novel Alraune.
1918: Alraune, an 80-minute Hungarian movie which is now believed to be
lost
1928: Alraune, also known as Unholy Love, a 125-minute black and white, silent German film directed by
Henrik (Heinrich) Galeen. It stars
Brigitte Helm as Alraune and
Paul Wegener as the scientist Professor Jakob ten Brinken.[4] It uses the novel and is regarded by critics as the definitive version of Alraune.[citation needed] When this film was first shown in Britain,
film censors removed the details of the woman's origins, thereby making the story and motivations confusing to British audiences.
1930: Alraune, also known as The Daughter of Evil, a 103-minute black and white German film directed by
Richard Oswald and again starring Brigitte Helm as Alma Raune (Alraune). This was a sound remake of the 1928 film.[5]
1987: Alraune is a demon in the Megami Tensei series.
1992: Aurane (アルラウネ) is a random encounter in Arcana.
1995: Professor Ten Brincken, the 'mad scientist' who creates Alraune, is a character in
Kim Newman's vampire novel The Bloody Red Baron.
1998–2004: Alraune, a series of black and white German comic books illustrated by
Tony Greis.[7] The comic books deviate significantly from the novel. The main character is cursed and must live as if she is Alraune until she can find a way out from under the curse.
2000: Arlownay (アルラウネ) is a monster card in Yu-Gi-Oh!.
2003: Alraune is the name of the final boss in P.N.03.
2014: Alraune is a character and boss in Bayonetta 2. She is portrayed as a demoness who is later sealed into floral whip-like weapons.
2015: Alraune is the title of the third episode of the
Germanart horroranthology filmGerman Angst, directed by Andreas Marschall, in which a man stumbles upon a secret sex club that promises the ultimate sexual experience by using a drug made from the roots of the legendary
Mandragora plant. [8]
2022: Alraune is an unlockable demon and weapon in Bayonetta 3.