Hotel Transylvania characters
These characters appear in the Hotel Transylvania series of movies. Almost all the characters are based on traditional monsters (werewolves, vampires, a dmamphir, and Frankenstein, among others). The remaining characters are human.
Main characters
Almost all the main characters are monsters. Vlad and Dennis are the only two main characters not seen in the original movie. Johnny is the only main character that is a human.
Winnie
Winnie is a werewolf pup. She is seen with a pink pacifier in the first film, but she doesn't have it in the second film. She has a very powerful sense of smell.
Family
Winnie is part of a large family of werewolves. She is suspected to be the only daughter of Wayne and Wanda. Once she said she has 300 brothers. Her brothers are always seen causing chaos and destruction.
Personality
Winnie's personality has changed a lot in between the two movies, showing that she is growing up. But in both movies, she is shown to be sweet, nice, and obedient, as Wayne himself said that she is the only one who obeys him.
Hotel Transylvania
In the first film, Winnie is shown to be shy, calm, and quiet. She was always seen with a pacifier, and only spoke when spoken to. But at the end of the film, she is shown pushing some of her brothers off a floating table, showing she also has a mischievous side.
Hotel Transylvania 2
In the sequel, she is shown to be much more talkative and social, showing that she is growing up, whereas her brothers haven't really changed. She is also shown to be much braver, as she defends her friend Dennis twice throughout the film.
Role in the films
Winnie played a short, but important scene in the first film. In the sequel, she plays a bigger role, which plays a strong part in the film.
Hotel Transylvania
Winnie wasn't seen or heard for the majority of the first film. She was seen sucking a pink pacifier throughout the film. Her big scene was when Wayne called upon his pack of wolf pups to smell Johnny's shirt, as he claimed his own sense of smell has gone, due to him changing diapers all the time. As the rest of the pack ignored him, he says that Winnie is the only one that still "respects" him. It is here that it becomes apparent that Winnie possesses a very strong sense of smell. Just from smelling his shirt (which presumably fell out of his backpack), she was able to tell the following:
- Johnny was leaving via plane
- He had a window seat, and she knew where on the plane he was assigned to sit
- He ordered a vegetarian meal
- He was picked up by a car
- Said car needs maintenance
Hotel Transylvania 2
Winnie plays a bigger role in the sequel. She has grown up, as she no longer has the pacifier and is more talkative. She claims that she loves Dennis and that he is her zing. She makes her debut in the sequel at a birthday party for six of her brothers. She is seen pouncing on Dennis and licks his face (dog-style, probably as a result of being a werewolf). She calls him her zing and says that she loves him. Her mom Wanda goes to the scene seconds after, and is seen separating her from Dennis using a spray bottle, telling her to "give him his space". Winnie flees. She is seen again before Dennis leaves the party, and seems sad when he has to go. She is seen again near the end of the film, at Dennis's sixth birthday party. Before the party began, she pounced on Dennis and licked his face again. When Dennis's cousins began to make fun of him for being "beaten by a girl", she growls in response, scaring them away. She probably did this to defend Dennis from his bullying cousins. At the end of the party, when the adults start arguing, he tries to flee. Winnie is seen with a sad face, presumably feeling bad for Dennis. She follows him, and takes him to her treehouse. There, Dennis explains that he has to move away. He also apologies for not being a monster, like her. She says that it's okay, and that he's the nicest boy she knows. Moments later, Bela arrives, partially destroys the treehouse, and grabs them both. He teases Dennis, provoking Winnie to bite his hand. Enraged, he throws her towards a tree. She whimpers in pain. Dennis, seeing his best friend is in pain, has a fit of rage, which somehow causes his vampire abilities to develop. Bela summons his army of monsters, which are defeated by Dennis and the rest of the Hotel Transylvania gang. Dennis runs towards Winnie to see if she's okay, to which she responds: "Yes, my zing." She licks his face moments afterward, and everyone starts clapping. Bela, however, comes out of a bush he was hiding in and is about to kill Johnny, but Vlad steps in and freezes him. He tells him to never come near him or his family ever again. He gets shrunken and becomes a new play-thing for the werewolf pups. As the film ends, she is seen dancing with Dennis.
Relationship with Dennis
Winnie says that Dennis is her zing and that she loves him. It is currently unknown whether Dennis feels the same way. It is also shown that she will defend Dennis whenever necessary.
Nicknames
- Cutie-Dracula's nickname for Winnie
Dennis
Dennis is one of the new characters introduced in Hotel Transylvania 2. He is the son of a human (Johnny) and a vampire (Mavis). Therefore, he is a dhamphir. His strengths and weaknesses are not completely known. Right now he is five years old and is about the same height as Winnie. On Dracula's growth chart, which he used for Mavis as well, it is seen that during his first year alive, he grew more than his mom did in her first year alive. But the opposite is true when Dennis was going from 1 year old to 2 years old. Besides the eyes, he looks a lot like his dad, Jonathan.
Abilities
As he is a human/vampire hybrid, he hadn't developed any vampire abilities until the end of the movie. His abilities are not completely known right now. However, he does show these vampire abilities in the movie:
- Ability to turn into a bat (interestingly, his hair still shows, which does not happen with his mom/grandpa)
- Vampire fangs
- Ability to stop objects/people with a wave of his hand
- Hovering
History
He was born Friday the 13th to Mavis and Jonathan. He showed no vampire abilities as he was growing up, causing Mavis to overprotect him and used human-like sleep schedules, took him to "human classes", read human books to him, and other things. She was going to leave the hotel with him and Johnny and raise him in California. At the end of Hotel Transylvania 2, he developed his vampire abilities.
Hotel Transylvania 2
At the start, Mavis tells her dad that she is pregnant. Months later, she is born. Mavis was being overprotective, and Dracula was worried that he hadn't grown fangs yet. He talks to Mavis, and afterwards she accompanied him to a birthday party for six of Wayne's pups. It is here that Winnie shows her feelings towards Dennis by pouncing on him and licking him. Later, Dracula comes up with a plan. Johnny, who doesn't want to leave the hotel but is too afraid to speak up, agrees to cooperate with Dracula. He takes an unsuspecting Mavis to his hometown while Dracula "helps" Dennis. The plan fails and Mavis finds out. Angry, she goes back to the hotel and threatens to move to California away from Dracula for good, but that they were going to celebrate Dennis's 5th birthday there before moving away, much to his sadness. She invited Vlad to the party. At the party, Winnie pounces on Dennis again and his cousins bully him about it. She "protects" him by growling at them, effectively scaring them away. Then Vlad arrives. He thinks Dennis is 100% vampire and that he is just a "late fanger" like his son. In a last attempt to help Dennis grow his fangs, Vlad possesses Kakie the Cake Monster, Dennis's idol at the time. But Dracula, seeing that Dennis was getting too scared, repelled his father's spell. Then the adults start arguing. Dennis, unable to handle the situation, attempts to flee the hotel, but gets spotted by Winnie, who follows him. Winnie takes Dennis to her treehouse, where he says that he has to move away to California and "apologizes" for not being a monster like her or the others at Hotel Transylvania. Winnie responds by pouncing on him and saying he's the nicest boy she's ever met. Dennis responds: "I like you too Winnie." Moments after, Bela attacks. He teases Dennis for his human heritage and not being 100% vampire. Winnie bites his hand, which leads to her being hurt. As she whimpered, anger came into Dennis, which somehow allowed him to develop his vampire abilities and, with the help of family and the others at Hotel Transylvania, defeated Bela's forces. He runs towards Winnie and asks if she's okay, which gets him the response: "Yes, my zing." As he had vampire powers now, he and his family could stay in Hotel Transylvania.
Relationship with Winnie
Right now it is unknown whether or not he shares Winnie's love for him, as he says that they're just friends, albeit best friends, and he doesn't seem to mind when Winnie tries to shower him in affection. However, it is shown that he would protect her if needed, the same way she does with him, as shown at the end of the movie.
Nicknames
Winnie has given Dennis two nicknames:
- My zing
- Zing, zing
Dracula has also given him 2 nicknames:
- Devil dog
- Denisovich-His vampire name
Other nicknames:
- Little dude-Jonathan, his dad
- Little fanger-Vlad, his great-grandfather
- Sweetie-Mavis, his mom
- The Little Human-Bela
Jonathan Loughran (Johnny)
Jonathan (Johnny) is one of the main characters in the series. He is the first human inside Hotel Transylvania and falls in love with Mavis. He always carries his backpack and shows a strong connection with his backpack. It is always seen full. And it seems that he has managed to integrate with the rest of the monsters at the Hotel, as evidenced when he is used to their customs and manages to understand a toast by a non-English speaking monster during his wedding in Hotel Transylvania 2, while his family fails to blend in.
Hotel Transylvania
Jonathan was traveling in an area close to the hotel. He is lost but follows a group of zombies (hotel employees) to Hotel Transylvania. At first, he thinks he's in a hostel and that everyone is wearing costumes, but he realizes that the monsters are all real when a skeleton threatens to beat him up after he passes his hand through his wife. Panicked, he runs into a witch's broom and flies throughout the hotel lobby. He crashes into Mavis (see below) and they "zing" (fall in love), as evidenced by a slight purple/pinkish flash in both their eyes. Afterwards, Count Dracula (see below) disguises him as "Johnnystein", Frankenstein's cousin. Mavis and Johnny get closer and, at the end of the film, when it is revealed that he is human (at this point, everyone in the hotel assumes humans are evil monster-killing machines, and they kissed mere seconds before the truth is out), Mavis says that she loves him anyway. However, Dracula, being overprotective of Mavis, wordlessly "convinces" Johnny to do "the right thing" and follow the current human stereotype everyone at the hotel shares. Afterwards, Dracula realizes that he made a big mistake and convinces the rest of the monsters at Hotel Transylvania to help him get Johnny back (who is at this point going to the airport to leave forever). At the end, Dracula flies Johnny back to the hotel. Confessions are made, and they kiss.
Hotel Transylvania 2
In the beginning of the movie, Johnny marries Mavis. It also marks the beginning of the Hotel being open to both humans and monsters. The first humans (besides himself) to enter are his family. Sometime later, it is revealed that Johnny has gotten Mavis pregnant and is going to be a father. (As he is having a child with Mavis, who is a vampire, he will be the father of a dhamphir). They name their human/vampire hybrid Dennis, as it is a boy. It is also revealed that Dennis is not developing any of his vampire abilities, such as:
- Ability to morph into a bat
- Ability to shapeshift
- Ability to hypnotize humans
This prompts Mavis (who got some of her father's over-protectiveness) to find a "safer place for Dennis". However, Johnny does not want to leave the Hotel, but is too afraid to speak up. As a result, he is willing to cooperate with Vlad and Dracula's plans to help Dennis develop his monster abilities. In the end, Dennis develops his vampire abilities, and is able to stay at the hotel.
Mavis
Mavis is the only daughter and child of Count Dracula and Martha. She is the wife of Johnny and the mom of Dennis. She is shown to be more open to the human world than her father, as she knows how to use technology (cell phone, video chat) and is excited to see the world outside Hotel Transylvania.
Nicknames
Mavis has many nicknames, and the majority were given to her by her father, Dracula.
- Mavy-Wavy (Dracula)
- Little Mouse (Dracula)
- Baby Claws (Dracula)
- Blood Orange (Dracula)
- Sweet Fangs (Dracula)
- Honey Bat (Dracula)
- Devil Chops (Dracula)
- Little Poison Berry (Dracula)
- Little Ghoul (Dracula)
- Vampire Girl (Johnny)
- Mommy (Dennis)
History
She was born at an unknown date in an unknown location to Count Dracula and Martha, two vampires who zinged at first sight. When Mavis was a baby, a mob of humans stormed their house and set it on fire. As Dracula tried to reason with the angry mob, a scream was heard, and Martha had died. She left a book for her daughter. As she grew up with his father, she was taught that the outside world was an evil place. Dracula taught her how to use her vampire powers himself. Count Dracula then built Hotel Transylvania so he can keep her safe, and provide a place where monsters could vacation and be themselves.
Personality
Mavis has been shown to be very excited by everything, be it finding her true love, exploring the world, or even her first mini-mart. Unlike her father, who is unwilling to "go modern", Mavis readily accepts human technology, as she has a cell phone, knows how to video-chat, and travels long distances via airplane. She is also very optimistic, and always says that things are not as bad as her father says they are. But she seems to have inherited her father's overprotectiveness, as she always overprotects Dennis.
Role in the films
Mavis plays a big role in both films, especially in the original movie. In the sequel, her role is a bit more powerful, as she is the one who decides to take Dennis and move him away from the hotel.
Hotel Transylvania
Dracula, wanting to protect his daughter from the dangers of the outside world, builds Hotel Transylvania. At first, everything works out. But as she grows older, she feels the need to go out and see the world, and that she doesn't want to stay at the hotel forever. A few days before her birthday, Dracula lets her go to a local village. It turns out that the humans at the village were like the ones her father had talked about. She goes back to the hotel, her dreams of seeing the world crushed. But a human named Jonathan will change her life. When she meets Jonathan, they zing. But Dracula won't let that happen. Jonathan talks to her about his experiences in the world and shows her a sunrise, which reactivates her optimism to see the world. Near the end, when everyone discovers that Johnny is a human, she says she still loves him. But Dracula "convinces" Johnny to do the "right thing" and leave. In the end, they make up.
Hotel Transylvania 2
Jonathan and Mavis get married. Afterwards, Mavis gets pregnant. Months later, they have a son and the Dracula bloodline coninues on. They name him Dennis. But Mavis, who got something from her father, gets overprotective and threatens to take Dennis away from the hotel, since he isn't displaying any monster abilities. In the end, Dennis gets his vampire powers and they all stay in Hotel Transylvania.
Count Dracula
Dracula is obviously based on the Count Dracula of lore, as he is a vampire. But although he is a vampire, he has no cravings for human blood, saying that he drinks a blood substitute and "you can't tell the difference".
History
Not much is known about his life, except that he bumped into Martha, a fellow vampire, one night and they "zinged". Martha then gave birth to Mavis, but was killed by an angry mob of humans, leading to his hatred of humans. He raised Mavis on his own and built Hotel Transylvania to keep her safe.
Personality
He is shown to be old-fashioned, as he prefers to use "traditional" things he used while growing up. Unlike Mavis, who is open to new ideas and technology, Dracula is not willing to learn how to use modern technology.
Role in the series
Dracula plays a big role in both the films.
Hotel Transylvania
Dracula is shown at the beginning of the film with baby Mavis. He taught her how to morph into a bat, walk on walls, and other things. He is seen playing with her, and at one point when Mavis asks what is in the outside world, he says that it is a horrible place. Many, many years later, he lets her go out into the world for the first time, but it is actually part of his scheme. He builds a fake village, which Mavis goes to, and fills it with "humans" (actually zombies (hotel employees) in disguise), and they try to destroy her and say how much they hate vampires. Mavis falls for it, and everything is okay. But Johnny follows the zombies to the hotel, and meets Mavis, and they "zing", evidenced by a purplish/pinkish "swirl" in both their eyes. But Dracula has other plans, and tries to get Johnny to go away forever. In the end, his plan succeeds, but he realizes he has made a big mistake. He convinces the other monsters to help him get Johnny back. But in the end, he still gets angry when Johnny tries to kiss Mavis. But, being the "new him", he leaves them alone.
Hotel Transylvania 2
At the beginning, he disapproves of the kissing that was going to happen at Mavis's wedding, and makes them turn it down a notch, to just a quick kiss on the cheeks. When Mavis tells him she's pregnant, he's seen flying through the clouds, saying: "I'm going to be a grandpa!". He tries to teach the new baby (Dennis) his vampire abilities, despite Mavis's not wanting him to do so. She says that they were moving to California so she can raise Dennis safely. Mavis invites Vlad to Dennis's 5th birthday party, and Dracula has everyone disguise themselves as monsters, as Vlad hates humans. In the end, Dracula steps in as Dennis was getting too scared. Everyone starts arguing, and Dennis "disappears". Dracula and company find Dennis, who somehow developed his vampire abilities, fighting off Bela. Dracula and the rest of the gang fight off the rest of Bela's forces, and Winnie licks Dennis's face. Dracula and everyone else claps. But Bela appears from behind a bush, and is about to kill Johnny, when Vlad stops him. He tells him to never come near him or his family ever again. Dracula congratulates him on saving a human, and the movie ends.
Vlad
Vlad is Dracula's father, Mavis's grandfather, Dennis's great-grandfather, and Johnny's grandfather-in-law. Nothing is known about his life.
Personality
Vlad is shown to be very stubborn, and it is very hard for him to have a change of heart. When he discovers that his son has let humans into the hotel, he gets angry. It is only at the end of the film when he sees that humans have changed does he have a change of heart.
Hotel Transylvania 2
He is first seen near the end of the movie. Vlad gets an invitation to Dennis's fifth birthday party. He says that Dracula has finally invited him to something. He makes a dramatic entrance, and says that Dennis is just a "late fanger" like his son. His plan is to possess Kakie the Cake Monster and scare the fangs out of him. The plan fails, and everything breaks down. Dennis "vanishes" from the hotel. Mavis says that she should have never invited him to the party. He is seen again defending Johnny from Bela, and tells him to never come near him or his family ever again.
Secondary characters
All the secondary characters, except Quasimodo and Bela, were in both films.
Quasimodo Wilson
Quasimodo is the chef of the hotel and despises humans. He was the first person besides Dracula to know that Johnny is a human. He was frozen by Dracula's powers and announced Johnny's true nature during Mavis' celebration.
Bela
Bela is a winged monster and was Vlad's companion. He tried to destroy Winnie, Dennis, and the humans at Hotel Transylvania, only to have been defeated by Vlad and shrunk to a play-thing for the wolf pups.
Wayne
Wayne is a grown werewolf, is the husband of Wanda, and is the father of the wolf pups. He shows dog-like behavior in the second film, perhaps as a result of human presence at the hotel. He is shown to be stressed due to his sons causing chaos all the time. It is suspected that Winnie is his only daughter. He tries to put order, only to be completly ignored by everyone except Winnie.
Wanda
Wanda is a grown female werewolf, is the wife of Wayne, and the mother of Winnie and the rest of the wolf pups. Unlike Wayne, she makes no attempt to control her kids' behavior, and it is suspected that Winnie is her only daughter.
Griffin, the Invisible Man
Griffin is an invisible man, and the only thing that can be seen are his brown glasses, although it seems he forgets he's invisible, as seen when he is insulted when Dracula says he hates red curly hair (which he has). He also seems concerned with his appearance, as he gets embarrassed when Wayne pulls his pants down. He is also seen preparing for Mavis's party in the first film. In the end of the second film, he bumps into a set of floating pink glasses, showing that he has found an invisible woman. Griffin is seen driving the hotel's car when nessesary.
Frankenstein
Frankenstein is a monster who lives in an unknown location. He is afraid of fire and mails himself everywhere.
Murray, the mummy
Murray is a mummy from Egypt, who has the power to summon sandstorms or just sand.
Minor characters
These characters only make brief appearances and do not play a big part in the plots of the movies.
Dennis's cousins
In the sequel, it is shown that Dennis has two cousins. They are first seen at the family dinner, where they mention to Dennis that Hotel Transylvania is pretty cool. When they ask him who the coolest monster is (amongst the monsters at the hotel) and he responds with Kakie, they laugh at him. Later, at Dennis's birthday party when Winnie pins Dennis to the ground and starts licking his face, they tease him for getting "beaten by a girl". Winnie growls at them, scaring them away. They are last seen at the end of the film when Dennis, using his newfound monster powers, defends them from Bela's forces.
Kakie, the Cake Monster
Kakie is a "monster" in a little kid's cartoon series of the same name. He exists fully in the Hotel Transylvania universe, and is probably based on Cookie Monster from Sesame Street. His main act is reminding kids to share, reminds them that too many sweets are bad, and, of course, eating cake.
Kal
Kal is a mini-mart employee. He has only appeared for about a minute in Hotel Transylvania 2, and only said 4 words (and a shrug):
- Yes-When Mavis asks if she could really choose between all the different types of chips
- (Shrug)-When Mavis asks how humans chose between all the chips
- Yes-When Mavis asks if they're open all night, when she wants to try all the different favors of Slurpee and Johnny says they don't have time
- Hello, world-Kal waving to the security camera
When Mavis arrives at her first mini-mart, she is amazed by all the different choices, the Slurpee machine, and the security camera, thinking it is a regular camera and that someone is making a movie, and she's in it.
Werewolf pups
The werewolf pups are a group of werewolf pups whose mother is Wanda and whose father is Wayne. It is suspected that they're all boys, and that Winnie is the only girl amongst them. They are always shown causing chaos and destruction while Winnie looks on. Once Winnie said that there are 300 in total, not counting herself. But they are shown to not be complete savages, as seen in the first movie when Dracula reminds one of the pups to not chew on his cape, and he says: "Sorry, Uncle Drac."
Zombies
Zombies are seen as the hotel's staff, and run everything from the front desk to plumbing. The only thing they don't do is housekeeping and security. They seem to have some sense of how to use technology, as they can "use" smartphones, and one of them has a Facebook account. They were probably taught in the ways of technology by Johnny.
Witches
Witches are used for Hotel Transylvania's housekeeping, and are usually seen cleaning up the mess left behind by the werewolf pups.
Shrunken heads
The shrunken heads are Hotel Transylvania's equivalent to "Do Not Disturb" signs and are hung on doorknobs, and they all say "do not disturb". It is unknown how they got there.
Talking knights
The talking knights are a group of walking knight's armor, with nobody inside of them, suggesting that they are ghosts that possessed the armor. They are used for Hotel Tranysylvania's security force.
Blobby the Blob
Blobby is a blobby monster, who hasn't seen the outside world until the sequel. He was used to break Johnny's fall in the original movie, and was seen in the sauna. In the sequel, he "hugged" Johnny's mom and was seen on the side of the car, listening to a popular song while Dracula forced everyone else to listen to Bigfoot's life story, which he reads himself on an audiobook, which no one really liked, except for Dracula, who was smiling.
The Gremlin Lady
The Gremlin Lady is a character who has a running gag through the series: she eats something in one bite and says "I didn't do that", probably as a reference to Bart Simpson of The Simpsons, who often says "I didn't do it!". In Hotel Transylvania, she said "He let me eat his scooter!"(talking about Johnny), which are her only words in the series besides "I didn't do that."
Hotel Transylvania
When Dracula makes everyone follow his "schedule" (actually just a series of boring things as a punishment for Johnny), which included:
- Bingo
- A hotel-wide game of charades
At the bingo game, Frankenstein's wife has the won, and yells "Bingo!", but then the Gremlin Lady eats the card. At the charades game, Johnny, who is bored, just like everyone else, takes out his scooter, which the Gremlin Lady ate.
Hotel Transylvania 2
She ate one of the attackers and also ate Dennis's birthday cake just as he was going to blow out the candle. Then the credits roll.
Note
The word "zing" is used by only 3 of the characters (Dracula, Mavis, and Winnie). Winnie is the character who says it the most. Although it officially means energy or "a quality or characteristic that excites the interest, enthusiasm, etc.",[1] the (first) film defines it as a powerful romantic connection between the two "zingers", and somehow causes a pinkish/purplish swilrl in their eyes. It also means that they will be married and that they will love each other forever. It also says that a "zing only happens once in your life".
References
- ↑ -Official definition of "zing" at Dictionary.com.