Erasmus van Richten
At a glance
The silent ghost of Dr. Rudolph van Richten’s son, who guided the party through memories preserved within Richten House.
Portrait
- Primary reference: Erasmus van Richten Portrait
- Canonical status: Visual baseline for Erasmus’s face, clothing, and ghostly presentation.
Known facts
- A boy’s room within Richten House contained an object engraved with his name.
- Appears as a transparent young man and does not speak.
- Communicates by painting or conjuring scenes in the air.
- Showed himself beside a younger Van Richten, confirming their relationship.
- Revealed memories of Van Richten’s plans to enter Barovia and kill Strahd.
- Directed the party toward the cellar and showed earlier adventurers conducting a candlelit séance there.
- After the party destroyed the summoned vampire-like creature, showed many scenes of his father killing vampires and vampire spawn.
- Revealed that the red-haired woman in the ballroom sacrificed herself to save Van Richten.
- Appeared to Carver in Neblus while he consulted Van Richten’s journal and showed a history involving Azalin, a broken tower, and splintering religious sects.
- Appeared between the shelves of Faith’s Library in Martira Bay.
- Showed Van Richten’s childhood, an adolescent brother, his education in Il Aluk, a woman who became part of his life, his wife and children at the manor, his frustrated alchemical work, and an herbalist’s shop.
- Ended the vision with Van Richten obscured by the Shroud and a separate unidentified half-elf bard performing in Barovia.
- Appeared near the Pale Lantern when Ignatius spoke his name, visibly shocking Vidic.
- Showed Castle Avernus exploding and Azalin’s physical body dissolving into nothing.
- Revealed Darkon divided among Baron Metus, two unidentified female powers, the King’s Ravens, and the sphere of the Brautslava Institute.
- Showed Van Richten tormented by dreams and lingering spirits.
- Revealed himself as an older vampire whom his own father was forced to kill.
Current status
His relationship to Richten House is no longer clear. He has now appeared outside the estate in both Neblus and Martira Bay and may be able to answer when named.
Connections
- Dr. Rudolph van Richten — father
- Richten House — place of haunting
Related sessions
Gallery
- Erasmus Paints the Past — Erasmus reveals the history held within Richten House.
- Carver’s Last Radiant Bolt — Erasmus watches from the cellar shadows as the party battles the creature drawn from Van Richten’s grief.
- Blood and Memory at Midnight — Erasmus reveals a history of Azalin and the Eternal Order during the Neblus rite.
- A Life Between the Shelves — Erasmus paints the known stages of his father’s life into the air at Faith’s Library.
- The Ghost at the Sound of His Name — Erasmus appears when Ignatius names him and shocks Vidic.
- What Became of Erasmus — Erasmus reveals his transformation into a vampire and the fatal choice forced upon his father.