The Scholomance

I first heard of the Scholomance playing World of Warcraft, soon after I read Bram Stokers Dracula and found out that it was supposedly a real place, or at least a myth. Intrigued, I did a little research. Unfortunately I didn't come up with much information of substance, but I'll state it here in hopes that other posters will be able to provide additional information and we can have a discussion.

In Dracula the first mention of the Scholomance appears in Ch. 18 by Dr. Van Helsing, "They learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains
over Lake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due." It is mentioned again by Dr. Van Helsing in Ch. 23 "was in life a most wonderful man... He dared even to attend the Scholomance..."

Apparently Stoker first read of the Scholomance in an essay entitled "Transylvanian Superstitions" by Emily Gerard (1). I have found an excerpt of this essay giving a description on wikipedia, it is as follows: As I am on the subject of thunderstorms, I may as well here mention the Scholomance, or school supposed to exist somewhere in the heart of the mountains, and where all the secrets of nature, the language of animals, and all imaginable magic spells and charms are taught by the devil in person. Only ten scholars are admitted at a time, and when the course of learning has expired and nine of them are released to return to their homes, the tenth scholar is detained by the devil as payment, and mounted upon an Ismeju (dragon) he becomes henceforward the devil's aide-de-camp, and assists him in 'making the weather,' that is, in preparing thunderbolts. A small lake, immeasurably deep, lying high up among the mountains south of Hermanstadt [sic], is supposed to be the cauldron where is brewed the thunder, and in fair weather the dragon sleeps beneath the waters (2).

No one seems to be quite sure where the Scholomance was located, save that it was deep in the mountains by a lake, which Stoker calls Lake Hermanstadt, but seeing that Stoker never visited Translyvania I'm sure he just pulled this lake out of thin air for the location of the Scholomance.

The legend does seem to exist though if you take other peoples words at face value, Elizabeth Miller (1) says, "When I was in Romania, I asked some folklorists about this legend and they said it does exist."

Another wikipedia article I came across (3) deals with the magicians of the Scholomance, called Solomonari. The Solomonari are figures in Romanian folklore, a caste of wizards. "The origin of the Solomonari myth is often linked to the ancient Dacian priests. The Solomonari were believed to have learned the powers of Sholomance (which is also their German name). The Sholomance is a wide variety of magic from controlling the weather and summoning dragons to resurrecting the dead and use of telekinetic power. There is also reference in some lore that the Solomonar had many divisions or guilds which seemed to run almost as a technocracy similar to the Knights Templar." And "The Solomonari are not supernatural creatures but rather humans who have learned special abilities. It is said that the children which will became Solomonari are born with signs or marks. Later, the legend says, these children go into forests or in caves, which are usually marked with inscriptions. There they learn the art of magic from the devil "Uniilă". It is believed that the Solomonari the power to summon a balaur (a dragon in Romanian beliefs) which they can ride. Also, they supposedly have the ability to control weather, they can bring rain and storms. In early history, the Solomonari were considered rather benevolent, but as Christianity began to supplement earlier beliefs, the Solomonari became associated with the negative Christian view of witchcraft" (3).

References:
1)www.arcane-archive.org...
2)en.wikipedia.org...
3)en.wikipedia.org...

Interesting thread i'll mark this as a favouriteand hope there will be more posts

I do hope others will contribute, but given the lack of information on the legend, I don't have particularly high hopes. *crosses fingers*

reply to post by Marius Blackwood


I too was intrigued that Blizzard pulled their idea of Scholomance from Romanian folklore and did some digging myself.

As you stated, it is "said" to be located in the mountains south of Hermannstadt (now the town of Sibiu) and near a lake that is supposed to be of immense depth.

So naturally, I go on google maps and start searching the area for all the lakes. I first tried looking for one with an island in the center (much like in World of WarCraft) but there are none and then I realized there was NO mention that the school existed on an island. SILLY ME!!! >.<

There are many lakes scattered in the mountainous area south of Sibiu...many of these lakes seem to be glacier lakes. There are some lakes that are visible on Google maps but have no name listed, despite being as big as other lakes that are named. Some of the lakes I was interested in were the following:
-Lacul Vidra
-Lacul Vidraru
-Lacul Podragu
-Lacul Balea
-Lacul Capra

The list goes on.

I also pondered on the possibility of lake transformation due to the building of dams and other human constructs. This can significantly alter the location of lakes as well as the size, etc. In my home town there is a lake called Busse Lake. I only recently found out that the lake did not exist naturally but was created after the dam was built and it flooded the lowland area.

This could be the case for many of these lakes...especially the larger lakes like Vidra.

The legend itself implies that the location of this school was not known to the general population...so we can not be certain where it is located. I would not expect to find ruins, or a castle...especially all these years later.

For those who wish to continue research I would research the following:

1. History of the various lakes. How old are they? What kind of lakes are they? Which ones are the deepest? Which ones are manmade / man affected?

2. Further research into the Solomonari (or Solomonarii) who were the alleged results of the school. It is also said that the term Scholomance is simply a mistake in translation of the word Solomonari (from: infectiousbite.blogspot.com...) But curiously enough Solomon comes from the word as in the Biblical King Solomon the Wise.

Beyond that, I honestly do not think you will find anything from here. Actually going to the area and asking around as well as diving into their local databases would be of great help.

I would go for lake Vidra or lake Balea, both of them are in the south and both of them have some really hard to get regions.

And furthermore i would go for Balea more because of the strange activities i saw there on my trips on or arround the plateau like for ex:

UFOs
Strange beings (seen from a distance)
Lights in the woods down bellow
And the mother of all UFOs alongside aliens(?) during the construction of the cabin (my grandfather told me this, he was an engineer there)

As for Vidra... i can't say anything, i window is placed in that dirrection but i never saw something strange happening there.

Hello to everybody,
Well, when I was on tour in Romania in 2007, our quide - Mr. Nicolae Paduraru, the President of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula, said that Balea was legendary "Scholomance" lake. So, I vote for Balea.


reply to post by AlexIR

Or, if the inhabitants really are as gifted as legend tells, their lake and school could be magically hidden so no passerby's or satellites would detect them.

PS - dragons are cool!

Oh, yep - I think, they were gifted. Anyway, the Transylvanian Society of Dracula always knew and knows much of such things, no doubt.
PS And I also like the dragons

reply to post by jjkenobi

I know it's been a long time since this post started but I played World of Warcraft too for years and now I find out Scholomance is a romanian legend.
I live in Romania. I am so interested in supernatural I actually want to spend my life researching supernatural stories.
And I didn't know we have the Devil's school on our territory. I would like to go find this lake on vacation. If I find anything I will tell you.