Holmwood is engaged toLucy Westenra, and is best friends with the other two men who proposed to her on the very same day— Quincey Morris and Doctor John Seward. Holmwood is the one who drives a wooden stake into Lucy after she becomes a vampire and helps hunt Count Dracula. He is the only son of Lord Godalming. When his father dies about halfway through the novel, Arthur inherits his title. It is through his wealth and fortune that the team are able to be funded in their operation of vanquishing Dracula. He has been depicted aiding the other protagonists of the novel in raiding Dracula's many lairs throughout London as well as aiding in the investigation of locating Dracula's many purchased estates. It is mentioned in the note at the end of the novel, written seven years after Dracula's death, that Holmwood is now married happily. It is of interest to note that Holmwood and Jonathan Harker exchange personality types depending on whose significant other is being terrorized by the Count. In the beginning, Holmwood is emotional and prone to melancholia while Jonathan attempts to maintain a strong will and recovery after his time in Dracula's castle. After the death of Holmwood's father, Holmwood gains a somewhat stronger will, befitting his new title, while Jonathan is prone to melancholia as his wife is terrorized by the Count.
In other media
On screen
Though a major character in the novel, Arthur Holmwood has been omitted from some adaptations of the story. In the 1977 adaptationCount Dracula, he is merged with the character Quincey Morris and renamed Quincey Holmwood. To date he has been portrayed in films and television by:
Cahit Irgat in Drakula İstanbul'da - here he is fiance of Sadan in 1950s Turkey and he stakes her, when she becomes vampire.
Michael Gough in Dracula - in this he is a major character, Lucy’s brother and Mina’s husband.
Jiří Zahajský in Hrabe Drakula - he is portrayed faithfully to his counterpart in the novel.
Simon Ward in Dracula - here he is a major character, who together with Van Helsing defeats Dracula.
Dan Stevens in Dracula - Holmwood is a more important character here than he is in the novel and is portrayed much more negatively, aiding Dracula's travels to England in the belief that Dracula may be able to cure him of the syphilis that prevents him from consummating his marriage to Lucy.
On stage
Arthur Holmwood appears in Dracula, the Musical by Frank Wildhorn. Here his portrayal is faithful to the novel. He was played by Chris Hoch in Broadway production of the musical.
Arthur Holmwood was portrayed by Matthew Koon in 2019 Northern Ballet's production of Dracula by David Nixon. The production was recorded and showed in UK cinemas on Halloween and then broadcast on BBC4 in 2020.
Other media
In the 1938 Mercury Theatre radio production of Dracula, Holmwood's character was combined with John Seward's and renamed Arthur Seward, who was voiced by Orson Welles who also voiced Dracula in the adaptation.
The 2004 filmDracula 3000 features a character named Arthur Holmwood, though it is a futuristic science fiction/horror film and this Holmwood is not intended to be the same person.
In the novel Anno Dracula by Kim Newman, in which the events of Stoker's Dracula ended with the villain slaying Abraham Van Helsing and subsequently conquering the United Kingdom, Holmwood is again a major character. Having himself become a vampire—which Newman justifies on the grounds that Holmwood was the most useless member of the group of hunters, contributing nothing to the effort beyond his association with Lucy, and was therefore the most likely candidate to betray the group—he is now an aide to the new Prime Minister, Lord Ruthven. In this version, Holmwood, though outwardly kind and genteel, is actually a megalomaniac who hopes to eventually use his new vampiric powers to usurp Ruthven and, eventually, Dracula himself, showing little concern for even the rules of vampiric society. He is eventually killed in a confrontation with Doctor Seward, the only human survivor of Van Helsing's hunters, when Seward encounters Holmwood as he kills his latest victim.
In A Betrayal in Blood by Mark A. Latham, Holmwood is portrayed as a broken man after the campaign against Dracula, now confined to his bed and cared for by his new wife. In the course of their investigation, Sherlock Holmes realizes that Holmwood is not only adopted, but the biological son of the human Count Dracula and Van Helsing's wife; Dracula came to England to investigate rumours that his son had survived, but Van Helsing manipulated events so that Holmwood would perceive Dracula as a monster and kill him to avenge his perceived past slight.
