Based on Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, he is played by German actor Max Schreck, and is depicted as a repulsive vampire descended from Belial, who leaves his homeland of Transylvania to spread the plague in the idyllic city of Wisborg in Biedermeier period Germany, only to find death at the hands of a self-sacrificing woman.

The character would reappear in subsequent remakes, played by Klaus Kinski, Doug Jones and Bill Skarsgård, as well as in comic book adaptations and sequels.

As Nosferatu is an unauthorized and unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, character names were changed in an attempt to avoid accusations of copyright infringement, including changing Count Dracula's name to Count Orlok which, according to historian Matei Cazacu [ro], derives from the Romanian vârcolac,[1] while David Annwn Jones links it phonetically to the Hungarian ordog.

[14] In Nosferatu, the Count is described in the fictional book Of Vampyres, Ghastly Spirits, Witchcraft, and the Seven Deadly Sins as a hematophagous creature that dwells in dank caves, tombs and coffins filled with soil gathered from graveyards containing the victims of the Black Death.

The book elaborates that Orlok originated from the "seed of Belial", an entity described in the Dead Sea Scrolls as one of four Satanic archdemons and associated with pestilence in Psalm 41: 8-10.

David Annwn Jones notes that this is in contrast to Count Dracula, upon whom the character was based, as Orlok is never stated to have once been human or of being an undead revenant, being instead a creature of demonic lineage who sleeps in coffins merely for the sake of protection against sunlight and convenience in transporting the rats under his command.

[15] The film contains no references to a Dracula-like noble ancestry and does not feature any brides or gypsy henchmen, with Orlok's lust for the character of Ellen Hutter being his only human affiliation.

In all but the active consumption of blood, Orlok ... [is] closer to the devilish entities in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968), William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973) and Richard Donner's The Omen (1976) than to Stoker's vampire.

[16]As noted by J. Gordon Melton, Orlok resembles folkloric vampires more than Dracula,[17] being thoroughly repulsive, sporting a bald head, a beaklike nose, hollowed-out eyes, pointed ears, and sharp fingernails.

[19] Orlok also lacks Dracula's suave or charm, acting with unrelenting strangeness, with his initial demeanor toward the character of Thomas Hutter being that of an old Eastern European aristocrat who has outlived his societal usefulness.

[23][17][24] Count Orlok is a vampire from Transylvania known as the "Bird of Death" who dwells alone in a vast castle hidden among the rugged peaks in a lost corner of the Carpathian Mountains.

The castle and its master, forgotten by the world for centuries, are swathed in shadows and exhibit a highly sinister feel due to years of neglect.

Upon his arrival in Wisborg, Orlok infests the city with rats that sleep in his coffins, and countless people fall victim to the plague, forcing the local authorities to declare a quarantine and provoking hysteria among the citizens.

In his From Caligari to Hitler, Siegfried Kracauer identified Orlok as a "scourge of God" comparable to Attila, noting that it was "highly significant that during this period German imagination, regardless of its starting-point, always gravitated towards such figures — as if under the compulsion of love-hate".

[26] Matei Cazacu [ro] draws a parallel between Orlok's attempt at subjugating Wisborg with the failed imperial ambitions of Wilhelm II, but notes that "the vampire at least had the consolation of experiencing love".

[27] Anton Kaes [de] notes how Orlok's thirst for blood represents a love of eternal values rather than the "erratic sphere of commerce", which would have resonated with contemporary audiences living in a period of inflation and multicultural tension.

[29] J. Hoberman notes how Orlok's actions in the film evoke "both the blood libel and the accusation of poisoning wells to spread disease that resulted in widespread pogroms and the near-extermination of Jews throughout the Rhineland in the mid-14th century".

[30] Others have said that perceived associations between Orlok and antisemitic stereotypes are unlikely to have been conscious decisions, citing director F. W. Murnau's protectiveness of Jewish cast members and status as a homosexual, which would have made him "presumably more sensitive to the persecution of a subgroup inside the larger German society".

[34] Likewise, Kim Newman praised the monstrous nature of Orlock, stating, "Schreck's vampire is truly nightmarish, scuttling from shadows like something you'd really like to see back under its rock.

[42] David Annwn Jones notes how Kinski's character plays down the demonic aspects of the original Orlok and approaches Dracula more closely, as he mentions his noble lineage and has the ability to create more vampires from his victims.

The film includes several innovations in the vampire myth, showing the monster as being able to walk around in daylight, cast a reflection in mirrors and is undeterred by crosses.

[49] Director David Lee Fisher explained that this interpretation of Orlok was deliberately distanced from Kinski's portrayal and approached Shreck's original performance more closely, being "an elemental force of nature ... definitely destructive, but not necessarily evil".

[59] In creating the interior of Orlok's castle, production designer Craig Lathrop sought to give it a haunted look by keeping furniture to a minimum.

[63] Orlok's fascination with Hutter's picture of his wife and his emergence from his coffin onboard the Empusa in a "jack-in-the-box" fashion have been imitated in several subsequent Dracula adaptations.

[66] Orlok appeared in the four-part Nosferatu: Plague of Terror comic book series by Mark Ellis, which fleshes out his backstory and places him in the modern era.