A Vegetarian with Bad Knees vs. Vlad the Impaler, ft. Rohan Sharma

A Vegetarian with Bad Knees vs. Vlad the Impaler, ft. Rohan Sharma

From PastMaster: Reshaping History by PastMaster

April 13, 2026 · 1h 2m

About this episode

Comedian Rohan Sharma attempts to navigate the dangerous world of 15th-century Wallachia while searching for a hidden Chronicle about Vlad the Impaler.

Wallachia, 1456. Vlad III has just retaken his throne, impaling stakes line the city's edge, and a scribe named Constantin has hidden the only written record of Vlad's chaotic first reign in a monastery outside Targoviste. Comedian Rohan Sharma has two days to find the Chronicle before armed men destroy it. A vegetarian with bad knees, anxiety, and self-described "wits and wiles," he is not the obvious candidate. Rohan's survival strategy for 15th-century Romania: 'Bard Energy' and plum brandy The real Wallachia in 1456 was one of the most dangerous places in Europe. Vlad III ruled through spectacular violence, impaling thousands to terrorise the Ottoman Empire and his own nobility alike. The Chronicle at the centre of this episode could easily have existed: Vlad's reign generated propaganda, counter-propaganda, and terrified eyewitness accounts across the continent. Navigating that world required diplomacy, nerve, and knowing exactly who to trust. Navigating it as Rohan Sharma requires all of that plus a phone full of classical music and a scheme to double-cross a Saxon merchant using medieval photocopying. If you were sent back in time, could you survive and thrive — or would…

People in this episode

Host: PastMaster

Guest: Rohan Sharma

Topics covered

  • history
  • comedy
  • interactive adventure
  • Vlad the Impaler
  • medieval Romania
  • survival strategy

Keywords

  • Vlad the Impaler
  • Rohan Sharma
  • Wallachia
  • Chronicle
  • medieval
  • comedy
  • history
  • survival

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Chronicle

Places: Wallachia, Targoviste

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