 After "The Mikado" opened in 1885, Gilbert, as usual, promptly turned his thoughts to finding a subject for a next opera.Some of the plot elements of "Ruddigore" had been introduced by Gilbert in his earlier one-act opera, "Ages Ago" (1869), including the tale of the wicked ancestor and the device of the ancestors stepping out of their portraits.Heinrich Marschner's 1828 opera, "Der Vampyr", involves a Lord Ruthven who must abduct and sacrifice three maidens or die.