Dhampir: Difference between revisions
this article stills needs a MAJOR cleanup, so restoring tag... doing a bit of cleanup myself, but article is just plain bad and needs tons more |
I removed everything hat doesn't come from a verifiable source. If there are any citable sources, please improve the article. |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
A '''dhampir''' is a being in [[Fantasy literature]] that is half-[[vampire]] and half-[[human]], born from a vampire father and a human mother. |
|||
{{cleanup-date|August 2005}} |
|||
{{verify}} |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
A '''dhampir''' is a being in [[Roma people|Roma]] [[folklore]] that is half-[[vampire]] and half-[[human]], born from a vampire father and a human mother. In some beliefs, the vampire father is the deceased husband of the [[widow]]ed mother. Dhampirs, in comparison with normal human beings, are usually adept at killing vampires. |
|||
== Legends == |
|||
Dhampirs are normally described as conflicted creatures, as they are torn between the world of vampires and humans.{{fact}} They are outcasts among both, however, and are often cast as loners. In legend, they also are sometimes afflicted with health problems including: [[bi-polar disorder]], [[major depression]], [[insanity]], [[heat syndrome]], [[photodermatosis]], and [[anemia]].{{fact}} During their teen years, many dhampirs also have urges of [[suicide]], which can extend into their adulthood if they survive.{{fact}} |
|||
Dhampirs are also said to possess several unique abilities which pure humans lack. These include the ability to sense vampires, super-human strength/speed/agility, and resistance to vampire efforts at hypnotism. Dampires are not allergic to garlic, nor do they possess any other weaknesses associated with vampirism, perhaps except the few dhampirs who have the need for blood. In these cases, a dhampir is "charged" by feeding, giving them powers even further accelerated beyond a normal human.{{fact}} |
|||
According to folklore{{fact}}, only in extremely rare cases will a dhampir be born and grow to adulthood: generally the female does not come to full term and the baby is lost; in other instances, the mother comes to term and gives birth to a [[stillborn]].{{fact}} |
|||
In some legends, a dhampir is not the direct offspring of a male undead and female mortal, but the seventh male descendant of any line of mortals with a male ancestor who became cursed with vampirism (this later legend depends upon the concept of vampires as blood-drinking high [[revenant]]s). |
|||
Other legends claim that a dhampir could only be conceived by a male vampire in the first night it rises as an undead{{fact}}, and again this is based on modern author's perspective on the legends rather than the original vampires of medieval lore. <!-- then it's not a legend, wtf---> |
|||
==False dhampirs == |
|||
Quite often{{fact}}, charlatans traveling the regions around the [[Carpathian Mountains]] and elsewhere in [[Eastern Europe]] would claim to be dhampirs. Operating by the original myth of ''[[vampire|vampyr]]'' (old spelling, both singular and plural) as spirit creatures, they were the only ones who could see the spirit and would put on elaborate shows for villages, often wrestling with an invisible foe until it was then trapped in a brass vessel. Usually a dhampir would wait until there was a death in a village.{{fact}} As rural people tended to be more superstitious, unnatural explanations would be believed for unusual events, real or imagined (such as believing to have seen the dead walking the village at night). The belief was that the vampyr would take over the recently dead corpse, for as long as it would last, to invade villages. They fed off life force directly, not by blood, sometimes killing victims in close proximity so life leaving the body could be consumed more quickly.) Once fear, grief and superstition took hold in a village following a recent death, the dhampir would "come to the rescue".{{fact}} |
|||
==In history== |
|||
During the [[middle ages]] werewolves and vampires were believed to live through out Europe. The fear soon became so great that locals turned to the [[Catholic Church]] for help. Strangely enough, the Church not only agreed to help, but actively sought out vampire slayers.{{fact}} Among those given a blessing to kill the undead in the name of the church were alledged dhampirs. This practice continued for nearly a century.{{fact}} As the werewolf and vampire scare faded, so too do the accounts of dhampirs in history. |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
Japanese author [[Hideyuki Kikuchi]] has written seventeen novels in his ''[[Vampire Hunter D]]'' series about a dhampir called "D", who travels across a war-torn land fighting against "The Nobility" (who are actually vampires). There have been two [[anime]] based on his books. The first is an adaptation of the original novel, while the other is an adaptation of the third novel in the series. In both anime, D is referred to, both directly and indirectly, as the son of [[Count Dracula]] |
Japanese author [[Hideyuki Kikuchi]] has written seventeen novels in his ''[[Vampire Hunter D]]'' series about a dhampir called "D", who travels across a war-torn land fighting against "The Nobility" (who are actually vampires). There have been two [[anime]] based on his books. The first is an adaptation of the original novel, while the other is an adaptation of the third novel in the series. In both anime, D is referred to, both directly and indirectly, as the son of [[Count Dracula]] |
||
| Line 40: | Line 21: | ||
*[[Vampire hunter]] |
*[[Vampire hunter]] |
||
[[Category:Roma folklore]] |
|||
[[Category:Vampires]] |
[[Category:Vampires]] |
||
[[Category:Corporeal_undead]] |
[[Category:Corporeal_undead]] |
||
Revision as of 10:01, 16 December 2005
A dhampir is a being in Fantasy literature that is half-vampire and half-human, born from a vampire father and a human mother.
Dhampirs in Fiction
Japanese author Hideyuki Kikuchi has written seventeen novels in his Vampire Hunter D series about a dhampir called "D", who travels across a war-torn land fighting against "The Nobility" (who are actually vampires). There have been two anime based on his books. The first is an adaptation of the original novel, while the other is an adaptation of the third novel in the series. In both anime, D is referred to, both directly and indirectly, as the son of Count Dracula
Another dhampir is Blade, from the eponymous Marvel comic book series. He became a popular character through the Blade movie made in 1998 and its sequels, starring Wesley Snipes as the main hybrid hero. However, instead of being the offspring of a vampire and human, Blade's mother was bitten by a vampire while she was pregnant with her baby, Eric. It should be noted that Blade is only recently depicted as a Dhampir, as the original incarnation had the same origin, but did not have Vampiric powers. Instead, he could 'smell' things of a supernatural nature, most usually vampires.
Rayne, the main character of the BloodRayne video game franchise, is another dhampir. She also has many brothers and sisters (that she must slay) who are also dhampirs.
Alek Knight is the dhampir anti-hero of the Slayer vampire series of novels by Karen Koehler. He is also a skilled vampire hunter.
From the Castlevania series of video games, Adrian Farenheits Tepes (also known as simply as Alucard) is the offspring of an unnatural bond between Dracula and a human woman named Lisa.
Donovan Baine, a character in the video game series Darkstalkers, is also a dhampir.
The protagonist of Nancy Collins's novel Dhampire: Stillborn is a dhampir, as is Magiere, the female protagonist of the Saga of the Noble Dead which commences with the aptly-titled novel Dhampir. In the latter case, the character beings the story with no knowledge of her ancestry and earns her living as a fake vampire-hunter as above; her discovery of the true state of affairs comes as a considerable shock.