Dhampir
A Dhampir (also dhampire, dhamphir or dhampyr) in Balkan folklore and in vampire fiction is the child of a vampire father and a human mother, with vampire powers but none of the weaknesses.[1] (in fiction, the reverse occurs as well). A dhampir is believed to have the unique ability to see vampires, even when they are invisible, and is unusually adept at killing them.
Nomenclature
The word "dhampir" is associated with the folklore of the Roma people of the Balkans, whose beliefs have been described by T. P. Vukanović. In the rest of the region, terms such as Serbian vampirović, vampijerović, vampirić (thus, Bosnian lampijerović, etc.) literally meaning "vampire's son", are used.[2][3] In other regions [specify] the child is named "Vampir" if a boy and "Vampiresa" if a girl, or "Dhampir" if a boy and "Dhampiresa" if a girl.[citation needed] In Bulgarian folklore, numerous terms such as glog (lit. "hawthorn"), vampirdzhiya ("vampire" + nomen agentis suffix), vampirar ("vampire" + nomen agentis suffix), dzhadadzhiya and svetocher are used to refer to vampire children and descendants, as well as to other specialized vampire hunters.[4]
Origin
In the Balkans it is believed that male vampires have a great desire for women, so a vampire will return to have intercourse with his wife or with a woman he was attracted to in life[2]. Indeed, in one recorded case, a Serbian widow tried to blame her pregnancy on her late husband, who had supposedly become a vampire[3], and there were cases of Serbian men pretending to be vampires in order to reach the women they desired[5]. In Bulgarian folklore, vampires were sometimes said to deflower virgins as well.[2] A vampire may also move to a village where nobody knows him and marry and have children there. The sexual activity of the vampire seems to be a peculiarity of South Slavic vampire belief as opposed to other Slavs[2], although a similar motive also occurs in Belarusian legends.[6]
Features
Some traditions specify signs by which the children of a vampire can be recognized. Serbian legends state they have a large head with untamed dark or black hair and lack a shadow.[3]; in Bulgarian folklore, possible indications include being "very dirty", snub-nosed or even noseless, having a soft body, no nails and bones (the latter physical peculiarity is also ascribed to the vampire itself), and "a deep mark on the back, like a tail". In contrast, a pronounced nose was often a sign, as were larger than normal ears, teeth or eyes. Indeed, it is believed in some areas that the offspring of a vampire, being "slippery like jelly", "cannot live". There were also tales of more "normal" appearance variations on those who could not only seem quite human, but attractive. Often they appeared very pale and stood tall and thin, with a highly noticeable or robust skeletal structure or black beneath their eyes, features common with the dead or dying. Some writings also claimed that they were identifiable by their slouching, bow-legged or pigeon toed stance or by traits such as fascinations with the macabre or mystical and by having abnormal fighting prowess or reaction speed, possibly stemming from the unnatural and ofttimes mystical strength and power associated with their vampire fathers.
Vampire hunting methods
Among all Balkan peoples it is believed that the child of a vampire has a special ability to see and destroy vampires. Among some groups, the ability to see vampires is considered exclusive to dhampirs. The powers of a dhampir may be inherited by the dhampir's offspring. Various means of killing or driving away vampires are recognized among peoples of the region, but the dhampir is seen as the chief agent for dealing with vampires. Methods by which a dhampir kills a vampire include shooting the vampire with a bullet, transfixing it with a hawthorn stake, and performing a ceremony that involves touching "crowns" of lead to the vampire's grave. If the dhampir can't destroy a vampire, he may command it to leave the area.
A dhampir is always paid well for his services. The amount of money varies, but there is never haggling over the price. Standard pay for a dhampir may also include a meal or a suit of clothing. Sometimes a dhampir is paid in cattle, jewelry or women.
Charlatans traveling the regions around the Carpathian Mountains, Balkans and elsewhere in Eastern Europe would claim to be dhampirs. They were believed to be the only ones who could see the spirit and would put on elaborate shows for villages. Once fear, grief and superstition took hold in a village following a recent death, the dhampir would "come to the rescue".[citation needed]
Dhampirs in fiction
Angel
In the TV series Angel created by Joss Whedon, the character Connor is the child of the series main protagonist Angel, a vampire with a soul, and Darla, another vampire. While not strictly a Dhampir, as he is not the child of both a human and a vampire, he does display the strength and endurance of a vampire without the traditional weaknesses of one, much like a Dhampir. In the fictional universe of Buffy and Angel vampires are strickly undead and unable to have children, it took special interference by "one of the powers that be" to allow Darla to become pregnant, resulting in a human with vampire powers described as the male equivalent of a Slayer, the shows other equivalent in job and powers to a Dhampir.
Bloody Kiss
Bloody Kiss is an 6 chapter romance manga, where a schoolgirl named Katsuragi Kiyo inherits a mansion AND vampires from a grandmother she never met. A Dhampir named Kuroboshi makes her his "bride" (a vampire can only take blood from one person and they call this person their "bride").
Blade
Blade, from the Marvel comic book series Tomb of Dracula and others, 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 became a dhampir-like being because his mother was bitten by a vampire while she was pregnant with her baby, Eric. Technically, Blade could still be considered a dhampir in that he's the son of a human father and a vampire mother (even though his mother did not become a vampire until she was already pregnant with him). 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. However, in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Blade is indeed an actual dhampir, the son of a vampire and a human woman.
Blood: The Last Vampire
The character Saya, from the OVA movie Blood: The Last Vampire and its spin-offs, is a dhampir (this is only explained in the novel, video game, and manga). She was created through crossbreeding experiments having to do with vampiric hominids known as Teraptorids; and proceeded to hunt her own kin to extinction, even after finding out the truth of her origins. The version of her character from the series, Blood+, is of entirely different origin, being a pure-blood Chiroptera Queen rather than a hybrid (the vampires of the television series are very different from those of the original franchise).
BloodRayne
Rayne, the main character of the BloodRayne video game franchise, is another dhampir. She also has many brothers and sisters (whom she must slay) who are also dhampirs. She was born when a vampire king, Kagan, raped a human woman. Soon after the child was born, Kagan killed her mother and her mother's family. Rayne was accepted into the Brimstone Society. This society seeks out supernatural occurrences that could be dangerous for the world. They send out their members, much like Rayne, to fight and eliminate these threats.
Two film adaptations were directed by Uwe Boll. The character's backstory remained mostly the same in its basic vague premise in BloodRayne, save that the time of events was sent back from the 1930s to the 1700s, which have her join Brimstone then as opposed to the 1930's in the game. In BloodRayne II: Deliverance, Rayne slays a series of vampire cowboys, including Billy the Kid. The comic book series, which are mostly one shots set before or after the first game, with a few linear ones set in modern times, expands on her origin and current story, differing from the games and movies.
Castlevania
From the Castlevania series of video games, the character Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes (also known simply as Alucard) is the offspring of an unnatural bond between Dracula and a human woman named Lisa. He inherits many vampiric abilities such as the power to transform into a bat, a wolf, or a cloud of mist. He also has the unnatural strength of a vampire, the ability to leap great distances, and use various forms of magic. Through the series, Alucard aids humans in fighting against his father, and in some of the most recent games that take place in the 21st century, he works under the alias "Genya Arikado" ("Arikado" in Japanese may be translated back as "Alucard") to prevent the return of a new dark lord.
Alucard is also 'Dracula' spelled backwards, and was the name of the vampire in the Universal horror movie, Son of Dracula.
The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod
The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod is a fictional young adult novel by Heather Brewer, first published in 2007 by Dutton Children's Books, a division of Penguin Group. The book follows Vlad Tod, a 13-year-old eighth grader who is the son of his vampire father and his human mother. The story takes place three years after his parents' mysterious death, and now he is discovering secrets about his family and an entire vampire society he believed only existed in bedtime stories. Although Vlad is a dhampir, the author refers to him as a vampire in the novel. The reason the author refers to Vlad as a vampire rather than a dhampir is that there are no other dhampirs in the world that the author has created.
Dampyr
Dampyr is also the title of an Italian comic series. The protagonist is Harlan Draka, a man who pretends to be a dhampir for money in the ex-Yugoslavia, until he discovers he truly is a Dhampir: his father is Draka, one of the most powerful Masters of Night (arch-vampires).[7]
Darkstalkers
Donovan Baine, a character in the video game series Darkstalkers, is also a dhampir. He is the "Vampire Hunter" namesake in his Darkstalker's debut. He possesses many supernatural abilities such as telekinesis and the ability to summon gods into battle. In a stark contrast to other dhampirs, he is also a Buddhist monk.
Dhampire: Stillborn
The protagonist of Dhampire: Stillborn, a graphic novel scripted by Nancy Collins, is a dhampir.
Dungeons & Dragons
In Dungeons & Dragons, the dhampir appear as a monster template in Libris Mortis under the name Half-Vampire, in Dragon #313 under the name Katane, and in Ravenloft: Denizens of Dread under the name Dhampir. All three are separate interpretations of the same concept and as such have different (though somewhat similar) powers and abilities.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The NPC Agronak gro-Malog, more widely known as The Gray Prince, is a male half-Orc who is the current Grand Champion of the Imperial City Arena. No one has challenged him for his title for years because he is widely believed to be undefeatable. He claims that he is the son of a noble human lord and an orc servant. Agronak asks that the player find proof of his claim to nobility. After completing his quest it is revealed his father, Lord Lovidicus, is a vampire. Upon learning this information Agronak becomes very depressed. He accepts the players challenge to a match and then refuses to attack or defend himself in the arena. His vampiric origins are not verified as being the reason he is such a powerful fighter but it is suggested.
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
In The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy the character Dick is a dhampir, being the son of Dracula and a woman named Tanya. Dick's wife, Judy, is a mummy and the mother of his son, Irwin, who is only half dhampir. Dick is never shown as being a vampire of any sorts, though Irwin was able to utilize both his mummy and vampiric powers.
Journal of the Vampire Hunter: Claws of Darkness
The character Nicholas Bane is a Dhampir who grew up an orphan after his mother died and not knowing his father. He became a Vampire hunter after finding out the nature of his cursed life in hopes of finding a measure of peace. The focus of Claws of Darkness, takes place in Santa Anna, Mexico as Bane hunts a drug lord who became a vampire. At the same time a werewolf is killing numerous members of the cartel and is believed to be the victim of a brutal murder by the drug lord. Nicholas Bane seems to have numerous psychic powers such as the ability to see into peoples hearts, hypnotize people to manipulate their emotions, superior speed and strength. For a Dhampir, Bane seems fairly strong and is able to stand his ground against full vampires. It is shown that he relies on blood only in cases of extreme necessity and from packets in his brief case.[8]
Kamen Rider Kiva
The character Wataru Kurenai, better known as Kamen Rider Kiva, is a dhampir. His mother was part of the fictional vampire race in the series known as a Fangire, and his father, Otoya Kurenai, is human. He fights against the Fangire, and is able to sense their presence when they assume their true forms. However, a guild of Fangire Hunters are also aware of his existence and seek to destroy him due to his half-Fangire heritage. Wataru is the first dhampir Kamen Rider in the history of the series.
Lost Souls
The character Nothing in the novel Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite is a dhampir, and has an incestuous relationship with his vampiric father.
Nocturne
Svetlana Lupescu, a prominent character in the first act of the PC game Nocturne is a dhampir.
The Record of Fallen Vampire
A relatively new vampire manga by Yuri Kimura, this series is notable in that it actually does use the term "dhampir." Dhampir in the series often become Vampire Hunters. Their magic is not as powerful as a Vampire's however they lack vampire weaknesses.
Saga of the Noble Dead
Written by Barb & J.C. Hendee and commences with the aptly-titled novel Dhampir. The series tells the story of Magiere, who is a dhampir, and Leesil, who is a half-elf (an elf/human hybrid). Magiere is unaware of her ancestry, the discovery of which comes as a considerable shock. Leesil is only too aware of his, which is the reason he left home in the first place.
Slayer
The character Alek Knight is the dhampir anti-hero of the Slayer vampire series of novels by Karen Koehler. He is also a skilled vampire hunter.
Twilight
In the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, dhampirs are never explicitly referred to as such, but do exist. They also must be the child of a male vampire and a female human, as female vampires cannot conceive due to their bodies never changing from the state they were in while alive. The main dhampir of the series is Renesmee Cullen, daughter of the vampire Edward Cullen and the human Bella Swan-Cullen. Other dhampirs are mentioned to exist, but are rare; one such dhampir is a South American boy named Nahuel and his sisters, who say they are the children of a lebishomen and a human woman. Dhampirs in Twilight are not venomous if female but venomous if male, have enhanced development (both pre- and post-natal) and, if the father possesses supernatural talents, so will they.
Vampire Academy
Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir "guardian"-in-training, in the novel Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, who is the friend of Lissa Dragomir, a Moroi princess. In the book both vampires (known as Moroi) and Dhampir are born, a Dhampir being the child of a Moroi and a human or a Dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making her one of them.
Vampire Hunter D
Japanese author Hideyuki Kikuchi’s Vampire Hunter D series follows a Dhampir called “D” who travels across the desolate Frontier of 12090 AD Earth hunting the Nobility (the term used in the book in reference to vampires). There are several books in the series and two anime based on the first and third novels. In both the anime and novel series D’s patronage is often questioned alluding to the idea that he is the son of the Sacred Ancestor (translated in the first anime as Count Dracula). It is explained in the 6th novel that all dhampir have a subconscious hatred for other dhampir. Also according to the anime, dhampirs choose either the life of a noble or that of a human, and in the case of the latter, it normally fails, or the dhampir is run out of the village or killed. The character D chooses the life in between, slaying vampires but not shaming away what he is.
"Vampire Hunter D" has inadvertently created a new word, "dunpeal". The phonetic transposition of the word "Dhampir" to Japanese resulted in "Danpīru", which was then incorrectly transliterated back to English as "Dunpeal" (in the second movie, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust) or "Dampiel" (in the first movie, Vampire Hunter D).
Vampire Night
Vampire Night is a 2002 videogame in which you control one of two vampire hunters on a quest to kill vampires, and is notable in the fact that both main characters (the vampire hunters) are dhampir.
Vampire: The Masquerade
In the Vampire: The Masquerade role-playing game universe created by White Wolf Game Studios, a dhampir is the child of a 15th generation Vampire and a Mortal, but two 15th generation vampires can't procreate, because without at least some "spark of life", a new life is not possible. Another similar being is the freakish revenant, which is almost identical in biology to a dhampir, but created through generations of crossbreeding ghouls rather than procreation between a thin-blood and a human.
Additionally, in the Kindred of the East setting, dhampyr means the offspring of an Asian vampire (also called Cathayan or Kuei-jin) with a human or with another of its kind. Dhampires, or Shade Walkers, can function both day and night, although they find sunlight uncomfortable. They can breed with humans, but not with Kuei-jin or other dhampires.
Notes and references
- ^ T. P. Vukanović. 1957-1959. "The Vampire." Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, 3rd ser. Part 1: 36(3-4): 125-133; Part 2: 37(1-2): 21-31; Part 3: 37(3-4): 111-118; Part 4: 39(1-2): 44-55. Reprinted in Vampires of the Slavs, ed. Jan Perkowski (Cambridge, Mass.: Slavica, 1976), 201-234. The reprint lacks footnotes. Most material on dhampirs is in part 4, under the heading "Dhampir as the Chief Magician for the Destruction of Vampires."
- ^ a b c d Levkievskaja, E.E. La mythologie slave : problèmes de répartition dialectale (une étude de cas : le vampire). Cahiers slaves n°1 (septembre 1997). Online (French).
- ^ a b c Петровић, Сретен. 2000. Основи демонологије. In: Систем српске митологије. Просвета, Ниш 2000. Online (Serbian) Cite error: The named reference "petr" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Димитрова, Иваничка. 1983. Българска народна митология. Online article (Bulgarian)
- ^ Laković, Aleksandar. 2001. Vampiri kolo vode. In: Glas javnosti, 20-12-2001. Online (Serbian)
- ^ Міфы Бацькаўшчыны. Вупыр (Вупар). Online (Belarusian)
- ^ Edicola
- ^ Stakes are high! DrMaster releases The Journal of a Vampire! |DrMaster Publications Inc.