Dhampir
From The Black Vault Encyclopedia Project
A dhampir is a being 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 widowed mother. Dhampirs, in comparison with normal human beings, are unusually adept at killing vampires. The word "dhampir" is associated with folklore of the Roma people of the Balkans.
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Legends
In the Balkans it is believed that 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. Throughout the area the term dhampir refers to the offspring of a vampire and a human; terms for such a being that are used in various subregions include vampijerović, vampirić ("little vampire"), and lampijerović; in some regions the child is named "Vampir" if a boy and "Vampiresa" if a girl, or "Dhampir" if a boy and "Dhampiresa" if a girl. In other areas it is believed that the offspring of a vampire will "be slippery like jelly, and cannot live" (Vukanovic 1957-1959, pt. 3, p. 112).
Among all Balkan peoples it is believed that the child of a vampire can 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 cannot 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 dickering 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.
False dhampirs
Quite often, charlatans traveling the regions around the Carpathian Mountains and elsewhere in Eastern Europe would claim to be dhampirs. Operating by the original myth of 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. 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".
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. However, in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Blade is indeed a Dhampir, a son of a vampire and a woman, and the movie character is based, in part, on this version.
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 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 the most recent games, which take place in the 21st century, he works under the alias "Genya Arikado" to prevent the return of a new dark lord.
Donovan Baine, a character in the video game series Darkstalkers, is also a dhampir.
The protagonist of Dhampire: Stillborn, a graphic novel scripted by Nancy Collins, 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 begins 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.
Jessica Allodola from Amelia Atwater-Rhodes's Demon in My View is a dhamphir who spent several years in suspended animation in her mother's vampiric womb. After her mother became human again, Jessica was born as a child with a direct link to Siete, the father of all vampires.
Role-playing Games: 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 (may be of either gender) or two 15th generation vampires.
In 1999, White Wolf introduced an end-time scenario which affected all of their game lines; included in this was the "Vampire: The Masquerade" series. In the book Time of Thin Blood, weak-blooded Western Vampires—whose blood was sufficiently distant from that of the original Vampire, Caine—lacked many standard vampiric powers and were often incapable of creating further vampires, but became capable of conceiving and birthing dhampirs. This was considered a sign of the coming eschaton, known to Vampires as "Gehenna."
While a Dhampir is not technically a Ghoul (a human given supernatural powers by drinking vampire blood), they have biological similarities to Revenants (ghouls that are literally bred to serve vampires). The most important differences between Dhampirs and Revenants are cultural. Revenants grow up in a freakish, monstrous subculture of Vampires and Ghouls. Only quite unusual circumstances could lead to a Revenant growing up among normal, contemporary humans. A Dhampir probably spent most of her time among normal humans. She might not even know about her supernatural heritage. Learning about the secret World of Darkness may come as a bit of a shock.
All Dhampirs are young, without exception. The Thin-Blooded (weakest of all vampires, so far removed from Caine that they are nearly human) themselves have appeared only within the last 20 years (as of 1998).
Role-playing Games: Kindred of the East
In the Kindred of the East role-playing game universe created by White Wolf Game Studios, dhampyr means the offspring of an Asian vampire (also called Cathayan or Kuei-jin) with a human or with another of its kind. Dhampyrs, 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 dhampyrs.
Dhampyrs must eat, drink, and sleep. By using chi energy, they can perform feats not possible for humans. They can regain chi through rest or by eating flesh (usually they cannot by drinking blood). Dhampyrs are mortal but can live for centuries. Once mature, they age at roughly 1/10 the rate of humans. Severe injuries can kill them, but they can withstand far worse damage than humans. Under certain circumstances, a dhampyr who dies can return as a Kuei-jin.
About half of all dhampyrs conceived are not carried to term; this apparently is true for both human and Kuei-jin mothers. Dhampyrs tend to grow up psychologically disturbed, whether raised by a human or a Kuei-jin. Their unusual abilities make them useful tools for their parents in the Kuei-jin courts; however, they are never fully accepted in Kuei-jin society. Their half-monstrous nature also prevents them from participating fully in mortal society. They are often loners and wanderers by nature.
Although Kindred of the East is set in the same World of Darkness universe as Vampire: The Masquerade, dhampyrs do not mix well with the Western vampires of that universe (Cainites). Dhampyrs cannot be ghouled (made subservient to a Western vampire) or Embraced (transformed to Cainites). Conversely, in Kindred of the East source material, Cainites cannot produce dhampyr offspring.
References
Legends
- 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."
Vampire: The Masquerade
- Dean Shomshak and Sarah Roark. Time of Thin Blood. Clarkston, GA: White Wolf Publishing, 1999. WW2101. ISBN 1-56504-245-X.
Kindred of the East
- Hal Mangold. Half-Damned: Dhampyr: Children of the Living Dead. Clarkston, GA: White Wolf Publishing, 2000. WW2920. ISBN 1-56504-247-6. Especially pp. 23-26.
- Phyllis Bowen, Mark Cenczyk, Jess Heinig, Amy Lindgren, Steve Long. Kindred of the East Companion: A Sourcebook for Vampire: The Masquerade. Clarkston, GA: White Wolf Publishing, 1998. WW2901. ISBN 1-56504-223-9. pp. 38-42.
- Kindred of the East: A Sourcebook for Vampire: The Masquerade. Clarkston, GA: White Wolf Publishing, 1998. WW2900. ISBN 1-56504-232-8. p. 220.
Copyright
"Original data received from Wikipedia on April 14, 2006. Credit given to original authors can be seen Here."
