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Louis de Pointe du Lac; a vampire
Vampires are the reanimated bodies of humans which are inhabited by the spirit of the deceased and connected to the spirit Amel. Their survival is heavily dependent upon the consumption of blood, particularly that of humans.
Though vampires commonly use the term "vampire" to refer to themselves and are referred to as such by others, other names for the species are used throughout the series. The most common alternate terms are "blood drinker" and "child of darkness," though "undead" is also used. Specific groups have their own terms, including "blood hunter," used by Arion and his fledglings, "blood gods," used among followers of Akasha, and "people of the Savage Garden," an alternate name suggested in Prince Lestat. In the last three books, the general vampire community is referred to as the "tribe."
Physical Characteristics[]
Vampires are preternaturally beautiful beings, as the transformation from human to vampire perfects and refines their physical features alongside their physique. When a human is transformed into a vampire, the basic features of their appearance remain the same, though wrinkles, imperfections, and signs of illness may disappear. Vampire hair remains the same length as it was at their transformation, and regrows each night back to its original length if cut.
The body undergoes a series of physical changes when a human is transformed into a vampire: the eyes become a more luminous version of their original color, and skin smooths of most wrinkles and flaws and takes on a hard, luminous appearance that is unnaturally pale in humans with lighter skin tones and golden in humans with darker skin tones. Canine teeth develop into small, sharp fangs, and their fingernails become translucent and grow to form natural claws that are razor-sharp and highly durable. Their muscle mass is enhanced, granting increased strength. They have no further need to breathe, though most vampires continue to breathe regularly, as they also have a hypersensitivity to the smell of blood. Over time or after consuming the blood of more powerful vampires a vampire's appearance will become more unnatural and perfected, described as looking like animated marble.
Because vampires do not have other bodily fluids and do not consume anything other than blood, they cry and sweat blood. They no longer experience sexual arousal, but do have saliva.
Vampires experience a compulsive "death sleep" in conjunction with the rising and setting of the Sun. As sunrise approaches, vampires become fatigued, forcing them to find shelter before they fall into an uncontrollable death-like sleep. Because vampires are at their most vulnerable while asleep, many of the undead choose to sleep in coffins or crypts for protection. If left exposed to the sun when they start to fall asleep, vampires will instinctively bury themselves in the earth to avoid the sun's rays. According to Lestat de Lioncourt, vampires cannot dream and cannot awaken until the dusk "resurrects" them from their sleep. During their slumber, vampires, while not awake or conscious themselves, possess a natural built-in defense mechanism that will cause them to lash out physically when their subconscious mind detects movement near them.
Unlike in other forms of vampire media, in The Vampire Chronicles, wooden stakes, religious symbols, holy water, and garlic are all ineffective and harmless against vampires. Vampires cast shadows and reflections, physically appear in photographs, move about churches and temples without harm, and enter homes and private establishments without the need for an invitation. Vampires do not possess the ability to transform their bodies into any other form.
Drinking Blood[]
Vampires must drink blood to survive, but the frequency of their need to feed gradually decreases as they age; David Talbot suggests that newborn vampires must drink blood each night, whilst older vampires may go months or years at a time without consuming blood. If a vampire refrains from drinking blood and buries themselves underground, they will enter a hibernation state and may require significant blood when awoken.
Whilst human blood is preferred, animal blood and vampire blood can also be used to satiate a vampire's thirst. When a vampire feeds on someone, their heartbeats will begin to beat in harmonic rhythm, effectively joining them as one shared pulse, putting both the vampire and the human into a "swoon" and a state of listless pleasure. When drinking blood, vampires experience the memories of their victims, though they have some ability to either focus on and revel in this fact or to try to ignore it.
Though Lestat says in Interview with the Vampire that drinking the blood of the dead will kill a vampire, this fact is contradicted in The Vampire Lestat, where drinking the blood of the dead is described as possible, but highly unpleasant. Lestat describes drinking from a victim and not stopping before their death as a "wallop" that leaves him in a state of "rolling delirium." Though most vampires kill their victims, the "Little Drink," or drinking from one or more victims in small, possibly undetectable amounts, is a skill some vampires have perfected. Other vampires, notably Pandora, rip out and drink blood directly from the hearts of their victims. There is a singular reference to vampires drinking from their own private blood bank in Prince Lestat, at Fareed and Seth's medical compound, but the idea of drinking blood via any method other than directly from living beings is otherwise not discussed. The majority of vampires try not to waste living blood, as they consider it sacred, making them fairly "clean eaters."
Blood drunk from humans is transformed when it enters the vampire's body and takes on the qualities of vampiric blood. Vampire blood has basic healing properties, both for humans and for other vampires. Drinking the blood of an older or more powerful vampire can accelerate healing, and is often needed to avoid a long, painful healing process from major injuries. Humans who drink vampire blood, without first being drained of their own, can become addicted to it, and it has a pleasurable effect that enhances the human's senses until the effects wear off.
Vampires appear more human when they have recently consumed blood and may look almost completely human after overindulging. Drinking blood also has a warming effect on their bodies. These effects gradually fade over time, their appearances becoming more unnatural and their bodies colder as their need to drink blood also returns.
Vampiric Transformation[]
The process of converting a human into a vampire is often referred to as "The Dark Trick" and vampirism itself is referred to as "The Dark Gift." A vampire who turns a human into a vampire is referred to as that vampire's "maker," and the new vampire is referred to as their maker's "fledgling." "Fledgling" is also sometimes used as an umbrella term for a new or young vampire.
To complete the Dark Trick, the human must be drained of blood, nearly to the point of death. Once the heart begins to atrophy from lack of blood flow, the vampire feeds the human some of their blood, replacing the lost human blood with their vampiric blood. The human will be overcome with the need to drink blood from their vampire maker, often until forced to stop. Some vampires, notably Marius, following the example of his maker, repeatedly drain and allow their fledglings to drink from them during the process, hoping that multiple exchanges of blood will make their fledgling stronger.
The initial changes to their physical form, including the development of small fangs, begin immediately, along with heightened senses. After the initial stages of the transformation take hold, the newly made vampire begins to experience excruciating pain as their body experiences physical death, while their mind and soul remain intact. The process of physical death involves the expulsion of all bodily waste from multiple orifices and is finished within an hour or two after transformation. Drinking blood during this time may lessen the pain or speed up this experience.
The act of bestowing the Dark Gift is regarded as a profoundly intimate act for both participants; akin to giving birth and nursing one's young. Because of this unique form of intimacy, and the fact that vampires are instinctively drawn to aesthetic beauty, it is not uncommon for vampires to transform those whom they find physically alluring, or friends, lovers, or relatives. As vampires experience the memories of their victims when they drink from them, a significant amount of the emotions and experiences of the fledgling are experienced by their maker during the process.
Once a vampire has been created, their maker can no longer read their mind or communicate with them via the Mind Gift, and a fledgling also cannot read the mind of their maker.
Powers and abilities[]
Basic powers[]
The basic abilities of every vampire include:
Immortality: Vampires are immortal beings, in the sense that they do not age past the date of their transformation, are immune to all forms of disease, and cannot die from natural causes. They cannot be killed by mundane methods that can easily end the life of a mortal being, such as gunshots, stab wounds, poison, or suffocation/drowning.
Durability: Vampiric skin is hard and nearly impenetrable by humans, and vampire hair is similarly resilient. Chains made from the hair of Maharet, an ancient vampire, are strong enough to restrain another vampire. Vampires also have the ability to reattach, though not regrow, severed body parts, including limbs and heads.
Endurance: Vampires can exert themselves physically far longer than any human being can before they require rest and fresh blood, and they possess great tolerance towards physical pain, only ever feeling it in its full effect when they have not fed properly for a very long time.
Intelligence and Memory: Vampires have some enhanced mental functions, as they are able to quickly acquire new skills and languages, though this may vary from vampire to vampire. Vampires may also have enhanced memories, though some vampires throughout the series complain that they have difficulty remembering things, or difficulty understanding and synthesizing new information.
Enhanced Senses: Vampires have the ability to hear, see, and smell beyond the range and capacity humans. They can hear the heartbeat of their prey from several yards away, the pulsing of the blood in the veins of humans, and can hear conversations through thick walls in other rooms with great clarity. They see with superhuman levels of clarity and detail, making colors brighter, and they have significant night vision. Vampires also generally have an enhanced sense of touch, feeling pleasure from physical sensation.
Speed: Vampires have the ability to run and move faster than humans, and can move quickly enough to make their movements imperceptible to the human eye. Like many other powers, the speed of vampires increases over time as they age.
Strength: Even newly created vampires possess strength far superior to that of a mortal human being, though the physical strength of a vampire depends on their individual powers. Upon his transformation, Lestat compares his strength to that of three or four men. Older vampires are shown to bend metal with ease and easily rip apart human bodies.
Bestowal of The Dark Gift: All vampires possess the ability to pass on The Dark Gift/vampirism to mortals should they wish to do so, though vampires with smaller physical forms like Claudia appear to struggle to complete the exchange of blood required. The longer a vampire lives and goes without creating one of their own, the more powerful their creation will be when they finally decide to create a vampire, as was the case with Magnus when he turned Lestat after not having turned anyone for three centuries. This resulted in Lestat being much more powerful than the average vampire of his age, something that many ancient Immortals take note of.
Vampiric Gifts[]
The following terms are used by Lestat and the other members of the Coven of the Articulate, or the in-universe authors of The Vampire Chronicles, and are formally defined in Prince Lestat:
The Fire Gift: This is the ability of older vampires to use their telekinetic power to burn matter. They can, through the power of their minds, burn wood, paper, or any flammable substance. And they can burn other vampires as well, igniting the Blood in their bodies and reducing them to cinders. Only older vampires possess this power, but no one can say when and how a vampire acquires it. A very young vampire made by an ancient one may immediately possess the power. A vampire must be able to see that which he or she wants to burn. In sum, no vampire can burn another if he cannot see that vampire, if he is not close enough to direct the power.
The Cloud Gift: This is the ability of older vampires to defy gravity, to rise up and move in the upper atmosphere and to cover long distances easily, traveling the winds unseen by those below. Again, no one can say when a vampire might acquire this power. The will to have it may work wonders. All truly ancient ones possess it whether they know it or not. Some vampires despise the power and never use it unless forced.
The Mind Gift: This is a loose and imprecise term which refers to the preternatural powers of the vampiric mind on many levels. Through the Mind Gift, a vampire might learn things from the world above even when he is sleeping in the earth below. And consciously using the Mind Gift, he might telepathically listen to the thoughts of mortals and immortals. He might use the Mind Gift to pick up images from others as well as words. He might use the Mind Gift to project images into the minds of others. And finally he might use the Mind Gift to telekinetically open a lock, push open a door, or stop the progress of an engine. Again, vampires develop the Mind Gift slowly over time, and only the most ancient can rape the minds of others for information they do not wish to give, or send a telekinetic blast to rupture the brain and blood cells of a human being or another vampire. A vampire can listen to many the world over, hearing and seeing what others hear. But to destroy telekinetically, he or she must be able to see the intended victim.
The Spell Gift: This refers to the power of vampires to confuse, beguile, and spellbind mortals and sometimes other vampires. All vampires, even fledglings, have this power to some extent, though many don’t know how to use it. It involves a conscious attempt to “persuade” the victim of the reality the vampire wants the victim to embrace. It doesn’t enslave the victim. But it does confuse and mislead. It depends on eye contact. One can’t spellbind anyone from a distance. In fact, it more often involves words as well as glances, and certainly involves the Mind Gift on some level.
Other Gifts Mentioned in the Series: Though not included in the formal definitions in Prince Lestat, other vampiric powers, which may be variations on the ones above, are mentioned throughout the series. These include the "Killing Gift," or the ability to telepathically crush the internal organs of humans and animals, as defined by Marius in Blood and Gold.
Weaknesses[]
Vampires all possess a common set of weaknesses that range from inconvenient to lethal. The older a vampire grows, the more immunity they gain to certain weaknesses.
Fire: Vampires are vulnerable to flames, and this is one of the primary methods used to destroy vampires. Some vampires believe that their ashes must also be scattered after their destruction, fearing that the remaining cinders could begin to re-form their body and start an agonizing healing process.
Decapitation and Dismemberment: Vampires have the ability to reattach severed body parts, including heads, but the healing process appears to be unpleasant. If a vampire's brain is consumed by another vampire after decapitation, they will not survive.
Exsanguination: Vampires completely drained of blood may die, though it is possible their body may also need to be destroyed via another method to prevent them from being able to be resuscitated.
Sunlight: Vampires, especially those less than a Millennia old, are highly vulnerable to sunlight. Young vampires will burn to a husk if exposed to sunlight, slightly older vampires will turn to ash, and vampires of a certain age will sustain severe burns. The older a vampire becomes, the more direct exposure to sunlight they can withstand before succumbing to it. The most powerful and ancient vampires may be exposed to the sun for up to a day at a time and only tan their skin.
Iron: In Blood Communion, it is revealed for the first time that binding a vampire's head in iron limits their ability to use the Mind Gift and the Fire Gift. Because of the composition of steel, it can also serve this purpose.
Dead Blood: Vampires can drink blood from the dead, but it is described as unpleasant. If a vampire does not stop drinking from a victim before the victim's heart stops, they will not die, but may be disoriented from experiencing the feeling of the mortal's death.
Sacred Core Destruction: All Vampires, regardless of age or power, are vulnerable to permanent death if the Sacred Core is destroyed. The Sacred Core is the brain that hosts the spirit Amel, the spirit responsible for the existence of vampire kind. As revealed in Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis, if a vampire's heart stops they will become disconnected from the Sacred Core, but otherwise retain their vampiric nature and powers.