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Burne-Jones-le-Vampire

A vampire is a being from folklore who subsists by feeding on the life essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires were undead beings that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths in the neighbourhoods they inhabited when they were alive. They wore shrouds and were often described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, markedly different from today's gaunt, pale vampire which dates from the early 19th century.

Although vampiric entities have been recorded in most cultures, the term vampire was not popularized in the West until the early 18th century, after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although local variants were also known by different names, such as shtriga in Albania, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism.

In modern times, however, the vampire is generally held to be a fictitious entity, although belief in similar vampiric cryptids such as the pishacha, chupacabra, mamba mutu and the gallinipper still persists in some cultures. Early folk belief in vampires has sometimes been ascribed to the ignorance of the body's process of decomposition after death and how people in pre-industrial societies tried to rationalise this, creating the figure of the vampire to explain the mysteries of death. Porphyria was also linked with legends of vampirism in 1985 and received much media exposure, but has since been largely discredited.

The charismatic and sophisticated vampire of modern fiction was born in 1819 with the publication of The Vampyre by John Polidori; the story was highly successful and arguably the most influential vampire work of the early 19th century. However, it is Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula which is remembered as the quintessential vampire novel and provided the basis of the modern vampire legend. The success of this book spawned a distinctive vampire genre, still popular in the 21st century, with books, films, and television shows. The vampire has since become a dominant figure in the horror genre.

Entertainment[]

The European Vampires have been featured in hundreds of TV Shows, Movies, Cartoons, and even some games.

-In Animal Planet's Lost Tapes, an episode featured a Vampire which was living in the basement of a home that a family was refurbishing.

  • The design of the Vampire in this episode resembled a bat/human hybrid with a dog's nose, instead of a human with fangs or with wings.
Betschart Patch

-In EA's Battlefield: Hardline, one of the special Left patches shows a Dracula-like vampire character.

- In Tales of the Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles: Monsters Vs Mutants, Bram Stoker's Dracula is among the five monsters in the specials, including The Mummy, a Werewolf, and Frankenstein.

-In Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Zombies' Dead of the Night map, on a few rounds there are vampire enemies nicknamed "Nosferatu" which act as enemies that will stop health regeneration once the player gets bitten. They can be described as veined anorexic vampires with large claws, pointed ears and large sharp teeth. There is a crimson variant of the enemies as well.

Seraph of the End[]

Seraph of the End Vampires

In Seraph of the End, the fall of mankind caused by an unknown virus that primarily killed ones over 13 years old allowed vampires to take over and enslaved the surviving humans, farming them for blood (and even for turning some into vampires).

  • The design of the vampires in this franchise has pointy elf-like ears, and the complete (true) vampires all have red eyes with slited predatory eyes. Almost all have uniforms for vampire soldiers.

Hellsing[]

- In the anime/ manga horror series Hellsing and Hellsing Ultimate , Vampires and Ghouls are the main antagonists. They are ghoulish creatures that crave the blood and flesh of humans, and are able to use guns and other weapons, and can speak. They are also very fast and agile.

  • Alucard (or Dracula) and Seras Victoria are both vampire protagonists that help the Hellsing organization in their fight against the undead hordes. They both have special abilities unique to them that normal vampires don't have including regeneration, superhuman strength/speed, a "third eye" and able to manifest weapons from their limbs.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure[]

SuckingBlood

A Vampire sucking Dio's blood

In the first 3 parts of the popular shonen anime/ manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Vampires are the main antagonists and have many different abilities.

- In Phantom Blood, Dio Brando turns himself into a vampire using the Stone Mask which gives him multiple

powers including regeneration, laser eyes, heightened senses, creation of zombie minions, mind control and teleportation.

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Vampires in Battle Tendency

-In Battle Tendency, Straizo uses the Stone Mask to become a vampire and gains the ability to regenerate, use the laser eyes, have superhuman strength/ agility and is able to use "The Ripple" technique.

-Once again in Battle Tendency, The Pillar Men create hundreds of Vampire soldiers including vampire horses, and some vampires that are to fuse with objects to disguise themselves.

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DIO in Part 3

- In Stardust Crusaders, DIO returns but due to being decapitated, he fuses his head onto Jonathan's body (revealed to be another vampire ability) and loses most of his vampiric abilities due to his head still adjusting to his new host body. During Stardust Crusaders, he has the ability to suck victim's blood using the vessels in his hand, superhuman strength, superhuman speed, superhuman agility, hover, and teleportation (later shown to be his Stand).

- There's multiple ways to kill vampires in this series: Using The Ripple / Hamon (technique using the Sun's light energy), asorbing them (Pillar Men only), the traditonal sunlight, and ultraviolet rays.

See also[]

Vampire Beast

The Vampire Vine

Lumberwoods

[]

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