Vampires

Vampires are both a class and a type of undead monster. Vampires are a being from folklore that live by feeding on the vital force (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 neighborhoods they inhabited while they were alive.

Description[]

Vampires in Monster High follow the post-1970 traditions of vampire lore, though with a focus on classical vampires. They have pointy ears, pale skin, fangs, and dress in Victorian fashion or uniforms. Vampires who drink human blood have red eyes and vegetarian vampires have pink eyes. They lack a reflection (Sometimes just clothes on the mirror such as in Haunted and sometimes nothing in the mirror at all like in 13 Wishes) and don't show up on film either (though there's an app that does get them to show up on film),^[1] can't go anywhere uninvited,^[2] can't stand garlic (supposedly, it gives them pimples),^[3][2] sleep in coffins, can turn into bats (an ability they acquire during puberty), can command bats,^[2][4] and can't stand sunlight very well (requiring them to use sun cream factor 500, parasols, and the like, but however, sometimes they can go out in the sun just fine).^[5] A trait unique to the Monster High book series is that vampires are almost always cold. Older vampires like Dracula in generation 1 have larger pointy ears and longer fangs, this is also the case for Stoker, and vampires that are older than Draculaura. It's possible in Monster High much older vampires can develop much larger fangs and ears since how vampires physically age in Monster High is unknown.

Monster High[]

Generation 1[]

The Monster High vampires drink blood, but they can take iron supplements to avoid having to. So far, it is unexplained where and how blood for consumption is acquired.

The main vampire of the franchise, Draculaura, deviates a little from the above description. Despite being of appropriate age, she has yet to acquire the ability to turn into a bat^[5] and the fact she still can't does affect her sense of confidence.^[6][7] fans originally believed that this inability could be linked to her status as a vegetarian. She notes in her 'Basic' diary that her being a vegetarian is linked to various other un-vampiric aspects of her life and that this is in response to an event in her past, as she states that she's "never going back to the way [she] used to be". Her father strongly disagrees with her refusal to act more like a vampire, but he doesn't force her to change. It was later revealed in Frights, Camera, Action!, that she could not turn into a bat because she had yet to accomplish a significant good deed. She got her vampire powers by the end of the film by returning Elissabat to her rightful place as the vampire queen. Draculaura was born human but was turned into a vampire by Dracula, and he adopted her as Draculaura's birth parents are deceased.

As per traditional West European vampire lore, all Monster High vampires are aristocratic and wealthy. This is in part because they make others work for them, either by manipulation or force. Werewolves used to be their slaves in earlier days, and the manipulatable zombies are still an easily tapped resource.^[2] The vampire Valentine differs a little in his choice of servants as he employs three clouds, who also do seem to be more autonomous in their position relative to their 'master'. Werewolves as servants as well as opponents of vampires is a trope established in West European vampire fiction by 1991's World of Darkness, whereas vampires controlling the weak-of-mind dates back to Dracula.

Vampires also display a high sense of vanity and always try to look their best. Due to this they are always dressed in fashionable clothing.

Kieran Valentine is a sub-species of vampire, being an emotional vampire, he holds a lot of powers over the matters of emotions.

It's only implied that vampires can reproduce in generation 1.

Like in folklore, vampires have to be invited in to a house or public places like a school.

Despite an abundant pool of available vampires as potential parents, only Draculaura appears to have a parent that exists outside of Monster High fiction: Dracula. Originally, the character was to be called Ula D, but this was changed to Draculaura, with Ula D, becoming her nickname. Draculaura could be a simple play on the name Dracula, but it might also be a reference to the human protagonist of Carmilla, whose name is Laura. The only other vampire character with a name that is a reference is Bram Devein, whose given name recalls Bram Stoker, the writer of Dracula.

As for Dracula in Monster High, Draculaura notes in her 'School's Out' diary that her father "was already a vampire back when togas were first considered fashionable". Togas are believed to have become part of Roman culture at around 600 BC, which would make him at least 2600 years old. She also notes that the vampire usually thought of as her father was actually a con monster who once rented their castle in Transylvania and went around pretending to be Dracula himself. It isn't quite clear what Draculaura means by this, as there are many "Draculas" (the usual Dracula, Orlok, or Alucard, for instance) who could be the fake she writes about. Since the subject of the fake Dracula comes up in an age-related matter, it seems the section refers to a Vlad III-interpretation of Dracula, who was born in 1431 and would thus be younger than Draculaura herself, but this can't be taken for certain. Perhaps unintended, the matter of the fake Dracula also brings up doubt about the Monster High canonicity of many other Dracula-related vampires, primarily the Sisters.

Draculaura is known to have cousins living in Transylvania, where she lived until she and Dracula had to flee the region in the 17th century. For her to have cousins, Dracula is to have siblings. There are no canonically confirmed siblings to Dracula in any significant medium, but Monster High may interpret the Sisters as siblings of Dracula.

In the Universal version of Dracula, which is most influential to Monster High, Dracula has a daughter and possibly a son. Neither of these exist in the Monster High universe, in which Draculaura is an only child. She also does not appear to have been designed with the aforementioned daughter, Marya Zaleska, in mind. Both enjoy painting, but this is only a minor detail of Draculaura's character and appears a coincidence sooner than anything more significant.

The vampire sisters Rose and Blanche Van Sangre are identified as Romani^[8] vampires. The Romani people have a history of being associated with vampires in East Europe, where vampirism was seen as something to befall deviating individuals, which Romani were automatically considered to be. In West Europe, it is Dracula that established the association, as his bodyguards on his way back to Transylvania are identified as Romani. They are human though and not confirmed to know they are working for a vampire, though the themes of xenophobia in the novel do aim for an interpretation of 'fellow evil beings'. Rose and Blanche Van Sangre play into this association.

The Vampire Queen, also known as the Queen of the Vampires, is the queen and ruler of all of her kind. The current holder of the title is Elissabat, who resides in Castle Dracool. The next Vampire Queen can only be found with the Vampire's Heart that glows when the true Queen touches it. Prior to "Frights, Camera, Action!", there had not been a Vampire Queen for 400 years. A Vampire Queen wears a special magenta colored crown that resembles a bat. During their coronation, the crown glows with a golden light.

Elissabat as the new Vampire Queen

Elissabat's coronation

Generation 2[]

Like the rest of the monster species, vampires in the second generation of Monster High went into hiding following the Great Monster Fright Flight. Count Dracula and his daughter Draculaura hid in their mansion in the Boonighted States of Scaremerica, where Draculaura longed of interacting with other monsters and coming out of the shadows. One night, they meet Frankie Stein, who bonds with Draculaura and they come up with the idea of maing a school for monsters. Dracula's mansion is converted into Monster High.

It is implied that vampires gain their power, notably bat transformation, when they are mature enough. They are also capable of unleashing a sonic scream ability during this transformation. Not much is known about how vampire society works in G2, but Dracula can still be recognized as some level of prestigious; one artifact he obtains is the Monster Mapalogue, a device shaped like the Skullette which allows people to transport to different monsters by saying their name followed by "Extro-monstrum"; this was how the Ghould Squad was able to find many monsters to attend the school.

There are also still prestigious vampire families that exist, notably the royal VanBat family, who was erased long ago by humans except for their youngest daughter Fangelica. Through Fangelica, it is revealed that vampires can also reproduced, and are born with bat-like features that they grow out of.

It is unknown where other vampires could be, either they're hiding or there may not be any left.

Generation 3[]

In a break from the previous generations, and most general depictions of vampires, vampires in Generation 3 do not seem to have any Eastern European accents, as Draculaura and Dracula have American accents (the live-action films still portray Dracula with an Eastern European accent however, hinting that Draculaura grew up in America).

Draculaura is still a vegan vampire. It is still not known how vampires drink blood, but it could likely be through the traditional way of getting it from humans, given how sea monsters in this generation tend to eat humans. Draculaura deals with her veganism by gaining energy from success and feeling good about herself, and she tracks this energy through a "vamp-ness meter" app on her phone. What will happen to vampires if they do not drink blood is shown through this, since if she increasingly feels worthless whilst on her diet, her whole body will turn gray and she'll decompose entirely.

Dracula is 4000 years old and a former student of Monster High. He is also the most famous vampire in the world, as he is a famous movie star, with his daughter also taking an interest in performance. It is implied that vampires still carry high authority, as Dracula is the PFFT (Premier-First and Foremost Top-Monster), and this position grants him with making major changes in the monster world as well as being a major influence. He wants Draculaura to follow in his footsteps, even though she does not want to.

While most vampires come almost exclusively from Transylvania, they have communities all over the world^[9] - Fang Wei, also known as Wei Fang in English order, is a Taiwanese vampire and the mother to Draculaura, as well as Dracula’s ex-wife. This also means that Draculaura is Dracula's biological daughter, unlike in the first generation, and that vampires in this iteration can also reproduce.

Abilities[]

• Bat Transformation: Vampires can transform into bats at will. Vampires can only gain this ability when they do something outrageously of a good deed. In the original monster high it's also been said in a webisode that vampires can turn into bats when they hit puberty (But this was only mentioned once). This does not seem to be the case in Welcome to Monster High. In "Welcome to Monster High", each vampire has a different smoke color when transforming into a bat; Draculaura's is pink and Dracula's is dark purple.
• Blood Sucking: Vampires suck out blood through someone's neck via their fangs. Vampires turn humans into vampires by doing so.
• Levitation: Vampires are able to levitate at a small height.
• Hanging from surfaces: Vampires can hang from any ceiling no matter what material it is made of.
• Supersonic Hearing: Batsy can listen to sounds from a very long distance, and instantly recognize what they are, due to sensorial waves she receives through her ears, specialized to do so. This comes in handy when protecting her jungle. This is most likely an ability only vampire bat type vampires have.
• Echo Location: Bat-type vampires can project a powerful sound from their mouth that resembles that of a bat screeching that is powerful enough to destroy even layers of metal.
• Voice Throwing: Batsy can also use this skill to project her voice to somewhere or something else, which to other people will seem as if the sound comes from some place aside from her, a distraction maneuver that comes in handy.
• Flight: Most vampires in their bat form can fly, but if a vampire bat type vampire is like Batsy then, they have wings on their backs to help them fly.
• Immortality: Vampires are immortal, because they are already dead.
• Eternal Youth: Vampires never grow old. If someone becomes a vampire, they stop aging.
• Hypnosis: With his rosy eyes, Kieran Valentine as an emotional vampire can force anyone, even other vampires, to feel romantically attracted towards him, even if consent isn't given.
• Misc. Love Spells: Kieran Valentine can do several love-related tricks, such as flashing a heart atmosphere.
• Energy Leeching: All emotional vampires can feed off life energy.
• Love Extraction: Valentine can extract the love from any full heart, as he feeds on love.
• Glamor: Wei Fang can do something similar to hypnotizing people with her voice.
• Telepathic Communication: Like most vampires in generation 3, Fang Wei can communicate telepathically with other vampires.

Weaknesses[]

• Sunlight: Vampires need to wear sunscreen when they go outside or carry around parasols when they go outside since they can burn up very easily. However, some vampires in the webisodes and movies go out in the sun just fine.
• Garlic: Garlic can cause vampires to form pimples, if it has any other effect on them is unknown.
• Invited In: Vampires have to be invited in before they can enter certain locations like houses and private locations.

Known Vampires[]

Etymology[]

After Austria gained control of northern Serbia and Oltenia with the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718, officials noted the local practice of exhuming bodies and "killing vampires". Reports hereof, prepared between 1725 and 1732, received widespread publicity. Specifically, it was the Serbian word "вампир" ("vampir"), used for Arnold Paole, a purported vampire from the period when Serbia was incorporated into the Austrian Empire, that made it into the West European languages.

What the word ultimately means is unknown, though there are two theories. Almost all Slavic languages possess some variation of the word, such as "upir", "wąpierz", and "upiór". One theory thus states that the Slavic languages have adopted the word from a Turkic term for "evil supernatural entity" (commonly simplified as "witch"), which is the Tatar word "ubyr". The word "upir" as a term for a vampire is found for the first time in written form in 1047 in a letter to a Novgorodian prince referring to him as "Upir Lichyj" ("Wicked Vampire"). Another theory is that the Slavic variations come from the Slovak verb "vrepiť sa", which means "stick to" or "thrust into", which would make "upír" translatable as "someone who thrusts or bites".

Following the popularization of vampires in horror stories in the early 19th century, the word "vampire" has been adapted to represent two monster definitions. Primarily, "vampire" refers to the common Western idea of a blood-sucking undead with fangs and a dislike for sunlight. Secondarily, the word can describe the collective of vampiric creatures abundantly present in the mythology of about every culture. In this sense, the word is a little arbitrarily applied. A vampire of this kind is not required to drink blood, only to feed on something either the living or the pure possess, although many creatures do this, like zombies, who are not called vampires.

Gallery[]

Draculaura

Batsy Claro

Elissabat

Dracula in Generation 2

Fangelica Vanbat

Gory Fangtell

Bram Devein

Kieran Valentine

Olympia Wingfield half-vampire, half-centaur

Stoker

Thad

Smogsnorts Vampyr Academy students

Draculaura in Generation 2

Draculaura in Generation 3

Dracula in Generation 3

Wei Fang

Brahm

Notes[]

• Mattel has trademarks standing for Bram Devein and Gory Fangtell. Bram's trademark dates from around the premier of "Fright On!", though has yet to be used.
• Both John Polidori's The Vampyre and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus are based on a reading of the 1812 horror story collection Fantasmagoriana in the summer of 1816 at the Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva in Switzerland.
• The Twilight book and movie series has been referenced in the cartoon series with the TwiHard series, which has been mentioned in "Shock and Awesome" and "Fright On!".
• The Monster High monster hunter Van Hellscream is based on post-novel interpretations of Dracula's Abraham Van Helsing.
• Sunlight as a weakness to vampires is not actually from traditional vampire folkfore at all, as many types of vampires can survive just fine in the sunlight, instead it was originated from the unauthorized 1922 German film adaptation, Nosferatu.

External links []

• https://www.history.com/topics/folklore/vampire-history
• https://mythology.net/mythical-creatures/vampire/

References[]