Vampire

Tropes and genres
Synonym(s)	vampyre
Related tropes/genres	Vampire AU, A Little Less Sixteen Candles AU, creature!fic, Elf AU, werewolf
See also	Biting
Related articles on Fanlore.

Stories and art containing Vampires may be created in fandoms in which the existence of vampires is canon or for source materials lacking vampires or supernatural elements in general (e.g. The Sentinel, Starsky and Hutch).

In source materials with canon vampires, fandom often develops or expands on societal structures and norms within vampire society. Buffyverse fanwriters developed detailed headcanons around Sire/Childe relationships and vampire mating rituals; two tropes with little or no basis in canon. However stories involving vampires are often influenced by other source materials with canon vampires. Buffyverse fanwriters are believed to have been influenced by Vampire: The Masquerade role-playing game, which was itself influenced by Anne Rices' The Vampire Chronicles.

In fandoms where vampires are minor characters, or where vampires exist but only as antagonists, fanwriters may use original characters to examine vampiric relationships and culture in that canon. Alternatively a character may be bitten and turn into a vampire. Vampire AU stories also appear.

Fandoms with canon vampires

Below are some fandoms with vampire-centric canons. See also List of Vampire Fandoms for more fandoms:

Angel the Series Being Human Buffy the Vampire Slayer Dracula Forever Knight

True Blood TRUMP Twilight The Vampire Chronicles The Vampire Diaries What We Do in the Shadows

Vampires as secondary canon elements

Several canons have vampires that are a major plot element when seen, but aren't always part of the story; for example, a recurring vampire character who isn't always in the story, in a series that isn't otherwise about vampires.

• The game Baldur's Gate III has a vampire origin main character or companion (depending on player selection), Astarion, who is one of the most popular fandom characters. Apart from him there are several canon vampires, like his master, his siblings and mentioned relatives. Although there is even a companion quest related to vampires, it is possible to completely avoid meeting or hearing of any during a playthrough.
• The Destroyer canon includes books in which vampires are the main threat, but they are a small percentage of this canon.
• Doctor Who has several vampire species, especially the primordial Great Vampires, Haemovores and the fishlike vampires of Vampires of Venice. They are seen in several episodes and described in detail, but don't appear very often.
• Several vampire factions are seen in The Dresden Files (more so in the books than on TV), but they are not always the main focus of the stories.
• The Laundry Files series has vampires, but they don't appear until several books into the series.
• Preacher (Comic) has a semi-regular vampire character, but isn't primarily a story about vampires.
• Sanctuary has a canon vampire character who appears occasionally, but vampirism is rarely the main thrust of stories.
• Professional Wrestling has Gangrel, aka The Vampire Warrior, Vampiro, and Kevin Thorn. Gangrel and Thorn held the VCW (Vanguard Championship Wrestling in Virginia) Tag Team Titles.

Vampires as minor canon elements

While the existence of vampires is canon in some cases such as Supernatural and Harry Potter, the vampires play a very minor role and might only be mentioned in passing. This often results in a lack of canon-specific vampire lore that is filled by fanfic. Sometimes, fan authors develop an entire original society and culture for the vampires in their stories.

Since no major canon character is a vampire in these cases, these stories generally feature original characters as vampires or a canon character is turned into a vampire for the purpose of the story. In some cases, a canon character such as Severus Snape is depicted as having always been a vampire without the other characters knowing of it.

Vampires in Fanworks

Common Tropes & Storylines

• Sire Bond is a trope that appears in Buffyverse, TVD, True Blood and other vampire centric fandoms
• Vampire character becomes human
• Biting and Bloodplay
• Claiming or other mating rituals between vampires, or between a vampire and a human

Vampire AUs

Main article: Vampire AU

A Vampire AU is a type of Alternate Universe story, similar to the Elf AU, in which vampires exist (in the case of vampireless canons) or in which a non-vampiric character is recast as a vampire (regardless of whether vampires appear in canon).

Starsky and Hutch in a crossover with Forever Knight

Vampire AUs can appear in any fandom. For example, Vampire!Hobbit stories were popular enough in LOTR a few years ago to get their own archive, Anklebiters!.

Example Fanworks

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Fanfiction

• Rats' Alley by FabulaRasa. One of the many vampire!Snape stories (Harry Potter)
• (To Die Will Be) An Awfully Big Adventure is a Bandom fic by FayJay
• Gerard Way's (Vampire) Detective Agency, a Bandom fic by jjtaylor
• The Last Vampire is a Forever Knight story by Diane Echelbarger.

Vampire-themed zines

• Dyad: The Vampire Stories (multimedia)
• Love Bites (multimedia)
• Under the Gibbous Moon (multimedia)
• Vampire Quarterly
• The Vampire's Crypt

Vampire-themed challenges

• Shuakeshu vampire week 2020 was a Persona 5 Fanweek that took place in October 2020.
• BNHA Vampire Week was a Boku No Hero Academia Fanweek that took place in July 2021 and August 2022.
• HQ Vampire Week was a Haikyuu!! Fanweek that took place in December 2021.

Meta/Further Reading

• Too Many Vampires by Debra Fran Baker (2000)
• Are vampires the new "real men" for women?, discussion at rec.arts.sf.written with eight pages (191 posts by 56 authors) of comments (May 3, 2006)
• Vampirism as a metaphor for privilege by meganphntmgrl (24 Jan. 2014)
• The Evolution of Vampires in Pop Culture by Shanspeare (YouTube, 2022)

Communities

• Vampire Big Bang (LiveJournal)
• S.O.UND.(fan club)

Archives & Links

• Vampires works on Ao3