Vampire

Trope · Genre
Synonyms:	vampyre
Related:	Vampire AU, A Little Less Sixteen Candles AU, creature!fic, Elf AU, werewolf
See Also:
Tropes · Slash Tropes · Tropes by Fandom
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Stories and art containing vampires may be created in fandoms in which the existence of vampires is canon or for canon sources lacking vampires or supernatural elements in general (e.g. The Sentinel, Starsky and Hutch).

Fandoms with canon vampires

Fandoms with vampire-centric canons include:

• Angel the Series
• Anita Blake
• Anno Dracula and sequels by Kim Newman
• Being Human
• Blood Ties
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Carry On
• Dark Shadows
• Dracula
• Forever Knight
• Hellsing
• Innocent Blood
• Kindred: The Embraced
• The Lost Boys
• Moonlight
• True Blood
• Twilight
• Vampire Academy
• The Vampire Chronicles
• The Vampire Diaries
• The Vampire Genevive by Jack Yeovil

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 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.

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

• Rats' Alley by FabulaRasa. One of the many vampire!Snape stories (Harry Potter)

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!.

Vampire-themed zines

• Dyad: The Vampire Stories (multimedia)
• Love Bites (multimedia)
• Under the Gibbous Moon (multimedia)

Meta/Further Reading

• 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)

Communities

• Vampire Big Bang (LiveJournal)