Vampire

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## Species Information

### Related species

HumanOriginal Vampire

Enhanced Original Vampire

Hybrid

Original Hybrid

Upgraded Original Vampire

### Distinction

Undead humans who feed on blood and do not age, due to their Immortality

## ***Creation***

### A human who has consumed vampire blood in some way (whether by drinking it, having it poured into their open wound, or by being injected with it) and has subsequently died with the blood in their system will be magically revived as an undead vampire, just like the vampire who sired them. The exact nature of the human's death is irrelevant to this process; the only condition that must be met is that the body has to be more-or-less intact and able to function once they reawaken in transition, though the upper limits of physical damage upon a human body by which vampirism can recover has yet to be defined.

* ***Vampire In Transition***

## ***Attitudes Toward Humans***

Vampires generally coexist with humans due to their shared origins and appearances. Humans are mostly oblivious to the existence of vampires, which makes it easier for vampires to commingle with their human cohorts without detection or exposure. Most of the few people who do know about vampires have either been killed to ensure their silence, compelled to forget their encounters with them, or, in some cases, are compelled not to speak of it to anyone, which lessens the chances that the vampire species will be exposed to the public.

Attitudes of vampires towards humans vary from individual to individual. Some see humans as simply food, servants, and/or entertainment, while others feel compassion for humans, remembering their lives before becoming vampires and not wanting to cause any more harm to them than necessary, and even regarding certain humans as close friends, lovers, or family. In general, vampires are known to see humans as less compared to themselves and ultimately regard their lives as being essentially insignificant, as humans are mortal whereas vampires live forever. As a result of their immortality and the fatal violence they witness on a regular basis, the death of a human who has no significant connection to the vampire is typically a non-event for them, and is either shrugged off as collateral damage or seen as a means to an end in part of whatever the vampire in question's current agenda is.

## ***Powers and Abilities***

* ***Super Strength***: Vampires are noticeably much stronger than Supernatural Hunters, immortals and humans and slowly grow stronger as they grow older. Even new vampires who are still in transition can toss an average-size, fully-grown human across a room with great speed and force. Their other feats include single-handedly lifting grown men high off the ground by the throat and snapping their necks, cutting off a person's head with their bare hands, and ripping out internal organs such as hearts with little to no effort. Their strength is also more powerful than that of werewolves in their human form and, depending on the age of the vampire, can be equal to that of Evolved werewolves. Their strength allows them to jump higher and further than any natural creature. Vampires who feed on humans are stronger than those who feed on animal blood. In *Fifty Shades of Grayson*, Damon, a 173 year old vampire, was seen smashing his hand continuously into a stone wall, causing a large portion to chip off. However, young vampires may have difficulties while dealing with truly heavy objects, such as when Caroline, who had been a vampire for roughly three years at this point, couldn't move a large safe by herself in *The Cell* and asked for Stefan's help, though this could be because the safe was taller and wider than Caroline was, making it more difficult for her to wrap her arms around it to lift it. Although noted that a vampire's strength enhances with age, it can also be noted that the emotional status of the vampire takes a toll on the strength. For example, Caroline was able to fight on par with Damon after only being recently turned, this was according to her, because she was "angrier." This happened again in a fight between the newly-turned Elena and the 500+ year old Katerina Petrova, since Elena was both furiously enraged for her role in her brother, Jeremy's death and managed to catch Katherine off-guard in the fight.
* **Super Speed**: Vampires are much faster than various other human and supernatural beings such as supernatural hunters, immortals, and werewolves in human form. Vampires can accelerate their movements to cover short distances in an instant, usually faster than the human eye can see. When running across long distances, they appear as vibrating blurs of motion allowing them to appear or vanish quickly and quietly. Their reflexes and dexterity are similarly heightened, allowing them to catch certain projectiles such as arrows and thrown stakes in the air with ease.
* **Super Agility**: Vampires possess super-human agility, such that they can react quickly, jump very high, climb, and run incredibly fast without difficulty or exhaustion. For example, Stefan picked up Elena and jumped high enough to propel both of them to the top of a Ferris wheel at a carnival. Similarly, Elena jumped from the ground up onto the roof of a two-story school, and she also jumped down into a ravine that was hundreds of feet deep, landing on her feet with no injuries whatsoever.
* **Super Senses**: Vampires have extremely keen senses of hearing, sight, smell, and taste that far exceed those of humans and werewolves. They can hear whispered conversations, even ones in far of buildings and on phones, though most vampires typically learn how to tune out most ambient noises when it's not necessary to hear them—Josh, a newborn vampire, explained that vampires can turn their enhanced hearing off, which explains why they can occasionally miss auditory warnings, such as the footsteps of approaching enemies, when they're paying attention to other things. Vampires can also smell blood from several meters away, and see in total darkness. Their senses of taste are also enhanced as well, allowing them to detect the presence of drugs, alcohol, or vervain in someone's blood.
* Super Durability: Vampires can take a great amount of physical damage without being slowed down. Even vampires who have been shot with wooden bullets, which have a weakening effect on vampires, have been seen to continue fighting so long as they were not shot in the heart or the head. Vampires still react to physical force in a human manner, particularly young vampires, who will occasionally be affected even by human-strength-level force. Vampires can also still be stunned and dazed by strikes and trauma, though their tolerance for it will increase as they get older.
* **Healing Factor**: Vampires recover tissue from any form of physical damage to their bodies within seconds to minutes, though they still feel the pain of a wound before it heals. Vampires can snap their bones back into place after they have been broken and have been seen to fully recover from gunshots, stab wounds, and torso impalement very quickly, so long as they had consumed a regular diet of human blood prior to the injury. Those vampires who feed on animals will still heal much faster than a human, but their injuries, especially severe ones, will take much longer to heal than a vampire who feeds on human blood. The only injury a vampire can sustain that cannot be healed on its own or by consuming more blood is a werewolf bite, which requires Klaus' or Hope's blood or a very rare scientifically-created serum to cure. Also, a vampire's enhanced healing is limited to physical damage to their bodies—many forms of magical damage (such as the damage caused by The Phoenix Sword) and psychological damage are beyond its capability. Vampires cannot grow back body parts, though they can reattach the severed limb with some effort, as evidenced when Bonnie cut off Enzo's hand to use it to get into the basement of the Armory and Alex reattached it while he was passed out.
* **Immortality**: A vampire stops aging once turned. Upon their transformation, vampires become immune to all conventional illness, diseases, viruses and infections. While vampires who were cancer-free as humans will be immune to cancer after they are turned, those humans who were turned while they had cancer will not only still have it as a vampire, but their newly-enhanced healing factor will accelerate the progression of the cancer cells over two-fold, nearly always causing the cancer-stricken vampire to kill themselves to end their suffering.
* **Enhanced Emotions**: Vampires experience emotions more powerfully than humans. Emotions like love, joy, and happiness are magnified for vampires, allowing them to live life more intensely. This ability allows vampires to feel emotions at their peak regardless of their age. Conversely, sadness, depression, guilt, fear and anger are also amplified, causing many vampires to become so overwhelmed that they "turn off" their humanity. Turning off their humanity allows them to block out their more negative emotions, such as fear and guilt, allowing them to feed and kill without remorse, go against any opponent without fear, and relieve themselves of painful feelings such as grief, loss, depression, and shame. A vampire without their emotions is far more calculating and direct than one who keeps them on. However, the vampire can become a remorseless killer, and are almost unrecognizable from the person they truly are, as blocking out negative emotions also causes their positive emotions to become dulled or nonexistent as well. Vampires are capable of turning their humanity back on and bringing back their emotions, but it is difficult as a result of the fact that they will be bombarded with all of their repressed emotions in addition to the guilt of anything they did without their humanity with enhanced intensity. This ability fades with time and vampires who are over 500 years old have said that they have lost the ability to turn off their humanity altogether. After time and practice, the overwhelming sensations of heightened emotions fade as the vampire learns to overcome their emotions without turning off their humanity all together.
* **Mind Compulsion:** Vampires have the ability to influence and control thoughts, emotions, and behavior and can alter or erase memories. There is a sort of hierarchy as to how this ability works and have a weaker form than that of Original vampires and can only compel humans and cannot compel other supernatural beings..
* **Sire Bond:** Although rare among them, sire bonds can be formed when a human is turned with the blood of the vampire for whom they had strong romantic feelings before they were turned. Those vampires with a sire bond are supernaturally loyal to their sires to the point that they will go out of their way to do whatever their sire asks them to do, even if they don't actually want to do it. However, this bond doesn't affect how they truly feel about their sire, it only affects their behavior.
* **Telepathy:** Vampires have a limited form of telepathy that allows them to easily enter the minds of humans, and with more effort, the minds of other supernatural beings. Other ways to weaken a vampire to use telepathy on them are to starve them or drain them of blood, inject them with vervain, or expose them to werewolf venom. It is one of the hardest abilities to master, and because of this, it is usually the last of the mind-control-related abilities a vampire learns after becoming proficient in mind compulsion. Normally, this ability works through tactile contact, usually by the vampire placing the palms of his or her hands on the temples of the vampire whose mind they want to enter. The vampire then closes their eyes and focuses on the information they wish to seek, allowing them to sort through their victims' memories until they see what they're looking for. However, Damon and Elijah have been shown to mentally communicate with others from a short distance without tactile contact in order to send distress calls and mental images during emergency situations. Like their physical attributes, a vampire's mental strength increases with age, making it difficult for a vampire to invade the mind of an ancient vampire or even that of the Originals.
* **True Face:** A vampire's true face is the appearance they are hiding under their normal human face. When a vampire's true face is revealed, the sclera of their eyes turns blood-red, dark veins appear under their eyes as the blood pumps forcefully through them, and their canine teeth extend into razor-sharp fangs. On some occasions, a vampire's fang teeth can include both their canines and their lateral incisors, in the case of Katherine, Elena, Isobel, and Lexi, or both their canines and their premolars, such as in Klaus, Lucien, Damon, and Tyler's case. A vampire's true face can be revealed whenever they wish, but it will appear against their will whenever they are aroused by the scent of blood, or are feeling intense emotions such as fear, anger, lust, sadness, etc. A vampire's fangs are extremely sharp which gives them the ability to tear into almost any substance and tear off limbs. A vampire's true face will appear for the first time either while they drink human blood for the first time or shortly afterward. With the fangs come the darkened veins under the eyes as well.

## Weaknesses

If vampires are killed by a wooden object stabbed through their heart, their body desiccates into a gray color, and their vampiric veins thicken and protrude from their skin. Vampires can build up a tolerance to some weaknesses, such as vervain, allowing them to protect themselves from compulsion by an Original and to help lessen the likelihood that it will seriously incapacitate them when used by enemies. However, it will still burn them upon contact, but if ingested, it will not weaken them as much if they take small amounts over time to increase their immunity.

* **Animal Blood:** Animal blood, while somewhat satisfying a vampire's hunger and sustaining their undead life, will make the vampire considerably weaker than they would be if they had drank human blood, causing their physical abilities to be inferior to a human-blood-consuming vampire, making them heal much more slowly, and making their compulsion less effective.
* **Broken Neck:** Breaking a vampire's neck will not kill them, but it will render in a death-like state for varying amounts of time, depending on the diet and age of the person in question.
* **The Cure:** If a vampire takes the cure, they will revert back to being mortal again. Once taken, the cure prevents vampire blood from having any effect on them, as it will not heal their wounds, and, if the vampire dies with vampire blood in their system, they will remain dead and not awaken as a vampire in transition.
* **Decapitation:** Dismembering or manually removing the head of a vampire will result in an instant and permanent death.
* **Desiccation:** Vampires who abstain from blood for extended amounts of time will eventually desiccate and mummify. Witches can use magic to desiccate a vampire.
* **Fire:** Vampires are highly flammable and sensitive to fire, and will quickly burn and die from it if the flames are not extinguished in time. This quality has been proven to be useful in disposing of the remains of a dead vampire without any physical evidence.
* **Heart Extraction:** Removing the heart of a vampire will result in permanent death.
* **Invitation:** Vampires cannot enter a home without an invitation by the owner. An invitation can be granted long-distance and even by someone who hasn't lived in the house in years.
* **Magic:** Vampires are susceptible to the powers of witchcraft. This is inclusive of mystical objects such as the Gilbert Device and dark objects. A Siphoner can also siphon the magic from a vampire to fuel their spells.
* **Physical Trauma:** Minor physical injuries such as gunshots, stab wounds, and broken bones will cause pain and also slow them down. However, this is momentary as they will heal completely so long as they haven't been weakened by other means such as vervain or werewolf bites.
* **Poison:** There are various poisons invented by people, such as Dr. Wes Maxfield and Aya, that are capable of incapacitating or desiccating a vampire when administered.
* **Sunlight:** Sunlight and UV rays burn vampires on contact, and prolonged exposure will cause them to burst into flames and die.
* **Vampire Bloodline:** If an Original vampire dies, all vampires descended from their bloodline will slowly perish as well. Members of Klaus and Elijah's bloodline were unlinked from them; thus they were spared upon his death unlike Finn, and Kol's sirelines.
* **Vervain:** Exposure to or ingestion of vervain causes a vampire to become severely feverish and weak to the point that it can even hinder their healing abilities as well.
* **Werewolf Venom:** The bite of a werewolf, which involves injecting toxic venom into the wound, is extremely lethal to vampires. It will cause them to hallucinate, grow severely weak, and go rabid until it kills them. Klaus' or Hope's blood is the only surefire way to cure the bite, though one of the doctors allied with the Travelers managed to come up with a cure for the enhanced Ripper compound, which contained small amounts of werewolf venom.
	+ **Advanced Werewolf Venom:** The venom is infused in the bite of an Upgraded Original vampire. Similarly, it is fatal to that of a werewolf or hybrid bite, although working twice as fast and more painfully. It is so potent that not even the blood of Klaus or Hope Mikaelson can cure it, nor will the blood of the Upgraded Original vampire.
* **Wood:** Wounding a vampire with a wooden weapon, such as wooden bullets, will incapacitate them and it will take longer for them to heal their injuries than if the wounds were caused by any other substance. Stabbing a vampire through the heart with a wooden stake or shooting them with wooden bullets will result in instantaneous and permanent death.
* **White Oak Ash Daggers**: It is said that if a vampire daggers an Original vampire, they will die while the Original vampire is neutralized. This, however, has never been proven.
* **Cancer:** A unique weakness that rarely occurs under specific circumstances. Although vampires cannot develop diseases and illnesses, such as cancer, if a human has active cancer and is turned into a vampire, the effects of the cancer will increase. The regenerative properties of vampire blood will cause cancer cells to sporadically replicate, and exceed normal stages of the condition.

## ***Myths***

### **"Oh for god sake! Garlic ?! Really ? I'm not fucking Draucla!"- Lucien in** **High Water and a Devil's Daughter**

* **Garlic**: The vampire's supposed repulsion towards garlic may have been a fabricated lie, similar to how werewolves are not actually immune to silver. This myth was presumably started to hide the fact that vampires are actually vulnerable to vervain.
* **Holy Items**: The myth that vampires could be harmed using holy artifacts like crosses, blessed ground, and holy water may have circulated from the belief that they are unholy creatures originating from Hell and in league with the Devil.
* **Mirrors:** The myth that vampires did not cast a reflection may have come from the belief that vampires had no souls.
* Shapeshifting: The origin of the myth that vampires had the power to morph into a bat, wolf, rat, or a cloud of mist is unknown. It may be the result of a mistake of perception between vampires and werewolves. Or it may even be related to Silas, who has the ability to cast psychic illusions to appear as anyone he chooses.
* **Soulless**: The belief that vampires are soulless beings may have stemmed from their ability to shut down their humanity, causing them to block out their emotions and behave without remorse or regret, giving off the impression that they have no conscience and by extension, lack a soul.
* **Death**: Contrary to popular belief, vampires have beating hearts and they cannot function without oxygen. They will, however, be forced to revive after suffocation or oxygen deprivation but will only die again if the circumstances of their revival are less than favorable.

## ***Trivia***

* Originally, vampires were supposed to turn to dust when staked through the heart as opposed to leaving behind a body.
* As predators, vampires enjoy stalking and toying with their victims before biting and drinking their blood. Stefan once explained to Elena how the hunt is often more enjoyable to vampires than the actual feeding.
* Vampires can suppress their bloodlust to a limited degree by consuming alcohol or eating human food to sublimate their cravings, though they cannot serve as replacements for actual blood. They may also consume coffee to keep their body warmer to avoid spooking humans when touched.
* It is disputed whether removing non-vital organs will kill a vampire. When Damon's eyes were clawed out by Pearl, they later regenerated, and he was also able to regenerate portions of various internal organs that were removed by Dr. Whitmore during his captivity by Augustine, but as far as it is known, no vampire has had a whole non-vital organ removed.
* Dr. Wes Maxfield, Dr. Whitmore, and Dr. Grayson Gilbert are all doctors who have been known to scientifically study vampire physiology, often through tortuous surgical procedures without anesthetic.
* Vampires cannot technically own property with respect to supernatural protection through invitation. This is why many vampires prefer to live in a home owned by a human, usually one who lives in the home who they have compelled to obey their wishes—if an unfriendly vampire comes to visit, the vampire in question can simply compel the human not to let the hostile visitor in under any circumstances, preventing them from entering.
	+ However, it has been shown that vampires can force non-compelled humans to invite them in under duress by threatening their lives or the lives of their loved ones. Vampires have also been seen to kill compelled humans to bypass the invitation rule, or to burn down or otherwise destroy a home in retribution for not allowing them entry.
* Some witches like Josephine LaRue consider vampires "monsters wearing the skin of humans."
* In *Mommie Dearest*, Alaric theorizes that despite being technically dead, a vampire body still has basic human functions so long as they have a healthy diet of blood, such as having a beating heart, the ability to breath, and the ability to eat and digest human food (though vampires themselves derive no nutrition from it), so it should be capable of supporting a baby or two.