Vampires & Werewolves & Others [information]

Dhampir

Nature

Lore

The word dhampir is associated with folklore of the Roma, gypsies of the Balkans. In other areas it is believed that the offspring of a vampire will be slippery like jelly, and cannot live (Vukanovic 1957-1959, pt. 3, p. 112).

Family

Throughout the area the term dhampir refers to the offspring of a vampire and a human; terms for such a being that are used in various subregions include vampijerovic, vampiric (little vampire), and lampijerovic; in some regions the child is named "Vampir" if a boy and "Vampiresa" if a girl, or Dhampir if a boy and Dhampiresa if a girl.

Powers

Among all Balkan peoples it is believed that the child of a vampire can see and destroy vampires. Among some groups, the ability to see vampires is considered exclusive to dhampirs. The powers of a dhampir may be inherited by the dhampir's offspring and cannot be taught.. Such a living male offspring would sometimes become a professional vampire hunter and destroyer.

In some lore, dhampires (plural) pass their skills to their own sons: their ability is inherited

A Dhampir can enable others to see vampires by taking off his shirt and letting them see through the sleeves.

A Dhampir is believed to have great strength, many abilities, and the bloodlust of his vampire father.

Behavior

Various means of killing or driving away vampires are recognized among peoples of the region, but the dhampir is seen as the chief agent for dealing with vampires. Methods by which a dhampir kills a vampire include shooting the vampire with a bullet, transfixing it with a hawthorn stake, and performing a ceremony that involves touching "crowns" of lead to the vampire's grave. If the dhampir cannot destroy a vampire, he may command it to leave the area.

A dhampir is always paid well for his services. The amount of money varies, but there is never dickering over the price. Standard pay for a dhampir may also include a meal or a suit of clothing. Sometimes a dhampir is paid in cattle. As late as 1959, professional dhampirs were still in business in Kosova.

False dhampirs

Quite often charlatans traveling the regions around the Carpathian Mountains and elsewhere in Eastern Europe would claim to be dhampirs. Operating by the original myth of vampyr (old spelling, both singular and plural) as spirit creatures, they were the only ones who could see the spirit and would put on elaborate shows for villages, often wrestling with an invisible foe until it was then trapped in a brass vessel. Usually a dhampir would wait until there was a death in a village.

As rural people tended to be more superstitious, unnatural explanations would be believed for unusual events, real or imagined (such as believing to have seen the dead walking the village at night). The belief was that the vampyr would take over the recently dead corpse, for as long as it would last, to invade villages. They fed off life force directly, not by blood, sometimes killing victims in close proximity so life leaving the body could be consumed more quickly.) Once fear, grief and superstition took hold in a village following a recent death, the dhampir would "come to the rescue

Fiction

Books

Vampire Academy Series

Richelle Mead's series heavily emphasizes Dhampirs as one of the three races of vampires. In the series Dhampirs are the offspring of live vampires (Moroi) and either a human or another Dhampir. Rose Hathaway, the main protagonist, is Dhampir.