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A Dhampir is a being in Roma folklore that is half-vampire and half-human, born from a vampire father and a human mother. Generally the female does not come to full term and the baby is lost. In other instances, the mother comes to term and gives birth to a stillborn. In extremely rare cases will a dhampir be born and grow to adulthood.
The dhampir
They are sometimes said to be able to kill vampires. Dhampirs are conflicted creatures, as they cannot turn from either of their bloodlines. They are outcasts among both humans and vampires, for they are neither. They also tend to have many health problems including bi-polar disorder, major depression, insanity, heat syndrome, photodermatosis, and anemia. During their teen years, many dhampirs also have urges of suicide, which can extend into their adulthood if they survive.
Famous dhampirs
Japanese author Hideyuki Kikuchi has written over fourteen novels in his Vampire Hunter D series about a dhampir called 'D', who travels across a war-torn land fighting against 'The Nobility' (vampires). There have been two anime adaptions of his books, and the anime Hellsing is said to have borrowed ideas from Kikuchi's novels by the way of the dhampir Alucard, who has a very similar parentage to that of Kikuchi's D.
From the Castlevania series of video games, Adrian Farenheights Tepes (also known as simply as Alucard) is the offspring of an unnatural bond between Dracula and a human woman named Lisa. As he grew up, Alucard discovered his strong powers and decided to go against his father and stop his evil doings.
Another dhampir is Blade, from the eponymous comic book series. He became a popular character through the Blade movie made in 1998 and its sequels, starring Wesley Snipes as the main hybrid hero. However, instead of being the offspring of a vampire and human, Blade's mother was bitten by a vampire while she was pregnant with her baby, Eric. As the bite changed Eric's mother, it changed him as well. Eric's mother gave birth, then died; rising later that night as a vampire and leaving Eric alone in the world to grow up half starved and meet the vampire hunter Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson).
Rayne, the main character of the BloodRayne video game franchise, is another dhampir.
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