Famous Vampire Children

Throughout most of vampire fiction there is a hard and fast rule about turning children into vampires... Don't. Each franchise seems to have it's own reasons for banning the creation of child vampires but almost all agree it's a very bad idea.

Some reasons for banning the creation of child vampires have included:

-Vampire children are too small to take care of themselves and therefore need a guardian with them to help them feed and survive which makes them a liability to other vampires.

- Vampire children, no matter how old they become in vampire years, will always have a child's mind. This makes them unpredictable and uncontrollable. You thought watching the temper tantrum of a five year old was bad, imagine if that five year old had fangs and knew how to use 'em!

- Vampire children will never grow up. This means that even if a vampire child lives for three hundred years they will still physically be the age they were when they were turned. Could you imagine being three hundred years old and stuck in a seven year old's body?

- Vampire children have no self control. It's pretty common knowledge that most children don't know when enough is enough, for proof of this just leave a kid alone with their sack of candy after a successful Halloween night. It's a pretty safe bet that if allowed to, most kids will have devoured everything but the apples and popcorn balls by morning with aching tummies to show for it. Now imagine a vampire child that just doesn't know when to say when. Can you say bloodbath? The vampire community just doesn't need the kind of exposure that can come from a vampire child on a feeding frenzy.

Even though vampire societies from almost every vampire franchise including everything from The Vampire Chronicles to The Twilight Saga ban the creation of vampire children every so often one still manages to climb out of the coffin. Today we salute some of those um, precious darlings.

Claudia from Interview with the Vampire. Possibly the most well known child vampire, Claudia was the 'child' of Lestat and Louis. One night after yet another in an endless stream of arguments between Lestat and Louis, Louis was wandering through the plague infested underbelly of New Orleans when he stumbled upon a young girl and her dead mother. Believing that Louis had come to help her wake her mother, Louis instead fed from the child only to be caught in the act by a delighted Lestat. Louis had finally succumbed to his desire for human blood. Realizing what he had done, Louis ran off in horror. Upon returning to he and Lestat's flat, Louis was shocked to find Lestat waiting for him with the child. Against Louis' protests Lestat turned the child into a vampire as a ploy to keep Louis from leaving him. Over the decades the three seemed happy enough together, until Claudia decided she had grown tired of Lestat and devised a plan to kill him. With Lestat gone Claudia and Louis traveled the world in hopes of finding other vampires and succeeded in finding the Theatre des Vampires, a coven led by the vampire Armand in Paris. It was in Paris that Louis and Claudia learned that there was one rule that carried the penalty of death in the vampire world, never kill your own kind. When it was learned that Claudia had tried to kill Lestat not once but twice, she was sentenced by Armand to die for her crimes. Louis was to learn centuries later that Lestat had in fact survived Claudia's assassination attempt. Claudia is played by Kirsten Dunst.

Ralphie and Danny Glick from Salem's Lot. The first of our 'two for ones' Ralphie and Danny Glick were a pair of brothers living in the small town of Salem's Lot. Ralphie was the first victim of the vampire Kurt Barlow and his human sentinel Richard Straker. When Ralphie and Danny were returning home from their friend Mark Petrie's house the boys are separated and Ralphie goes missing. Shortly afterwards Danny becomes sick and doctors fear he might have tuberculous. What's happening to Danny is much worse than TB, Danny is being visited by his little brother who is now a member of the recently undead. It's not long before Ralphie finishes Danny off and he becomes a vampire as well. Later Danny tries to convince their friend Mark to let him into his room but Mark is a clever boy with an understanding of the occult and refuses to allow Danny to enter. This however does not keep the two brothers from wreaking havoc throughout Salem's Lot, including attacking their own parents. Ralphie and Danny Glick were first played by Ronnie Scribner and Brad Savage in the 1979 version and Zac Richmond and Andre de Vanny in the 2004 remake.

Eli from Let the Right One In. Eli is a child vampire who befriends a lonely misfit boy named Oskar when she and her 'guardian' move into his apartment complex. At first Eli tells Oskar that they cannot be friends but Eli feels drawn to the boy and eventually tells him that she is a vampire. Oskar doesn't mind that his new friend is a vampire and as the two become close Eli encourages Oskar to stand up for himself against the bullies that torment him. Eli relies on her guardian Håkan to obtain blood for her but when he fails he disfigures himself in order to not be identified and traced back to Eli. Eli has a difficult time obtaining blood for herself and when Oskar attacks one of his tormenters and the rest of the bullies go after him in retaliation Eli and Oskar skip town hoping to start a new life together. Eli is played by Lina Leandersson.

Rudolph and Anna Sackville-Bagg from The Little Vampire. Based on the books by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg, The Little Vampire was released as a major motion picture in 2000. Our second pair of siblings, Rudolph and Anna are a pair of vampire children who befriend young Tony Thompson, a boy who has recently moved to Scotland with his family and is finding it hard to adjust to his new life. After being attacked by a vampire hunter, Rudolph flies into Tony's window after seeing Tony wearing a pair of fake fangs and mistaking him for a fellow vampire. When Rudolph realizes his mistake he tries to leave but is too weak and the vampire hunter is still on the prowl. When Tony offers to let Rudolph stay for the night and doesn't reveal the little vampire to his parents, Rudolph begins to trust Tony and the two become friends. Rudolph introduces Tony to his sister Anna who quickly develops a crush on the little human. The bond between the three youngsters proves invaluable when Tony helps to defend Rudolph's family against the vampire hunter and also helps them to find an ancient amulet that holds the key to returning all the vampires in the world back to humans and breaking the vampire curse. Rudolph and Anna are played by Rollo Weeks and Anna Popplewell.

So there you go,  some famous vampire children. Just be thankful you don't have to babysit them!

-Chris

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