The Vampire Courts of The Dresden Files

I recently finished Storm Front by Jim Butcher, the first book in The Dresden Files series, and absolutely loved it. I mean, how could I not love a wizard detective that solves mysteries with his magical powers and wit? It’s a combination of so many of my loves! Magical PIs for the win! Anyway, in the book there’s this vampire, she only makes a small appearance, but those few pages were some of the best (I’m a vampire fan through and through). After that brief meeting with the vampires of the Dresden world I got curious and began to wonder if there are others, so I cheated and looked it up. It turns out that there are entire vampire courts in The Dresden Files! I thought the courts were so awesome I had to share them with you (don’t worry, there are no real spoilers below). Have a look…

White Court
The White Court vampires are the most human-like of the Vampire Courts. They feed off the life force and emotions of their prey. These vampires are born to their vampiric state, rather than being created. For the most part, they are human until their vampirism manifests sometime when they hit maturity.  There is an assortment Houses within the White Court and the houses are mostly distinguished by their choice of emotion to feed upon. Those in House Raith tend to feed upon sexual energies, House Malvora’s members feed off fear and vampire in House Skavis feed off of despair.

Red Court
Less human-like than the White Court, the Red Court appear as slimy bat-like creatures in their true form, although they can disguise themselves as normal looking humans. These vampires feed on the blood of their victims. They are incredibly strong and fast, but are vulnerable to sunlight. The Red Court vampires have the ability to turn humans into vampires and their saliva contains a potent magical narcotic that can be very addictive.

Black Court
These vampires are more like “classic” undead vampire that feed upon the blood of their victims. They are the reanimated bloodthirsty corpses popularized by Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It is believed that Stoker’s book is a kind of how-to manual on how to destroy Black Court vampires. They fear garlic and items of faith, and they must sleep in their native soil, like Dracula. They have super strength and the ability to enthrall humans as well. So, they are almost identical to Stoker’s Dracula.

Jade Court
Very little is known on the Jade Court since they have only ever been briefly mentioned in the books. It was said that they are very secretive and that they reside in Southeast Asia, China, and Japan.

And those are the fantastic Vampire Courts found in The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. I can’t wait to read about them in more detail!

– Moonlight