Dhampir

In this week's episode, we're heading over to Eastern Europe for a bit of Balkan mythology! How can you tell a Dhampir from a normal Vampire? How can you get rid of one? Find out this week!

Transcript

INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

DESCRIPTION:

Speaking of which, I recently rewatched the gem that is Van Helsing from the 00’s with Hugh Jackman, and this monster came to mind whilst I was admiring his rippling pecks and thinking about how he would sing anything in it. And you may be thinking, well Erin, we’ve done Vampires before, why would I want to listen to more vampire stuff? And the answer to that is SHHH everyone loves more Vampires, and this one is a bit different, so there.

This one is different though, and you might be familiar with them if you’re a Marvel fan - but this week, we’re heading over to Balkan mythology for the daywalking Dhampir. 

What is a Dhampir I hear you call? They are typically described as hybrid humanoid vampiric monsters, who have some powers of vampires but can exist as humans during the day - most of the time. They are usually more human looking too, and they often will be incredibly beautiful, but have untamed black hair, a more pronounced nose, larger teeth, ears and eyes. In a few legends, it was said that Dhampir had no nails or bones, making them big squishy boys who would often not live very long. 

You could tell them apart from normal humans as they would have a deep mark on their back like a tail, no shadow and obviously sometimes, they would need to consume blood. 

Dhampir are slightly different because as I mentioned earlier, they are hybrids - but hybrids with what, humans! Dhampir are the offspring of a vampire and a human, usually from a male vampire and female human, bitten by a vampire in her last few months of pregnancy or from just usual mating. 

The birth is incredibly difficult, the human mother would usually need to be turned into a vampire herself to survive the pregnancy or at least feed on blood to feed the unborn child. Usually if the mother is not turned, they will die during childbirth to these hybrids. The children Dhampir are born with bloodlust, and grow quickly - they are looked down upon from both the human and vampire community and are often outcasts to both cultures. 

Dhampir typically have similar powers to vampires, however, slightly dampened ones if you pardon the pun here. They are not usually immortal, but will have massively extended lifespans, for thousands of years sometimes too. They typically stop physically aging at middle age, and coming up to maturity, they would have rapid growth and extreme bloodlust through puberty. Also, a weird fact is that they can also remember every event from birth, so they also have awesome memories and are incredibly intelligent from a young age.

They can regenerate when injured and are extremely resilient to damage, although they cannot regenerate limbs such as full vampires can. They have heightened senses such as being able to see in pitch black, use echolocation and sense blood in any living being, as well as a great sense of smell. They’re still immensely strong and fast, able to jump great heights and running for long distances at immense speed, and sometimes are considered to have mind control or charm abilities from their vampire lineage. 

Lastly, some Dhampir are believed to be able to practice magic, which is helpful as if they can control their own bloodlust, they often go into vampire hunting - and any magic is great against a horde of angry vampires. 

Most importantly though, they also don’t have the vampire's weaknesses, they can withstand being in the sun, which gives them their daywalker moniker. They are also unaffected by holy water, garlic, crosses and silver - but in some stories, they can affect them in a much more minor way to their vampiric kin instead. They’re also just not as strong as normal vampires as they’re not full-blooded, so this is kind of a weak point.

Their biggest weakness though is that they are still slaves to their own bloodlust, they can eat human food, but still need to satiate that part of them. Often, Dhampir will find a controlled source, such as hospitals or blood banks to ‘ethically’ consume blood, or even drink from animals instead of humans, however, they can fully lean into their vampiric side for stronger abilities - but most reject this lifestyle. 

Dhampir can be found throughout the world, but much like their vampiric family, they are often found in remote villages or forests, living away from the living to ensure their safety and the safety of humans around them. Most Dhampir are nomads living off of the land, as they do usually go into vampire hunting, so generally keep to the road anyway for their next kill. 

Dhampir can reproduce, and they can reproduce with humans or vampires, however, due to their vampiric nature, their fertility is lacking as they are technically undead. This makes Dhampir rare in the first place, but they’re more likely to have children with humans, which dampens the vampiric bloodline even further. 

They can still die though, mostly through being killed rather than natural causes. You can still stake them through the heart, set them on fire or cut their head off, they’re realistically vampires but not as strong - you wouldn’t kill them by shooting them with a silver bullet, but it would certainly hurt them a considerable amount. 

ORIGIN:

Moving onto etymology, the word Dhampir comes from the Albanian word dham meaning teeth and pire meaning to drink, so collectively meaning to drink with one’s teeth - which is perfect and incredibly fitting. There are some regional variances though, such as in Serbia, vampirović was used instead of Dhampir, which means vampire’s son. In Bulgaria, it was glog meaning hawthorn, which was often used as a charm against vampires. In Albania, Dhampiraj is actually a common surname too.

Their history is actually a little hard to pin down in folklore, we believe they’ve been around as long as vampires have and they came from the same place, the Balkan or Eastern European folklore spaces, such as Albania, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria during the early 18th century. 

There were mentions of vampires back in 12th century Britain, in Scandinavia and in Jewish literature. However, the rumours of vampires started spreading in the early 1700’s to around 1721, when word of mouth started spreading them around southeastern Europe. In the mid 18th century, there was a mass vampire hysteria in a lot of these countries and they even had public executions of people believed to be vampires. Dhampir however, were never mentioned in these history books. 

What is interesting is that with vampires, especially male vampires, there is an element of sex here. I mean this as, vampirism is often linked to lust and brutal sexuality and with male vampires, it was believed that they had a great desire for human women or any women really. A vampire would return to his human wife after being turned and impregnated her, or even to a woman he found attractive in life or virgin girls too. It was very uncommon for a female vampire and human male to have a Dhampir child, as the female vampires were more commonly attracted to other vampires, rather than the weaker mating human species. However, both variants are rare as vampires are often considered sterile as they are technically undead. 

In Serbia, there was a case where a woman blamed her pregnancy on her vampiric late husband and there were cases of Serbian men pretending to be vampires to get the ladies they were after - so it was a commonly thought about myth in the very least. 

In folklore, there is a story about two twins who were Dhampir children, born to a witch. This witch used her magic to create potions that helped her daughters control their intense thirst for blood. Over time, a butcher shop in town was opened to produce a special serum made from various ingredients like crystals, alcoholic drinks and animal blood. This serum helped the Dhampirs manage their cravings better than regular vampires can. However, as these hybrid twins grew older, the serum became less effective, requiring larger doses or new formulations to keep working.

There’s really not much else with history around Dhampir, they were more a concept born from the vampire myths - so they’re a little tricky to find content on. One of the best representations of Dhampir is actually Marvel’s Blade, which I know are old films with a notorious tax-dodger in, but they are great for showing how a Daywalker would survive. Another is the Underworld series of movies - modern media sometimes shows us monsters better than folklore ever can. 

Reality based comparisons are a little harder this week too, as we don’t really have hybrid scenarios cross-species that have any kind of powers reflected within the natural world, especially humanoid ones. 

But mythical ones, we have a few - obviously their vampiric bloodline is incredibly easy to point to, but naturally their enemy race of werewolves are too. There are theories that this can also happen with werewolves, but they don’t have a specific name for their hybrids, they just don’t turn into full werewolves in a full moon scenario and cannot spread their affliction. You can check out more on both of these monsters in their own special episodes from Halloween over the last few years.

The most relevant comparison is actually a monster we haven’t covered yet, the Cambion. The Cambion is a half human, half demon, born usually from a succubus or incubus and a human partner. Although they are argued that they don’t exist as succubus usually store the human male semen to pass onto their incubus partner to corrupt, the argument also exists that sometimes this fails and a hybrid is born. I’m sure I’ll cover them soon enough, but they are our most relevant comparison with demon and human heritage and powers.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, we have a bunch for this monster - because duh, they’re vampires! But we also love a vampire hybrid within the media, so let’s get into it. 

For art, honestly, you’d be better to look at full vampires for portrait art here - there’s nothing on Dhampir, however, you can have a look at the art from the Castlevania series or independent stuff for some cool depictions of them.

In movies, we have; Hotel Transylvania, Dampyr, Underworld, Twilight, Blade, Vampire Hunter D, Blood: The Last Vampire, Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School, BloodRayne, Daughter of Darkness, Embrace of the Vampire, Zombies; Dawn of the Vampires, Tales of an Ancient Empire, Vamps, Zoltan: Hound of Dracula, The Monster Club, Priest, Vampire in Brooklyn, Dawn, Grave of the Vampire, Vampire Cleanup Department, Dracula 2000 & Die Vampirschwestern.

For TV, we have; Castlevania, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Rosario + Vampire, Angel, Split, Vampire Academy, Drak Pack, Kamen Rider Kiva, The Munsters, Imortal, Flint the Time Detective, Hemlock Grove, La Luna Sangre, The Strain & The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. 

In video games, we have ones such as; BloodRayne, Castlevania, Vampire Hunter D, EverQuest, Heroes of Newearth, Culdcept Saga, Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy, Kid Dracula, OneChanbara Z: Kagura, Scribblenauts, Blood Knights, Darkstalkers, Nightwalker: The Midnight Detective, The Elder Scrolls, Akumajō Dracula, League of Legends, Nocturne, Vampire Night, Retro Mud, Five Nights at Freddys: Sister Location, Boktai, Infinite Crisis & Blazblue.

My book recommendation this week is for a few bits and none of them are about Dhampir directly, but are included within it. Have a look at Vampires: A Handbook of History & Lore of the Undead by Agnes Hollyhock, Hanging with Vampires: A Totally Factual Field Guide to the Supernatural by Insha Fitzpatrick or From Demons to Dracula: The Creation of the Modern Vampire Myth by Matthew Beresford for some great vampire facts. 

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

Just like normal vampires, I’m going to say maybe. The issue with Dhampir and Vampires alike is that they are so ingrained into popular culture, and the term vampire now is used for people who just suck the life out of you for being around, let alone sucking your blood.

What is interesting about Dhampir though is that they can get by without ever showing a vampiric side, yes they may have silver and garlic allergies and if so - my nan was a Dhampir, she hated both of those. So they could in theory, be amongst us and we’d never know, and they’d never have anyone's blood on their hands either. 

I think the concept of the birth of Dhampir is the only silly thing about them - the idea that they don’t rip out or feed on their human mother (most of the time I hasten to add) whilst in the womb is silly. We know that babies are dumb, but they have instincts, and why wouldn’t they attempt to feed on their mother if surrounded within a warm, blood filled body? Also, they’re meant to be super strong, so the idea that they don’t just rip their mothers apart during birth feels like it's glazed over. 

But hey, I love all those modern media bits I mentioned, so if they keep giving me Dhampir content, I’ll watch it - I’m still sad the Blade movie got cancelled, but I was also glad to see Wesley Snipes reprise his role in What We Do In The Shadows, which is a hilarious show if you’ve not watched it and enjoy vampire comedy. 

But what do you think? Did the Dhampir roam Eastern Europe with their vampire parents? Let me know on social media!

OUTRO: 

A great monster to finally cover, Vampires are some of my favourite monsters to talk about and a half-human version is totally more interesting, and I really love the Blade series honestly.

Next week, we’re heading over to one of my favourite mythological places and that’s the beautiful Philippines for a slightly vampiric monster, but more of a horrifying demon. If you hear a baby crying in the wilderness just keep on walking away from the Tiyanak next time!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got loads of social media for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, YouTube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, twitter is mythmonsterspod and BlueSky is mythmonsters. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk, and you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.