| KING OF THE VAMPIRES I | BIOGRAPHY |
| Created by Garth Ennis and William Simpson |
The King of the Vampires; Art by Steve Dillon
PERSONAL DATA
Full Name: Unknown
Aliases: Numerous aliases
Identity: The general public believes vampires to be figments of myth
Occupation: King of the Vampires
Status: Deceased
Homeworld: Unknown
Race: Unknown
Place of Birth: Unknown
Marital Status: Unknown
Known Relatives: Unknown
Base of Operation: Underground caves; mobile
Group Affiliation(s): Vampires of Earth
Gender: Male
Height: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Distinguishing Features: Vampiric fangs
First Appearance: Hellblazer #50 (February 1992)
Creators: Garth Ennis and William Simpson
| "You’re the hunter in the night with a thousand names but only one title... You’re the King of the Vampires." - John Constantine |
OVERVIEW
When man took his first steps, the King of the Vampires was already there, waiting to suck him dry... A menace to man since time began, the King of the Vampires was vanquished in modern times by British occultist John Constantine. He is believed to be the source of all vampires on Earth. The king was succeeded by his companion Darius.
HISTORY
The true origins of the mysterious being known only as the King of the Vampires are shrouded in mystery, but he is said to be extremely old. Before he came to Earth, he had already devoured entire worlds. As legend has it, when the first human took his first steps, then the first vampire was already there, waiting in the shadows to feed off of him.
He who would be known as the King of the Vampires infected others with the vampire plague, and created a small following which he took with him to underground caves, where they could hide from the harmful rays of the sun. Through the years, the King of the Vampires would make excursions to the surface world, before returning once again to the cool solace of his underground dwelling. He is known to have been particularly active during the rule of Julius Caesar, when Rome was overflowing with wine, orgies and decadence. Many were those who willingly and in ecstasy gave themselves to the King of the Vampires. [As told in Hellblazer #50 (February 1992)]
At some point, the King had a brief and as of yet unrecorded encounter with Jason Blood, the human host of Etrigan.
The killing fields of World War I proved to be a veritable smorgasbord for the King of the Vampires. In 1916 he killed William Constantine, the forefather of occultist John Constantine on a battlefield in France. “Twenty thousand men lay dead or dying on the scarlands of the Somme. It was paradise. I hardly knew where to begin.” [As told in Hellblazer #69 (September 1993)]
In our time, the King of Vampires approached John Constantine, asking him to become his spy in the magic community. Constantine declined, won the argument and was allowed to leave. [Hellblazer #50 (February 1992)]
Some months later, the King came across Constantine again when the occultist was down on his luck, living on the streets as a drunken bum. Intent on killing Constantine, the King of the Vampires found that he had bitten off more than he could chew, quite literally. In Constantine’s veins flows the poisonous blood of the demon Nergal, a diet unhealthy even for a vampire. Poisoned and weakened, the King was unable to stop John Constantine from dragging him into the direct sunlight. The King of the Vampires was destroyed, thereby leaving the prophecies, where the King would drink Earth dry and leave for other worlds, unfulfilled. [Hellblazer #68-69 (August-September 1993)]
He was succeeded as King of the Vampires by his sometime lover and companion Darius, who was eventually killed by Hitman. [Hitman #38] The current King of the Vampires, if any, has not yet been named.
POWERS AND WEAPONS
The King of the Vampires possessed all of the powers traditionally attributed to vampires: mindcontrol, transmutation (turning into bats, mist or wolves), and invulnerability.
He was able to control the minds of his victims, animals such as rats, bats and wolves, and, probably also the minds of other vampires. Virtually indestructible, he was seemingly unaffected by the traditional vampire remedies (garlic, silver, stake through the heart) and religious symbols (holy water, cross, Bible, Star of David, etc.). This can probably be attributed to the growing secularization of the world. The one vulnerability that ultimately proved his undoing was exposure to sunlight.
The King of Vampires was never seen levitating like other vampires have been known to do, but that does not necessarily mean that he was unable to do it.
CHRONOLOGY
For a definitive list of appearances of King of the Vampires in chronological order click here