6. Lord Ruthven from The Vampyre by John William Polidori
The first vampire to appear in English fiction, published in 1819, Lord Ruthven is easily one of the best classic creatures to appear in literature. Mysterious, alluring, sexual, and terrifying…He is the classic vampire that went on to inspire a number of other writers and novels, including Dracula and most other creatures of the night that we know in this day and age.
7. The Master / Jusef Sardu from The Strain series by Guillermo del Toro
A 19th Century Armenian noble man who is afflicted with gigantism. Sardu is a gentle man in life, but once The Master takes over his body, he is ferocious monster with unnatural strength and power. To be entirely honest, explaining a character such as Jusef Sardu/ The Master is difficult if you have not read Guillermo del Toro’s ‘The Strain’ series, and understand how different the vampires are in the series. If you’re the type that enjoys their horror or vampires on the screen, then you’re also in luck! The Strain is coming to FX as a TV series on July 13th, 2014. I for one am incredibly excited to see how this series unfolds in television form.
8. Eli from Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
For those who have only seen the films, they are based on the original book by John Lindqvist. In the original novel, it presents Eli as an androgynous boy, who had been castrated centuries before by a sadistic vampire nobleman. The film handles the issue of Eli’s gender more ambiguously. A brief scene in which Eli changes into a dress offers a glimpse of a suggestive scar but no explicit elaboration. This is personally one of my favourite novels, it’s different from other vampire related stories, as it’s children and not the usual sexual tension of adults, vampires, and whatnot.
9. Joshua York from Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin
Before ‘A Song of Fire and Ice‘ was murdering its way into every ones heart, in 1982 there was Fevre Dream and the hauntingly pale, steely-eyed Joshua York. An eerily atmospheric novel that covers a span of forty-something years, it’s well worth the read if you enjoy Martin’s writing and characters. York is a different kind of main vampiric character in that he has a personal mission to free his kind from their need to drink human blood. That doesn’t sound incredibly original now, but it was back then and the way that the character is written…You will enjoy it, I assure you.
10. Vincente from 30 Days of Night by Steve Niles
Reference to Vicente is made in the first issue of the series, but did not actually appear until the second issue. He is the central antagonist of the 30 Days of Night comic book series, and like a few other books and comics, vampirism is portrayed as a virus that can be spread through scratches, bites, or contact with vampire blood. If you have watched the 2007 film adaptation, Vicente was not actually in it, but reference to him is made in the 2010 30 Days of Night: Dark Days sequel.
I’m surprised you didn’t include Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s vampiric Comte de Saint-Germain, based on a historical personage and a precursor to Anne Rice’s beautiful, sexy vamps.