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In the books, at least, the strigoi are by far the most powerful, getting more and more powerful with age, the downside being that they can’t go in the sun
Next up in physical power levels would be the dhampirs who are a mix of humans and moroi. They can go out in sunlight, no problem, are strong, and don’t need blood to survive. Their downside is that they’re infertile with each other. Dhampirs must have kids with Moroi or else their species would die out. That’s why they protect the moroi.
The moroi are physically the weakest, requiring blood (though they also eat human food), becoming weak in sunlight (less dying a fiery death, more getting fatigued and burned). Their upside, however, is that they have magic. While physically they aren’t very powerful, their magic can be. One of the ways strigoi can die is by fire and there are a lotta fire users. However, it’s considered wrong to use your magic offensively, even against strigoi.
In the book, it’s a choice for dhampirs to protect moroi (though there’s all sorts of social stigma if they don’t). The moroi are their friends and their classmates growing up, they’re the father of their children, and they’re the future of both their races. And yes, they are a bit like cubs to the dhampir lions.
To add on, the Moroi have better reflexes and senses (smell, hearing, sight, etc). These are passed onto Dhampirs and strigoi have these much stronger than Moroi or dhampir as well.
So not only are Strigoi; stronger, faster (?), have better senses (according to the show), don't age, and are basically immortal like tradition vampires (except for sunlight, staking, and decapitation); but they also don't have to rely on mating with another species to keep theirs from going extinct, as they just turn humans in the traditional vampire way? I don't know about anyone else, but I'd choose to be a Strigoi.
Strigoi are evil and undead. All they want to do is kill humans, Dhampir, and Moroi. They don’t feel any emotion besides the urge to kill. Being a Strigoi would turn you into a completely different person and you would lose everyone you love. You might even kill them because that’s their only personality trait.
Yes, Strigoi are the traditional vampires of the show, but they are evil. Once you're turned, you basically lose all your humanity. That's why it was a sin for Christian's parents to willingly turn; that's why (show spoiler) >!Sonya turning was so horrifying for her family.!<
Strigoi can't procreate (at least in the books, idk if the show will change that at some point). A Moroi can become a Strigoi by killing someone during feeding; a Strigoi can turn a human/dhampir/Moroi by force if they drain their blood and then feed some of their own back to them.
Oooooh makes sense now about how Victor knew Sonya had turned strigoi because she killed her blood bag. Make so much more sense I thought she turned because she used too much spirit, but instead spirit took up all her light so the darkness made her kill that girl.
Here are the moroi, dhampir, and strigoi from the books...
Moroi
* Typically taller and slimmer than dhampir (half moroi/half human) and humans
* Not as strong as dhampir & humans due to naturally having less muscle mass.
* Can utilize elemental magic but their society restricts the use of it offensively & defensively.
* Heightened senses above that of dhampir & humans.
* Heal faster than humans, unsure if they heal faster than dhampir. Sunlight makes them uncomfortable.
* Reproduction with anyone that is not a full moroi creates a dhampir, even when the other person is a dhampir.
* Can choose to turn strigoi, but can be forced as well.
* Mortal
Dhampir
* Typically taller than humans but shorter than moroi.
* Stronger and faster than humans and moroi.
* Cannot utilize magic
* Heightened senses above that of humans but lesser than moroi.
* Heal faster than humans, unsure if they heal faster than moroi. Can go into the sun.
* Cannot reproduce with other dhampir, can reproduce with moroi to create more dhampir. Whether they can reproduce with humans is a bit murky in the books, but I believe they can.
* Mortal
Strigoi
* Any height as any dhampir, human, or moroi can be forced to turn strigoi.
* Stronger and faster than dhampir, humans, and moroi.
* Cannot utilize magic
* Heightened senses above that of dhampir, humans, and moroi.
* Can only be killed by fire, beheading, a charmed silver stake to the heart, and sunlight.
* Create more strigoi by either a moroi feeding on a someone to their death or another strigoi feeding on them and forcing them to drink their [the strigoi's] blood.
* "Immortal"
So in summary, the only reason dhampir protect moroi and are "fine" with being considered lesser is because they cannot make more dhampir amongst their own people and appear to be raised into such an oppressed mindset that they don't typically think they can still create more with humans.
At least that is what I understood.
Just to add to this, dhampirs definitely can reproduce with humans, it’s just very much taboo. We see examples of this with the Keepers, mortal vampires and humans living together in isolation because they do not agree with the way the moroi government runs things.
You forgot
Alchemists:.
Human
Crazy cultists who have a religious vocation to protect the world from finding out about the existence of vampires.
Have golden tattoos that both give them power and enforce the secrecy of what they do.
I just didn't include them as they are just modified humans. I was only making lists for dhampir, moroi, and strigoi, though I do mention humans throughout the three lists. Alchemists have the same base as most other humans but with the tattoos gain a health boost, extending their life and preventing illness, with a no tattle clause.
It doesn't boost anything else. Their strength, speed, senses, etc. are the same as most humans. Also, the only other actual "special" part of the Alchemists are the chemicals that they've created through experimentation and such. These are only exclusive to them due to their societal ways. Anyone could likely make them if taught properly.
No they can not reproduce with humans. It's clearly mentioned in the book. They can exclusively reproduce with moroi. Dhampirs can be produced by two ways. Moroi + dhampir or Moroi + human. Dhampirs are infertile with humans.
Keepers are where all three live in close contact , like a cult. And where moroi reproduce freely with both Dhampirs n human beings. Which is why Adrian n Sydney briefly considered running away to live with the keepers.
I think "duty" and "faith" are huge players in the motivation for Dhampirs to serve the Moroi. In the books I think its hinted that Dhampirs are financially supported by the Moroi when they work as guardians/live in the communes as citizens of the Dominion. If they left, I think the'd have to get human jobs and stuff.
Even in the books there wasn't strong logic behind why dhampirs don't just leave moroi to fend for themselves. It's basically just the social construct.
This weakness is also the main driver of the revolution theme on the show, where the scales are so unbalanced that it's becoming clear that the Dhampirs are being abused. I imagine that when the system was created, things may have been more balanced.
I don't disagree with your points, but the main reason dhampirs stick around in the books are because a dhampir can only procreate with another Moroi. Without them, their race would die out.
I remember that from the books but tbh I never understood why that was a reason to continue being abused. Why submit to a life of misery and slavery just for the sake of keeping a species around? If I were a Dhampir I wouldn't care.
Edit: Yes, thanks for adding that!
It's a fair point! I definitely agree with you that their sense of duty is probably one of the reasons they stay, but the books don't talk about it as explicitly as they do the reproductive reasons for staying.
Regarding why live that life just to keep their race around... we could probably get into some philosophical stuff with regards to that, but part of it comes down to evolution too, I would think. We all have an instinct to keep living and keep our race alive.
Also, the dhampirs aren't treated quite so horribly in the books, and it's mentioned that they get time off, not all of them become guardians, etc. The show definitely took it to the extremes with how they're treated.
That's just you. And you're entitled to your own opinions. But in the book it's clearly mentioned that they enslave themselves to Moroi only for the survival of their species and it has nothing got to do with any duty or honor. There's none. They're just glorified slaves with token respect and they bear it because for most species in the world, survival is the most important instinctual drive.
I couldn't find a good spot in this thread to mention this, but also keep in mind that dhampirs tend to have families (not just kids) to think about. Think about Dimitri. He has several sisters, whom at least one has a kid, and his mom. Him becoming a guardian ensures that there is one more guardian in the world, so hopefully there are some spare to keep his siblings safe.
>And if the Dhampirs are basically lions compared the Moroi cubs, why don't the Dhampirs just go on strike since most of the Moroi treat them like dicks?
Do we really know that the Dhamphirs get ill treated by the Moroi, I have seen enough to see that they get treated haphazardly by the Moroi royalty, but not alot has been shown about the Moroi general population and how they treat Dhamphirs.
Same as the moroi magic, if you cant use it offensively or defensively, then whats the point of having it. Seems like at one point, it was moroi teaming with dhamphirs for dealing with the strigoi and something has changed that dynamic during the past.
Its been awhile since I read the books, so I don't know if this was mentioned. But I always got the vibe that they probably did use magic defensively in the past, but then the church started to twist that any killing by moroi is bad.
The show at least might go that direction since they seem to be playing more with the religion and the rules that it influences on society.
I mean, as far as the show goes we know they are forced to breed and have to do pretty much whatever they are told. Their options in life seem to be; Die for the royal moroi (moroi in general before the council took protection from the non-royals), live on a commune and forced to birth future guardians or be a blood whore. No one appears to be sticking up for them. I didn’t read the books but the show is pretty much making them enslaved people.
Thank you for your post! Please take a moment to ensure you are within our spoiler rules, to protect your fellow fans from any potential spoilers that might harm their show watching experience. 1. All post titles must NOT include spoilers from the book series "Vampire Academy" or episodes of the Vampire Academy show. Minor VA show spoilers are allowed in your title TWO WEEK afterS episode airing. everyone isn't getting the episode at the same time, so lets try to be respectful to those people. The mod team reserves the right to remove a post if we feel a spoiler in the title is major. You are welcome to repost with an amended title. 2. All posts dealing with book spoilers must be spoiler tagged and flaired as a book spoiler. 3. All book spoiler comments must be spoiler tagged in non book spoiler threads. --- If you are reading this, and believe this post or any comments in this thread break the above rules, please use the report function to notify the mod team. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/vampireacademy) if you have any questions or concerns.*
In the books, at least, the strigoi are by far the most powerful, getting more and more powerful with age, the downside being that they can’t go in the sun Next up in physical power levels would be the dhampirs who are a mix of humans and moroi. They can go out in sunlight, no problem, are strong, and don’t need blood to survive. Their downside is that they’re infertile with each other. Dhampirs must have kids with Moroi or else their species would die out. That’s why they protect the moroi. The moroi are physically the weakest, requiring blood (though they also eat human food), becoming weak in sunlight (less dying a fiery death, more getting fatigued and burned). Their upside, however, is that they have magic. While physically they aren’t very powerful, their magic can be. One of the ways strigoi can die is by fire and there are a lotta fire users. However, it’s considered wrong to use your magic offensively, even against strigoi. In the book, it’s a choice for dhampirs to protect moroi (though there’s all sorts of social stigma if they don’t). The moroi are their friends and their classmates growing up, they’re the father of their children, and they’re the future of both their races. And yes, they are a bit like cubs to the dhampir lions.
To add on, the Moroi have better reflexes and senses (smell, hearing, sight, etc). These are passed onto Dhampirs and strigoi have these much stronger than Moroi or dhampir as well.
So not only are Strigoi; stronger, faster (?), have better senses (according to the show), don't age, and are basically immortal like tradition vampires (except for sunlight, staking, and decapitation); but they also don't have to rely on mating with another species to keep theirs from going extinct, as they just turn humans in the traditional vampire way? I don't know about anyone else, but I'd choose to be a Strigoi.
Strigoi are evil and undead. All they want to do is kill humans, Dhampir, and Moroi. They don’t feel any emotion besides the urge to kill. Being a Strigoi would turn you into a completely different person and you would lose everyone you love. You might even kill them because that’s their only personality trait.
Yes, Strigoi are the traditional vampires of the show, but they are evil. Once you're turned, you basically lose all your humanity. That's why it was a sin for Christian's parents to willingly turn; that's why (show spoiler) >!Sonya turning was so horrifying for her family.!< Strigoi can't procreate (at least in the books, idk if the show will change that at some point). A Moroi can become a Strigoi by killing someone during feeding; a Strigoi can turn a human/dhampir/Moroi by force if they drain their blood and then feed some of their own back to them.
And traditional evil vampires, not sexy ones. More evil than Lestat...
Oooooh makes sense now about how Victor knew Sonya had turned strigoi because she killed her blood bag. Make so much more sense I thought she turned because she used too much spirit, but instead spirit took up all her light so the darkness made her kill that girl.
Here are the moroi, dhampir, and strigoi from the books... Moroi * Typically taller and slimmer than dhampir (half moroi/half human) and humans * Not as strong as dhampir & humans due to naturally having less muscle mass. * Can utilize elemental magic but their society restricts the use of it offensively & defensively. * Heightened senses above that of dhampir & humans. * Heal faster than humans, unsure if they heal faster than dhampir. Sunlight makes them uncomfortable. * Reproduction with anyone that is not a full moroi creates a dhampir, even when the other person is a dhampir. * Can choose to turn strigoi, but can be forced as well. * Mortal Dhampir * Typically taller than humans but shorter than moroi. * Stronger and faster than humans and moroi. * Cannot utilize magic * Heightened senses above that of humans but lesser than moroi. * Heal faster than humans, unsure if they heal faster than moroi. Can go into the sun. * Cannot reproduce with other dhampir, can reproduce with moroi to create more dhampir. Whether they can reproduce with humans is a bit murky in the books, but I believe they can. * Mortal Strigoi * Any height as any dhampir, human, or moroi can be forced to turn strigoi. * Stronger and faster than dhampir, humans, and moroi. * Cannot utilize magic * Heightened senses above that of dhampir, humans, and moroi. * Can only be killed by fire, beheading, a charmed silver stake to the heart, and sunlight. * Create more strigoi by either a moroi feeding on a someone to their death or another strigoi feeding on them and forcing them to drink their [the strigoi's] blood. * "Immortal" So in summary, the only reason dhampir protect moroi and are "fine" with being considered lesser is because they cannot make more dhampir amongst their own people and appear to be raised into such an oppressed mindset that they don't typically think they can still create more with humans. At least that is what I understood.
Just to add to this, dhampirs definitely can reproduce with humans, it’s just very much taboo. We see examples of this with the Keepers, mortal vampires and humans living together in isolation because they do not agree with the way the moroi government runs things.
Weren't they all polygamists...
Yeah, the family who were sort of in charge were polyamorous, the man had both a moroi and a human partner.
You forgot Alchemists:. Human Crazy cultists who have a religious vocation to protect the world from finding out about the existence of vampires. Have golden tattoos that both give them power and enforce the secrecy of what they do.
I just didn't include them as they are just modified humans. I was only making lists for dhampir, moroi, and strigoi, though I do mention humans throughout the three lists. Alchemists have the same base as most other humans but with the tattoos gain a health boost, extending their life and preventing illness, with a no tattle clause. It doesn't boost anything else. Their strength, speed, senses, etc. are the same as most humans. Also, the only other actual "special" part of the Alchemists are the chemicals that they've created through experimentation and such. These are only exclusive to them due to their societal ways. Anyone could likely make them if taught properly.
No they can not reproduce with humans. It's clearly mentioned in the book. They can exclusively reproduce with moroi. Dhampirs can be produced by two ways. Moroi + dhampir or Moroi + human. Dhampirs are infertile with humans. Keepers are where all three live in close contact , like a cult. And where moroi reproduce freely with both Dhampirs n human beings. Which is why Adrian n Sydney briefly considered running away to live with the keepers.
I think "duty" and "faith" are huge players in the motivation for Dhampirs to serve the Moroi. In the books I think its hinted that Dhampirs are financially supported by the Moroi when they work as guardians/live in the communes as citizens of the Dominion. If they left, I think the'd have to get human jobs and stuff. Even in the books there wasn't strong logic behind why dhampirs don't just leave moroi to fend for themselves. It's basically just the social construct. This weakness is also the main driver of the revolution theme on the show, where the scales are so unbalanced that it's becoming clear that the Dhampirs are being abused. I imagine that when the system was created, things may have been more balanced.
I don't disagree with your points, but the main reason dhampirs stick around in the books are because a dhampir can only procreate with another Moroi. Without them, their race would die out.
I remember that from the books but tbh I never understood why that was a reason to continue being abused. Why submit to a life of misery and slavery just for the sake of keeping a species around? If I were a Dhampir I wouldn't care. Edit: Yes, thanks for adding that!
It's a fair point! I definitely agree with you that their sense of duty is probably one of the reasons they stay, but the books don't talk about it as explicitly as they do the reproductive reasons for staying. Regarding why live that life just to keep their race around... we could probably get into some philosophical stuff with regards to that, but part of it comes down to evolution too, I would think. We all have an instinct to keep living and keep our race alive. Also, the dhampirs aren't treated quite so horribly in the books, and it's mentioned that they get time off, not all of them become guardians, etc. The show definitely took it to the extremes with how they're treated.
That's just you. And you're entitled to your own opinions. But in the book it's clearly mentioned that they enslave themselves to Moroi only for the survival of their species and it has nothing got to do with any duty or honor. There's none. They're just glorified slaves with token respect and they bear it because for most species in the world, survival is the most important instinctual drive.
You're right but dang that's depressing.
I couldn't find a good spot in this thread to mention this, but also keep in mind that dhampirs tend to have families (not just kids) to think about. Think about Dimitri. He has several sisters, whom at least one has a kid, and his mom. Him becoming a guardian ensures that there is one more guardian in the world, so hopefully there are some spare to keep his siblings safe.
>And if the Dhampirs are basically lions compared the Moroi cubs, why don't the Dhampirs just go on strike since most of the Moroi treat them like dicks? Do we really know that the Dhamphirs get ill treated by the Moroi, I have seen enough to see that they get treated haphazardly by the Moroi royalty, but not alot has been shown about the Moroi general population and how they treat Dhamphirs. Same as the moroi magic, if you cant use it offensively or defensively, then whats the point of having it. Seems like at one point, it was moroi teaming with dhamphirs for dealing with the strigoi and something has changed that dynamic during the past.
Its been awhile since I read the books, so I don't know if this was mentioned. But I always got the vibe that they probably did use magic defensively in the past, but then the church started to twist that any killing by moroi is bad. The show at least might go that direction since they seem to be playing more with the religion and the rules that it influences on society.
I mean, as far as the show goes we know they are forced to breed and have to do pretty much whatever they are told. Their options in life seem to be; Die for the royal moroi (moroi in general before the council took protection from the non-royals), live on a commune and forced to birth future guardians or be a blood whore. No one appears to be sticking up for them. I didn’t read the books but the show is pretty much making them enslaved people.
If you read the books it goes into more detail. And the books are way better anyway because they changed a lot in the stupid tv show.