History Main / VampireMonarch

{{Dracula}} is a popular choice, as are [[BiblicalBadGuy Biblical baddies]] like Myth/{{Lilith}} and [[TheDescendantsOfCain Cain]]. Often in fiction, when a vampire turns a person into one of them, the new vampire is subservient to the creator, resulting in a sort of hierarchical family tree of vampires owing their allegiance back to the originator, who rules them all. In settings with a VampireVarietyPack, if this Monarch is the originator of ''all'' the vampire clans, they typically have [[AllYourPowersCombined the combined powers of all the clans]] (and sometimes even one or two extra powers that they kept just for themselves), which is what allows them to stay on top.

** On the plane of Innistrad, [[http://magiccards.info/m12/en/109.html Sorin Markov's]] grandfather Edgar Markov is the head of House Markov and [[MonsterProgenitor the first vampire]]. Sorin's relationship with his grandfather is somewhat strained since Sorin never forgave Edgar for [[IHateYouVampireDad turning him into the second vampire]] on Innistrad, partly because the process was painful enough to awaken Sorin's planeswalker spark (the spark can only be awakened by extreme trauma). Edgar and the other vampires resent Sorin for [[spoiler:creating Avacyn, the guardian angel of Innistrad's human population.]] Sorin left Innistrad to explore the multiverse. When he returned, he was disgusted to see that the safeguards and institutions he had left behind to keep Innistrad safe had fallen apart. Sorin grimly resumed his duties as the [[http://magiccards.info/dka/en/142.html Lord of Innistrad]].

{{Dracula}} is a popular choice, as are [[BiblicalBadGuy Biblical baddies]] like Myth/{{Lilith}} and [[TheDescendantsOfCain Cain]]. Often in fiction, when a vampire turns a person into one of them, the new vampire is subservient to the creator, resulting in a sort of hierarchical family tree of vampires owing their allegiance back to the originator, who rules them all. A common variant has it that destroying a given vampire [[NoOntologicalInertia reverts all those turned by him back to human]] (or just kills them).

** On a smaller scale, the von Carstein bloodline in Sylvania are organised along feudal lines, with the most powerful ruling the others as Count (albeit only nominally in many cases). Initially this was Vlad von Carstein, but upon his eventual death Konrad von Carstein succeeded in becoming top vampire, then he died and was succeeded by Mannfred von Carstein who also died but was later resurrected with a host of lesser vampires (and the occasional "human" necromancer) ruling between his two reigns.

* In ''VideoGame/TheSims2'', the only way to get a vampire for the first time is to go to downtown and hope you run into a Grand Vampire.

* In ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' there is Klaus. He is the at the top of the vampire hierarchy. He is an Original, meaning that many vampires in existence are created from his bloodline.
** His siblings (of which Rebekah and Elijah are still living) also count as a kind of pseudo vampire royalty. Being the very first vampires, they are widely recognized as the oldest, strongest, and most powerful vampires. And all other vampires in existence are descended from them.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Fantasy'''s vampires are all ultimately descended from one of seven original vampires created by Queen Neferata of Lahmia, in her partially successful attempt to recreate the Great Necromancer Nagash's Elixir of Immortality. Neferata was herself the first of the seven, and for a while ruled openly over all vampires, when they were still resident in the city of Lahmia in ancient days. When Lahmia fell to Neferata's enemies the vampires fled across the world, and though she still exists and rules over her own scattered bloodline as a queen, no other vampires owe her fealty anymore.

* In ''WebOriginal/{{Necromancer}}'' and ''Death Song'', Lord Rostov is the leader of the vampires.

* ''VideoGame/{{Arknights}}'': The leader of the Vampire Sarkaz is known as the Sanguinarch, and the current one is a bloodthirsty ZeroApprovalRating sadist that mass murders people just to feed his own thirst for blood.

* In ''Film/TheLostBoys'', according to legend, if you kill a "head vampire", all the "half-vampires" turned by him or by vampires under his command are restored to human form. [[spoiler: This fails when the protagonists kill David, the leader of the vampire biker gang -- because unassuming middle-aged video store owner Max is the head vampire]].

* In ''Film/TheLostBoys'', according to legend, if you kill a "head vampire", all the "half-vampires" turned by vampires under his command are restored to human form. [[spoiler: This fails when the protagonists kill David -- because Max is the head vampire.]]

* The Master in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', who was the Big Bad of Season 1 and the vampiric ancestor of major characters Darla, Angel, Drusilla and Spike. Kakistos from one episode of Season 3 is a minor example. Sunday, a one off character from Season 4, is shown likewise to be the leader in her small band of vampires. And Dracula, while not following the rules of the series, kinda has this as well when we meet him. [[spoiler:In the canonical comic continuation, Dracula briefly uses a RealityWarper book to make himself the official king of all vampires, but is subject to BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor because vampires start coming out of the woodwork attempting a KlingonPromotion]].

* The Master in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Kakistos is a minor example. Sunday, a one off character from Season 4, is shown likewise to be the leader in her small band of vampires. And Dracula, while not following the rules of the series, kinda has this as well when we meet him.

** And of course there is Lady Margolotta, titular ruler of Überwald, who, it is hinted, has been around for at least a millenium. Margolotta has become very clever at ruling and these days tends to lightly steer her country, possibly ''making suggestions'' in the right ears rather than outright commands. She was also a tutelary influence on Havelock Vetinari, although these days it is unclear as to which of them is now teaching the other.

** In the Christina Light subseries, Christina manages to take this role through sheer force of personality, creating her own vampire kingdom in Japan, even though she's far from being an Elder.

* Dracula himself is the lord and ruler of all the world's vampires in ''Literature/AnnoDracula''. They refer to him as "[[RedBaron The King of Cats]]". In the first book of the series he even marries UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria and though he's officially described as the 'Prince Consort', it's obvious that he wields the power, [[spoiler: at least until the end of the book]].

** [[spoiler:The ''actual'' monarch is True Demon Lord and "Queen of Nightmares" Luminous Valentine, Roy and Louis' superior as well as Ruberios' real master and the [[GodGuise god of the Western Saints Church]]. She rules the vampire race by virtue of being [[StrongerWithAge the oldest-living and strongest vampire]], having established the Empire and her religion in order to cultivate a happy, healthy human population over which the vampire race can safely feed on from the shadows.]]