History Characters / TheDresdenFilesTheVampires

* BlueBlood: Considering that her vampire grandmother is the Red king's daughter, she's practically royalty.

* TheBabyOfTheBunch: Her older siblings are {{Fully Embraced Fiend}}s who, by and large, have come to terms with their succubus natures and act the part. Inari is largely unaware of any supernatural shenanigans, works a regular job, is deeply in love with her boyfriend and wears "Franchise/WinnieThePooh"-pyjamas. Lara and Thomas may not see eye to eye on much, but they agree that Inari's innocence needs to be protected.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Unlike blampires, Reds can at least put on a show of humanity, and are capable of loyalty towards each other, but they're completely consumed by bloodlust and have absolutely no regard for human life. The [[VampireRefugee Fellowship of St. Giles]] excepted.

* SexySecretary: To Genosa, though she is hired for competance rather than looks. However, her looks screw her over when the WomanScorned ex-wives of her boss suspect she is involved with him and tries to kill her with a curse. Had Harry not been right next to her when the curse is set off, she would have been killed.

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[[caption-width-right:200:Connie, ready to feed.]]

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: A brother-sister team never seen apart? Natch.

* TellMeAboutMyFather: Unlike Harry, Thomas actually has some memories of their mother, something which makes Harry very jealous.

* TheUnfavorite: His father tries to kill him, like he did the rest of his sons (though given what Lord Raith [[ParentalIncest did to]] [[MindRape his daughters]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil against their will]], attempted murder might be better...) Also, his mother abandoned him when he was five to give birth to his brother Harry (though that was at least in in part to get away from Lord Raith, and there's no indication she didn't care for Thomas).

* ChekhovsGun: There is some connection between them and Outsiders, so said Lash before her ultimate sacrifice.

* InSeriesNickname: Harry nicknames them "Blampires" from an amalgamation of "Black Court Vampires."

* UnskilledButStrong: New Blacks just "born" are considered very dangerous and not to be underestimated. They have all the super speed and herculean strength born right into them and accessible from the get go. They become even more dangerous with age.
* VampiresAreSexGods: Thoroughly averted; at best, Blacks are UncannyValley-tastic, and at worst, they're visibly decomposing corpses.

* TheBusCameBack: Comes back in ''Battle Ground'' after not having appeared for ''ten'' books in a row.
* CastingAShadow: ''Grave Peril'' shows her having power over shadows with her sorcery.

* AlasPoorVillain: She was a regular, bullied girl that was so unhappy she ran away - only to be found by and turned into an insane monster.

* PlainJane: Her human form was described as plain by one of her roleplaying partners. Of course, her appearance deteriorates once she joins the Black Court.

* AffablyEvil: Moreso than Black, less so than White.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Unlike Blacks, Reds can at least put on a show of humanity, and are capable of loyalty towards each other, but they're completely consumed by bloodlust and have absolutely no regard for human life. The [[VampireRefugee Fellowship of St. Giles]] excepted.
* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: They seem to have trouble thinking ahead, and are all to eager to unleash DisproportionateRetribution without regard to who it might piss off. Bianca's vengeance against Harry gets her and her court killed (and in a roundabout way contributes to the court's destruction), the court angered ''all'' of Faerie by trying to pursue fleeing wizards (which also contributed to the court's destruction, as the first rule of crossing Mab is to ''never cross Mab, ever''), and kidnapping Harry's daughter results in him going after them in full olf mode and then exterminating them all.

* DiscOneFinalBoss: They serve as the most common antagonists for the first 12 books. Then Harry ''kills them all.''

** Bianca starts off the Wizard-Vampire war because Harry was tangentially involved in the death of her lover ([[TheDeadHaveNames whose name she can't even remember]]).

*** She buys Harry's building, installing a bomb inside the walls, but also slowly increases the rent Harry has to pay.

* FangsAreEvil: Interestingly, they are the only vampires in the setting with actual fangs - Black Court ones merely have regular rotten teeth that just happen to be strong enough to pierce through human skin, and the White Court doesn't have any need for teeth due to [[EmotionEater not drinking blood to begin with]]. Moreover, these fangs only are visible in their true forms- their fleshmasks display normal teeth.

* FunctionalAddict: As the whole Court are blood-addicted monsters, the one way to prove one's self in rising up the pyramid is to be this. Those who can control their urges, think rationally and plan are highly sought after. Those who lose themselves to their urges are seen as pathetic and desposable. The fact the King is losing his functional parts to his addiction is the reason their war plans aren't always clear and well thought out.

* MassOhCrap: Harry postulates that the King and his Lords of the Outer Night who are trying to kill Maggie when detained by a shining Holy Light that takes the arm of the King are seriously scared because with all the other events that night, the Three Swords of the Cross, one of whose bearers has a Holy Being speaking through her, and then a second spirit shielding her from mental attacks in the form of a halo, they thought that the gods they are impersonating have awoken and come back to punish them as well. It really is just an invisible Susan holding ''Amoracchius'' but they don't know that for those few minutes.
* NeverMyFault: Red Court vampires never really recognize when something was their own fault, instead blaming enemies who happened to be tangentially related to whatever happened. Bianca is a shining example of this- Due to Harry's interview with her, she gets a bit shaken up, and when she feeds on one of her whores immediately after, she doesn't stop in time and the girl dies. Bianca blames Harry for this and all her later time in the series is devoted to making Harry's life miserable and/or killing him. She even turns Susan into a half-vampire just to spite him.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Formerly-human batlike demons who can assume human form, they're burned by sunlight and repelled by sacred objects.

* VampireRefugee: The Order of St. Giles are humans who were half turned into Red vampires, but never drained another to death and so retain actual human form instead of being bat-things in skin masks - they oppose the Red Court proper wherever they can, and are allies of the White Council. Harry's girlfriend Susan is one. See their information [[Characters/TheDresdenFilesOtherPowerfulPeopleAndEntities here]].

* AmbiguousSituation: Its not made clear whether the Red king is genuinely losing himself to his bloodlust and hence his at times erratic behavior or its all an act to manipulate his court into not viewing him as a threat.

* BigBadEnsemble: With his daugher Arianna in ''Changes'', though he's more dangerous.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: She is a powerful succubus who consistently drains the life of brainwashed slaves to sate her demonic Hunger. Similar to her father, her ultimate goal seems to be to gain control over pretty much the entire First World through proxies (brainwashed and otherwise) via the White Court's resources, and then use cultural brainwashing through the erotica industry to wipe out the concepts of sex-positivity and TrueLove so she can live virtually forever in a secure life of comfort and hedonism. And then there's [[CruelAndUnsualDeath what she did to Madeline]]. That being said, she has a deep sense of honor and duty, especially to her family. Even if it costs her her life, she will abide by her standards. In ''Peace Talks'' she outright admits that as much as a monster as she might be, taking revenge on the family of her enemies is not something that she indulges in (which is actually quite fitting, considering she herself is an example of EvenEvilHasLovedOnes). Furthermore, in ''Battle Ground'', [[spoiler:she's horrified when Mab casually states that she and Dresden [[AltarDiplomacy will be wed]] to arrange a formal alliance between the Winter and White Courts, as Harry's love Murphy has been dead for less than four days at that point. Eventually, Mab is willing to move the ceremony into taking place one year in the future... but they will still be wed no matter what. Lara also winces in sympathy when Mab orders Molly (who still has been holding a torch for Harry) to plan Lara and Harry's wedding]].

* YourDaysAreNumbered: Lara hinted in Peace Talks that Raith will die sooner or later as his hunger continues to feed on his lifeforce.

* BreakTheCutie: In addition to getting broken after he breaks Justine, the naagloshii in ''Turn Coat'' tortures him into at least temporarily stopping his attempt at FriendlyNeighborhoodVampires.

** Perhaps even more than that. [[spoiler: Susan was a tough but an ordinary reporter. By causing her transformation into a vampire, he caused problems with Harry and Susan from being intimate or living together, Susan having to leave the country and job to fight the Red Court from the shadows, Susan and Harry's child being in danger which culminated in Harry having to kill Susan to protect their daughter. In return, Thomas nearly ends up killing Justine after feeding on her while injured, has physical and political problems in being with her, gets thrown out of the White Court, had problems holding down several jobs, gets his car permanently wrecked along with Harry's Blue Beetle by the Red Court, has to fight the even more secret and problematic Oblivion War, forced to attempt an assasination on the Svartalf king to save Justine and his unborn child, resulting in his assistabt being killed thereby breaking his friendship with their relatives, and then it turns out Justine has been possessed by Nemesis for years. Heck he didn't even get Justine back from Bianca after betraying Susan, he had to go to Harry for it.]] Basically, everything Harry and Susan had to suffer, he had to go through with interest.

* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Tends to prompt comments along the lines of "I'm not gay, but even I think he's hot."

* {{Expy}}: He whistles weird songs to himself during a fight, carries an ''enormous'' personal sidearm, is far more financially successful than the protagonist (for most of the series, anyway), has a really cool car, drives the protagonist around a lot, is a fashion plate, and his relationship with the protagonist is both close and heavily dependent upon constantly busting on each other. If Thomas was black, he'd basically ''be'' Hawk from the ''Spenser'' novels. (Butcher has mentioned that Parker is an influence.)
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampires: The only one who could possibly be said to play this straight.

* RomanceAndSexualitySeparation: Justine and the White Court vampire Thomas Raith truly love each other... which means ThePowerOfLove burns any vampire who touches her, including him. He still needs to feed on LifeEnergy, though, so he has any number of casual partners.

* SiblingTeam: Thomas is very much a OneManArmy, but put him on a field with Lara Raith or Harry Dresden at his side and its a slaughterfest on their enemies.
* SickeninglySweethearts: WordOfGod reveals that he and Justine are like this in private. Harry actually gets to see this in a vision in ''Ghost Story''.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: When Harry calls her an "apex sexual predator", all Lara does is give an amused smirk and point out that he's [[HornyDevil not wrong.]]

* AntiVillain: She's not as anti as Marcone, but in any conflict with another villain, she's almost always the lesser evil (you've really got to root for her against both her father and the Skinwalker, for example). It's not that she's ''not'' evil, just that really blatant, destructive evil isn't her style, and doesn't suit her purposes. However, as ''Turn Coat'' makes clear, she ''is'' a monster, and is thus on Harry's hit-list.

* BerserkButton: It wasn't that Harry refused her offer of alliance, forces her to pay wergild to the women killed by her Court, the destruction of the Raith Deeps, or destruction of part of her home as a consequence to Harry saving their lives from the destruction of the Raith Deeps that pissed her off that one night. It was Harry asking for some Listerine after their prolonged kiss. Second is accusing her of not caring for her family which lead to her to threaten to cut someone's throat.

* BeneathTheMask: Lara's default reaction to anything is playfully polite. From casual conversation, to meetings of state, to life or death battle. Its noted by everyone, even brainless fools like Trixie Vixen, that there is something terrible behind that smile. They are right. The few times where that mask slips shows a vicious calculating preditor bent on domination and control with an ironwill to back it up.
* BigSisterInstinct: Is ''only'' protective of her siblings [[spoiler:to the misfortune of her cousins]]... in her own twisted way. For example, she decides the only way to protect Thomas from their father's wrath and torture is by ''killing him'' first — though she does immediately back down when another, more-likely-to-succeed course of action is presented.

* DepravedBisexual: At the climax of ''Turn Coat'', she rapes one of her female cousins to death. While disembowelling, and possibly ''eating'' her (there's mentioned to be very little left of said cousin once she's done). Making said cousin enjoy every second of it. While purring about how's she's dreamed about it since they were both girls (which means decades, if not centuries).

* EvenEvilHasStandards: She is a powerful succubus capable of changing a firetruck's engine with her own hands. She will drain the life of people to fill her hunger. And then there's what she did to Madeline. That being said, she has a deep sense of honor and duty, especially to her family. Even if it costs her her life, she will abide by her standards. In ''Peace Talks'' she outright admits that as much as a monster as she might be, taking revenge on the family of her enemies is not something that she indulges in (which is actually quite fitting, considering she herself is an example of EvenEvilHasLovedOnes). Furthermore, in ''Battle Ground'', [[spoiler:she's horrified when Mab casually states that she and Dresden [[AltarDiplomacy will be wed]] to arrange a formal alliance between the Winter and White Courts, as Harry's love Murphy has been dead for less than four days at that point. Eventually, Mab is willing to move the ceremony into taking place one year in the future... but they will still be wed no matter what. Lara also winces in sympathy when Mab orders Molly (who still has been holding a torch for Harry) to plan Lara and Harry's wedding]].

* Foil: With her father, Lara's former king and and now mouthpiece. In his prime Lord Raith was a feared expansionist king with great vision and an obsession with controlling a rogue wizard, not unilke his oldest surviving daughter. The differnece being Daddy Raith cared for nothing but his own hedonism and saw his own family as little more than tools and toys- would rather demand good seating to his children's deaths than prevent them. Lara by contrast, her highest priority is her siblings- and only her siblings, sorry cousins- well being. With only suicidal war and rebellion stopping her from beinging all of the white court into conflict to save just one of her blood.
* FanDisservice: ''Turn Coat'' has the lovely Lara providing one of '''the''' most hideous and nightmarishly horrifiying moments in the entire series when she finally tracks down the White Court's traitor to the Black Council. Her method of killing the traitorous Madeline involved pulling out her cousin's intestines while psychically feeding off her (and possibly about to physically eat her — there was apparently very little of Madeline left afterwards). And all of this while Lara was black and crispy after surviving a bomb going off next to her.

* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: Unsurprisingly with Harry dresden. As hilariously explained by Thomas Raith, Lara has been ignored twice in a single century. Harry being the first. Strangely enough, Lara does not have this with the second, Johnny Marcone. While both are frenemies to some extent, the former has helped lara in a much more personal level than Marcone. The latter being Lara's Direct competition for control of Chicago.

* LesserOfTwoEvils: PlayedWith. Harry teams up with her because she's pragmatic and keeps her word. But she's still a dangerous monster whose reign over the White Court has made it stronger.

* ThePlan[=/=]GambitRoulette: She's White Court. It's what she does. And she's '''''good''''' at what she does.
* PragmaticVillainy:
** She's a lot [[AffablyEvil nicer to have as an enemy]] than her father was, but she's ultimately much more dangerous.

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[[caption-width-right:300:In retrospect, her choice of girlfriends probably wasn't the best.]]

* ILoveYouBecauseICan'tControlYou: Unsurprisingly with Harry dresden. As hilariously explained by Thomas Raith, Lara has been ignored twice in a single century. Harry being the first. Strangely enough, Lara does not have this with the second, Johnny Marcone. While both are frenemies to some extent, the former has helped lara in a much more personal level than Marcone. The latter being Lara's Direct competition for control of Chicago.

* DisproportionateRetribution[=/=]EvilIsPetty: Even without the whole vampire angle, bringing in goons, entrapping, threatening, attacking and trying to murder fellow players simply for making fun of you, even killing a security guard for it, [[{{Understatement}} is a bit over the top]]. Also see BadBoss above.

* BigBadWannabe: By the time of the series, he's been reduced to this. While he used to have the power to back up his reputation, after years of being unable to replenish his energies he's much less formidable than he was, and relies on 8bluffing his way out of conflict.

* LesserOfTwoEvils: Usually the reason Harry teams up with her.

* TheVamp: Being a succubus and social predator, it sort of comes with the hat.

* InterspeciesRomance: She falls for a scion of a Bigfoot.

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* RealityEnsues: While some of his addict behavior was an act, he is still a functional ''addict'' and as a result his plans are sometimes not the best for strategy.