History Main / VampiresAreRich

* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'': Vampires belong to a faction called the Vampire Counts, which often are ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Subverted in that vampires usually belong to one of five major bloodlines, of which only two (the Lahmia and the Von Carstein bloodlines) tend to take on the trappings of actual aristocracy. The Blood Dragon bloodline tends to create vampires exclusively from the knightly classes, but are also driven {{Blood Knight}}s and therefore favour spending as much time as possible on the road in search of their next WorthyOpponent. The Necrachs tend to own expansive wizard lairs, but because they all LooksLikeOrlok they live far away from civilization and whatever riches they have they can't flaunt nor enjoy. Finally, the Strigoi are {{Feral Vampire}}s and tend to live in graveyards and mausoleums, averting the trope entirely.

* The Characters/WarhammerVampireCounts are ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin

** Lestat de Lioncourt and Louis de Pointe du Lac both have sizeable incomes. This allows them to enjoy a very comfortable, opulent lifestyle in New Orleans, and they're part of the city's high society. Louis owns his family's mansion, and Lestat's magnificent townhouse has a large courtyard.
** Louis and Armand reside in a spacious penthouse apartment in Dubai with human servants, and one of the artistic masterpieces hanging on the walls is Creator/RembrandtVanRijn's ''The Storm on the Sea of Galilee'', a stolen painting worth around $100 million. Daniel Molloy observes that it costs a fortune to maintain such a high level of privacy.

* In ''Literature/TheRhesusChart'' (part of ''Literature/TheLaundryFiles'') it's pointed out that any long-lived vampire has to be wealthy; they're essentially serial killers and only those with resources can afford to get away with murder over a long period, not to mention odd behaviour is more likely to be excused in the wealthy.

** Louis and Armand reside in a spacious penthouse apartment in Dubai with human servants, and one of the paintings hanging on the walls is Creator/RembrandtVanRijn's ''The Storm on the Sea of Galilee'', a stolen painting worth around $100 million. Daniel Molloy observes that it costs a fortune to maintain such a high level of privacy.

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': Lestat de Lioncourt and Louis de Pointe du Lac both have sizeable incomes. This allows them to live in a very comfortable, opulent way.

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': Lestat and Louis both have sizeable incomes. This allows them to live in a very comfortable way.

* ''Series/{{Moonlight}}'' has Josef, [[strike:Nick's]] Mick's best vampire friend, who is the head of a major corporation. Mick himself is not rich and makes a living as a private investigator. Then again, he is fairly young by vampire standards (about 90). However, his LA apartment is pretty nice, and he even has a secret room where he keeps his freezer (vampires prefer freezers to coffins). The show has plenty of vamps both rich and poor, just like humans.

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': Lestat and Louis both have a sizeable income. This allows them to live in a very comfortable way.

[[quoteright:349:[[{{VideoGame/Castlevania}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sergio_palomino_theme_01_castlevania_dracula_viewonly.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:349:[[https://www.deviantart.com/lo0bo0/art/Dracula-Castlevania-558276421 Image]] by [[https://www.deviantart.com/lo0bo0 Lo0bo0]]]]

Tropologically, it's probably to do with vampires being [[AristocratsAreEvil decadent aristocrats]] [[ClassicalMovieVampire going back to Count Dracula]]. Both tropes play on the symbolic connection between literal blood-sucking and the parasitic way of life of a real-life idle class which does not support itself by its own efforts, but by exploiting other people.

Vampires in more recent times (such as TheNewTens) are more likely to play with this trope. They might be {{Impoverished Patrician}}s struggling to adapt to the modern age (again paralleling history) and so ReducedToRatBurgers. On the other hand, they could be an otherwise Average Joe working nights at the Quik-E-Mart in order to pay for a dark enough apartment to sleep in.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': Dio Brando seemed to have accumulated quite a fortune by the time he appeared in Stardust Crusaders, being able to pay his followers in gold and having an impressive, expensive-looking wardrobe.
* in ''Manga/MsVampireWhoLivesInMyNeighborhood'', Sophie Twilight is at least well-off enough to live in a mansion, possess a large library, indulge in otaku interests on her laptop, and regularly order shipments of blood on the internet.

* The Carpathian/European vampires from ''ComicBook/AmericanVampire'' represent old European nobility and thus are loaded. So much that in the miniseries ''Survival Of the Fittest'' they're a major financier of the [[ThoseWackyNazis Third Reich]] as they are big on [[FantasticRacism racial purity as well.]]

* In ''Comicbook/{{Runaways}}'', [[spoiler:Toph]] says he made a small fortune during the Great Depression, but lost it all during the Dot Com bubble. [[spoiler:His love for an expensive lifestyle means that he and the two vampires he turned spend their nights holding up liquor and convenience stores every night.]]

* In ''Literature/AnnoDracula: One Thousand Monsters'', Genevieve considers the trope to be broadly accurate, but she herself is an exception; one of the very few elders who has to work for a living.

* Averted with ''Literature/FredTheVampireAccountant'', at least with the titular protagonist. Fred is a mild-mannered CPA, who just continues doing what he knows after being turned. Partly justified, as he was only bitten a year before the start of the novel. His sire thought Fred's reserved ways hid a deep resentment for the world, so he turned him, hoping that Fred unleashed his pent-up rage on the unsuspecting city, turning it into a bloodbath. He was rather disappointed with his fledgling after coming back.

* De Quincey from ''Literature/TheInfernalDevices'', is known to throw absolutely ''lavish'' parties [[spoiler: where they abuse mundanes]].

** There are plenty of middle class vampires. Bill Compton, for example, makes do with a rather old house that's in poor condition [[spoiler: at least before he became King of Louisiana, when his house got a very swank makeover]]. In the second or third book it's revealed that he owns a shopping complex, so he can't be ''that'' strapped for cash, but it's more like he's just discreet with his money. When he learns that the Bellefleur family home is in worse condition than his own, he quietly gives Caroline (one of his descendants) enough money to restore the house and then some. And as revealed in the epilogue of the books, he creates a line of video games designed for vampires, which is so successful that lands him on the books's version of the {{Fiction 500}}, he's able to ''buy'' Louisiana, and can afford to have his employees live on his estate.

** Lestat is first introduced as a vagrant wastrel who latches himself onto Louis after turning him, using him for funds to fuel their travels, but in ''The Vampire Lestat'', he gets to tell his side of the story, where after becoming a vampire he was already wealthy, but used the excuse of needing money to make Louis' acquaintance. As a mortal he was a LandPoor aristocrat, the youngest son of a minor nobility with a manor house and not much else, but when he himself was turned by Magnus, he was gifted a literal treasure trove of gold, gems, and valuables that Magnus, a supremely reclusive vampire, had stolen from his victims over centuries and proceeded to do jack all with. At some point, he gave all his wealth to a series of banks where it's more or less taken care of itself, and now he has an army of accountants to look after his accountants' accountants. Lestat mentions that he has so much money that he doesn't know how much he has. More than enough to indulge any hideously expensive whim he has, which is just how he likes it. In ''Tale of the Body Thief'', when the eponymous thief asks him for $20 million in exchange for letting him swap bodies for a day, as Lestat considers the offer, the monetary cost is literally the least important factor in the decision.

* While never explicitly stated, the Salvatores of ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' were among the town's elite before they were turned and appear to still be wealthy. The Originals/Mikaelsons are definitely rich and [[spoiler: Tyler]] after he becomes hybrid also qualifies. Since vampires can compel people into obedience, often a vampire will simply compel people into letting the vampire live in their houses and support the vampire financially.

** Subverted with Nadja's backstory before she was sired; she was so poor her family had to burn their donkey to survive, and [[spoiler: Laszlo's buddies in England shunned him when he married her due to her background.]]

* In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' and ''[[TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem Vampire: the Requiem]]'', this can be played straight or averted depending entirely on how many dots in the "Resources" merit a vampire has. Stereotypically, vampires tend to get richer with age and certain clans are more liable to collect wealth and earthly goods than others. Some clans, like the Ventrue, tend to Embrace people who were already rich while still alive and will put their neonates through a financial TrainingFromHell called "[[TheSpartanWay the agoge]]." Other clans, like Gangrel tend (or may even prefer) to live in destitution. Anarchs tend to give a down-market vibe because they like to think of themselves as working class. The Nosferatu tend to be fantastically wealthy as the {{Knowledge Broker}}s of the vampire society, but live in the worst conditions (to those ''other'' than Nosferatu) because it tends to be the safest and most secluded locations.

* The vampires from the ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'' expansion "The Crimson Court" were all wealthy elites who all got turned at a fancy party. Their wealthy clothes and behavior is strikingly at odds with their new [[OurVampiresAreDifferent frightening insectoid visages]].

* Lord Janus Hassildor, Count Skingrad, in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion''. It's not quite clear how rich he is, but his town is likely the most prosperous in Cyrodiil after the Imperial City itself, and he has an extremely well-appointed castle. Also likely applies to the PlayerCharacter if they get turned, given that [[MoneyForNothing there's not much worth buying after a while]].

* Subverted in the ShowWithinAShow of ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation'': Vlad works the graveyard shift at a [[BurgerFool taco joint]] and claims he can't afford to make child support payments (for a son [[ChocolateBaby he denies is his]] despite all the evidence to the contrary).

* All of the vampires in ''Webcomic/BiteMe'' fit this [[spoiler: except Claire, and even that's ultimately arguable]]. For those whose backstories are given, they were aristocrats before becoming vampires.

* ''Webcomic/DraculaRulerOfTheNight'': Drac secured his wealth a long time ago after he turned himself through helping in wars and from family stockade as well as "tributes" a local village gives him to keep his castle at least maintenance and more then enough when he moves to London. It's only by sheer coincidence his first victim, Lucy, is likewise well off. Even after he loses Carfax Abby, having Lucy [[spoiler: and her mother]] as socialites had his brides and him just visit a fellow one's manor, turn her and take her manor as his own.

* Played with in ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows''. Sure, the main vampires have a lavish New York apartment, but it's never properly explained how exactly they managed to accumulate such wealth, especially when they do things like try to pay by throwing ancient coins at cashiers.

* Inverted in ''Film/ShadowOfTheVampire'' where Schreck is a lonely scavenger squatting in a ruined castle and feeding on bat. Reading ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' to study for his role actually saddens him, as he realises how far he's fallen from when he had armies and servants at his beck and call.

* ''Series/ForeverKnight'': Subverted where [=LaCroix=] actually argues ''against'' Nick's accumulation of material wealth, denouncing it as a useless burden. [[spoiler: Of course, [=LaCroix=]'s no FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire, so could always rob someone he's feeding on if he ''does'' find a use for cash.]]
** In one episode, his partner gets a look at Nick's bank account figure, and his eyes are seen to widen visibly.

->''"The luxury with which this Vorador surrounded himself was impressive. His wealth would shame the haughty nobles of ''my'' former court. That this vulgar display of fortune remained undisturbed was a testament of fear’s dominion over greed."''
-->-Kain, about [[TheHedonist Vorador]] living in a very luxorious mansion, ''VideoGame/BloodOmenLegacyOfKain''

-->-Kain, about [[TheHedonist Vorador]] living in a very luxorious mansion, ''[[VideoGame/LegacyOfKain Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain]]''

[[folder:Web Comics]]

-->-Kain, about [[TheHedonist Vorador]], ''[[VideoGame/LegacyOfKain Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain]]''

->''"The luxury with which this Vorador surrounded himself was impressive. His wealth would shame the haughty nobles of my former court. That this vulgar display of fortune remained undisturbed was a testament of fear’s dominion over greed."''

-->Kain, about [[TheHedonist Vorador]], ''[[VideoGame/LegacyOfKain Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain]]''

** This makes sense since most vampires are legally dead and cannot pick up resources from their human lives. For instance, after being de-fanged, Spike has to resort to scaring people into giving him money. Sunnydale being [[ApatheticCitizens what it is]], it doesn't exactly make him rich.

** Angel himself is not as rich as he could be. However Angel always does seem to have enough money to start over when he moves. He also had enough money stashed away to pay Cordy, Wes, Gunn and Fred their salaries yet rarely does he accept money from his clients. ''And'' he owns a hotel that never has guests. He did stash that bag of loot from the unfortunate lady in the hotel for fifty years, so he certainly has a major emergency fund at hand.

* ''Literature/BloodBooks'' (and the TV adaptation ''Series/BloodTies''): Henry Fitzroy is an aversion: he writes for a living. There's a LampshadeHanging in the first book where Vicki asks why he has to work, and he says something like, "Oh, sure, I could have bought IBM for pennies back in nineteen-oh-something, but who knew? I'm a vampire, not clairvoyant." He also points out that there is a reason for a high percentage of vampires being aristocracy. A mausoleum is much easier to break out of then a coffin under six feet of dirt. A inversion is also featured; Fitzroy lived a life of luxury ''before'' he became a vampire.

** Louis was already rich when Lestat sired him, probably just so Lestat could mooch off of Louis. (Also subverted in the case of Lestat, who ''was'' an aristocrat, but the youngest son of a family that was so poor they had to go hunting to put food on the table.) Basically, though, all vampires become filthy rich because they steal from their victims. Or just steal from living people.
** In ''Tale of the Body Thief'', Lestat mentions that he has so much money that he doesn't know how much he has. Somewhere in the high millions. When the eponymous thief asks him for $20 million in exchange for letting him swap bodies for a day, Lestat knows this is just a drop in the ocean for him but is still hesitant to pay the man.