The Vamp: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:waterhouse46Lamia and the Soldier.jpg|framethumb|350px|Notice the snake skin she shed: this particular [[Shapeshifting Lover]] does ''[[Reptiles Are Abhorrent|not]]'' mean well]]
 
{{quote|''"Oh such grace, oh such beauty-- so precious, suspicious, and charming, and vicious,''
''Oh darling, you're a million ways to be cruel."''|'''[[OK Go]]''', ''A Million Ways''}}
|'''[[OK Go]]''', ''A Million Ways''}}
 
A classic character type, the beauty who uses her feminine wiles to undermine a moral and upright man, for ''evil'' purposes. She's [[Evil Is Sexy|evil and sexy]], a liar and a sneak, and [[Flaw Exploitation|uses the good guy's sympathy against him]], often with a sob story about her mother and some hospital bills or a [[Wounded Gazelle Gambit]].
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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Mitsuko Souma in ''[[Battle Royale]]''.
* Slan from ''[[Berserk]]''.
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* Bloody Agatha from ''[[Claymore]]'' - she's one of the few Claymores who shows an interest in sex. Roxanne of Love and Hate could also count, depending on how you interpret [[Psycho Lesbian|her attitude]] towards her victims. {{spoiler|Her modus operandi was to befriend another Claymore and copy her powers. That Claymore would later die in...mysterious circumstances. It also enabled her to leap up the ranks to Number 1.}}
* Kanoko's stepmother in ''[[Velvet Kiss]]'' is a [[The Chessmaster|chessmater]] who uses a combination of sex and blackmail to manipulate events, such as by having the wife of her lover killed due to neglectful hospital care, and then trying to do the same thing to the lover himself (now her husband). Deconstructed when {{spoiler|all it takes is two people standing up to her and the entire plot crashes down around her}}.
* This played a vital role in ''[[Voltron]]'''s backstory. Initially, the eponymous robot was your typical [[Humungous Mecha]] (''not'' a [[Combining Mecha|combining one]]) who had no need of a pilot. However, the [[Wicked Witch]] Haggar schemed to slay him, and assumed the form of a beautiful cosmic being, beckoning him to come close. He was fooled, let his guard down, and left himself open for her attack. ''But'' he survived, the assault breaking him into the five Lion components, each still a functional warrior, but each only a fifth as powerful as Voltron himself. Only when the Voltron Force found them could he regain his true power.
 
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Ava Lord from the ''[[Sin City]]'' story "A Dame to Kill For" was an evil ([[Card-Carrying Villain|by her own admission]]) and greedy seductress who manipulated her old lover, Dwight McCarthy, through a [[Wounded Gazelle Gambit]] into murdering her husband so she could get her hands on all his money, and then tried to kill him once he had [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|outlived his usefulness to her]]. As Manute, her [[The Dragon|Dragon]] (who would later show up in "The Big Fat Kill"), explains, Dwight is not the first man she has destroyed with her deadly wiles. Lampshaded-slash-deconstructed in her admission, as she points out that "evil ruthless seductress" is so cliche nobody believes she can be one...until it's too late.
* Poison Ivy in the [[Batman]] comic books, especially before she became an eco-terrorist.
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* Bridget Keating from ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]'', although Bridget is more selfish than evil.
* Lulu Romanov in ''[[Nikolai Dante]]''
* This is a common strategy employed by ''[[Doctor Strange]]'' villain and [[Evil Sorceress]] Umar, sister and occasional accomplice to the Dread Dormammu, Strange's archnemesis. Umar has admitted on more than one occasion that her ability to seduce, enslave, and destroy men in this way is [[Can't Have Sex Ever| the biggest reason]] she has never transformed herself into a being a pure magical energy like her brother has. It has, however, come back to bite her at least once as her daughter Clea (Strange's lover and frequent ally) [[Evil Matriarch| was born from one such liaison.]]
* [[Black Widow (comics)|Natasha Romanoff]] was this, pre-[[Heel Face Turn]], pretty much how she got "Black Widow" as her ''nom de plume''.
 
== [[Film]] ==
 
== Film ==
* ''[[Black Widow]]'' (1987), played by Theresa Russell, a serial killer of rich men she married, ostensibly for their money. Has strong [[Les Yay|bisexual theme]] as well.
* Pick a version of ''[[The Parent Trap (1961 film)|The Parent Trap]]''. In this case, it takes the twin girls wreaking havoc on The Vamp to make Dad realize that he's about to marry a gold-digging bitch, which was completely obvious to everyone else from the moment the woman appeared on the screen. She'll likely overlap with the [[Rich Bitch]] in this case.
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* Myrna Loy was stuck playing this type of role for years in early Hollywood, often with an additional [[Unfortunate Implications|"ethnic"]] flavor, finally escaping to better parts with the success of ''[[The Thin Man (film)|The Thin Man]]''.
* Lady Marsh in ''[[Lair of the White Worm]]'' seduces both men [[Psycho Lesbian|and women]] to their doom.
* Mini from ''[[Mini's First Time]]'' has elements of [[Femme Fatale|Femme]] and [[Fille Fatale]], but her utter soullessness qualifies her for this trope.
* In ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]],'' there's a whole castle of vamps.
* Ariel in ''[[Alien Intruder]]''.
* Kathryn in ''[[Cruel Intentions]]''.
* Debbie in ''[[Devil In The Flesh]]''.
* ''[[Enchanted]]'': While it isn’t wrong to think Narissa does love Nathaniel at first, it eventually becomes clear to both him and the audience that she’s simply using him (with her good looks and charisma) to get what she wants. Hence the reason why Nathaniel decides to do something about her.
* ''[[Rugrats in Paris]]'': Unlike Kira, who treats people around her with genuine compassion, Coco Labouche is only pretending to be in love with Chaz to get what she wants (she figures if she marries a man who has a child, it’ll be easier for her to become President of her boss’s company, as her boss feels the president should have a heart of a child). And she has every intention of abusing Chuckie, going as far as to plan to destroy his teddy bear. Luckily, Kira decides not to go through with that, because she actually cares about Chuckie after hearing the misfortune that had befallen him. And yes, you can probably guess who Chaz decides to marry in the end.
 
== [[Literature]] ==
* [[Rudyard Kipling]] wrote a poem called [http://www.online-literature.com/donne/921/ "The Vampire".] [[Trope Namer]]?
* Milady de Winter in ''[[The Three Musketeers (novel)|The Three Musketeers]]''.
* Played for laughs in ''[[Discworld|The Science of [[Discworld]] II: The Globe]]''; the queen of [[The Fair Folk]] ''tries'' to seduce Rincewind, but all he desires is [[Trademark Favorite Food|potatoes]].
* Vorpax ''[[Mortal Kombat]]: Conquest''. Not that there's anything wrong with wanting to seduce [[Mr. Fanservice|Shang Tsung]]...
* Berelain in the ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' started out as one, who seduced people for political advantage and spent multiple books chasing after Perrin to the detriment of Perrin's marriage, but is starting to look a bit more sympathetic. Her current [[Love At First Sight|infatuation]] with Galad, putting an end to the horrific [[Poor Communication Kills]] arc of the last five books, certainly helps.
* [[Hans Christian Andersen]]'s ''[[The Snow Queen]]''.
* The White Witch of [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]]'s ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'', even more so in the films. In the film adaption of ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,'' Edmund even imagines her promising to make him "a king...and more", making it obvious that this was a large factor in his decision to become [[The Mole|her mole.]] But even in ''The Magician's Nephew'', she strikes Diggory as stunning (while Polly doesn't see the attraction), and Uncle Andrew loses his head over her, even imagining she might find him attractive. And, of course, the Lady of the Green Kirtle from ''The Silver Chair'' seduces and [[Brainwashed|enslaves]] the prince. Jill ''does'' [[Even the Girls Want Her|see the attraction]].
* Zenia in Margaret Atwood's ''The Robber Bride''.
* In [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''[[Warhammer 40,000]] [[Horus Heresy]]'' novel ''Fulgrim'', Bequa Kenska. When her attempt to seduce Ostian Delafour fails, she is enraged both to lose the chance to corrupt his youth and innocence and because she had never failed before.
* The titular character in Andrew Vachss' ''[[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Strega]]'' (the second ''[[Burke]]'' novel) is explicitly The Vamp to the extent that she even [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshades]] the fact that she can bend men to her will. The protagonist, Burke, does succumb to her sexual wiles, but [[Subverted Trope|subverts the trope]] in that he's [[Genre Savvy|perfectly aware]] of what [[Honey Trap|she represents]], and manages pulls away once her goals are no longer parallel with his. {{spoiler|The girlfriend in Vachss' ''The Getaway Man'' plays the trope straight, however.}}
* Lara Raith of ''[[The Dresden Files]]''. She's also a psychic vampire who feeds on people's souls during sex.
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* Matilda fills this role in ''[[The Monk]]'', particularly if you read her character as deliberately leading Ambrosio astray rather than merely being tempting.
 
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
 
== Live-Action TV ==
* Victoria Metcalf, the psychotic, poetry-loving bank robber who was the love of Benton Fraser's life in ''[[Due South]]''.
* Lila in ''[[Dexter]]''. Granted, Dexter is most certainly [[Serial Killer|not]] your typical "moral and upright man", but Lila's willing to go places that [[Even Evil Has Standards|even he won't]]. The nihilistic temptress comes complete with black hair, in contrast to Dexter's blonde good-girl girlfriend Rita.
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* Regina in ''[[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]]'' clearly ''wants'' to be this, invoking [[Evil Is Sexy]] and trying to seduce men to do what she wants. It never works (probably because the men are [[Genre Savvy]] enough to know sleeping with an evil witch-queen ''never'' ends well), so she falls back to her magic and/or loyal army.
 
== [[Music]] ==
* Bree Sharp's ''Cheap and Evil Girl'' describes one.
* Hall & Oates' "Maneater", as seen in the former page quote.
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{{quote|''She was a scamp, a camp and a bit of a tramp
She was a V-A-M-P...Vamp!'' }}
* [[Roxette]]'s "Dangerous":
{{quote|''Hold on tight, you know she's a little bit dangerous''
''She's got what it takes to make ends meet''
''The eyes of a lover that hit like heat''
''You know she's a little bit dangerous...''}}
 
== [[MythologyOral Tradition]] and, [[ReligionFolklore]], Myths and Legends ==
* The classic Vamp, of course, is Delilah, from the [[The Bible|biblical]] story of Samson. The Biblical story clearly treats her as a villainess who tempts Samson away from his godly ways, and thus brings about his downfall, emasculation, and captivity. She betrayed him very effectively, although her life was threatened. People weak in faith turning their backs on their powerful protector when threatened by the vast but easily avoidable powers of the wicked is a bit of a theme in the ''Bible'', yes.
** Which makes it interesting that the book of Judges also features a '''heroic''' vamp in the character of Jael. After Deborah has just lead the Israelites to victory against their current oppressor, Sisera, the general from that army, escapes. He finds his way to Jael's tent where she tires him out with sex, puts him to sleep, then brutally assassinates him. Whoever says the Bible is unfair to women, read that and weep.
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* [[Older Than Dirt]]: [[Mesopotamian Mythology]] has the goddess Ishtar/Innana, who tends to cause her lovers' deaths, and the seductive [[Child Eater]] Lilitu.
 
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
 
== Tabletop Games ==
* The female, and literal, vampires of the [[Vampires Are Sex Gods|Daeva]] [[The Beautiful Elite|clan]] from ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' are the EMBODIMENTS of this trope. Although it depends on the player, the [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire|nicest]] Daeva vampiresses would be considered [[Femme Fatale|Femmes Fatales]], but the book encourages you to play it straight; in other words, [[Complete Monster|be downright evil]].
* Mina Devlin from ''[[Deadlands]]''.
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' has a Temptress character class.
** The Temptress [[Prestige Class]], self-explanitory.
 
** The Thrall of Graz'zt from ''The Book of Vile Darkness'' is a type of Vamp who uses the [[Merlin and Nimue]] approach.
** Lighthearted example, the [[Shameless Fanservice Girl|Wizards of the Black Teddy]] from ''[[Planescape]]''.
* [[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]
** Vampire Vamp's name and effect actually invokes the trope. Konami even supports it in their [https://yugiohblog.konami.com/articles/?p=6208 TCG blog article on her.]
** The Trapix archetype are seductive, beautiful wood elves who lure men into their traps; said men are devoured by giant spider-like creatures, although it isn't clear whether these beasts are the Trapix's pets or [[One-Winged Angel]] forms of the Trapix themselves.
** [https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Lovely_Labrynth_of_the_Silver_Castle Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle] is this, along with her servants Arianna and [https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Arianna_the_Labrynth_Servant Arianna] and [https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Ariane_the_Labrynth_Servant Ariane]. They seem [https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Welcome_Labrynth welcoming and friendly] to anyone who enters their castle, but given the Trap-heavy nature of Labryinth cards, it seems probably that they are luring victims to their doom.
 
== Theater[[Theatre]] ==
* [[Anvilicious|Lucy The Slut]] in ''[[Avenue Q]]''. The extent of her character is, well, [[Self Explanatory]].
* Lola from ''[[Damn Yankees]]'' is a subversion. She presents herself in her [["I Am" Song|establishing song]] "A Little Brains, A Little Talent" to be The Vamp to end all Vamps, but her seduction of Joe is unsuccessful, in part because she [[Minion with an F In Evil|fails to be evil enough]].
* Mallory in the musical ''[[City of Angels (musical)|City of Angels]]''. She's redeemed by (in-story) [[Executive Meddling]].
* Not so much evil as irresponibleirresponsible and immature, Mayzie La Bird is a kid-friendly version in ''[[Seussical]]''.
* The two female protagonists, Roxie and Velma, from ''[[Chicago (theatre)|Chicago]]'' are using their vamp skills to literally get away with murder.
* Generally, whoever sings 'Turn Back, O Man' in ''[[Godspell]]'' tends to be a bit of a parody of this.
* Sally Bowles from ''Cabaret'' is another more irresponsible and immature than evil version.
* Fastrada, Pippin's Stepmother from ''[[Pippin]]'', is this to a V. She manipulates both Charles and Pippin to make sure her 'darling' son Lewis is next in line to the throne. Of course, she's manipulating Pippin for other reasons..."Sometimes I wonder if the fornicating I'm getting is worth the fornicating I'm getting."-Charles
 
== Other[[Toys]] ==
* Roodaka from ''[[Bionicle]]'' is a quintessential example.
 
== Videogames[[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei I]]'' has Yuriko, who has the general look and mannerisms down, but {{spoiler|quickly revealing her [[Murder the Hypotenuse]] tendencies kinda killed her effectiveness}}. Really doesn't help that she's {{spoiler|actually [[Biblical Bad Guy|Lilith]] and thus hit with a severe case of [[No Campaign for the Wicked]].}}
* The ''SiN'' series features Vamp/[[The Baroness|Baroness]] combo Elexis Sinclaire.
* ''[[Metal Gear]]:''
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* [[Ms. Fanservice|I]][[Evil Is Sexy|-No]] from ''[[Guilty Gear]]''.
 
== Western[[Web Animation]] ==
* ''[[Helluva Boss]]''; Blitzo's [[Sassy Secretary]] Loona is tasked with showing leg in order [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7UvAFliQQo to lead the marks to their doom.]
 
== Webcomics[[Web Comics]] ==
* Sabine from ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' is a [[Horny Devils|succubus]] in [[Lady in Red|red leather]]. In a bit of a subversion, her vamping doesn't work on the [[Genre Savvy]] [[The Hero|Roy Greenhilt]] the time she tried it on him, and most of it is directed at her boss, Nale. It didn't work on [[Les Yay|Miko]], either.
* Amelia Sturtz in ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'' used her looks to get men close enough to her to hypnotize them through eye contact.
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20140209165257/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2342 Seymour accuses Monique of being this.]
 
==[[ Web Original]] ==
 
== Web Original ==
* In ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', several female players, such as Katherine Marks, Clemence, and Chi Masumi, have used their looks to try to seduce male opponents and catch them off guard or get protection/help from them. Usually, they try to kill the male once they're vulnerable. {{spoiler|This has just about never worked, James Coombs, Naoji Hideyoshi, and Aaron Redfield being the only actual victims of this tactic so far.}} Non-player females sometimes try to do something similar to charm males into helping them, but this has become rare by v3.
* ''[[Whateley Universe|]]'': Vamp's MO.]] May or may not continue now that she's {{spoiler|going to Whateley.}}
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
 
* The Martian Queen Tyrahnee from ''[[Duck Dodgers]]'' tries. TheOr she hero's'tries'', anyway - Dodgers is [[Chaste Hero|too stupid to fall for it]]. (In some episodes, she's a [[Defrosting Ice Queen]] who's genuinely in love with Dodgers, but he's ''still'' too stupid to notice.)
== Western Animation ==
* Subverted in one of"Ambiguously Gay Duo" cartoon short on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'''s "Ambiguously Gay Duo" cartoon shorts. An alien queen plans to use her feminine wiles to distract Ace and Gary, but Dr. Bighead replies, "I, uh, don't think that'll work on those two.". Which it didn't. They have very strong moral constitutions, obviously.
* The Martian Queen from ''[[Duck Dodgers]]'' tries. The hero's [[Chaste Hero|too stupid to fall for it]]. (In some episodes, she's a [[Defrosting Ice Queen]] who's genuinely in love with Dodgers, but he's ''still'' too stupid to notice.)
* It doesn't seem to be intentionalSubverted with Azula in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]].'', Shewho soundsis simply domineering likeenough that she sounds this way talking to... well, ''everyone''... but whenWhen she actually triedtries to seduce someone, it fails dismally.
* Subverted in one of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'''s "Ambiguously Gay Duo" cartoon shorts. An alien queen plans to use her feminine wiles to distract Ace and Gary, but Dr. Bighead replies, "I, uh, don't think that'll work on those two." Which it didn't. They have very strong moral constitutions, obviously.
* Venus in ''[[The Tick (animation)|The Tick]]'' is a G-rated example, played for comedy. She can channel her "feminine wiles" into a form of actual mind control.
* It doesn't seem to be intentional with Azula in [[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]. She sounds like that talking to...well, ''everyone''... but when she actually tried to seduce someone, it fails dismally.
* Blackarachnia of ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' wavered between this and [[Femme Fatale]]. Even if she was redeemed, it would be very hard for anyone (besides Optimus, the sap) to trust her. Which is odd, because while she's fairly sexy by human body shape standards, she's also techno-organic—and most Transformers are repulsed by anything organic. However, many of the Autobots find her very attractive. and only Blitzwing and {{spoiler|Sentinel Prime}} react with anything approaching disgust. {{spoiler|The latter even tries to ''kill her'', despite the fact that she was once his best friend.}}
* Venus in ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'' is a G-rated example, played for comedy. She can channel her "feminine wiles" into a form of actual mind control.
* Blackarachnia of ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' wavered between this and [[Femme Fatale]]. Even if she was redeemed, it would be very hard for anyone (besides Optimus, the sap) to trust her. Which is odd, because while she's fairly sexy by human body shape standards, she's also techno-organic—and most Transformers are repulsed by anything organic. However, many of the Autobots find her very attractive and only Blitzwing and {{spoiler|Sentinel Prime}} react with anything approaching disgust. {{spoiler|The latter even tries to ''kill her'', despite the fact that she was once his best friend.}}
** Blackarachnia of ''[[Beast Wars]]'' qualifies, at least in season 1 and early-mid season 2. She is basically the closest thing the series ever has to a ninja, is pretty good-looking by any bot's standards, and, to varying degrees, has used her looks to manipulate Tarantulus, Quickstrike, and Silverbolt, although she got in a little over her head with that last one, resulting in her eventual [[Heel Face Turn]] by the beginning of season 3.
* Hollie Would from ''[[Cool World]]''. Kind of like the evil blonde version of [[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?|Jessica Rabbit.]]
* Sedusa of the ''[[Powerpuff Girls]]'' in her first two appearances.
* Darla Dimple from ''[[Cats Don't Dance]]'', despite being just a child.
* Lolita and Tanqueray from ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]''.
* [[Those Wacky Nazis|Hatta Mari]] from the ''[[Looney Tunes|]]'' short ''Plane Daffy]]''.
* One-shot villain Ta-She from ''[[ThunderCats (1985 series)|ThunderCats]]'' is a coldly beautiful princess with a "doom gaze" that can enspell men and bind them to her will. Lion-O falls victim to it, but it doesn't work on his female teammate Cheetara, who ultimately defeats Ta-She.
 
* In an episode of ''[[Helluva Boss]]'', Loona acts like one, flirting with intended marks in order to lure them to a secluded area, where the other I.M.Ps could ambush and kill them.
 
== Other ==
* Roodaka from ''[[Bionicle]]'' is a quintessential example.
 
{{reflist}}