Record of Fallen Vampire

MANGA HIGHLIGHTS

Record of Fallen Vampire

Plot

Having cast aside his Kingdom of the Night a thousand years ago, the vampire king Strauss wanders the lands in search of the place where his queen was sealed. Dogged by the dhampirs who are out to kill him, Strauss is fighting against time as he must continuously face humanity's curse, the Black Swan.

Initially, the story focuses on introducing Strauss and his quest for the seal, the Black Swan, and the dhampirs. The main plot, which gradually emerges after volume two, revolves around repelling an alien invasion. The humans plan to use Strauss' powers and Adelheid's powers to repel the invaders before having the Black Swan finally dispose of them.

Bridget, Strauss and Adelheid use flashbacks to convey their perspective on the events a thousand years ago. The writer, Kyo Shirodaira, indicates that this method of deriving different truths from the same set of facts was inspired by Christianna Brand's storytelling techniques.

Main Character

Akabara "Red Rose" Strauss (ローズレッド ストラウス Rōzureddo Suterausu^?)

Age: ~around 3000 (he became king around the very young age of 200 and adopted Bridget around 60 years old)

Strauss is the fearsome Vampire king Akabara (lit. Red Rose) who cast aside his kingdom a thousand years ago and went to search for Adelheid's seal and free her. While the dhampires believe his motive is deep love for his queen and Bridget thinks he wants revenge Stella’s death, Strauss actually needs Adelheid's help with the last stage of his secret plan. Strauss is somber but compassionate, and he does not kill without reason. He is also cool and logical beyond reason which allows him to master both the politics and the art of war with frightening precision. Strauss was seen by many as a god and thus great things were expected of him. Few ever stopped to think about his personal life as he devoted himself to his duties as general and later king. The many mysteries in the series revolve around him and the mysterious fall of his kingdom 1000 years ago. All attempts to pry information from him failed, and he resents the attempts to bring up the unhappy past.

Before becoming king, Strauss was a general of the Kingdom of the Night. During that time he adopted and raised Bridget, a dhampire girl. He was also in love with a human girl, Stella, whom he presented with a pendant made from lunar rock which he collected himself. Later it is revealed that Strauss never loved Adelheid, and that his true love interest was only Stella. As the general, Strauss had never been defeated on the field of battle; because his exceptional leadership of the armies, the Kingdom of Night went without a loss for over 100 years. While he was a general, Strauss had the cunning and power to be able to control the entire continent. He chose not to, however, because he was content with the size of the Kingdom. He also knew that if he conquered more, the people will hate the Kingdom and rebel, causing the loss of many lives, which would be unacceptable. These same skills were taught to Bridget.

Strauss has impressive magical powers far outmatching those of the dhampires. Nevertheless, he chooses to limit his power and fight in close combat in order to avoid damage to the surroundings. He is usually seen fighting with a vibrating edge of magic, although he can also summon a sword and is an expert swordsman. At range, Strauss can cast vibrating magic arrows or destroy missiles with a single gesture of his hand. Although pure-blooded vampires perish when exposed to sunlight, Strauss has overcome this limitation long ago.

Adelheid (アーデルハイト Āderuhaito^?)

Age: 2390

Strauss' queen and purportedly Bridget's sister, Adelheid was sealed a thousand years ago when she went berserk and unleashed her power, the Moonlight of Corrosion (腐食の月 Fushoku no Gekkou^?). Legend says that she thought that the king had been killed, though Bridget believes that Adelheid was frightened and thought Strauss was going to kill her when he believed Adelheid had killed Stella and her unborn child. Nobody knew that she had witnessed Stella’s death until Adelheid officially became Strauss’ queen.

Adelheid had a shy and self-conscious personality and she always worried about how others thought of her. Unlike Bridget or Strauss, Adelheid does not possess an exceptional amount of brains or cunning. By comparison, Adelheid was the least skilled of the three but since she was the only pure-blooded daughter of the king, Adelheid was the only one who could become queen. When Adelheid first learned that Bridget was her sister, the future queen felt very guilty over the circumstances of her birth. Adelheid always tried to make it up to Bridget by calling the dhampire ‘dear sister’ and she and Bridget became close.

Supporting Characters

Stella Heizerberg (ステラ·ヘイゼルバーグ^?)

Age: 18

A country girl who could neither read nor write. While Strauss was still a general, she was his human lover. She was adopted by the Heizerberg family. Stella and her unborn child (Strauss was the child’s father) were later brutally murdered; their deaths forever plunged Strauss into a depth of despair.