Vampires in J.R.R. Tolkien's works were mysterious bat-like creatures in the service of Morgoth and Sauron.
History[]
LIttle is told of them. Tolkien names one, Thuringwethil, a messenger of Sauron in the First Age while he ruled from Tol-in-Gaurhoth. Sauron himself, capable of shape-shifting, also took the shape of a vampire on at least one occasion, during the travels of Beren and Lúthien.
Vampires do not appear in Arda's history after the First Age.
Ambiguity[]
Tolkien may have chosen the word "vampire" only for its modern connotations of bat-associated monsters. A similar instance is his use of the word "werewolf" to denote wolf-like creatures, otherwise possibly unrelated to traditional werewolves. However, in context of the word "Vampire," Sauron did assume the form of such a creature numerous times. Furthermore, the vampire Thuringwethil, as her name connotes, is described as a "woman" of shadow.[1]
In adaptations[]
Video games[]
- The Games Workshop The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game supplement The Ruin of Arnor has a vampire in it - Gûlavhar, the Terror of Arnor. This is a non-canonical creature, designed by Mat Ward (writer of the Ruin of Arnor), Roberto Cirillo (concept artist) and Trish Morrison (sculptor).
- The Lord of the Rings Online has Carcharan, a vampire of Morgoth, in the forest of Mirkwood. It is a vampire in the form of a giant vampire bat.
Films[]
Large bat-like creatures appear in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, though it is unknown if they are intended to be vampires.
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Afrikaans | Vampier |
| Albanian | Vampir |
| Amharic | ቫምፓየር |
| Arabic | مصاص دماء |
| Aromanian | Vurcolacu |
| Armenian | Վամպիր |
| Azerbaijani | Vampir |
| Basque | Banpiro |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Вампір |
| Bengali | ভ্যাম্পায়ার |
| Bosnian | Vampir |
| Breton | Suner-gwad |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Вампир |
| Burmese | သွေးစုပ်ဖုတ်ကောင် |
| Cambodian | បិសាចជញ្ជក់ឈាម |
| Catalan | Vampir |
| Chinese (Hong Kong) | 吸血鬼 |
| Croatian | Vampir |
| Czech | Upír |
| Danish | Vampyr |
| Dari | وامپیره |
| Dutch | Vampier |
| Esperanto | Vampiro |
| Estonian | Vampiir |
| Filipino | Bampira |
| Finnish | Vampyyri |
| Galician | Vampiro |
| Georgian | ვამპირი |
| German | Vampir |
| Greek | Βρυκόλακας |
| Hebrew | ערפד |
| Hindi | पिशाच |
| Hungarian | Vámpír |
| Icelandic | Vampíra |
| Indonesian | Vampir |
| Irish Gaelic | Vaimpír |
| Italian | Vampiro |
| Japanese | 吸血鬼 |
| Kannada | ರಕ್ತಪಿಶಾಚಿ |
| Kashubian | Wieszczi |
| Kazakh Cyrillic | Вампіре |
| Korean | 흡혈귀 |
| Kurdish | ڤامپیره (Arabic script) Vampîre (Latin) |
| Kyrgyz Cyrillic | Вампирэ |
| Laotian | ຜີດິບ |
| Latin | Vampyrus |
| Latvian | Vampīrs |
| Lithuanian | Vampyras |
| Luxembourgish | Vampir |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Вампир |
| Malay | Vampir |
| Malayalam | രക്തരക്ഷസ് |
| Marathi | वम्पिरे |
| Mongolian Cyrillic | Вампире |
| Nāhuatl | Tlācatzinācantli |
| Nepalese | वम्पिरे |
| Norwegian | Vampyr |
| Occitan | Vampir |
| Persian | خونآشام |
| Polish | Wampir |
| Portuguese | Vampiro |
| Punjabi | ਪਿਸ਼ਾਚ |
| Romanian | Vampir |
| Russian | Вампир |
| Sanskrit | वेताल |
| Scottish Gaelic | Bhampair |
| Serbian | Вампир (Cyrillic) Vampir (Latin) |
| Sindhi | رت پيئندڙ جن |
| Sinhalese | පිසාචයින් |
| Slovak | Upír |
| Slovenian | Vampir |
| Spanish | Vampiro |
| Swedish | Vampyr |
| Tajik Cyrillic | Вампире |
| Tibetan | ཟེར་རོ། |
| Tagalog | Bampira |
| Tamil | வாம்பைர் |
| Telugu | రక్త పిశాచి |
| Thai | แวมไพร์ |
| Turkish | Vampir |
| Turkmen | Wampir |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Упир |
| Urdu | خون آشام |
| Uzbek | Вампирлар (Cyrillic) Vampirlar (Latin) |
| Vietnamese | Ma cà rồng |
| Volapük | Vampir |
| Welsh | Fampir |
| Yoruba | Fanpaya |
| Yiddish | וואַמפּיר |
References[]
|
Races of Arda
Ainur (Valar & Maiar) | Dwarves | Elves | Ents | Great Eagles | Hobbits | Huorns | Men | Petty-dwarves | Skin-changers (Beornings) Servants of the Shadow:
Barrow-wights | Ettens | Dragons (Fire-drakes & Cold-drakes) | Ogres | Orcs (Uruk-hai) | Spiders | Trolls | Úmaiar (Balrogs) | Úvanimor | Vampires | Wargs | Werewolves |