Vampires

Vampires

Vampires were created thousands of years earlier following a climate change, born from humans, the first vampires were known as the founders. They were immortal beings who did not like the sun and had fast healing abilities. They would feed on the blood of humans, their bites turning humans into vampires and their obedient slaves. Vampires are divided into different levels of purity, purebloods, level A vampires are vampires born of vampire only unions whose lines have not intermarried with humans, they have many powers and only their bite will turn a human into a vampire. Level B vampires carry some human blood, but have supernatural powers and elongated lives. Level D are ex-human vampires who become level E vampires and go insane if they do not drink the blood of the Level A vampire who turned them, their master.

Asato Ichijo

Asato Ichijo (一条 麻遠 Ichijō Asatō^?) often referred to as Ichio, is Takuma's grandfather and a member of the Vampire Council. He wanted to become Kaname's guardian after the death of Kaname's parents, but Kaname did not accept. He allows Takuma to attend Cross Academy for the purpose of spying on Kaname. His age and demeanor brings fear to many vampires, though Aido and Ruka openly confront him when Asato implies his desire to drink Kaname's blood. He is killed by Takuma after opposing Kaname.

Voiced by: Kouji Ishii (Japanese), Jamieson Price (English)

Haruka Kuran

Haruka Kuran (玖蘭 悠 Kuran Haruka^?) is Yuki's and Kaname's father. He is both brother and husband to Juri Kuran. He was over 3000 years old before he was killed. He has the power to create monsters from his blood. He is quiet but persistent, pursuing Juri in spite of her original dislike of him.^[12] After his first child was taken and killed by Rido Kuran, he takes the reawakened Kaname to be raised as their son. Ten years ago, when Rido returns, he agrees to Juri turning Yuki into a human and he proceeds to fight his elder brother, but he is killed by the anti-vampire sword that Rido wields.

Voiced by: Hirofumi Nojima

Isaya Shoutou

Isaya's first appearance is chapter 57. Isaya is the first vampire to whom Yuki makes her offer of being a grim reaper. Isaya is a pureblood without any immediate family, his wife having sacrificed her life to turn their offspring human and being long since dead. Isaya is a long time friend of Kaien Cross, even before Kaien was friends with the Kurans. Isaya misses the vampire ball due to still being in his fifty year slumber, he questions Yuki's wisdom on her mission but remains impressed by her and reflects on the similarities between her and her adoptive father, Kaien.

Juri Kuran

Juri Kuran (玖蘭 樹里 Kuran Jūri^?) is Yuki's and Kaname's mother and a pureblood vampire whom Yuki is stated to especially resemble. Juri is the wife and sister of Haruka Kuran. It is stated that she has been alive for nearly 3000 years, but retains the appearance of a young woman. Ten years ago when elder brother, Rido Kuran appeared, she sacrificed herself to erase Yuki's memories and sealed away her vampire blood, because she wished for Yuki to be able to live happily like a normal human girl. Kaien Cross states that he is indebted to her, and it is revealed that she spared his life when he attempted to murder her when she was pregnant on the condition that he would establish a school where humans and vampires can co-exist.^[13] Her last wish was for Kaname to look after Yuki.

Voiced by: Mariko Kouda

Ouri

Ouri was a pureblood, first name unknown who only appears in flashbacks. Ouri was found dead at the hand of a vampire hunter who was also found dead, by her own hand. The murder occurred at the vampire ball and investigated was ended prematurely and passed off as a suicide, however, the pureblood was murdered by Sara Shirabuki, his fiancee. Sara bit the hunter, turning her into a vampire, then compelled her to kill Ouri, then herself afterwards. Ouri had known that his life was going to end, so he accepted this murder as he was ready to die. Yuki, believing the story about the suicide, was investigating on how to stop the rest of the purebloods from using innocents as instruments of suicide.

Rido Kuran

Rido Kuran (玖蘭 李土 Kuran Ridō^?) is a pureblood vampire, Shizuka Hio's former fiancé, Senri Shiki's father, and elder brother to Haruka and Juri Kuran. He was the main antagonist of the story. Rido possesses eyes of two different colors (crimson and blue) and when his soul is transferred to a different body, that body has the same eyes. Shortly after the birth of Juri and Haruka's first son, he took the baby and sacrificed it to reawaken their ancestor, Kaname in order to drink his blood. However, upon Kaname's awakening, his severe hunger led him to attack Rido, leaving him incapacitated. He was arrested and held by the council. However, he was set free and ten years ago, seeking to take Yuki, Rido killed his younger brother, Haruka, with an anti-vampire sword. Kaname attempted to kill Rido, but found he was unable to as Rido was his master.^[14] Instead Kaname reduced Rido to the state where he required another pureblood vampire's blood in order to revive fully.

Aided by the Ancient Vampire Council and the Hunters' Association, Rido manipulates events from the shadows for ten years by transferring his soul to other bodies and taking control. Rido continued to meddle in the life of Shizuka, by adding her lover's name to the hunter's list. Rido takes possession of Shiki's body and he goes to Cross Academy. After revealing himself, Kaname revives Rido's body using his blood. Following his true body's revival, Rido's servants sense his revival and begin to attack the school students in order to capture prey for Rido to feed on. Rido attempts to compel Aido to feed upon him, but is thwarted by Yuki. Seeing Yuki's resemblance to her mother, his sister Juri, Rido changes his original desire from eating Yuki (in order to gain power) to taking Yuki as his lover as a replacement for Juri,^[15] who he loved but who had never wanted him, having chosen Haruka over him. Rido's life seemingly came to an end when he was defeated by Zero, with the help of Yuki, but it was recently revealed that Rido did not completely die. Instead, he now exists as a phantasmal 'fragment' of consciousness attached to Kaname, who can only be seen or heard by Kaname.

Voiced by: Tarusuke Shingaki

Sara Shirabuki

Sara Shirabuki (白蕗 更 Shirabuki Sara^?) is a pureblood vampire who first appears at a party held by the Aido family, stating to Kaname that "We purebloods have to stick together". She is around Kaname's age, slightly older than Yuki. She is called on by vampire society to stop Kaname when it is assumed that he has gone mad after killing the Vampire Council.^[16] Sara found Takuma Ichijo and says to herself that he "will be useful to get the information on what Kaname's plans are".Takuma serves as a servant to Sara, following her orders. Sara is currently starting to go to school, using the excuse of her being ill and unable to attend school to explain her older looking appearance. Her ulterior motive is revealed in Chapter 56 when she says "I will be Queen" to Ichijou. She also confesses that she took the life of her fiancee, Ouri. It is revealed that Sara is creating vampires from humans, a taboo, to form her own army of vampires.

Shizuka Hio

Shizuka Hio (緋桜 閑 Hiō Shizuka^?) is the pureblood vampire who bit Zero; even her fellow vampires are uneasy around her and refer to her as the "Madly Blooming Princess". A manservant whom she loved (a former human vampire, falsely classified by the Hunter's Association as Level E) was assigned to be killed by a Kiryu vampire hunter. Enraged and vengeful, she attacked the Kiryu family, killing both parents, biting Zero (which subsequently turned him into a vampire), and taking Zero's twin, Ichiru, in as a devoted servant. She was originally Rido Kuran's fiancée, but they never married due to his disappearance and finally her death.

Because Shizuka's blood can prevent Zero from falling to Level E, Yuki once had risked her life and humanity for Zero to be able to drink Shizuka's blood. However, to protect Yuki, Kaname kills Shizuka and drinks her blood, leaving only a small amount for Zero to drink. Unfortunately the blood is drunk by Ichiru, who arrived to find Shizuka first. Before dying, Shizuka warns Kaname that he will live in darkness and has summoned a sinister future for himself for drinking the blood of a Pureblood, when he is one himself.

Voiced by: Fumiko Orikasa (Japanese), Wendee Lee (English)

Touma

Touma is a childish looking pureblood who attacks Yuki Cross during her mission. He takes offence to her comment that his bats look like Kanames and declares himself much older, he attacks her on the premise that he enjoy violence and wants her to get out of the way. Kaname's retribution at the castle of Touma has implications that it has violated the treaty between the vampires.

Kaname's past companion

Name unknown, she plays a significant role in the history of vampires and hunters. The hooded woman appears only in Kaname's deep past, she is responsible for creating the hunters, by throwing her heart into a furnace, she created the first anti-vampire weapons and then giving her blood to humans in toxic amounts, she created the hunters, but lost her life in the process, to Kaname's grief.

Vampire Hunters

Vampire Hunters

Vampire Hunters are the enemies of vampires. They were created thousands of years earlier by one of the first vampires who desired to give humans a chance to defend themselves against the vampires that were turning the human race into their slaves. By drinking her blood deeply, she poisoned the humans, those who survived became Vampire Hunters who developed accelerated healing, the ability to sense vampires. They also are capable of using magic to detect and detain vampires. Only Vampire Hunters are capable of wielding anti-vampire weapons, such as swords and guns, that will only harm vampires and are the only weapons capable of killing the immortal pureblood vampires. The abilities were passed on through the genes, however as a result of sharing some vampire instincts, twins are rare, normally devouring each other in the womb and are stillborn. They set up an association of hunters with rules and regulations that they must follow in order to hunt vampires. The hunters maintain a list of vampires who have become dangerous and violated the rules as defined in the treaty with the vampires.

Kaien Cross

Headmaster Kaien Cross (黒主 灰閻理事長 Kurosu Kaien Rijichō^?) is over 200 years old^[9], the oldest and most powerful known Vampire Hunter. In spite of being a vampire hunter, Kaien maintained friendships with several pureblood vampire families. Kaien adopted Yuki and also took Zero into his home after they lost their families. Kaien retired as a vampire hunter and became the Headmaster of Cross Academy, he established the Day Class and Night Class with Kaname Kuran with dreams of promoting peace between humans and vampires. Kaien is an eccentric character who often provokes Zero and irritates other characters with his silly mannerisms, though he is a serious character when it comes to matters he cares about. He carries a hidden anti-vampire weapon in his cane^[10] which he uses to kill the President of the Hunters Association who had turned corrupt from drinking Rido Kuran's blood.^[11]

Voiced by: Hozumi Goda (Japanese), Christopher Corey Smith (English)

Kaito Takamiya

Kaito Takamiya (Takamiya Kaito) is a young hunter and a teacher-in-training. He is first introduced in the light novel Vampire Knight: Ice Blue's Sin (ヴァンパイア騎士 憂氷の罪 Vanpaia Naito: Aisu Burū no Tsumi^?) but does not appear in the manga until the second arc. He trained under Yagari with Ichiru and Zero after his former teacher was wounded, this is prior to Yagari losing his eye. During that time, Kaito picked on Ichiru for his physical weakness and Zero for his softness. Later, Zero and Kaito become more friendly. According to Kaien, Zero and Kaito share Yagari's attitude because they trained under him. He is a ruthless vampire hunter, hates purebloods, and trusts no one. His elder brother was bitten by a Pureblood and on his first mission with Yagari, he insisted on killing his brother himself. Kaito was invited to the academy by Kaien to be a student Ethics teacher, however it is really because they are relying on his competence as a skilled hunter to assist the updated Hunters Association's organization. Kaito makes his own plans including inviting Yori to sneak into the party, and revealing to Zero that he intends to use her as bait to stir up the vampires, so Zero would have a reason to kill Yuuki.

Toga Yagari

Toga Yagari (夜刈 十牙 Yagari Tōga^?) is currently the top ranked vampire hunter, as well as the one who trained Zero to be a vampire hunter. He lost his right eye trying to save Zero long ago when Zero's old school nurse turned out to be a level E vampire and tried to attack both Zero and Ichiru. Yagari told them to leave but in an attempt to help his teacher, Zero refuses and stays. It is during this time that the nurse goes for Zero, that Yagari stands in front of him and gets a blow to his face, losing his right eye. He appears at Cross Academy in the guise of being a Night Class substitute teacher of Ethics, there to follow a , and to assess if Zero is dangerous.

Yagari is shocked to learn the Council of Ancients' decision to punish Zero for the death of Shizuka Hio and later reappears to arrest Zero. Yagari subsequently joins the Chairman to protect Cross Academy from the Hunters Association.

Voiced by: Hiroki Yasumoto (Japanese), Travis Willingham (English)

Night Class Students

Night Class Students

Night Class students are young vampires who attend Cross Academy and live in its' Moon Dormitory. They are children of the elite families in vampire society and are of noble blood gathered by Kaname Kuran in order to pursue peace between humans and vampires. They are extremely beautiful and highly intelligent. As they are vampires who do not like the sun, they attend classes during the night and sleep during the day.

Akatsuki Kain

Akatsuki Kain (架院 暁 Kain Akatsuki^?) is Aidou's cousin and considered one of "Kaname-sama's right hands". While the Day Class girls have nicknamed him "Wild", Kain is actually mellower than Aido and his layback attitude and association with Aido frequently sees him getting into trouble, despite not being directly responsible.^[6] He refers to Kaname as their "gang leader".^[6] Kain is incredibly perceptive and frequently sensitive to others' feelings, most particularly with Aido and Ruka's. Kain has the ability to conjure and control fire. It has been hinted that Kain has some feelings for Ruka but he has yet to reveal his true feelings to her.^[7]. During Rido's attack on Cross Academy, Kain and Ruka fight vampires attacking the Day Class on Kaname's orders. After the year time leap Kain continues to work for Kaname as his right hand man, but his appearances have been brief.

Voiced by: Junichi Suwabe (Japanese), Troy Baker (English)

Hanabusa Aido

Hanabusa Aido (藍堂 英 Aidō Hanabusa^?), nicknamed "Idol" by the Day Class girls, is known among the Night Class along with his cousin Akatsuki Kain to be "Lord Kaname's right hand". His fierce admiration for Kaname borders on jealousness and though extremely loyal, Aido has a tendency to overstep his boundaries, which results in Kaname punishing him if discovered. A noble-class vampire who can conjure and control ice, Aido often appears cheerful and friendly one moment, but vindictive and cruel the next. A perceptive individual, he figures out Zero is a vampire, but he keeps this information to himself without any hidden agenda in mind. He is often irritated at Yuki and her naive ways. He resents that fact Yuki is given more attention from "Kaname-sama" than he himself is. He is temporarily troubled when he witnesses Kaname's killing of a fellow pureblood and runs away from the Moon Dormitory and imposes himself on Yuki and Zero. Agreeing with Yuki's assertion that he would remain loyal to Kaname even if betrayed by him, he returns to the vampire's side. Aido has difficulty adjusting himself to referring to Yuki in a formal manner following the revelation of her true nature when he is appointed as one of her protectors.

During Rido's attack on Cross Academy, Aido protects the Day Class, as ordered by Yuki. Half a year after the incident, Aido becomes Yuki's tutor and personal guard. Recently, he is seen following Yuki around on her mission, after he is left behind by Kaname and Yuki, he is arrested by Zero and brought to the Association's headquarters for questioning regarding Sara Shirabuki's behavior and Kaname's unwillingness to do anything about it.

Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama (Japanese), Bryce Papenbrook (English)

Maria Kurenai

Maria Kurenai (紅 まり亜 Kurenai Maria^?) is a very distant relative of Shizuka Hio. She allows Shizuka to possess her body in exchange for being allowed to drink Shizuka's blood, which would strengthen her sickly body. Due to Shizuka's untimely death, this promise is never fulfilled. She seems to be fond of Ichiru, hugging Zero when she mistakes him for Ichiru, and asks Yuki to tell Zero that if he sees Ichiru, to tell him Maria wants to see him again. She returns to her family after Shizuka's death, and when she sends an owl out to search for Ichiru she witnesses Kaname's destruction of the Vampire Council, and proceeds to spread the news.

Voiced by: Mai Nakahara (Japanese), Laura Bailey (English)

Rima Toya

Rima Toya (遠矢 莉磨 Tōya Rima^?) is one of the youngest Night Class students and she works as a model alongside Senri Shiki. She is 170cm tall. The relationship with Shiki is unknown, though they are almost always seen together. She cares deeply for Senri and possesses a personality similar to his. Rima possesses lightning or electricity related abilities.^[8]. She shares a fondness for pocky with Senri. After suspecting Shiki has changed upon his return to school, Rima confronts Rido and demands him to leave Shiki's body since she can tell that he is not Shiki. She is wounded by Rido, but is saved by Ichijou. While injured, she tries to convince Shiki to snap out of his state and calls him an idiot for letting Rido control him. Badly wounded, she is sent back to the Moon Dormitory by Ichijou. Rima is later seen at the vampire ball with Shiki and at a photoshoot at a school Sara Shirabuki was spotted at.

Voiced by: Eri Kitamura (Japanese), Carrie Savage (English)

Ruka Souen

Ruka Souen (早園 瑠佳 Sōen Ruka^?) is a female noble vampire who provides a stark contrast to Yuki Cross. Beautiful, intelligent and graceful, Ruka has also been in love with Kaname Kuran since she was a child, ironically she remains completely unaware of Kain's unrequited love for her. She is 175 cm tall. Ruka is one of the most faithful and protective of Kaname. She is also a childhood friend to Aido and Kain. She has an intense jealousy of any humans that raise Kaname's interest, leading the pack in persecuting them. Her character matures towards the end of the first arc, after she learns that Yuki is Kaname's pureblood sister, recognizing the foolishness of her one-sided love for Kaname and the suffering that Yuki will face. Like the rest of the night class, she works with Kain to defend girls in the Day Class during the attack on the school and expresses a desire to protect them from the hostile vampires. Since the time skip, Ruka has been seen giving Yuki etiquette lessons and Yuki is aware that Ruka still appears to have some feelings for Kaname. Ruka is kind to Yuki, but avoids her when she can, wondering why, Yuki confronts Kaname about her. Kaname states to Yuki that it will be a long time before Ruka forgives him, shamelessly admitting to using her as a substitute for Yuki when she was human.

Voiced by: Junko Minagawa (Japanese), Megan Hollingshead (English)

Seiren

Seiren (星煉 Seiren^?) is a student of the Night Class, and is Kaname's unofficial bodyguard. She is usually the first to defend Kaname from anyone she regards as a threat. She barely refrains from killing Zero when he threatens Kaname with the Bloody Rose. Seiren also appears to serve Kaname in the capacity of a spy or informant, for example, she is the one that tells Kaname that his uncle has risen. She uses her body as a weapon and is very skilled in hand-to-hand combat. After Rido was killed, Seiren continues following her master, Kaname.

Voiced by: Risa Mizuno

Senri Shiki

Senri Shiki (支葵 千里 Shiki Senri^?) is one of the youngest Night Class members and works as a model with Rima Touya. He stands at 178 cm tall. Senri is usually the one sent out to hunt down a level E vampire. He is able to control and bend his blood at will. Senri's father is Rido Kuran, making him Kaname and Yuuki's cousin, and his mother's uncle is part of the council. As part of a plan to resurrect himself, Rido possesses his son's body. During Rido's fight against Rima, Shiki is able to awaken within himself and attempt to regain control of his body. After Rido's revival, Senri regained consciousness of his body, he apologizes to an unconscious Rima and hugs her. During the attack on the school, he protects Rima from an attack and carries Rima away from the Moon Dormitory before it collapses. Senri and Rima go looking for Takuma when he does not return, but are told to stop looking by Kaname who refuses to give them more information to their annoyance, but they end up running into Takuma at the party instead.

Voiced by: Soichiro Hoshi (Japanese), Steve Staley (English)

Takuma Ichijo

Takuma Ichijo (一条 拓麻 Ichijō Takuma^?) is the vice-president of the Night Class. He is a noble-class vampire nearly as powerful as Kaname, whom he is close to and respects. With his cheerful and enthusiastic demeanor, Ichijou appears very "un-vampire like", lacking the dark atmosphere that surrounds most vampires and making him appear more like a human. Ichijo maintains a close friendship with Senri Shiki. Ichijo is ordered by his grandfather, Asato Ichijo to spy on Kaname while attending Cross Academy; he refuses out of loyalty for his friend. When Senri Shiki is possessed by Rido Kuran, Ichijo is forced to go against Kaname in order to protect his friends. Once Shiki is freed from Rido's possession, Ichijo rejoins Kaname's side and stops Kaname from killing his grandfather, instead asking that he be the one to handle the issue. It appears that Ichijo intended to end his life along with his grandfather. Takuma was discovered unconscious afterwards by Sara Shirabuki, who said that she always wanted "to have" Takuma. Following the year time leap, Takuma remains at Sara Shirabuki's side and for unknown reasons he decided not to return to Kaname. He currently poses as Sara's brother at the elite school she is scouting.

Voiced by: Susumu Chiba (Japanese), Spike Spencer (English)

Day Class Students of Vampire Knight

Day Class Students

Day Class students are humans who attend Cross Academy and live in its' Sun Dormitory. The majority remain ignorant of the vampire's at the school, though they heavily worship the Night Class for their beauty and are primarily portrayed as a pack of fangirls. They attend classes during the day only, hence the name. Following the attack on the school, the students realised the true nature of the Night Class students. At first they were fearful, they eventually accepted the vampires, however upon the reopening of the school, all but a select few had their memories wiped of this information.

Ichiru Kiryu

Ichiru Kiryu (錐生 壱縷 Kiryū Ichiru^?) is Zero's younger identical twin brother. Ichiru failed to be a Vampire Hunter due to being a sickly boy and his lack of hunter talents. He was believed to have been killed by Shizuka Hio, but he returns healthy after revealing that he had become the servant of Shizuka and she had given Ichiru her blood to cure his chronic ill health. In spite of his desires, she does not turn him into a vampire and he remains a human. With Shizuka's death, he returns to Cross Academy as a Day Class student by the orders of the Vampire Council and his own desire for revenge for Shizuka's death. During Zero's imprisonment by the Vampire Hunters, Ichiru visits and shoots him but reveals that he attained a mortal wound in an attempt to kill Rido, because of his role in Shizuka's death. After he shoots his brother, Ichiru convinces Zero to "eat" his body so they can finally become one, as they were originally supposed to be. Zero buries him alongside their parents grave.

Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (Japanese), Vic Mignogna (English)

Sayori Wakaba

Sayori "Yori" Wakaba (若葉 沙頼 Wakaba Sayori^?) is Yuki's dorm-mate and best friend since junior high. She has a fiance ^[5]. Yori is a very perceptive girl who finds the aura of the Night Class to be scary. She is one of the few girls with no interest in the Night Class and not intimidated by Zero, frequently joining Yuki to tease him while maintaining that Yuki is the only one capable of dealing with him. When Yori discovers that Yuki is a vampire during the attack on the school, she accepts Yuki. After a year has passed, Yori remains Yuki's loyal friend, she refused to have her memory erased by the hunters, now one of the few students who knows what actually happened at the school. Kaito uses Yori as bait at the vampire ball in an attempt to provoke trouble; while she does this in order to meet with Yuki whom she hadn't seen in a year.

Voiced by: Kana Ueda (Japanese), Stephanie Sheh (English)

Main Characters of Vampire Knight

Yuuki Cross/Yuuki Kuran

Yuuki Cross (黒主 優姫 Kurosu Yūki^?) is the adopted daughter of the headmaster of Cross Academy, a 16 year old first year student, born on March 29th who wields the Artemis staff, an anti-vampire weapon formerly used by her mother. She begins as a human, a Guardian protecting the human students from the vampire students. Yuuki is close friends with Zero Kiryu, who she becomes determined to help once she discovers he had been turned into a vampire, following which their friendship rapidly evolves. She has been in love with Kaname Kuran, a pureblood vampire, since he saved her as a young child, but her affection is later divided to include Zero as well. She is generally a kind, caring, cheerful, and comedic character, but often portrayed as not being very smart, being a poor student due to the fact that she is a guardian at night and student in the daytime, giving her little time to study and sleep. She is often kept ignorant by other characters who know more about goings-on, which results in her character feeling guilty for being unaware of the suffering of other characters. Hino Matsuri has described Yuuk as a healing and soothing character, who exemplifies her justice side.^[2]

Towards the climax of arc one, Yuuki is revealed to be a pureblood vampire, and the Kuran princess. Juri Kuran, her mother, had sacrificed herself ten years earlier to perform a spell that would transform Yuuki into a human and erase her daughter's memories. Kaname re-awakened Yuuki's vampire side when the original threat of Rido returns to harm Yuuki. This revelation alienates Zero, but the two fight together to defeat Rido. The formerly close friends part ways after Zero tells Yuuki he intends to kill all purebloods including her, while finally revealing his feelings for her. Yuuki’s response is left unknown for several chapters until she admits she has an attachment to him as well as to Kaname. Yuuki had left with Kaname after advising Zero that she intended to run from him forever so that he continues to have a reason to live. Yuuki's character makes little progress during the one year time skip, spending the entire time inside the Kuran mansion, dealing with vampire hunger. Following the supposed suicide of a vampire at the peace ball, Yuuki is provoked into taking action. Bourne from a desire to be useful, she offers to help kill any pureblood intending suicide, to prevent the sacrifice of others, being completely unaware that the original death was actually murder. Yuuki's mission reunites her with Zero and he ends up taking an injured Yuuki to a Vampire hunter safehouse, where she almost bites him. Upon her return home, Yuuki is finally told the truth of Kaname’s true nature and who he really is.

Voiced by: Yui Horie (Japanese), Mela Lee (English)

Zero Kiryu

Zero Kiryu (錐生 零 Kiryū Zero^?) is unique being both a Vampire Hunter and a vampire. Yuuki's close friend and the only other Cross Academy Guardian, he was trained to be a Vampire Hunter by Toga Yagari. Zero carries the anti-vampire gun named "Bloody Rose”. Zero lives with Kaien Cross and Yuuki, after being bitten by a pureblood vampire who also murders his family. Due to the attack, Zero developed a deep hatred and distrust of vampires, despite originally being a gentle character by nature. Matsuri Hino described Zero as exemplifying her justice side.^[2]

Zero is a 17 year old male. The first arc of the story is spent dealing with Zero trying to overcome his fall into the madness, helped by Yuuki when she pledges to feed him her blood. Yuuki continually oversteps boundaries in helping Zero and he ends up preventing her from trading her humanity to Shizuka Hiou in exchange for preventing his fall to Level E vampire. Zero swears never to allow Yuuki to become a vampire and attempts to help her with her own issues. Zero clashes with Kaname Kuran, who only allows Zero to live because Zero protects Yuuki and Zero is eventually forced to drink the blood of Kaname to delay becoming a level E vampire. Following the discovery of Yuuki's true nature as a pureblood vampire, Zero and Yuuki sever their friendship. Perceived as dangerous, Zero is arrested by the Hunters Association and it is revealed that Kaname had been grooming Zero in order for him to defeat Rido Kuran. Zero is shot by his dying twin brother, forcing him to "eat" Ichiru to complete the Twin Hunter fragment. With this final act and carrying the blood of three purebloods ^[3], Zero becomes one of the most powerful characters appearing in the series. Zero and Yuuki work together and defeat Rido, but Zero reveals his intention to end everything, to kill all pureblood vampires including Yuuki. Zero hesitates to kill her revealing he has been in love with her since he met her. The two part, as Yuuki promises to run from Zero forever to give him a reason to live.

Following the one year timeskip, Zero has progressed from his dangerous state of mind, more concerned with maintaining peace between vampires and hunters^[4], enough to find himself poised as the future president of the Hunters Association. Zero continues to hunt vampires and seeks the truth about the Hunter's death at the party, but he is still dealing with issues regarding his loss of his humanity and intense vampire hunger. However, falling to level E is no longer a concern and his body no longer rejects blood tablets. When he meets up with an injured Yuuki, Zero finds himself assisting her and even almost allowing her to bite him.

Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (Japanese), Vic Mignogna (English)

Kaname Kuran

Kaname Kuran (玖蘭 枢 Kuran Kaname^?) is introduced as the pureblood vampire who loves Yuki and saved her from an attack by another vampire when she was five years old. Kaname is actually one of the most powerful characters in the series, revealed to be one of the original vampires and founder of the Kuran family, who was raised as Juri and Haruka Kuran's son after being re-awakened by Rido Kuran. During the first arc, Kaname spends his time working to protect Yuki, which includes killing Shizuka Hio and fostering Zero Kiryu's powers. The end of the arc culminates in his destruction of the Vampire Council, which attacked the school, fearing the return of the Kuran family as the rulers of Vampire Society. Kaname's inexplicable attachment and gentleness to Yuki is finally explained when Kaname awakens her true nature as a pureblood vampire and as his supposed sister. Kaname is forced to do so with the return of his enemy and Yuki's uncle, Rido. As Kaname is unable to kill his master, he approaches Zero to kill Rido and free him from Rido. The attachment to Rido persists beyond the vampire's death and his remnant is later seen talking to Kaname, taunting him about his conflicting nature.

Following the timeskip, Kaname takes Yuuki to their childhood home and solidifies his rule over the vampires and forges and new peace between the purebloods and the hunters. When Yuki reveals her attachment to Zero expecting rejection, Kaname instead impresses upon her his love for her preferring to be killed rather than losing her. Kaname is haunted by the idea that he will one day lose Yuki by her sacrificing herself and he flip flops between the desire to lock her up or allow her freedom. It is later revealed that Kaname had a companion thousands of years ago, when purebloods were first discovered. However, many purebloods began to create numerous amounts of slaves, or 'Level D' vampires; therefore the human race was on the verge of extinction. To save the human race, Kaname's companion–her name was never revealed–used her own heart to forge anti-vampire weaponry and told the humans to drink her blood, creating the first hunters. Kaname arrived too late and to his grief, found her dead. He gives the new hunters the eternal burden of destroying foolish vampires that endanger their own race's secret in return for killing his companion. Kaname, despite being utterly and completely shattered, continued the fight, as his companion had wished. Once he was the last one left, he fell into a slumber with the intention of never awakening.

Voiced by: Daisuke Kishio (Japanese), Ethan Murray (English)

Vampire Knight

Yuki Cross's earliest memory is of being attacked by a vampire and saved by Kaname Kuran, a pureblood vampire for whom Yuki tries to deal with her seemingly unobtainable love for her hero. Ten years later, Yuki, along with her childhood friend, Zero Kiryuu are school guardians (prefects) at Cross Academy where her adoptive father, Kaien Cross is the headmaster. Their jobs as guardians is to protect the human "Day Class" students from the vampire "Night Class" students and ensure that the human students do not discover that the secret of the Night Class. The story follows Yuki's discovery that Zero had been turned into a vampire and her struggle to keep him sane, to prevent his condition from deteriorating into an insane Level E vampire. Yuki attempts to give up her humanity and be turned into a vampire by Shizuka Hio, Zero’s family's murderer and his master, in a bargain for Zero's sanity. Zero stops Yuki, preferring to kill Shizuka. Neither occurs when Zero's assumed dead twin shows up, and Kaname kills Shizuka and drinks her blood. Zero’s grip on sanity slides and Yuki continues to help Zero fight his bloodlust while also seeking to recover her lost childhood memories suspecting Kaname knows more than he lets on. Kaname instead gives Zero his own "pure" blood to help keep Zero from going insane.

Seeing the threat of his uncle, Rido Kuran, Kaname bites Yuki and awakens her true nature as a pureblood vampire; the Pure blood Princess of the Kuran family, who had been transformed into a human ten years earlier and the sister of Kaname Kuran, to whom she had pledged to marry as a child. However, Kaname reveals to Takuma Ichijo that he is one of the original vampires and the founder of the Kuran clan, who, born thousands of years earlier, had retired to an endless slumber, but was resurrected by Rido Kuran who desired to consume him to become more powerful. Kaname was instead raised by Yuki's parents, Juri and Haruka Kuran. Rido tries to kill Yuki and consume her power, but is killed by the now estranged Zero and Yuki. Meanwhile, Kaname kills Rido’s allies, the members of the vampire senate who intended to destroy the night class and their hopes for peace. After the fierce battle, Zero tells Yuki that he intends to end everything, by killing all purebloods. After telling her that she should go be with the man (Kaname) who can spend eternity with her, he tells her that he'll kill her next time he sees her. Yuki in return tells Zero that she will keep running from him to give him a reason to live. Yuki leaves with Kaname and they return to the family home to hide.

The story then leaps forward a year to find Yuki suffering from bloodlust and refusing to use her fangs. Kaname has restored the leadership of the vampires, taking his place as head. Zero has been attending school by day and hunting vampires at night. Yuki confesses to Kaname that she has an attachment to Zero and his acceptance allows her to succumb to her hunger and use her fangs. After a meeting between hunters and vampires to reaffirm their treaty, all three attend a vampire ball. After a brief tense meeting between Yuki and Zero, a murder of a pureblood and a hunter at the ball breaks up the party. Although another pureblood, Sara Shirabuki, is revealed to be the culprit, it is passed off as a tragic suicide.

Yuki decides to offer her services as a grim reaper to purebloods wishing to die to prevent unnecessary sacrifices. However after an unprovoked attack by a pureblood, Touma, she is saved by Zero’s arrival. Their meeting is brief as after she awakens, she flees back to her home leaving Aido with Zero. Rido’s spectre is shown to persist despite death and now haunts Kaname, who after the attack on Yuki finally reveals his past and true identity to her through the memories in his blood. Zero meanwhile, takes Aido in for questioning to find out why Kaname is allowing Sara to turn human school girls into an army of vampires.