Anita Blake
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Anita Blake is a fictional character in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series of novels by Laurell K. Hamilton. Subsequently, she has also appeared in the Dabel Brothers/Marvel Comics adaptation of her first novel, Guilty Pleasures.
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[edit] Character introduction
Anita Blake is the heroine of a vampire slayer series written by Laurell K. Hamilton. The series takes place in a parallel fantasy world where vampires, shape shifters, werewolves, faeries, etc exist. Her night job, and primary source of income, is the legal profession of re-animating the dead. As an "animator" in a parallel St. Louis, her job entails using magical abilities to bring tempoary life to dead bodies in order to question them for legal purposes. These abilities allow her to control dead bodies and enable her to see souls. Her other profession is a vampire hunter/exicutioner. In her world this profession involves tracking down and killing vampires who have murdered humans. A strong protagonist in the series, Blake is very direct, rude, and yet highly competent in the professions she is involved in. She is trained in various martial arts and weapons, but is most efficient with a gun. She is also a devout christian which often creates moral dilemas for the character. She is currently of the Episcopalian faith, having left Catholisism since the Catholic church have excommunicated all reanimators.
[edit] Explanation of the character's name
The principal significance of Anita's name appears to be the Latin first name "Anita" together with the Anglo surname "Blake" represent Anita's mixed Mexican/Anglo heritage. Within the novels, this contrast, which also appears in Anita's mix of black hair and china white skin or in her combination of voudoun and Catholic upbringing, is one of Anita's key formative traumas.
Her middle name is Katerine, of Czech origin, taken from her father's favorite aunt.
[edit] Character sketch
[edit] Summary
Anita Blake (in the latest book, Danse Macabre) is a twenty-seven year old resident of St. Louis. Born a necromancer with the power to control zombies as well as power over other forms of undead, Anita leads a complicated life. Her main job is as an animator for "Animators, Inc.," a St. Louis-based business that raises the dead for the right price. Anita is also a licensed vampire executioner (known to vampires as "The Executioner") and a consultant for RPIT, the area's police division in charge of preternatural crimes.
[edit] Character
Anita is classic hardboiled: flippant, stubborn, and tough. Like Kinsey Millhone and V.I. Warshawski, she has major emotional issues, is frequently the only female in macho situations, and tends to come across as quite prickly and difficult. Like Spenser and Matthew Scudder, she plays knight errant, championing vulnerable characters who ask for her help. Anita also shares many flaws with other hardboiled detectives: she lacks tact, loses her temper, and is insubordinate.
In discussing the genesis of the character, Hamilton has said:
- I started reading a lot of hardboiled detective fiction — Robert B. Parker in particular — and I read a lot of strong female protagonists. But there was one problem, a difference between the male and female protagonists of the different series — even the strongest of the women did not get to do some of the things the men got to do. The men got to cuss, the women rarely; the men got to kill people and not feel bad about it, if the women killed someone they had to feel really, really bad about it afterward and it had to be an extreme situation; the men got to have sex, often and on stage and very casually, but if the women had sex it had to be offstage, very sanitized. I thought this was unfair. [1]
The character has been criticized as a mere stand-in or wish fulfillment for the author as the number of men who find Blake attractive has grown, particularly in later books. Like Spenser, Blake bears a close physical resemblance to the series author Laurell K. Hamilton and both are also somewhat idealized in terms of strength and fighting skill. Blake has some similar history to Ms. Hamilton — both have a fear of flying and both lost their mothers when they were young.
[edit] Powers
In almost every book, Anita either discovers new abilities, further develops existing abilities, or both. As of book 14, she is probably one of the most powerful humans in history.
- Necromancer: Anita is one of the most powerful animators in the world. She can raise zombies, sense the dead, sense vampires and lycanthropes, estimate their power level, and can resist (at least partially) mental influence from vampires. Particulars that set her apart from other animators:
- Anita's zombies look lifelike and can fool the untrained eye, including "healing" any sign of decay or injury.
- She can raise zombies that are centuries dead, and can do so without human sacrifice.
- She is one of the few animators who can act as a "focus" to combine the powers of multiple animators.
- She is the first person in centuries that can raise vampires (during daylight) as if they were zombies. After raising a vampire, she can heal any wounds as if it were a zombie.
- In book 14 she is able to heal a vampire without raising it first.
- Her necromancer abilities refer to the ability to control all types of undead, including at times vampires.
- Anita is also able to call and control the spirits of dead werewolves (munin). She has particular affinity for the spirit of Raina and can channel Raina's healing abilities (Burnt Offerings and later).
- Combat training: Anita has taken classes in a variety of martial arts and holds at least one black belt. She works out regularly with her best friend Ronnie "to be able to out run the bad guys" when she needs to. She is also comfortable with weapons, primarily handguns and knives.
- Detective training: Anita has been involved with many investigations with RPIT and, in the later books, with the FBI. Her police contact, Rudolph Storr, routinely requires her to engage in independent crime scene reconstruction in order to obtain an analysis -- Anita's reconstructions are almost always correct and frequently include insights that the police have missed. Anita thinks like both a cop and a monster, according to some, which is what makes her so insightful.
- As of Cerulean Sins, she has Federal Marshal status which allows her to now enter any preternatural crime scene she so desires, or follow a vampire or other non-human crime suspect across state lines.
- Supernatural experience: Anita holds a bachelor's degree in preternatural biology and is a trained vampire executioner. She also has a two-semester background in comparative religion. These courses often told her useful tidbits about other cultures/mythologies, and throughout the series she learns vastly more about vampires, lycanthropes, and other preternatural creatures. RPIT relies on her for information about a wide variety of supernatural entities.
- Human servant: In books 1-3 and 6+, Jean-Claude has marked Anita with three of the four marks necessary to make her his human servant. This grants Anita unusual strength, rapid healing, increased resistance to vampire's abilities, and an almost complete resistance to Jean-Claude's mental influence, as well as a psychic connection to Jean-Claude himself. In books 10+, Anita has given Damian, her vampire servant, the fourth mark. This does not interfere with Jean Claude's marks. It is uncertain if this unconventional fourth mark grants Anita immortality.
- Triumvirate member: Anita is a member of a "triumvirate" with Jean-Claude and Richard Zeeman (The Killing Dance). Because of Anita's own connection with the dead, as well as Jean-Claude's unusual choice of two other members with power levels similar to his own, their triumvirate is the most powerful seen in any of the novels. Some results that developed in the later novels:
- Anita, Jean-Claude, and Richard are all telepathically and metaphysically linked. They can draw on each other's powers and speak mind-to-mind.
- Each is becoming more like the other.
- Their powers are boosted when they are together, and more so when touching. In addition, Anita has developed several powers similar to those of vampires and lycanthropes. She also created another triumvirate with Damien and Nathaniel, with herself as the center.
- Vampire powers: The combination of her necromancy and her membership in the triumvirate has caused Anita to develop a series of powers formerly seen only in vampires, including the following.
- Anita has the ability to copy vampire powers that are used against her - sometimes temporarily, sometimes permanently (Narcissus in Chains).
- Ardeur (Narcissus in Chains) (spelling varies, depending on the book). Anita developed this power after Jean-Claude fed his ardeur through her. The ardeur has proven in later books to manipulate the personalities of Anita and those around her, as well as to be addictive to some characters (such as London).
- Power draining: Anita has copied, apparently permanently, Itzpapalotl's ability to drain the life energy from her victims and, if she chooses, to use that energy to heal another (Obsidian Butterfly).
- Psychic blades - the ability to turn a person's aura against them, usually resulting in cuts (Narcissus in Chains). Jean-Claude had studied how this worked but did not have the ability. Anita has the ability, and Jean-Claude used their metaphysical connection to "show" her how to use it. (We also saw this ability used against Anita in The Killing Dance).
- Animal to call - leopards (Narcissus in Chains) and lions (Danse Macabre), and possibly others.
- Power to bind vampire and animal servants: Anita has the power to bind a vampire servant and an animal servant. She inadvertently used this power to attract a vampire servant, Damian (Blue Moon), and formed a second triumvirate between them and Nathaniel in (Cerulean Sins), which presumably has increased her power further.
[edit] Biology
During a period of hospitalization at the end of the novella Micah, a doctor states that blood tests reveal that whilst she is not a lycanthrope, she is a carrier of at least four types of lycanthropy virus: wolf, leopard, lion, and one so far unidentified. This is considered unusual because one type of lycanthropy usually provides immunity to the other forms. One exception to the immunity was Chimera who had multiple forms of lycanthropy and was called a panwere (Narcissus in Chains). Chimera might have been able to contract multiple forms of lycanthropy because he was hurt by multiple forms of lycanthropes before his first change.
[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Prior story
Anita was born with the talent to be a necromancer.
Anita's formative experiences appear to be a series of traumas. In particular, Anita has never fully recovered from her mother's dying in a car accident, which occurred when Anita was eight. (In the The Laughing Corpse, she is upset that no one protects the niece and nephew of John Burke at their father's funeral when their mother is hysterical and throws herself on the coffin.) Her father remarried a few years after and had a son. Anita did not feel she "fit in" with her blond father, stepmother, stepsister and brother Josh. She clashed with her stepmother, Judith, over her "unladylike" interests, independence, and necromancy. Anita's powers manifested during adolescence, causing various dead animals to reanimate and visit Anita's home. Embarrassed, Anita's father asked her maternal grandmother, Grandmother Flores, to teach Anita how to "turn off" her abilities. Flores believed that training a necromancer in vaudun ritual would lead to evil and encouraged Anita to remain Roman Catholic. Later, when the Pope excommunicated all animators, Anita became an Episcopalian.
Anita majored in preternatural biology in college, earning a bachelor's degree. While in college, her rich fiancee's parents convinced him to break their engagement because Anita's mother was Mexican. Hurt, Anita decided to forego additional sexual experiences until marriage. She also accidentally raised a suicide, who sought her out in her dorm room.
After graduation, Anita was recruited by Bert Vaughn to join Animators, Inc. as a professional zombie animator. She was also trained by Manny Rodriguez and became a licenced vampire executioner. At some point, she became associated with Edward (As the series develops Edward becomes more curious as to who is the better killer, but Anita doesn't want to find out, despite Edward's obsession.), and she, Manny, and Edward were involved in at least one dicey confrontation with vampires -- a battle against Valentine and his pack in which Anita received a number of severe scars, including a cross shaped brand on her arm, put there by some of the vampires' human thralls. The series begins some time after that confrontation, shortly after the legalization of vampires.
[edit] "I don't date vampires. I kill them."
This quote is from the first book, Guilty Pleasures. It also sums up Anita's attitude at the time.
[edit] Book 1: Guilty Pleasures
The first novel, Guilty Pleasures, introduces Anita and her world. Anita is blackmailed by Nikolaos, the vampire Master of the City, into investigating a series of vampire murders. During the course of this investigation, we learn that Jean-Claude, another master vampire, is interested in Anita and gives her two of the four marks necessary to make her Jean-Claude's "human servant." We also learn that while Anita can usually guess the age of vampires, she cannot get a read on Jean-Claude's age. Anita identifies the murderer, but by that point has sufficiently antagonized Nikolaos and her underlings that she expects to be killed. With help from Edward, a human associate who specializes in assassinating supernatural targets, and Rafael the Rat King, Anita kills Nikolaos and many of her followers. To her surprise, Jean-Claude becomes the new Master of the City.
[edit] Book 2: The Laughing Corpse
In The Laughing Corpse, Anita assists the police in investigating a series of murders where animators are key suspects, leading to an exploration of various types of zombie raisers. Anita avoids Jean Claude during most of the book. At the end, however, he informs Anita the even he can feel her power calling to him. This means that she is not just an Animator, with power over dead bodies, but a necromancer, with power over all the (un)dead.
[edit] Book 3: Circus of the Damned
Circus of the Damned opens with Anita and Jean Claude discussing their relationship (or lack thereof). Jean Claude wants Anita to accept that she is his human servant; Anita wants Jean Claude to leave her alone. Anita meets some of Jean Claude's other vampires and hangers-on, including a human named Richard Zeeman.
Anita is contacted by a representative of Humans First, a rival master vampire named Mr Oliver, and Edward: all want to know the identity and daytime resting place of the Master of the City. Anita initially resists, but becomes angry enough with Jean Claude to tell Mr Oliver. Deciding in the end that Jean Claude is the lesser of the two evils, she and Edward help defeat Mr Oliver. In the end, the vampire marks were removed; Jean Claude admits that Anita is not his human servant. Anita Also obtains her apprentice, Larry Kirkland.
Anita and Richard have their first date in this book. At the end of the book it is revealed that Richard is a werewolf.
[edit] Book 4: The Lunatic Cafe
In The Lunatic Cafe Edward asks Anita's help in identifying two killers: lycanthropes who starred in a snuff film. Area lycanthropes, including Marcus (Ulfric of the local werewolf pack) and Rafael the Rat King, want Anita to find a serial killer who is targeting lycanthropes. Anita meets other lycanthropes, including Raina and Gabriel, and learns more about werewolf culture while resolving these issues.
The love triangle between Anita, Richard, and Jean Claude continues in this book. Anita agrees to officially date both Richard and Jean Claude. She becomes engaged to Richard, even as she realizes they have serious differences - and not just because he's a werewolf.
[edit] Book 5: Bloody Bones
Bloody Bones sees Anita travel to Branson, Missouri, where she quickly becomes enmeshed in a series of supernatural murders and disappearances. Anita's relationship with Jean-Claude takes a large step forward in this novel. For the first time, Anita begins to see Jean Claude as a person, not just a source of information. Her role as Larry's mentor is also further developed and she is forced to relive the trauma of her mother's death.
[edit] "Can I still be the scourge of vampire kind when I'm sleeping with the head bloodsucker?"
Anita asks this at the end of The Killing Dance. Her answer? "You bet."
[edit] Book 6: The Killing Dance
The Killing Dance provides a notable turning point in her relationships with Jean-Claude and Richard. Richard, with his desperate attempts to remain "human", represents the side of Anita that rebels against the "darker" elements of her nature, while Jean-Claude, who has long accepted his demons and draws his powers from death, represents the part of her that accepts them. Ultimately Anita realizes that Richard's desire to remain "nice" and "normal" had placed himself and the others in even more danger, and she runs to Jean-Claude, who is at least able to protect himself from danger.
The Killing Dance is also a turning point for the series in several other ways:
- Anita has accepted being Jean-Claude's "declared vampire servant" at the beginning of the book.
- Anita and Richard form a vampire triumvirate with Jean Claude, accepting the first three "marks". In addition, Jean Claude and Richard announce that they are allies within the supernatural community. Taken together, these changes make it impossible for Anita to completely separate her life from Jean Claude or Richard.
- Anita kills the werewolf lupa Raina and the wereleopard leader Gabriel in self-defense, resolving some unsettled conflicts from The Lunatic Cafe.
- Richard becomes the Ulfric, or leader, of his pack.
- Anita and Jean-Claude become lovers.
Anita was injured by wereleopard and/or werewolf in animal form, a common means of lycanthrope infection, during the concluding battle. The epilogue reveals that she did not change with the full moon.
[edit] Book 7: Burnt Offerings
In Burnt Offerings Anita is pushed into the role of "Master of the City's girlfriend" in the press for PR purposes. She and Richard help Jean-Claude fend off a challenge from the Vampire Council. Anita's metaphysical ties to Jean-Claude and Richard are strengthened during this battle; she "feels" his beast inside her. Richard affirms that he considers Anita the lupa of his pack, although they do not reconcile romantically.
Anita is also pulled further into the lycanthrope world when she discovers the local wereleopards need her to take their former leader's place as protector.
[edit] Book 8: Blue Moon
In Blue Moon, Anita juggles being a leader among both the werewolves and the wereleopards while investigating why Richard was framed for rape. Anita and Richard reconcile during the book, with Richard offering to accept Anita's continued involvement with Jean Claude as long as Anita accepts that Richard isn't monogamous either.
Also during Blue Moon:
- Anita acquires a magical mentor, the Wiccan Marianne. (Marianne is not a lycanthrope but works with the local werewolf pack in Tennessee.)
- Marianne and her pack's Ulfric, Vern, begin teaching Anita how to be a better leader of the wereleopards.
- Anita's faith in God, and herself as a Christian, is reaffirmed when she faces down a demon with prayer and Bible recitation.
- We learn Damien is showing signs of being Anita's vampire servant and that Jean Claude gains power from sex.
The latter frightens Anita enough that she demands a break from both Jean Claude and Richard; Marianne helps her to temporarily close off her metaphysical "marks" to them.
[edit] Book 9: Obsidian Butterfly
Anita travels to New Mexico in Obsidian Butterfly to help Edward investigate a series of supernatural attacks. Anita acquires a new power from the vampire Obsidian Butterfly, the first instance of her picking up a power from a vampire. She is nearly killed by another vampire; her "closing" of the marks with Jean-Claude and Richard has weakened her abilities, making her more vulnerable to metaphysical attacks.
[edit] "Let's hear it for the monsters."
Anita muses this in Cerulean Sins. Context:
- One of my favorite things about hanging out with the monsters is the healing. Straight humans seemed to get killed on me a lot. Monsters survived. Let's hear it for the monsters.
[edit] Book 10: Narcissus in Chains
Narcissus in Chains opens with Anita's decision to re-establish her relationships with Jean-Claude and Richard. She discovers that her lengthy separation has caused significant damage to several of her friends and allies, both emotionally and also in terms of their supernatural powers. A number of complications to her attempts to repair this damage arise:
- Anita is accidentally but gravely injured by one of the wereleopards and develops secondary signs of lycanthropy.
- Anita develops the ardeur, a rare power seen only in vampires of Jean-Claude's bloodline, after Jean-Claude used it to "feed" through her. Although this power allows Anita to draw energy from lust, it also requires her to have sex multiple times per day, at least in its early stages.
- In Anita's absence, Damian, her vampire servant, has become a feral killing machine.
- Richard has attempted to substitute democracy for the strictly hierarchical nature of the local werewolf pack. Jacob, a new werewolf in town, seeks to take advantage of this chaos by planning to kill first Sylvie, then Richard. The eventual split would probably destroy the pack.
- A new alpha wereleopard, Micah has arrived with his pard of wereleopards, and seeks to merge groups with Anita and become her Nimir-Raj and mate.
- Micah rapes Anita in a shower scene in the hardcover version. The scene is as follows, shows that she clearly did not give consent, and ends with Anita crying in the shower.
- I found I did have a voice and said, "Micah, stop, please stop."
- Micah licked the back of my neck, and I shuddered, pressed against the wet wall.
- "Please, Micah, I'm not on birth control." A clear thought at last.
- He bit softly at the back of my neck. "I had myself fixed two years ago. You're safe with me, Anita."
- "Please, Micah, please don't."
- In the paperback release, the scene has been rewritten as follows:
- I found I did have a voice and said, "Micah, please," but I was no longer sure what I was asking.
- Micah licked the back of my neck, and I shuddered, pressed against the wet wall.
- "Please, Micah, I'm not on birth control." A clear thought at last.
- He bit softly at the back of my neck. "I had myself fixed two years ago. You're safe with me, Anita."
- "Please Micah, please don't. If we have sex I'll feed on you. Feed on you like some kind of vampire."
- "Then feed, if that's what you need, what you want."
- He bit harder, just this side of drawing blood, and my body went passive, calm.
Anita helps Damian to regain his sanity, assuming her position as Damian's master and rendering him the first "vampire servant" in centuries. She also comes close to reconciling with Richard, but Richard ultimately leaves her after she uses the ardeur to feed on him, declaring that, like Anita herself, he will not allow himself to be used as food. Anita accepts Micah as her lover and Nimir-Raj. Micah, who appears willing to accommodate any desire of Anita's, becomes part of a menage a trois with Jean-Claude, allowing Jean-Claude to feed on him.
Anita accepts that her romantic relationship with Richard is finally over. She is still the lupa of the Thronos Rokke clan, but also becomes its bolverk.
Anita is not herself a wereleopard, but her affinity with the leopards apparently means that they are her animal to call as if she were herself a master vampire. Anita and Micah are happily leading their wereleopards and living together with Nathaniel, who also acts as Anita's pomme de sang, feeding off his lust, although they have not yet had intercourse. Anita, Micah and Jean-Claude also act as a happy threesome, but, being Anita, she doubts that happiness can last long. The themes of complex relationships and increasing power are continued in subsequent books in the series.
[edit] Book 11: Cerulean Sins
In Cerulean Sins Anita assists the police in tracking a lycanthrope serial killer. This is complicated by her close relationships with the "monsters" which puts her at odds with Rudolf Storr, the head of RPIT, who attempts to have Jason committed to a secure lycanthrope facility. Anita manipulates Storr into revealing his prejudice on tape; he ends up on administrative leave, and Jason is released on his own recognizance.
Anita and Jean-Claude outmaneuver Belle-Morte by taking Asher to their bed in a menage a trois, making Asher their lover and therefore immune to most of Belle Morte's advances. More alarmingly, Anita begins to believe that Belle Morte is planning a war against the Mother of Darkness, the oldest and most powerful of the world's vampires. Although Anita and Jean Claude do their best to avoid that conflict, the Mother of Darkness is beginning to awaken from a centuries-long sleep, and seems interested in Anita.
[edit] Book 12: Incubus Dreams
In Incubus Dreams Anita assists the police in finding a group of vampires that are killing strippers, eventually going into their condo with a SWAT team.
Anita makes considerable progress with her metaphysical problems as she learns that she can partially control the ardeur by drawing power from others' lust and by ensuring that her other desires, such as physical hunger, do not go unfulfilled. However, she accidentally forms another triumvirate with Damien and Nathaniel, this time with her (not Jean-Claude) as the power focus.
Anita's personal life resolves in a number of ways. She accepts Nathaniel as the fourth of her concurrent lovers, and she and Richard also agree to renew their relationship. Although Nathaniel and Micah appear to accept or want Anita as their only lover, Anita reluctantly agrees to accept Richard's decision to date other people, and allows Jean-Claude to begin feeding his lust from others, at least psychically.
[edit] Book 13: Micah
Her relationship with Micah is focused on specifically in the novella of the same name. Anita also continues to wrestle with her recent increase in power, first attempting to deal with the ardeur and second, wrestling with the vast increase in her own powers as a necromancer. Anita is now so powerful that her attempt to raise a single person threatened to raise every corpse in the cemetery.
A blood test reveals that Anita carries four strains of lycanthropy: wolf, leopard, lion, and one unknown strain. However, she is not a lycanthrope despite being a carrier.
[edit] Book 14: Danse Macabre
Danse Macabre sees a possible pregnancy threatening to derail her life, even as she prepares to help host several visiting Masters of the City in honor of the finale performance of the vampire ballet troupe Danse Macabre.
The evidence that Anita may become a shape-shifter is growing; whether she will be wolf, lion, leopard, or something else is unknown. She resists changing shape by "giving her beast" to a lycanthrope. Because she can only give "her" lion to a werelion, this brings her into more contact with the local werelion pride.
Jean Claude and Anita determine that the ardeur is "seeking" food: specifically it may have shaped Anita's, Micah's, Nathaniel's, and Damian's personalities to make them more compatible partners for one another. It also encourages the visiting Master of the City of Chicago, who had been exiled by Belle Morte, to maneuver Anita into feeding her ardeur on him.
In her personal life, Anita wrestles with her jealousy of her lovers taking other lovers, particularly in the case of Jean-Claude and Asher. She also accepts that she is a succubus and a vampire, in that she feeds off of others.
[edit] Appearances
See Main Article: All novels. (See individual novel pages for a discussion of Anita's role in each novel in which she appears).
[edit] Comic Books
Anita also appears in the Marvel Comics/Dabel Brothers adaptation of Guilty Pleasures. Each issue contains roughly 40 pages of the novel adapted into a 28 page comic book.
