Vampire Queen Profile: Akasha, Queen of the Damned

When it comes to powerful female vampire characters, I feel like they’re the Conan O’Briens of vampire pop culture. While they do exist, it’s rare that we pay a significant amount of attention to these strong female vampires because it seems we’re currently being “glamored” or “dazzled” by the handsome, brooding (and sparkling) vampires that are stealing the show. I serve to remind you all that there are great female vampires that do more than just be sexy and sparkle. One such vampire queen that comes to mind is The Queen of the Damned’s Akasha as played by the late Aaliyah.

In popular Anne Rice novels, Akasha is the very first vampire created and thus the mother and queen of all vampires. Akasha was born in Egypt around 5000 BCE. Her transformation as a vampire began as an evil spirit entered her body through a small wound. From then on, she’d come to be known as the mother of all vampires or… one big killing machine. What’s interesting about her rule as queen is that her feelings are shared collectively among her subjects. Harm Akasha, you harm everyone else. Thus, it’s said that people never messed around with Akasha or the vampires she ruled over. If she killed you, it pretty much meant you weren’t a worthy vampire.

In the Queen of the Damned film, we see a somewhat softer side of her as she falls in love with Lestat. I really admired how she was represented in the film by Aaliyah. Aaliyah did justice to Akasha’s beauty and the way she moved as a vampire. It’s tragic that both actress and character have passed on. Perhaps we can hope for a revival of strong female vampire characters this year.

Know of any vampire queens worth mentioning? Let me know!