The term 'Vampire' was used loosely to designate mysterious bat-like creatures serving Morgoth.
History
Almost nothing is known about them, though Tolkien does name one: Thuringwethil. Sauron also took the shape of a vampire on at least one occasion, during the travels of Beren and Lúthien, while he still had the ability to change his shape. There are no mentions of them having existed after the First Age. They may have been fallen Maiar as was Sauron, lesser angelic spirits (as opposed to the Valar, greater angelic spirits, as was Morgoth). These brief mentions of creatures such as vampires, werewolves and hill giants, or of non-Istari wizards, magic rings not connected with the One Ring, or even the spells and curses placed by Thorin Oakenshield and his party on the troll hoard are windows into just how expansive Middle-earth really is, beyond even what is detailed in J.R.R. Tolkien's work.
Tolkien may have just chosen the word "vampire" for its modern connotations of bat-associated monsters. A similar instance is the use of the word "Werewolf" by the same author 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. On one occasion, he flew over the forests "dripping blood from his throat." Furthermore, the vampire Thuringwethil, as her name connotes, was a "woman" of shadow.[1]
Portrayal 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
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Races of the Creatures of Arda
Free Folks:
Ainur | Dwarves | Elves | Ents | Great Eagles | Hobbits | Huorns | Men | Petty-dwarves | Skin-changers (Beornings) Servants of the Shadow:
Barrow-wights | Demons | Dragons (Fire-drakes) | Giants | Goblins | Ogres | Orcs | Spiders | Trolls | Úvanimor | Vampires | Wargs | Werewolves | Were-worms |
