The vampires in The Vampire Diaries adhere to some elements from vampire lore, but with roots in dark magic, they are their own bloodthirsty fiends.

In literature, film and TV, the vampire has varied in appearance and abilities, although a few key traits remain the same. The vampire must consume human blood to survive, their power is at its peak during the night and a human must consume the blood of a vampire to become one themselves.The Vampire Diaries features some of the time-honored traditions of vampire lore but the show also introduces its own elements to the bloodthirsty fiends.

The rule that vampire blood is necessary to kick-start the transformation from human to bloodsucker has existed for generations of vampire stories, and The Vampire Diaries is no different. To become a vampire, a human must die with a vampire's blood in their system. The matter of the human's death itself is irrelevant -- although the body does have to be somewhat intact. However, humans hoping to become a creature of the night must either consume vampire blood orally or through injection, or have a vampire's blood poured on an open wound.

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The Vampire Diariesestablishes early on that in order to complete the transformation from human to vampire, a newly created vampire must consume human blood. Animal blood is not sufficient to sustain the transformation, so new vampires who want to adhere to a strict diet of animal blood are out of luck -- at least initially. A human need not die in the process, and vampires can utilizeunconventional methods to obtain the needed blood, likestealing blood donor bags or feeding from a recently deceased human. Regardless, a newly created vampire only has 24 hours to have their first taste of human blood or they will die permanently.

In theTheVampire Diariesuniverse,all vampires descend from the six Original vampires known as the Mikaelson Family -- Mikael, Finn, Elijah, Kol, Rebekah and Klaus. After the Originals were created in 1001 AD, they fed on human blood and thus created the first bloodlines, through which all vampires are connected. The magical properties of the Originals' blood is passed down through each vampire they sire and the ones their progeny sire, meaning that vampires are all one big family. Unfortunately, due to every vampire's link to the Mikaelsons, if one of the Originals die, their entire bloodline follows suit in less than a hour.

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