Jean-Claude
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Jean-Claude is a fictional character in the novel Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series of novels by Laurell K. Hamilton.
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[edit] Character introduction
Within the novels, Jean-Claude's primary role is as one of the primary love interests of the series heroine, Anita Blake.
[edit] Character sketch
[edit] Summary
With long, curling black hair and piercing blue eyes, Jean-Claude is a beautiful French-born vampire, 400+ years old. He was favorite of Belle Morte for his eyes, and, like many vampires of Belle Morte's line, Jean-Claude was selected for his almost perfect mortal beauty. As a result, even when he is unable to use mental influence on others, he is still breathtakingly attractive. He became the Master Vampire of St. Louis after Anita killed Nikolaos. Together with Richard Zeeman, Jean-Claude is a member of Anita's first triumvirate.
Jean-Claude's daytime lair is the subbasement of the Circus of the Damned. As owner of the "JC Corporation," he also owns and runs Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, and Danse Macabre, as well as other clubs.
[edit] Powers
Jean-Claude's master class abilities include the ability to seem older or younger than his actual age, the ability to draw energy from lust, the ardeur, the ability to call wolves and werewolves, flight, controling shadows, and a triumvirate with his human servant, Anita, and his animal servant, Richard. Jean-Claude's voice is preternaturally seductive.
[edit] Character
Jean-Claude is extraordinarily seductive, both with regard to his mental abilities and conventional seduction. He is superb at playing "vampire politics," and can be surprisingly manipulative and ruthless when necessary. Jean-Claude typically thinks several steps ahead of his triumvirate partners Anita and Richard.
Throughout the novels, Jean-Claude has pursued Anita, both as a lover and a human servant.
[edit] Biographical summary
[edit] Prior story
Jean-Claude is approximately four hundred years old. He was born to a French peasant family in the seventeenth century, and was astoundingly beautiful even as a child. Because of his beauty, he was selected to be the whipping boy for a noble child of his age. As a whipping boy, he was raised in a noble household and educated as a noble, but was severely beaten in the place of the young noble whenever he misbehaved. Jean-Claude still has scars on his back from that experience.
As a young man, Jean-Claude was killed and raised as a vampire by Lissette, a vampire in Belle Morte's bloodline. Again, he was selected for his beauty. Jean-Claude spent the next five years in the court of Julian, Lissette's master, sleeping with whomever Julian chose, unable to say no while in the grip of the ardeur.
Later, Jean-Claude joined Belle Morte's court as one of her favorites, remaining there for several years.
At some time during the seventeenth century, Jean-Claude left Belle Morte's court and traveled with Asher and Asher's human servant, Julianna. The three travelled together as a ménage à trois for twenty years, ending with Jean-Claude's mother's death. (Jean-Claude also states that at this time, he and Asher were "masters of comparable power," which suggests that he matured remarkably early to have become a master within his own mother's lifetime). This period ended when Jean-Claude temporarily left the other two to attend his mother's funeral, returning too late to prevent Julianna's death and Asher's torture at the hands of human captors working for the church. Asher was disfigured using holy water, and Julianna was burnt at stake for being a witch. Jean-Claude has stated that he "humbled" himself to rescue Asher, agreeing to one hundred years in Belle Morte's service in return for her help saving Asher.
After rejoining the Council's service, Jean-Claude was imprisoned alone in a cross-wrapped coffin for two years, unable to feed his ardeur. Belle Morte also used Jean-Claude as a sort of prostitute for more powerful vampires, presumably both before and after Jean-Claude's travels with Asher (Jean-Claude refers to himself during this period as a "catamite," but it appears that he was provided to both male and female vampires). At some point, Belle Morte gave Jean-Claude to Seraphina. After approximately 100 years of service, Jean-Claude left Belle Morte's court for an unprecedented second time.
[edit] Story within the novels
By the time of the first novel, Guilty Pleasures, Jean-Claude had become a master vampire in the service of Nikolaos, although he concealed the true extent of his powers, apparently biding his time for an opportunity to become his own master. When a series of murders eliminated a number of the other master vampires in Nikolaos's service, Jean-Claude made his move, manipulating Anita into killing Nikolaos and rendering him master of the city.
Throughout the next several novels, Jean-Claude struggled to maintain authority over the city. With the help of Anita and the werewolves of the city, he was ultimately able to fend off a number of challenges from the Vampire Council and other threats and consolidate control.
[edit] Appearances
(See individual novel pages for a discussion of Jean-Claude's role in each novel in which he appears).
Circus of the Damned, The Lunatic Cafe, The Killing Dance, Burnt Offerings, Blue Moon, Narcissus in Chains, Incubus Dreams, Cerulean Sins, Danse Macabre.
[edit] Major themes
[edit] Literary significance & criticism
None known.
[edit] Allusions/references from other works
None known.
[edit] Film or TV portraits
None known.
