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Vancha March
VanchaManga
Profession Vampire Prince
Gender Male
Species Vampire
Age 100-200 (The Saga of Larten Crepsley)
300 (The Saga of Darren Shan)
Relatives Gannen Harst (brother)
Evanna (adoptive mother)
Unnamed vampaneze (sire)
Paris Skyle (sire)
Unnamed twin sons with Evanna
Status Alive
Background Information
Book Universe The Saga of Larten Crepsley
The Saga of Darren Shan
First Book Appearance Birth of a Killer


Vancha March (バンチャ・マーチ Bancha Macchi), formerly Vancha Harst, is a vampire and Gannen Harst's brother. Originally he was a vampaneze, but left the clan because he opposed to kill people. He was found by Paris Skyle, who turned him into a vampire. After many years of training and serving as a General, he then became a Vampire Prince.

Appearance[]

Vancha is quite different from most vampires. His appearance consists of green hair, animal skins as clothes, bare feet, and reddish skin. By wiping his phlegm through his hair over the centuries he has dyed it green, and he refuses to wear anything other than clothes he has made himself. The red skin he has obtained from walking in the sun, as he believes he is able to overcome the vampires' natural weakness against sunlight.

Personality[]

He's very stubborn and persistent, continuing to adhere to the old ways of the vampire and training himself to endure sunlight. He refuses to use close combat weapons in favour of his bare hands and shurikens. He claims to be a ladies man, though Darren perceives him as having very little success in this area, owing to his wild appearance, bad smell and very poor manners. Despite this he's very wise, serving as the minder to the reckless Larten in their youth.

Vancha adores his brother and is conflicted about them being in different allegiances, but is still willing to kill him for the sake of the vampire clan. Because of his brother and the fact he worked as an assistant for an honorable vampaneze in the past, Vancha respects the vampaneze clan and sympathizes with Kurda's plight to unite both races.

Role[]

The Saga of Larten Crepsley[]

Birth of a Killer[]

« I don't think you can be considered a true vampire until you break the hundred mark. I've only recently started to feel like I'm a full member of the clan. »

(Vancha admitting to Larten that he felt out of place with the Vampire Princes)

He's one of the many vampires Larten Crepsley and Wester Flack meet when they arrive to the Vampire Mountain. Larten quickly warms up to him, after Vancha admits he used to feel out of place with the vampires when he joined them.

Ocean of Blood[]

« Evanna found me when I was a baby. My parents had been killed and I’d been left to die. She rescued me and carried me with her for a few years before handing me over to...someone else, he finished vaguely. »

(Vancha telling about his past to Larten and Wester)

Vancha, Larten, Seba and Wester go to visit Evanna. As he later explains, he and his brother Gannen (though he omits his name) were orphaned at a young age and adopted by Evanna. They lived with her for most of their childhood until she sent them to live with a vampaneze to work as his assistants. The four vampires return to Vampire Mountain the next day.

At some point, Larten becomes afraid of his own mortality and opts to abandon his training and set out on her own. Before he leaves, he is approached by Vancha, who asks for his assistance in tracking down Arrow, who had seemingly abandoned the vampire clan. They later find out it's because he's married a human girl named Sarah.

Palace of the Damned[]

Sarah was murdered by a vampaneze, prompting Arrow to seek revenge. Vancha, together with Larten and Wester try to make him give up on this, but Wester (who hates vampaneze) convinces him that they should erradicate all vampaneze instead. Fortunately Vancha convinces Arrow to calm down.

Larten returns to France to visit Alicia Dunyck and Gavner Purl, but finds out Gavner started working for Tanish Eul as assistant and made him a vampire. Together with Vancha, they search for Tanish and Gavner. They find them in Russia and Tanish tries to escape, but is killed by Vancha.

Brothers to the Death[]

The Saga of Darren Shan[]

Hunters of the Dusk[]

« Aye. But this is a mad world, Larten. Because I spared the life of my brother - who once saved mine - our greatest enemy has escaped and our people face defeat. What sort of a world is it where evil is born of an act of goodness? »

(Vancha realizing he let the Lord of the Vampaneze escape due to refusing to harm Gannen)

He's assigned together with Larten and Darren Shan to stop the Lord of the Vampaneze. They later go to visit Evanna for a few days before heading off to the Cirque du Freak, who tells him that only one of them is destined to survive the war. At the Cirque, Darren spots Evanna meeting up with a group of vampaneze. The vampires massacre the group, only leaving two vampaneze alive. Vancha tries to kill them, but backs down upon realizing one of them is Gannen.

Darren and Larten call out Vancha for not killing the remaining vampaneze, to which he apologizes and reveals them about his past. After Evanna sent them to live with a vampaneze, Vancha and Gannen became half-vampaneze as his assistants. However, Vancha didn't get used to killing people and decided to leave the clan. Due to the vampaneze laws, Vancha should have been executed, but Gannen pleaded for his life. They never saw each other again afterwards.

Later, Evanna tells Vancha that the other surviving vampaneze was the Lord of the Vampaneze and Gannen is his protector. Devastated upon realizing his love for his brother endangered their mission, Vancha gets drunk and tries to commit suicide at the top of the Cirque, intending to let the daylight kill him. With some encouragement from Darren, he calms down and decides to put his feelings for Gannen aside for the sake of the vampire clan.

Allies of the Night[]

« I wouldn't bet on that. Blood's not as easy to divine as certain vampires think. I've found traces of 'evil' blood in several people over the decades, and kept tabs on them. Three went bad, so I killed them. The others led normal lives. »

(Vancha having doubts about Larten's claim of Steve's "evil blood")

Vancha returns to Vampire Mountain to inform the other Vampire Princes about their discovery. He then heads back to take Larten with him to Vampire Mountain temporally, as Paris has died and they must go to his funeral. When they return, they find that in their absence, Darren reunited with his estranged best friend, Steve Leonard. Larten is distrustful about Steve's motives, insisting that his blood is evil, but Vancha believes Steve can be trusted.

When the group go to the tunnels to catch R.V., they're ambushed by a vampaneze group. Steve takes Darren's girlfriend, Debbie hostage and reveals he is a half-vampaneze, having manipulated Darren and his allies the whole time. He never had any intention to forgive Darren and Larten and is obsessed with getting his revenge on them. In the following battle, Debbie is taken by the vampaneze group, but Darren's group manages to take Steve hostage.

Killers of the Dawn[]

After Steve and R.V. escape, Gannen tells them all that he will let them go, and that they have 15 minutes to get out, or he will release his vampets and vampaneze on them. Fear of being outnumbered, The Hunters flee. But Vancha splits up from Mr. Crepsley and Darren to lead the vampets and vampaneze away from them. He later meets up with them after gathering discarded weapons from the dead vampets. The Hunters pursue Steve and R.V. they soon catch up to them. They find them in a large man-made room with a platform suspended in the air above a pit full of flaming stakes. In this room they also find the Vampaneze Lord. They try to kill him but are overpowered by vampets that fall from the roof and walls. But Steve, being the mischievous devil he is, tells them that they can make a deal. The Hunters can send one of their's up onto the platform to fight the Vampaneze Lord, but no one on either side can assist them. Mr. Crepsley offers and climbs up the rope onto platform with the Lord.

The battle begins and everyone is silent as the dead as Mr. Crepsley continually swipes at the Lord with his jagged nails and the Lord throws kicks and punches aimed at Mr. Crepsley's face. After several gruesome minutes it seems as though Mr. Crepsley is going to lose. The Vampaneze Lord was gaining ground fast, but Mr. Crepsley lands a bone-grinding punch to the Lord and sends him falling to his death, but as soon as the Lord fell, Steve leaped onto Mr. Crepsley's back sending him straight for the stakes. Vancha and Darren we're unable to reach him in time, and to their dismay, Mr. Crepsley then dies. After all of the vampets have departed and only Gannen, Vancha, Steve and Darren are left; Steve whispers something to Darren. After this terrible night, Vancha parts ways with Darren, leaving to Vampire Mountain to speak the truth to the other Princes.

Lord of the Shadows[]

Sons of Destiny[]

« Greetings. I'm glad you face us like true creatures of the night at last. Perhaps in death you can find again the honour which you abandoned during life. »

(Vancha before his final fight against Gannen)

Vancha meets back up with Darren to destroy Steve, the Vampaneze Lord, once and for all. Vancha, along with Alice Burgess, has been recruiting Vampirites (humans who want to fight for the vampires ). Darren was brought to Vancha by Declan, a vampirite/hobo. Vancha, Darren, and Alice would have to prepare for a break in at the stadium to save their friends and the Cirque performers. Darren and Vancha, as the prophecy goes, tailed Gannen Harst and Steve from the stadium and were ready for a final battle. Vancha first fights both Gannen and Steve using only his hands. He is then wounded by Gannen, making him incapable to fight. Gannen is then knocked out cold by R.V., who was killed by Steve after that moment.

After the deaths of Darren and Steve, the war still continues. Vancha and Harkat are working for peace between vampires and vampaneze. Also him and Gannen impregnated Evanna, with her becoming pregnant with twins.

Cirque du Freak Manga[]

HarstBrothersMangaEnd

Vancha and Gannen reconciling after the War of the Scars

In the manga, Vancha and Gannen are more conflicted about being in opposite sides of the war, but have no choice but to fight each other due to their respective allegiances. Unlike the novels, Vancha is unable to put his feelings for his brother over the vampire clan.

During their final fight, Vancha actually takes the upper hand, but hesitates, not wanting to kill his brother. Gannen takes the opportunity to attack Vancha, mockingly stating that his brother chose him over his clan and he doesn't deserve to be a Vampire Prince, but he's crying as he says this, not wanting to kill his brother either. After the deaths of Darren and Steve, Gannen reconciles with Vancha and together with Harkat, start working for peace between vampires and vampaneze.

Vancha is shown to be alive in the new timeline, walking in the mountains during sunlight.

Trivia[]

  • He doesn't like sleeping in coffins, as he considers them too soft.
  • Vancha claims in Hunters of the Dusk that he doesn't remember who's the older of the two brothers, but believes Gannen is the younger one by a couple of years. Ocean of Blood implies it's the other way around and Vancha is actually the younger, as Evanna states she and Gannen raised him.
  • In Brothers to the Death, he mocks Larten for allowing his feelings for Alicia endanger the vampire clan, after she's been supposedly killed by a vampaneze. Ironically years later, his feelings for Gannen do endanger the vampire clan, after refusing to kill him.
  • According to a Facebook post by the author, Vancha sticks a temporary post box on the Vampire Mountain every Valentine's Day in case he gets romantic letters.
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