Characters / Blade (1998)

Deacon Frost

Portrayed by: Stephen Dorff

"We should be ruling the humans, not running around making back alley treaties with them. For fuck's sake these people are our food - not our allies."

A human-turned-vampire who has been making waves in the underworld and his activities have caught the attention of Blade much to the annoyance of the vampire ruling elite. Deacon's ultimate goal is unclear to The Daywalker but there's no doubt he has big changes in mind for the vampire world.

• Age Lift: The comic version is visibly much older, with grey hair and a beard. The film version... not so much, being played by 25-year-old Stephen Dorff.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Much younger and thinner than his comic counterpart.
• Ambition Is Evil: Frost's desire to become the avatar of La Magra, leads him to do some really horrible things.
• Arch-Enemy: He has this relationship with Blade because Frost turned his mother and then keeps her as a girlfriend. They've presumably clashed a few times in the past before the start of the film. While Blade fights bigger threats than Frost in the following films, Frost still remains his most personal foe on account of what he did to him.
• Asshole Victim: Nobody was shedding any tears for him when he died at the hands of Blade.
• Ax-Crazy: He's not exactly quite sane, but more in control than many examples.
• Bad Boss: Played with. He kills his familiar Krieger and nonchalantly tells Pearl to at least die with some pride. However, his familiar Krieger screwed up so monumentally that he arguably became more of a liability than an asset and Pearl is pretty much dead anyways. Not to mention he keeps screw-up Quinn around because he seems genuinely fond of him and does have a soft spot for his mistress Mercury too.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Not in the movie itself, obviously, but the Marvel one-shot The Darkhold: Blade seemingly takes place in a world where Frost has succeeded in turning most of the world's population into vampires. The narration mentions that he used La Magra's power to do so, seemingly implying that the comics takes place in a similar continuity as that of the movie.
• Berserk Button: Frost reacts violently to being reminded of his human heritage. He also hates anyone (human or vampire) that tells him he will not amount to anything. He vents his rage on various characters, including vampire elders, throughout the film for ticking him off like this.
• Big Bad: The main antagonist of the first film.
• The Chessmaster: Frost is very good at manipulating people. If not for two very tiny things outside of his knowledge, his plan would have gone off without a hitch.
• Didn't See That Coming: He manages to succeed in turning into a blood god. But he didn't know that Blade had developed new darts that affected vampires' blood. So once Blade got his hands on them and started injecting them into him, Frost's newfound powers ended up working against him since he's made of nothing but blood by that point.
• Dodge the Bullet: Manages to impressively avoid a few silver bullets directed at his head.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: He has both humans and vampires of quite a few races under his employ. Frost even had a black, child vampire sitting on the floor at his party.
• Evil Gloating: Does this a fair bit.
• Faux Affably Evil: Frost will often put on a facade of courtesy just before committing something suitably evil. The most notable being his final conversation with Dragonetti.
  Deacon: When's the last time you stopped to appreciate a good sunrise? Oh, that's right, you were born a vampire so you've never had the pleasure, have you? It's okay. It's alright. Least we're here together. Share the moment. Which means a lot to me by the way, I mean that.
• Hated by All: He's not well-liked by the vampire community, with the House of Erebus hating him. In fact, in the second film, when Eli Damaskinos first meets Blade, he actually thanks Blade for killing Frost, saying he "did [him] a favor."
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Twice over even. One, the woman he attacked was Blade's mother just as she gave birth to him. So he ended up creating the very thing that would later end up killing him. And two: while he becomes the avatar of La Magra's power. The magic that powers it is completely blood-based. Once Blade realizes this, he recovers his EDTA darts and hits Frost with a full clip of them, which finishes him off.
• Human Shield: Using a child no less. During his confrontation with Blade in the park, he has kidnapped a child to use as protection against Blade.
• I Want Them Alive!: He orders his men to capture Blade alive. Justified in that it's not for some elaborate revenge or torture but because his blood's the key to becoming La Magra.
• Katanas Are Just Better: During his Sword Fight with Blade, he uses an ordinary katana.
• Kryptonite-Proof Suit: Is able to withstand sunlight by liberally applying sunscreen, and when he kills Dragonetti by subjecting him to the sunrise, he wears a full-body suit and motor helmet.
• Lack of Empathy: Deacon Frost cares very, very little for anyone who isn't him, notably showing nothing but disdain for Quinn's well-founded fear of Blade. He also doesn't seem to really care about the distress his nasty little joke about taking Quinn's arm causes him.
• Large Ham: Stephen Dorff enjoyed himself.
• Lean and Mean: To contrast Blade, Frost has a slim build.
• Ludicrous Gibs: Ultimately gets exploded in spectacularly over-the-top fashion.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Frost reveals he was the vampire that attacked Blade's mother, thus making him the vampire hybrid he is today.
• Manipulative Bastard: Frost is good at playing and manipulating others.
• Mask of Sanity: Frost is calm, relaxed, and even pleasant at times. Under that, however, he is a storm of fury and sadism. Notably when he kills Krieger, he behaves like a savage animal, and when pulling out Dragonetti's fangs, he shows clear relish in it.
• Meaningless Villain Victory: He manages to become the avatar of La Magra, but Blade kills him shortly afterwards using EDTA darts.
• Misanthrope Supreme: Humans are just walking happy meals to him.
• Mr. Fanservice: Stephen Dorff in his most attractive form.
• Mysterious Past: All that is known about Frost's past is that he was turned into a vampire, instead of being born one like other members of the Shadow Council, and has managed to claw his way up to a seat of said council, but the circumstances behind the two events is never explored. At one point, there were even talks of a project that would explore Frost's origins in a trilogy.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: He views humankind as nothing more than cattle, and vampires as the Master Race.
  Frost: Look at 'em. They're cattle; pieces of meat. What difference does it make how their world ends? Plague... war... famine. Morality doesn't even enter into it. We're just a function of natural selection, man. The new race.
• Not So Stoic: Very reserved and relaxed... and then he shows himself as a vicious, animalistic beast when Krieger pushes him too far with his incompetence.
• Perma-Stubble: Frost always has a shadow.
• "Pop!" Goes the Human: Injected with EDTA darts, chemicals that affect vampire blood and make them swell like balloons. Blade hits him with a full clip of them and finishes him off with one more to the head. Even La Magra's power couldn't withstand it and Frost goes up like a pinata.
• Pretty Boy: Another contrast to Blade.
• Sadist: Frost believes that humans are cattle and the vamp establishment is weak for not acknowledging this. His response to this issue is to sacrifice a bunch of his brethren to become a Blood God. He's also the one who turned Blade and his mother, and he finds it hilarious when he sets Blade's mother upon him.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Says the word "fuck" in almost every sentence he makes.
• Slasher Smile: Frost wears a few epic savage grins when he does something really nasty.
• The Sociopath: Played with. With his selfishness, ambition, and Lack of Empathy, Frost outstrips any other vampire in terms of sheer evilness. Notably while he puts up a good show of caring for Quinn and Mercury, Frost watches their deaths without any expression or reaction and completely ignores they ever existed afterward. Now, this does happen after Frost became the Blood God, so this could be because Deacon Frost died the moment he became the Blood God, or that the Blood God drove Deacon into true sociopathy. It should be noted that right after the transformation, Mercury addresses him by name to see if he's alright, and Deacon-Blood God replies "Not anymore."
• Transhuman Treachery: While it's pretty much a given for any vampire who's been turned to betray their former race, Frost takes it even further. He wants to abandon the Masquerade entirely in favor of subjugating mankind and relegating them to little more than cattle. This is especially treacherous because Frost wasn't born a vampire, he was turned as a young man, so he knows what it's like to be a regular human.
• Unholy Matrimony: Frost has a close relationship with both his evil vampire lovers, Mercury and Vanessa.
• Verbal Tic: He seems to like saying "fuck" a lot.
• Villainous Friendship: He gives Quinn a lot of forbearance despite his multiple screw ups and acts fond of him at times. It's ultimately revealed to be hollow on Frost's end when Quinn is decapitated without Frost demonstrating any reaction whatsoever, though this could be because it was Deacon Frost-Blood God and not vanilla Frost.
• Was Once a Man: He used to be a human, and is the only member of the Shadow Council to have been turned instead of being a pure vampire. He apparently deeply resents that fact as Dragonetti rubs in his face that because of this he will never really amount to anything.
• We Can Rule Together: Offers Blade a chance to stand with him. However, Blade is already aware they need him to awaken the power of La Magra. It's unlikely Frost saw him as a potential ally and probably just wanted an easier means of capturing him. Though Frost did express anger at Blade for making things more difficult, as well as being disgusted with Blade's self-hatred and instance on protecting humans from his own kind.
  Frost: It's a shame, you know? When I think of what you've become, what you should have become. I guess I don't blame you. I mean, with everything that's happened, it's the human side of you that's made you weak. You should've listened to your blood.
  Blade: Say what you want, but I promise you, you'll be dead by dawn.
  Frost: Get him outta here.
• Wham Line: "You've been looking your whole life for the vampire who bit your mother. Well. Here I am."
• Would Hurt a Child: Frost takes a little girl hostage when he speaks with Blade and throws her in the path of a truck.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Twice. Firstly, he feeds on Krieger after his failure to obtain Karen, not to mention leading Blade straight to them. And secondly, he feeds on Pearl just after Frost gets all the info he needs.
  Deacon: " Pearl, you're history. Have the good grace to die with some fucking dignity."

Quinn

Portrayed by: Donal Logue

"You can slice him. You can dice him. But the Quinn man just keeps coming!"

One of Deacon Frost's most high-ranking minions. Whenever he's around it's a clear sign his boss is involved. A fact which earns him the frequent attention of Blade and comes with the implication that it's the only reason he's still alive.

• An Arm and a Leg: Loses an arm to Blade in their second encounter, then loses the other arm the next time they meet. They grow back offscreen. Frost even messes with him by making it seem like he's going to cut off Quinn's arm again.
• Beard of Evil: Quinn's nastiness is only emphasized further by his thick red beard.
• Boisterous Weakling: Fancies himself a tough vampire, but he gets repeatedly trounced by Blade, and the only reason he survives is because Blade is trying to find his boss, or he just gets lucky. At the climax, Blade kills him without even breaking a sweat.
• Butt-Monkey: Blade has apparently been abusing him on such a regular basis that by the events of the film, he's grown bored of cutting him up and decides to set him on fire. Over the course of the film, he suffers further punishment at the hands of Blade and even Karen at one point before finally being decapitated.
• Card-Carrying Villain: He confesses he'll be a "naughty vampire god."
• Co-Dragons: Alongside Mercury to Frost.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: He has a tendency to make some truly bad jokes, such as when Frost rips out Dragonetti's fangs.
  Quinn: Sorry, you old dog. You just got a little too long in the tooth.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: Considering what Blade puts him through regenerating skin and limbs is a "must have" feature for any vampire constantly getting their asses kicked by The Daywalker. Not that it saves him in the end.
  Quinn: "You took my arm man. But it's cool. I got a new one."
• Off with His Head!: Unwisely charging Blade solo gets him beheaded at the end.
• Rasputinian Death: Before the decapitation, he is impaled, burned, sliced, beaten, thrown from a train...
• Sinister Shades: Quinn loves an evil pair of sunglasses, even indoors at night.
• Smug Snake: Quinn massively overrates his abilities at every opportunity and it keeps costing him. In the final battle, he's killed without getting in a blow.
• Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: He's the Big Bad's right-hand man, and as a wisecracking, cheerfully immoral hedonist with really bad luck, he provides a humorous contrast to the horrifying and deadly-serious Frost.
• Villainous Friendship: Quinn genuinely considers Frost his best friend, bragging to women he's seducing that he and Frost are like brothers. Frost's feelings towards him are... debatable, but there's no question Quinn's are genuine.
• You're Insane!: Quinn questions the logic of Frost actually wanting to keep Blade alive.
  "You want him alive? We've been trying to kill this motherfucker for years! Are you out of your fucking mind?!"

Mercury

Portrayed by: Arly Jover

• Berserk Button: She nearly has a Villainous Breakdown when Karen questions whether her relationship with Frost is genuine.
• Co-Dragons: Alongside Quinn. Interestingly, despite being Frost's lover, she doesn't appear to have more authority than Quinn and is, in fact, the more noticeably worried when Frost comes to speak with them after Blade escapes.
• Dark Action Girl: Mercury's intro to combat, despite being stripped to her undergarments, is pulling up a gun and shooting at Blade alongside heavily armed men and living to tell the tale. At most opportunities, she shows herself to be a talented and powerful fighter as well.
• Dark Mistress: Mercury is Frost's lover and one of his highest-ranking subordinates.
• Dodge the Bullet: Impressively moves fast enough to avoid Blade's machine gun fire at the bloodbath and does it again when avoiding Karen's shotgun blasts at the temple.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: She survives the opening battle by running as Blade gets the upper hand.
• Light Is Not Good: Often favors white clothes to match her hair and pale complexion.
• Ms. Fanservice: Arly Jover is a gorgeous woman and Mercury is often seen in attractive outfits or in various states of undress.
• Your Head A-Splode: Rendered headless after swallowing some of Karen's garlic-laced mace.

Dr. Karen Jenson

Portrayed by: N'Bushe Wright

"Who are you people?"

A hematologist who ends up bitten in a vampire attack. When Blade decides to save her despite the risks, she resolves to find a cure before she turns. Played by N'Bushe Wright.

• Action Duo: With Blade. They're the only ones left to fight the vampires in the climax.
• Action Survivor: Karen manages to escape Zombie Curtis and then proceeds to take down several vampires in order to free Blade. She even kills Mercury.
• Armor-Piercing Question: "How'd you get that scar, Deacon?"
• Audience Surrogate: Karen is pretty much how we learn about the setting and the nature of the vampires. Through her, we establish that vampires own the police and politicians and have agents everywhere. She also gets a rundown of their weaknesses.
  Karen: "So what do you use then? Stakes? Crosses?"
  Whistler: "Crosses don't do squat."
• The Bait: Blade deliberately uses her as bait to draw out one of Frost's familiars. Karen is less than impressed by this tactic.
  Karen: "You used me as bait?!"
  Blade: "Get over it."
• Exact Words: "He moved."
• Find the Cure!: Karen attempts to use her particular expertise to find a cure for the vampire virus before it turns her. Whistler tells her there is no cure or at least one that doesn't involve eating a bullet. He's wrong, as Karen succeeds and manages to cure herself. However, the cure only works on people who were infected and thus the exact effects on Blade would be unclear. Karen believes it would either kill him or leave him a normal human.
• Genius Bruiser: Is quite smart and is capable of kicking some ass in her own right.
• Hospital Hottie: In addition to being a hematologist, she's also quite gorgeous.
• The Not-Love Interest: She and Blade are explicitly not romantic and are never shown to think of one another that way.
• Omni Disciplinary Scientist: Averted. Her expertise is strictly in hematology, which is fortunate considering the problem is blood-related.
• Professor Guinea Pig: Lampshaded by Karen. Whilst she clearly ran a number of tests on infected blood samples first, when the moment of truth came she had to simply try it on herself. Wholly justified by the fact she was motivated by desperation and a lack of time. The fact she produced a viable cure at all before she turned was a miracle in itself.
• Sequel Non-Entity: Karen isn't mentioned at all in the next films. Though some of her work such as the vampire virus cure and discovering anticoagulants were lethal to vampires do in fact carry over, the fact she pioneered such things isn't mentioned.
• Took a Level in Badass: From a victim to having a body count of multiple vampires. Not bad.
• Working with the Ex: It's made clear near the start of the film she'd recently broken up with fellow doctor Curtis at the hospital she worked for. Things were still a little awkward.

Gaetano Dragonetti

Portrayed by: Udo Kier

"I was born a vampire, as was every other member of this house. But you Frost... you were merely turned."

A vampire Elder who clashes with Deacon Frost over his lack of respect for their traditions and authority. He also looks down on him due to him being made into a vampire rather than having been born a "pureblood" like himself.

• Cruel and Unusual Death: Courtesy of being forced to witness the sunrise for the first time in his life by Frost after having his fangs ripped out of his mouth.
• Defiant to the End: Despite facing certain death, he still doesn't think Frost will accomplish anything. Much to Frost's annoyance.
  Dragonetti: Do what you want, Frost. It doesn't make any difference.
• Fantastic Racism: Looks down on Frost for merely being made a vampire as opposed to being born one. No doubt Dragonetti belonged to a long line of "purebloods".
  Dragonetti: "You will never be pureblood! You will never rule us!"
• Pragmatic Villainy: He saw keeping the majority of humanity unaware of the vampires via the Masquerade and secret alliances with politicians as essential to their survival, whereas he saw Frost's actions as dangerous and detrimental to a way of life that had kept them safe for thousands of years.

Pearl

Portrayed by: Eric Edwards

"He's going to kill me! You need me, Frost! You need me!"

A massively obese vampire who acts as a record keeper. His talents are being utilised by Deacon Frost.

• Asshole Victim: His torture was very well deserved since the director revealed that Pearl was so fat due to him eating children and babies.
• Bad Liar: His attempt to cover up Frost's research fools no one.
  Pearl: "That's nothing, it's routine research. Actually, it's a videogame." *blasted with the UV light*
  Blade: "That must've hurt."
  Pearl: "It's a fragment, a piece of the prophecy!"
  Blade: "What prophecy?"
  Pearl: "Oh, I'm not sure. There's so many out—" *gets blasted with the UV light again*
  [later]
  Blade: *walks towards an armored door* What's in here?
  Pearl: "Nothing! It's a storeroom. But you're wasting your time. There's nothing of importance to anyone."
  Blade: "Then you won't mind if I take a peek?"
  Pearl: "Nooooo!!!" *gets fried by the UV light*
• Butt-Monkey: Pearl's only time on-screen is to get interrogated by Blade and fried by Karen if he doesn't play along. He's too fat to run or fight, so he has to just take it.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: He's slowly burnt alive by an industrial UV lamp.
• Fan Disservice: No one, not the characters and least of all the audience, is thankful for the sight of a naked Pearl.
• Fat Bastard: This is likely to be the first and last time you see an incredibly obese vampire. The original script describes him as a cross between Divine and Jabba The Hutt.
• Gasshole: He farts upon first seeing Blade and Karen discovering him.
• Gonk: He is grotesquely ugly.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Is at the receiving end of this, as he is conveniently the primary researcher for Frost's scheme.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Probably one of the worst attempts you're ever likely to witness. Pearl doesn't fool anyone and only gets himself roasted by a UV lamp for his tame efforts.
  Pearl: It's a fragment, a piece of the prophecy!
  Blade: What prophecy?
  Pearl: Oh I'm not really sure, there's so many of them...*screams in agony*

• Uncertain Doom: He's burned horribly with the UV lamp, but we never actually see him disintegrate.
• Would Hurt a Child: According to Word of God, the reason Pearl is so morbidly obese is that he ate children. Originally, a child's drained body was supposed to be next to him.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Frost seems to think so.

Officer Krieger

Portrayed by: Kevin Patrick Walls

A corrupt police officer and Familiar.

• Butt-Monkey: Gets maced with garlic by Karen and beaten up repeatedly by Blade before finally having his throat ripped out by Frost.
• Does Not Like Women: Throws a half dozen misogynistic slurs at Frost's girlfriend and was perfectly happy to beat up Karen until Blade showed up.
• Dirty Cop: He's working for people who kill the people he's supposed to be protecting and drink their blood on a regular basis.
• Hate Sink: Is a misogynistic cowardly cop who sold out humanity to Frost and was often trafficking blood and organs for the vampires. Nobody's going to miss him.
• Karmic Death: Is killed by the vampire he sold humanity out to after screwing up one too many times.
• The Renfield: Is Frost's Familiar, a human lackey hoping to be turned into a vampire as a reward for loyal service.
• Too Dumb to Live: Insulting Frost's girlfriend after having screwed up multiple times and lost any use to Frost was never going to work out well.

Pallantine

• Defiant Captive: He is composed and mocking towards Frost and Mercury after they take the Purebloods prisoners to sacrifice.
• Number Two: He seems to be the most senior of Dragonetti's colleagues and is seen reading him a report on their interests.
• Only Sane Man: Pallantine is also opposed to Frost's massacres of humans for blood they can get elsewhere but seems to lack (or at least be less vocal about) the Fantastic Racism Dragonetti has against the bitten vampires who make up the majority of their forces.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He's a powerful vampire with a trim, conspicuous business suit.