Harper
Biographical information
Born	Unknown
Turned	by Pearl in 1864
Status	Deceased
Occupation	Soldier
Species	Human (originally) Vampire
Gender	Male
Family information
Family members	Unknown
Supernatural information
Significant kills	Unnamed man
Cause of death	Staked
Killed by	John Gilbert
Appearance
Played by	Sterling Sulieman
First seen	Fool Me Once
Last seen	Blood Brothers
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Harper was a vampire of African American descent who fought in the Civil War. He was turned by Pearl in 1864, after being essentially killed on a battlefield (Blood Brothers). He was later imprisoned in the tomb under Fell's Church with a spell during the same year.

Throughout the seriesEdit

Season OneEdit

In 2010, in an attempt to free Katherine Pierce for Damon, Bonnie and Grams reopened the tomb with a spell only to have Damon discover Katherine was missing. Before leaving, Damon in his agonized grief threw aside the blood he had waiting for her. Harper discovered this and after drinking it, escaped the tomb to reunite with Pearl and Anna. (Fool Me Once). Also he is very loyal to humans.

After making his escape from the tomb, as he was heading for town he became aware of the ragged and archaic nature of his clothes when he came across a young man in the forest. With regret, he killed the man for his blood and clothes. He eventually made it to Mystic Falls some what bewildered by the new world of the early 21st Century including automobiles and a teenager rolling by on a board with wheels. He eventually made eye contact with Bethanne, a fellow vampire, who was sitting on a park bench who guided him to Pearl who was staying at the Samantha Gibbons farmhouse with some of the other tomb vampires. (A Few Good Men)

Harper was the most loyal follower of Pearl. He even stood up to Frederick and his followers when they kidnapped Stefan, but this caused him to get tied up. He was freed with the help of Elena, Alaric and Damon (although Damon almost killed him for just being there and a tomb vampire despite his attempt at saving Stefan's life). (Let The Right One In)

Harper is later killed by John Gilbert with a stake through the heart fired by a device that looked liked a modernized cross bow, much like his mistress Pearl a few moments before. (Blood Brothers)

Powers and AbilitiesEdit

Some of these powers are more potent when the vampire gets older and feeds on human blood.

• Super Strength - Vampires are much stronger than humans and grow stronger with time. Even new vampires who are still in transition can toss a fully grown human across a room with great speed and force. Their strength is also more powerful then werewolves that are not in wolf form.

• Super Speed - Vampires can accelerate their movements to cover short distances in an instant, faster than the human eye can see. When running across long distances, they appear as vibrating blurs of motion.

• Emotional Control - The supernatural ability to control and manipulate the emotions of one's self.

• Dream Manipulation - Vampires can control dreams and subconscious. The vampires can produce and modify dreams, bestow nightmares or lucid dreaming. Other effects of this ability is the distortion of reality and trapped in the dreams.

• Heightened Senses - They can hear whispered conversations, even ones in far off buildings, smell blood, and see in total darkness.

• Mind Compulsion - Vampires have the ability to control minds, plague people's dreams, and alter/erase human memories.

• Immortality - A vampire stops aging once turned. Upon their transformation, vampires then on become immune to all conventional illness, disease, virus and infection. The only known disease or infection that can kill a vampire is a werewolf bite.

• Healing Factor - Vampires can snap their finger bones back into place after being broken and have been seen to fully recover from gunshots, stab wounds, and torso impalement.
• Lapis Lazuli - He possessed a lapis lazuli ring which let him walk in the sun.

WeaknessesEdit

• Vervain - When ingested, vervain causes a vampire to become severely weak and feverish. Also, If a vampire's skin is exposed to vervain, it can result in burning them.

• Wood - If a vampire is wounded by wood it will cause the vampire to become severely weak and if a vampire takes a wooden stake through its heart it will result in death.

• Fire or Sunlight - Any exposure to fire or sunlight will result in death to a vampire.

• Heart Extraction - The act of removing a vampire's heart will result in death.

• Werewolf Bite - The bite of a werewolf is extremely lethal to normal vampires.

• Magic - Witches are able to give supernatural aneurysms that cause the blood vessels of vampires to explode.

• Decapitation - The act of dismembering or removing the head of a vampire will result in death.

• Uninvited Invitation - Vampires cannot enter a house without being invited in. If they are in the house without being invited in they will become disoriented.
• Vampire bloodline- All vampires were sired from the Originals, the progenitors of the bloodline. If an Original dies, all vampires sired by them and subsequent sires of these vampires will die as well.

Attitudes toward HumansEdit

As he staggered away weak from the Tomb, he did attack, kill, and drain a human male, taking his clothes as well. However, he seemed to truly regret the action and probably couldn't suppress his drive to feed because of the long time he went without any food. He apologized to the man, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, before attacking him. (A Few Good Men)

After that encounter, he didn't display any contempt for humans or desire to harm or feed on them in his relatively short stay on the series. He wasn't around long enough for anything definitive to be gleaned of his attitude.

NameEdit

Harper is of Old English origin, and the meaning is "harpist, minstrel".

AppearancesEdit

Season 1

• Fool Me Once
• A Few Good Men
• There Goes the Neighborhood
• Let The Right One In
• Blood Brothers

ReferencesEdit

See alsoEdit