Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for the Peacock series, Vampire Academy.
For those die-hard fans of the popular Vampire Academybook series by Richelle Mead, the new release of the TV adaptation was an exciting moment. After the major flop of the 2014 film adaptation of the same name, fans have been jonesing for a loyal remake. But have we received it? For those book loyalists, the answer would be absolutely not. Showrunner Julie Plec has a habit of creating adaptations that majorly deviate from the original source material, take Vampire Diaries for example. That’s not to say it’s a poor show, but if you’re looking for something even remotely resembling the original novels, this isn’t it.
As there are far too many differences to discuss in one breath, we’ll be looking through some of the most major changes that have so far been released.
St. Vladimir’s, the Dominion, and the Communes
The first stark difference from the series is in the setting. St. Vladimir’s was originally set in the deep woods of Montana, hidden from sight of the humans and warded from Strigoi. The school was gothic and looming in exterior, and boarded Moroi and Dhampir alike, from pre-school to high school.
The series now sees St Vladimir’s set somewhere lavish in Europe, but it is no longer just a school. There is an entire community of Moroi and Dhampir within its borders called the Dominion. This does not exist in the books. While there are Moroi/Dhampir communities, they are removed from the school grounds and all across the world. This change has made a huge difference to the storyline, as now the plot of the first season doesn’t revolve around high school, it is now all about politics. It’s rare to see Lissa (Daniela Nieves) or any of the Moroi actually attending their classes, and the only classes Rose (Sisi Stringer) partakes in are training and field experience (the latter of which doesn’t actually come in until the third book).
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The Communes have also been introduced in the series. This is where Dhampir women are sent who wish to forgo their chance at being a guardian and become breeders, or those who are forced to for failing as a novice. Moroi men in the series are encouraged to breed with Dhampirs in order to make more Dhampirs as they are a dying breed. While the Communes do exist in the novels, they are different.
The Communes in the novel are a highly-stigmatized community of women who chose to raise their families together and no longer be guardians. These women are often labeled “blood whores,” whether they actually do allow Moroi men to feed off them or not. A Dhampir woman would never be forced to go to the Communes as punishment purely because there is an enormous lack of Dhampir guardians. And while Moroi men do visit these communities to sleep with Dhampir women, it is not encouraged. The union between Moroi and Dhampir is seen as disgraceful as they are forgoing their sacred duty as guardians.
The Great Escape
The first Vampire Academy novel begins with Rose and Lissa having been on the run from St Vladimir’s for two years. The reason for this was to keep Lissa safe — her powers were dangerous and unlike anything they’d ever seen before. Their teacher, Ms Karp, convinced them to run after an incident to keep Lissa from being used by those who may want her power. The two are. only (forcefully) brought back after the guardians discover them hiding out at a college campus.
The series, however, has Lissa take a short break from St. Vladimir’s after her family dies in a car crash. Rose, on the other hand, stays behind and continues training, thus disrupting the catalyst of the events to come in the novel.
Headmistress Kirova and Dimitri’s Mentorship
After Lissa and Rose are brought back to St. Vladimir’s, they are immediately dragged before Headmistress Kirova (Liliana Cabal). She almost expels Rose for endangering Lissa and being so far behind her classmates, but Dimitri (Kieron Moore) convinces her otherwise. Because of this, Dimitri is forced to become Rose’s mentor to help her play catch-up on all the training she has missed. This marks the beginning of their slow-burn relationship. Late nights training, stolen glances, and forbidden student/teacher love.
As the series no longer has Rose and Lissa’s escape, there is no need for Dimitri to personally mentor Rose. There is also no meeting with Headmistress Kirova. Instead, there is now a leaderboard for the novices (much like Divergent) and Rose slips down a few rungs after taking a day off to greet Lissa once she returns to school. Later, she also sneaks out with Lissa beyond the wards where they are attacked by a Strigoi. This infraction leads to a “tribunal,” where Headmistress Kirova is now the Dean, to determine whether to expel Rose. They decide to keep her, but she’s on probation. Determined to regain her place as number one, she asks Dimitri instead for his help to mentor her at a party, and he agrees. Seems a bit unfair to the other novices, no?
Lissa’s Powers and the Shadow-kissed Rose
Lissa’s power is a huge plot point in both the show and the book, however, it’s quite different. In the novel, Lissa has yet to specialize in any elemental magic (air, earth, fire, water), which is much like not yet reaching puberty, but she has talents unlike any other. Lissa actually has specialized, but her power is incredibly rare. Lissa has the ability to heal both humans and creatures alike and has a heightened power of compulsion. Compulsion is where a Moroi can force their will upon another to a certain degree. All Moroi possess this ability, but Lissa can use it flawlessly, even on other Moroi. It’s a fifth element, Spirit. However, the power is taxing and known to drive people mad from overexertion and hypersensitivity.
In the series, there is no evidence that Lissa can heal others yet, simply that she can use compulsion (which no other Moroi can now). Lissa also doesn’t have any of the awful traits of Spirit that she does in the book: depression, self-harming, sensitivity, and the slow descent into madness.
However, we do know Lissa and Rose are linked. In the novel, after surviving the car crash that killed Lissa’s family, Rose and Lissa immediately develop a one-way bond where Rose can feel Lissa’s emotions and occasionally (and accidentally) slips inside her head when they’re particularly strong. It also isn’t a secret. This development is much slower in the series, and they only discover it three months after the car crash and keep it secret from others. Though, it does imply that in the series Lissa does have her healing powers, as these are connected to her soul-link with Rose. As the episodes go on, we should hopefully see a development of such powers.
Ms. Karp Becomes Sonya
The only other known Spirit user in the Vampire Academy novelis Ms. Karp, a teacher at St Vladimir’s. She is a little crazy and sensitive due to her power and plays a big role in Lissa’s life. When she discovers Lissa healing a raven from death, Ms. Karp recognizes her power and convinces her and Rose to leave the Academy. While they’re gone, Ms. Karp, driven mad and unable to live with her consuming gift, voluntarily turns Strigoi in order to cut herself off from Spirit. This terrifies Lissa and leads her to believe it is a glimpse into her own future with this power.
Now in the series, Ms. Karp is no longer a teacher, but the adopted daughter of Victor Dashkov and all of her history with Lissa is erased. She still possesses Spirit, but was driven mad due to testing in order to force her to specialize. Sonya Karp’s (Jonetta Kaiser) role is entirely different now and were still not too sure how she’s now going to fit into the story.
Victor Dashkov and his Daughter Natalie
Prince Victor Dashkov (J. August Richards) is a major player in the first Vampire Academy novel. He’s a royal Moroi, somewhat of an uncle figure to Lissa and a trusted friend of the Dragomir family. However, Victor has a rare disease known as Sandovsky’s Syndrome and is slowly dying. He also has a daughter the same age as Lissa and Rose named Natalie.
Over the course of the first novel, Lissa is being stalked and tormented by someone unknown leaving dead animals in her room and writing threatening notes in blood. As a shocking twist towards the end of the novel, we discover this stalker is Victor, and he has been using his daughter to send her the dead animals and notes. Victor intends this to prove Lissa has the power to heal dead/dying things, a power he abuses after he kidnaps her and forces Lissa to cure his disease. He is ultimately caught, but he convinces his own daughter Natalie to turn Strigoi in order to free him from prison.
So far in the series, we have seen Victor as a perfectly healthy Moroi and Natalie no longer exists. Instead, two characters have been turned into his adopted daughters, Sonya and Mia Karp (Mia McKenna-Bruce). Thus, any criminal intent of his now has absolutely zero motive from the book. He may later turn out to be a villain, but it seems they will need some serious rewrites.
Mia Rinaldi
Mia Rinaldi is another character whose entire plot-line has been changed. In the novel, Mia Rinaldi is a non-royal Moroi dating Lissa’s ex-boyfriend Aaron. She was also a hook-up of Lissa’s deceased brother Andre, who used and discarded her. Her role is primarily to be a social climbing gossip-monger and nasty enemy of Lissa and Rose. She even goes as far as to spread rumors of Rose’s sexual escapades and labels her as a “blood whore.” Although, as the novel series progresses, Mia becomes an unlikely friend after suffering tragedy in her family and decides to fight alongside the Dhampirs.
In the series, Mia is another adopted daughter of Victor’s and is now Mia Karp, sister to Sonya Karp. She was engaged to Andre before his death, rather than just being a side-fling, but is still a social-climbing mean girl. However, her feud with Rose seems to be all but erased.
The Queen
We now have a new queen (Pik Sen Lim) in the Vampire Academy series. It is no longer Queen Tatiana Ivashkov who reigned for many years, but now an old woman simply called The Queen. Tatiana (now Tatiana Vogel) has been reduced to a quiet, unassuming Moroi with a hidden desire to climb the social rung in Moroi society. This leads us to wonder how her relationship with her nephew Adrian Ivashkov will come to play (especially considering she is no longer related to the Ivashkov family).
The Strigoi
The Strigoi have changed vastly from their book counterparts. Originally, the Strigoi were more like classic vampires. Pale skin, red eyes, an inhuman thirst for blood, super strong and fast. But they are still beautiful, and incredibly graceful but deadly and highly intelligent. They are almost impossible to kill. The novel even states it takes five of their best Dhampirs to kill one of their worst. They tend to live separately and rarely work together. The first time we ever even see a Strigoi is Natalie, and even as a newborn Rose can’t manage to kill her. It comes as a surprise in later books to find out they’re mobilizing.
The series portrays them as far more savage, zombie-like creatures. They aren’t as reclusive as they are in the books, coming out and attacking Moroi and Dhampir at all times, and they lack all intelligence and grace. “Fighting like a Strigoi” has even been reduced to a metaphor for fighting recklessly, which Dimitri uses to criticize Rose. Rose even manages to fight one off for far longer than any novice in the novels could manage, especially in close combat. The Strigoi have lost quite a few of the traits that made them so terrifying to begin with.
