- This is the article about the movie character; for the novel counterpart see Larten Crepsley.
| Larten Crepsley | |
|---|---|
| |
| Gender | Male |
| Species | Vampire |
| Age | 204 |
| Status | Alive |
| Background Information | |
| Book Universe | The Saga of Darren Shan |
| First Book Appearance | Cirque Du Freak |
| Movie/Book Character | Larten Crepsley |
| First Movie Appearance | Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant |
| Acted By | John C. Reilly |
|
« Vampires don't kill the people they feed on. Vampaneze do. Big source of controversy, war for about 80 years, then a truce, getting ugly again, apparently. But time's wasting. Want to become a vampire? It's a lonely life, but there's lots of it. » |
| (Larten offering Darren to becoma a vampire) |
Larten Crepsley (ラーテン・クレプスリー Raaten Kurepusuri) is a vampire who works as a spider-tamer at Cirque du Freak and Darren Shan's guardian and mentor.
Personality[]
Larten is almost the same as in the books personality-wise, yet there are noticeable differences. He is less aloof in his interactions with Darren, being more sarcastic and playful instead. He is currently dating Truska.
Role[]
Background[]
Larten became a vampire after being duped by his girlfriend Hester Collins and had a history with Murlaugh in which they fought each other back during the war between Vampires and their violent cousins Vampanezes. His comrades-in-arms were Vincent and Gavner.
Larten is also said to have helped create the Vampire sedation used on their victim to drink the blood from them.
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant[]
Larten first appeared on stage at The Cirque du Freak in Darren's home town. There, he supposedly lost Madam Octa and decided to pull a rabbit out of his hat instead. He took Madam Octa out and they sort of danced around the stage, went on his mouth etc.
|
« Gavner: So, this is what you've been doing with your life. |
| (Gavner and Crepsley discuss the Vampanezes and Mr. Tiny's resurgence.) |
Crepsley brings his old friend and fellow general, Gavner Purl, to his dressing room, unaware with Darren who hid inside the nearby wardrobe with Octa in his grasp. There, they discuss about Vampires and Vampaneze' current situation (Vincent's gruesome death at hands of a Vampaneze with Murlaugh being responsible and Vampire Council's indifferent and sloppy response) and Mr. Tiny's resurgence that hinted his involvement. Despite their shared concerns, Crepsley refused due to already used with his current life. That was when Steve turned up and demanded to become a vampire only for Crepsley rejected him, citing that the boy had a bad blood. Meanwhile, Darren finds a secret passage out of the wardrobe he was hiding in and escaped with Octa.
After escaping the theater Mr. Tiny offers him a lift home questioning him about his soul.
A few days later, Darren comes back to the theater to ask Mr. Crepsley for an antidote for Madam Octa's venom as she bit and poisened Steve who was then taken to the hospital. Mr. Crepsley tells Steve that there is only one way to get the antidote and save Steve: Darren has to become a half-vampire and thus Mr. Crepsley's assistant. Darren consents and after flitting to the hospital and giving Steve the antidote, Mr. Crepsley wants to leave together with Darren but Darren refuses and decides to live among humans and not to become his assistant. Mr. Crepsley waits a few days as he knows that Darren will come back to him when recognizing that he can no longer live as a human.
After a few days Crepsley appears in Darren's room after Darren almost bit his sister because of his uncontrollable hunger for blood and then breaks Darren's neck after giving him a potion to put him to sleep and slow his breathing. After Darren wakes up, Crepsley tells Darren to fill in the grave before fighting Murlough at the graveyard. They both escape.
Darren and Larten join up with the Cirque again where he talks to Mr. Tall about Desmond Tiny and his interest in Darren. At the Cirque, Crepsley tries to teach Darren to fight but Darren is too weak.
Later on, Larten comes to Darren's rescue when he finds out Darren has gone to save Rebecca, Annie, Dermot and Angela. Here is when he fights Murlough for the final time and kills him after getting a knife in him but surviving.
Trivia[]
- What drew John C. Reilly to play Larten Crepsley was "the fact that it was a real person, that he wasn't some supernatural mystical being that can turn into a vampire bat. The powers weren't so extreme that it was just another thing altogether, that this guy was a person who was alive in the 1800s who was essentially about my age. If you account the slow aging, he is forty something years old" he said.