| “ | You like to hit women so much, why don't you make me?.... You show your face in this building again and I'll put your head through that wall. Do you hear me? | ” |
— Vanessa to Tommy in Seen You
| ||
Vanessa Van Helsing is the show's titular protagonist, as well as a main character of Season One , Season Two , Season Three and Season Four on SyFy's Van Helsing. She is portrayed by Kelly Overton.
She is humanity's last hope to lead an offensive to take back what has been lost in a post-Rising world, as her unique blood composition gives her the ability to turn vampires human. As she searches for her daughter Dylan, she must fend off the vampires who see her as a threat to their very existence.
Character Description[]
“You'd think spending years in a coma and waking up to learn vampires have taken over the world would be enough to take someone down. Not Vanessa Van Helsing ... it just toughened her up. Determined to find her daughter in a post-apocalyptic world, Vanessa soon realizes she may be humanity's savior, as her blood can turn a vampire back into a human. This, of course, also makes her a target for every vampire out there. No worries, though ... she can take them.” [1]
Biography[]
Before The Rising, Vanessa lived in an apartment with her ten year old daughter, Dylan. She was often unemployed and struggled to make money, often resorting to selling her body just to earn some cash. But when she did work, it was as a bus driver, which made her fairly familiar with the underground route system. This knowledge would later prove to be of use in order to reach the Hospital without being captured by the vampires. She had a strained relationship with Gary, her ex-husband and Dylan's dad, due to his lack of parenting skills and presence in Dylan's life.
Growing up, Vanessa knew that she was adopted; however, she was unaware of the family which she was birthed into. It would later be revealed by Dmitri that she comes from the Van Helsing bloodline.
Throughout the Series[]
Season One[]
In the year 2019, Vanessa is first seen lying on an exam table unconscious, she's been so for the last three years. Vampires break into the lab and feed on her, after awakening, and dispatching of the vampires, she's hellbent on finding her daughter, Dylan at whatever the cost. Prior to the revelation that her blood can revert these monsters back into humans, Ted attempts to take her to the vampires, when she refuses to go, this leads to a fight, resulting in Vanessa ramming a knife into his eye, killing him. Continue Reading Here....
In the year 2016, Vanessa is selling her blood for money in order to give her daughter, Dylan, a proper birthday. With the cash, she tells Dylan that they would have cake when they got home and promises to take her shopping the next day. At her apartment building, she gets into an altercation with her friend Susan's abusive boyfriend, Tommy, breaking his nose when he wouldn't leave. Afterward, she presents her daughter with a "terrible" birthday cake, succeeding in lifting her spirits. However, her ex-husband and Dylan's father, Gary, undoes her efforts, upsetting Dylan. As Vanessa looks for her, she is attacked by a vampire named Balthazar, who was sent there by Rebecca to kill her. This leads to a huge fight throughout the apartment and results in Balthazar's reversion and Vanessa's slow death.
Vanessa and her companions discover that one of the vampires, Flesh, somehow survived and was returned to his human state. John identifies him as the one who bit Vanessa, blaming her for what happened to Flesh. Vanessa adamantly claims she is "nothing special," but is eventually convinced later on. After an altercation between Axel and John, during which they destroyed the makeshift turbine that kept their electricity running, Axel and Vanessa gear up to find spare parts to fix the basement generator. Ferals inevitably appear. As they fend off the attacking vamps, Vanessa is bitten, which results in the feral's death; this is a first as every other vampire that has bitten her was cured. They return to the hospital after the vampires disperse, and Vanessa retrieves Wendy's body and brings her inside too. When Axel asks her to try reverting Doc, she agrees to try. When Doc refuses, Vanessa takes a chunk out of her, resulting in Doc's reversion. Continue Reading Here....
After finding Cynthia dead, Vanessa tells Axel that they should leave the hospital, reasoning that it would prevent the group from turning on each other. When Axel refuses, she constructs a plan to sneak out, which involved setting a small fire as a distraction, giving her enough time to make her escape. However, she gets stuck at the front door as she doesn't know the code; luckily Mohamad does, and he insists on accompanying her outside, hoping to find his sister Sheema. Their first stop is Vanessa's former residence; Vanessa is initially convinced that Dylan hadn't survived the attack that killed her, but hope is restored when she sees small bloody footprints leading to the door. She later helps a group of survivors, choosing to hold off the incoming vampires so Mohamad can lead the group, which includes a little girl named Callie, to the hospital. Though she intended to make it back, she gets captured instead, and is taken to Julius' compound. Continue Reading Here....
After being captured and taken to Julius, she discovers that her friend, Susan, had been turned into a vampire. Vanessa is goaded into fighting when Susan claims to have killed her daughter, and eventually beats and reverts her friend. She makes a show of her triumph, then makes her escape with a newly cured Susan. Along the way, she learns that Susan hadn't killed Dylan; after Vanessa died, Dylan was last seen with the police and her father was supposed to pick her up. Some moments later, a shadowy figure begins to approach them, and Vanessa tells Susan to run. Continue Reading Here....
As they move through the tunnels, she and Susan are attacked by a mutated vampire. Vanessa's leg is bitten as she attempts to protect and fends off the creature, eventually gaining the upper hand and stabbing it through the eye. As she and Susan proceed on their route, Vanessa notices that her wound isn't healing; in fact it's getting worse and she has no idea why. Vanessa makes Susan promise that if Susan finds Dylan first, she would tell her that Vanessa is alive and coming for her. They are greeted at the hospital by the group she had saved, surprising them with her survival. As Doc examines her, she learns that the group, led by Brendan, have taken over the hospital, banished Mohamad and imprisoned her initial companions, whom they were already planning to execute; Vanessa is outraged and confronts Brendan, who claims that the situation is temporary and done only because one of them murdered Brendan's friend Roger. Vanessa pretends to acquiesce and stay out of it, but constructs a plan to free the others. Continue Reading Here....
In the exam room, Vanessa lies unconscious as Doc attempts to find out why she's not healing. Vanessa wakes up feeling pain everywhere, especially her leg as it burns from the bite she suffered from a mutated vampire. Discovering that Vanessa is dying, Doc gives her adrenaline and performs CPR to restart her heart, then tries to cut into Vanessa's leg to see if there was anything there. When Vanessa's leg keeps healing, she enlists John's help keeping the incision open and eventually finds a vampire tooth lodged under Vanessa's skin. Doc soon injects Vanessa with a drug to wake her up; Vanessa claims she feels much better. During a quick meeting, she suggests that they "disperse [her] blood like a chemical weapon" against the vampires, but Doc tells them it would take a while and possibly all of her blood to do; hearing this, Axel nixes the idea. When the vampires come, Vanessa recognizes the first man as the vampire who killed her. Realizing she must have turned him human, Axel calls for a retreat and leads them down a hidden stairwell. The group drives away in the ambulance as the hospital explodes above them. Continue Reading Here....
The survivors overhear bell tolls while stopping to stock up on gas. They start to argue over their next move, and when asked for her opinion, Vanessa believes they need to make a decision, offering that they put it to a vote. Doc reveals that her sister Grace works for the base, and that Grace may be the one who sent the Marines to retrieve Vanessa's body. After reaching the base, Vanessa and Doc check out Grace's office, where Vanessa finds an empty folder among the information Doc sent to Grace, labelled File 281 - The Farm. Realizing they had to leave, Axel Vanessa jokingly asks if he had a bomb shelter hidden away; as it turns out, he does: an underground research facility called The Farm. At the farm that night, Vanessa interrupts John as he was trying to rape Susan, knocking him out. They restrain John, after which they find a knife and Cynthia's finger in John's things, they become convinced he was the killer. Desperate to save himself, John escapes his restraints and puts a broken glass bottle to Susan's neck. Vanessa pulls a knife from her boot, throwing it with great force into John's neck, killing him. Continue Reading Here....
As Vanessa lays in her bed, Axel enters to inform her of the dead body run that he's going on, seeing that she's in bed with Susan, he decides to do it on his own. Shortly after, Vanessa joins him anyways as he's piling the bodies up. She explains that she and Susan are only friends, he makes a smart remark about them being "special friends", she laughs, then thanking him for having her back and being someone she can trust, she doesn't have a lot of people in her life like that, especially not men, but he claims trust is stupid in this time because of the apocalypse and all. She follows him, demanding that he elaborates, Axel reveals that he read Vanessa's file at the base, it mostly documented her childhood, her mother giving her up, Vanessa corrects him, saying that her mother died in childbirth, and that she lived with a foster family, but her mother never gave her up. She demands to see the file but Axel claims to have left it, that day, after escaping the bunker, she discovers that Axel lied, she finds the file, which reveals some startling information. Continue Reading Here....
The survivors arrive at a new community called Eden, they are approached by Micah, the community's leader, he demands to know why they were in the woods, Vanessa explains they were moving south, but kept running into one bad situation after another. She is in disbelief after learning that Eden has an arrangement with the vampires, they receive blood in order for the vampire to leave them alone, however, she finds this to be too good to be true. Vanessa quickly forms a bond with Theo, a resident of Eden, she eventually learns that her suspicions were correct, everything is too good to be true after learning that Micah was feeding the vampire mothers and there new born babies. She and Theo interrupt the latest transaction, scaring Magdalene off, then confronting Micah. Continue Reading Here....
After taking refuge in Susan's childhood home, Vanessa reveals that she'll be moving on to Denver soon in order to find Dylan. And after learning from Gordon Orwell that there's a higher altitude in Denver, meaning there's a good chance the skies are clearer, so the vampires can't come out in the day, is only another reason for her to go. However, before she can move forward with her plans, Susan is killed in the woods by Sam, after mourning her friend's death, Vanessa takes Sam out into the woods to kill him. She doesn't go through with it, instead cutting the back of his leg, crippling him, leaving Sam to the vampires. Continue Reading Here....
She and Mohamad break into the vampire camp hoping to find Dylan and Sheema. After making it past the guards, Vanessa heads towards the building were the children are kept. She makes her way to the slaughterhouse, when the butcher returns, Vanessa attacks with her Katana but he's far too powerful, he places Vanessa on the table, but she manages to fight back, eventually killing the vampire. Vanessa continues to move throughout the building, she reaches the sleeping quarters, she explains that she's looking for her daughter, showing an elderly woman a picture but she doesn't recognize Dylan, she was 10 in the picture but she's currently 13. The elderly woman explains that they don't bring children there, only the old and the sick, only the ones they want to bring out, it's a blood farm not a work camp. Continue Reading Here....
Vanessa has been captured by Dmitri, from him, she learns the truth about her biological mother, and the rest of her family. Her name is not Vanessa Seward, as she was raised to believe, but Vanessa Van Helsing, she comes from a royal bloodline of vampire hunters. She is special, the vampires will use her blood to make life for themselves even better, she is not humanity's savior as she's been told, she's vampires' rise to domination, at least according to Dmitri. They offer her blood, hoping to find out if it has any effects on her abilities, she initially refuses to drink but as the hunger becomes too much, she is left with no other option. Vanessa drinks the blood given to her, which result in an enhancement of her strength, she unintentionally bends the rail on her bed with very little difficulty. Continue Reading Here....
Season Four[]
Vanessa and her Lily’s great, great grandmother Lily, face off against elder Sam. They are forced to retreat after being overpowered. In order to defeat Sam, they'll need the Van Helsing book that Vanessa hid in the woods. The book depicts ketches from Lily’s grandfather, who sacrificed himself to entomb the Dark One. They are then attacked by several vampires. During the attack, Lily is deeply wounded by her own blade. Vanessa comes to her rescue, biting her vampire attacker, who then becomes human right before Lily’s very eyes. Lily is dying from her wound. Vanessa wants to let the vampire bite Lily so that she can turn and heal. Then Vanessa will change her back. However, Lily would rather die than turn. Lily succumbs to her wound and dies. Vanessa proceeds to bury her as the sun rises. She promises Lily that the vampires won’t win.Continue Reading Here....
Vanessa comes in contact with a group of survivors. Among them two women named Jack and Monica. She starts to bond with Jack as the two exchange past stories. However, Vanessa leaves as she must continue on her journey. Vanessa then crossed paths with Chad, and he tells Vanessa that Sam killed Mike and all the kids are gone. Vanessa soon discovers that not all the kids are gone. One survived. Tabby. But she's been turned into a vampire, and Chad's been feeding her. Vanessa takes it upon herself to cure Tabby, and then take her and Chad to Jack and Monica.Continue Reading Here....
Vanessa hunts down a pack of daywalkers, either biting them or allowing them to bite her and forcing them to become human once more. She’s decided that this is how she will combat the darkness. Vanessa has a vision of being in the tomb beneath Renfield House. She sees Violet standing near the gate marked with the Van Helsing initials. Violet then disappears and beneath Vanessa’s feet is a pentagram. She later comes face-to-face with Axel for the first time since Scarlett's death. He tries to kill her. Shooting at her with guns and trying to stab her with a knife. He eventually realizes he can't be Vanessa and gives up. Vanessa and Axel have come to terms as they sit around a fire peacefully. While Axel can’t ever truly forgive Vanessa for Scarlett’s death, he no longer wishes to kill her. Before parting way, Vanessa hands him a special compass that’ll lead him to her should he ever need to find her. While walking through the woods, Vanessa is tracked down by Jack. She cuts her hand and shows Vanessa how she heals. She goes on to tell Vanessa that she was bitten by a daywalker and healed, and the daywalker that bit her is now human. Continue Reading Here....
Vanessa and Jack discuss their likely distant relations.Night fall hits. The pull is getting stronger. Whatever is pulling Vanessa and Jack is close. It's Jack's sister Violet. Violet informs Jack and Vanessa how they’re dad, Hansen, is also a vampire. Violet got a hold of some files, records of how they were born, detailing how they were made from random donor soldiers. Vanessa, Jack, and Violet then travel to the Dark Realm, where Vanessa and Violet speak with Abraham Van Helsing, who has been trapped in the Dark Realm ever since he threw both himself and the Dark One in. Abraham tells Vanessa and Violet that the book and the amulet are the means to open the portal to the dark realm, activated by their blood. And under no circumstances, is it to be opened without the means to kill the Dark One. They return to reality, where they are joined by Sam and Oracle. A fight ensues. Vanessa, Violet, and Jack are all taken out and the Dark One rises, at the cost of the fourth elder's life; i.e. Sam. Vanessa manages to trick the Dracula, and throws herself and the Dark One into the Dark Realm.Continue Reading Here....
Season Five[]
Vanessa pulls Axel into the Dark Realm during her time of need, and with his help, she discovers that her way out is through a door being guarded by a darkness. From Axel, Vanessa realizes that the darkness is her, and she merges with it, taking control of her darkness and escaping the Dark Realm in the process. Continue Reading Here....
Disguised as Nina, Vanessa infiltrates the White House and pledges her allegiance to the Dark One, claiming that she killed the last Van Helsing. While attempting to gain Dracula's trust, Vanessa secretly conspires with Jack and the Resistance. However, when the Dark One begins to suspect that she's working against her, Vanessa reveals her true identity and bites the Dark One. Continue Reading Here....
After biting the Dark One, Vanessa fights head-to-head with the Dark One, during which time she discovers that the Dark One’s host, Olivia, is trapped inside. After escaping the White House, Vanessa reconvenes with her family and friends at a Resistance hideout. There, she takes in Bathory's darkness in order to clear the damage done by the scroll. However, even in freeing Bathory of her darkness, they fail to save her or stop the Dark One from gaining her full power. Continue Reading Here....
Vanessa, Violet, and Jack infiltrate the White House through an access tunnel. After taking out the Dark One's delta squad, they confront the Dark One. Vanessa uses the scroll to neutralize her, an ability she acquired while in Bathory's head. After Jack bites the Dark One, Vanessa takes in the dark energy, which leaves her unconscious and trapped inside her own head, where she has built a world for herself, in which she is in her old apartment with Susan and Dylan. Continue Reading Here....Physical Appearance[]
Vanessa has brown long hair and blue eyes, however, they turn red when she is in a blood rage. She wears tight black leather pants, a black sleeveless top, two black leather black armbands, and a pair of black boots. After getting trapped in the Dark Realm, Vanessa’s hair has gotten shorter and blonde. Additionally, when she merged with her dark self, her eyes turned pitch black.
Personality[]
Vanessa is a tough, brave, and fearless woman. When fighting, she tends to go into a blind animalistic rage. She also has tendencies towards various personality disorders, maladies and negative tendencies: malignant narcissism, sociopath with psychopathic tendencies, arrogant selfishness and self-destructive impulsiveness. However, despite her tough exterior, she is also a kind, compassionate, and friendly woman, especially towards children.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
Vampire/Human Hybrid: As a result of the Dark One’s blood, Vanessa possesses a number of magical powers, as well as abilities that Rebecca identified as vampire traits, describing Vanessa as being "Similar, but different. She's like a mirror image, a negative." Vanessa possesses the following abilities:
- Rapid cellular regeneration: Vanessa can completely heal from any injury near instantaneously. This healing factor was first triggered after being fed upon by a Vampire (Flesh) whilst in a state of hibernation; healing from the attack moments later. Vanessa can quickly recover from vampire bite marks, and has also regenerated slashes and knife wounds in a matter of seconds. After being bitten by an Elder Vampire, her wounds began to completely heal almost instantly; this was seen when Dr. Abigail shot her multiple times for the 2nd time but it didn't affect her that much. Vanessa could also quickly regenerate the damage to her eyes after Sam used his claws in an attempt to blind her.
- Resurrection: Whenever Vanessa endures fatal injuries, she enter a hibernation-like state, where despite her heart-stopping, blood will continues to flow throughout her body and cells continue to function normally. Vanessa has entered this state on four occasions; when she had her throat ripped out, after being poisoned by a feral, getting shot three times and as the vessel for the Dark One’s essence. Vanessa’s daughter Jack has also entered a similar state of hibernation; Jack was able to enter a state of hibernation, that kept her preserved for centuries until she could be awakened in her original time. It’s possible that, like the Dark One, Vanessa is immortal.
- Reversion (Vampire-to-Human): Vanessa's bite and blood are capable of reverting vampires back into humans. One of the first displays of this ability transpired After Vanessa bit Doc, she was reverted to human after falling unconscious for an unknown amount of time. Meanwhile, consuming her blood caused vampires such as Bob, Balthazar, Flesh and Susan to convulse and puke, eventually resulting in reversion. Susan's reversion seemed to happen within minutes while Flesh's seemed to take longer, as he was dragged through the hospital and thrown down the garbage. It is unknown how long it took Bob and Balthazar to revert, however, the process seems to vary with each individual. Once a vampire has been turned human by Vanessa, they are incapable of ever becoming a vampire again. This was proven to be true when Doc remained human despite being bitten by Magdalene.
- Feral Poisoning: Vanessa's blood isn't only a cure, it also works as a poison. Unlike normal vampires, ferals experience a toxic reaction to her blood and bite; it kills them almost instantly. The first case of feral poisoning presented itself when she and Axel were attacked in the shipyard (whilst looking for spare parts to fix the basement generator). The feral that bit into her experienced death only moments later. The same thing also applies to her; a normal vampire bite will revert said Vampire to Human, and have no adverse effect on Vanessa, however being bitten by a feral is extremely painful and almost results in her death.
- Berserker Rage: When under attack, backed into a corner, or feeling threatened in any way, Vanessa is often overcome with a feral rage; to the point where she violently slaughter her aggressors. This state can also be triggered by ingesting blood; after ingesting blood, Vanessa has entered a berserk state where her pupils dilate and her normal vampiric traits are boosted. This may be similar to all vampires but Vanessa does not have the compulsion to bite or drain other humans for their blood. When she bites her sister she gains an even stronger bloodlust and is capable of bending steel and shattering bone. This also transferred to her sister and infected her with the same abilities as Vanessa. After being bitten by an Elder Vampire, Vanessa starts to crave for blood, this is observed when her Irises turn totally red or when she is craving to kill someone.Judging by her daughter's reaction pre-Rising, Vanessa seemed to get into a lot of fights, indicating that the threat isn't limited to vampires.
- Enhanced Strength: Drinking human blood gives her new found abilities and heightens the ones she already has, most notably her physical strength. After consuming blood she was able to fight the ancient vampire Rebecca evenly and was able to tear down a solid steel door with her bare hands. Vanessa also states to Mohammad that drinking blood centers her. After being bitten by an Elder Vampire her strength increases greatly, almost equalling that of an Elder Vampire.
- Enhanced Agility: Vanessa is considerably faster, and more agile and dexterous than a normal human being. Vanessa has been able to rapidly run, move, and jump, quickly appear and disappear from sight, and can keep up with Vampires during a chase. Vanessa has also displayed proficiency in effectively executing complex acrobatic feats in combat.
- Enhanced Endurance: Vanessa possesses incredible endurance and durability. She is able to withstand combat with entire broods of vampires, and can fight on par with elder vampires. While Vanessa can be harmed by normal weaponry, she is able to endure multiple gunshots, stab wounds, even impalement and continue to function. Vanessa also has an immense tolerance to pain, and when angered she can withstand being punched into concrete walls.
- Heightened Senses: Vanessa possesses heightened, predatory senses of sight, smell and hearing. After drinking Mohammad's blood, Vanessa was able to smell her daughter's scent from far away. Vanessa can hear things from far away that humans can't hear demonstrated when she heard Axel's heartbeat from far away when he was in his grave. Vanessa also possesses greater visual clarity than a normal human being, this gives her the ability to see with perfect visual clarity, even in complete darkness.
- Shapeshifting: Vanessa first used this ability after merging with her dark self and escaping the dark realm. She shape-shifted into another woman.
- Portal Manipulation: Vanessa opened a portal from the dark realm to send Jack into the past. She also opened a portal to free herself.
- Dark Realm control: Vanessa has some control of the dark realm, as she willfully brought Axel into it and sent him back.
- Telekinesis: Vanessa used this to stop her dark half from killing axel and telekinetically moved her from him to her.
Abilities[]
Combatant: Vanessa is also fairly trained in combat, even before The Rising; whether this naturally came to her or was acquired over time is still unclear. After learning that her friend and neighbor Susan was being abused by her boyfriend, Vanessa intervened. She not only countered Tommy's attack, but slammed his face against the wall, breaking his nose. She can defeat and kill vampires with relative ease, leading some vampires to fear her. After being bitten by an Elder Vampire, her combat abilities increased greatly, making her a great opponent against Elder Vampires.
Arsenal[]
- Fireman's axe
- 12-gauge shotgun
- Tactical Knife
- Katana
- Tomahawk
- fists of fury
Trivia[]
- In the comics, Vanessa has brown eyes. In the TV series, she has blue eyes.
- In It Begins, Dmitri reveals that Vanessa is a member of the Van Helsing lineage and states that her bloodline is 'a kind of royalty.'
- It was also hinted that Vanessa's father may have been a vampire; Dmitri said that her mother tried to stop the birth when she found out what Vanessa's father was, out of fear. When she couldn't, she hid the baby from the vampires instead.
- Furthermore, drinking human blood appeared to enhance Vanessa's abilities, specifically her physical strength.
- In episode 5 it is implied that she has the ability to see in the dark as Susan said she couldn't see anything in the dark but Vanessa said she could see perfectly.
- In the season 2 premiere Vanessa willingly drinks Mohamad blood, when asked if she is drinking blood now, she responds she needs it that it keeps her centered.
- In season 2 episode 5 Sam tells Vanessa that she smells more vampire than human. If this is so theoretically speaking if Vanessa's father is a vampire she inherited her looks from her mother according to Dmitri, and her blood and abilities from her father.
- In season 2 episode 7 Dimitri speaks to both Vanessa and her sister Scarlett about their past and tells them that Vanessa is more vampire than Scarlett.
- After Vanessa bit her sister Scarlett to feed off her, she somehow gained the ability to regenerate implied by Scarlett who said before that incident her wounds did not heal.
- In the season two final Black Days Vanessa is seen once again lying dead, The Elder bites her on the neck and she is once again resurrected but unlike the last two times, her eyes turn completely crimson red.
- It is revealed that Vanessa was born with The First Ones blood along with her sister Scarlett, it is still unknown how the two were conceived and how the blood got inside them though it is hinted by Dimitri that Vanessa has more of "his" blood.
- While Vanessa's bite awakened Scarlett's dormant abilities, it seems Vanessa's abilities were always active demonstrated when she was 5 and threw Dr. Harrison away from her and her sister.
- In the second episode of the third season Vanessa's eye's turn red when she watches the elder feed, they turn red again when she fights the "energy vampires"
- She was told by her great great great granduncle Jacob that she has the same name as her great great great grandmother Vanessa.
- In Metamorphosis its reveled that Jack and Violet are Vanessa's daughters.
- In Metamorphosis it's insinuated by Dracula that Vanessa's powers come from her.
Appearances[]
Season One[] |
Season Two[] |
Season Three[] |
Season Four[] |
Season Five[]
Gallery[]
