| “ | History prefers legends to men. It prefers nobility and brutality. Soaring speeches to quiet deeds. History remembers the battle...and forgets the blood. However and whatever history remembers of me, if it does choose to remember anything at all...it shall only remember a fraction of the truth. For whatever else I am - a husband, a lawyer...even a president - I shall always think of myself first and foremost as a hunter, a man who struggled against darkness. | „ |
| — Abraham Lincoln's final words written in his journal in Presidential Vampire Hunter | ||
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865), also called Abe for short, was a legendary but secret vampire hunter who served as the 16th President of the United States of America and a well-practiced lawyer. His mother was killed early on in his life by Jack Barts, a vampire, causing a great hatred in him for vampires. His vampire hunting identity was kept a secret for all these years until Henry Sturges gives struggling author Seth Grahame-Smith a journal written by Lincoln himself, and Smith adapted the journal into a best-selling book.
Lincoln is considered one of the greatest figures in the history of the United States. He was an attorney in Springfield, Illinois, before running for the Presidency. During his Presidency he kept his country together during the Civil War and later signed the Emancipation Proclamation which freed African-Americans from slavery. He was elected to a second term as president even though his war policies were criticised.
Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth, an actor who was a Confederate sympathizer in 1865, after which Abe was seen as a martyr and an icon among many people in the United States. Just earlier that night, he ironically refused Henry's offer to make him into a vampire, stating that vampires aren't the only thing that's immortal. His iconic status has been represented in many media portrayals, both serious and comic.
History[]
Early Life[]
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 near Hodgenville, Kentucky and lived in Indiana with his parents, Nancy and Thomas Lincoln. He was brought up in Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. His parents were poor pioneers and Lincoln was largely self-educated. His father, Thomas, was unable to keep a land for long and was constantly moving residences and building houses using makeshift logs. Abraham was playful during his childhood and developed his strength by cutting wood with an axe.
Slave Life[]
There, Lincoln befriends a young African American boy, William Johnson, and intervenes when he sees Johnson being beaten by a slaver. Because of his son's actions, Thomas is fired. His main source of happiness was credited to his mother, who began to become ill after Abe's father refused to pay the local one-armed landlord.
Tragic Loss[]
Later that night after Thomas was fired, Lincoln sees Barts break into his house and attack his mother. Nancy falls ill the following day, and dies shortly afterwards. Thomas tells Lincoln that Barts poisoned her. Due to Abe's mother being killed by a supernatural creature, this causes him to vow vengeance.
Abe entered a small depression after his mother died, and when his father revealed that their grandfather was not killed by Natives, but a vampire, Abe angrily swore revenge on all vampires in the country, deducing that Jack Barts is a vampire that poisoned his beloved mother.
Vow for Vengeance[]
First "Unofficial" Hunt[]
Nine years later, when he was sixteen, Abe left the log cabin to find work, and found it as a worker on a boat carrying passengers that left when it reached their destination along the Ohio River. Abe began to suspect that one of the passengers, who hasn't left the boat late at night, is vampiric and investigates.
He was correct and was horrified to find that the vampire is abducting small children to feast on. Finding out it is Jack Barts, a vengeful Abe Lincoln attacks Barts at the docks before he could take the child away, but his novice skills were no match for the supernatural might of the creature and Barts, who actually turns out to be a vampire and the vampire responsible for killing Abe's mother, overpowers him, beating him senselessly. The vampire injures Abe, however, before Barts can kill him, Lincoln is rescued by an unlikely ally who rescues him as the opposing vampire calls him a traitor.
Allegiance[]
Awakening at Henry's home, Abe woke up in a darkened estate to find a man calling himself Henry Sturges, who nurses Abe back to health from his injury. Confused about why he was there, Abe asks him why he isn't dead. Henry simply replies before he frees him that "some men are just too interesting to die." Sturges explains to a confused Lincoln that vampires exist, and offers and agrees to teach Lincoln about hunting and helps the angry young man improve his skills at killing vampires and also teach Lincoln the difference between "doing something extraordinary and being satisfied with simple vengeance."
Lincoln accepts and goes through a decade of training. He began training by practicing swinging his axe, creating stakes etc. Abe became a much better hunter after his training with Henry, and after a decade of training to destroy vampires, travels to Springfiel, Illinois, where he also qualified as a lawyer and went to work in a law practice in Springfield. The two compromise to merely send letters to one another with vampiric targets for Abe to kill. Eventually, Abe met other people who knew about vampires, including famed poet Edgar Allen Poe, who is curious about being a vampire rather than how to kill it. He also befriends shopkeeper Joshua Speed and meets Mary Todd. Though Sturges warned him not to form any close relationships, Lincoln develops romantic feelings for Mary and eventually reunites with his oldest friend William Johnson.
He notices that some of the buyers share a resemblance to Henry's descriptions of vampires in the open and follows them after they buy their share of slaves. The vampires lure the slaves into an abandoned warehouse and slaughters them, drinking their blood. Abe is horrified by the sight, and realized that the vampires are using slaves as their primary food source in America. To end slavery is to end the scourge of vampires, starting Abe's work in Abolition.
First Love[]
Abe returned to New Salem, where he began his political career and career in law. He still follows Henry's letters, finding and killing vampires.
Soon, Abe meets Anne Rutledge, and falls deeply in love to the point of deciding to give up hunting for the sake of the woman he admires. The couple prepared their engagement, but Anne's ex-lover John McNamar, attempts to get Anne to abandon Abe to come back to him, but the woman refuses to.
Weeks later, Abe visits Anne, finding her very sick and dying. Realizing that Anne has now become a victim of a vampire just like his mother, Abe became quietly enraged after her death, and asks Henry to find McNamar and bring him to him. Henry complies, and Abe ruthlessly tortures the vampire by burning his body alive while keeping his head clear of the fire before allowing the flames to consume the body.
Marriage to Marry Todd[]
After Lincoln successfully finds and defeats Barts, he finds out that Sturges is also a vampire, turned centuries ago by Adam. Abe questions Henry on why he wanted him to hunt down his own, when Henry reveals he was one of the missing settlers of Roanoke. He was the one who started carving "CRO" when the Alpha Elder Vampire Adam interrupted and changed it to "CROTAON". Henry, like Abe, swore revenge upon vampires when his own love was killed by Adam. Abe Lincoln decides to give up hunting, abandons his mission, and focus on his career.
Abe meets Mary Todd, cousin of one of his vampire hunting partners. The two fall in love and Lincoln decides propose to Mary Todd. Abraham Lincoln then marries Mary Todd Lincoln. Their relationship is shown in a romantic, sweet way, contrasting with the dark double life that Lincoln leads as a vampire killer. After Lincoln marries Mary and begins his political career, campaigning to abolish slavery, and start a family with Marry, with Lincoln starting a law firm and elected a term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Sturges, with help from Oracle and Rayne, warns Lincoln that the slave trade keeps vampires under control, as vampires use slaves for food, and if Lincoln interferes, the vampires will retaliate. During his time with his family, Abe began to fear what would happen if vampires discovered him and his family, a thought that continually haunted him in the form of nightmares.
Abe reunites with his old friend Poe, who reveals that vampires are in America because of the freedom and lawlessness, making it the perfect place to settle and take food without much resistance considering the country's age. Poe warns his friend to keep the vampires in check or they will enslave all of America. Abe left Washington as Poe is murdered by a vampire he befriended.
Presidency[]
Nearing the age of fifty, Abe was summoned by a surprise letter from Henry, who tells him to go to New York. There, Abe was knocked out and woke up in a discreet location, and meets William Seward, also a vampire hunter. Henry introduces his new organization as a Trinity and that the vampires in the south plan to start a Civil War to enslave America. Henry convinces Abe to run for president assuring his friend that he and the Trinity will make sure he will win.
Abe runs for the Senate against Stephen A. Douglas, who he finds out is an ally of Southern slavers. Although Abe lost his debates towards Douglas, he gains a lot of respect and eventually was elected president of the U.S. In 1856, he joined the new Republican Party and in 1860 he was asked to run as their presidential candidate. Abe's election causes the South to announce secession from the country and the war starts. The war goes badly as the Confederates have vampires on their side. Abe confronts one of the generals leading the charge, and mistakenly believes he is a vampire because of his cowardly prolonging of the fight.
Abe decides to free the slaves under the South's control, and announces the Emancipation Proclaimation, and takes joy at the slaves violently rebelling against their masters.
Abe was then called for one last hunt by Henry, where he investigates a cabin that turns out to be a trap. The leader of the vampires there is Jefferson Davis, who believes that he will have power when the vampires rule America. However, at the last second, Henry and his vampire allies arrive just in time to slaughter the enemy vampires as Davis retreats. Henry congratulates Abe on the hunt, while Abe retires from hunting all together.
In the presidential campaign, Lincoln made his opposition to slavery very clear. His victory provoked a crisis, with many southerners fearing that he would attempt to abolish slavery in the South. Seven southern states left the Union to form the Confederate States of America, also known as the Confederacy. Four more joined later. Lincoln vowed to preserve the Union even if it meant war.
After Lincoln's election as the 16th President of the United States of America, he moves to the White House with Mary, where they have a son, William Wallace Lincoln. Upon becoming president, Abraham Lincoln took the responsibility of emancipating the slaves of America. This, however, has a double meaning because he was not only emancipating them from slavery, but emancipating them from the vampires, who bought them from slave-owners to use for food. However, tragedy strikes when their son William is later bitten by a disguised Vadoma and dies.
Plan to Use Silver[]
Confederate President Jefferson Davis convinces Adam to deploy his secret weapon, vampires, on the front lines. Lincoln then orders the confiscation of all the silverware in the area and has it melted to produce silver weapons, being the only thing that can kill a vampire. Speed, believing that Lincoln is tearing the nation apart, defects and informs Adam that Lincoln will transport the silver by train.
The Defeat of Adam[]
On the train, Adam and Vadoma, who have set fire to the upcoming trestle, attack Lincoln, Sturges, and Johnson. During the fight Adam learns that the train holds only rocks, not the silver. Speed then reveals that his betrayal was a ruse planned by him and Lincoln to lure Adam into a trap, and Adam kills Speed for this. Lincoln uses his watch to stab Adam, killing him, and the three escape the train before it explodes.
The War is Won[]
Eventually, the North won over the South, and Abe could not be happier with the results, until Henry writes to him again informing him of the vampires' retreat back to Europe. Happy for the first time in years, Abraham decides to celebrate the victory by inviting several politicians to see a play with him and Mary.
On 19 November 1863, Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address at the dedication of a cemetery at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg, a decisive Union victory that had taken place earlier in the year. Lincoln did not think his words will last forever but history will show otherwise and it for this his Gettysburg Address is remembered.
Death[]
After finishing a few more pages in his journal, Abraham conversed with Henry one last time. The conversation, ironically, involved Lincoln refusing Henry's offer to make him a vampire. Lincoln informed Henry that vampires are not the only thing that's immortal.
Lincoln then left for the theater, where he was shot in the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth. However, the celebration was tragically interrupted when Southern and Vampiric sympathizer actor John Wilkes Booth plan to kill Lincoln to inspire the vampires to come back and reign again. Lincoln's bodyguard, John Parker, left Ford's Theater during intermission to join Lincoln's coachman for drinks in the Star Saloon next door. The now unguarded President sat in his state box in the balcony. Seizing the opportunity, Booth crept up from behind and at about 10:15 pm, aimed at the back of Lincoln's head and fired at point-blank range, mortally wounding the President.
As Booth escaped, an Army surgeon immediately assisted the wounded President. He found Lincoln unresponsive, barely breathing and with no detectable pulse. The doctor made an attempt to clear the blood clot, after which the President began to breathe more naturally. The dying Lincoln was taken across the street to the Petersen house where he died nine hours later.
Abilities and Skills[]
Abraham Lincoln was remarkably tall, and was taller than his father at the age of 12. His height can be credited to his grandfather, whose strength was also inherited by his grandson. Abe was strong enough to cut off a vampire's head in a single swing. He also often used stakes, small knives, etc.
As a trained hunter trained by Henry Sturges, Abraham is highly skilled in the art of vampire hunting, especially when wielding an ax. He has been shown to take on a number of 2, 3, sometimes even 4 vampires. With a single swing of his ax, he cut down a tree a foot across with a single swing.
Relationships[]
Abe and Marry[]
Marry is Abe's wife. They met when they were young and after looking at him once, Mary fell in love with him. After one dance night, they started to have a lot more in common. As the days past, they occasionally had pick-nicks. After abandoning his mission, Abe proposed to Marry and they got married and had a son. After learning of his vampire hunting nature, Marry was, at least for a short while, distrustful of her husband but she forgave him after coming to her for help.
Abe and Henry[]
Henry and Abe are close friends and Henry is also Abe's mentor. When Henry saved Abe from a near death by Jack Barts, Henry took it upon himself to teach Abe how to fight and destroy vampires. After finding out Henry is a vampire himself, Abe started to not trust Henry, but didn't really hate him. After they went their separate ways, they reunited a couple decades later when Lincoln's son died. After saving Abe's and Will's life, Lincoln started to trust his old friend and mentor.
Abe and Will[]
William Johnson is Abe's earliest friend. They met when they were kids and after Abe's mother died, they didn't see eachother again until about 20 years later when Will came to Abe for help. When Abe saved Will from vampires, he also entrusted Will with it and taught him everything Henry taught Abe.
Abe and Oracle[]
Oracle knew Abraham Lincoln for quiet a long time, even once saying that he is "a good man."