Nadja (2024)

Nadja of Antipaxos is a 500≈ year old vampire of Greek^[5] and Romani^[6] heritage. She is a main character in the What We Do in the Shadows TV series.

Biography[]

Before she was a vampire, Nadja was a simple peasant girl from Antipaxos, a tiny island in the Mediterranean. Her foray into running her own nightclub resulted in some mild arson and an unfruitful insurance claim. Also, the spirit of the ghost of the human Nadja before she technically died and became a vampire lives on in her little sidekick, the Nadja Doll.^[7]

Human life[]

Nadja was born in Greece sometime during the 15th century to an impoverished Romani family during her human life.

Her village, located on the island of Antipaxos, was once a utopia, until it was razed to the ground by the army of an unknown warrior (who's identity she would later discover as her future roommate, Nandor the Relentless) around 200 years before she was born. Only the "stupidest" people were spared, and the village never recovered, leaving its citizens badly affected by famine and poverty.^[8]

Nadja's family was very poor, and had to burn donkey dung (and eventually the donkeys themselves) for warmth.^[6] When Nadja was young, her mother gave Nadja her own jade necklace just before she left and was promptly eaten by a bear; her dying screams were apparently absorbed by the necklace.^[3]

It is unclear how Nadja became a vampire, as she tells an entirely different story which conflicts with her husband, Laszlo's own account. Nadja claims that she was turned while working as a throat singer while singing to the island's snakes when a female vampire (in the form of a snake) bit and turned her. Nadja was subsequently chased off the island by her fellow villagers, which included her family.^[9] However, according to Laszlo, it was Baron Afanas who turned her.^[10]

Life As A Vampire[]

After becoming a vampire, Nadja had many lovers, most of them being reincarnations of Gregor; originally a warrior who was decapitated in battle, he would continually return for Nadja in different forms, always dying by way of decapitation.^[11]

Nadja also had a relationship with Baron Afanas, whom she described as a good lover, though had a habit of giving orders to his subordinates during the moment of climax, causing Nadja to miss his instructions to take over the new world.^[6]

One night, Nadja flew into the window of the English human Laszlo Cravensworth, seduced him, drank of his blood, and turned him into a vampire. The two eventually married. ^[11] Laszlo became a member of the prestigious Sherwood Club, but was kicked out as they disapproved of his relationship with Nadja, who they deemed to be a peasant with no surname. Laszlo kept this hidden from Nadja and was so disgusted by the club's elitism that he vowed to leave the UK and never return.^[12] Around 1861, the couple were driven out of Europe due to anti-vampire prejudice.^[11] They were shipped to the USA along with fellow vampire Simon the Devious, with who Nadja most likely had an affair. Laszlo brought his witch skin hat with him, which Nadja grew to resent as the hat was obviously cursed. She tried to throw the hat away several times, but it kept literally crawling back.^[13]

At one point, Nadja was good friends with a witch named Lilith, but they fell out after Lilith slept with Laszlo. The incident caused Nadja to develop a serious hatred of witches.^[14]

Nadja helped Laszlo compose a number of songs as a musical duo during the 18th and 19th century that would later become re-interpreted into other popular songs during the 20th century. Examples of their collaborations include a “seafaring song” composed in 1792 that would later become The Beach Boy’s Kokomo, and Wannabe by the Spice Girls.^[15]

Laszlo and Nadja settled in Staten Island while Simon went to Manhattan and quickly took over the city's vampires. He set up a vampire nightclub, The Sassy Cat Club, which Nadja, Laszlo and Nandor frequented during the 1920s.^[13] During the mid-twentieth century, Nadja became good friends with the Rat Pack. She claims that Frank Sinatra was especially complimentary of her voice.^[5] At the time the documentary filming started, Nadja was living with Laszlo, the energy vampire Colin Robinson, Nandor and his familiar Guillermo in a house on Staten Island.

What We Do in the Shadows (Season 1)[]

Shortly after the documentary crew arrived, the vampires received a letter from Baron Afanas, saying that he will visit them soon. In preparation, Nandor asked Guillermo to bring over virgins for a feast. Afanas was brought in a stone coffin to the vampires’ attic. The reunion went badly, with the Baron eating Nadja’s familiar, June, and lamenting the vampires not having taken over New York, threatening them with death if they do not do so by the time he reawakens. Colin also drained the energy of the virgins (Jenna and Jonathan) before the other vampires could eat them.^[11]

Nadja discovered a human man on the island named Jeff Suckler and realizes he is another reincarnation of Gregor. After stalking him, she eventually approached him, only to leave the scene when she remembered she was married.^[11]

The vampires then plotted to eat virgin members of Staten Island Community College LARPing Club. After watching members of the group mistreat Jenna, Nadja grew sympathetic and decided against eating any of them as they would ‘taste too sad.’ Nadja found Jenna and they talked in a park. Thinking Nadja was taking her on a “sexual adventure,” Jenna allowed Nadja to bite her neck and drank from her vial of her blood thinking it was an alcoholic spirit.^[6]

Nadja and her roommates became involved in a feud with a local werewolf pack when they tried to treat Laszlo’s garden as their territory. This was resolved when Nandor battled their strongest werewolf, Toby, and defeated him by throwing a squeaky bone toy off the roof they were fighting on.^[16]

Nadja gained a new familiar, Justin, but he was quickly killed as a result of Laszlo’s cursed hat. Rethinking their plan to take over Staten Island, the roommates returned to The Sassy Cat Club to try and join forces with Simon. Nadja happily reunited with him, but he only agreed to join them if Laszlo gave him the hat. Laszlo agreed and Simon went back on his word, kicking them out of his club.^[13]

Nadja met with Jeff again during his night shift. The two went on a date to a nearby carnival and she became disappointed in his lack of archery skills at a stall and inability to defend himself when other people belittled him. She snapped and blamed his name for his boring nature, and used mind control to make him recall all of his past lives as Gregor. Jeff started to behave like his soldier life, the two rode a police horse and he fired sucker arrows at the skateboarding teenagers who had previously wronged him. Nadja and Jeff danced and passionately kissed, but as he proposed they make love, Guillermo phoned Nadja to tell her that Laszlo had been accidentally captured by animal control as a bat. Nadja left Jeff and he was arrested, continuing to relive his past lives in the police car. Nadja rescued Laszlo by hypnotising the animal control receptionist Bobby into giving her the door passcode.^[4]

When Afanas finally awoke, he requested a ‘night on the town’ with Nandor, Laszlo and Nadja. He proceeded to get intoxicated after consuming the blood of drunken humans and at one bar, Afanas admitted he had considered killing all of them earlier that night. Nandor admitted they were thinking of doing the same and laughed as Nadja and Laszlo joined in. The Baron appeared to be furious, causing the vampires to claim they were only joking, but he eventually burst out laughing himself. At a rave, the vampire group ate several people under the influence of drugs and became even more intoxicated. They just about arrived back at the flat as dawn approached, only for Afanas to burn to death in the sunlight when Guillermo opened the front door.^[17]

The following night, the vampires buried Afanas in the topiary garden, with no memory of how he was killed. A floating woman arrived and informed the group that they were to be put on trial under the Vampiric Council for their crimes. There, Guillermo confessed to the murder, only for Nandor to confess to keep him safe. The three vampires were sentenced to be killed by being locked in a well and slowly exposed to sunlight. As dawn approached, Nadja cried out for Gregor as she started to burn. Colin arrived with a beach umbrella to block the sun. Guillermo saved the vampires by smuggling them out in a box while they were in bat form.^[18]

Nadja witnessed Jenna struggle with her transformation into a vampire. Realising she had no one to help her when she was transforming herself, Nadja decided to act as Jenna’s mentor. Jenna struggled to perform basic vampire powers and could not figure out any special powers until she got angry with everyone ignoring her at a party and turned invisible. Jenna used this new power to feast on a party guest and a proud Nadja realised Jenna’s transformation was complete.^[19]

When the vampire residence was chosen to host the Bi-Annual Vampire Orgy, Laszlo tried to get Nadja in the mood by showing her the p*rnographic movies he made. She was forced to admit that she found them boring, which greatly offended Laszlo. He refused to take part in the orgy, but when all the guests arrived he publicly apologised to Nadja, claiming his movies were only boring because they lacked their love, and offering to take part in a two-person orgy with her. The guests found this announcement so embarrassing that they started to leave. Nadja tried to persuade them to stay by revealing Jeremy, their virgin to feast on for the night, but the vampires instead witnessed Jeremy having sex with another guest, Constantin. Laszlo and Nadja returned to their room and turned into bats out of shame, before having sex on the floor.^[20]

A lonely Nadja used her psychic powers to lure Jeff Suckler to her house. He broke out of the institution holding him, stealing a car before crashing it and arriving via a stolen motorbike. As the two reunited, Laszlo arrived to confront him. He finally revealed to Nadja that he was always the reason Gregor lost his head in every life because he always made Nadja cry when he reappeared. Nadja was touched by this and asked Laszlo to give Gregor the gift of a full life. Laszlo agreed to this, but as Jeff cycled away, he was immediately decapitated by a wire Laszlo had used to support his latest topiary design, which was based on Nadja.^[21]

What We Do in the Shadows (Season 2)[]

During the months leading up to the documentary crew returning, the Vampiric Council sent ten vampire assassins to the Staten Island residence to try to kill the residing vampires. None of the vampires noticed as Guillermo successfully and secretly killed all of them. Meanwhile, Laszlo and Nadja went through numerous familiars who died accidentally before adopting a new one named Topher. Nadja adored him and the vampires treated him more favourably than Guillermo. One night, Topher accidentally killed himself while trying to reset a faulty heater by the koi pond in the yard. As the vampires buried Topher in the yard, Nadja became upset and demanded they resurrect him. The vampires took Topher’s corpse to Wallace, a necromancer, who agreed to bring him back. Wallace carried out the ritual and brought him back to consciousness, but when Topher returned to the house it became increasingly clear that he was a zombie. Topher eventually attacked Guillermo and tried to drown him in the koi pond, but Nandor rescued him and was unable to kill Topher. The vampires finally realised he was a zombie and brought him back to Wallace, demanding a refund. The vampires were instead swayed by the offer of free nametag keychains.^[1]

Nadja realised that her house had become infested with ghosts and held a séance. This resulted in the ghost of Jeff becoming visible. Nadja was no longer interested in him now that he no longer had a body and refused to listen to his help in completing his unfinished business. Laszlo pointed out that as he, Nadja and Nandor are all former humans who have died, they may have ghost versions of themselves. The roommates held another séance and the vampires’ ghosts all appeared. Each vampire decided to spend time with their corresponding ghost to help them complete their unfinished business so they can leave; it became apparent that Nadja’s ghost demanded to see Nadja achieve something notable. The two became friends over their similarities and Nadja decided she wanted her ghost to secretly stay for a while as she made more enjoyable company than her male roommates. Nadja encouraged her ghost to disguise herself by possessing a doll. Jeff came in and Nadja again demanded he leave, although her ghost took a liking to him.^[22]

For the 2020 Superbowl, the vampires’ neighbour Sean Rinaldi invited them to his house for a party. As Nadja socialised with the female guests Sean’s mother Joan came in and said she recognised Nadja and recalled unusual memories of her. Nadja denied this and the guests assumed she was confused and led her to her room, but Nadja knew Joan’s memories were correct as Nadja used to babysit her. Nadja met Joan in her room to catch up and the two were delighted to be reunited, but when Nadja saw a photograph of Joan wearing the jade necklace she inherited from her mother, she turned violent and demanded it back. Joan called for help from the wives, thinking she was having an episode, and Nadja proceeded to ransack the house to look for the necklace. The necklace was found by Sean while he was suffering from ‘brain scramblies’ due to being over-hypnotized by Nandor and Laszlo. He gave the necklace to Charmaine and Nadja decided to let it go and wait for the couple to naturally die to get it back.^[3]

When Nandor decided to check his emails for the first time in over 10 years, he found an old chain email saying that he had been cursed by Bloody Mary and that he must pass on the email to ten more people in order to lift the curse. As he, Laszlo and Nadja started to panic, Guillermo called home in a hushed voice warning them that they may be killed by the vampire hunting group he was currently infiltrating. The vampires assumed Guillermo’s voice was that of Bloody Mary and became even more worried. They worked frantically to try and find ten email addresses and eventually received enough with the help of Colin Robinson. They sent the email to the ten addresses and heard a knock at the door, terrifying them. Realising that it was only Guillermo, the vampires celebrated the ‘curse’ being lifted.^[23]

Nadja finally discovered that Nandor destroyed her village when she found a painting of the scene in the house. She flew into a rage and tried to kill Nandor while Colin, already drunk on power from a recent promotion at his workplace, feasted on their energy. Colin used his powers to keep the vampires aggravated and Nandor, Nadja and Laszlo continued to argue with each other until they became too weak. Nadja and the other vampires aged rapidly and begged for mercy from Colin, but he rejected it, claiming that they never treated him as a friend. Colin then multiplied himself, creating two more copies, and declared them to be his new friends, but they became embedded in a boring discussion and fed off each other’s energy for sixty-three minutes until they all bored themselves to death. Colin’s roommates recovered and dragged the Colins’ bodies into the yard for a burial. After they gave a heartfelt eulogy, the original Colin suddenly awakened, admitting that he pretended to be dead in order to hear it. The painting feud was solved by Laszlo editing it to dramatically alter the scene.^[8]

One night, Nadja’s household was approached by a vampire named Jim, demanding Laszlo pay back his debt for not paying the rent and security deposit of Jim’s beach house one hundred and sixty-seven years ago. Jim forced Laszlo to either pay the money or fight him in a duel. Against Nadja and Nandor’s suggestions, Laszlo agreed to a duel, but ran away when Jim’s back is turned. Laszlo fled to Clairton, Pennsylvania, and wrote a farewell letter to Nadja, refusing to disclose his new identity (Jackie Daytona) and location. Nadja was devastated and turned to her ghost and Colin for consolation. Jim eventually found Laszlo working in a bar, and after a fight, Laszlo agreed to pay off the debt by gifting Jim with a Big Mouth Billy Bass toy. Laszlo subsequently returned home and Nadja was overjoyed.^[24]

When Nadja discovered a poorly Simon living in the sewers of Staten Island, claiming all but two members of the Leather Skins (Count Rapula and his new recruit Carol) had left him. Nadja offhandedly invited them to stay at her house. Simon used it as an opportunity to steal back the cursed hat and he and Laszlo fought over it. The fight moved outside and Simon led Laszlo into the sewers in bat form. Laszlo’s roommates followed and were outnumbered by all the Leather Skins with Simon wearing the hat. Simon asserted that he wanted the hat because he was envious of Laszlo and Nadja’s relationship and couldn’t gain satisfaction from anyone, including his own gang. The sewer grating he was standing on then began to break, with Simon stuck to it, leaving him to slowly sink into the water below. The Leather Skins and Nadja’s roommates refused to help him.^[25]

Laszlo finally discovered that his song, Chum on Irene, was plagiarized by Dexy’s Midnight Runners as Come on Eileen. As Laszlo and Nadja reminisced about the many songs they had written, Colin heard their music and suggested they perform at a gig he could arrange, secretly anticipating feasting on the anger and boredom of the audience. Laszlo and Nadja composed several new songs and performed at Colin’s suggested venue, which was actually an open mic night. The audience disliked their new music and booed them until they performed their “seafaring song”, Kokomo. The audience happily sang along and the couple ate several members after the gig.^[15]

Nandor and Laszlo were both kidnapped by Lilith's coven and imprisoned in their hideout in Brooklyn. The witches intended to take their sem*n to use for spells through the use of dangerous eighteenth century surgical tools. The other roommates arrived to help them, but this was delayed when Nadja’s confrontation of the coven revealed that Lilith had previously seduced Laszlo by putting on a bad disguise of Nadja, and that Laszlo had at some point slept with Judith, another coven member, and Nandor. Nadja refused to help but Guillermo saved the captives by offering to sell the witches Nandor and Laszlo’s sem*n on a regular basis.^[14]

Guillermo eventually became too distracted by his possible vampire hunter heritage and left the house, causing the vampires to struggle without him. They were invited to the exclusive Nouveau Théâtre des Vampires event, not realising it was a trap set by Vladislav of the Vampiric Council. Guillermo later realised what was happening and made his way to the theatre. At the event, the four vampires were bound to their seats and forced to watch a re-enactment of them killing Baron Afanas, Ludwig, multiple Council assassins and the Hustle Dynasty (all of which were actually victims of Guillermo). As Vladislav prepared to execute the roommates on stage, Nandor claimed Guillermo was responsible and that he had been killed, but this was not believed. Guillermo then swung onto the stage and killed almost the entire cast and audience, thus saving his masters.^[26]

What We Do in the Shadows (Season 3)[]

Following the massacre at the Nouveau Théâtre des Vampires, the vampire roommates became afraid of Guillermo and imprisoned him in a cage in the basem*nt. The vampires argued over what to do with him, with Nadja wanting him dead. After a month, the Vampiric Council Guide arrived to deliver the news that the Council were impressed by the group's supposed ability to kill so many vampires and assigned them as the new leaders of the Vampiric Council of the Eastern Seaboard of the New World. The vampires then decided to let Guillermo live and promoted him to the role of bodyguard.^[2]

Nadja and Nandor agreed to work as a team together in their leadership, even though both wanted to secretly overthrow the other. Their first duty was to confront the Council of Vampires, a group who rejected the Vampiric Council and refused to pay their dues. Nandor tried to peacefully negotiate with their leader, Wes Blankenship, but Nadja wanted to use a more aggressive approach and ripped Wes' heart out as a warning to the rest of his group.^[27]

Nandor reconnected with his on-and-off girlfriend Gail, which frustrated Nadja as Gail kept turning down Nandor's requests to turn her into a vampire and leaving him. Nadja's annoyance was mistaken for a blind dislike for Gail by her male roommates, and it worsened when Nandor said he would propose to her. Nadja then realized Gail was a werewolf and confronted Nandor; he admitted he already knew and insisted the roommates meet her pack. Guillermo had the two groups settle their differences “Twilight-style” with a game of kickball as Gail watched from a bench. The game came to an abrupt end when Nadja accidentally kicked the ball into Gail's face and killed her. To save her, Nandor bit her neck and dripped his blood into her mouth, bringing her back as a vampire-werewolf hybrid. Nandor proposed to Gail and she rejected him.^[28]

Nadja and her roommates went on their first vacation in decades when Sean invited them to the Monaco Grand Hotel and Casino facility for his wedding vow renewal. After the first night, the roommates struggled to sleep in the hotel and realized that the soils of their homelands had been hoovered up by housekeeping. Guillermo flew the vampires' homelands, including Paralia Urika Beach in Antipaxos, to collect new soil. To pay for the tickets, Nadja attempted to seduce the casino’s Rat Pack tribute act, mistaking them for the real band. She only received $300, leaving Laszlo to borrow money from Sean. Once Guillermo returned with the soil, the group used their newly regained powers to fix a boxing match to earn enough money to pay Sean back.^[5]

Nandor and Nadja were presented with the opportunity to act as head judge for several vampire tribunals. They sentenced Iorek the Knavish to imprisonment for multiple vampicide, but then sentenced the recently-turned Derek to death by sunlight for several petty crimes. Guillermo rescued Derek from the well and had him put on trial again, with a drunken Laszlo defending him. Guillermo argued that Derek's petty crimes occurred because he was left without a mentor, and Laszlo “offered” to fill that role as an alternative to execution. Nadja, acting as judge, agreed in order to have Laszlo win at least one court case.^[29]

Nandor and Nadja's negligence caused the Sire, the progenitor of all vampires in the world, to escape his cell in the Temple of Blood-Devourers. This caused panic among the Council due to the superstition that when a vampire dies, any vampires they created will also expire. Laszlo suddenly realized that if the Baron was dead, Nadja should have also died too. He, Colin and Guillermo raced home to exhume Afanas. The Baron, in surprisingly good spirits, agreed to help the team find the Sire. After Nadja consulted some gargoyles, the group tracked the Sire to a supermarket. He was eventually calmed when Afanas spoke to him in their ancient language and became his roommate.^[10]

Nadja's council role kept her so occupied that she had no time to spend with her ghost. Feeling neglected, the ghost ran away, still in her doll form. No-one initially noticed, but Nadja was distraught upon realizing and knew she had ran away to cause drama. Nadja, Nandor and Guillermo found her in a toy store, where she hopped from host to host and possessed a giant inflatable rat to run away. Nandor and Nadja chased her into an alleyway and Nandor punctured the rat host. As she slowly deflated, she begged Nadja to let her go, but Nadja admitted her new job had made her extremely busy and apologized for ignoring her. The ghost returned to the doll and back to the house.^[30]

A depressed Nandor was sent to confront Jan, a vampire who had not been paying her union fees, and ended up getting lured into her Post-Chiropteran Wellness Center group, a cult of vampires who were trying to become human again. Guillermo became concerned and kidnapped Nandor, locking him in the basem*nt. The vampires were horrified to find Nandor under the belief that he was a human, and began trying to deprogram him.^[31]

Their efforts only made Nandor even less happy and he decided to take a “super slumber”. His roommates were deeply saddened by this but respected his wishes. Soon after he started his slumber attempt, it was announced that the Supreme Worldwide Vampiric Council would be arriving that night for a feast in their honour.

During the feast, Nadja covered for Nandor's absence by pretending she killed him, which impressed the guests. As the event coincided with Colin’s 100th birthday, Laszlo took the opportunity to make it a double celebration. After Laszlo took over Nadja’s toast to give a passionate speech about Colin, Nadja confronted him in private and Laszlo revealed that Colin was going to pass away that night due to his natural lifespan. Colin announced that he would go to bed as he had a stomach-ache, and roommates realised his death was soon to come. As Colin lay in his bed, Guillermo, Nadja and Laszlo discussed their friendship. As Guillermo left to fetch Nandor, Colin let out a final fart and died in the presence of Nadja and Laszlo.^[32]

Shortly afterwards, Nadja received an invitation from Viago to be promoted to a more senior role in the Vampiric Council in the UK. This caused Nadja great stress as she knew Laszlo would refuse to go. While the couple posed for a portrait to honour Colin's memory, Nadja revealed that she wanted to move back to London. Nadja and Laszlo argued until he finally revealed the Sherwood Club of London’s classist attitude towards Nadja was the reason why he was expelled and why he refused to go back to the UK. Nadja explained that she had been promoted to a more senior role within the Vampiric Council and Laszlo enthusiastically agreed to go with her.

As the couple packed their bags to be shipped to London, Laszlo went into Colin's basem*nt to say a final farewell to him. Laszlo found a reborn infant version of Colin, and realized he needed to take care of him. As Laszlo and Nadja went to the port of New York and New Jersey, Guillermo accompanied them to say goodbye, with the intention of returning to take Nandor to the train station for his travels. After Nadja and her doll settled into her coffin in a box, Laszlo pushed Guillermo into his coffin and nailed the box shut. Laszlo wrote a letter to Nadja explaining that he could not accompany her to the UK and had shipped Guillermo instead to look after her. Laszlo and Colin were subsequently left on their own in the Staten Island residence.^[12]

Personality[]

Relationships[]

Laszlo[]

Laszlo is Nadja's Husband whom she turned into a vampire hundreds of years ago. On the whole they have a very loving and passionate relationships although Nadja is often irritated by Laszlo due to his ignorance and arrogant nature. She is often annoyed by his dismissal of her superior intelligence and her folk beliefs. Nevertheless Nadja is very much in love with him and often shares his brutish nature. The two have a very active sex life but it is often implied that Laszlo isn't a skilled lover and he at one point hadn't gone down on her in 200 years. She also believes that Laszlo is her best friend and referred to him as 'Her King of Pigs.' The two often wear coordinated outfits and have the same colour highlights. The two also often collaborate on music to varying degrees of chaos.

Nadja Doll[]

Nadja is essentially a vampire version of her doll's spirit. As such she is incredibly similar to her in their opinions and personal style. However they do differ in some respects due to one living as a vampire for hundreds of years and the other existing as a disembodied ghost. The Nadja Doll doesn't hold back in her criticism of Nadja's choices and is resentful of her wasting her eternal life. Despite these differences Nadja cares for her Doll deeply and often refers to her by pet names in both English and Greek such as Angelimoo or koukla-mou (my beauty.) They also often match their hair and outfits.

Nandor[]

Nandor and Nadja have been housemates and friends for hundreds of years and see each other as a found family. Though much like her relationship with Laszlo she is continually angered by him. Like Laszlo he is not as smart as Nadja and often discounts her wisdom and beliefs as superstition. The two are also co-supreme leaders of The Vampiric Council of The Eastern Seaboard of The New World. While they were actively attending their duties the two often butted heads as they have stubbornness in common. The Guide made it clear that they would essentially just spend their time undoing each other's work from the previous day and thus they never got anything done. Nadja often openly mocks Nandor and his feelings.

Colin Robinson[]

Colin and Nadja have lived together in the vampire residence since she, Nandor and Laszlo arrived in Staten Island. Nadja often expresses directly to Colin Robinson that she does not like him very much nor does she respect him. As he is an energy vampire he often feeds on Nadja and the rest of the household. Colin considers Nadja to be one of his best friends, openly Nadja denies this although when she believes him to be dead she does refer to him as 'Our deceased former friend Colin Robinson.' When Colin was reborn and Laszlo became his surrogate father, Nadja accepted the role of a sort of stepmother/aunt figure.

Guillermo[]

Guillermo and Nadja met when he began working as Nandor's familiar. Initially Nadja has no respect or affection towards Guillermo. Over time however Nadja describes herself as having a 'small seed of affection.' For him. She often calls Guillermo 'Gizmo' and does not actually remember his last name. In Season 4 when Nadja opens her vampire nightclub she brings Guillermo on as the nightclub's accountant, it then transpires that they have more in common than it may first appear as they both end up embezzling heavily from the club. As time goes on, Nadja, despite herself comes to greatly care for Guillermo like she does the rest of the household and they seem to share a special bond outside of his familiar duties. We see in 'Pine Barrens' that she reluctantly accepts being Guillermo's fake girlfriend when his family visits the mansion, she even refrains from harming them when they become a threat to her - she then goes as far as to hypnotise them into forgetting that Guillermo is a familiar and that she is a vampire but she makes sure to have them remember Guillermo's coming out to them. In Season 5 she has to take Guillermo to familiar urgent care and once she finds out that he is to be put down she protests this. Even when she finds out that Guillermo was turned by Derek she still fiercely protects him from the sad*stic doctor and they end up saving each other. While she says she wanted to save him so Nandor could kill him it is clear that she did it for herself too. Once Nandor finds out about Guillermo being turned she seeks him out after he runs away to offer him advice and comfort.

The GUide[]

Nadja first meets The Guide when she escorts her and the household to the chamber of judgement. When The Guide reappears in Nadja's life it is as her underling at The Vampiric Council. The two work alongside each other with The Guide as an underling who is often ignored or disrespected by Nadja despite holding great affection for her and considering her a good friend. During Season 4 The Guide begins working with Nadja on converting The Vampiric Council Building into a vampire nightclub, The Guide was initially very resistant to this but eventually came around. This lead to her working at the club under Nadja. The Guide continually tries to form a bond with her but is always rebuffed. In Season 5 The Guide manipulates Nadja into believing the latter has an Antipaxon curse on her which can only be lifted by doing good, she does this in an effort to gain some respect and friendship from Nadja. Eventually she springs a trap for Nadja and the others at Morrigan Manor - intending to imprison them there forever in silver cages as punishment for ignoring her needs. Laszlo manages to prove that they do care and she releases them - making her believe once again that Nadja cares for her.

Baron Afanas[]

The Baron is the vampire who turned Nadja hundreds of years ago and as such she has great respect for him. Although sometimes she can be exhausted by his commands she remains loyal to him. The two have an on-again off-again sexual relationship and consider each other friends.

Powers & Abilities[]

Common Powers[]

Nadja has all the common abilities of a vampire which include:

• Immortality: Vampires do not age past the point from when they were turned and are thus unable to die from old age.
• Enhanced Strength: Nadja is easily able to throw a full-grown human across a room or fling them into a wall, breaking it.
• Enhanced Speed: Vampires are able to move extremely quickly, appearing as a blur. Nadja was able to rip out the heart of a vampire in the blink of an eye.
• Enhanced Durability: Vampires are able to shrug off mortal wounds that would kill a normal human.
• Enhanced Senses: Vampires have heightened senses, including enhanced hearing, smell and the ability to see in the dark.
• Flight: Vampires can levitate off the ground and fly unassisted.
• Hypnosis: Vampires possess a form of mind control through eye-contact and verbal commands. They can compel their victims to follow orders or erase their memories. Nadja's ability for hypnosis also allows her to seduce anyone.
• Shapeshifting: A vampires can transform into different animal forms, such as bats or canines.
• Regenerative Healing Factor: A vampire's body will heal quickly when wounded.
• Wall Crawling: A vampire can climb walls without the use of tools or any kind of equipment.

Unique Abilities[]

Nadja is among those vampires that has abilities unique to her.

• Telekinesis: Nadja has telekinesis to a limited degree, she has only been seen to be able to open doors.
• Enhanced Wall Crawling: Nadja is a very proficient at climbing up walls without any assisted means.
• Enhanced Hypnosis: Nadja's ability for hypnosis allows her to also seduce anyone.
• Sonic Scream: Nadja has the ability to shout so loud it causes lights to explode and cause both vampires and humans to feel a great amount of pain. Humans afterwards have trouble hearing temporarily. As shown, the force of Nadja’s scream is powerful enough to fling another vampire a considerable distance away and knock them out.

Weaknesses[]

Nadja has all the weaknesses that come with being a vampire:

• Sunlight: Will burn in sunlight, with even small amounts of exposure causing her to start smoking.
• Wooden Stake: A wooden stake to the heart will instantly kill her.
• Decapitation: If Nadja's head is cut off she will die.
• Holy Water: Contact will cause her skin to burn.
• Garlic: Contact will cause her skin to burn.
• Silver: Contact will cause her skin to burn.
• Salt: Contact will cause her skin to burn.
• Blood Diet: Without blood, Nadja will grow weak and become decrepit in appearance over time.
• Invitation: Nadja cannot enter a home or premises without an invitation from the owner.
• Religious Imagery: Will harm or frighten her. Prolonged exposure will cause her to burn and bleed from the eyes, even references as small as crossed fingers can repel her. Being inside a religious building/site induces the same effect, also eventually causing her to spontaneously combust into flames.
• Religious Phrases: Her mouth will catch fire if she tries to say religious phrases sincerely.
• Homeland Soil: Nadja cannot rest or regain her vampiric powers without sleeping within close proximity to soil from her place of birth.

Trivia[]

• Nadja is far more sensitive to other supernatural presences than other vampires.^[22][14]
• Nadja claims to have been depicted in Pablo Picasso's original version of Guernica, but her section was removed.^[8]

Gallery[]

Appearances[]

• What We Do in the Shadows (TV series)

References[]