Kaname Kuran

Kaname Kuran (玖蘭 枢 Kuran Kaname) is one of the main characters of Vampire Knight and a Pureblood vampire. He is one of the few Pureblood vampires still alive and the first pureblood introduced. It was revealed in Episode 9 of Vampire Knight Guilty that Kaname is not the true son of Juri and Haruka and is therefore not Yuki's true brother. Kaname is in fact Yuki's ancestor.

Character concept
Kaname was the third character design completed with a professional look. His personality was defined after Yuki's and he was created "as if there are no blanks left" unlike other characters still maturing, such as Yuki. . Matsuri Hino describes Kaname as possessing her bad side.

Name

 * "Kaname" means "hinge" or "door".
 * The kanji of Kuran, is a combination of the old fashioned way of writing ku, meaning "nine," and ran, meaning "orchid": "nine orchids". "Kuran" is the japanese pronunciation for "Clan."



Appearance
He shares a similar appearance with Haruka and Rido Kuran. Like Haruka and Rido, Kaname has brown-reddish hair and dark red eyes. Like all vampires, he has a pale complexion. Kaname wears his clothes like a gentleman; his uniform is always prim, proper and perfectly buttoned. However, when he is wearing casual clothes, he is more careless about it, wearing more loose clothing usually not buttoned up completely. In her side notes, Matsuri Hino admits that this was a slight detail she accidentally overlooked.

Personality
He is normally a stoic and authoritative individual, but is very kind, warm, and gentle to Yuki. This disposition bothers both Yuki and the Night Class vampires, who do not understand his favoritism towards her. Kaname expresses occasional jealousy of Zero Kiryu because of Yuki's connection to him and is not afraid to show this to Yuki. He is very strict and often imposes discipline in a fierce way as being the dorm President, yet he is indulgent to Yuki. Kaname has acknowledged to Rido that he has a contrary nature, which leads him to both desiring to lock Yuki up and keep her to himself and alternatively, to watch her protectively while encouraging her to be herself. Kaname never hides the fact that he is not interested in anything else but Yuki’s welfare. Every action he makes is towards one goal, and that is Yuki’s safety; his greatest fear is losing her. He is very determined to have Yuki live for all of eternity by his side and not only deeply fears losing her because of the ten years she spent as a human, but because of the mysterious loss in his past. He is constantly solitary and plots as such also, making him rather secretive. Kaname has the pureblood power of controlling vampires, but he chooses not to exercise this power, thus earning the respect of the Noble vampires, as mentioned by Takuma Ichijo.

Kaname the Ancestor
Kaname is the ancestor of the Kuran family, one of the founders of vampires. He along with another character, mostly referred to as the hooded woman, created the weapon used to kill vampires.

Thousands of years ago, Kaname put himself into an eternal slumber and was recently awakened from his long slumber by Rido Kuran, his own descendent.

Revived Kaname
Due to his weakened state after reviving, Kaname transformed his body into that of a baby and supressed his memories entrusting his life to Haruka and Juri, who raised Kaname in place of the son that Rido had taken and killed. As children, Kaname and Yuki shared a close relationship, though Kaname was not especially outgoing around other children his own age. He first met Hanabusa, Akastski, and Ruka as children, but they did not form bonds with them until several years later, after the deaths of Haruka and Juri. Kaname severely wounded Rido during the attack on the Kurans, after he found he was to kill Rido as he was technically his master from having revived Kaname from his slumber. After temporarily dispatching Rido, Kaname took the now-human Yuki to Kaien Cross's house. Kaname himself was taken in by Takuma's grandfather, a man whom he mistrusted. During her childhood, Kaname frequently visited Yuki and remained a steady presence in her life. After Cross built the Academy, Kaien agreed to let Kaname decide everything that involved the school's vampires, Kaname lent his assistance in the creation of the Night Class and as a Pureblood, he helped maintain order in the Night Class, taking on the role of Night Class president. Kaname's presence at Cross Academy further allowed him to maintain contact with Yuki, though he left most of the responsibility of protecting and watching over her in Zero's hands.

Yuki Cross
Yuki and Kaname have a complicated past that goes back to when they were children. Yuki is Kaname`s younger sister, fiancee and also descendent as his history was revealed. Kaname loves Yuki very much, but often his motives toward her can be overprotective, such as locking her up.

The Hooded Woman
She is the woman from Kaname's ancient past and also one of the ancestors or founders. It is strongly hinted that she is Kaname's ex-lover, but there is no definite proof. Despite that, she sacrficed herself by tearing her own heart and throwing it into the furnace and from her blood created the first vampire hunter weapon. Until today, the Bloody Rose can still recognize Kanams's voice and heed his request.

Zero Kiryu
Kaname and Zero have disliked each other since their first meeting. One could say that they are archnemesis of one other due to different perspectives and methods. They both show very strong feelings to Yuki and envy each other from time to time. Due to this, they also share a limited amount of tolerance to one another when Yuki's safety is concerned

Hanabusa Aido
Hanabusa is Kaname's loyal friend and right-hand man. Their relationship is quite comedic and purely adoration on Aido's perspective. However, this had become quite complicated due to Kaname killing Aido's father in front of him without explanation.

Takuma Ichijo
Kaname lived with Takuma after his parents died, they have became good friends since then. It would seem that Kaname trusts Takuma to a certain extent and also seems not to worry about him despite having Takuma with Sara.

Ruka Souen
Ruka both loves and admires Kaname however, he does not return her affections. Despite this, Kaname trusts and respects her. Ruka and Kain are the two Night Class vampires who Kaname chose to keep at his side and help with his plans after the death of Nagamichi Aido. It is also implied that Kaname and Kain had a deal that when the time comes, Kaname would have Ruka to leave his side even by force.

Powers
Like all pureblood vampires, Kaname is immortal and can heal from anything excluding an anti-vampire weapon wound to his heart or cutting off his head. Like all vampires he can absorb the powers from vampires whose blood he drinks. Kaname's powers have been listed as immeasurable. However in the manga, he has stated that when his mind wanders he "loses control", as seen when he accidentally burns a hole in the wall (in the manga) and a tree (in the anime), both barely missing Takuma, and also shatters a window. Kaname has demonstrated the following abilities:
 * Telekinesis
 * Erasing memories
 * Creation of a familiar in any form he chooses, such as a bat able to convey messages and a wolf from which he can receive information instantly, and used to watch over Yuki when she left the Kuran manor. His familiar is also strong enough to carry another person and wields his telekinetic powers
 * Transformation of his body into a weapon
 * Control of multiple vampires by his command against their will
 * Changing the physicality of his body i.e. changing his body into an infant

Quotes

 * "You're so scary... Mr. Disciplinary Committee." (To Zero)
 * "I've always been alone. The only one that can bring warmth into my life, is you." (To Yuki)
 * "You could never betray her, because you are under her obligation. You are being let to live because of that, Zero. By me." (To Zero)
 * "You want me to slap you. You're an odd girl." (To Ruka)
 * "Aido, I think I would like to discuss our dorm's rules with you again." (To Aido)
 * "Yuki, the safest place is beside me." (To Yuki)

=See Also=
 * Kaname Kuran Image Gallery
 * Kaname, Yuki, and Zero
 * How did Kaname become Yuki's brother?