Kaname Kuran

Kaname Kuran (玖蘭 枢 Kuran Kaname) is one of the main characters of Vampire Knight and a Pureblood vampire.

Character Outline
He is born in the year of the Rooster. His height is 184 cm (6'1") and shares a similar appearance with Haruka and Rido Kuran.

Background
Kaname Kuran is the Night Class president, both feared and respected by the other Night Class students. While he is cold and authoritative towards his contemporaries in the Night Class, he is always kind and sweet to Yuki. Kaname has shown that he cares for Yuki in a romantic sense and that he had fallen for Yuki ever since they were children. He wants to be closer to her, but senses how shy she is about it. Since he adores her, she is reluctantly accepted by the Night Class. He has attempted countless times to expand intimacy with Yuki. He is also Yuki's fiancée and Yuki knows him as her brother. He shares the Headmaster's goal of peace between vampires and humans. He worked with the Headmaster to create the Night Class at Cross Academy and with his presence, allows the Night Class to be kept in check. Although he is too old to be attending school, he attends to keep authority in the Night class and mostly so he can be closer to Yuki and protect her.

As a Pureblood, Kaname is capable of controlling lesser vampires, but he chooses not to exercise his powers, thus earning the respect of the Noble vampires. In the fanbook it is stated that he is all powerful. Even his shadow mirror is capable of beating up another pureblood, he can create different shapes that monitor Yuki, such as a wolf or bats.

Plot Summary

 * Main Article: Plot Summary for Kaname Kuran

Kaname the Ancestor

 * Main Article: Kaname the Ancestor

Prior to his re-awakening by Rido, Kaname was the ancestor of the Kuran family, one of the founders of vampires. He is over ten thousand years old and does not recall the name he was born with. After all his companions died in the long war against their enemies, Kaname put himself into an eternal slumber.

Kaname was awakened from his long slumber when Rido Kuran used the first child of Haruka and Juri to awaken him, attempting to drink the blood of the ancestor to gain more power, but he fails and is knocked out by the ancestor. The awakened Kaname is forced to revert to the body of a baby because of the overwhelming thirst caused by such a long sleep, during which he wipes his memories and is taken by Haruka and Juri in the place of their stolen baby.

Because Kaname was awakened by Rido after his long slumber, Rido became his master and Kaname was unable to kill him.

Yuki Cross

 * Main Article: Yuki and Kaname

Since Yuki's birth, Kaname has promised to protect her warmth and always be by her side. When Yuki's memories were erased, he spent the next ten years watching and protecting her. His attachment to a "human" puzzled and bothered the Night Class and he exhibit jealousy of her relationship with Zero. After she re-awoke, he reminded her that she was his fiance an later took her to the Kuran mansion.

The Hooded Woman
The Hooded Woman found and met Kaname years earlier upon discovering that he couldn't remember his name, she named him after her village. She asked him to join her companions, but he declined. Later, after Kaname was run out of the village, he joined the Hooded Woman, who sympathized with his predicament. Yet despite being a pureblood vampire, she urged sympathy and kindness towards humans, understanding that humans must naturally fear the stronger and more powerful vampires. This sympathy stems from the fact that although humans feared her, she was protected and loved by her human parents. Kaname became allies with the Hooded Woman and they worked together to find a solution to the problem of vampires creating too many "servants". When Kaname found a way to kill vampires, she took his discovery and sacrificed herself to create the hunters and the anti-vampire weapons. Kaname lamented that he had not done it himself so that he would have more time with her.

The realtionship between Kaname and the Hooded Woman relationship is not well defined, though obviously they felt mutual respect and affection towards each other, and shared a common goal. Yuki felt Kaname's desire to treasure this woman and asked Kaname if he was looking to replace her, Kaname refuted it as silly, as it is impossible to replace a person. The Hooded Woman still has a strong influence on Kaname, since the loss of her and her sacrifice caused him to fear losing Yuki in the same way.

Gallery
=See Also=
 * Yuki and Kaname
 * Zero and Kaname
 * Kaname and Takuma
 * Kaname, Yuki, and Zero
 * How did Kaname become Yuki's brother?
 * Kaname the Ancestor