Eli Damaskinos
Damaskinos is an ancient vampire, his name suggesting origins - from
Greece. During the events of
Blade II, he resides in
Eastern Europe, presiding over his affairs through his web of human allies and his legitimate front as leader of
Caliban Industries. Unlike most vampire leaders (see the
House of Erebus article for further details), Damaskinos began his existence as a human being, as evidenced by his keeping of his old heart in a glass reliquary (this is detailed in a deleted scene on the DVD). This seems to allow him an ability to deal openly with humans - a trait which many other vampire leaders lack. The overlord's reign saw many notable developments, including the formation of the Bloodpack and the creation of the
Reaper virus.
As what could be considered the film's primary villain, Damaskinos originally comes across as being a potential ally to the vampire-hating Blade - or at the very least, an enemy who both respects and admires the Daywalker. He sets the vampire hunter and the Bloodpack (headed by his daughter Nyssa) against the Reapers, seemingly hoping to eradicate all cases of the virus before the new breed can hunt their way through both the vampire
and human populations.
However, Damaskinos' is secretly toying both sides to his favour. The Reaper strain was in fact engineered under his own supervision, with his estranged son
Jared Nomak acting as the first carrier. Although Damaskinos found the Reapers to be effective in their methods, his son's desire for vengeance seemed to poison the genetically engineered super-vampires and made them uncontrollable. Also, despite their unnatural powers, the Reapers lacked the ability to face sunlight. Ever the
Machiavellian, Damaskinos decided to solve his problems with a single answer - Blade. The overlord practically blackmailed Blade into hunting the Reapers (by playing to the Daywalker's compassion for the now-threatened human race), and once they had all seemingly been eradicated, Damaskinos unveiled he had been incubating a new type of Reaper, which awaited only the addition of Blade's sunlight-resistant blood. With Blade and his friends captured and the Reapers apparently destroyed, Damaskinos' plan seemed to have reached fruition.
Yet things were not as they seemed. Nomak - the most powerful of all the Reapers - was still alive and hunting for revenge against his maniacal father. Also, Blade managed a cunning escape from the captivity, destroying the incubated foetal Reapers. Near the end of the film, he was betrayed by his daughter Nyssa, who had grown disillusioned with her father's disregard for all those close to him. Before he could reach his escape helicopter, Nyssa initiated a lockdown on the facility, and allowed Nomak to kill their father. The once-powerful Eli Damaskinos died a pathetic death, still trying to use his cunning to appeal to his son's emotions and escape.
Damaskinos may very well have been based on
Count Orlock, the main character of the 1922 vampire horror
Nosferatu. Like Orlock, Damaskinos bears a ghastly, emaciated appearance, lacks any hair, and has deathly grey flesh - a far cry from the other more seductive members of his kind.
