His eyes are as dark as the depths of space. His smile sheds rainbows. And, his coldness melts when he falls in love. He is John Quinn.

Similarities between Quinn and other L. J. Smith characters.
His eyes were black and bottomless...

Quinn shares similarities with characters of various other books that are also written by L. J. Smith. Most of the similarities relate to appearance but two characters, Stefan and Damon Salvatore – vampire brothers of The Vampire Diaries series written by L. J. Smith in the early 1990s – have similarities to Quinn that go well beyond appearance. This leads me to believe that Quinn was an adaptation of the Salvatore brothers, particularly Stefan.

Similarities with Stefan and Damon Salvatore of The Vampire Diaries series:

Stefan and Damon are both physically described as dark-haired and pale, like Quinn. However, while Damon and Quinn share dark eyes, Stefan’s are oak-green. Stefan, Damon, and Quinn are all short too.

All three are made-vampires. Stefan and Damon were made vampires in the fifteenth century in Italy. Quinn was made one in the sixteenth century in Boston, U. S. A. All three became vampires ultimately because of the women they loved. Quinn was made a vampire by Hunter Redfern because he wanted to marry Hunter’s daughter. Stefan and Damon fell in love with the same girl, who convinced them both to let her turn them into vampires.

Before Quinn underwent betterment, he and Damon shared a similar ruthlessness. Quinn however, was quite blatant about his resentment for humans and therefore, probably only used them as food or ‘entertainment’. And while I do not doubt Damon did the same, Damon seemed to enjoy using humans for sex as well. So, in my opinion, Damon did not hate humans. He was just ruthless to them because he could be.

Stefan and Quinn share the greatest similarities. They both had similar life events. Both fell in love with women who were ultimately the reason they became vampires. They both also lose these women and spend centuries being haunted by memories of their lovers, until they meet girls who awaken feelings of love in them once again. These girls turn out to be their soulmates. The boys end up with their soulmates.

It seems as if L. J. Smith gave Quinn the sardonic humour, ruthlessness, and looks of Damon but destined Quinn to a life a lot like Stefan’s.

Similarities with Morgead Blackthorn of the Night World series and Gabriel Wolfe of the Dark Visions trilogy:

Quinn only really has physical similarities to Morgead and Gabriel. All have dark hair and pale skin but neither Morgead nor Gabriel has dark eyes too. Quinn and Morgead are also vampires. Morgead is a lamia though. This means that he was born a vampire, whereas Quinn was made. Gabriel was also a vampire like Quinn but of another type. He was a psychic vampire, meaning, he had to feed off the psychic energy of others. This condition was not permanent for Gabriel though; he was able to be cured.

Though Quinn and Gabriel do not share parallel life events, when they finally get to be with their soulmates, they express concerns of not being deserving of their women. Quinn warns Rashel Jordan that he may not be able to become a better person. (Rashel tells him that every body can become better.) As for Gabriel, he wonders how his soulmate can love him for what he is (using his own words, “...a stupid mess”).

* A quote from Dark Visions: The Passion has been used on this page and is the work of L. J. Smith.

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