Rose’s Journey to Protect Vasilisa

    Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead follows Rosemarie Hathaway, a teenage guardian-in-training vampire who is learning to protect her best friend, Vasilisa Dragomir. Although the novel is through Rose’s perspective, Vasilisa is the main character throughout the storyline. Rose is “shadow-kissed” to Vasilia, meaning they’re subconsciously bonded and Rose can see in Vasilia’s mind. Since Vasilisa is the last surviving member of her royal family line, she’s very important in the vampire government and expected to be the future queen. Usually, they would pair the most experienced vampire guardians, called dhampirs (Rose is a dhampir), to protect Vasilisa, but Rose’s bond with Vasilisa gives her an almost guaranteed spot to be her guardian. However, this requires Rose to train more than the average high school student at the Vampire Academy.
    At the beginning, every time Rose was sucked into Vasilisa’s mind, she would instantly try to block the connection and pull back. Throughout the story, Rose slowly accepts her “blackouts'' and learns to control the link, and eventually uses it to her advantage when they’re attacked. Another instance where Rose’s coming of age is very noticeable when she is put in the same situation at the start and end of the novel, and makes the harder, but correct decision at the end. Vasilisa and Rose run away from the academy until Dmitri, a skilled dhampir vampire, finds them a year later and returns them. At the end, Vasilisa tries to convince Rose to run away again, but Rose understands the importance of Vasilisa being the last Dragomir in the vampire world. As much as her teenage-self wants to go on an adventure with her best friend, she decides against it and shuts down Vasilisa’s idea of escaping.
    After Rose returns to the academy, Dmitri trains her and she eventually catches feelings and becomes flirtatious. Later, she discovers that Dmitri has feelings for her as well. Although they both like each other, Dmitri insists on not being a couple which frustrates Rose. Later, Rose discovers and tells Vasilisa, “Dmitri always said that if we were involved, we’d worry more about protecting each other than you. We couldn’t do that.” Rose makes the mature decision and suppresses her feelings to focus her attention on protecting Vasilisa. Rose’s coming of age really shows here because she understands that Vasilia’s future is more important than her teenage crush, and her priorities lie with what’s best for the future.
    All in all, Vampire Academy is clearly a coming of age novel which shows Rose’s growth in her beliefs and perspectives. Although there are many action scenes throughout the book, Richelle Mead still focuses on Rose’s mental journey of maturing and embracing her dhampir side. In the novel, Rose masters her shadow-kissed bond, turns down Vasilisa on running away again, and suppresses her romantic feelings for Dmitri. Rose learns to experience her teenage years while also knowing when to flip the switch and seriously act like a guardian for Vasilisa. It’s a thin line to stay between, but Rose’s growth from the beginning of the novel to the end shows she learned to navigate her new normal and is ready to take the next step in her future.