Rose Hathaway

On the Peacock series, set in 1997, Rose is in the Dragomir family car when the crash happens. Lissa's parents die, and no one knows what happened to her brother Andre. Rose dies too, and Lissa brings her back without understanding how. From then on, Rose feels what her friend feels: the two are tied by a bond.

The bond changes Rose's life at school. She drops in the ranking of future guardians, right when she most wants to prove she deserves to look after Lissa.

Rose wants to be Lissa's guardian, but in the Benchmark, the test where novices protect Moroi from guardians posing as Strigoi, she's assigned to Jesse Zeklos. She disobeys orders, gets punished and still moves up the ranking for her overall performance. Her trainer is Dimitri Belikov, a Russian guardian who calls her Roza.

In episode 5, Rose proves she can lead, but at a terrible cost: the guardian Mikhail is turned Strigoi. Shaken, she seeks out his family and tells his sister Sasha to run. Dimitri covers for her.

On the royal tour in episode 6, Dimitri gives Rose her molnija mark, the tattoo guardians earn for killing a Strigoi. They kiss. The romance has to stay hidden and doesn't last: Dimitri won't come between Rose and her duty.

Soon after, Lissa learns what the bond can do to the person on the other end and decides Rose won't be her guardian. The two have their first real fight, but they make up.

During the Trials, Rose ends up fighting Dimitri. Afterward he's arrested for treason for covering for another guardian. When the Strigoi break through the Dominion's wards, Rose fights alongside dhampirs and Moroi to hold the line.

In the end, Lissa is accused of Queen Marina's murder, and Rose flees with her into the human world. Before she goes, she tells Dimitri he's everything she never wanted to fall in love with.

In the film, Rose is played by Zoey Deutch. She and Lissa spent a year on the run from St. Vladimir's before being brought back. At school, Rose protects her friend from threats, from Mia Rinaldi and from Victor Dashkov, who wants to use Lissa's magic to cure his own illness. In the end, she asks Dimitri how he feels. He says he can't love her, because in a crisis he'd save Lissa first. Rose kisses his cheek and walks back to school.

In Richelle Mead's books, Rose narrates all six Vampire Academy novels and returns in a supporting role in Bloodlines. Zoey Deutch played her in the 2014 film; Sisi Stringer, in the 2022 series.