Darren Shan (ダレン・シャン Daren Shan) is the protagonist in The Saga of Darren Shan. He's a boy with an interest and love for spiders. Darren was drawn to the Cirque du Freak show because of the spider tamer, and was deeply amazed by the performance; enough so that he stole the spider Madam Octa.

He decides to become a half-vampire and join Larten Crepsley to save the life of his best friend Steve Leonard, as he felt it was his responsibility. Even after Steve vows to kill him one day after becoming a strong vampire hunter, Darren does not tell Crepsley about the threat in order to keep Steve safe, believing that he is still his best friend.

APPEARANCE 

Darren is a petite boy with black hair and green eyes. In the manga he wears his standard school uniform, consisting of a white shirt, red necktie and green pants rolled up to his knees. After becoming a vampire, he wears his funeral outfit, consisting of a black suit with black shorts.

After aging up to a young man, he wears a white shirt and black pants.

PERSONALITY 

Initially, Darren is a kind-hearted boy who tries to stay out of trouble. He is loyal to his friends and puts them before himself, willing to sacrifice himself for his loved ones. He is also stubborn as he chooses to stay with whatever decision he has made and will go through it stoically. Darren is also witty and tends to snark a lot in his internal monologues.

After becoming a vampire, he insists that he doesn't want to kill anybody, as he believes it's wrong. However, as the series progresses and he becomes more affected by the loss of his friends, he becomes filled with hate and resentment and it appears to start influencing his decisions, becoming more vindictive and pragmatic.

In the manga adaptation, Darren acts more like a typical hero compared to his novel counterpart. He's more naive and his insistence on fair play, honor and trying to help everyone will just get even more people killed and will lead him to being crushed by his ideals as the story progresses. He wants everyone to get along, and often is the one to interfere with and settle disputes between people. However, this changes as the series progresses and becomes more cynical. Unlike the novel, Darren never stops considering Steve as a friend and blames himself for his sanity slippage and their broken friendship.

VOICE

Looking for someone who can sound like an older teen/young adult version of the Darren Shan in this video: https://youtu.be/ec0xfIUltF4?t=16