Vampires

[Seil]

Continued from the Dr. McNinja topic, I wanna state that I do not believe that vampires are mindless, bloodsucking fiends. Heck - even Dracula, acclaimed as the original vampire, was credited with many deeds of intelligence and sophistication.

I do not believe Vampires to be Anne Rice creations, but I do believe that Rice has depicted a reputable image of Vampires. Some may consider them whiney, others may consider them emo, but they are what they are: humans who have been given supernatural gifts. I think that Rice's version of Vampires has been the closest to date... though what real way do we have to tell?

(Feel free to counter-argument this)

[CABAL49]

Check out Lands of the Wicked ~ The Second Campaign later on this week to see how I feel about vampires.

[Arhra]

I believe vampires to be bloodsucking perambulatory corpses.

Seriously, it's a walking corpse.

One of the reasons I think 'good' vampires are funny.

[Mad Jack the Pirate]

Rician vampires are a bunch of pussies. the original, Bram Stoker Dracula was an Evil Motherfucker on par with Kain and Alucard, not all this whiny "woe is me, I am immortal" lestat bollocks.

Authentic Vampires of fiction are not humans given gifts, they are inhuman, lovecraftian monstrosities that use a corpse and ravaged soul as a vessel for their gallavanting on the mortal plane.


Edit: yeah, i suppose kain and alucard aren't really good examples, they both have this whole wangst thing going on.

[Toastburner B]

What Mad Jack said.

I remember a few years back, during Halloween time, I watched a documentary about Dracula phenomenon. They talked to a "vampire" (i.e.: some Goth dude who drank little blood every so often to show how vampy he was), who basically said something along the lines of "Dracula is just misunderstood."

...Did this guy even read the book?

I mean, Dracula not only kidnaps a child to feed to his brides, when the grieving mother comes looking for the child, he sics a pack of wolves on her! At which part did "evil incarnate" turn into "misunderstood"?

Now...its been awhile since I read Interview with a Vampire...but I recall being very disappointed in it. That said, Dracula is one of my favorite books, and I try to read it each year around Halloween.

I believe, for the most part, vampires should kept in the role as villain, or at best, anti-hero (such as Kain or Alucard from Hellsing). That said, when properly done, a vampire could make an excellent tragic hero...but I've found that to done "properly done" rather rarely. Certainly not in Interview With a Vampire, as I recall.

[Seil]

I remember a few years back, during Halloween time, I watched a documentary about Dracula phenomenon. They talked to a "vampire" (i.e.: some Goth dude who drank little blood every so often to show how vampy he was), who basically said something along the lines of "Dracula is just misunderstood."

(>>) I'm talking about Vampires used in fiction... not goth people who drink blood. (-blink-) Cre-e-e-e-epy!

Now, I don't view Vampires as Zombies going after blood - Zombies are a different story. Vampires are humans who are dead - their hearts no longer beat - but they drink blood in order for it to go throughout their body. Picture it as something that Elizabeth Bathory would do.

[POS Industries]

Vampires are only interesting to me when they are written by Joss Whedon. That is all.

[derrickderrick]

Originally Posted by POS Industries

Vampires are only interesting to me when they are written by Joss Whedon. That is all.

Seconded.

[Krylo]

There's way too many types of vampirism in various mythologies and new age fiction to really say that 'vampires are humans with gifts' or 'vampires are bloodsucking monsters'.

Some vampires are undead.

Some vampires aren't dead at all, just diseased.

Some vampires are hideous.

Some vampires are beautiful.

So on and so forth.

There is one common thread amongst all vampires, though--they are all intelligent and self-aware predators who were once fully human. Most even remember their human lives (though not all).

Given that it's not a far stretch to assume that some vampires would feel pretty angsty about the whole killing other humans to survive thing. It's also not hard to see where some vampires would enjoy their gifts and power, even at the cost of murder. It's even less hard to imagine some vampires enjoying the murder along with their gifts.

[OctoberRaven]

Originally Posted by Krylo

There's way too many types of vampirism in various mythologies and new age fiction to really say that 'vampires are humans with gifts' or 'vampires are bloodsucking monsters'.

Some vampires are undead.

Some vampires aren't dead at all, just diseased.

Some vampires are hideous.

Some vampires are beautiful.

So on and so forth.

There is one common thread amongst all vampires, though--they are all intelligent and self-aware predators who were once fully human. Most even remember their human lives (though not all).

Given that it's not a far stretch to assume that some vampires would feel pretty angsty about the whole killing other humans to survive thing. It's also not hard to see where some vampires would enjoy their gifts and power, even at the cost of murder. It's even less hard to imagine some vampires enjoying the murder along with their gifts.

QFT, however, there's one thing.

Some vampires don't drink blood.

It's called psychic vampirism, where instead of sucking blood, it drains spiritual energy from victims.

I highly reccomend the book "Vampires: The Occult Truth" by Konstantinos. While it doesn't have a complete listing of folkloric vampires, it does show the wide gamut of legends out there. It also explains psychic vampirism. He also has a chapter on letters from the people alive today who actually do drink blood, which is more of looking at their mindset then saying they are bona fide vampires (although he does contain one particular letter of someone claiming to be hundreds of years old).