Yep, it's all been done before, folks, and so someone suggested that I come up with a new way to kill my superheros, who have a striking resemblance to vampires. What a great idea! Ahem. Yeah. Hmph. I'm at a loss. How do you kill the invincible? Superman had kryptonite, the martians had earth and our pesky bacteria, Achille had a heel, so what's my guy's weakness? Thus far, I've had suggestions that range from antiques and relics (which I know nothing about), to a special sword, to their own bone. Their one bone is appealing on multiple fronts: no research required (hallelujah!), and it makes them tough to kill - but almost too hard. Besides, how do you get bone from an individual who's bones are impossible to break? I'm up for new ideas on an old legend - how would you kill your neighborhood vampire if you were out of wood, lost your matches, and it was in the dead of night? Thanks in advance for you ideas!
Here are a few ways I can think of: 1. Separate the head from the body. 2. Take out their heart. 3. Inject some sort of toxin in their bloodstream. (maybe one of your characters is a bioengineer or chemist?) Also, you don't have to kill him. You could trap him for eternity (like liquid nitrogen). That way, if you are doing a series, you could have him escape after the first book. Oh, the idea of trapping reminding me of something. I'm assuming they need food to survive, so you could trap them and then starve them to death. Not the most exciting thing, I know, but it's a change from the usual.
If they're invincible then I thought the point was that you can't kill them? But a vampire... hmm.. um electrocution? Run them over in my car? But as a weakness, then maybe suffocation? If they depend on something for life, which most people do i.e oxygen, or water, or in a vampires case, blood, if I was stuck for ideas, just try to avoid them until they starve? (EDIT: Just saw I had the same idea as thirdwind, cool.) I'm no Buffy, as you can see.
Starve 'em. Heh. Uhm... I would've been the first to suggest that if I hadn't had to go make dinner right in the middle of typing this. On topic: Well, this is a difficult problem. I don't know. Like you said there's been a lot of vampire stuff recently. Its all been done before. I'd suggest looking at the nature of your vampiric (-ish) characters to find their weakness. For example, in one story I read, the vampires were actually made of nanomachines and could be startled by certain electronic frequencies or loud noises.
if you are writing "People that have that really uncanny resemblance to Vampires" I fail to see the issue with killing them in "ways that have an uncanny resemblance killing Vampires" You could go with some kind of herb like garlic
Destroy them on an atomic level. An atomic bomb? Nuclear bomb? SOme sort of sci fi device? Ever read Watchmen? What about what Adrian does to Dr. Manhattan?
A gun with blessed, silver bullets? Maybe a coven of vampire slayers (no copyright infringement intended) manage to trap a vampire, skin it alive (ooh, gruesome!) disjoint the skeleton and make ceremonial bludgeons and spears out of its bones that later became relics that is your character's one weakness. Or you could just let their bones be breakable. Although, we might wonder why they won't die just from having their own bones in their body in that case. But then some legends of Djinn say their own blood would burn them up but only if they're cut so maybe it would be the way it reacts to the air. Or maybe use the bones of another creature.
Erase his Sire from time. Infect him with a cure for the vampirism dsease. Cause an immune disorder that makes him fatally allergic to blood proteins.
Have it join this writing forum. It will be too busy to eat. (COme on ... you know we've all been there. LOL!)
Seal em, Banish em to another dimension, annihilate em, or use a magical dragon summoned by a magical talisman which requires eight hand signs to unseal.
LOL - you guys are very creative. Thank you so much for your ideas. Unfortunately, my story locks me into the here and now - no Angel "hell dimensions" lying about to stumble into. I do have a book - can you believe it - called the "Science of Vampires," which relates all their supposed abilities back to science. While helpful on some elements, it has not supported any new ideas for killing them. =) Please keep the ideas coming - these are great!
Fine, scientifically, although vampires live infinitely, they still bear humanly bodies, which makes them susceptible to some of the same things that kills normal people.... Unless you're making them like, super vampires immune to pretty much everything...............then as the immortal words of Uncle from Jackie Chan Adventure, "Magic must defeat magic!" In this case, vampire must defeat vampire; kinda like Blade or certain Castlevanias.
Stab them through the heart with a wooden stake tipped with a silver bullet dipped in a mixture of holy water and garlic salt while at the same time directing sunlight into the room via a series of parabolic mirrors.
Er, how about sunlight? Haha. Perhaps injecting the blood of one vampire into another vampire would kill the..injected? Each vampire has a different blood type that is poisonous to others. (Do vampires even have blood?) And of course, you'd have to get the blood out of the vampire without getting killed! I am no good in the realm of sci-fi/fantasy...
What is wrong with the old ideas? I am wondering this as it does not seem to make any sense. Seriously. If you are using vampires what is the problem with killing them in the traditional manners? beyond that, I think the best option is get them addicted to the internet (Like Rumpole40k suggested)
Depends on the type of Vampire. In I Am Legend, it was clear that they were vampires, but they also had a zombie twist to them. Classic vampries with slick hair and zig zagging staircases to their castle atop the edge of a cliff would seem a lot more passive compared to I Am Legend. Then, there is Twilight Vampires. It really depends.
The reason for a new idea - because it makes them your own. Like with the twilight vampires, they were completely different than any vampires written about before, and it has made Stephanie Meyer a legend in that genre. Vampire stories abound (I didn't even know that when I started writing this story - I thought I was being SO original) and pick and choose what part of lore they want to include. In some ways, I'm doing the same thing - trying to make them unique to me. I don't need a new way to kill them, though fire and sunlight seem like awfully easy ways to kill a seemingly invinceable hero. It will just add to the world and creatures I'm creating. I've actually gotten a lot of great feedback, and I will be pouring over it later today to nail this part down - I'm getting to the part in the story where I need to know how its done!
Traditional stake to the heart, silver bullets... I believe I heard fire is lethal to them somewhere.
Ironically, the "historical" vampires of folklore were more like the zombies of today's pop culture than its vampires. They didn't fly, mesmerize people or have sexual allure, they were simply corpses who rose from their graves to drink the blood of the living. An apparently very well-researched article is here.
You can kill them with werewolves. Werewolves and vampires fighting.....awesomenesss.(kidding) What if magical artifacts killed them? But unique magical artifacts. Like a sword that takes the vampires form away. Or a chain that steals the vampires souls. (if they have souls)
What came to mind was: -Rat Bite -Hearing their Names -A substance that, when injected into their bodies, causes a chain reaction, withering their bodies from inside out.
They can only be killed by each other, but they are non-social and aggressive, so they can frequently be manipulated into fighting their own kind.
If your trying to avoid the cliche stakes or sun, then I would say fire, silver or a weapon that has been blessed by some god or demon.
