So my main writing project is for a, superficially, pretty familiar modern dark fantasy, hidden world type series. One of the things I am concerned with is trying to stand out and be thought provoking without losing the core aspects of that genera type that I like. The world as it is now features an assortment of fantasy races focused on a theme of occult style, European witchcraft era mythology, with demons, vampires, werewolves, sorcerers and faeries. One of my questions is how to portray vampires. As an iconic, popular legend in a large amount of the kind of folklore/mythology I'm interested in, and a versatile and interesting fantasy race, I feel that I should use them, and one of my planned main characters is a vampire. But given they are so common in modern fiction, what things should I avoid in their portrayal to make them not feel cheap or stereotypical? And what things should be there in order to preserve the identity of vampires? For example, would it be specifically better to err more towards the original folklore than the modern fiction? Or does it not really matter? A Few Things I Am Avoiding Currently -Inherently or necessarily evil I want vampires to be able to good more so than just in spite of being a vampire, potentially even in some ways being good because they are a vampire. This is not to say that I intend to portray them as perfectly decent, they will still be overall more inclined to darkness, but rather they will be compared to ordinary humans, in that we all have darkness too, and maybe we aren't so different in the end. -Weakness to holy water, crosses etc. Though I intend to explore religion as a theme, I don't want to include such specific religious elements, especially when this idea also plays into vampires being inherently evil. -Needs an invitation This has always felt like a rather contrived idea and not very believable to me. What's so special about people's residences, and their specific permission and why are vampires susceptible to it? -No reflection Pretty much a gimmick I figure, and doesn't make a whole load of sense as to why it would be so. -Weakness to garlic and/or certain herbs Also feels kind of contrived. What's so special about particular plants? -Strong vulnerability to sunlight As far as I can tell in my brief research, there is little basis for a weakness to sunlight in the original folklore, and it is largely a modern invention. It also does feel like a major barrier to vampires blending in. I do feel like it's so common in modern fiction though, and a convenient enough way to give vampires some particular weaknesses, that I should include to a limited extent. -No heartbeat, breathing, can't eat any food or drink These feel like they make things perhaps a little to difficult for vampires to blend in. I intend to give them a heartbeat and breathing, but slower than usual by default- requiring effort to raise to normal- and they don't need it to survive. Similarly I think they should be able to eat and drink normally, but it takes some effort to stomach it, and they can't gain true sustenance from it. A Few Things I Am Currently Including -Need to drink blood This seems like a necessity to me, and I don't think it has any real problems. I also intend to use it as an parallel to drug addiction to some extent. -Created from living humans by other vampires Also seems like a necessity to me. Allowing them to be born in some instances, for example, seems to take away from what vampires are about for me. -Ageless Also seems like a necessity. I could have it be mostly ageless, living for very long, but at a certain point it doesn't really make a difference and I don't really see the point. -Super strength, healing, speed, and senses Simple enough and appropriate for me. It also plays up the predator, stalking aspect. -Mental powers Vampires are supposed to be clever and manipulative, not just violent and destructive. -Weakness to fire and beheading Fire and beheading both feel like very easy choices for ways to kill vampires.
I've done some research into the real-life mythology and lore behind vampires and can give more insight into them. They're inherently evil in the original stories and mythology because originally they weren't people. The first ones were blood-drinking demons, and the original concept of vampires was demon-possessed corpses. That explains the inherent evil and how holy objects repelled them. Things like garlic repelling them came from how garlic is said to repel mosquitoes - another blood-sucker (albeit not demonic and less dangerous). Some of the other herbs were tied to holy symbolism or the idea of cleansing or repelling evil, like Crosses and Holy Water. The no reflection was part of their souless nature, and the weakness to sunlight came from Dracula and Nosferatu; originally vampires were just nocturnal in the mythology. The lack of heartbeat and no eating or drinking made sense as they're supernatural monsters or undead and don't need substance (though there are accounts in stories of vampires requesting ordinary food). It depends what route you want to take with your vampires; I personally find it odd that you're bringing in vampires, demons and other supernatural and occult elements, while also exploring religion a bit, but not keeping the core of what vampire are originally since it's tied to those things - unholy dangerous things that should not exist. I think the idea of using the vampire thirst for blood to parallel drug addiction is interesting. Perhaps you could add a commentary about the corrupting influence of drugs. The other aspects can work; will the stake through the heart still work?
But that doesn't work well as a more human-esque fantasy race. Granted, one could say you shouldn't do that but it has been established as a common notion now and the idea of an "evil" race that's a little more complicated and variable than just monsters is more interesting. Especially given their human tends to evoke this possibility of more humanity.
You're right about the idea being interesting. Even in the original mythology, vampires had some variation in methods if not goals. On that note; what do you think of Tolkien's Orcs? They're an always evil race but had variation and individuals with personalities. How about keeping the vampires always evil, and with the supernatural abilities, but giving them different goals, methods and personalities? Perhaps making it a curse rather than demonic possession.
I'm not going to be exploring religion as a theme in a particularly favourable to religion way, for reference (but it's not going to be 'religion is bad' either, so you know). The main vampire character I mentioned, in particular, does not look highly upon organised religion. As far as keeping the core of what vampires are originally, there are two reasons for my approach to this. The first is that I like taking vampires which are generally seen as evil, and which will appear superficially evil in the series, and exploring whether or not they are truly evil at heart. It's not going to be an obvious answer, and although the main vampire character I mentioned will eventually come to find peace with it, it's far from an easy or short road up to that point, and it's still not a situation without its difficulties. Vampires in general will still certainly be dangerous. The second point is that vampires have a bad history- in that they were initially created as evil creatures, servants of the demons- who are the common enemy of most of the other races- but that they have since been freed for their control. One of the interesting results of this is they are still largely not trusted; many fear they will one day be taken control of by the demons again. And unfortunately, this bad reputation only makes them behave worse by making them more isolated and giving weight to the claims of those among them that want to be more evil. I find that to be a more interesting story than vampires being inherently evil creatures- I like playing with that narrative. Not only will blood be used as a parallel for drugs, actual recreational drugs will be thrown into the mix too. I like combing the real darker elements of society with the supernatural ones; compare and contrast directly. Staking through the heart with ordinary wood will not do much. A silver stake will immobilize them. A stake made of wood from a Nemeton tree, which are made by druids and the faeries, will kill them outright, and doesn't necessarily have to be through the heart, though that is the preferred method. Removing the heart from the body will also kill them. I am thinking of doing it this way partly because in the original folklore, wooden stakes are often referred to as being specific to certain kinds of wood, and linking that the concept of Nemetons makes more sense to me than just some random type of tree, and more than just any type of wood.
Ironically, you said you're not putting a focus on any religion, but druids are part of an organized religion as well - various types of Paganism (albeit ones not practiced anymore), so keeping Holy Water repelling them would be similar to using the Nemeton tree's wood as a stake that can kill vampires outright where a stake made from other materials. Revealing whether or not vampires are evil over time could work, but this begs the question, if they were created by demons to be evil how did they overcome that? Originally some of the certain types of wood killing them was also linked to religious (mainly Christian) aspects and symbolism; eg, Hawthorn was said to repel them and kill them representing the crown of thorns on Christ's head. This sounds like it has potential, while I don't like the idea of whitewashing actual evil, I personally like the idea of the struggle to overcome evil.
Druidic religion is not so much a living religion, and the elements we are talking about lean especially towards old mythology not modern religion. It's not that I'm adverse to Christian related elements- I have demons after all- but crosses and holy water feel more overtly religious to me than either demons or nemetons. In creating them, the demons had a natural connection to them that gave them power of them, a thrall. But, they were released en mass from the demon's thrall, and since then, the demons have both had less ability and desire to enthrall them- realising that humans aren't quite as easily corruptible as they thought. There will be more than a little bit of that. It will be an important theme with vampires, among other examples, of telling a story of overcoming one's on darker natures and finding a way to live with them without letting them control you. Overall the focus of the story thematically is first and foremost about identity- what is important and where does it come from; humanity, good and evil, bravery, intelligence, power etc.
Please, please please do not make your vampires twilightesque! I have been recently watching shadow hunters - mortal instruments on Netflix. The portrayal of vampirism seems to me rather boring. I like the portrayal of vampires in Interview with a vampire, queen of the damned, underworld, blade and yes even possibly buffy the vampire slayer. What you could do is let your readers decide whether they are good or bad. Allow the vampires humanity to wrestle with the demonic side and see who wins. The other thing which I don't think is done to death (excuse the pun) so is not inherently a cliché is to make the vampires effectively the guys in charge of the world, in an almost mafia type way like in underworld, Human leaders just being puppets or sires. The thing is that vampires do come across as being a bit cliché. But the reason for this IMO is because the kind of seductive, blood lust and sexual connection of vampirism is alluring for most people as it represents the primordial and uninhibited side of the human persona, which we all can connect to and we all try and hide (at day time at least). It is amazing how people who are rational, inhibited during the day all of a sudden become this wild feral beings at night especially after a few drinks.
My plan is it will definitely be a struggle and it won't be an easy or simple answer as to whether they are good or bad. My personal perspective on how I will be doing it is that they are pretty comparable to humans, and they can be just as bad or just as good, but I intend for it to be complicated and debatable, such that not everyone will agree with my exact perspective. That won't be how it works. There are a number of other groups that are at least as powerful.
You said the story you're writing is a modern day fiction. I dont know the backrounds of all the other ficitonal creatures, but maybe you could have the Vampires be the high class society of modern day. They say that today, 1% of the people in the world hold over half the overall monetary wealth. And its probly been this way for awhile, or similar to this way, since the beginning of civilization. I could very well picture a vampire race being these one percent of people. You could say a family, or organization of Vampires that have been in existence since the dawn of civilization, and still exist today. Just as immortal as they day they were created. These vampires conduct themselves in a certain manner, and have certain indentifiable qualities about them. For example, they for the most part are strictly solitary peoples, but every once in awhile, for certain reasons, they have meetings in which they all gather and discuss the status of present life of civilization. Or maybe high class vampires would be alittle overcooked for your tastes. Idk.
I do intend currently for their to be an element of this, but spread across the races, not just vampires. Most notably, among the witch/warlock covens which I intend to have a strong element of traditionalist nobility, in a more corporate sense with the leader of the group which the main cast belongs to, and broadly in the members of the central governing body of the hidden supernatural world. I prefer this for several reasons, mainly that I want the vampires to have a somewhat more feral, animalistic side as well as a side of nobility, and that the sense of a secret controlling order to be part of the broader supernatural world, being essential to how I envision this whole secret society operates. I do have one of the major villains being an age old group of vampires- a noble house- lead by two vampires both more than 850 years old. They are participants in the central governing body I mentioned earlier, although they are notably against some of the fundamental policies of that order. Info on that governing body: "The Seat of Vitrus is officially the ultimate authority of the occult world, a organisation combining the separate groups of sorcerers (witches/warlocks, oracles and druids), darkbreeds (werewolves, vampires and halfblood demons) and fae folk (faeries, elves, nymphs etc). It was designed as an open organisation, where it’s members and supporters could retain most of their independence and previous ways, while allowing a way for them to come together for common interest. Decisions are made by members of the council- who are all independently leaders of their own communities, but come to the council to represent them in matters that concern all the groups. In practicality, the Seat of Vitrus is slightly weaker still, as a lot of supposed followers are allowed to deviate from the will of the council in fear of provoking war, and matters that, according to the Seat of Virtus’ manifesto, should be attended to, are left unchecked. Some do not believe in the utility of the Seat of Vitrus at all. Nevertheless, the Seat of Vitrus is a vital part of the occult world."
I mentioned this in another thread on the subject, but Varney the Vampire was a penny dreadful about a vampire that pre-dates Dracula. In it the vampire was a pleasant and even remorseful. The idea is as mentioned by others in the thread, but I have contended the idea that vampires who adapt to the feral side and accept it can tame it while those who do not cannot. For me, I made the caveat that they have lost their power as faith in vampires dwindled, as for garlic, I believe they are an ingredient in folk medicine, silver is listed as powerful against the supernatural and is proven to have antibacterial properties for example. I don't know where this comes from either, Some traditional remedies against the supernatural, as mentioned, are proven to have properties to help the human body with infection. We still use honey to soothe sore throats for example. In Bram Stoker's novel and Frances Ford-Coppola's adaptation, Dracula walks down a London street in broad daylight. It's implied he cannot use his power during the day, and it might have to do with the fact that the sun is a god in ancient cultures so it might be tied to them being undead in that sense. I've read stories that they return to a corpse like state during the day so I play on that to an extent (minor scene where someone thinks he's dead and wakes him up when she screams) My solution for this is that they have the illusion of a pulse and breathing while they were awake, which is cast aside when they sleep. I also implied they could handle food that is light on the stomach. This part sounds like the idea for Being Human. "Humans are like dogs, vampires are like cats." cropped into my head one day when I was mulling over the topic. In short, I'm making it possible but not easy. I've noticed that the higher up the food chain you go, the longer the animal tends to live, so this makes sense to me too. I mentioned this on another thread which focuses on the YA area, but I do feel these are mandated to a degree because predators tend to be stronger than their prey. I agree on this one as well. I will note that in reality hypnosis cannot make someone break their personal sense of right and wrong, this is a limit I added. Creates a need to add some thought and care to their handiwork. I agree, I'm also going to quote the mother of the protagonist in Karin or Chibi Vampire and point out that "Such a thing would kill anyone!"
"Adapting to and accepting the feral side" is very fitting for how the journey of my main vampire character goes. It goes ultimately in a direction reminiscent of Eastern philosophy, in pursuing a harmonious whole from opposing sides, in a ying-yang way. An idea I want to explore here is whether there is a valuable place for a certain kind of darkness in the world and in ourselves. I can see how historically garlic came to be thought of as working against vampires, that makes sense, but it makes a little less sense to me to actually do it and especially so when it's one of the more sort of kitsch elements of vampire lore. Silver feels a little more suitable to me, and especially I like that I can use it for werewolves and demons as well, as a nice tie in for these races as they are supposed to be connected in my world. I am currently working with them being able to walk in the sun as long as they stay in their human appearance (i.e. no fangs and red eyes and such). But they are still a little sensitive to sunlight, and as long as they stay in human form, they are slightly weakened. They can only stay in human form for a limited, though fairly long, time. Well it's a good idea and very fitting to my interest in having a heavy presence of real world issues. I'm considering having half vampires that are naturally born, but I'm not sure how I'd do it. It's important for me that the moral restriction isn't there. It's significant to the story of the main vampire character I keep mentioning, and a major general theme about free will and the morality of choice and action.
I don't think there's a right or wrong answer because vampires don't exist, so anything wrote about them is simply folklore or from people's imagination, so you could practically do whatever you want with them ... One word - Twilight. Those vampires didn't have a problem with sunlight killing them, they had a problem with sunlight revealing their true nature. I would look at all the attributes of vampires through the ages, and then pick out the ones that you want to have and discard the others. Every vampire story has something slightly different in it regarding how they are formed, what they eat, how they live/love/bite and how they die. From sleeping upside down with feet turning into claws and eating Chinese food (The Lost Boys), to being able to transform into other versions of themselves (Bram Stoker's Dracular), to blowing up in sunlight, (Blade), to having sexual relationships that leave the bed totally trashed, (Twilight - the later books), to having pointy ears and long fingernails (Nosferatu), living with a non-vampire, (Midnight Texas) and so on ... Find the attributes that work best with your story.
In Bram Stoker's novel and Frances Ford-Coppola's adaptation, Dracula walks down a London street in broad daylight. It's implied he cannot use his power during the day, and it might have to do with the fact that the sun is a god in ancient cultures so it might be tied to them being undead in that sense. I've read stories that they return to a corpse like state during the day so I play on that to an extent (minor scene where someone thinks he's dead and wakes him up when she screams) @S A Lee (copied from above a I don't know how to quote a small section) If he can't use his power during the day, how did he transform himself into the young looking prince to walk down the London street? If you notice, he's actually fully clothed, wearing sunglasses, long hair and a top hat for shade (not that you need much shade in foggy smoggy London) and I think he also uses his ESP powers to make Mina turn and look at him ...
@cutecat22 next to the video insert code there's an option to post the section in quotes, the alternative is to quote the whole thing and delete it afterwards. If I recall Dracula maintains his youthful state by drinking blood. It's not a transformation like changing into a wolf or bat.
Knowing my luck, I'd delete the bit I wanted to copy! (I'm not very tech-minded, I only threw out my 3.5inch floppys last week!) On the Dracula thing, I'm trying to remember ... I'll have to pull the book out and look it up ... (got a haunting picture in my mind of Gary Oldman staring at me over those circular glasses ...)
Ctrl+z works, though this forum has an undo button too I know he feasted on the crew of the boat he boarded to go to London. But reversing the ageing process never seems to be listed as a power, just shape shifting, hypnosis and superhuman parameters.
My reading specifically gave me the impression he is energised and rejuvenated by recent feeding and this is one of the reasons vampires feed on blood. Using that scene as reference I have vampires in my urban fantasy be able to walk in sunlight when recently fed with blood.
In my case, it's that this is how they tame the instincts, which they liken to having a wild beast sharing their body. If they do not keep it in check, they go on a rampage. Your concept of giving that darkness a place does sound interesting though. Makes sense, the lore goes it exists on the planes of the dead as well as those of the living so that is why it's good against spirits. My little brother dissected the assertion on Stephenie Meyer's part that all bodily fluids in her vampire bodies were flammable. The body is mostly water. Indeed, mine leans more to the human tendency to villainise and the potential consequences of not separating what someone could be from what they are. Remember my previous point? Part of cat mating is making the female ovulate. It was the easiest way to address the fertility window issue. That's fair enough, I found the point rather interesting but if the point of the plot has no room for it that's fine too.
Not necessarily a great example, but an example of how you can change certain thing to maintain the vampire bit, but tailor the traits to enhance your story.
There are a few options, lower tolerance to the sun's heat, beginnings of thirst, a minor reaction on exposed skin. Before people can see my eczema on my hands for example, the skin feels tight so I know I need to add more moisturiser.
