What type of vampire do you like most? Do you want them to be mindless killing machines, monsters that can think but can’t exactly pass as human, or something perfectly capable of blending in with humanity? Or should there be stages? Would they become mindless killing machines after they’ve drank too much blood? Or when they haven’t had enough?
For example, in Priest they’re completely mindless, mostly just animals. Yet in 30 Days of Night they’re human-shaped but don’t hide or blend in with humans (or even speak human languages). And… I couldn’t think of a good example of an aristocratic vampire so I went with Interview with the Vampire. I know there are lots of other aristocratic vampires but couldn’t think of a good example of one that can blend in perfectly well with humans.
Sometimes vampires can change their type, too. Like in Daybreakers, where vampires are mostly human but going too long without blood essentially turns them feral and they lose all sense of humanity. In that movie, feeding on yourself even accelerates the decline. But then there are other stories (can’t remember a good example right now) where the longer you live as a vampire the more you slowly lose pieces of yourself and your humanity. And then there are still other stories where a vampire can mostly pass for human except when they get caught up in a bloodlust and temporarily lose all control.
So which form of vampire do you think is best? I don’t really have an answer to this, I just like thinking about all the various forms and stages of vampires there can be. And all are valid. There’s no wrong way to do vampires… except maybe Twilight. (Ha, I just wanted to make a joke there.)
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I think vampires work best when they are indistinguishable from humans at first glance. That’s part of what makes them work at all. It’s a hidden threat. A monster within our midst.
The concept of an “other” that we can’t discern is deeply unsettling to humans in general, I believe.
Among us!!
I like when vampires are people right until they aren’t. They act just as they would, but with different motives. Unconsciously maneuvering themselves into a position to strike. Then it’s like turning one’s back on a big cat. Prior to this the vampire/cat might have thought of you as a friend, but its prey drive overwhelms any sentimentality. They’ll try to make justifications afterward and excuse themselves of blame. A vampire’s “humanity” is entirely subject to their base nature and many of them are in denial of that.
I want to see a work of fiction when every vampire is bad in nature, except the one the humain characters made friend this. But after a few peripeties, some deaths and many hardships, the “nice” vampire turns on them and we realise that actually, he didn’t change: he was bad from the beginning getting close to the humans to manipulate them into his “bad vampire” long term plan.
I like the ones in the uncanny valley where the prey knows something is off but is drawn to the predator anyway. Checks out with some traditions presenting them as revenant perversions of their former selves asking their living loved ones to let them in, and the loved ones opening their doors kind of willingly and kind of aware what can happen.
An example can be The family of the Vourdalak maybe?
For raw and primal I prefer werewolves instead.
I really liked the way Nosferatu handled the origin, monstrosity, and nature of the vampire. Clearly human, but cursed, undead and unnatural. Purposeful and not mindless. Almost like a wizard who traded his soul for power. I’m not into eccentric, beautiful, emo vampires.
Personally, I prefer the way White Wolf Publishing’s Vampire, The Masquerade RPG handled it back in the day.
You had various sophisticated clans that exhibited ranged traits “inherited” from their sires. Some we’re more brutish and animalistic, others were methodical and plotting. They all we’re vying for power of their world.
The system was a fun, but skewed mirror of human society that evenly accounted for the endless facets of vampire lore and origin. Some were crazy, some were misshapen horrors, some were artists, some were aristocrats, but all could lose themselves to their basic nature.
came to say basically this. although I think they also had the thing were the older you were the more inhuman you became right. like most players were in the low hundreds but you get to a thousand and its not the same.
I think once you got past the Elder age and into the Methuselah stage, you started losing the last remaining vestiges of your human nature. I think most lost their minds due to the toll of living that long, but I don’t remember it changing their physical form.
even younger ones had no pulse and were cold to the touch and eerily pale and you had to channel the blood you drank to appear human. I was under the impression that got worse in old age.
I think they should look human at first glance but be wrong if someone takes a minite to actually look at them. I prefer intelligent and human-ish but alien ones, that lack any inhibitions and morality. Feral ones are great too. They might be able to talk, but there can’t be any society of vampires.
Ooo, that’s another aspect I should’ve mentioned… Whether a vampire society should exist or not. That’s an interesting one.
I love vampires societies. We can imagine a very complex one, with different system coexisting. Like, their is a queen, but also clans and some have pledge to her and some have not. And lone vampire and nests… To me the vampire is by nature a societal monster. The few that can’t live close to other vampires for any reasons ends up trying to get close to humans to build relationships.
Dunno vampire high society to me looks like a joke, they are corpses that move as long as they consume blood/life/essence of others, there is no place for refined or realistically any society beyond aknowledging existence of others. They barely survive, that is not benefical to any kind of complex society.
Other monsters like fairies or elves seem to me the kind to form complex societies.
I don’t see high society as in there is the elite and the pleg but more as there is people they can always come back to, be it elders, sires or something else.
To me a vampire is always craving and because of that it is always craving a bond. Whether he want company despite his suffering or more cruelly want people to suffering with him.Bram Stoker’s Dracula had 3 wifes but he should to go to London because it was the place when there is the most people and agitation, a place where he could feed and turn as much as he wished.
Here’s my head canon.
A vampire’s strength and intelligence is dependent on three factors. The power of the sire, and the amount of blood consumed when they turn give them their start, and existing a long time increases their power.
If you have a newly turned vampire bite someone and then share blood, you’ll have two weak vampires, each little better than a zombie.
If a weak, newly turned vampire turns someone, but the new vampire has a dozen people to feast on, the second vampire will be stronger than the sire, but still not be very powerful. They will retain their original intelligence and be able to make long term plans. No shape changing or strong hypnotic powers.
If an old master turns a human the new vampire will be intelligent. If the only blood they get is the master’s, they won’t be very strong. They will be able to follow complex orders and make plans, but will always be a thrall to the master.
If an old master turns a human and provides them with a big meal they will be almost as strong as the master. Smart, independent, and able to shapechange and control humans.
So, a weak vampire could sire someone and the new vampire would be stronger than the master if they had a few dozen people to dine on.
That’s quite thorough. Have you seen these rules used (or at least, not actively broken) in any vampire media? Or does this only exist in your head? I could see Vampire: The Masquerade reaching this level of detail but I don’t know its rules.
Thanks. I was just playing around with the idea. Honestly, I could have gone way further down the rabbit hole.
I really liked the version in Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff (and its sequel Empire of the Damned).
First of all, it’s a coin toss whether a vampire turns out to be a feral, rotting undead or an intelligent, beautiful monster. Then, vampires also become stronger and more inhuman the older they are.
I favor the Dresden Files/Fright Night interpretation. They are powerful, intelligent, inhuman monsters, but have a limited shapeshifting ability to adopt a human voice and appearance. Some versions give them a fey uncanny beauty depending on how sexy the author wants the story to be, but they convincingly pass as human until they start tapping into their inhuman abilities.
