I wonder how the vampire mythology has evolved through the times, cultures… from the ancient stories of the undead in Egypt, the legends in Europe, to the space vampires and Twilight… how we ended up with Twilight?… But we shouldn't forget the good old Blade… daywalker, semi-vampire, hunter of the undead… or if you prefer a more sensitive kind, I rather have Vampire Knight than Meyer's… but that's just probably me…

I know when the Vampire became associated with sexuality instead of disease. ‘The Vampyre’ by Polidori! Lord Ruthven is based on Lord Byron, the walking epitome of male sexuality (even though it was with a limp)!!

Well some mythology has it start with Adam's first wife Lilith. Read Genesis and you'll notice two creations of man and woman. One example ex niliho and the other with the dust and rib. Well Lilith was bad and too independent so she was cursed to be a blood sucking, baby killing terror by night

And often depicted with images of Ishtar /Astarte with her wings and bird feet. Turns out that she was also the original consort of Yahweh before the Hebrews became truly monotheistic. So they demonized the former goddess. That's how you revise a religion. The old gods are redefined as evil monsters. See also Christian and Hebrew apocrypha

But then this is only one version of many.

Completely Unrelated has the the vampire Ebony as one of the main trio of characters. Funny charactor.
How did vampire legends begin?
Well given that various cultures around the world have legends of different kinds of vampires probably a variety of reasons.
One possible cause would be narcolepsy, where someone goes into a deathlike coma and is believed to be dead… then they get up. Which would be rather unnerving.
Aspects of vampire legends, such as vampires having to be invited in before they can enter would seem to be a warning about being careful about who, or what, you let into your life/household/country/etc.
I suppose the most interesting thing about vampire literature is how it was created, then quickly became a joke, then a fellow named Bram Stoker wrote a novel about some guy named Dracula…
As for Twilight's sparkling vampires, the story I heard was that the author hadn't read much (any?) vampire fiction and wanted a reason why vampires stay out of sunlight, so she thought a good explanation would be to have them sparkle. Yeahhhhhh…

I haven't read any of them at all, but according to a book of monsters I have the most popular books in the 19th century about vampires were Varny the Vampire. There were lots of stories in the series and it helped to make up a lot of the modern myths about them. I think they ranged from drama to Comedy…. It does sound interesting, but often 19th century fantasy is a bit lame.

With Twilight I've read often that it started out as aa fanfiction to Anne Rice vampire books.
And regarding her version with the sparkles: vampires ate always changing their abilities, only the blood sucking is original, all the rest like being killed by daylight, getting hurt by Holly water and crosses, needing to be staked or beheaded are artistic license and can change with the author.
Like the Charby version where they're actually a type of demon. :)

My next Playmobil comic features an insomniac vampire who is always too tired at night to do evil. He is a minor character, however.

I enjoy playing in the Vampire world for Bloodbound, Though mine I try to portray as being biolgial rather than supernatural.. though part of their evolution is that they have some supernatural abilities. Same as demons weres etc.
I also mucked around with some of the mythologies, like Lilith, and Nyx etc, I got sick of the way they were always all powerfull and that they were behind society and running it in secret, and they turn you into one, etc. Soo with mine.. you may end up working beside one without knowing for all your life, But if one does bite you… you wont become one.
But when Mommy Vampire and Daddy vampire love eachother very much…..

Vary the Vampire was from a type of popular fiction known as the Penny Dreadful. Sort of like a version of the cheap popular literary magazines with recurring characters and the later pulp magazines. I'very read a couple and they're typical adventure serialstuff.

@ozone: Just the ones we've seen anyway! Demon is used pretty broadly in the comic, much like “Faerie” encompasses fairies, elves, dwarves, goblins and trolls. There's vampiric fairies, and vampires from other cultures that define it differently from a demon as well.
But yes the major species focused on in my comic, or those who are born vampires, have demon ancestory, save for those who were bitten and become vampires as I wouldn't consider them demons, per se. The “Elites”/Ahn Keth are an entirely different story though, haha!

There's a whole cosmology that I've yet to get into in-comic (which will probably just remain background stuff for a long time, it's simply there to keep the universe consistent) but the basic principle I go by is folklore/regional variations are all valid for different vampire species, while fictional works such as Dracula, Nosferatu, Twilight, Anne Rice's stuff, remain fictional works that characters are aware of. But they won't go complaining about it because that's been done to undeath! It's a trope of vampire media I've come to despise, the “um well actually, vampires are really like–” lecture whenever someone tries to use a vampire repellent that the author has decided is bullcrap. It's cute how Supernatural tried to make fun of Twilight but their vampires are just as lazy! (And their werewolves are the WORST! but I don't watch it anymore after that one about the “”“”kitsune“”“”, extra quotations for my extra-disdain!)

I once had a vampire watermelon from Rromani lore in my comic too! It got cut from my original archive I posted here along with a LOT of stuff, but I'm reVamping my archives so it'll be back. Pumpkins can become “vampires” as well, because sometimes the rind (I think it has something to do with the sugars in it) develops a reddish splotchiness that looks like blood.
Y'know what vampire I'd like to see more people use is the penanggalan! A floating head with entrails dangling from the neck-hole, it's hilarious! The mananggal severs itself at the waist and flies off too, i love it.
(Oh no, look what you've done, I'm posting things, in the forum! *shakes fists*)

Amelius wrote:
It's a trope of vampire media I've come to despise, the “um well actually, vampires are really like–” lecture whenever someone tries to use a vampire repellent that the author has decided is bullcrap. It's cute how Supernatural tried to make fun of Twilight but their vampires are just as lazy! (And their werewolves are the WORST! but I don't watch it anymore after that one about the “”“”kitsune“”“”, extra quotations for my extra-disdain!)

I find that entertaining, actually… If I'm against religion, my vampires won't be affected by holly water, crosses, and the sorts. If I'm a bonr again Christian my vampires will have no effect on ‘saved’ Christians, and the vampires would be a symbol for sin, or demons… I don't like the Twilight take on vampires, but I found it somehow justified by the type of story. But what I really dislike is when the writer is just lazy and use such devices to got out of a problematic piot.

@tupapayon: Oh, it's not the artistic license I take umbrage with, it's the vampire stopping the story to “explain” to the protag/victim (the reader, actually) how vampires work in their particular universe/setting. It's usually pretty lousily handled exposition, it's overdone with vampires and sometimes werewolves get in on this. Yeah it's necessary if you're an author that says “eff the mythology, I'm making my own in-name-only original version” to explain it to the audience, but there's a better way to go about it than a villain monologue. :)
Definitely agree with you about using it as a lazy plot device! That's what I was trying to say actually (Haaaa I'm lousy at communicating though, sorry!)

I've always liked the explanation that it's not the holy symbol itself but the faith behind that holy symbol that stops a vampire. So a Christian who believes in the power of the cross (really a Catholic symbol, Protestants used to despise wearing of a crucifix) can stop a vampire just the same as a rabbi can stop one with the Star of David or a Muslim could with a Koran. And an atheist holds up a picture of Carl Sagan or Neil Degrasse Tyson. “BY THE POWER OF THE COSMOS I COMMAND YOU!”

It was in Fright Night where the vampire taunted “But you have to believe” when the guy held up the cross. There was another where the guy initially found the cross ineffective but it grew more effective as his faith in its power grew. Holy Water is a whole diferent thing as it is something specificially blessed by a faithful clergy. So a special copy of the Bible would be just as good or as in Dogma the cardinal's golf clubs.

That was one of the cool things about the Night Gallery bit with the Nazis against the vampires. The Nazis had replaced faith with their party and their perverted racial politics. So the SS were powerless against vampires. A similar story in Weird War Tales had the Americans saved by the battalion padre who was smart enough to arm everyone with tent stakes. (They're wood)

But isn't the swastika a holy symbol? Maybe to a Hindu or Southwest American Indian. That'd be crazy. A Navaho medicine man stopping a vampire with a swastika.

@bravo1102: Right on! Those are examples where I think they handled it right, taunting someone for their lack of willpower/belief whatnot is fine, and it makes for some good “OH CRAP!” moments for the audience.
What you described is more or less the approach I take, but like I mentioned earlier there's a different cosmology so it's complicated!

I guess in a way it's like staring down a bear, it probably knows it can take you down but you're standing your ground. What gives? Don't trust prey that doesn't run away!

I like in ‘From Dusk to Dawn’, when they're wanting the ex-Preacher guy to have Faith again so they can fight the vampires!!
.
Seth: So what are you, Jacob? A faithless preacher? Or a mean motherfuckin' servant of God?
.
Jacob: I'm a mean, mhm mhm servant of God.

Amelius wrote:
@tupapayon: Oh, it's not the artistic license I take umbrage with, it's the vampire stopping the story to “explain” to the protag/victim (the reader, actually) how vampires work in their particular universe/setting. It's usually pretty lousily handled exposition, it's overdone with vampires and sometimes werewolves get in on this. Yeah it's necessary if you're an author that says “eff the mythology, I'm making my own in-name-only original version” to explain it to the audience, but there's a better way to go about it than a villain monologue. :)
Definitely agree with you about using it as a lazy plot device! That's what I was trying to say actually (Haaaa I'm lousy at communicating though, sorry!)

I get it… exposition… just like in manga/anime fights when they stop in the middle of the fight to explain what technique they were going to use and justify a 20 minutes battle that should've ended 15 minutes ago… I guess it's more enjoyable in most stories (vampires, werewolves, etc) when they find ways of showing the background instead of telling me… Like the sensless wall of text in a comic…

KimLuster wrote:
I like in ‘From Dusk to Dawn’, when they're wanting the ex-Preacher guy to have Faith again so they can fight the vampires!!
.
Seth: So what are you, Jacob? A faithless preacher? Or a mean motherfuckin' servant of God?
.
Jacob: I'm a mean, mhm mhm servant of God.

I don't know… from that movie I only remember this:

tupapayon wrote:
I don't know… from that movie I only remember this:

Ah yes my muse!

And when it comes to holy symbols the Mr Vampire movies hit it out of the park with their complex Chinese sorcery. The little spell scrolls that the holy man throws that attach to the vampire's forehead and knock him out. That it is not so much the faith but the inscribed blessings that stop the vampire. The fact that a Chinese undertaker has to be knowledgable about fighting vampries.

That makes sense because who would be in the position to see the most vampires? The undertaker. He'd notice the long finger nails (we know its receding skin) and the sudden bright red pigmentation of the body (the blood coagulating or vessels breaking) and other tell-tale signs of vampirism in the recently dead. There are also indications that the way certain diseases killed people also led to the belief in undead vampire type beings. Comsumption and other infections of the respiratory system as well as certain types of blood diseases whould lead corpses that when umembalmed would show signs of “life” after burial.

There is also the hideous practical PTSD mentality that pervaded Europe after the Black Death. Grim Reapers were everywhere and suddenly Le Danse macabe or flaggellation was where it was at. And plagues weren't just once, someone could see a half dozen epidemic diseases sweep through an area in a lifetime. With so many hastily buried corpses and so little knowledge of how bodies decay or transform after death there's bound to be some who read too much into what happens. Then there were those who weren't as dead as everyone thought they were. So that'd also start tongues wagging. Hey you see that body they dug up? How twisted and contorted it was? Yeah and the hair and fingernails were longer! A bunch of babies died recently (SIDS) so it has to be vampires!