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Vampires drink blood - usually. Apart from that, their supernatural abilities and weaknesses are completely up to the universe they're place in, referencing the vast and sometimes contradicting vampiric canon.

Lately, weaknesses to crucifixes and garlic have gone out of style, and some vampires aren't even dead. Underworld vampires are susceptible to sunlight but not silver, and Hellsing is one of the few modern adaptations where vampires can turn into bats in a non-comedic way.

So,
-What unusual lore have you come across, and did it work?
-What neglected traits would you like to see?
-What overused traits would you rather see ditched?*


*Thread rule: I don't want to see the "T" word. Or the "E.C" word. Please just don't bring them up. cool

Not sure what the EC word is, so...

- Garlic. It's way over used.

- Holy water. See above.

- Having to be invited inside. I can see this working if, like, there was an existing ward around a house. But if it's a standard house, nah. We're not living in the old days anymore when they probably DID put a ward around every house.

Interesting I do like your thought process on grave dirt and new land.

Water has always been a curious one. In some stories natural water is considered holy. So crossing rivers, oceans and streams was difficult for a vampire. Though I am sure not impossible. In some situations I have seen rain harm vampires (in factitious works). All of these natural water dangers can be easily over looked in a modern setting. One might merely have to say that man has soiled all natural water sources.

I have seen them use the OCD mythos in an episode of the X files. The same concept of distraction was used in "The leprechaun". Watching an evil character look up with the "Oh I am going to get you. As soon as I pick up or count these things," is a bit silly. Distracting you enemy just long enough to destroy them is quite helpful.

I can see why it's so easy to debunk a lot of this stuff. I wished that writers or film directors gave more reasons why they eliminate a weakness or rule. The cliche "The stories are not as accurate as you think," is getting quite old.

I recall that vampires where supposed to be able to transform into wolves and bats. You don't see the wolf option much. Perhaps this is so we don't confuse them with were wolfs? I was thinking a blood sucking wolf might be interesting. Especially when it's got a hold of someones leg. Imagining a character that drops dead after the wolf let them go. "What the heck. He just got a little dog bite. He wasn't even bleeding. Why is he dead?"

Like a Britta water filter? lol! That would be great to have in a vampire parody movie/fic.

Since land = life back in the day, and where you came from dictated practically everything about your life, having vampires be tied to the land makes sense. But like Gorenza said, it's not used much nowadays. It would be nice to see it used in unique ways. Like maybe vampires only have power in their country, or that they were originally created to be guardians of their homelands?

Gorenza, the rain thing makes me think of Invader Zim!

Oooh, I see now.




... neutral ... crying Go ahead, Sir Catherine, tell us how you really feel. Aw, now you went and hurt Asaph's feelings!

Heh, I agree with you that they're rarely done well. If you're going to mix something, you have to give weaknesses to balance the powers. For instance, Asaph is pretty much a vampire with a suped up wolf/beast form who can eat raw meat. Also, he old, so he's got more power. He has limits, though. He can't do mind control, can't change into bats, can't summon the hellhounds nearly as easily (he has to be almost dead), can't change into the beast form very often.

Haven't seen Lost Boys but I think I need to.


One neglected trait I'd like to see is the "powerless" daytime form of the older vamps. The burning in the sun thing is just really overused...

Yes, exactly. Though if you can bless a filter, by fanatical-vampire-hunter logic, I don't see why you couldn't just make a Holy Fire Engine.
...Section 13's real secret weapon. ninja

I quite like that guardian idea. There's always been an archetypal idea of sacrificing (blood) to higher powers for protection/fertility, which fits with the tie to the land. Humans could have been the ones to put the blood in the soil, even.

You have got to explain this book trauma, I beg of you! I love Scott Card's Ender's Game and the later books following the character of Bean. Didn't much care for his modern fantasy setting book that came out last year, though I did like the Norse mythology in it. Just not real big on fantasy and modern settings. Or...just not real big on current day, normal world, settings, I think. Yeah, I avoid general fiction, can you tell?
Anyway! I can't recall this title of his and you've got me curious. smile

I'veeeeeeeeeeeee
read mythos and fiction where Vampires were OCD with numbers and items. It had to do with more the catholic church's influence for a short time and the idea that devils or demons were repelled by certain numbers.

Vampires were also connected to bugs in various mythos usually parasitic bugs or bugs associated with decay. Others the myth would claim that insects were repulsed by the dead flesh which does had small and scare backing. Mist is the least common transformation, as is the youth transformation. (Where the vampire's appearance was less human or, the age of the vampire was physically reduced by the drinking of blood).

Running water can lend back to the idea of water being 'pure' on it's own. Defiled water was seen as things like ales, of where dead bodies had fallen in. I think this is also why other myths lend to water springs, (sources that came up from the earth often associated with life) are also considered 'pure' or 'holy' places.

As for wolf/vampire combo it's honestly something we see overdone yes, but it's very true to the original myths. Vampires were shape changers and wolves were considered blood thirsty killers. The two were associated with one another but few had direct connections. Bram was the one who lent the most to those in terms of modernizing the idea and since two mythos are very popular, modern media is going to play off of them, alas.
NGL though, considering the original myths had them working in tandem I minorly LOL @ when the modern s**t has them fighting.

-Wooden stakes come much like the water, from very older beliefs and later modernized by the church. Certain woods were more 'holy' and 'pure' than others, some had the power to ward off the dead or repel evil. Over time I think it became more to wooden in generalization.

I miss the more demonic aspect of vampirism which the actual body would become less appealing and more demonic/grotesque. I also have noticed in more modern media the child vampire or child undead, which were quite popular in some parts.

Certain myths vampires can only come out on certain days, usually tied to the lunar cycle and mysticism.

Vampire mentality. A VERY old idea was that vampires became more and more insane with age. Few modern ones cover this to the extent folk stories did, but I have noticed an up rise in the human mind theory. That after a certain point, the human mind does begin to crave death and humans are not made nor intended to outlive out natural lifespans. It's a theory that extends actually beyond vampire though, which is rather nice.

There has also been a drop in magically made vampires, and finding any with that as the base mythos has been difficult as of late.

Herb use outside of garlic. Like the wood and water, it caries its roots in pagan ideas and later catholic modernization. It's all but been forgotten.

-Land ties is also less used. Older myths said they HAD to return to the place of death, unless they die or be exposed/become normal corpses.

/RANDOM s**t SUP GORENZA
/11pm