Jan
12
Standard, time honored rules that define a vampire
January 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Vampires are anything but standard. Although it is true that when asked about “what is a vampire” that most people here in America will imagine sexy, blood drinking vampires as depicted on HBO’s series True Blood, Eric Northman and Vampire Bill are hardly comparable to their mythological counterparts. As enjoyable a show it may be, they are a far cry from what a vampire is.
According to lore, there is no such thing as a set “standard” when it comes to vampires, they are not like pedigree dogs which are defined and judged by their conformity to a collection of man-made rules and ideals. Vampires were created out of our fear, and it is what we are afraid of that governs how a vampire acts.
Vampires most commonly are the reanimated corpses of deceased human beings. How the corpse has come to have something resembling life, and how much awareness the abomination has varies from culture to culture and has changed over time. Vampires are also notorious carriers of diseases and plagues and are said to be capable of causing droughts and sterility in livestock. When taking into account these horrific aspects of the creature it is quite the wonder as to how and why we ever came to see them as a pitiable soul, let alone a sexually desirable companion.
Common among the many species of vampires are their consumption of human flesh or blood. Although there are not really any myths that specifically say that vampires must feed every single day to sustain their undeath, it makes a kind of sense to assume that it is so. After all, humans and animals need, or at least prefer, to eat every day, so it must also be true of vampires.
Equally as common among the vampire are descriptions of long sharp teeth and nails, but this should not be surprising in the least to anyone. Vampires are often painted as being strict carnivores, and having the dull and rounded teeth and fibrous fingernails that we humans have would be of very little use to a creature that needs to be an efficient hunter and killer. Even when the vampire of TV is shown to have two long pitchfork-like canines that pop-out just moments before feeding, I suspect that they would not be enough to enable the creature a long life. I’m not saying that it is impossible to kill a person with a fork, I’m just saying that it is not the most efficient means by which to do so.
People also assume that vampires are susceptible to sunlight and that their flesh will combust into inextinguishable flames if they spend even a moment in it. Although this is true for a scant few species of vampires, it is hardly the case for the larger portion. The mythology of the Greek vampires claim that vampires are most powerful during the noon hour. I suspect that vampire chose not go out during the day because should a person see one I suspect that every attempt to raise an alarm and destroy the creature would be made. It’s an advantage for them to become a nocturnal hunter, as we humans have horrible night vision.