Vampires are the dumbest monster. They can’t enter a home without being invited, are repulsed by an easily drawn “t”, get burned by an aromatic and can’t go out in the sun. Just the dumbest monster.
That has a lot to do with their origins. The fae also can’t enter your home without being invited, but they’re really, really good at getting people to invite them in.
Interestingly, the part about mirrors is also linked to the fae. The fae were believed to be harmed by silver, and silver had a lot of ‘magical’ powers. Since mirrors were made with silver, it kinda made sense that vampires couldn’t see themselves in a mirror. But modern mirrors have aluminum backs (IIRC), so a vampire should be able to see their own reflection, no?
Also, garlic seems to depend on the origin on the vampire. Eastern European vampires were believed to be incredibly OCD; if you dumped out a handful of mustard seeds in front of them, they would feel compelled to count all of them.
I always liked the Salem’s Lot vampires for this reason.
Repelled by the faith in the power of good behind the symbols, not the symbols themselves. Catholic priest who is a broken man tries it with a cross but his faith fails and he gets rekt.
Must be invited in, but really good at hypnotizing people especially if they are asleep. Also, once they become vampires they go after their own family first, who are more suggestible (“I had a dream our boy was still alive…”).
I think the point of all that is the allegory. Which is the point of the monster; linking it to real ideas in your life and personifying your fears to tell indirect stories about them.
‘Thing that just kills you a bunch and is scary’ is a much smaller vein of good stories to mine.
Vampires are the dumbest monster. They can’t enter a home without being invited, are repulsed by an easily drawn “t”, get burned by an aromatic and can’t go out in the sun. Just the dumbest monster.
That has a lot to do with their origins. The fae also can’t enter your home without being invited, but they’re really, really good at getting people to invite them in.
Interestingly, the part about mirrors is also linked to the fae. The fae were believed to be harmed by silver, and silver had a lot of ‘magical’ powers. Since mirrors were made with silver, it kinda made sense that vampires couldn’t see themselves in a mirror. But modern mirrors have aluminum backs (IIRC), so a vampire should be able to see their own reflection, no?
Also, garlic seems to depend on the origin on the vampire. Eastern European vampires were believed to be incredibly OCD; if you dumped out a handful of mustard seeds in front of them, they would feel compelled to count all of them.
So, they’re polite and can’t stand people who pretend to be Christian.
I always liked the Salem’s Lot vampires for this reason.
That is a bit more interesting.
I think the point of all that is the allegory. Which is the point of the monster; linking it to real ideas in your life and personifying your fears to tell indirect stories about them.
‘Thing that just kills you a bunch and is scary’ is a much smaller vein of good stories to mine.