VAMPIRES

Vampire, in popular legend, a creature, often fanged, that preys upon humans, generally by consuming their blood. Vampires have been featured in folklore and fiction of various cultures for hundreds of years, predominantly in Europe, although belief in them has waned in modern times.

Characteristics

Because there is a long history of walking corpses and bloodsucking ghouls in folklore, it is difficult to pin down a distinct set of characteristics consistently attributed only to vampires. Central to vampire myth, however, is the consumption of human blood or other essence (such as bodily fluids or psychic energy), followed closely by the possession of sharp teeth or fangs with which to facilitate this task. In most depictions, vampires are “undead”—that is to say, having been somehow revived after death—and many are said to rise nightly from their graves or coffins, often necessarily containing their native soil. Vampires are typically said to be of pale skin and range in appearance from grotesque to preternaturally beautiful, depending on the tale. Another frequently cited physical characteristic is the inability to cast a reflection or shadow, which often translates into an inability to be photographed or recorded on film.

A person may become a vampire in a variety of ways, the most common of which is to be bitten by a vampire. Other methods include sorcery, committing suicide, contagion, or having a cat jump over a person’s corpse. Some people believed that babies born with teeth or on Christmas or between Christmas and Epiphany were predisposed to becoming vampires. While vampires usually do not die of disease or other normal human afflictions, and they are indeed often said to have faster-than-normal healing capabilities, there are various methods for their destruction. The most popular of those include a wooden stake through the heart, fire, decapitation, and exposure to sunlight. Vampires are often depicted as being repelled by garlic, running water, or Christian implements such as crucifixes and holy water. In some stories vampires may enter a home only if they have been invited, and in others they may be distracted by the scattering of objects such as seeds or grains that they are compelled to count, thereby enabling potential victims to escape.

History

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Creatures with vampiric characteristics have appeared at least as far back as ancient Greece, where stories were told of creatures that attacked people in their sleep and drained their bodily fluids. Tales of walking corpses that drank the blood of the living and spread plague flourished in medieval Europe in times of disease, and people lacking a modern understanding of infectious disease came to believe that those who became vampires preyed first upon their own families. Research from the 20th and 21st centuries has posited that characteristics associated with vampires can be traced back to certain diseases such as porphyria, which makes one sensitive to sunlight; tuberculosis, which causes wasting; pellagra, a disease that thins the skin; and rabies, which causes biting and general sensitivities that could lead to repulsion by light or garlic.

Vampire myths were especially popular in eastern Europe, and the word vampire most likely originates from that region. Digging up the bodies of suspected vampires was practiced in many cultures throughout Europe, and it is thought that the natural characteristics of decomposition—such as receding gums and the appearance of growing hair and fingernails—reinforced the belief that corpses were in fact continuing some manner of life after death. Also possibly contributing to this belief was the pronouncement of death for people who were not dead. Because of the constraints of medical diagnosis at the time, people who were very ill, or sometimes even very drunk, and in a coma or in shock were thought dead and later “miraculously” recovered—sometimes too late to prevent their burial. Belief in vampires led to such rituals as staking corpses through the heart before they were buried. In some cultures the dead were buried facedown to prevent them from finding their way out of their graves.

The modern incarnation of vampire myth seems to have stemmed largely from Gothic European literature of the 18th and 19th centuries, about the time vampire hysteria was peaking in Europe. Vampiric figures appeared in 18th-century poetry, such as Heinrich August Ossenfelder’s “Der Vampyr” (1748), about a seemingly vampiric narrator who seduces an innocent maiden. Vampire poems began appearing in English about the turn of the 19th century, such as John Stagg’s “The Vampyre” (1810) and Lord Byron’s The Giaour (1813). The first prose vampire story published in English is believed to be John Polidori’s “The Vampyre” (1819), about a mysterious aristocrat named Lord Ruthven who seduces young women only to drain their blood and disappear. Those works and others inspired subsequent material for the stage. Later important vampire stories include the serial Varney, the Vampire; or, The Feast of Blood (1845–47) and “The Mysterious Stranger” (1853), which are cited as possible early influences for Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), and Théophile Gautier’s “La Morte amoureuse” (1836; “The Dead Lover”) and Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1871–72), which established the vampire femme fatale.

Dracula is arguably the most important work of vampire fiction. The tale of the Transylvanian count who uses supernatural abilities, including mind control and shape-shifting, to prey upon innocent victims inspired countless works thereafter. Many popular vampire characteristics—such as methods of survival and destruction, vampires as aristocracy, and even vampires being of eastern European origin—were solidified in this popular novel and especially through its 1931 film adaptation starring Hungarian-born actor Bela Lugosi. The novel itself is thought by some to have been inspired in part by the cruel acts of the 15th-century prince Vlad III Dracula of Transylvania, also known as “the Impaler,” and Countess Elizabeth Báthory, who was believed to have murdered dozens of young women during the 16th and 17th centuries in order to bathe in or possibly drink their blood so as to preserve her own vitality.

Dracula in turn inspired the film Nosferatu (1922), in which a vampire was first depicted as being vulnerable to sunlight. Other aspects of the movie, however, were so similar to Stoker’s novel that his widow sued for copyright infringement, and many copies of the film were subsequently destroyed. For several decades the vast majority of vampire fiction, whether on page or stage or screen, showed the influence of Dracula. Both the novel and its film version spawned several direct sequels and spin-offs, including the film Dracula’s Daughter (1936) and a number of Hammer films, including Dracula (1958; also known as Horror of Dracula), which starred Christopher Lee in the title role. Vampires became popular characters in pulp magazines and appeared in stories such as the Sherlock Holmes tale “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire” (1924). In 2009 the original author’s great-grandnephew Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt published a sequel called Dracula: The Un-Dead using notes and excisions from Dracula.

In the 20th century vampires began to turn from being depicted as predominantly animalistic creatures and instead displayed a broader range of human characteristics. Ray Bradbury explored the sympathetic portrayal of what can be thought of as “monsters,” including vampires, in “Homecoming” (1946), a story about a “normal” boy with a family of fantastical creatures. The popular American television soap opera Dark Shadows (1966–71) featured a lovelorn vampire, Barnabas Collins. In 1975 Fred Saberhagen published The Dracula Tape, a retelling of Stoker’s story from the misunderstood villain’s point of view. Vampire fiction entered a new era, however, with the sympathetic portrayal by Anne Rice in her novel Interview with the Vampire (1976). Rice’s book introduced the world to vampires that were brooding and self-loathing and squabbled like humans. While Rice’s vampires were more vulnerable emotionally than vampires previously had been, they were less vulnerable physically—susceptible only to daylight and fire and the death of the first of their kind—and possessed superhuman beauty, speed, and senses. Interview with the Vampire was highly popular and sparked a revival of vampire fiction that lasted into the 21st century, and subsequent vampire stories continued to use characteristics established by Rice. Rice herself wrote several more books in what subsequently became known as the Vampire Chronicles, some of which were later adapted for film.

The vampire as a misunderstood romantic hero picked up steam in the later part of the 20th century, particularly in the United States. In 1978 Chelsea Quinn Yarbro began publishing her series of Count Saint-Germain books, the main character of which is a vampire of moral character whose bite is an erotic experience. In many tales vampires are characterized as promiscuous, their appetite for human blood paralleling their sexual appetite. In 1991 Lori Herter published Obsession, one of the first vampire novels to be categorized as romance rather than science fiction, fantasy, or horror. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a television show in which the title character has a star-crossed romance with a vampire, aired from 1997 to 2003. Vampire romances also appeared in the steamy HBO television series True Blood, based on Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse book series. Vampire romance for teens gained popularity at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st, with books such as the Vampire Diaries series by L.J. Smith and the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. The Twilight Saga, with its high-school romance and vampires that sparkle in the sun rather than bursting into flames, became a cultural sensation, ensuring a vampire trend for years to come. Vampire relationships of a different sort were explored in the novel Låt den rätte komma in (2004; Let the Right One In) by John Ajvide Lindqvist, in which the main characters are a perpetually childlike vampire and a young boy she befriends and helps fend off bullies. The book was adapted for film in Sweden in 2008 and in the United States as Let Me In in 2010.

Vampires also enjoyed popularity as unlikely action heroes. Blade, a half-vampire superhero who first appeared in comic books, was the focus of three films (1998, 2002, 2004). Another popular film series, Underworld (2003, 2006, 2009, 2012), explored an ongoing war between vampires and werewolves. Dracula himself (known instead as “Alucard”—Dracula spelled backward) even became an action hero in the Japanese manga and anime Hellsing. Angel, the vampire with a soul and the love interest of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s title character, became the star of his own spin-off television series in which he acts as a private detective (1999–2004). And the tabletop role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade (first published 1991)—which contributed words such as sire (a vampire’s progenitor) and embrace (the act of making a new vampire) to the vampire lexicon—allowed players to create their own vampire worlds and pit warring vampire factions against one another.

Although vampires had by the 20th century largely become creatures of fantasy, urban myths about vampires continued to persist. As late as the early 20th century, some villages in Bulgaria still practiced corpse impaling. In the 1960s and ’70s a vampire was believed to haunt Highgate Cemetery in London, and in the early 21st century rumours of vampires caused uproar in Malawi and England alike.

Gothic novel, Romantic pseudomedieval fiction having a prevailing atmosphere of mystery and terror. Its heyday was the 1790s, but it underwent frequent revivals in subsequent centuries.

Such fiction is called Gothic because its imaginative impulse was drawn from medieval buildings and ruins; Gothic novels commonly use such settings as castles or monasteries equipped with subterranean passages, dark battlements, hidden panels, and trapdoors. The vogue was initiated in England by Horace Walpole’s immensely successful The Castle of Otranto (1765). His most respectable follower was Ann Radcliffe, whose The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) and The Italian (1797) are among the best examples of the genre.

A more sensational type of Gothic romance exploiting horror and violence flourished in Germany and was introduced to England by Matthew Gregory Lewis with The Monk (1796). Other landmarks of Gothic fiction are William Beckford’s Arabian romance Vathek (1786) and Charles Robert Maturin’s story of an Irish Faust, Melmoth the Wanderer (1820). The first Gothic novel by an American writer was Charles Brockden Brown’s Wieland (1798).

The classic horror stories Frankenstein (1818), by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, and Dracula (1897), by Bram Stoker, are in the Gothic tradition but introduce the existential nature of humankind as its definitive mystery and terror.

Easy targets for satire, the early Gothic romances died of their own extravagances of plot, but Gothic atmospheric machinery continued to haunt the fiction of major writers such as Charlotte, Anne, and Emily Brontë, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and even Charles Dickens in Bleak House (1853) and Great Expectations (1861).

Donna TarttMississippi-born novelist Donna Tartt's second book, The Little Friend (2002), has been called a modern masterpiece of Southern gothic fiction.

In the second half of the 20th century, the term was applied to paperback romances having the same kind of themes and trappings similar to the originals. At the same time, Southern gothic came to be the name for a style of writing practiced by many writers of the American South whose stories set in that region are characterized by grotesque, macabre, or fantastic incidents. Flannery O’Connor, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, William Faulkner, and Carson McCullers are among the best-known writers of Southern gothic. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries Cormac McCarthy, Pat Conroy, Donna Tartt, and Colson Whitehead published acclaimed works of fiction that feature Southern gothic elements.

Although Gothic literature is mostly associated with fiction, the Romantic, Pre-Raphaelite, and Victorian eras produced many fine examples of Gothic poetry. Among the best in English literature are Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (1798) and “Christabel” (1816), John Keats’s “The Eve of St. Agnes” and “La Belle Dame sans merci” (both composed in 1819), and Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” (1862), as well as pieces by Robert Browning, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Algernon Charles Swinburne. In the United States, Edgar Allan Poe’s intensely moody ballad “The Raven” (1845) is the most famous. Many of Emily Dickinson’s poems also display a Gothic flair.

Vampire Powers

There is more to being a vampire than just blood drinking you know. There is power, lots of it depending on what species of vampire you are. Since there are so many vampire myths and so many legends throughout the world there is a long list of what a vampire can do, what powers it may posses. Now, not all vampires have the powers listed below, some do some don’t, it really depends on the type of vampire.

Creating other vampires: This may not be much of a shock to you, most assume all vampires can do this. But some old school vampire myths have vamps that aren’t able to create more of their kind. While other myths have vampires that can create more, in some cases in involves biting a person three times.

Flight: There are a few vamps out there that can fly, like the aswang and langsuir.

Misting or vaporizing: Changing into mist is a pretty well known classic vampire move. There are loads of vampire movies that love to use this power on screen,

Super Strength: Another well known power that many vamps have.

Hypnosis: This is the perfect power for dealing with humans. You can do all sorts of things to their weak minds. Muahaha.

Changing size: This one may not be as well known. But some vampire legends have vamps that can change their size, making them able to sneak into small cracks and such. Like Dracula did with Lucy.

Controlling the natural elements: You know like wind and rain and what have you. They can cause a lightening storm to add dramatic effect to their evil deeds of the night.

Control of animals: Another fun power, on that can be used on all sorts of beasties like bats, fleas, rats and so on.

Immortality: Living forever and ever. Some vampires are immortal while others are not. Some simply have extended lives, just a bit longer than the average humans and some have a normal human lifespan.

Scale walls: Like Spiderman…but not quite.

Transformation: Another classic here. Being able to change form, like into a bat or wolf.

Draining life force or energy: Some vampires out there drain more than just blood from their victims, they also drain energy.

And then you have some lesser known powers…

Causing blights or crop failure: Yup, back in the day some people blamed bad crops on vampires. Seems like an awfully lame power to me.

Causing plagues or epidemics: I guess some vampire just want to kill off thousands at a time.

Having babies: Ok ok, this isn’t really a “power” but it is something some vamps can do and some can’t.

Causing impotence: Yes… some vampires are known to be able to do this. I’m sure loads of people would love to have those vampires around… wink wink.

Those are the powers that come from folklore. There are other vampire powers created by modern authors that are also interesting too (like Anne Rice‘s fire powers or Laurell K. Hamilton‘s lust feeding).

Supernatural Powers and Abilities

While reading one of my awesomely magical books I came across a list of supernatural powers and abilities, a very long list. As I scanned through them I couldn’t help but notice that many of the powers listed were powers that quite a few vampires in fiction have, but better yet, there was a whole handful of abilities that no vampire I have ever read about have, powers that could make for a very interesting “new” vampire. This list opens up all kinds of glorious possibilities for the writers and dreamers amongst us, so I ask you, in your own vampire fantasy world, which of these powers would your vampires have?

(If you’re a comic book junkie many of these will sound super familiar to you)

Aerokinesis: The ability to mentally control wind and air flow.

Animation: The ability to bring inanimate objects to life.

Astral Projection: The ability to separate and control one’s astral body outside of the physical body. The out-of-body experience where one can travel outside of their body.

Atmokinesis: The ability to control or manipulate the weather, like creating rain, tornadoes, fog…etc.

Aura Perception: An aura is the spiritual energy field that people and objects give off. Usually, auras convey the feelings or emotions someone gives off in a range of colors. Someone with aura perception can see these colors in someone’s aura.

Biokinesis: The power to heal or perform other biological manipulation, like stop a heart.

Chlorokinesis: The power to control or manipulate plants.

Chronokinesis: The power to control time, and even travel through time.

Clairaudience: The ability to hear sounds coming from the spiritual plane.

Clairvoyance: The power to visually perceive events that are taking place elsewhere or sense places that are not in view.

Cryokinesis: The ability to control the element of ice, or cold in general.

Divination: The ability to predict the future.

Electrokinesis: The ability to manipulate electricity and electric fields.

Ferrokinesis: The ability to mentally manipulate metal.

Geokinesis: The power to control the element earth.

Gravitakinesis: The ability to manipulate gravity.

Hydrokinesis: The elemental ability to manipulate water.

Magnetokinesis: The ability to mentally manipulate the magnetic field.

Mediumship/Necromancy: The ability to see and communicate with the dead.

Omnilingual: Having the ability to speak, or to understand, all languages.

Omnipotence: This one pretty much means unlimited power. Usually only deities have this.

Omniscience: Another power that only deities tend to have, it’s the is the capacity to know everything infinitely.

Photokinesis: The ability to mentally manipulate light.

Power Absorption: The ability to absorb another person’s powers, leaving the person powerless.

Power Bestowal (Conduit): The ability to bestow powers upon another person or wake up the latent powers of others.

Power Mimicry: Similar to power absorption, except mimicry is the ability to absorb another’s powers while leaving the other person’s powers intact.

Power Negation: The ability to cancel out or diminish the powers of others.

Power Sensing: The ability to sense the powers of another person.

Precognition: The ability to see events before they happen.

Presentience: A form of precognition where one senses events before they happen instead of “seeing” them.

Psychokinesis: The ability to mentally move objects.

Psychometry: The power to read the history of an object by touching it.

Pyrokinesis: The elemental power to manipulate fire, or heat.

Remote Viewing: The ability to mentally view a distant unseen target.

Shapeshifting: This is an obvious one, it’s the power to transform your body into another form, like an animal.

Sonokinesis: The ability to mentally manipulate sound waves.

Spiritual Possession: The ability to take complete and total control of another person’s body.

Tactile Telekinesis: The ability to manipulate objects by touching them.

Technopathy: The ability to manipulate electronics.

Telekinesis: Telekinesis is the ability to manipulate and control objects with the mind.

Telepathy: The ability to read the thoughts of others.

Teleportation: The ability to disappear from one place and reappear in another.

And there you have it, a MASSIVE list of supernatural powers! Now just imagine creating a whole new species of vampire with some of those badass powers.

Powers of the Vampire

The Vampire possesses an array of supernatural powers at its disposal. This makes the creature extremely difficult to contend with in a fight. Although the abilities attributed to the Vampire differ somewhat from culture to culture, the creature’s other powers remain the same. However, many of the abilities that the Vampire is commonly though to possess are based in fiction, not folklore.

Physical Abilities

The Vampire possesses supernatural strength, speed, agility, reflexes, and endurance. The Vampire’s strength is said to be far greater than any mortal’s, as the Vampire is no longer restrained by mortal limitations and is empowered by a combination of the spirit and the flesh, the only limitation being that the Vampire requires blood to fuel its energy reserves. The creature’s strength gives it an advantage during the hunt, as it can overpower almost any human without much effort at all.

The Vampire is extremely quick, moving faster than the human eye can possibly see. The creature’s sheer speed, combined with its unnatural stealth, makes it impossible for the Vampire’s prey to detect or escape from the Vampire until it is too late. The Vampire possesses supernatural agility as well. The creature can leap to great heights and is nimble enough to scale sheer surfaces with amazing speed, much like a spider. The Vampire is able to avoid gunfire easily, and reacts with unnatural quickness to any threat, due to the creature’s superhuman reflexes. The Vampire is able to move at great speed for long periods, and it is nearly impossible to tire the Vampire, due to its preternatural degree of endurance.

Once again, the Vampire’s formidable abilities are limited by one thing: blood. If the Vampire goes without feeding or is prevented from doing so for an extended period of time, the creature steadily begins to weaken and show its true age. This can prove to be fatal to the Vampire, if the cunning Vampire Hunter doesn’t dispatch the revenant beforehand.

Senses

The Vampire’s senses of sight, smell, hearing, and touch are of supernatural keeness, comparable on many levels to a wolf’s. The Vampire can see with perfect clarity in the darkness of the night, to the point of being able to detect the bodily heat emanations from its victims. The creature’s hearing is comparable to a bat or an owl, possessing a level of sensitivity on par with the bat’s own echo-sensitivity.

The Vampire’s sense of smell is as acute as that of a wolf or a dog’s, enabling the creature to track its prey for miles by the scent of the victim’s blood alone, a sensation that the Vampire relishes. The Vampire is also able to tell individual people apart by the scent of their blood coursing through their veins or bodily odors. The Vampire’s sense of touch is amazingly acute, as the creature can feel the heartbeat of a potential victim through thick walls, or it can detect the vibrations of a vampire hunter’s footsteps and the direction of the footsteps, enabling the Vampire to either escape or prepare an ambush for the would-be hunter.

In addition to its five senses, the Vampire possesses a preternatural sixth sense. The Vampire can instinctively sense impending danger, usually posed by humans. The revenant can sense emanations of good or evil, instinctively avoiding the former while congregating in the latter. Overall, the Vampire’s keen senses give the creature several advantages when hunting or eluding its enemies.

Resistance to Injury

The Vampire is incapable of being harmed or slain by most forms of conventional injury, including firearms or blades. Furthermore, the Vampire cannot feel the pain that would result from such attacks. Gunfire has no effect on the revenant whatsoever, serving only to slow the creature down. Likewise, blades don’t affect the Vampire at all, unless the blade pierces the heart or removes the head.

The Vampire has supernatural regenerative capabilities, which allows the creature to recover from injuries that would permanently incapacitate or even kill a human. However, the Vampire cannot regenerate severed limbs, although the creature could possibly reattach a severed limb by pressing the limb against the stump. Poison, suffocation, extreme cold, aging, drowning, or disease cannot kill the Vampire, as the creature is already dead. The only substances that can kill or cause the Vampire pain are silver or blessed steel (both of which will be discussed later).

Transformation

According to legends from around the world, the Vampire is a shapeshifter, capable of assuming a multitude of different forms. However, the Vampire is restricted primarily to animal forms, most notably a bat, a wolf, a rat, or a mist. The Vampire is able to assume these forms at will. In some cases (usually fictional cases), the Vampire is able to take the form of a monstrous man-beast form of the bat or the wolf.

By no means is the Vampire limited to assuming the forms of the aforementioned animals. In folklore, it is practically unheard of for a Vampire to change into a bat. However, according to folklore, the Vampire is able to assume the form of a fox, a moth, an owl, a spider, a locust, a cat, a dog, a frog, a snake, a fly, a flea, a mouse, or a raven (as well as other species of bird).

Shapeshifting gives the Vampire an array of advantages. Although not prominent in European folklore, the form of a bat enables the creature to fly over considerable distances. The bat also has keen hearing and the ability to use echolocation to maneuver through the night. The wolf is a ferocious predator, possessing savage strength, great speed, a degree of animalistic cunning, and keen senses, as well as deadly claws and teeth. The rat is small enough to penetrate most openings with ease, as well as having sharp teeth that enable the rodent to gnaw through nearly any material and having a keen sense of smell as well. The other forms mentioned previously offer many of the same advantages, as well as some unique ones of their own. Basically, the Vampire can utilize any abilities that an animal may have when it assumes that particular animal’s form.

In addition, the Vampire is able to dissolve into the form of a vaporous mist at will. While the creature’s ability to become a mist is rarely mentioned in folklore, it is feared greatly by the people of Hungary, some other parts of mainland Europe, and the Orient. While the creature’s ability to travel for any considerable distance is limited in this form, it is able to move in complete silence, to leave its grave (through finger-sized holes in the earth), to slip through the slightest openings with ease, and to escape from vampire hunters in pursuit of the creature. The Vampire is also unable to be physically harmed in this form, as projectiles just pass right through the vapor.

In other legends, it is said that the Vampire can become a ball of luminescent light, known as a will-o’-the-wisp. Perhaps coincidentally, these dancing lights are thought to be the ghostly remains of the dead in folklore throughout Europe.

Ghost Form

In folklore, it is sometimes thought that the Vampire appears as a ghost to its victims, materializing only to attack and feed. In such cases, the Vampire’s spirit would arise from the grave, leaving the creature’s physical body safely behind in the grave. While in spectral form, the weapons of mortal men could not harm the Vampire, but this did leave the body vulnerable to an attack from vampire hunters.

Domination

Through the use of hypnosis, the Vampire is able to dominate the mind and will of a human. The creature can convince a potential victim to allow the revenant to enter the individual’s home or leave a house unseen, command one that has been bitten by the creature in any way the Vampire wishes, and to force the chosen victim to accept the Vampire’s dark embrace without a struggle. The Vampire’s bite seems to have an anesthetic effect on the victim, giving the creature the time it needs to feed. Afterwards, the Vampire may use this ability to make the victim forget about the attack.

To dominate a human, the Vampire need only make eye contact with its victim for a few seconds. However, the stronger the human’s will, the longer hypnosis takes. If necessary, the Vampire can completely crush the human mind or destroy the individual’s sanity, leaving little more than a drooling lunatic. In the same manner, the Vampire can create a human slave. This slave is totally obedient to his master’s will, to the point of being willing to sacrifice everything for his master’s safety, including his life. Such individuals inevitably lose their minds, due to the Vampire’s power over them.

However, the Vampire’s ability to dominate a human is largely an invention of Bram Stoker’s, and the term domination comes from the popular role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. In folklore, the Vampire attacked its victims while they slept. Some were even unconsciously aware of the Vampire’s attack, claiming that they felt a heavy weight sitting on their chests, or even being awakened to find the creature hovering over them, readying itself to feed.

Animal Control

According to legend, the Vampire is able to command many of the very animals it is able to transform itself into. This includes the bat, the wolf, the rat, locusts, the owl, the fox, the snake, and the moth. These creatures of the night come at the Vampire’s beck and call. They will obey each and every single command, even if it means death. This ability is present in folklore, but isn’t commonly mentioned.

One possible explanation is that, since mankind sees the Vampire as a savage beast, these animals see the Vampire as a kindred spirit of sorts, finding themselves somehow compelled to obey the Vampire’s commands.

Command of the Weather

According to Professor Abraham Van Helsing, the Vampire is able to control the weather, within limits. The creature could direct the fog, summon a powerful storm, control the direction and the force of the wind, or even call down bolts of lightning to strike its enemies.

However, folklore makes no mention of the Vampire possessing such power. One tradition, as told by Dimitrij Zelenin, says that the earth itself rebelled against “unclean” bodies being buried within its soil, and retaliated by causing severe weather, like bringing about cold and frost during the spring months. Other than that, this is an invention of Bram Stoker.

Disease

As the Vampire is essentially a rotting corpse, the revenant is capable of spreading a deadly plague through either its bite or its mere presence. In Romania, as mentioned earlier, the Vampire is known as nosferatu, which literally means “plague-carrier.” When the Vampire has destroyed a village, the contagious disease that inevitably follows kills off the survivors with a horrible wasting disease. Over the next few days, the victim would progressively become weaker and weaker, until death occurred. Worse, those who died of the plague could become Vampires themselves. Those that did arise from the grave would continue to infect the countryside with the Vampire’s evil, spreading death and pestilence wherever they went.

During the Middle Ages, the Black Death struck Europe. The people who didn’t die of the bubonic plague blamed the Black Death on the Vampire, even though infected rats that had been bitten by disease-infected fleas had caused the disease. In fact, it could be argued that the fleas and the rats (both of which the Vampire may command) were sent by the Vampire to wreak havoc on human society. It is said that those who died of the Plague were cursed to rise from the grave as the Undead. Overall, the Black Death killed an estimated thirty to sixty percent of Europe’s population, and went on to spread into other parts of the world. Unlike the humans, however, the Vampire itself is immune to disease.

Immortality

The most coveted trait of all is the Vampire’s immortality. Conceivably, assuming the Vampire feeds on a regular basis and evades vampire hunters, the Vampire could live forever. However, no Vampire in folklore ever exists long enough to actually determine how long the creature could exist. Thus, immortality is more of a trait of the fictional Vampire than a historical fact.

In regards to the Vampire’s actual lifespan (so to speak), it is often assumed by people that, barring destruction, the Vampire is immortal. However, this notion is only partially supported by folklore. Muslim Gypsies though that the Vampire’s unliving existence only lasted for several months, while other Gypsies believed that a reanimated corpse could only exist for forty days, which was seen as a mockery of the forty days that Jesus Christ spent in the desert, resisting temptation from Satan.

In the Slavic countries of Albania and Serbia, it is said that if the Vampire can escape destruction for thirty years and feed on human blood discreetly, the Vampire will eventually become human again, wandering about the world with a new identity.

As far as the Vampire of fiction goes, time equals power to the Vampire. The Vampire grows in strength for every year of its existence, gaining greater intelligence, greater cunning, an exponential increase in its various supernatural abilities, resistance to its weaknesses (sunlight, holy icons, etc.), and a decreasing need for blood. While this may be somewhat true in ancient folk beliefs, as mentioned previously, this is only partially supported by folklore.

Other Abilities

In addition to those mentioned above, the Vampire has some other, lesser-known powers at its disposal. One of these abilities is the Vampire’s alleged ability to scale sheer surfaces, vertically or horizontally, much like a spider. This ability would allow the revenant to access places that would be otherwise impossible for a human to reach. However, this ability may have its roots in fiction, perhaps due to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It likely came from the observation that the common vampire bat (desmodus rotundus) is highly agile compared to most other species of bats, able to cling to and scale sheer surfaces like mentioned above. However, the Vampire predated the discovery of the vampire bat, and hence this ability’s origins lay in fictional accounts.

Other abilities, more rooted in folklore than anything else, that the Vampire possesses includes causing crop blights (destroying food sources), causing a drought, causing impotence in men, or even stealing vital organs (like the heart or the liver).

Vampire (Dracula Untold)

Vampires are human corpses reanimated and sustained by demonic forces. Vampires are descended from Gaius Julius Caesar, who made a Faustian blood covenant with a demon in exchange for power and immortality, but at the cost of his humanity and being forever condemned to life with an insatiable craving for human blood.

Creation

Vampires possess the ability to turn mortals into vampires by allowing them to ingest their blood, which will seemingly poison and rapidly kill them, causing them to experience monstrous dreams with images of the people they love the most being in danger or dying, predatory animals with vampiric red eyes, and some glimpses of a vampires clawed hands and teeth. These dreams could possibly be premonitions of what would happen if they gave into their thirst, as many scenes from Vlad's nightmare actually ended up happening, such as Mirena's death and Gaius escaping his cave. They will then awaken soon after to adjust to their new traits and senses. Some vampires when awakened to start the three day transition phase annihilate whole villages as shown in a deleted scene.

If they do not drink human blood for the span of three days, they will become human again by the morning of the last day. If they do drink human blood, their condition will be irreversible and all-consuming, as they will have the ability to influence the weather, far less humanity and moral capability, an increase in their powers and an intense fear for Christian ornaments such as a crucifix, which they persevere as glowing red and having an intense blinding light.

History

Vlad experiences the pleasure of feeding.

The oldest vampire seen so far is Gaius Julius Caesar. According to a Transylvanian monk, Gaius was once mortal, but made a pact with a demon in return for power. The demon gave Gaius it's blood and he became the first vampire, however, the demon tricked Gaius and condemned him to everlasting confinement in Broken Tooth Mountain.

Centuries later, in 1462, Gaius made Vlad III Tepes into a vampire in order for Vlad to save his kingdom and his son from Mehmed II, Vlad destroyed Mehmed's army but ended up not resisting human blood. He ended up making it to the last few seconds of the three days when he drank Mirena's blood.

Physiology

Vlad's vampiric appearance.

Vampires are the "living dead"; damned souls preserved in their own corpses by the blood of the demon in their veins. To the human eye, vampires can appear exactly as they did in life, but in a more perfected state, such as when Vlad's scars he had on his back disappeared completely, leaving no evidence of the scars ever been there. This, however, is a facade which hides their true, desiccated appearance; glowing red eyes, sharp and elongated teeth that become fangs, black veins near their eyes, and the vague image of their skull beneath their face when they show their true form. (very powerful species)

They can also transform their face to have grey, mottled and decayed looking skin, a dislocated, larger and more animalistic mouth and teeth, pointed and sharp, claw-like finger tips and hands, and bright red glowing pupils, as well as their eyes becoming distorted in color or completely black. Vampires don't have a biological need to breathe in the same way humans do, there are instances in the film where vampires are shown inhaling or exhaling, suggesting that they retain some semblance of respiratory function. However, their ability to survive and function is not dependent on breathing in the same way it is for humans. Instead, vampires derive their sustenance and power from drinking blood and possess a range of supernatural abilities that set them apart from living beings. Vampires are immune to attacks to their breathing since their breathing is no longer there. Vampires also have a set of fangs on the two outer upper incisors which are next to the upper canines. Vampires who are still in the three day transition have a short temper and can get angry and frustrated easily, and if they become full vampires this increases with all of their other emotions. Vampires also display the darker side of themselves which is worsened if they become full vampires.

Vampire

Informations

Also know as

The Undead
The Damned
Pi ("To Drink")

Power

Diabolical powers of inhuman strength and speed
Claws and Fangs
Rapid regenerative healing and recovery
Enhanced, animalistic senses and the ability to perceive through the senses of nocturnal animals.
Ability to transform into a swarm of bats
Dominion over bats and the weather
Mesmerism and other powers

Source

Creation

History

Vlad experiences the pleasure of feeding.

Physiology

Vlad's vampiric appearance.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Immortality: As death has already claimed them, vampires do not possess a lifespan, nor do they age or decay. If vampires are wounded at all, whatever damage they experience will instantaneously heal as though there was no damage at all the moment after. Vampires have no need for sleeping, eating nor drinking nor are they affected by not doing these things at all. Once turned, their granted immortality and healing abilities cure any sickness they originally had and restore, to a extent, their youth.
Accelerated Healing: Vampires' undead, immortal flesh heals in seconds from any wound without causing them any seeming discomfort. They can return from the dead, even when killed by sunlight, by being fed with some blood, and with their bodies fully restored, though this has only been demonstrated by full vampires. Vampires in the three day transition phase can heal from sunlight once the sunlight is not in contact with their skin (as shown with Vlad III Tepes).
Superhuman Strength: Upon being made into vampires, their strength and overall bodily force increases dramatically to the point where they can overpower men with ease and crush stone with their bare hands, even accidentally. Gaius Julius Caesar describes a vampire's strength as that of a hundred men. A would-be vampire still within the three day transition period can ram into a charging army of over a thousand men and trample them, sending them flying through the air with the force of a stampeding animal. Eventually, slaughtered them all, proving themselves as a literal one man army. Full vampires experience a further increase in strength once they consume human blood for the first time.
Superhuman Speed: Vampires are described as possessing "the speed of a falling star". They are unnaturally fast and can outmaneuver and effortlessly dodge human attacks, no matter what effort their mortal adversaries put into their attacks. Full vampires move so fast that they seem to appear and disappear instantaneously. They can sneak up on their prey from behind by appearing (seemingly) out of nowhere.
Metamorphosis: Vampires hold dominion over the night and all its creatures. They can call upon bats to do their will and can transform into a swarm of bats at will. Their clothing and anything they hold, like swords etc. also de-materializes into bats with them. Vampires are also able to see, hear, and roar while they are a swarm of bats. Vampires can also change parts of their bodies into bats to grab people, become intangible to attacks, among other things. They also have the ability to change their appearance by transforming their face into a grey and decayed looking skin, a dislocated, larger and more animalistic mouth and teeth, pointed and sharp finger tips and hands, and bright red glowing pupils, as well as their eyes becoming distorted in color or completely black with also block veins near their eyes, and the vague image of their skull beneath their face when they show their true form.
Superhuman Senses: Vampires possess superhuman senses of sight, smell and hearing reminiscent of that of a bat or a wolf. Their sense of hearing is so fine that they can hear a spider spinning it's web from several feet away or hear the heartbeat of a human across hundreds of meters. They possess bat-like sonar which allows them to see in complete darkness and also to perceive their prey through the beating of their hearts or the flow of the blood in their veins. Their eyesight is refined beyond the ordinary 20/20 spectrum; allowing them to clearly see the stars even on a cloudy night and to perceive their prey across many kilometers.

Vampirism: Vampires possess the ability to turn humans into vampires by allowing them to ingest there blood, which will (seemingly) poison and rapidly kill them and cause them to have monstrous dreams with images of the people they love the most being in danger or dying (possibly a vision of what would happen if the vampire gave into their thirst) predatory like animals with vampiric red eyes, and some glimpses of a vampire's clawed hands and teeth. Upon awakening, sometimes a vampire will find themselves in another location from where they were turned (though this was only seen with Vlad) and will adjust to their new traits and senses. If they do not drink blood for the span of three days, they will become human again by the morning of the last day. If they do drink blood, their condition will be irreversible and all consuming as they will have the ability to influence the weather, far less humanity and moral capability, and an intense fear for Christian ornaments, such as a crucifix, which they perceive as glowing red and having an intense light.
Superhuman Endurance: Vampires are able to take large amounts of injury from their enemies.
Superhuman Stamina: Vampires can stay physically active longer than any human.
Conventional Harm Immunity: Vampires are for all intents and purposes immune to conventional means of harm.
Unique powers: It is a theory that vampires can get special powers unique to their vampiric self as listed. They only get these powers when they become full vampires.
- Vampiric Mind Manipulation: Vampires can possess the ability of mentally dominate, coerce, and order humans to obey their desires upon eye-to-eye contact with them. Even vampires still in the three day transition phase are also able to use mesmerism as shown when Vlad III Tepes mesmerized Ishmael in a deleted scene.
- Weather Control: Only Full Vampires can control the weather; creating lightning storms and covering the sun and sky with thick, stormy clouds and just as easily remove them.
- Other Unique Powers: Theoretically vampires who are full vampires by have fed on blood during the three days have their own unique . They vary from vampire to vampire.

Abilities

Abilities vary between vampires, but these abilities are enhanced and perfected. Fighting skills knowledge of certain things are enhanced as a result of being a vampire.

Weaknesses

Sunlight: Sunlight burns and blisters a vampire's skin leaving them weak and not strong enough to stand, for a minute. Prolonged exposure will deteriorate and disintegrate full vampires into a corpse-like figure similar to a thousand year old fossil, though they will regenerate if they are exposed to blood. Most full vampires can be killed by sunlight. Some vampires deteriorate and/ or disintegrate slower or faster than other vampires. Only open sunlight will cause these effects. According to the scene that shows Gaius Julius Caesar coming out from the cave under the sunrise light it can be concluded that the sunlight less affecting on older vampires then it affecting on newer vampires. If a vampires' blood gets on an object and that blood is exposed to sunlight it will disintegrate like the skin of a vampire.
Wooden stake: Sharp wood to the heart can weaken/kill vampires, causing them and whatever they are wearing to rapidly decompose and disintegrate, along with the clothes they are wearing, as if time was accelerated for them. They will then end up a fossil like corpse with tatter cloth that was once their clothes.
Silver: The touch of silver burns a vampire's skin and being in the presence of large amounts of silver can remove their physical abilities for as long as they are in contact, leaving them almost mortal and as weak as a human, which can be used to keep them from hunting and causing unwanted casualties. Vampires burn when touched with silver, along with reducing their strength and speed, and impairing their vision and hearing. Although, they still could only be killed through wood piercing their hearts. The very sight of silver makes them weak as seen when their vision was blurred and distorted, as was their hearing. The Master Vampire claims that the mere sight of silver offends vampires.
Blood Lust: Vampires are driven by an eternal, damning thirst for living human blood, causing them to have trouble being in close proximity to humans, especially being in their personal space. Older vampires like Vlad III Tepes have much better control over their hunger. Gaius Julius Caesar apparently suffered no real negative effect from the blood lust; likely either due to his age or to the fact that he had spent so long trapped alone within the mountains where fresh blood was in such short supply.
Crucifix: As they draw their power from infernal forces, a crucifix can keep most full vampires away and has a similar affect as silver. However, this does not appear to have any effect on most full vampires. Vampires who have not fed are not affected at all by crucifixes, as their humanity is still intact. It's unknown why Dracula wasn't effected by crucifixes even though he fed on Mehmed II.

Theories

Some theories and speculation regarding the vampires from Dracula Untold:

Since vampires have dominion over the night and all its creatures, they could possibly possess the following abilities:
- Night Manipulation: Vampires could possibly possess these abilities which come from the night itself.
  - Bat Generation: Vampires can possibly generate a swarm of bats from their hands from within their bodies.
  - Darkness Manipulation: Since darkness is part of the night, vampires could be able to generate, absorb and/or manipulate the element of darkness in all its forms.
  - Shadow Teleportation: Vampires can use the darkness to disappear and reappear at any place they choose.
  - Nocturnal Creature Manipulation: Vampires could possibly manipulate any creature of the night rather than just bats (wolves, rats, fleas, and all other nocturnal creatures).
  - Vampires could possibly turn day into night at anytime they choose. It would be more likely that this would only be for powerful vampires and doing this would take great effort on their power. This could be a one time use of this power but it has yet to be seen.
Vampires have the speed of a falling star, so if they can move that fast, they would be able to move at a speed of 45 miles a second, which is more than 160,000 miles an hour.
Vampires possibly could be able to possess an infinite amount of bats when they shift into a swarm of bats.
Vampires could possibly have all of their powers amplified the more they feed on blood also known as Blood Empowerment.
Vampires could have the power of emotion detection since the Master Vampire sensed Vlad's hope.
The transformation into a vampire can possibly heal all mental and physical imperfections.

Trivia

Seen only in a deleted scene; Dracula, still under the effects of Gaius Julius Caesar's blood for three days, is seen drinking animal blood to avoid drinking human blood. This is suggested by his wife after she was told that vampires need to drink human blood and she causes him to wonder if the blood really needs to come from a human. This suggests that vampires can live off animal blood if available and not be a danger to humans.
Vampires can shed tears and are able to feel emotion which some vampires that aren't in the Dracula Untold universe aren't capable of shedding tears according to Luke Evans in an interview.
Seen only in a deleted scene; Dracula walks through a burning village that was attacked by Vlad himself. Vlad had no memory of it. There was a man there who explained to Dracula what happened to the village. The man knew Dracula was a vampire and called him a devil and vanished after Dracula said that the man was dead explaining that vampires can see ghosts.
Vampires from Dracula Untold do have reflections on reflected surfaces as seen in the official trailer of Dracula Untold. The difference is they see a more evil, demonic self on reflective surfaces.