I’ve always found J. Sheridan LeFanu’s 1872 short story “Carmilla” to be one of my favorite vampire stories. At face value it’s a novel addition to the history of vampire fiction in that, to the Victorians, the true horror isn’t the bloodsucking supernatural apex predator but that it’s a woman seducing high-society daughters and kissing them. At the deeper level it is a metaphor for the evils of homosexuality and a warning for how gays will groom minors.
The biggest impact it had though was that it established much of the vampire lore in fiction that would become canonical features and powers of the vampire; such as their supernatural ability to seduce/charm mortals and their weakness against Christian symbolism, though Carmilla’s reaction to a cross is more “ew why would you wear that” but hearing a choir singing psalms brings obvious physical discomfort. She’s also not affected by sunlight too much, more just visibly weakened by it, and she can eat and drink regular foods but in small amounts and has a preference for sweets like hot chocolate.
Several of these features, like the supernatural charming/seduction, weren’t really part of the vampire lore in fiction, if at all, until Carmilla yet the story was largely forgotten and overshadowed by Dracula despite the fact that Dracula wouldn’t exist in the same iconic form without her.
The best explanation for vampires, werewolves, and even the flying witches can be found in the folklorist from France, Claude Lecouteux, who tied all these together from the pagan tradition and medieval tales in his book Witches, Werewolves, and Fairies. Before the modern age, man was seen as not having one soul, but three! A bone-soul tied to the body, the Double (guardian angel, Socrate’s daimon, genius, or astral being, etc), and the world-soul that connects to to your family, your kind, and to the world. The Double was assigned to a man at birth and can be projected at will by training. It can change shapes, pass through walls, and can even drain blood or energy from a victim. It’s rooted in shamanism which might explain the near-universal belief in vampires.
I like to play vampires in TES because vampirism is usually not really even that bad, unless you are a pure blooded rape baby vampire of course.
It's basically a flat buff to magic and easy to obtain immortality. Curing yourself of vampirism may get rid of the Coldharbour curse, but there are also other ways you could probably avoid Coldharbour. For example, pledging yourself to another Daedric Prince probably, at the very least, gives you a chance of going to some other realm. Cyrodillic vampires, for example, were known to venerate Calvicus Vile as the source of their immense political power (Cyrodill's vampires are the only truly aristocratic TES vampires) and I could imagine there being some sort of custody battle between him and Bal in the event that a Cyrodil vampire dies.
I think this does make TES vampirism something of a departure from the vampirism of other franchises and from irl folklore though. But I think works in TES because TES places a lot of emphasis on how different cultures have different focuses on the same archetype, which ends up manifesting their interpretation regardless. In this way, it is consistent for a Cyrodill vampire to be sent to the Fields of Regret instead of Coldharbour (an improvement but still not great) without any real issue.
Very good analysis Sectionalism! I’m glad you share my distain for the Castlevania show, although I did think Nocturne was more entertaining and a little better thematically. Also the Vampire Hunter D movies are excellent. Cheers!
One small thing about the "crosses actually hurt predator eyes cause perpendicular": I believe this isn't a comment on religion at all, it's a reference to Peter Watts' sci-fi books where vampires were actually a pre-historic hominid
That’s actually a pretty good book. The vampires and the aliens in the book are just pretext for the author to discuss whether or not consciousness is advantageous in intelligent species.
Germ theory itself comes from the same mythic lineage.
It's dressed up in rationalist secular garb, but the whole Virus idea is of an unseen, unfindable and undead particle that comes back to life by multiplying once it's inside you, and then spreading to others, has a familiar whiff to it.
Warhammer fantasy/ age of sigmar has some great vampires (renamed to Soulblighted in the new game system for copyright reasons). One of the named protagonists was a king who became a vampire to avenge his kingdom, and its dealt with very well. Never romanticized, always a curse first and foremost that happens to also give powers
Vampirism was used to explain parasitic overload, the parasite over takes the host and is hell bent on survival by being introduced to another body. Garlic has antiparasitic properties.
If I was a vampire I’d kill every other vampire and then myself because nobody deserves the hell that is life without garlic
Doesn't garlic just turn vampires back into humans?
I’ve always found J. Sheridan LeFanu’s 1872 short story “Carmilla” to be one of my favorite vampire stories. At face value it’s a novel addition to the history of vampire fiction in that, to the Victorians, the true horror isn’t the bloodsucking supernatural apex predator but that it’s a woman seducing high-society daughters and kissing them. At the deeper level it is a metaphor for the evils of homosexuality and a warning for how gays will groom minors.
The biggest impact it had though was that it established much of the vampire lore in fiction that would become canonical features and powers of the vampire; such as their supernatural ability to seduce/charm mortals and their weakness against Christian symbolism, though Carmilla’s reaction to a cross is more “ew why would you wear that” but hearing a choir singing psalms brings obvious physical discomfort. She’s also not affected by sunlight too much, more just visibly weakened by it, and she can eat and drink regular foods but in small amounts and has a preference for sweets like hot chocolate.
Several of these features, like the supernatural charming/seduction, weren’t really part of the vampire lore in fiction, if at all, until Carmilla yet the story was largely forgotten and overshadowed by Dracula despite the fact that Dracula wouldn’t exist in the same iconic form without her.
What a delight to read about the folklore and supposed history of my kind…
The best explanation for vampires, werewolves, and even the flying witches can be found in the folklorist from France, Claude Lecouteux, who tied all these together from the pagan tradition and medieval tales in his book Witches, Werewolves, and Fairies. Before the modern age, man was seen as not having one soul, but three! A bone-soul tied to the body, the Double (guardian angel, Socrate’s daimon, genius, or astral being, etc), and the world-soul that connects to to your family, your kind, and to the world. The Double was assigned to a man at birth and can be projected at will by training. It can change shapes, pass through walls, and can even drain blood or energy from a victim. It’s rooted in shamanism which might explain the near-universal belief in vampires.
https://a.co/d/eNn17CV
I like to play vampires in TES because vampirism is usually not really even that bad, unless you are a pure blooded rape baby vampire of course.
It's basically a flat buff to magic and easy to obtain immortality. Curing yourself of vampirism may get rid of the Coldharbour curse, but there are also other ways you could probably avoid Coldharbour. For example, pledging yourself to another Daedric Prince probably, at the very least, gives you a chance of going to some other realm. Cyrodillic vampires, for example, were known to venerate Calvicus Vile as the source of their immense political power (Cyrodill's vampires are the only truly aristocratic TES vampires) and I could imagine there being some sort of custody battle between him and Bal in the event that a Cyrodil vampire dies.
I think this does make TES vampirism something of a departure from the vampirism of other franchises and from irl folklore though. But I think works in TES because TES places a lot of emphasis on how different cultures have different focuses on the same archetype, which ends up manifesting their interpretation regardless. In this way, it is consistent for a Cyrodill vampire to be sent to the Fields of Regret instead of Coldharbour (an improvement but still not great) without any real issue.
Very good analysis Sectionalism! I’m glad you share my distain for the Castlevania show, although I did think Nocturne was more entertaining and a little better thematically. Also the Vampire Hunter D movies are excellent. Cheers!
There’s actually a belief among some nofappers that wet dreams are caused by succubi trying to drain your life force
One small thing about the "crosses actually hurt predator eyes cause perpendicular": I believe this isn't a comment on religion at all, it's a reference to Peter Watts' sci-fi books where vampires were actually a pre-historic hominid
That’s actually a pretty good book. The vampires and the aliens in the book are just pretext for the author to discuss whether or not consciousness is advantageous in intelligent species.
Germ theory itself comes from the same mythic lineage.
It's dressed up in rationalist secular garb, but the whole Virus idea is of an unseen, unfindable and undead particle that comes back to life by multiplying once it's inside you, and then spreading to others, has a familiar whiff to it.
Warhammer fantasy/ age of sigmar has some great vampires (renamed to Soulblighted in the new game system for copyright reasons). One of the named protagonists was a king who became a vampire to avenge his kingdom, and its dealt with very well. Never romanticized, always a curse first and foremost that happens to also give powers
https://www.docdroid.net/IukaPkk/parasite-pill-pdf#page=2
Vampirism was used to explain parasitic overload, the parasite over takes the host and is hell bent on survival by being introduced to another body. Garlic has antiparasitic properties.