Watching Teen Wolf has gotten me thinking of the various mythologies of supernatural creatures from books & TV. And the ones I like and would use if I was creating a book with vampires or werewolves. I am going to do vampires today and werewolves next week.
Sunlight: I like when vampires can go out in the sunlight, but I like the Vampire Diaries that uses an amulet spelled by a witch to be able to go out in the daylight. I also would have it so my vampires can sleep because I can't think of anything worse than years and years of no sleep. And I certainly wouldn't have mine sparkle, but I do think that was a nice change-up to the mythology.
Entering Human Dwellings: I would certainly have it that they could only enter a dwelling if invited. But, I like in the Sookie Stackhouse books that the human in the house can rescind the invitation and the vampire is forced out. (I also love how in one of The Vampire Diaries book Elena realized her room was part of an "old" house, one that her house had been added onto. Damon wasn't invited into part of the house so he couldn't come into her room. I have so hoped they'd put that part in the show).
Dying: That one is always pretty much standard. Stake to the heart, burning or cut off the head. But I like how they die in Buffy (crumble to dust) as opposed to True Blood (implode in a bloody, sticky mess). One book I read years ago (maybe the Vampire Diaries) had it that when a new vampire dies they looked pretty much like regular humans and the older the vampire the more violent the death due to all the lives he's taken.
Abstaining: I like that vampires can abstain from human blood, but I think I would have my vampire live off blood from a blood bank. I always like that human blood makes them more powerful. I also like in the Sookie books how vampire blood is a drug for regular humans.
Powers: Speaking of powers I like super speed, heightened senses, strength, etc... I am not sure I would add much to my vampire, but I would make sure they could jump high. And I do think that their powers would be at their max when they had their vamp face on.
Beauty: I like how Edward put it to Bella when he was explaining how everything about them is made to draw humans in. They have to be beautiful and super sexy.
That is all I can think of right now. What about you? What are your favorite vampire mythologies? Sound off below...
I'm glad you mentioned the sleeping. It always bothers me when vampires don't ever sleep. It seems so weird.
ReplyDeleteI agree on the sunlight thing too. I like the solution they came up with in The Vampire Diaries with the spelled jewelry. I also like how they die in Buffy. That eliminates the issue of what to do with a body (the Salvatore's woods must be FILLED with bodies by now).
I like the vamp face thing in Buffy and The Vampire Diaries. I also like that they have fangs. That always bothered me about Twilight. How are they vampires without fangs??
Definitely like that they need to be invited in. In Buffy they can do spells to rescind an invitation, which I liked.
I'm so glad most modern vampire stories seem to have dropped the turning into a bat, garlic, and running water parts of vampire lore. For some reason those always seemed dumber than holy water and crosses.
I definitely agree that vampires need to be invited in; they have such a physical advantage, that humans need some kind of way to protect themselves. I also like the turn-to-dust mythology that Buffy introduced. clean and convenient :)
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