The Ever-Changing Characteristics of Vampires

Vampires have been a staple of Gothic and horror literature since they first came to Western Europe’s attention in the mid-eighteenth century. And yet, they never seem to be depicted the same way twice. Can they transform into bats or pass through locked doors? Do they kill with every bite or coexist peacefully with humans? Every author that tackles the vampire must first lay out some ground rules, picking and choosing from contradictory elements of the vampire mythos. Below are just a few of the characteristics that vary from vampire to vampire:

Vampire creation

How is a new vampire made? In early vampire tales, this answer is often twofold. One method is theological in nature: someone who died by suicide, was excommunicated by the church, or was otherwise sinful and corrupt in life might become a vampire after death. The second method, of course, is transmission from vampire to victim. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu gives both of these answers in his 1872 novella Carmilla. At the end of the story, a local authority on vampires named Baron Vordenburg explains how the area’s vampire problem presumably began when the revenant of a suicide started plaguing Karnstein Castle. Carmilla was originally one of the victims of this vampire, before becoming a vampire herself. The action of the story seems to suggest that not every victim becomes a vampire. Carmilla slakes her thirst on plenty of villagers, but they die quickly and don’t seem to come back. Her lingering visits to Laura, however, are cause for more concern. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) continues this notion that repeated visits to a victim over an extended period of time lead to the creation of a new vampire, as we see in the case of Lucy. Dracula also introduces the notion of a vampire giving some of his own blood to his victim—when Mina drinks Dracula’s blood, a psychic bond is created between them. Luckily for Mina, the effects of this are not permanent. Her transformation is halted and she fully recovers once Dracula is defeated. More modern vampire novels tend to forgo the necessity of repeated visits and focus instead on the exchanging of blood as the key factor in creating a new vampire. Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, in particular, highlight the complicated relationships that often exist between young fledgling vampires and their makers, and the exchange of blood is referred to as both the “Dark Gift” and the “Dark Trick.” Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series takes a very different approach: every vampire bite infects the victim with venom that will transform them if they aren’t killed in the process—so extended visits to the same victim would be entirely impossible.

Appearance

Meyer has received ridicule for her sparkly vampires in Twilight (2005), but skin that glitters in the sun is far from the most unusual physical characteristic to appear in vampire fiction. The classic image that we have of a vampire was one that built up slowly over time, and there have been many deviations. John Polidori’s Lord Ruthven in “The Vampyre” (1819) popularized the notion of the well-dressed, aristocratic vampire. He is remarked upon for his deathly pallor but otherwise is indistinguishable from the humans he preys upon. Varney the Vampire, a penny dreadful series of the 1840s, is the first prominent work of vampire literature to describe the creature as having elongated fangs. Interestingly, Varney also has metallic-looking eyes that gleam oddly in the dark. Despite these features, he is often able to pass for human. Carmilla, notably, is not pale at all, but is described as looking vibrant and healthy. Only one side character comments on the sharpness of her teeth, while all others seem to find nothing unusual about her appearance. In Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, the vampires’ physical quirk is that their fingernails are clear like glass. Her vampires tend to get paler as they age, but can also become tanned if exposed to the sun (assuming they are strong enough not to be immediately burnt to a crisp).

Powers

The vampire’s supernatural powers and abilities are perhaps where we see the most variation. The notion that vampires are hard to kill and can survive things that most humans wouldn’t is fairly universal. However, both Polidori’s Lord Ruthven and Varney the Vampire need to be exposed to the light of the moon in order to recover from serious injuries. Later incarnations, such as Anne Rice’s vampires, tend to be supernaturally self-healing and/or largely indestructible. Another common characteristic is hypnotic control over victims. This is most obvious in the case of Count Dracula who induces a trance-like state in his victims, but we can see a hint of it in Lord Ruthven when he exacts an oath from the protagonist that seems to be supernaturally binding. Another mental power many vampires have is telepathy. As mentioned above, Dracula creates a telepathic bond with Mina; Anne Rice’s vampires are all able to communicate telepathically to a degree; while in Twilight, each vampire has a different power and telepathy is Edward’s. One of the most enduring traits seems to be super-strength. Carmilla is noted for her unexpectedly strong grip, while Dracula is said to have the strength of twenty men. For the vampires in both Anne Rice’s books and the Twilight novels, super-strength goes along with superhuman speed, leading to very dramatic action sequences when one vampire clashes with another. A handful of vampires are known to shapeshift—Carmilla into a giant cat, and Dracula into a bat, wolf, or even mist—though this trait seems to be less popular in more recent novels where shapeshifters are often regarded as an entirely separate category of supernatural being.

Which version of the vampire is your favorite? If you were writing a vampire novel, what traits would your vampires have? Let me know in the comments!