#vampire lore

[4denthusiast]

Everyone knows vampires have no reflections, but if we want to turn this into a fully specified model of vampire optics, for example to write a raytracing engine capable of dealing with vampires, how might we go about it? It is perhaps easiest to discuss using a list of the types of bounce each light ray experiences on its way from the light source to the eye/camera. Normally these bounces are just classified as diffuse and specular, but in this case we need to add separate cases for reflection from a vampire, and passing through a vampire. (I'll assume that vampires always reflect light diffusely, although this may not always be the case.) Let's denote the types of reflection as follows:

S: specular, mirror-like reflection

D: diffuse, ordinary bouncing of light from non-shiny surfaces

V: vampire

Λ: passing through a vampire

The reflection steps are then listed in order from the light source L to the eye E, so directly viewing a directly illuminated matte object would be LDE, viewing a matte object in a mirror would be LDSE, viewing a vampire illuminated by the light bouncing off the ground would be LDVE, etc.

To specify a theory of vampire optics then requires a specification of which classes of paths are allowed, and which, like LVSE (viewing a directly illuminated vampire's reflection) are not. If the theory can be expressed in terms of finitely many different types of light (like if the light reflected from a vampire is of a different sort from the light directly from the source), then the different types of light correspond to the states of a finite state machine, which implies the set of classes of paths is a regular language, and can be described by a regular expression.

The most obvious rule is that the path LVSE, viewing a vampire in a mirror, is disallowed, those light paths do not exist. This also applies however the vampire is illuminated, so LDVSE, LSVSE, LDDVSE, and in general L*VSE are all disallowed. You can't see a vampire in two mirrors either, so L*VSSE is disallowed, and although there's no image of the vampire formed in this case, presumably L*VSDE and all other L*VS*E paths are disallowed too.

The purpose of the Λ class of paths is to avoid the vampire appearing as a dark silhouette in the mirror. You can't see through a vampire directly, L*ΛE is disallowed, but you can see through a vampire in the mirror, so LΛSE, LDΛSE, etc. are allowed. In no case should two paths YVX and ZΛX both be allowed, because otherwise both the vampire and whatever is behind them would be seen overlapped (perhaps very blurred if X contains a D).

All this is pretty universal to different versions of vampires not appearing in mirrors, but there are some additional details which differ. Do vampires have shadows? If so, LΛDE is disallowed, otherwise it's allowed. In the case where they don't, they probably shouldn't be able to illuminate their surroundings either, and the rule in general becomes V is only allowed last in the sequence, and Λ is only allowed anywhere else. If they do have shadows, then there's the question of whether their shadows appear in mirrors. If so, the paths L*ΛDSE are disallowed. Although I think this rule sometimes appears in fiction, I find it unnatural so I will not be elaborating on it further.

In the other case, that neither vampires nor their shadows appear in mirrors, L*ΛDSE is allowed. Presumably indirect illumination from vampires is not visible in mirrors either (so L*VDSE is disallowed), and in general if neither vampires nor any of their effects are visible in mirrors, then all paths L*V*SE are disallowed and all paths L*Λ*SE are allowed (unless they contain a V). Obviously all paths containing neither S nor Λ are allowed, so the only question is what about the paths with additional bounces after a specular reflection.

One way to complete the rule would be that a path is allowed iff it does not contain any Vs before an S, or any Λs not before an S. This has the rather odd implication though that if a vampire stands between a light source and a mirror, they would be illuminated from both sides (LVE and LΛSVE). With multiple mirrors they might be illuminated very brightly, since there are lots of paths LΛSΛS...ΛSVE, and you could even turn it into a perpetual motion machine if the vampire was dressed in bright clothing.

An even more efficient setup would be to put the vampire inside the optical cavity of the laser directly. A limited amount of duplication of light is inevitable in any model of vampire optics, since light shining onto a mirror through a vampire must be reflected by both the vampire and the mirror, but it doesn't need to be quite this excessive. The perpetual motion issue in particular could be avoided just by saying vampirified light carries no energy and can't be picked up by anything without a soul, but the issue that the vampire in this scenario is illuminated many times over by a single light source is still counter-intuitive. I would therefore suggest that all paths L*S*V*E also be disallowed. The corresponding paths with Λ can't be allowed because you still shouldn't be able to see through a vampire directly.

Another elegant model, though it differs significantly from how vampires are usually depicted, would be that Λ is never allowed, and a path cannot contain both V and S. This has the advantage that it is reversible, like real-life optics generally is, and the amount of light is only ever decreased, not increased, in keeping with vampires' status as creatures of the night. In this model, vampires are visible in mirrors, but their reflections are completely black, and they cannot be illuminated by specularly reflected light. Perhaps the mirror-light harms the vampires and the vampire-light harms the mirrors too.

[bunnis-monsters]

You saying vampires have no blood flow means they also don't get erections

That shit is going up!! I’ll put a damn wooden dowel in his peehole!! GIMME THAT VAMPIRE COCK!!

Yeah they’re corpses but it’s fantasy… I’ll let his cock get hard.

A little solution!! Maybe vampires can only get hard once they’ve consumed blood recently? Some of the blood they consume travels to their dick. Kinda makes sense, my ideal vampire man gets horny after drinking my blood 😏

[gabrielisdead]

hey I made a new, better Vampire Lore iceberg

[farvann]

Thiiiiiinking about my vampires again and I think that their appearance is definitely affected by if they're well fed or not AND especially if the blood is fresh and "live". Live blood invigorates them and brings life back to them, making their features appear a bit more normal. Pupils more circular instead of slits, skin less pale, ears and even fangs less pointy. A vampire who has no trouble regularly feeding off live prey has a way more advantage of blending in with humans, making them even more dangerous.

[foxybouquet]

Dracopia rising from the mists 😍

You know that thing where vampires’ skin warms up after they feed, because they feed on living blood. That’s sort of an intrusive thought, right now.

[beebeedibapbeediboop]

I have a question about the logistics of feeding on blood for the goth/vampire universe. how bloody or gory is the feeding and do people who are bitten remember being bitten/ remain scarred or have lasting consequences?

It is bloody but not much gory as the vampire sucks the blood from the two holes made by their fangs, they don't really have to tear the flesh apart because their saliva contain blood-thinning agents, but some vampire do if they really don't care.

The person who's been bitten can feel the need afterwards to be bitten again. The bite is not addictive but the effect it has on the brain makes the victim feverish and confused (combined with blood loss). So some people just crawl back to the vampire to be fed on again (it lasts a few hours and it's an evolutionary thing: it was for the vampire to make sure they could still have food after or to feed their offspring)

On the long term, victims may feel some paranoïa at night time and the scar of the bite mark never goes away. This also prevented other vampires to feed on a vampire's human mate. Vampires who do not kill the people they feed on regularly are particularly possessive of them.

[theholmwoodfoundation]

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[ben-jaded]

Sooo do we all agree Remmick is not a normal Western vampire? The dancing, the gold coins? It got me thinking.

Because I’m thinking he’s either part fae or was directly bitten by the Abhartach (aka the OG Irish vampire/death fae).

Like:

His victims' wounds never close.

He heals unnaturally fast from that sun burn after we got introduced to him.

He's obsessed with blood and coins.

He led a counterclockwise dance (death curse vibes??).

And let’s be real that man feels ancient and he definitely dated himself. He's over a thousand years old.

[emilyscastlevania]

The V in Papa V Perpetua stands for Vampire

[vyvilha]

fun facts about ukrainian vampires (opyr)

• opyri can be of two origins: born and made. made opyri are made by witches, who can smear a baby with blood of a man who went to sleep without praying, thus making the child an opyr.

• opyri have two souls. when opyr dies, only one soul goes to the otherworld. this is why they continue living after death. they aren't immortal though, and only live post-death for seven years. you can presume the person who died was an opyr and will return later if right after their death was a great storm.

• they are very merry fellas and are known to sing, dance and play musical instruments. you can see them partying if you go to the village border at midnight. they also can be spotted smoking a pipe while laying in their coffin.

• opyr can turn into variety of different things: a child, a white or a black dog, a cat, a wolf, a horseman.

• if someone sneezes and you don't respond with "bless you" such person can become an easy target for opyr.

• to get rid of the opyr, you must take them into your arms and carry them across the town or village three times. classical stake to the heart works too.

[shinobicyrus]

Rewatching Buffy for the first time in many years and I am fascinated that they kept the bit of vampire lore about not being able to enter a home uninvited.

It's a great way for the writers to explain why all the vampires just can't break into the Buffy and gangs' homes and kill them all while they're sleeping but it also creates a lot more very very silly questions about how it all works.

Does the person have to be living in the home to be able to invite the vampire in? That would seem like a great incentive for a vampire to hire a human goon to break into someone's place and give their vamp boss a permanent invitation, so it either has to be a resident or someone inside who are themselves an invited guest of a resident of the home.

Can a vampire squat in an empty house that no one is living in? How long does it take when someone moves in for the vampire-repelling magic to kick in? Do you have to spend at least one night there first? What if the previously mentioned vampire squatter is chilling in the basement when the new human owners move in? Does the vampire get yeeted out of the place the second the new residents drop their bags on the floor or when they sign the paperwork? Can human squatters move in and evict a vampire by accident?

Is there a difference between renting and homeownership? I doubt, for instance, that Buffy's mom straight up owned their house. She probably had a mortgage, which is essentially paying rent to a bank with extra steps, so I doubt there's no magical distinction being made whether you're renting, paying a mortgage, or just own your own home...but that raises the question that if a landlord owns a property on paper but doesn't live there, do they have the same "authority" to invite a vampire inside as the people who actually live there?

What I'm trying to say is: can the Buffyverse prove with vampire-invite magic that landlords are irrefutably not the owners of a residence and that their entire system is somehow more fucking predatory than the actual bloodsuckers who at least respect squatters' rights?

[gabrielisdead]

my vampire lore iceberg, open for criticism and suggestions

[apoloadonisandnarcissus]

Reddit is the place where your last brain cells go to die, and where you can find random dudes who calls themselves “folklore nerds” but then write an completely inaccurate paragraph on why Ellen and Orlok’s covenant was broken at the end of “Nosferatu” (2024), and he didn’t got her soul.

My dude, you call yourself a “folklore nerd”, and you don’t even recognize a strigoi when you see one? Orlok is a full-on strigoi down to the last detail, and it’s not blood he feeds on specifically, it’s souls, life force. He’s a psychic vampire. Which is why Thomas had to be exorcised; he tells Ellen he will “drink upon [her] soul” and Herr Knock says “I relinquished him my soul”. The moment Ellen allows Orlok to drink her blood, her soul is his. That’s what he feeds on, and what sustains him. At dawn, when the rotten vessel (Nosferatu) where their united souls were trapped in gets destroyed, they are set free, as their joined blood/souls comes out of it (“freed them from the plague of Nosferatu”). That’s why Orlok is “an empty shell” at the end. Their united souls were liberated into the Afterlife, where they are together, ever-eternally.

No covenant was broken, you people just don’t know folklore and ignore Robert Eggers interviews.

[beebeedibapbeediboop]

Awww the latest vamp&goth art is so cute! Seeing your art on my dash gives me life ♡

I've got a few quick questions, if you don't mind:

1. Is Lily, like, Bad Circulation Cold or literal ice cube? Is it bc of vampirism?

2. Is Lily in any way aware of Matheo's feelings?

Thank you so much 🩷🩷

1. So literally Vampires have less blood than human beings and it also circulates slowly. So their skin is as cold as someone with really bad circulation

2. Lily has no idea that Matheo has a huge crush on her because she is convinced that her true form is so unlovable that nobody could ever love her like that. Also since she's from the 20s she has a different idea of how someone would be wooing her!

[ssleeping-in-a-coffin]

The History of Dracula’s Bloodline

Why is cinematic Dracula portrayed as a lonely aristocrat when his historical family ruled for centuries? Let's explore the facts, myths, and add a bit of personal perspective on the origins of vampires.

Historical Context

The prototype of Dracula — Vlad III Țepeș (1431–1476), ruler of Wallachia. His family, the House of Drăculești, was a branch of the Basarab dynasty, which ruled from the 14th century. The name “Dracula” comes from his father’s title, Vlad II Dracul (“The Dragon”), a member of the chivalric Order of the Dragon.

Key Figures:

Vlad II Dracul — father of Vlad Tepes, assassinated by nobles.

Vlad III Țepeș — infamous for impalements (hence "Tepes" — "The Impaler").

Radu III the Handsome — Vlad’s brother, who ruled with Ottoman support.

Michael the Brave (1593–1601) — the dynasty’s last significant ruler, who briefly united Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia.

The Drăculești branch originated with Vlad II Dracul (son of Mircea the Elder) and gradually faded by the 18th century. The last legitimate descendant, Trașcă Drăculescu, marked the end of the dynasty.

Cinematic Dracula

This version of Dracula has no biological heirs, as vampires are typically depicted as infertile. His "family" consists of those he has turned—such as the three brides in Stoker’s novel. Over 500 years, he could have created thousands of "descendants," yet screenwriters prefer to portray him as solitary.

If vampires lived for 1,000 years and turned others every 200–300 years, there could be 8–10 generations over 2,000 years.

While Dracula traditionally has no biological heirs due to vampire infertility, there are notable exceptions in various adaptations. In the Castlevania series, Alucard is depicted as Dracula's son. Additionally, in the animated film series Hotel Transylvania, Dracula is portrayed as having a daughter named Mavis and a father named Vlad.

Headcanon: A Common Ancestor for Vampires?

"Do Dracula and other vampires share a common ancestor?" No canon answer, but here’s my take:

The First Vampire — a human who achieved eternal life through alchemy/magic but fell into a trap of their own making. Perhaps the gods cursed him, or he made a fatal mistake in his ritual. Others, seeing his power, replicated the process, but each curse mutated. This created various vampire clans with unique weaknesses (sunlight, garlic, silver).

Vlad Tepes may have inherited vampirism from a nameless progenitor, with his cruelty amplifying the darkness of his lineage. As the first clan, his descendants are inherently stronger than others. Meanwhile, other vampire clans emerged from those who sought immortality through blood rituals or dark pacts, each forming their own distinct bloodline with unique traits and weaknesses.

Conclusion

Dracula’s historical bloodline was real and played a significant role in Wallachian politics. In films, he is portrayed as a lone figure because it enhances the drama, making him darker and more mysterious. However, if we consider him as part of an ancient vampire lineage, his story becomes more than just a horror tale—it turns into a full-fledged legend with its own rules and traditions.

What’s your take: Should vampires share a common ancestor, or does every legend need its own origin? 💬

[weirdpolis]

The further we get in the Dracula Daily, and the more I realize all of the discrepancies between the Original Text and every single one of its adaptations, the more I think there must be some weird vampire quirk at work here. Some spell, or a curse, that prevents the faithfull translation of the original story. Some combination of "Vampires don't have reflections in the mirrors, and their likeness cannot be captured on film or photograph" and "victims cannot speak directly about the Vampire because they are put under their spell or in a trance". I have not yet figured out all the details of how this peculiar vampire quirk works, and wheter the wild mistranslation of the "Dracula" onto Islandic language also occured under this spell, but you must agree with me, that it's weird it happened this many times.