BtVS essay: A Ramble on Vampires Disguised as an Essay

Jun 21, 2005 22:46

Title: A Ramble on Vampires Disguised as an Essay
Author: SCWLC
Disclaimer: I don’t even own the theories.
Feedback: scwlc@yahoo.ca
Notes: Thanks to Jennifer for being the best person to bounce ideas off of ever. Thank you to all the people who read the other two essays and didn’t tell me I suck. Thanks to all those fanfic authors that keep me from sinking into despair over the presence of Dork!Angel, (and C/A shippers? I don’t want to hear about it). Especial thanks to all those who have sent me feedback that is not just complementary but also entertaining.
Now on to my madness, as promised.

******************

We will begin with the simplest definition. A vampire is a human form possessed by a demon. This is the basis of the vampire in the BtVS mythology that we hear again and again. The first question about a vampire then, raised by our definition, is: How does this possession take place?

It begins with selection. The vampire wishing to change one of his or her victims into a vampire selects the individual who best suits the desired purpose. As we have seen, they need not be too careful in selection. The choice may be based upon a need for a messenger or bait, as was seen in “The Harvest” with Jesse, or in “Phases” with Theresa. A vampire might be chosen because of a desire to gain that person’s presence, for whatever reason. Darla’s choice of Liam, Angelus’ choice to turn Drusilla based on the notion of her continuing torment, Drusilla’s decision to turn William so that she could have someone all her own are all examples of the second kind. Even the vampire Darla had convinced to turn her for that second time was doing so because of a wish for a hot babe hanging off his arm for eternity.

The reasons to turn a human into a vampire are diverse, and this is what accounts for the fascinating cross section of humanity seen in vampires. They cross the boundaries of race, creed, gender, class, and intelligence. We have seen vampires of varying levels of intellect and ambition, and from all walks of life. This complete lack of specificity in type belies any notions one might have about a careful selection process.

This raises an interesting question to be addressed later in more detail about why, given that so many vampires want to take over the world, or some such megalomaniacal scheme, do they not take the necessary care to sire strictly the more intelligent and useful members of human society. That will be discussed later.

But back to the initial process of turning a human to a vampire. Once the decision has been made to bring a person across, that person is caught and fed upon until they are on the verge of death. Then, some of the vampire’s blood is fed to them. As it happens, a very small amount is required to change someone at this point. We have seen both Darla and Drusilla create shallow cuts on their chests and simply let the blood slide into their victim’s mouth.

There seem to be two reasons the vampire must nearly completely drain the victim before turning him or her. The first, is that they must be unable to withstand the invasion of the demon into the body. It seems likely that the entry of a demon is impossible with a soul in solid residence, and that until a person is dying, that is their soul is already leaving the body, there is no way for a demon to gain a foothold. Then, a small amount of blood is all that is needed to introduce the demon.

The second reason is in what Dracula told Buffy, when he suggested she drink some of his blood. It was that she had a complete bloodstream so his blood could not harm her. This suggests that the demon entering the person resides in the blood. That is, the demon acts almost as some sort of metaphysical viral infection. Not a literal one as stated in the television show “Forever Knight”, but that somehow, the demon is bound to the blood. This raises the second reason for complete draining. There must be replacement of the human blood with vampiric. The reason I claim the demon is not a literal infection is another issue to be discussed later.

These two factors, driving the soul out of the body and the replacement of human blood with vampire, must be completed to create another vampire. There is a brief window in which success can take place. Wait too long, and your victim will die. It seems that once a person is fully dead they cannot be turned.

Why is that? Simply because a vampire is caught at that moment between life and death. Before the brain has been permanently damaged by oxygen loss, and after the victim’s heart and breathing have stopped. This moment in between is when the demon begins to take hold and transform the dead body into a vampire. It seems most likely that the physical decay is too much after that point for the demon to be successful at reanimation.

After a period that seems to be around a day, the new vampire wakes up and is either greeted by his or her sire, or wanders off into the night to feed. What happens after rising appears to be based on the vagaries of the sire and local population.

So what exactly is this demon which infects the human host? We know that millions of years ago demons were the dominant life form and that at some point a cataclysm occurred to force them from this reality into a separate one. We know that as one demon in particular was being pulled out of this universe into the so-called ‘hell dimensions’ it drank the blood of a human, fed some of its blood to that person, and created the first vampire.

This first vampire, working mainly on instinct, created more of his kind through the process described above, “...and so they walked the Earth.” (Giles, ‘The Harvest’). After the demon had left this reality it left people behind with these demonic infections. These infections are not literal however, because the demon is mainly non-corporeal. It has no presence in the mortal universe, and holds onto its place merely through a connection to the blood.

I claim the demon is non-corporeal because what the vampire demon does, is take the metaphysical place of a soul. The demon does not create genetic changes in its host body, the demonic ridges and other features are due to the possession. We have seen the physical effects of possession in “The Dark Age” when Jenny Calendar was possessed by Eyghon. The demon was not a corporeal being, and yet it could create actual physical changes on the host’s body. A vampire’s demon is partially removed from this plane of existence and influences things in a similarly indirect fashion.

I believe that the reason Angel’s demon was so much more in control in Pylea was that Pylea is much closer to the demon dimension. It is due to this proximity that Angel’s human nature was suppressed. Normally the demon and Angel exist in the same space simultaneously. In Pylea, there was an alternation. Either Angel’s humanity was in control or his demonic nature. There was no halfway point as there is on Earth.

The instinctive feeding mentioned before also holds part of the answer to the question of why vampires are not careful about who they choose. This has to do with the fact that most people in the world are not geniuses, charismatic, or useful in any more than a limited way. People cannot suddenly become brilliant leaders with the introduction of demonic traits to their personality, and they cannot change from being janitors, secretaries, or even business executives to warriors for a cause because of this.

If one were to pick twenty people at complete random out of a population of three million, it seems fairly unlikely that any of them will be of any great use in schemes of world domination, or in picking out people for said schemes. Many will not even want to be involved because they lack the drive, dedication, or fanaticism needed for something like that.

The first vampire was feeding essentially at random. He had no notion of what he was, and it seems likely that he did not know the consequences of his actions. This means that each victim was going to be a truly superior being by luck of the draw. Some were, most weren’t. This lead to large numbers of vampires turning others for spurious and even stupid reasons, and creating vampires like the Gorch brothers, or the previously mentioned dimwit Darla convinced to turn her. Why is the turning of vampires so instinctive to them? In what will soon be a refrain, it’s coming up later.

The other reason is a much more pragmatic reason than blind chance. Vampires are a cutthroat brotherhood. To be a leader of the vampiric community, such as it is, one must be stronger, smarter, or in some way superior to the others. To consistently create vampires that are smart and strong enough to challenge your claim is a senseless move. Vampires have no loyalty save to those who are strongest.

The argument that could be made is that the Master and the Anointed had a massive following who worshipped the two with a religious fervour. This is true, but in the Master’s case, I suspect it was because he was such a powerful vampire his followers were in awe. Also, in his case, I believe his followers were brainwashed. The Master would raise those he sired to see him as a god, and they would train their own that way. Those who followed the Anointed were those who had been brainwashed by the Master.

Ultimately one cannot see any reason to sire someone who will be, not only untrustworthy, but also strong enough to challenge your position.

The next issue to arise in the discussion of what makes up a vampire is what is happening inside a host when a vampiric demon overtakes the host body. The first thing that will happen is the exit of the soul, and the demon taking its metaphysical place. That achieved, the demon then begins the process of altering the personality.

What must be understood is that once a person becomes a vampire a new personality takes its place. This personality has been formed and developed by the host’s human existence, but the reactions and instincts have changed. The human instincts are replaced with the much more violent instincts of the demon.

The most basic instinct in a human is survival. Either survival through avoiding danger and managing one’s resources to avoid starvation and death, or through propagation. In humans this means hunting for food, not being killed by sabre tooth tigers, and sex. In a vampire these instincts are vastly different.

For one thing, there are far fewer creatures that can have the same effect on a vampire as a predator has on a human. For the most part, all a vampire has to fear is a slayer. If she is not around vampires have pretty much free rein. This makes all the difference in behaviour. It leads to a general superiority complex. Vampires have a distinct swagger engendered by being the top predators around. They know it both intellectually and instinctively.

This feeling of superiority means that there are very few vampires with any respect for a human. They view us as cattle, at least in part, because they know that in terms of the food chain, they are at the top. They are, in theory, as smart as humans, but they are also stronger, faster, with more endurance, and they eat us. There is no reason they can see to even wish to be human.

This feeling extends to their human families. Once a vampire feels superior to the whole human race, it will definitely feel above all previous human relationships. It would be a very rare case that a person’s feelings as a human transcend the change to a vampire. It could happen, but it would still be a fairly unusual thing. The separation from the family is facilitated by the presence of a new family. Yes, I know I pretty much just said that vampires have no real social bonds, but (as my refrain raises its ugly head) I’ll get back to that point shortly. Also, I said it was a cutthroat brotherhood. That does not actually preclude bonds.

This new family is apparent in the title of a vampire who has created another. Sire. A human man can sire children, a vampire sires other vampires. A brief side note for those of you wondering why I’m not using the word childe. It has yet to be used at any point in either BtVS or AtS. If anyone has heard it used in an episode, send me the reference and I’ll correct. Otherwise, I consider it to be outside the realm of the Buffy reality.

In any event, we do know that there is a connection between vampires of a shared bloodline. This is evidenced by what Angel said when Penn came to LA. He stated that he could sense the vampires he’d sired when they were near. That was why he’d been having the dreams of Penn’s kills. He has a psychic connection with the other vampire. A bond of some kind is quite evident. This familial connection is also apparent in the reproductive strategy of vampires.

Vampires do have a reproductive strategy. In humans, our immortality, otherwise known as gene survival, is in our reproduction. It’s why sex is so much fun. We’re designed to attempt to spread our genes as much, and as far as possible. Vampires have a similar instinct to reproduce. The difference between their reproduction and ours, is that they do so by taking a human and infecting them with a demon. They do not so much create a new being, as they combine two previously existing structures into one.

They reproduce by killing humans. This is why they kill so much. It is not merely for the simple need for food, it is also that it is like sex for them. It is the manner in which they reproduce, and therefore it is as enjoyable an experience as sex. The fact that the two facets of instinct combine in one activity intensifies the instinctive need they have to kill and feed.

Another central instinct co-opted by the demon is the conscience. A conscience is a fixed set of values. The soul holds one set of things in high esteem, a demon another. When a demon is placed in charge of a host body, the actions that were valued by the human soul are no longer seen as being important. The demon’s values are imposed in their place. So, while a vampire may know intellectually that an action is wrong, the internal compass that used to point to the good and bad choices is now moving in completely different directions.

These kinds of differences are what make a vampire a different person from the one who was there before. It is true that a vampire has all the memories and preferences of the person they were before being turned. The difference lies in a nature versus nurture dichotomy. The person has been nurtured to be who they are when they are killed. Then, the underlying nature is changed abruptly and completely.

A side effect of these new instinctive drives, as well as the changes in values, family, and lifestyle is the sudden drop in inhibitions. When one is human there tend to be things on does not do. Whether they are socially imposed, such as not wandering around naked even on a day when it’s 130 degrees Fahrenheit out, psychologically imposed, like feeling that you shouldn’t speak up because no one will listen to you anyway, or morally imposed, such as when you don’t hit your friend over the head with an aluminium bat for telling you that she thinks that guy has a sexy nose for the 9000th time that morning. Yes that last one has happened to me. I’m just glad she’s over it.

This removal of inhibitions allows traits to emerge that would remain dormant otherwise. As a good example we take Willow and her evil twin from the Wishverse. When we compare her to the Willow of season three there is little resemblance. When we compare her to the Willow of early season six there is a marked resemblance. The fact is that if one were to compare Willow of the first season to Willow of the third, the difference is very equivalent to the difference between S3 Willow and VampWillow.

We see that VampWillow took the hidden traits such as bisexuality, an enjoyment of wilder clothing, and all the subtle schemes Willow’s mind could invent and simply went with them. There is no attempt to change according to the values of humans, and things that Willow didn’t realise about herself came to the fore. This lack of self suppression is the final piece to the puzzle on the personality shift from human to vampiric.

Essentially, you take a person you know, break all of their bonds with family and friends, and create new ones of equivalent strength with psychotic killers. You give them a superiority complex, and alter their physical selves, reflexes, and responses. Then you remove all the values they previously held and replace them with utter selfishness, and finish by making them not only need to kill, but like it.

If you can honestly say that the person you are faced with is the same as before then you either know something I don’t, or are completely delusional. This is not to say that the previous personality in residence has no effect on the vampire they become, because the opposite is true.

“Everything we are informs who we become,” said Darla to Angelus when he first rose. It is true. The murder of Liam’s family was due to the feelings that Angelus still had of them. He remembered the feelings of inadequacy fostered by Liam’s father, and those memories, though not his own by experience, became his by presence. The experiences and knowledge carried by a person is also carried by the vampire.

What makes the line so very difficult to define is the fact that the vampire doesn’t simply remember events, it remembers the feeling held by the host during those events. The vampire knows what the person felt at previous moments of their life. The vampire will even share some of those feelings. Whether it’s anger, affection, or even sadness, the vampire will see the situation from the perspective of the person the host body used to be. The difference is that the vampire will look from that perspective through the lens of altered perception. These different instincts I discussed before will take the view and place a different screen over it for interpretation.

Finally we come to the matter of social organization. There appear to be many kinds and yet no overarching principles that create consistency. Some vampires live in highly striated, hierarchical, and organized societies. The way the Master lived with his lieutenants, favourites, and minions. There is also a loose kind of system the way Spike ran his gang. The few vampires at the top while the rest battle over position. There are cults like the Order of Aurelius and the followers of Balthazar. On the other end of the scale, there are those vampires that are free agents. They are not part of any structure.

These variations and differences in the social lives of vampires suggests to me that there is no hierarchy inherent to the vampiric world. It has been suggested by many people that there are differing kinds of vampires, minions, masters, etc. I do not believe this because we have seen no evidence of it. We have seen vampires that have taken on leadership roles. They have even had positions which could be called ‘master’, but I have seen no evidence of an inherent system of castes.

The reason there appear to be bloodlines which are more powerful or more effective than others has little to do with bloodlines or the specifics of siring a vampire. What creates them is the previously mentioned selection. The vampires that have leadership roles all have strong charismatic personalities. They were selected for those personalities before they were turned. An intelligent selector allows for an intelligent selection.

Angelus did not become a master vampire because of some complicated blood ritual. He became a master vampire because Liam had the charisma and force of personality hidden under his wastrel exterior to be so. There are minions in the vampire world because there are humans with too little self control to come to anything as vampires, who lack ambition, who aren’t intelligent enough, or who simply cannot lead. The majority of the human population is like this, and it is doubtful that this will change with the conversion to vampire. The reasons minions are created are simple. Either the vampire siring a new one needs a grunt worker, or the sire is not thinking clearly.

The question of why vampire society is so very hierarchical in places then is raised as a defence for the sire/childe argument. This has a rather simple explanation. If one looks back on the distant societies of the past, one of the factors is that of castes. Many societies had them. A vampire will be accustomed to a particular societal formation and will try to recreate it. The Master’s society was rather like a feudal system. The kind he would have lived in as a human.

The reason Spike’s gang was so very different in organization is that Spike has been trying to escape from the Victorian mould for more than a century. For the most part he has always been what I call a free agent. He likes the freedom from society’s constraints. Trick liked the structure of a 20th century business, so he organized his group in that fashion.

The other major reason for the Master overseeing a bunch of hangers on is that vampires do not share the human sense of values. Where humans would prefer a democratic system, vampires have no such compunction. The strongest gains the position of dictator. The notion of polling opinion is sheer anathema to them simply because it’s a waste of time that could be spent doing something. After all, a dictatorship is the best form of government as long as you don’t care about matters such as abuse of power. The most powerful take charge and there is no artifice about it.

One final part before I wrap up this madness. The killing of vampires has some interesting occurrences. The decapitation and fire make sense. Those will kill almost anything after all. The wooden stake through the heart, however makes little sense. Crosses, holy water, and sunlight are all symbols of the powers of good. The wooden stake seems to have no sensible relation to anything. That is, until one looks backward to the pagan roots of current religions.

Most modern religions have connections to pagan practice. The placement of Christmas and Chanuka is a not coincidence with the pagan festivals of the winter solstice. The rebirth of light into the world occurs at that time of year when the days begin to lengthen again. That is why there is so much emphasis on light during these holidays. Another hangover from these pagan practices is that wood was also a representative of powers of good. Tree spirits, sacred woods like oak, rowan, and willow. These are the connection to why wood is used and not something else through the heart. Wood holds an archetypical place as a holy object, and although it never had quite the same cachet as a cross it still holds special powers. Garlic I refuse to touch because I honestly have no notion what makes it special. I didn’t actually do research for this, after all.

I also have one more notion relating to vampires. This has to do with why they burst into dust. They do so because of the connection between the body and the demon. The demon is killed when its connection to the host body is severed. Unfortunately, the very existence of the body has become dependent on the presence of the demon. When the demon ceases to animate the body, it collapses in on itself due to the sudden removal of the source keeping it in stasis.

Thank you for reading my ramble. I just wasted six hours of my life I should have been writing about stained glass. Of course, this was more fun.

Back to archive page

btvs essay

Previous post Next post
Up