Things I've Learned from Vampire Media - Part II

Written by Shae Rufe

When last we left off, I'd shared some of my favorite Vampire lore with you guys and what I'd learned from vampire media. Well, today I'm going to tackle the arduous task of how to kill a Vampire.

This also depends on what type of lore we're going with. It turns out, there's many different ways to kill a Vampire as there are Vampires. There are two basic ways to kill them that rings true in almost all lore. Cut off the head and/or stake them in the heart. Simple, right? Sure! If you ignore the fact that these creatures are generally super-fast, super strong, and sometimes can read your mind.

In Supernatural, Vampires are strong, fast, and connected to the Alpha Vampire. To top it off, all their teeth are sharp fangs. But it's okay, just cut off the head and you're safe from ever having to deal with them again.

Yet, that doesn't always work. In many an Anime, cutting off a Vampire's head doesn't guarantee a dead Vampire. Like in NightWalker: The Midnight Detective and Hellsing, Vampires can totally survive having their heads chopped off. So, what's the next best thing? Buffy, Dracula, and The Originals tell us that a stake through the heart will solve that pesky Vampire problem easy. Fright Night was a fantastic example of this and went along the same lines as Dracula. Stab the main Vampire in the heart with a stake, and every person he turned into a Vampire turns back to human! The Originals takes it a step further. If you want to kill an Original Vampire (such as Dracula) then you need to stab them in the heart with a stake made out of white oak. 

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Fire, though, works enough to do some major damage on a Vampire as Moonlight and Interview with a Vampire taught me. But it won't kill them. So, stake them or cut off their head. Easy enough. But how do we survive in a world ruled by Vampires? That's pretty easy, just stay inside or always in a sunny region. Because if there is one thing a Vampire hates, it's sunlight. The Originals proves this wrong. If you happen to be an original Vampire, then you can totally walk around in sunlight. So do many Anime/Manga Vampires. What about garlic? Vampires hate that, right? Not according to Hotel Transylvania. Vampires don't like garlic because it just smells bad. Which is kind of true…What I also loved about this line of lore was that it was a throwback to the old Vampyric lore. Vampires turning into bats, hiding from sunlight, it’s a fantastic tale. There's no mention of how to kill those Vampires but that's okay.

Pale skin, fangs, not going into sunlight; yeah that's a Vampire. Not something that sparkles and has an emo haircut. The best way to survive in a Vampire run world is to keep a sword, and a stake handy, stay in sunlight, and if worse comes to worse, just…don't befriend them. While Vampires are fun characters, their lore has taught me that unless you're Buffy, a therapist, or possibly a love interest, a Vampire will eat you. And being eaten, looks fun, after all, we have many a Vampire inspired novel to make it look sexy. But hypodermic needles made out of teeth going into your neck is not the ideal way to go.

Also, seriously, sparkly Vampires? That's just an insult to Dracula himself.

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