As long as we’re on the subject of vampires, a quiz:
- By what means do vampires customarily kill?
- By what means do vampire hunters customarily kill?
- By what means did Vlad the Impaler customarily kill?
- Why is Vlad the Impaler so frequently imagined as a vampire rather than, say, a vampire hunter?
By what means do vampires customarily kill?
Vampires customarily kill by sucking the blood of their victims.
By what means do vampire hunters customarily kill?
Vampire hunters customarily kill vampires by driving stakes through vampires’ hearts.
By what means did Vlad the Impaler customarily kill?
Vlad the Impaler customarily killed by impaling his victims on wooden poles.
Why is Vlad the Impaler so frequently imagined as a vampire rather than, say, a vampire hunter?
It seems that the name of Vlad the Impaler (his Romanian surname is “Dr?culea”) was the inspiration for the name “Dracula”. Although there seem to be some connections between the stories of Vlad the Impaler and Dracula, I imagine that his image as a vampire has more to do with his acts of political aggression.
I heard that Vlad the Impaler also consumed blood of enemies from a bowl, dipping bread into it, and then eating.
Like a stereotypical bully, Vlad was afraid that people would want to drive a stake through him, so he lashed out at other people, becoming the impaler himself. Classic vampire behavior.
Similar to Danny’s response. If we assume that Vlad was a vampire and knew his own weakness but was ignorant that others were not vampires. Then perhaps he felt that his impailing of others was necessary.
Poetic justice?
He dies by the same means by which he killed.
Interestingly in the oldest versions vampires didn’t need to merely be staked but had to be pinned to the ground via a stake. As in affixed to the Earth so they could never rise again.
Vlad the Impaler killed people by the thousands, by driving sharpened wooden posts up peoples’ backsides, then planting the posts in the ground, leaving them to die in public view, unable to get off the stakes alive.
The legend of “vampirism” probably had its origins in Roman Catholicism, where a profound taboo is broken by “drinking blood” and “eating flesh” during “Communion.”
No skeletal remainsof any humanoid vampire has ever been found (surprise!), and human body mass is too great to fly with bat-like wings.
Just another superstitious story from the days before electric lighting…
Tony
Top Cow has a new Comic Out called Impaler.
Tracy
Top Cow should have a new comic out called Top Cow.