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How does the Upir differ from the Western Vampire?

only difference i see is they way they become one

Are Western Vampires thrown in rivers when they are killed? Are they cremated? Could Upirs possibly live a different lifetsyle from the Western Vampires?


Please discuss this with full and legit thoughts.

So far the reasoning behind their being is the most commonly seen aspect of the differences.

Perhaps their persona and the way they react and search out is also different.
maybe the myths on how to vanquish a Upir

The turning from faith (christian or some other orthodoxy) is the most blatant description of the Upir's role, but is implied with all fictional vampires.

In the link, females are once again singled out, along with witches and sorcerers in general. Western fictional vamps tend to be predominantly males.

It was a way of generating fear and controlling the flock, not unlike the fire and brimstone of my youth.

The Upir sound tike a incubus.

I know of one person who would give a rather extensive theory about the origin of the Upir and it's affect on the successive mythos of vampires. However since he's not here, let me say on his behalf that there's an awful lot of debate over the nature of the Upir.

I do find it interesting how often the church was the deciding factor in what was a Upir, vampire or other undead and although they would likely have been looked to as the expert of their time, it bespeaks of a certain question of abuse of power. The church had a strong need to make sure that people were afraid of life without the church and it seems that both the Western Vampire and the Russian Upir were at least at times created merely by fiat of the church power (condemned to be undead by excommunication or sin).

As interesting as it is to hear about the Upir's role and how the Church used it (along with countless other things) to hold a group of people in a place they wanted, it doesn't answer the provided question.


Is the Upir in anyway different, physically or mentally, from the Vampires known in the Western part of the world?


Please provide an argument based on the question. This topic fascinates me greatly, and I would like to discuss the differences between a Vampire that we all know and a not so widely known one.

Well in truth the Upir is very close to the western vampire. In some theories, the name is the root of the other. I suppose the throwing in a lake or river would be different but even the western vampire has a slew of methods for identifying or destroying a vampire that differ from territory to territory.

I have heard mention that the upir can also be considered a werewolf so perhaps that is a factor that would further seperate it from the western vampire.

I read that an Upir, originating in St. Petersburg, can survive out in the sunlight for days, but under at least 3 feet of snow. Do you think the Western Vampires can survive in such cold, or out in the sunlight at all?

Now that is very different from some western myths. Perhaps because the further north you go, the longer you can have uninterupted periods of light or dark.

I've heard of the "White Nights of St. Petersburg" and I believe it's one of the largest cities located that far north so it has nearly a month of bright nights in June right? So that may have affected the idea of a vampire or upir who was more resilient to light.

That's very well possible too. Yes, the further up you go, the more the day lasts. Though that really doesn't change the the impact of the sun.


It's known that the Vampires in the East and North are more resistant to the sun then the Western and Southern Vampires.


Anyone has any ideas as to why?

i am not sure as to what they are. the link held not alot of info on the topic. but from what i can see an Upir was a vampire not in the way we think where they drink blood in all. the Upir from what i can see was there to bleed the church or any other righteous group dry of there follower all the while making there own bigger and stronger. but that is just from what was there

The Upir is simply a Vampire life-form that originated in Russia, and thought to be discovered before any other Vampire on Earth. They are also believed to be superior to any other Vampires in some ways, one of which being able to stay in sunlight for an extended period of time.

Certainly true Images...although Vampirika is sticking with the upir as a vampire form and not the sexual nephilem that UpirLikhyj puts forward in his theories or the botched translation of a priest simply using a term for outsider or foreigner as some other theories put forward. It would appear too that whatever the origin of the original term, the Russian upir vampire mythos did develop into it's own cultural adaptation of the undead archetype. I'm curious if there are more differences about this vampire upir that may be found. I'm also wondering if the Nightwatch or Daywatch movies used any upir traditions since as I recall, the vampires in that movie do spend time outside in the daylight.

wow i didnt know that

Yes, a vampire from northern Europe, or maybe a Viking vampire, would certainly have greater tolerance to light. In a land of midnight sun, it would either be that, or long periods hidden in darkness.

Where's the action then?

Also, there are variabilities in power among vampires, regardless of geography. and there's the issue of age, which might add strength and resistance to sunburn.

Well aparently I don't know that much after all!

I have never heard these terms before I know about those who are not blood drinker, those who draw energy instead! and then you have those who need the blood jkust not larg amounts and then u have sexual vampires and that to me is concidered an energy vamp as well!

but this is just new to me I'd like to know more!

My understanding is that a "Upir" rises from the dead to satisfy sexual lust and a "Vampire" rises from the dead to satisfy blood lust and revenge.

The word "upir" is the Russian word for vampire first found in written form in 1407, referring to a Russian prince.

Like the humans who they resemble, revenants have evolved in different locations to assimilate into the culture and adapt to the enviroment. There are variations of the species found in the forests of Borneo to the deserts of Egypt, each one uniquely develop ed for the culture and enviroment. They are called by many different names in many different languages, but they share many of the same behaviors and attitudes. They are called vampires in English.

Hmmm, perhaps I'll need to Google упир and see what I come up with. Maybe studying Russian will become useful again... ;)

I'll let you know what I find out.

I have read that some Upirs can turn into regular humans when they please. That may also explain how most Upirs can handle more sun and other human activities more then any other Vampire.

The original use of the word Upyr (Upir / Uppyr) was possibly the name of a Russian Orthodox priest way back in 1047 at this time it did NOT refer to any sort of creature that we would call a vampire today. The 1047 document that everyone refers to cannot be found and all we have is typed copies in modern russian of which two words, one of which makes no grammatical sense, have given rise to a HUGE debate. The word Upir kept being used as a common peasant's name up to 1495.

The first mention of a blood drinking supernatural creature in that area was in 1262 and it was called 'Vukodlak' - no-one attempted to call this creature Upir at that time- Around the 15th/16th century the word Upyr started to be used to describe what we would now call a vampire and, not surprisingly, people then stopped using the word to name their kids.

That is a very short summary of the history

The original vampire Upir was a heretic, witch or suicide which turned into Vampirs, Uppyr or Upierczi after death. They caused drought. If you banged a stake through them would kill them, doing it more than once would bring them back.

If you want to be really, really bored - a bunch of friends and I started to take a close look at the 1047 text, I stuck the incomplete results here, but be warned, it is very long - its mostly in russian and its very boring

By semi-skimming that entry, I've found some words/parts of it rather hard to understand. It seems like parts of it are just statements that have little to no point on the topic.



When do you think you'll complete that article?

i would have to agree with artemka, on this one

Vampirika,

apologies if you thought I was talking off topic, I was trying to address some of the issues brought up in the earlier discussion without having it dragged through a very long repeat of what used to happen when anyone mentioned Upir on this forum.

I doubt if I will ever finish the article, it is very hard going.

Back on topic:

The original word Upir has no similarity with 'western vampires' at all because it was someone's name and not a vampire like creature at all.

I did mention how the original vampire Upir was first described. The only similarity between it and what you call 'western vampires' is that it was a risen from the dead creature that could be killed by staking through the heart. It was not a blood drinker.

Over the next few centuries the term started to be used to describe all sorts of creatures that now closely resemble the blood drinking creature of the night that we all call vampire.

This could be nothing more than a derogatory appellation... blood drinking being another way of denigrating the clergy who were seen as parasites... cynically corrupting life... nothing knew about that outlook.... clergy with donkey heads or pig heads or wolf heads... sexual deviancy alluded to through an association with beasts....

Artemka - I didn't mean to say that your Forum Post was off topic, I meant to say that that Journal Entry you linked to was a little off topic to the topic of the vampire Upir. I've looked at that Journal Entry closely now, and found it a little more on point. I think when you complete it, if ever, those small segments which I found little to no sense in just might make sense then.



Thanks for your input Artemka. I've learned a few new things about the Upir through this Thread. I will however look into this topic more deeply one of these days, and might re-open the discussion.



For now I believe there isn't much more to discuss here, so I will close this Thread. Thanks for everyone's comments.