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If vampire books and movies never came to be, would there be a sub-culture at all? Vampire life stlye, or beliefs?

Would there be vampire religions? Would it have all been legends to hear at a camp fire? Or would there be a vampire culture any way?


Please explain you answer.

i persoanly dont think there would have been a huge culter pop if the movies and books did not romantize vampires or made them as instreating.

but i do belive there would have been some vampire life styles but not called vampire life style more of a religius thing. since many old religions did belive in drinking blood and eating the body to gain strength

Boy that was hard to read.


There's really no vampire religion anyway since vampires don't exist.

The idea of vampires, though, has been around for eons even without books and movies. The modern idea of vampires wasn't just thought up, the ideas came from Vlad Tepes (Dracule/Son of the Dragon).

Well... as with most things Vampiric, there's the historical "Vampire" and the fiction-created pop-culture "Vampire."

Where the former is concerned, there has indeed been such a culture, religion (of sorts) and society since first the "Fallen Angels" of antiquity descended to Earth and began to sire children whose insatiable progeny then began to spread out across the face of the planet... and continued openly until the slaughters began at various places and times throughout history that forced their society underground. And where the latter is concerned, all such is found as currently constituted in pop culture as the sole result of ... fiction.

And as for fangs, blood-drinking, goth fashions, and all the rest, well... none of this has anything at all to do with the "Vampire" of history and their actual culture and everything to do with fiction.


- Upir'

You're putting the cart before the horse.

The legends made the movies and books possible - human interest in the legends, myths and lores spawned the media creations before the subcultures and lifestyles existed.

I guess the answer to your question is - no. If people had no interest in vampires to begin with, then there wouldn't be these things.

People want to live for as long as possible, so the interest in IMMORTALITY came first, followed by stories of how to achieve it. Pagan theories of the endless cycle of life and regeneration were followed by more organized religions with their theories of the afterlife.

It all starts with us, and ends with us.

Which came first; the vein, or the fang?

*birra edit* - is this being posed as a legitimate question or is this metaphorical for something?

If there is something evil or forbiden, there will always be people that will covet it. That is probably the simplest answer.

i agree with ww...many of us crave that which is taboo.

that said, pop culture has made it where vamps can come "out of the coffin" so to speak.

without such to make the concept of vampires more common, i think very few actual vamps would admit to their natures.
hard to say tho really.
~W~

to be honest...i think there would be a vamp culture without the books and films. It wouldnt be nearly so prominate tho. I personally am more into the historic figures relating to vampires then the modern day books and films.

this reminds me of what came first the egg or the chicken..i think vampire cultures and lifestlyers existed before the books and movies..it's just that the media has opened the window to showing the general public what goes on..is it a good thing? sadly no! much since the media that get interested tend to be role player fluff bunnies

Everyone knows the rooster came first, but to the question at hand: Death cults have existed since ancient man began to bury their dead and invented a ritual to go along with it.
They looked around them and experienced the the cycle of seasons and regeneration. Why not humans? Plus we can imagine tons of stuff, but we have a very hard time imagining nothing.

Egyptians wanted their same body, and all their creature comforts in the next life. Vampires are the embodiment (pun intended) of this sentiment.

I believe that it would be more obscure and maybe even more underground, but yes vampire culture would exist.

as I have said before in a similar forum post, as long as humans have a deep rooted interest in the dark parts of there ones persona I think then the vampire myth as we know of it would still be here in sorts but in a different manner as in the outlined focus wouldn't have the name vampire or umpir but only gods knows what. so in ways the out come of this is depending on the people of the time

The belief was before the books, so i say yes
as long as you have the belief.... someone will eventually
write the books and make the movies

so i say yes.

if I am not misaken the name we kno today "Vampire" was first made known in books in the late 1600 or 1700 century in europe.

I am astounded VR members are having this discussion.
Being otherkin of whatever sort is not based on flights of fancy books, films or having an "Odd day"

You either are or you are not. Contrary to popular belief, pre-pubescent hormones are not too blame. Some folk are different. Admission is socially unacceptable so if one were to wonder one need look no farther than those who remain silent.Grinz*

Well, I would like to say this: HLV's were here long before the vampire movies and novels were around don't you think???

Maybe it is the books and movies that are the sub-culture????

I have given vampirism a lot of thought over the past few years, not an intensive study of the culture or where it has steamed from but a good proportion of my time, has been extended to thinking about the evolution of the vampire, and the different kinds of vampirism which are now accepted as such and how it has become to a certain extent an acceptable taboo.

One question that did raise my awareness, was from an article I read in ForteanTimes in relation to Christianity and Vampirism. The article brought into question practices within Christianity that are inherent within that of a vampire’s lifestyle and the relationship between the two. This made me conscious of the culture and hereditary practices within humanities evolution, long before media and popular culture began to exploit it, conscious or not to what the practices reflected.

I know this is a off topic in a direct response but the point I am trying to make is that it is dependent on the information gained, the person looking and the reason they are looking, I think there would and will always be references to the fact or fiction or crossover of vamperic practices.

Two words, White Wolf, without which there would have been no fad leap to ''lets not just role play being vampires, but lets pretend to really be vampires." it is what happened when junior collage role players realized they were getting laughed at for playing high school games.

The belief of movies and books started the craze in which we see the vampire culture of today, yet in my perception i would have to say that in some degree it was around in small cases before the explosion of the vampire cult theme on hollywood, yet small and sicluded it was around.

Yes, there would be. It would just have a different name. Some kind of psychic name. Kinda like Psychic Vampyrism..

There were people who felt they were vampires long before VTM came out. For some their belief in vampirism is based on a religious view such as Temple of the Vampire, but they aren't that old. Vampirism is NOT based on Vlad Tepes because he was actually a little known Voivode until the Communists decided to take some of the people historically and put up statues and start promoting them as heroes. It was to beef up patriotism in Romania. Before that he was little known except in his immediate area. Some older historians had things about him in their books. It all excalated due to the book Dracula and there were misconceptions about any connection. Most of what people believe about vampires is made up and very different from those that say they are a vampire. It is merely a word. I am far older than the modern subculture that is now formed and most were involved in either spiritualist or light worker types of things, metaphysics/occult, researchers, fetish or plainly in private groups or kept to themselves, etc. Goth didn't exist so you didn't see people dressing like that.

Many connect to it spiritually but that doesn't make it a religion, but it does to some. Just because you can't find any of that on the net doesn't mean it didn't exist and as far as before that, people were much more superstitious and there were things one didn't talk about in polite company. Now, people don't care they let their gender preference be emblazoned all over the net for one. Even if one thought they were a vampire or knew, it wouldn't have been anything like the mythos which they hid behind but you think in those times they would volunteer this information? Many were called witches and were hung or burned if not worse. Nowadays all sorts of people are mixed through, some who are serious about who and what they are and others playing at it and dressing and even some serious people. As far as RPG, there are all sorts of those games besides vampire games. The guy who wrote VTM did research so he put in information that was from actual folklore and religious myths. You can find this out for yourself.

It is more a sign of the times than movies, books or RPG. Everyone is coming out and saying more openly who or what they are and fighting for the right to believe what they wish. The tables are now turning and the vampires want to go back into the shadows. They don't like how they are being treated nor what they are seeing in the movies just like many other people. You mix up the fictitious version with the other handed down from tribal races.

Also the first stats of the vampire myth has links to the bible its talks of lilith and of caine so in my eyes white would had little to do with the spawning of the vampire myth as we know of it today. But I may be wrong and at the moment I very limited to do any research of this

When something is not normal and most of the activity within are grotesque, then, the activities go underground. If Vampirism exist, in the pass as in the present, the secret of these activities will be confine within the members. There is a chance that a normal culture, of Vampires, has existed or exist today. There are sect and cult, that many humans never hear about them, until something go wrong and everything pop up. My 2 cents.

aruze post:

"The tables are now turning and the vampires want to go back into the shadows. They don't like how they are being treated nor what they are seeing in the movies just like many other people. You mix up the fictitious version with the other handed down from tribal races."

I think most who 'come out' are personally disappointed that most are indifferent to just another idealism.

That no one takes them as seriously as they had hoped they would be taken. Its like they expect people to be astonished over their coming out.

If one comes out, then it is reasonable to educate the curious, otherwise, whats the point? Nothing is more pathetic then saying.. "I'm a vampire." Then when a person ask, "How did you come to that conclusion." They get the dodgy routine.

if any actual living dead are open about their existence it would be most interesting indeed.

for living vampires (or vampyres) i can say from experience that to come out involves getting the third degree on a regular basis. at first i had no prob with answering all of the many many questions, but after a while, your just saying the same things over and over again.
since my point was not to try and justify myself but rather to inform, i find i just grew tried of it.
now outside of vr, i just dont bother. here ofcoarse, since it is the online hangout of real vampires (cancers words), i know i can just be myself without al lof the annoyances.

right?
i wish
LOL
~W~