Power derived from purity of bloodlines?

[Tucker's Cousin]

Forgive me if this has already been asked or addressed in later episodes of Angel (I'm only half way through season 2).

As far as I know, the question of vampires with more pure bloodlines, i.e. those sired by vampires closer to the "source" or the first vampire made, is never addressed in the Buffyverse. Darla hence Angelus hence Drusilla hence Spike all seem to be stronger and I guess more viscious vampires than the run-of-the-mill kind slayed nightly by the likes of Buffy.

The question came to mind because Angel in s2 of Ats seems genuinely afraid of Darla and Dru even though it's not unusual to see him take on half a dozen "lesser" vamps in other episodes. Certainly, Dru is completely sack-of-hammers which gives her an edge. And he still has feelings for Darla which makes killing her difficult emotionally, but we see him training like a big fight is on the way and there is definitely some fear there.

Nor is this the first time that we've seen this. Every time Spike or Dru would show up on Buffy it was like, "Oh no. What are we gonna do now?" What's the problem? Slay 'em already, make a witty pun, and move on! Also, it's not just Angel afraid of Darla and Dru. We see in Redefinition D & D looking to build a crew of demon lackies to aid them in taking over LA and these other vamps and demons also fear them. We see a couple of them fighting and Dru casually rips the ears of the winner.

So, okay, we can say these four are stronger than the average vamp. Are we to assume that with each vamp sired down the twisted family tree the vampiric blood giving them their power becomes more diluted and hence weeker? So that Darla being sired by The Master, a very old vampire (don't think we're told how old exactly...?) and hence closer to the very first vampire, say fourth generation, is stronger and nastier than a most vamps around today who may be, say, 25th generation. I hope you're following me. It's the same as Lestat deriving more power from feeding directly on Akasha and Enkil.

So maybe I've answered my own question here. I guess I'm really wondering if it's ever been addressed or if anyone else has a different theory i.e. the older the vamp the stronger he/she gets?

Another question that comes to mind is - Does the sex of the vamp make them stronger/weaker. Of course, we all knoooowww that men are stronger than women physically (mentally, emotionally, intellectually :redwink🙂 but is a male vamp stronger than a female?

 

[SlayerThe]

You pose a good question.

I remember reading something that the Master ascended from some lineage (I think the Order of Aurelius(sp?) or something) which seemed to create stronger vampires.

And yeah, it is true that Darla, Dru, Spike and especially Angel are feared more than the average vamp. Though you could chalk it up to their reputations, I think they are stronger because of their lineage. Then factoring in their age, which you also addressed, would add up to be extremely powerful gang of vampires.

And as we've seen on Buffy, tenure has a lot to do with the power of the vampires. From the Master to Kakistos(sp?). Older vampires are generally stronger. I don't know if they accumulate more power as they get older, or if they just get more comfortable and know their limitations as they age.

As for sex, that's another good question. But first we would have to know if a vampire just has vampire strength or vampire strength added to their previous human strength. Something else that has never been fully addressed. But since its the Buffyverse, I would say its assumable to say that a female vampire could be stronger than a male vampire, because the root of Buffy is in the strength of women.

 

[ChosenOne]

huh????????????????????????????????

I've only seen to the end of Season2 and that was about 3 years ago, so i've basically forgotten everything about Angel

 

[nerd4hire]

As far as I know it's never stated in black and white what makes one vampire stronger than the other. All's I can offer are theories I've seen on these and other boards.

Bloodlines: That's pretty much been covered.

Age Giles and others have referenced the age of the vampire with the implication an older vampire is more powerful than a younger one. This could be tied in with bloodlines though.

Magical intervention: I've heard it suggested the first uber vamp from Season 7 was more powerful because of the ritual performed with Spike on the wheel, when it was first called.

I'm not sure, but doesn't Spike refer to Dracula's added abilities as "Gypsy Magic Tricks", of some such thing?

The enhancement of pre-existing power: Dru for example has extra power, because she had psychic power before she was vamped.

The blood itself: The theory here is as the vampire draws blood from more powerful opponents it in some way suck's strength from that characters energy. There's evidence for this at the end of Not Fade Away, but I won't go into it, because I don't want to spoil Tucker's cousin.

As far as the male female thing goes, I don't know. There's Sunday from The Freshman. She's pretty tough. On the other hand when the Scoobs are fighting groups of vampires the less powerful scoobs such as Xander seem to take on the female vamps. This could be a pre-existing predjudice that male is stronger than female in the characters though. I just don't know.

Personally I just accept things as they give them to me. If they tell me one vamp is stronger than the other, I say, "OK. Let er rip".

 

[Xin Rong]

I have a theory thatthe master could be a close descendant of an Ubervamp becaus ehe did look like one and also he never went out of vamp face which as far as we know ubervamps can't either, so maybe thats it- i suppose this is the same as the bloodline theory which i also agree with, but there have been examples of vampires sired by spike, dru, drusilla angel etc that where easy to kill, e.g. all the people spike sired in s7 and when angel turns badin s3/4 of angel and he goes to that demon bar he meets a women he sired years before and kills her very easily, im sure there ae more examples but im beng lazy

 

[Tucker's Cousin]

I have a theory thatthe master could be a close descendant of an Ubervamp becaus ehe did look like one and also he never went out of vamp face which as far as we know ubervamps can't either, so maybe thats it- i suppose this is the same as the bloodline theory which i also agree with, but there have been examples of vampires sired by spike, dru, drusilla angel etc that where easy to kill, e.g. all the people spike sired in s7 and when angel turns badin s3/4 of angel and he goes to that demon bar he meets a women he sired years before and kills her very easily, im sure there ae more examples but im beng lazy

It's said at some point by Giles in season 1 (sorry can't remember the ep) that the master is "so old that he's in permanent vamp face," paraphrasing. So presumably during his first centuries as a vamp he didn't look like this.

But you do raise a very good point about the vamps sired by Spike in season 7. They weren't much good at all, were they? Though maybe it was because they had just risen and hadn't got their vampy wits about them yet. Or is that a stretch?