Where Do Sunnydale's Vampires Come From?
- Thread starter NotASlayer
- Start date
ILLYRIAN
Druish Pervonian Wizard
Confusing isn't it, depending on which show you watch, of the different ways that new vampires are created, by biting and leading them to drink or forcing your blood into them. I thought about that and found it odd that their blood was not from the victim. If the blood was from the victim how would the part vampire react?
A new type of demon for us to write about?
A new type of demon for us to write about?
NotASlayer
𝕮𝖍𝖔𝖈𝖔𝖑𝖆𝖙𝖊 𝕻𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖈𝖊𝖘𝖘 🍫 👸🏻
burrunjor
Scooby
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Interesting plot hole. This is something that the Buffy revival can actually improve on if it's done well. The original had the best monsters of any tv show alongside classic who and it did some truly original and fascinating world building. However it also particularly as time went on tended to skip out on the world building, and sadly even explanations like why can Sajhan only open the door to Quortoth that one time? Why didn't he bring Holtz to kill Angel in the early 90s when Angel would have said to him "go ahead do it" without any complaints? Why can the Turok Han only be summoned from a pit, why does the First not spring his army when Buffy and the potentials are sleeping and wipe them out? Simple because the plot needs all these things to happen this way LOL.
Same is true of the vampires rising from the graves. In early seasons it made sense as Angelus and the Master and even Spike wanted goons as did the Mayor and even Adam, but from s5 on? The vamps are leaderless so who is responsible, but we need some scenes of Buffy killing vampires to remind you she's a vampire slayer now that she is taking on non vampire threats and also to make her seem badass when she loses against the big bad.
Still based on what we do see in the show I guess I can answer it like this.
Vampires sometimes have an instinctive drive to sire people. They do it without even thinking as remember their purpose was to create an army for the old one that created them that could free the old ones, so that makes sense the old one would programe if you will a desire to propogate. As to the running out of food that is a plot hole in all vampire fiction to be fair you just have to handwave that in this universe the human population is big enough to sustain say 1 million vampires globally. The likes of Angelus, The Master, Darla, Dru and Spike meanwhile are actually the exception in terms of being picky about who they sire. The Master wants an elite and views vampirism as a gift due to his fanaticism so he only turns those who he feels deserve it. Darla similarly was raised by him and has a similar mindset, Angelus is a warped sadist who wants to have all the carnage for himself and everything he does has a purpose. Dru meanwhile actually does sire random people like that girl Spike brought to her as food, so she is more typical that way, whilst Spike is unique due to William's mad affectionate side in terms of how he devoted he is to his sire etc.
As for why they are so weak, well are they? The LA vamps seemed easier at times. Gunn was able to dust dozens of them as easily as the Slayer, Justine a woman with no combat training and who was a raging alcoholic was able to slaughter them no problem, whilst earlier Buffy seasons made out that only the Slayer could take them. Even Giles a badass in his own right whose nickname was Ripper, and who spent his life studying them struggled to take on regular vamps in earlier seasons, like Never Kill A Boy on The First Date, where he hides rather than take on two of them, or Band Candy where he takes on one and gets his arse kicked, with Buffy shouting at him not to take it on as he won't stand a chance. Also the Buffy vampires deformed solid steel with their hands, whilst Angel couldn't get through a wooden meat locker when Gunn locks him inside.
Still to be fair the later Buffy vampires are undermined I'll admit, like when Buffy kills them in comedy moments, but still at the same time Buffy does go to graveyards where they have recently crawled out of their graves, are confused, hungry, don't know what's happening etc so they are going to be easy meat, though even then they arguably seem stronger than LA vamps with some of them still managing to put up a good fight against and wound the slayer, and Dawn who is being trained by Buffy still losing to one in the season 7 opening, unlike the LA vamps who became the bitch boys of a bunch of untrained, angry, bitter civillians in Angel season 3.
Same is true of the vampires rising from the graves. In early seasons it made sense as Angelus and the Master and even Spike wanted goons as did the Mayor and even Adam, but from s5 on? The vamps are leaderless so who is responsible, but we need some scenes of Buffy killing vampires to remind you she's a vampire slayer now that she is taking on non vampire threats and also to make her seem badass when she loses against the big bad.
Still based on what we do see in the show I guess I can answer it like this.
Vampires sometimes have an instinctive drive to sire people. They do it without even thinking as remember their purpose was to create an army for the old one that created them that could free the old ones, so that makes sense the old one would programe if you will a desire to propogate. As to the running out of food that is a plot hole in all vampire fiction to be fair you just have to handwave that in this universe the human population is big enough to sustain say 1 million vampires globally. The likes of Angelus, The Master, Darla, Dru and Spike meanwhile are actually the exception in terms of being picky about who they sire. The Master wants an elite and views vampirism as a gift due to his fanaticism so he only turns those who he feels deserve it. Darla similarly was raised by him and has a similar mindset, Angelus is a warped sadist who wants to have all the carnage for himself and everything he does has a purpose. Dru meanwhile actually does sire random people like that girl Spike brought to her as food, so she is more typical that way, whilst Spike is unique due to William's mad affectionate side in terms of how he devoted he is to his sire etc.
As for why they are so weak, well are they? The LA vamps seemed easier at times. Gunn was able to dust dozens of them as easily as the Slayer, Justine a woman with no combat training and who was a raging alcoholic was able to slaughter them no problem, whilst earlier Buffy seasons made out that only the Slayer could take them. Even Giles a badass in his own right whose nickname was Ripper, and who spent his life studying them struggled to take on regular vamps in earlier seasons, like Never Kill A Boy on The First Date, where he hides rather than take on two of them, or Band Candy where he takes on one and gets his arse kicked, with Buffy shouting at him not to take it on as he won't stand a chance. Also the Buffy vampires deformed solid steel with their hands, whilst Angel couldn't get through a wooden meat locker when Gunn locks him inside.
Still to be fair the later Buffy vampires are undermined I'll admit, like when Buffy kills them in comedy moments, but still at the same time Buffy does go to graveyards where they have recently crawled out of their graves, are confused, hungry, don't know what's happening etc so they are going to be easy meat, though even then they arguably seem stronger than LA vamps with some of them still managing to put up a good fight against and wound the slayer, and Dawn who is being trained by Buffy still losing to one in the season 7 opening, unlike the LA vamps who became the bitch boys of a bunch of untrained, angry, bitter civillians in Angel season 3.
T
thrasherpix
The Hellmouth clearly goes somewhere different in earlier seasons as well, though I think of it as having "channels" connecting to various Hells where the right rituals and such determines which Hell it opens.
NotASlayer
𝕮𝖍𝖔𝖈𝖔𝖑𝖆𝖙𝖊 𝕻𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖈𝖊𝖘𝖘 🍫 👸🏻
@burrunjor Not so much getting mixed up as mentioning, albeit not explicitly, alternate vampire fiction where vampires are born rather than being made. Blade being one, and the one I was thinking of at the time, but I believe there are other examples of such.
The newly-risen vampires in graveyards are indeed weak; we have mentioned before that the effects of formaldehyde in their systems might well degrade their abilities in some way.
The siring may be instinctive, because creating an army requires a touch more effort than simply letting vampires rise on their own, easy prey for anyone trying to kill them. Unless that is vampire practical Darwinism, ensuring only the better quality vampires survive. Or, perhaps, just the lucky ones. It is just that we almost never see, apart from the named vamps, any vampire trying to create offspring. Now, it could well be that vampirism is a disease based on bodily fluids and anyone bitten might get a slight bit of vampire saliva in their system. Usually not enough to turn them after death, unlike a deliberate blood exchange, but the emanations of the Hellmouth could increase that probability slightly, meaning that, as @AlphaFoxtrot said, the chance of vampires rising increases slightly.
The newly-risen vampires in graveyards are indeed weak; we have mentioned before that the effects of formaldehyde in their systems might well degrade their abilities in some way.
The siring may be instinctive, because creating an army requires a touch more effort than simply letting vampires rise on their own, easy prey for anyone trying to kill them. Unless that is vampire practical Darwinism, ensuring only the better quality vampires survive. Or, perhaps, just the lucky ones. It is just that we almost never see, apart from the named vamps, any vampire trying to create offspring. Now, it could well be that vampirism is a disease based on bodily fluids and anyone bitten might get a slight bit of vampire saliva in their system. Usually not enough to turn them after death, unlike a deliberate blood exchange, but the emanations of the Hellmouth could increase that probability slightly, meaning that, as @AlphaFoxtrot said, the chance of vampires rising increases slightly.