During my panel at Ohayocon, an audience member asked a really great question: when, precisely, did the vampires/lycanthrope eternal grudge match originate? It made me sit up and blink. Oh yeah, when did that start? Because it's so common nowadays, it feels like it's as old as ghost stories themselves.
I did a little digging. According to Wikipedia, in Greece an improperly killed werewolf could return from the grave as a vampire. And in Serbia, the word vulkodlac refers to vampires and werewolves alike. So...family in-fighting? I turned this over to my friend and podcast co-host Camela Thompson. She one of those great paranormal novelists who does a ton of research, to make her fiction sound as convincing as possible. Despite a crazy schedule, she put in the time and effort compose this guest post on the topic. Enjoy!
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| http://moviepilot.com/posts/2744226 |
Vampires and werewolves have so many elements that add up to the ideal dynamic for epic face off material. Vampires shun sunlight. Werewolves are cursed to follow the lunar cycle. Vampires are dead. Werewolves are very much alive and prone to following impulse. Both are supernaturally strong, immortal, and crave the blood and/or flesh of humans.* It’s an epic battle that has spanned all of mythology!
Or has it?
First let’s look at the origin of each of these creatures. Before the concept of antibiotics was the sparkle in some smart, old dude’s eye, humans understood that excessive blood loss led to death. It doesn’t take a solid understanding of biology to know that leaking *anything* is bad news. Creation stories in early civilizations were heavily interlaced with cautionary tales and a healthy dose of stuff that scares the crap out of us (like bleeding to death). It shouldn’t be a surprise that many cultures had creatures who thrived on blood. While we could look to the bloodthirsty gods of the Aztecs, Persian blood-drinking demons, and Empusa of Ancient Greece; the precursor to the modern vampire (greatly popularized by Bram Stoker’s posthumous success) hailed from Eastern Europe.
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| I didn't know what an Empusa was, either. Apparently, this is what they look like. -Z.D. |
The rise in vampire popularity in Slavic Europe in the 1600s (not so coincidentally during outbreaks of ‘consumption’) came at a time when Christianity was still heavily tinged by mysticism. People born with a caul, red hair, a wayward eye, or anything else “unlucky” were considered to be touched by witchcraft and prone to turning into a vampire after death. There were even cases of vampirism documented by the Catholic church (like Jure Grando) and graves have been uncovered with spikes driven through the poor person’s chest to guarantee that they never rose again. If proper precautions were not taken, the dead would rise and torment the living, particularly the people they loved during life.
It’s important to note that the focus was on the danger presented to people. It’s also very important to note that the dividing line in Slavic Europe between vampire and werewolf were blurred. In fact, some lore allowed vampires to turn into any creature of the night, wolf included. This was also reflected in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Once the Demeter crashed against the north England shore, a wolf ran ashore (later the Count turned into rats, mist, bats, and spiders).
Let’s move on to the werewolf! Stories of men shifting into animal form and sentient wolves also exist on nearly every continent. Examples include the Inuit Amarok, Navajo skinwalkers (yee naaldlooshii), Norse úlfheðnar, and Turkish Kurtadam among many, many others. In many cases, warriors adopted the wolf as a totem creature because of their cunning and endurance. Shamans also valued the wolf’s intelligence and loyalty. In the Middle Ages, Christianity and tradition became muddled and the devil’s curse of lycanthropy was born. Whereas vampirism seems to have taken root in Eastern Europe, written works featuring werewolves seen as early as 1200 appear to have root in Germanic pagan traditions.
While I’ve found plenty of examples of werewolves and vampires both being feared in the 1800s, I can’t find any evidence of a war between the two creatures spanning the ages. The only reference I could find was a Romani story of werewolves guarding against vampires. It should be noted this source was a website with questionable grammar and a penchant for cheesy stock photos. The source used the term “vargulf,” a Norse word for a mad wolf who injures prey without consuming the animal. This makes me think that the person who wrote the piece watched a little too much Hemlock Grove (which has one of the most gruesome and therefore interesting werewolf transformation scenes in season one--I’m still getting over the disappointment of season two). |
| "Bisclavet" is an epic poem written in 12th century France, telling the story of a baron cursed with lycanthropy. His wife double-crosses him and his beloved king almost kills him during a hunt. It's got a happy ending, though. -Z.D. |
While I have read a LOT of work on vampires and researched what I could, I don’t consider myself an expert. That said, I believe the origin of the epic monster mash is a result of comic books, commercial fiction, and an evolution of movies beginning with Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, which was supposed to be followed by The Wolfman vs. Dracula (sadly they did not go forward with the picture due to a number of conflicts). While the matchup is getting tired, I enjoy it, especially if the author/writers can come up with a new twist.
Now if anyone is interested in talking about WHY we’re so interested in the conflict and who would win, I’m in.
Do you have a favorite? Which creature do you think is more interesting? Do you think the matchup is overdone?
*There are plenty of exceptions to the “rules” I’ve outlined for werewolves and vampires - which is what makes them so fun to write! It’s fiction, so just about anything goes. Even sparkles. No, really.