Is nothing sacred?
[QUOTE=Chronos]
Is nothing sacred?
[/QUOTE]
Another Gahan Wilson fan!
The X-Men once confronted a vampire and Wolverine tried to hold him off by making a cross with his claws. The vampire laughed it off - Wolverine’s cross was powerless because he didn’t have faith in it. Colossus was also unable to wield a cross effectively because he was raised as an atheist. Then Nightcrawler arrived and, as a devout Catholic, he was able to properly scare off the vampire with a cross.
Little Nemo that wasn’t just any vampire. It was Dracula himself. Kitty Pryde also attempted to ward him off with a cross. She failed as she is Jewish. She did however burn the Count with a star of David.
I reiterate that fire would have proved effective in that instance as well.
Fire: It’s what’s for dinner!
[QUOTE=Der Trihs]
One reason I liked Blade was because the vamps were bright enough to use firearms.
[/QUOTE]
I recall the Sluggy Freelance bit where Sam gets an “invitation to enter” by shooting the occupant (who is otherwise alone) in the leg – either let Sam in to patch him up or bleed to death.
(Not that Sam was terribly bright; it was Bun-Bun’s idea to take a gun.)
If a vampire can only be warded off with a religious symbol held by a believer, then faith is obviously an important component in a vampire’s victims. It sort of follows that they’re hungry for consecrated blood of one kind or another. Therefore, a vampire wouldn’t attack an atheist at all because they would taste HORRIBLE. Bland gruel with no seasoning and nothing but empty calories.
[QUOTE=DocCathode]
Little Nemo that wasn’t just any vampire. It was Dracula himself. Kitty Pryde also attempted to ward him off with a cross. She failed as she is Jewish. She did however burn the Count with a star of David.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir]
Well, it depends.
In Bram Stoker’s original Dracula, I think it was the symbol itself, and not the faith of the person wielding it, that repelled vampires. In Stephen King’s excellent 'Salem’s Lot, a crucifix was tragically ineffective without faith backing it up (just ask poor Father Callaghan). In George R.R. Martin’s very different but equally excellent Fevre Dream, religious symbols had no effect on vampires at all, regardless of the faith of those trying to use them.
[/QUOTE]
In Saberhagen’s The Dracula Tapes Dracula is not affected by a cross, having been a good Catholic both before and after his (un)death.
[QUOTE=Bookkeeper]
In Saberhagen’s The Dracula Tapes Dracula is not affected by a cross, having been a good Catholic both before and after his (un)death.
[/QUOTE]
In fact, that’s what I was thinking of when I said this :
[QUOTE=Der Trihs]
- Vampires are supernatural creatures who in some cases may draw back and snarl when you wave a holy object because they are offended at you mishandling a holy object.
[/QUOTE]
Good book, and a good series following it.
Wouldn’t the vampire just disappear in a puff of logic?
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
At night, your surest bet would be a scythe or sword to cut off the head, which would (in most cases) work – but don’t try it; the vamps are a lot quicker than you. Deer do not fight wolves.
[/QUOTE]
So I should carry an immortal Scottish swordsman?
[QUOTE=dogbutler]
So I should carry an immortal Scottish swordsman?
[/QUOTE]
Or a time travelling samurai with a divine sword.
Kurt Vonnegut (1922 - 2007)
vampires are not repelled by holy grounds
there was one clan that would “tattoo” themselves with the Virgin Mary
by standing naked in a sunbeam filtered through a stained cut glass image
high in the congregation chamber
[QUOTE=Christopher]
Technically yes, but in reality all of the athiests I know do not beleive in the supernatural. Rather, they hold their faith in science. Any vampire where being an athiest makes a difference would fly in the face of science. Therefore, the athiest goes through a quick adjustment of beleifs.
OK I admit, its fiction so you can make up anything you want and say its true. In my version, the athiest picks up faith rapidly.
[/QUOTE]
But I don’t see how it follows that the atheist necessarily goes through a quick change of beliefs. There are plenty of explanations for atheism making a difference that don’t imply the existence of god and don’t have to fly in the face of science. In the first place, as others have said, the presence of the supernatural doesn’t necessarily imply god. In the second place there is no reason to suppose a vampire is supernatural. Anything that looks supernatural may well be something you can’t understand or something you didn’t observe very closely. In the case where being an atheist matters it could be explained by the vampire sensing body language or smelling pheromones coming off the person.
Is it belief in something or a belief in god that matters? If it’s simply a belief in something (e.g. the efficacy of crosses against vampires) then there isn’t a clear reason for an atheist to start believing in god at all. If you simply must believe in god, then there is a clear reason (i.e. not getting killed or enslaved) for the atheist to start believing in god. However, it still doesn’t necessarily follow that god exists, just that you must believe in him in order for his symbols to work to ward off the vampires. (Granted, the atheist now believes in god, but this may simply be an error in reasoning, albeit a useful error).
[QUOTE=Der Trihs]
Not really. In various stories I’ve read :
- Vampires are the physical manifestion of the effect of humanity’s thoughts and beliefs ( those that pertain to vampires, that is ) upon it’s collective psychic potential, and as such are constrained to act according to vampiric rules. They used to be affected by crosses, as that was a symbol of good; as it became just the symbol of one more religion, often corrupt or disbelieved in, crosses stopped working. Garlic, sunlight and running water still work because they are vampire-specific. There were gods in that world, and still is a God, but they are just another manifestion of humanity’s collective imagination ( and nowhere near creator of the universe level; we made them )
.
[/QUOTE]
That’s how demons work in my Champions Universe
[QUOTE=Cervaise]
A gun?
Vampire: “Ha ha, you point a gun at me? Do you have silver bullets?”
Atheist: “No, it’s just a gun.”
Vampire: “And how do you imagine this will have an effect on me?”
Atheist: “I do not believe in vampires, I believe you are an ordinary person who’s funny in the head, and as such you will die when I shoot you in the head.”
Vampire: “Ha ha!” <blam> “—Oog.” <thud>
[/QUOTE]
Best answer.
Would now be a good time to mention how I once kept a wampyr at bay with my circumcision scar?
OK so maybe with two athiests in the room the second one would find God. The first one is vampire food.
[QUOTE=Christopher]
OK so maybe with two athiests in the room the second one would find God. The first one is vampire food.
[/QUOTE]
You can’t just decide to believe in something. If the second atheist, tried to use a cross, he’d end up just like every hypocritical, faithless priest in a vampire story; as dessert.