Transcription

A post by "Connie “iamthedunce”:

Vampires don’t live in castles, Count Dracula lived in a castle because he was a count, not because he was a vampire.

A reply by “iamnmbr3”:

this feels like a sensitivity training for how to not commit micro aggressions against vampires in your workplace

  • Zagorath@aussie.zoneOPEnglish
    7·
    12 days ago

    Before John Polidori—Lord Byron’s doctor—wrote The Vampyre (incidentally, it began at the same retreat where Mary Shelly conceived of Frankenstein), the idea of vampires as nobles who can pass among humans basically didn’t exist. They were more akin to zombies or werewolves, prior to that. Polidori’s Lord Ruthven was a British nobleman based in no small part on Lord Byron. Then a few decades later you get Carmilla, another upper class vampire, this time female. And then just a couple of decades after that, on the cusp of the 20th century, Bram Stoker writes Dracula, the first time we get a vampire who is not just noble but royal, and we get the full furnishings we associate with vampires today. The foreign accent, the castle, the wine (though interestingly, the wine Dracula serves is actually a white wine, not the blood-red we usually think of).

    • CookieOfFortune@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      11 days ago

      But for an immortal, wouldn’t rising to positions of power be inevitable? Or they would also make the best targets to convert?

      • Zagorath@aussie.zoneOPEnglish
        2·
        11 days ago

        Positions of power come in many forms. Dracula might be nobility, but a sort of Grima Wormtongue–type character could also (if it weren’t for that meddling wizard) carry a lot of power while technically being a commoner. Heck, you wouldn’t even need to have your king be a complete thrall. A vampire could just use persuasion and manipulation tactics to get what they want.