MovieChat Forums > Byzantium (2013) Discussion > Vampire lore question.

Vampire lore question.


Does a vampire require the resident of a home to invite them in? I see it in this movie, I see it in "Let the right one in" and "Let me in." It is as if something bad will happen to the vampire if the resident doesn't specifically say "Please come in" or something like that. A gesture, like opening a door, isn't sufficient.

Just wondering...

..*.. TxMike ..*..
Make a choice, to take a chance, to make a difference.

reply

It depends on the author/writer, and what myth/lore they choose to use. Depending on the book/movie/story, in some cases the vampire cannot step across the threshold if not invited in verbally. There is an invisible barrier that prevents them from stepping inside. I think I've seen in others where the vampire will start bleeding out their ears/nose/eyes/mouth if they step inside without permission. 

In some b/m/s, it just takes one invite, and the vampire can come in any time they want after that. In True Blood (2008), the invite can be rescinded at any time ... and the vampire must leave asap. They have no will of their own to fight it.






=========
http://tinyurl.com/TwilightSagaBoard
http://tinyurl.com/ProWhoosh

reply

Interesting, thanks.

..*.. TxMike ..*..
Make a choice, to take a chance, to make a difference.

reply

I was trying to remember if they appeared in the mirrors in this film

reply

 I don't recall either. Some of the rides were also metallic/reflective, IIRC, but I don't remember if their reflections were in them. I'll have to keep that in mind when I watch the movie again. ... ... There's also the bathroom scene, when she snatched the garrote ... but I don't remember if she stepped in front of the mirror.

My guess is, since the sun didn't faze them, then they probably can show up in mirrors. There was a photo of Clara ... I don't think vampires that can't show up in the mirror can have photos taken of them either, since cameras use mirrors, IIRC.  Or the old cameras did. I don't know about the cameras of today.






=========
http://tinyurl.com/TwilightSagaBoard
http://tinyurl.com/ProWhoosh

reply

There is a scene about half an hour in where Eleanor wakes up in the morning after they are taken into the Byzantium guest house by Noel. This is just after the 200-year flashback to her conversion in the cave. She wanders down the corridor, and we then see her washing her face, with her reflection visible in a steamy mirror.

The symbolism of vampires having no reflection in a mirror is often said to be no soul = no reflection. No soul to reflect. In this film, Darvell says that the price he paid for his conversion was the loss of his soul, so here the vampires have no soul but do cast a reflection. That doesn't worry me, because I'm sure there are other interpretations of the no reflection metaphor.

reply

when she snatched the garrote ... but I don't remember if she stepped in front of the mirror.

My guess is, since the sun didn't faze them, then they probably can show up in mirrors



I have checked and there is a scene in the first apartment (just before the garrot scene) when Gemma is talking to that agent guy and they are in front of a mirror and she does have a reflection
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/28/movies/byzantium-draws-on-caribbean-vampire-folklore.html?_r=0

reply

Yes. Okay. You'd think I'd remember such things since I've seen the movie a number of times now.






=========
http://tinyurl.com/TwilightSagaBoard
http://tinyurl.com/ProWhoosh

reply

And FYI, usually it only applies to private dwellings of humans. Public accommodations (like hotels) and demon dwellings tend to be excluded.
But yeah, it varies per storyteller.

reply

I found it interesting in Trueblood when Bill became an uber vampire and didn't need an invitation to enter homes.

reply

The Turok-Han ubervamps in Buffy had that ability too. I come from that Buffy/Angel-verse, I haven't seen True Blood, Vampire Diaries or any of the others.

reply

It depends on what mythology the writer is using as a basis for their vampires.

The new home of Welcome to Planet Bob: http://kingofbob.blogspot.ca/

reply

Over the years there have been countless vampire stories and movies. And all these stories and movies have come up with a lot of "vampire lore" - information about how it is to be a vampire. If it was possible here, I would upload an excel table with vampire movies as rows and pieces of vampire lore as columns. From such table we could see which movies have used which pieces. Some of the pieces are nearly universal to all vampire movies (e.g. vampires are almost immortal) and some are unique to a single movie (e.g. vampires are made in a cave on an island). Inability to enter somebody's home without invitation is not among the most common pieces of vampire lore.

reply

I bought the DVD recently, and the play/screenplay writer mentioned her inspirations was the Gothic Vampires. She mentioned two works of fiction that is supposedly the first vampire stories ever written.  And she mentioned Carmilla, which predates Bram Stoker's Dracula by 26 years.

Fragment of a Novel
by Lord Byron
(an unfinished 1819 vampire horror story)
http://www.sff.net/people/DoyleMacdonald/l_frag.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragment_of_a_Novel


The Vampyre
by John William Polidori
(a short work of prose fiction written in 1819 --- Originally published: April 1, 1819)
https://www.amazon.com/Vampyre-Tale-John-William-Polidori-ebook/dp/B0082U0CS0/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vampyre



Carmilla
by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
(Originally published: 1872)
https://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/l_carmil.htm
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10007
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmilla



Dracula
by Bram Stoker
(Originally published: May 26, 1897)
https://www.google.com/search?q=Dracula+by+Bram+Stoker




https://www.google.com/search?q=A+Vampire+Story+by+Moira+Buffini
https://www.google.com/search?q=Byzantium+by+Moira+Buffini


https://www.google.com/search?q=Fragment+of+a+Novel+by+George+Gordon+Byron
https://www.google.com/search?q=Fragment+of+a+Novel+by+Lord+Byron

https://www.google.com/search?q=Carmilla+by+Joseph+Sheridan+Le+Fanu

https://www.google.com/search?q=The+Vampyre+John+William+Polidori






=========
http://tinyurl.com/TwilightSagaBoard
http://tinyurl.com/ProWhoosh

reply


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1099212/board/flat/265773636?d=265773636#265773636

Fairies are the first vampires
by filterfan86-1

» (Sat Feb 4 2017 18:31:27)

Yes you heard it right. Fairies were not cutesy tinkerbell types but very vengeful and grim. Before the 15th century people would set out milk and bread for them. If you did not provide them food they would come inside your house and drink your blood. THey needed the blood to reinforce their stock and to feed off of human essence and lifeforce. Fairies would use glamour to lure humans away and were associated with the dead. The whole vampire myth stems from old Iris folklore regarding these creatures who were blood thirsty. Bram Stoker himself was Irish. Many were day bound and came out at night. One IRish myth was the ganconer that has the same premise of twilight. So for everyone saying that the Cullens are not vampires and they are fairies then you are right. They going back to their roots.


https://www.google.com/search?q=Ganconer






=========
http://tinyurl.com/TwilightSagaBoard
http://tinyurl.com/ProWhoosh

reply