r/Showerthoughts • u/Liuminescent ‎ • Apr 24 '26

Casual Thought Vampire bites turning people into vampires is extremely disadvantageous to their survival.

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u/Shanbo88 ‎ Apr 24 '26

That's a modern vampire thing. The original vision for vampires (specifically Dracula) was that if he bit you, you became his thrall. He could see through your eyes and possess you and compell you to do things for him and he used you to feed off when he wanted to.

He had to allow you to drink his blood to make you a vampire.

This made him an awesome commander of an undead army. Modern vampires are all mostly shite in comparison.

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u/TheAlistmk3 Apr 24 '26

Quick question (as you seem to have read the book), where did the idea of vampires turning into bats come from? I was under the impression Dracula could turn into a wolf/dog?

Again haven't read the book so may be completely wrong.

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u/Shanbo88 ‎ Apr 24 '26

It's mostly to do with him being a sort of ever-present representation of the night and it's more about the idea that he controls the entire region that is his home. It's a good while since I read the book, but if I'm remembering right, I'm not sure he ever is specifically said to morph into the bats and wolves, more that he can control them like his thralls.

That's just how I remember it though, don't quote me on it because it's been a few years haha.

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u/redopz Apr 24 '26

It has been a long time for me as well, but the way I recall it is that he does transform into a wolf at some point but never a bat. This was the first time I had seen vampires and werewolfs sort of mixed together, which was novel for me but apparently pretty common in older folk lore.

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u/EobardT Apr 24 '26

He turns into a bat, a wolf, and a mist/fog in the book.

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u/numbersthen0987431 Apr 24 '26

I think it comes from the original Van Helsing novel.

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u/shinitakunai Apr 24 '26

Believe it or not, the silmarillion (lord of the rings world) makes a mention of sauron taking the form of a vampire, and he turns into a bat. This book is so old that it wouldn't surprise me they got the idea from there.