Vampires in general

[Lokust]

i'm posted a few replies to other topics so i thought i'd throw in a topic why not we're all fans here.
sooo.. anyway, i'm well into vamp stuff and too be honest the best vamps i've read aboot are brian lumley's. the life cycle and the different stages they go through are vary nice indeed. the charisma and tenacity of the blood sucking beasts with there regal attitudes and there self-rightous ideas and they sooo savage in battle (i want a wamphyri gauntlet..how menacing are them)
my sis watches buffy and seeing them vamps they would'nt stand a chance against a fresh liutenant.. go wamphyri.. (and thank you brian lumley for writing these amazing novels.. genius..

[Goth Girl]

Heh heh, a Buffy style high-school vamp against one of the Wamphyri... no contest!

And if you want to see a real Wamphyri gauntlet, you should come along to KeoghCon 4 in October, where you may get to see a full size gauntlet, courtesy of Brian!

[Dan Greyskull]

A REAL ONE!?!?!? noooooooooooooooo way?!!?! Man, that's gotta be something to make a note of! oh, and to see Brian and you lot as well of course!!!! 4th Oct huh? well then...see you there!!!!!!.....um....where is 'where'?!!!?!?

[Goth Girl]

KeoghCon 4... 2nd October... Torquay (UK). Exact venue to be announced in due course.

It'll all be posted in the Message Board, but if you want to be added to the official emailing list, email Silky: silky@brianlumley.com

Make sure you mention what it's about, she does tend to get rather a lot of mail!

[Dan Greyskull]

OK, cheers GG!

Oh - and nice 'quote!'

[femepetite]

...having to reside in the USA is a drag - no KeoghCon for moi. :(

...i hope there will be photos of the gauntlet! please say it will be so!

...i'm a Buffy fan, too, but no contest against Brian's Wamphyri! muhahaha! i can imagine the leech slithering into one or two of the Scoobies. *evil-cackle!* that would be something to see!

[yodas_flunkie]

could you imagine a battle between bram stokers drakula or any of ann rices vampires and the wamphyri?

[yodas_flunkie]

i wonder what would happen if you put a wamphyri in the middle of salems lot. god i would love to see the necroscope series as movies but i know that will never happen.

[The Mad American]

That is the pure beauty of Mr. Lumleys Wamphyri, they are power and corruption personified. No poetry spouting tormented souls here(with the exception, I guess of the dweller, but he is definately a great exception). Just good 'ol, loven what they are and do, super powerful, bad as the wanna be Wamphyri. There are no other vampires that would even stand a chance against them is there? Not any I can think of anyway.

Bring on all comers, Lestat? pah, wouldn't last seconds...Dracula? Next....who oh who could challenge them?

[Silver]

I must agree, I can't think of any vampire that would match any one of Brian's.

[Azazel005]

Come now, given the levels of power Lestat has reached in the current Rice novels I think its a stretch to think even the powerful starside lords could best him.

I think its a great and really unique mythos though. The Whampyri's desire to survive there territorial nature.

The starside lords especially, there fleshcrafted Aeries there constant warring and mistrust, plus just the whole shape-shifting is kick ass.

[JB_Lestat]

Originally posted by Azazel005:
Come now, given the levels of power Lestat has reached in the current Rice novels I think its a stretch to think even the powerful starside lords could best him.Wow... have you read Lumley's works or just skimmed? All the Lum vamps would have to do, especially on Starside, would get their Lieutenants to hunt the lil' whiny beast down! He-he! Can you just see it? Ha! Let all of the Poppy Z. Brite, Anne Rice, Bram Stoker, Stephen King, Mick Farren, Dan Simmons, and E. E. Knight vamps (and any others you can think of) combine against the Wamphyri and all you will see is a minute-long screaming streak of blood before the Wamphyri obliterate them!

And do not give me guff about my name beacuse those of you who know me know how I feel about Rice in general...

[ April 18, 2005, 09:07 PM: Message edited by: JB_Lestat ]

[sdkdmd]

a LADY of the Wamphyri would kick any of those other vampires butts.
Lestat, at one time was a fav bad ass of mine...until i read about the wamphyri, they all can be killed in the same way..stake, beheaded, fire and the wamphyri are just to big and strong for the others and thats just to start with....

[The Ginger Wookie]

LOL I love this. "My vampire can beat up your vampire" Cool idea for a thread.

I do love Brian's Vamphyri as they are such a unique spieces of the bloodsucking race. More Super Nature than supernatural.

If I'm going to be honest however. Salem's Lot vampires scare the living doo out of me. They follow the idea of the Chinese hungry ghost concept. Dead people and children knocking at your window wanting to come in. Brrrrr!!!

So yeah Brian's win on the physical level. But Barlow, Glick and The Lot's Go for the soul. But hell i just love vampires whatever their persuasion.

[ April 19, 2005, 11:33 PM: Message edited by: The Ginger Wookie ]

[skinters]

yeah i was thinking the same maybe having a"my vampire will do your vampire",thread, but i think the odds are itll be a preety one sided affair in here grin.gif

out of all the vampires ive seen on film mr barlow from salems lot was the only one that sent a shudder down the spine and gave me sleepless nights.

i think all the vampires have they strengths and weaknesses.

[ April 20, 2005, 08:38 AM: Message edited by: skinters ]

[Helmet Head]

Nah Wamphyrii kick any and all comers weak pale asses...

[nightshade]

In terms of strength and sheer nastiness, Wamphyri any day. But you have to admit, there are some vampires (Maharet, Louis, etc) that are crafty. And do we not know how crafty E-Branch and such had to be, no matter how strong the Wamphyri are, they were able to defeat them. Not to mention that the oldest of AR vamps could live in sunlight (with enough blood in them), garlic and silver has no effect on them....

Something to think about.

[skinters]

Originally posted by The Helm:
Nah Wamphyrii kick any and all comers weak pale asses... ha haaaaaaaa grin.gif

[sdkdmd]

let's get ready to rumbbbbble.

in this corner we have from salem's lot with a record of ...the challenger, the Kinggg vammmpire,
and in this corner with a record of...all by knock out, all the way from starside, the world champions, the Lummmley Wampppphyrii

[sdkdmd]

bell-DING

[skinters]

what we want to do is get all the vampires entered into the U.F.C and let em slug it out .

[sdkdmd]

well fight fans, with a quick stake to the heart, a swift swing of the blade and a hot fire from the torch this fight was over before it ever got started, the winner and still heavy weight champion of the world..including starside the Lummmley Wamppphyrii

[Silky]

Well, there are vampires, yes ... and good ones at that. I love Salems Lot ... and I have never forgotten, and probably won't, Danny Glick at the window...

Hey, I even like the humorous Fright Night, Chris Sarandon makes a good Jerry Dandridge, and I like Love At First Bite with George Hamilton.

Then you get serious and watch Oldman as Drac.

And then there's Near Dark, quite natsy those guys. And the From Dusk to Dawn creepies! And Grace Jones in Vamp, now that's scary...

But ... then there are the Wamphyri! Need I say more?

[ April 21, 2005, 01:17 PM: Message edited by: Silky ]

[The Ginger Wookie]

Yeah! As fun as this is, on a serious note it's impossible to put all these great vampires in the same ring together. It's a bit like boxing. You don't stick a Heavyweight in with a fly-weight although both types of fight are equally enjoyable and valid with different strengths.

I think for me Salem's Lot is also a nostalgia trip. I remember my mum reading it on a caravan holiday in Wales. I was 8 I think. She was telling us all about Danny at the window, and that hooked me. Also, the very kind proprietor one night decided to tell my Dad he'd left his car lights on. We were all asleep and he went to knock on my Mum and Dads bedroom window. The scream was awesome. I went into the bedroom to find my mum wrapped in the bedsheet holding the caravans bible at the window. The proprietor didn't know what had happened. It's a memory I'll never forget. The power of words, Eh!

I didn't really like what King did to his vampires in the Tower series. It weakened their power quite considerably, more's the pity as I enjoyed the Dark Tower. So i tend to ignore his development, as it didn't really add to Salem's Lot but diminished it. Are we allowed as readers to do that I wonder?

I think vampires can scare the most when they are brought close to home. Like zombies they are even more chilling when they retain a semblance of humanity. Brian really hit home hard in my mind when he vampirised the cruise liner in Avengers. I could put myself in the minds of those innocent people as they face the impossible and get turned into vampires. I found these changed people scarier than the Wamphyri Lords and Ladies even though physically they were lesser.

I quite liked the feel of Grace Jones in Vamp. there was something quite nasty about her look. Not a great film though.

[ April 21, 2005, 09:08 PM: Message edited by: The Ginger Wookie ]

[Silky]

Vamp, yes, not a great film but Grace was really scary. Can't get Brian to get through it though because of the silly lads...

I'm looking forward to the new version of Salem's. If it's as good as the first I'll be happy.

[The Ginger Wookie]

Silky. I've heard mixed reviews about it. But I'm going to give it a go.
Region 2 is due to come out in this country Mid July. I've put my order in for it from Amazon.
Roll on Celluloid Wamphyri. Woo Hoo!!

[ April 23, 2005, 03:48 PM: Message edited by: The Ginger Wookie ]

[Azazel005]

Being niether a "Fanboy" of any of the respective literary representations I still say it's a little odd to have the Whamphyri as such clear victors, especially over the Rician Vampires. I mean c'mon really Lestat is given enough power to transcend contintents by self-flight, move faster than sight can capture, bend a quarter onto itself by sheer strength, kill a whole room of people without lifting a finger and cause Vampires to spontaneously combust. On top of the fact it is alluded to that he is so physcially dense now it's unlikely that the vaunted gauntlets of the Whamphyri would be able to break his flesh.

Doesn't reflect at all on quality of character though, and well making any character as strong as Lestat has become makes him less entertaining.

The fact that on rare occasions the Lumlian vampires still have to fight for their survival (thinking specifically of Shaithis fighting the 2 bears in "Deadspawn" here) made them more interesting in that sense, and made there completely vicous over riding desire to survive all the more powerful.

Speaking of Vampires in film that I found interesting, I really like Dafoe's "Max Shreck/Count Orlock" in Shadow of a Vampire, that creepy decadence and atrophied mind.

I too really Like Dandridge from Fright Night and the Near Dark vampires (I'd love to comment on the Salems Lot vamps but I am pretty unfamilair with them).

[Nathan]

Being niether a "Fanboy" of any of the respective literary representations I still say it's a little odd to have the Whamphyri as such clear victors, especially over the Rician Vampires.You gotta remember, you're in a room full of Fanboys. We've got to say the Wamphyri would dominate! What kind of Fanboy image would it project if we didn't?

But I see your point... though I doubt there are many around here that were able to stick with Rice and Lestat to this point... I know I sure couldn't... had no clue Lestat was so powerful. Didn't even make it three books before I lost all interest!

Look at it this way... as long as it took for Lestat to gain (or "be given") such awesome powers, the territorial Wamphyri would've had 'im for lunch meat well before he ascended so high.

grin.gif

[Exsanguinator]

Two different mythologies - the Ricean vamp has its origins and powers coming from one source and the Lumlian from another entirely - they would not and cannot exist in the same universe.

But what's good for Marvel and DC...

Harry Jnr could travel from one aspect of the multiverse to another at the speed of thought - continents were just a high-school equation to him... In fact the Keogh legacy had powers innumerate - fair enough Lestat can kill off a room with a thought or combust another vampire but he has to have that thought and how easy would that be against a mentalist of the order of a higher Wamphyri?

On a purely literary level the more powerful Harry became the more corrupt he became negating his powers - otherwise the stories would have become too boring and easy for him to defeat any opponent - not exactly the stuff of good drama. I'm not accusing rice of bad drama but I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks she wrote herself into a corner when she gave Lestat his awesome powers. Protagonists needs vunerabilities otherwise where's the beating in your chest going to come from other than fanboy mental masturbation? (That's not an insult - I'm guilty of it myself at times. The touble with writing to the people who want to see your hero become ever more powerful, including the writer, is that your market appeal reduces.)

What Rice did was to take Lestat and see how he acted and reacted to a wider world, (insert comment about KE Wagner & Kane and GM Fraser & Flashman.) What was my point again? Its been so long since I started writing this response!

That's it... Lestat exists in the world of Blackwood Farm, the Mayfair Witches and so on, in a world of magicks, demons and the supernatural. The Wamphyri exist in worlds of blood, of science, gadgets and ghosts... Wamphyri in Blackwood Farm may find their mentalism reduced, Lestat through the Perchorsk gate may find that his mystical powers don't work.

I'm afraid, for me, that the argument about which is the most powerful is mute, unless one the other or both authors write the tale of the two worlds colliding we'll never know - and no amount of arguing will convice the other that Their Vamp is Better!

[Azazel005]

Ultimately I haven't read Vampire Worlds right through yet, and so really perhaps are yet to see the most powerful of Lumley's saga unveiled (Though I have recently started up the first book...and near finished it rather quickly).

And as I said earlier I sincerly agree that on a literary note that Lestat's massive powers and invulnerability lead to a severe problem with the stories.

Yet as a simple observation of what each code of vampires are capable of I can not really see how Lestat's god like station could be overrun but the Whamphyri....

THOUGH I guess I should really ask what chance Lestat would have agaisnt...say a handful off Vampire Warriors?

The other thing in defence of the Whampyri agaisnt Ricean vampires is the fact that Ricean vamps HAVE to sleep by daylight, they simply have no control over it. I am pretty sure one of the violently clever Whampryri could find away to exploit that, even if it meant creating a few fresh thralls for the job.

But hey, it is all moot, just amusing conjecture from my point of view.

[Helmet Head]

That's pretty clever and sneaky thinking there, are you sure your not Wamphyri yourself??? grin.gif

[ June 07, 2005, 04:43 AM: Message edited by: The Helm ]