Don’t kill them, destroy them!
I find it rather interesting that there are so many articles around the net about “killing” vampires. It’s a bit of a misnomer, is it not? I mean, how can one kill the dead? The answer is, you can’t. You can, however, destroy them, which is a very, very fine difference. Bear with my internal English student for a moment, would you? I feel like this is an important distinction.
Both kill and destroy are verbs, but they’re not synonyms. The definition of kill is “to deprive of life in any manner; cause the death of; slay.” Destroy, however, is defined as “to reduce to useless fragments, a useless form, or remains, as by rending, burning, or dissolving; injure beyond repair or renewal; demolish; ruin; annihilate.” The difference, kill is simply not strong enough.
Okay, now that we’ve gotten past that very nerdy point, how exactly does one destroy a vampire? I’m pretty sure that if asked anyone in touch with popular culture would be able to make a pretty complete list, but could they tell you why? Chances are, no. Most people don’t actually care as long as it works with their personal conceptions of the vampire legend, they just take for granted that all ways to destroy vampires have some supernatural significance, but what would they say if they were told that the myth about crucifix and crosses only works for the faithful? It’s debatable, really, but it’s one myth that’s fairly controversial. Heck, even the difference between a crucifix and a cross is in debate where their individual meanings, and therefore usefulness, are concerned. None of their weaknesses are as cut and dry as they look.
For now however, I’m going to leave it at the difference between killing and destroying. Vampires cannot be killed but they can be destroyed. Seems like I’m picking at something that’s six of one, half dozen of the other, but for me, this is one of those aggravating little points that comes down to one huge difference in semantics. My linguists and grammars professor told me that words must have meaning, this is not exception. Don’t blame me, blame my professor.
Kristyn
April 6, 2008 at 12:51 pm
of course it depends on which kind of vampire. There has been myths of vampires for thousands of years, does the cross/crucifix work if the original host uses a different beleif system.
http://members.fortunecity.com/heather27/typvamp.htm
April 6, 2008 at 7:11 pm
The cross/crucifix thing is one of the biggest points of contention. However, traditionally, society recognizes vampires to be heavily invested with Christianity. Back to Vlad the Impaler, Christianity has been a major part of western vampire myths. Personally, I’m partial to the idea that faith is what makes a cross work and therefore if you aren’t faithful, it won’t work.
However, in my opinion faith is faith. Articles of faith are simply symbols. So, as long as you have faith, the symbols will work. There are a lot of people still, though, who say that a cross won’t work, only a crucifix because of the likeness of Christ on it’s face.
As for articles of faith working on vampires that are aligned to a different faith. It shouldn’t matter. If a Christian has faith in the cross/crucifix then it should work against any vampire type monster, not just the ones aligned with myths from Christian countries.
Thanks for the link Mercurior. The only thing I see missing is the Vrykolakas, the ancient Greek legendary vampire creature. It’s not traditional, but it is the closest thing that system of belief/monsters have to vampires.
April 7, 2008 at 2:16 pm
the best site for vampire listings has gone the way of most vampires to dust
April 7, 2008 at 3:52 pm
That’s so unfortunate.