What's with this whole vampires vs. werewolves thing?

[Lord Xtheth]

Just wait until Universal gets around to remaking "Creature from the Black Lagoon". Then you'll have your day.

Starrimg Brooke Shields!

wait... wrong lagoon.

 

[Merkuri]

I wonder if part of it is that werewolves and vampires are both "contageous". At least, they are in the modern mythology, I don't know if this has always been so.

Can you think of any other popular supernatural creature that can turn others into itself? Actually, as I typed that up I thought of one: zombies. But zombies are arguably a lot less glamorous than vampires or werewolves. They're completely mindless, for one. Some literature paints werewolves as being mindless when they're in werewolf form, but that seems to be an optional part of the werewolf mythos, and in any case werewolves are always still sane in human form.

It's a lot harder to empathize with a mindless zombie than it is with a werewolf or a vampire, both of whom may have enough humanity left to regret their monstrous drives.

There's just a lot in common with werewolves and vampires, enough that it seems logical that they be put in the same world and pitted against each other. And they're just different enough that they can be used to represent different things (nature versus civilization, for example) which makes conflict between them easy to explain.

 

[ppaladin123]

They may have stolen it from the vampire/werewolf war in the 80's cartoon "the real ghostbusters"

Wow, I haven't thought about that episode in at least 20 years. Xp for you!

 

[jaerdaph]

I don't care if vampires and werewolves tear each other apart. All I know is, I don't want 'em dating my daughter! You'll get staked or pumped full of silver bullets if you even think about it!!! And even if you don't think a cross can hurt you anymore in these modern, Godless times, I'll still shove one into you where the sun don't (can't) shine!!!

Vampires are meant for staking, not prom dates!!!!

AND GET OFF MY LAWN, PRETTY BOYS!!!

 

[Aeolius]

Does anyone know where the notion that a slain werewolf returns as a vampire originated from?

(edit: "In Greece it is said that a man who has been a werewolf in life becomes a vampire after he is buried." - Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend)

 

[jaerdaph]

Does anyone know where the notion that a slain werewolf returns as a vampire originated from?

I believe that tradition comes from Serbian folklore, not Slavic, IIRC.

I also found this:

The Straight Dope: What happens if a werewolf bites a vampire?

 

[Nifft]

Another source of this rivalry is that werewolves are native, and vampires are slavic. What's more, there are Christian vampires and Muslim vampires, who are also rivals.

Do the religious symbols of one "side" work on the other type of vampire?

The term lycan is like fingernails on the blackboard of my mind.

I guess that makes you a lycan't.

Cheers, -- N

 

[jaerdaph]

(edit: "In Greece it is said that a man who has been a werewolf in life becomes a vampire after he is buried." - Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend)

Ah, cool. I knew it wasn't a Slavic tradition.

 

[unan oranis]

Wow, I haven't thought about that episode in at least 20 years. Xp for you!

The spooky part is that while I wrote that, the post below mine was being written simultaneously... (check the post times)

First thing Rechan mentions is the same cartoon!

 

[Bedrockgames]

I am sure this has been said, but there is nothing new about this trope. Its at least been around since the days of the Universal Horror movies.