The reason Dracula, of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, hated silver was because it was considered a “pure” metal, as opposed to steel which was an alloy, or gold which was too soft to kill in its purest form. It is also why Dracula had no reflection, because mirrors of the time were backed by silver.
D&D Rules allow silver weapons to harm certain monsters, and players expect to exploit a loophole to create silver weapons by melting down silver coins and coating their regular weapons with it. In strict terms, this wouldn’t harm the Dracula from the book, because it is not the chemical properties of silver/Ag, but the “purity” of the creation made from it. Silvering a mundane weapon does not create a pure weapon.
Players want to melt silver coins because it is cheaper to do so than to buy a new weapon. The way to make such cost commensurate would be to use a silver standard.
I had read a long time ago that the reason folkloric vampires hated silver was because the first vampire was Judas Iscariot - rejected from Hell because he enabled the victory of grace under the Great Exchange, but rejected from Heaven because he betrayed the Christ. Silver was his payment for the event that cursed him: and thus he, doomed to eternity on earth, post suicide, and his brethren, had an antipathy for it. Similar to why the cross repelled them. Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteI haven't read Dracula, as referenced, so I can't speak to Stoker.
First time I encountered that story was in the 1990's Dracula with Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder. Either that or Dracula 2000. It was as you say, he hated silver, he hanged himself at the sunrise, etc. I thought it was an interesting rationalization, and the elements certainly fit, but I believe that the myth originally did not have Christian origins. Although the second most popular explanation for Dracula's vampirism is that he sold his soul to the literal devil in exchange for immortality.
DeleteAlso, the explanation you mentioned heavily implies that Judas Iscariot is Dracula, which just causes more questions. What was he doing ruling a small barony in Wallachia, impaling Turks?
Kind of like how in World of Darkness, Cain is the original vampire.
I think that the myth of Dracula and vampirism is so intertwined with Christianity at this point, and there's certainly a lot of content that can be mined there.
As for being repelled by the cross, the explanation in the novel is that it is the literal power of Jesus Christ that repels them. Dracula was written with a single axis alignment in mind :P. The crosses used by Van Helsing were silver, again tying into the purity thing, but also the "pure" light of Faith stops them, as they are beings corrupted by the Devil.
And a final note about the sunrise, before I get off my soapbox, is that Dracula's vampires aren't repelled by the sunlight per se. They actually die every morning and are resurrected as undead every night, which is why they must sleep in a coffin of their own dirt or risk remaining dead forever. Vampires fear the dawn because that is when their time walking on earth is at an end - should they be away from their coffin at that time, they would just collapse as a corpse on the ground, unable to rise again. I get a twinge everytime I see vampires chilling at home during daytime with the blinds closed.
Now, this isn't talking about all the other D&D undead such as Mummies, Ghouls, Wights, Wraiths, Skeletons, etc., nor other monsters susceptible to silver such as Werewolves and apparently, Weresharks
I feel more compelled than I already was to read Stoker one of these years.
Delete:-)
Regarding pre-Christian vampires - they absolutely exist. That's where the "running water" and "salt" aversions come from: in Sumerian religion, vampires were repelled by the sea, and salt water, because it was viewed as the source of life.
Re: the Judas thing, good perspective. It's more about "why would a middle ages European peasant believe this" and less about consistency.
I miss the old game show, Beat the Geeks now.