We here at The Discriminating Fangirl love vampires. Some of us have loved vampires since well before Edward Cullen was a sparkly dream in Stephenie Meyer’s head. We all have favorite bloodsucking demons of the night, though, so read on to find out which vamps really kick our coffins. And tell us who your favorite vamps are in the comments!
TDF Pamela: Eric Northman
I started reading the Sookie Stackhouse books and watching True Blood late. Very late. As in, I watched my first ep and plowed through the book series in August. Crazy, huh, that a vampire fangirl like me could take so damn long to read one of the most popular vampire series out there? My excuse for True Blood is that I didn’t have cable and was too lazy to… ahem, acquire episodes to watch. But I finally tipped over the edge in August, and I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to pull myself back up.
See, I went head over heels for Eric Northman. Bill (the Whiny Vampire, as I like to think of him) was okay in the first book and during the first season of the series, but he was pretty boring as far as vampires go. Blah blah “But Sookeh, Ah luuv ya!” blah. Eric, on the other hand, was much more interesting. I like characters with highly questionable morality. This is why I like Batman more than Superman, Wolverine more than Cyclops. And Eric doesn’t have the slightest bit of hero varnish on him for the most part. He’s a thousand year old vampire, a former Viking warrior, who is looking out for number one.
Awesome.
The thing I love the most about Eric (setting aside his looks for a moment–don’t worry, I’ll come back to them in a minute) is watching that arrogant asshole exterior slowly crack. In the books, he’s fascinated by Sookie, but it’s just as much a surprise to him as it is to us when he really starts to like her, to the point where he’ll sacrifice his own interests to keep her safe. In the series, we get an even more subtle portrayal of this, courtesy of Alexander Skarsgård. The third season just ended, and Eric is slowly beginning to change. His affection for his “child,” Pam, is becoming more obvious. The loss of Godric, his maker, is affecting him more than he lets on. And Sookie… oh my goodness. “If I meet the True Death without having at least kissed you, Sookie Stackhouse… that would be my biggest regret.” Just… just watch:
Which brings me to the physical reasons for loving Eric. In the books, he’s described as being very tall and muscular, with long blond hair. ASkars was pretty much born to play that role, and thank goodness for it. Watch that vid again. I’ll wait. Did you see how he looms over Sookie? Guh. Just… GUH.
Amanda: Jessica Hamby from True Blood
Life kinda sucks when you’re a vampire – not going out in the daytime, sleeping in a hole in the ground, mainstreaming (aka, not drinking real blood) and literally being a virgin forever, but it beats the hell out of living with uber-conservative parents who control you to within an inch of your life, right? Jessica seems to think so. She is an original character to the True Blood TV series, not featured in the Charlaine Harris books. We’ve seen her grow from a bratty newborn that Eric had to babysit into a slightly more mature vampire, though she does have her slip ups and is still quick to react when someone wrongs her. She seems to have gotten the hang of being a vampire. One of my favorite things about the show is Jessica’s relationship with Hoyt, one of the humans living in Bon Temps. It’s a very sweet, old fashioned kind of relationship… involving a vampire. Even Bill’s initial reaction when he found out about the two of them was a lot like the overprotective dad who doesn’t want boys going near his little girl (just for a different reason). I don’t want to go into any spoilery details about their relationship from the most recent season, so I’ll just leave it at that. Jessica is a very lovable character and still a fierce bitch when she needs to be, which I love. One of my favorite scenes is when Jessica glamours two Merlotte’s patrons into not tipping Arlene because she had been giving Jessica grief all night. All this and the fact that she is a gorgeous undead girl is why I love watching her on True Blood.
The Bibliomaniac: Frank Langella as Dracula
I confess it: I’m a vampire addict.
I own (at last count) 671 vampire books and over 100 movies/miniseries on VHS and DVD. I’ve been reading about vampires since I found a copy of Dracula in my public library at the age of 8, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
It’s only natural that, somewhere along the line, I would develop standards about vampires; which ones were scariest, which ones were stupidest, which ones I’d most like to know, and – after I hit puberty – which ones were sexiest.
To be sure, Hollywood and modern writers didn’t start making vampires sexy until a certain point. The earliest legends and books were in unison on the matter; vampires were always horrific and ghastly, never sexy. Things didn’t start to change in literature until Sheridan LeFanu’s novella “Carmilla”, published in 1872 (a scant twenty-five years before Bram Stoker wrote Dracula). The female vampire in that story seduced her victims (other beautiful, nubile young women) rather than simply tearing their throats out. Dracula followed in Carmilla’s tracks, but even after the advent of movies – and later, TV – vampires were still seen as monstrous as often as they were seductive. Until the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 80s.
That decade saw an explosion of sexy vampires, both in books and in movies. Jerry Dandridge, played by Chris Sarandon in Fright Night (1985); Louis de Lioncourt in Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire; Kiefer Sutherland as David in The Lost Boys (1987); David Bowie as John in The Hunger (1983); George Hamilton as Dracula in Love at First Bite (1979); and Grace Jones as Katrina in Vamp (1986) all upped the mercury in the internal thermometers of the audience for those books and movies.
But the sexiest vampire of all – from that time period, and, to me, ever – has got to be Frank Langella portraying the original monster himself, Dracula, from the 1980 movie of the same title. Every vampire fan knows the story: undead monster from across the ocean, sweeps into England on a ship missing all its crew but the dead captain, planning on conquering the country one throat at a time. The difference is in how Langella portrayed Dracula – not as some hissing, red-eyed monster, or a periwigged,ancient whose shadow capers on the wall behind him with a life of its own. Smoldering, graceful, and urbane, he befriends Mina and Lucy and their family, a paragon of proper etiquette, elegant breeding, well-tailored suits, and eyes whose stare is so sensuous it can ignite a blaze in a woman’s panties from twenty paces.
For me, there’s never been anything to top it since. By the end of the 80s, vampires – at least on the silver screen – were beginning to return to their vicious, violent roots, as can be seen in movies like Near Dark (1987), From Dusk Til Dawn (1995), and 30 Days of Night (2007). Langella’s Dracula had set the bar so high that I haven’t yet found a book or movie or TV show that could surpass it, and I’ll be fine if none ever does.
But I’ll keep checking out the new offerings, just in case.
LamoreVincera’s laundry list
This is a tough one for me. It’s like asking me to pick my favorite kid, almost. So, in the spirit of tricks AND treats, I’ll give you a few.
Angelus, Buffy/Angel – Please note that I said Angelus, not Angel. For those of you going “huh?” right now, Angelus was a vampire who was cursed 200 years ago with a soul (read: conscience). Souled Angel is very broody, and borderline whiny; sure, he can kick ass, but not like the several times during Buffy and Angel’s run where he lost that soul and went all bad. And when this vamp is bad, he’s so very, very good. He becomes the ultimate seducer and manipulator, bringing his prey to him.
Lestat de Lioncourt, Interview With The Vampire – I adore Lestat. In Anne Rice’s novels, he’s called the Brat Prince, and he fulfills that nickname so very well. Self-involved and self-absorbed, beautiful, bitchy… And anything he throws himself into, he does so completely. If Lestat were to walk down a road today, you’d wonder if vampires really were real – and he’d hear that thought and flash a grin full of canines at you.
Eric Northman, True Blood – Both book!Eric and show!Eric are terrific. First things first – come on. Look at that; acres of tall, blonde Viking. Who wouldn’t want a piece of that? And he can go for hours. Literally. The whipped cream on top of that sundae, though, is that he’s intelligent, snarky, seductive, utterly maddening, and fiercely loyal. I have a feeling this one’s gonna end up on several Discriminating Fangirls’ lists.
Pam, True Blood – Eric’s “child”, she exhibits a lot of the same attributes he does – smart, snarky, and beautiful. She can whip you with her tongue just as quickly as she can with her fist, and both would hurt just as much. She’s cool, calm, collected, and I wouldn’t want to face her even if I were Buffy herself.
Alice and Jasper Cullen, Twilight – Yes, yes, settle down. I not only included a Twilight vampire, but two. These two, though, are the ones that even the rabid haters of the books are okay with. Alice is small, perky, and loyal to a fault; she’s the best friend you wish you had. In that little package comes the vampire-given ability to see the future, and it’s damn useful. Don’t count her out in a fight, either; she’s super-quick, with a dancer’s grace. And then we get to her husband, Jasper – a blonde Southern soldier straight out of the Civil War, he will mobilize everyone he knows and pound your ass into dust if you get in his way. And if he likes you, he has the power to control emotions. Who’d think a vampire could be better than an antidepressant?
I’ve got lots more – Spike, for one, has a special place in my heart, as does Damon Salvatore – but I’ll leave you with this list. Just don’t look at me funny for the last entry, okay?
Stacy B: Damon Salvatore of The Vampire Diaries
After living for hundreds of years, one would expect that certain truths emerge and that wit and a sense of humor are proven to be eternal. Secretly damaged boys also a plus. This one has been in love with a woman for a century and a half – made his entire existence about saving her, and when he discovers she played him all along, his soft fuzzy side that has been developing takes a vacay. The book version didn’t do much for me (though book!Damon has his moments what with enjoying invading personal space – something the tv version also finds fun for all occasions), but when played by Ian Somerhalder dancing to the tune of Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, I fell instantly. He’s the bad guy all girls want to reform, and frankly, for the most part, he wants none of your reformative shenanigans. He’s got the snark (“that’s for me to know and you to…dot dot dot”), the look (“you need to stop doing the look”/”what look?”/”that look”/”this look?”), and the right amount of damage showing to make him alluring even if he were not a vampire. But he is, and so his danger factor just got kicked up several notches. Because he will kill you. And he won’t feel bad about it, either. Because, duh, he’s a vampire. And vampires kill people.
WereGeek: Mitchell from Being Human
It’s hard for me to pick a favorite vampire. I’m not a fan of dead things in general and blood-suckers in particular. But I do make an exception for the likes of Mitchell in BBC Three/BBC America’s “Being Human”.
John Mitchell was an Irish soldier fighting WWI in the forests of France when he came across several vampires draining the wounded and dying of his company. He was given a choice: become a vampire and spare his troops or die with them. Obviously, he chose the former. For 70+ years, he was the worst of the worst. The vampires of Bristol, England still tell stories of Mitchell’s glory days. On New Year’s Eve 1999, he was forced to go off blood and, until recently, had been clean.
One of the things that puts him in my good books is he seems to be the only vampire in “Being Human” who not only tolerates werewolves, but is best friends with one. And he’s a good friend too, protecting George from vampires on more than one occasion. Mitchell even tries to protect George from the knowledge of what lies beyond death because it might shatter George’s faith. He helped George get reestablished and they even got a place together. Sure, he went a bit off the rails recently when he found out his new squeeze was part of a group out to destroy any vampires, werewolves and ghosts they found but ultimately, his main goal was to protect his friends and keep the vampires of Bristol secret. He tried to get the other vampires off blood, by example and threat of force, but was less than successful. It will be interesting to see the lengths to which he will go to protect his other friend, Annie the ghost, and get her back from beyond the door.
TDF Pamela
The Discriminating Fangirl, who is more likely to answer to Pamela if you shout it at her, is the proud owner of an MA in English, focusing on children's/young adult literature and popular culture. Because of her ample free time thanks to being gainfully unemployed, she reads voraciously. She also loves geeky movies and tv shows, reads comic books as often as she can buy them, and when she's procrastinating, she enjoys playing video games. She can be contacted at t.d.fangirl @ gmail.com and followed on Twitter at the link below.
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What? No Spike?
Frank Langella’s Dracula was the first that I saw (that I remember). I think Gary Oldman played a creepier Dracula that just sucked (pun?) me in a bit further.
Eric Northman is just amazing.
But Spike… I like Spike. Definitely has the morality that suits his whim that does add to the sexiness.
Mmm. Eric Northman. Skarsgard was indeed born to play that role. He’s SO EXACTLY what I imagined from the books that when I read the newer books sometimes I forget he’s still supposed to have longer hair. AND THAT KISS! The words “made my life” don’t hold the proper weight for what that kiss did to me. GUH.