Dark Fantasy

I think I might need to take a bit of a break from science fiction, at least in some aspect of my life. Maybe it's just because Kore wa Zombie Desuka is so brilliant I've lost my eyes, but I thought I'd give some thought to the creatures of the night.

So my dad was watching "Being Human", and, um...am I the only one who remembers when shows about vampires and werewolves involved things happening? I mean, when a Joss Whedon show is less talky and angsty than yours is, just...wow, really. It's weird, actually, because in my own books the vampires are actually animated by angst (well, by vaskania, resentment considered-as-a-pollution, AKA the Evil Eye). But they know, at least, that they're a calamitous existence—they are the curse they've laid on the world. They don't whine about being "turned", because they turned themselves—also they don't have "sires", so their society is a pure Social Contract, with none of the relations that exist even in the state of nature, like family.

Also, werewolves. What's with this Larry Talbot crap? That's not from any real legends! Real werewolves are either placed under a specific curse, or they deliberately took on the power themselves. I deny categorically that they or vampires were metaphors for sex in the first place; how much less, then, is it legitimate to have this heavy-handed "safe sex" metaphor?

Which reminds me, RE: werewolves and sex (I wouldn't Google that, no sirree), what's with them always being sluts, male or female? Um, wolves have a complex, but more-or-less monogamous, breeding structure. I know halfwit screenwriters think "animal=lusting all the time", but maybe a little basic knowledge of biology? How about have female werewolves completely lose their sex-drive, except during wolf mating-season? They're not were-bonobos!

Basically, you need to think about wolf instincts. I think the slutty werewolves are an error by the writers (I know White Wolf does this): they assume that a werewolf's "animal" nature means not being able to suppress human instincts. But why would it? I mean, admittedly, both humans and wolves being pack hunters, there's a lot of overlap, but among wolves, the alpha-female ensures that no non-dominant females get to breed, and none of the non-dominant males even try. Those are not hominid behaviors. They are human behaviors, interestingly—one could make a case that human couples are transitioning from silverback and harem to alpha pairs—but that's just more argument for werewolves not behaving at all like they're usually portrayed.

Not, of course, that they should act like the weird Pern-dragon "Impressing" thing, like in Twilight. There's a middle ground; in my book, for instance, werewolves just tend to be a bit clingy (as the vampire-hunting priest puts it, "instant ball and chain"). Even then, human reason trumps everything; the main werewolf character is pretty shy, to the point where his girlfriend's hobby is making him blush. Still, though, even then, his shyness, and indeed most of his personality, is wolfish; he's a sweet kid (the priest habitually calls him "puppy") but he has a little bit of a bullying streak, and he doesn't like to be pushed around by people he perceives as peers. Dogs, remember, are hierarchical.

As for vampires, why, why, why don't people understand that they're ghosts? The ones in legend don't really have any more personality than the things in The Grudge; even if you're going to give them more personality you're going to have to remember that they're only here at all because something horrible happened. To me it's kinda fun: every single bad guy in a dark fantasy book is a brooding, world-hating Legato Bluesummers, Gaara, Sephiroth, Kefka, Seymour (huh, kinda a theme with FF) type of villain. The hard part of villains, for me, is not "why are they opposed to the hero", but "why are they a villain in the first place"? That'll give you an idea of what they want, that'll naturally set them up to oppose your hero. Plus, "resentment is a physiological function for him, he has to hate like you have to breathe" is interesting from a worldbuilding perspective. Lots of people's "vampire politics" revolve around hunting territory, and certainly that'd be a factor, but it's even more interesting to come up with systems for vampires to cope with the fact "grudges" are basically what they are.

I have a scene in my second book where this little girl vampire explains that you have to kill enemy minions who cross you, because if you don't, your own men will remember it, and resent it, whenever you have to discipline them. During a fight with another (vastly worse) vampire, she points out: do not, whatever else you do, become the thing a vampire resents most. Basically, every vampire has to walk a delicate balance between acting out his resentments, and getting other vampires to resent him; one false step and he'll just be making his enemies stronger, since, again, resentment is to vampires what badassness is for the Gurren Dan.