Actually its mostly the new lore that says Vampires die from decapitation, in original lore taking the head, then making sure it never touched the body again or was burnt away to a skull was the only way to be sure.
Nope, there are wide variety of lores about vampires. Many die as easily the "newer ones". In fact, seemingly unkillable vampires are usually only products of weak newer stories. In fact, in old lore, virtually every vampire isn't much more than a zombie. It's only with Dracula that vampires actually gain sentience, and become characters.
In Saga of the Noble Dead one of the newer Vampires is savagely decapitated with a serrated blade imbued with magics and chemicals that prevented their proper regeneration. Despite both, the head was placed back on the neck and several of its victims blood poured onto the wound, within a single night the head reattached and the Vampire was up and walking, but with a permanent scar and maimed voice.
Which is just plain ridiculous. Even magical things can't kill them now?
Carmilla was staked, beheaded, burnt to ashes, poured into a wide river that washed out to a lake. She was back a night or two later to visit Laura, ok she got the message and left but it didn't even leave a mark.
Who the hell is Camilla? Anyway, again, ridiculous. When one understands the true origins of vampire lores, you know the above would utterly, completely and totally destroy a vampire. Fire is the purifying force of nature, water the cleansing power of nature. Both elements that are anathema of the element Earth, which is what vampires are mostly imbued with, them rising from the ground, and the other elements conforming to their spirit having left. There is no way in hell a mere vampire survives the above.
I find stories where they turn vampires in ridiculous unkillable things that even the ways of magic, mystics and god(s) their natural enemies can't kill anymore just plain weak. Like the writer has a hard on for the vampire or vampires in general and can't get past it that the monsters need to die, so they just make them survive anything and everything.
Lestat was cut to ribbons with a large butcher knife by Claudia and lost all of his blood and was partly nibbled on by all the little creatures inhabiting the lake she threw his body into, he came back. Took days to heal fully but still.
Wait, Interview what's her face that found god recently universe? You call those old stories?
And the sunlight angle doesn't kill them, in most old stories they feared the sunlight, they weren't directly killed by it. Nosfertu started that particular idea off in 1922, before that exposure to sunlight in lore just frightened or weakened them.
No, actually, in most old stories they can't even walk around during the day. They are simply asleep, in a forced sleep in fact, a sort of coma. They are mostly zombies, and have many attributes of ghosts in fact; their corpses are animated by their souls who can't find peace. Usually the way to defeat them in the old myths and legends is to make sure the soul can't get back into the body, or to make the soul find peace and cross over.
No, it kills the vampire, just like decapitation regardless of weapon will kill a vampire, just like normal old sunlight will kill a vampire.
Doesn't that depend on the exact sort of vampire? In about half the movies I'll never confess to have watched, decapitation has zero effect on the suckers. And a certain percentage suggests that stakes, garlic and divine water have no real effect, either.
You've watched some odd movies then, because I've never seen a movie where decapitation doesn't finish them off.
Yeah, and the more honost, ethical and moral thing to do, would be to just exterminate them in my opinion.
What do you have against them? Why can't we all get along?
The Wraith kill me and other humans, that's what I have against them. Killing them is simply necessary for survival. There's no hate or disgust going around, it's simply necessary. A sad state of not being able to live together, because us humans are their food.
Or did you mean the Wraith? I'm sure their hunger could be satisfied by ethical means in the Trek universe, too.
I'm sure it can, but I wasn't talking about Trek now was I? I was talking about Stargate and their penchant for avoiding anything deep, even outright ignoring when something deep is happening and never touching upon it.
