Nightmare
This topic always come down to the system and if it’s even possible. Most times, the vampire infection is human-only, so it makes no sense for animals to get turned. Those that appear to be are really ghouled or under magical control. So, is there any history of true vampire animals?
Well . . . I can’t find anything. I went searching and I found a bunch of paranormal sites that said it was possible. Yet, I couldn’t find any of the stories moving beyond their original sites, which means they’re probably fiction. Forums state that vampirizing animals is impossible for a variety of reasons. The most common reasoning I found is that turning requires that the victim has a soul, which animals don’t have. I don’t really agree with this because I think all living things have some kind of spirit. Another argument is that vampirism requires drinking vampire blood by choice, which is something that an animal can’t do. This is system dependent. The list goes on, but there are ups and downs to this in the first place.
A Few Benefits to Vampirizing an Animal
These creatures will tend to be overlooked by people. Even with red eyes, they might not draw much more attention than they normally would. This means they can work very well as spies that the vampire can look through or talk to. Unlike human vampires, animals don’t have any ambition to move up the ranks of society. That means no backstabbing unless you forget to feed them or abuse them. They can also act like an surprise force against your enemies.
A Few Downsides to Vampirizing an Animal
The biggest one involves vampires with a weakness to the sun. Animals won’t always know to stay out of it, especially at the beginning. They’ll only know that something is different once they turn and their instinct might be to hunt. So, they could rush into the sun and then panic while in pain, which results in a quick death. That hunting instinct is an issue too since animals would lack the ability to control their urges like humans. A vampire will be found out pretty quickly if they turn a bunch of squirrels that end up eating half the town. This is probably why it’s better to mind control or ghoul them because you can dictate their actions.
In War of Nytefall, I wasn’t really sure where to go with this. I hint that vampires look down on turning animals, but that’s coming off as a proper society type of thing. Many vampires still turn animals for various reasons, which can range from loneliness to wanting an expendable agent. Then there’s Bob who makes horse and camel vampires because he wants to have a collection of mounts. In his defense, he treats these animals like they’re his babies and will fight anyone that threatens them. Honestly, this is probably the only area that the question comes up for me so far. I do have an idea for one of the future volumes that requires strange vampire hybrids and toying with different vampirized monster species would fall under this category.
What do people think about vampire animals? I know we’ve seen some games and shows that do this with zombies, but vampires aren’t very common. Is this something you would like to see more often in the genre?
Legends of Windemere 
Bats, Owls and other nocturnal animals might be good as vampires, Charles – daytime animals, probably not the best subjects to vampirise 🧛🏻♂️
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That does make me wonder if instincts change. Would a diurnal animal suddenly shift to nocturnal if they were vampirized?
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Do vampirised Humans change, or was it a considered act?
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Humans usually need to be taught, but we’ve never been the most instinctual creatures. Consider how animals will retreat from an area before a disaster strikes while humans don’t notice until the event has struck. So, I wonder if a vampirized animal would just sense that sunlight and other things are dangerous.
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Anything is possible, and plausible, Charles
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Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
Come join the conversation over at Charles’ original blog post 🧛🏻♂️🧛🏻♂️🧛🏻♂️
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Thanks for the reblog.
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Hopefully more people will join in with ideas, Charles 😃
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I got one on twitter too, so it’s stirred curiosity.
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Your world, your rules. It’s as simple as that.
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True. Although, it gets a little sticky with vampires due to the immense amount of lore that comes with them. There has to be some connection to the previous models.
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I have never heard of a vampire animal. I think vampires only feed on animals when they are desperate.
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Feeding is common, but I’ve read some stories where they turn animals. Dogs and horses are the ones I’ve seen more often. Vermin too n
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If I were a vampire I think it would be nice to have a vampire dog to keep me company. Just have to figure out how to feed it.
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Blood-infused doggy biscuits?
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Hmmm. I guess they would work
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Interesting subject! I agree with kytwright. You can do what you want in your world. I like the idea of vampire animals (besides vampire bats).
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I haven’t really touched on it because it felt like something that the vampires would frown upon. If they’re trying to remain a secret then having a bunch of Dawn Fang beasts running around is a problem.
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In my opinion, any myth is open to attribute tweaking and reassignment, and anything is possible in fiction and world building. E.g., nonhuman animals aren’t affected by the sun due to their unique genome, where a base pair of DNA protects them from the sun’s harmful rays.
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That would be an interesting twist. The human vampires would be trying to figure out a way to copy the sun-immunity DNA base pair. In a way, it would make the non-human vampires superior.
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Planet of the Critter Vampires 🙂
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Interesting list of the pros and cons. I vaguely recall a children’s book I had twenty odd years ago that had a suspected vampire rabbit in it…
I personally don’t know if I’d really like to see many vampire animals, but that’s just me.
Odd… WordPress still won’t let me like your posts, I don’t know why, it lets me like other blogs.
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Bunnicula. Gotta love the classics. Weird about the like thing.
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That was the book, thanks! I think it was a whole series eventually, I recall enjoying reading it when I was a kid.
It is weird about the like thing, hopefully it’ll start working again soon.
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I think it’s all in the telling. If there is a reason, and it’s done well, why not. Don’t fall asleep in the field where vampire snails roam.
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Would a vampire snail’s shell protect it from the sun? I can imagine the horror of smashing one and the mushed parts regenerates later in your house.
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Don’t cut your foot on that broken shell. Carry some wooden toothpicks with you for mini-stakes.
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Bad news: Snails have an open circulatory system. There’s no heart to stab.
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Blessed salt?
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Salt is sometimes used as a supernatural deterrent.
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I’ve written in into a story or two, plus snails don’t get along with it.
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Reblogged this on DSM Publications and commented:
Check out this post from the Legends of Windemere blog on vampirizing animals.
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Thanks. 😁
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You’re welcome.
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Reblogged this on Viv Drewa – The Owl Lady.
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Thanks for the reblog
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I’m with you on the soul thing. Also, I don’t see why you can’t have vampire animals. In fact, there are vampire cows in “The Little Vampire” movie.
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Now that you mention it, they do seem to be more common in kids stories.
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I think it’s a way to make them seem more kid friendly. It’s OK that they’re blood suckers, because they’re fluffy! Well, OK, cows don’t scream fluffy, but I think you get my point.
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The vampire animals seem to go after their usual food source at times too. For example, Bunnicula attacked vegetables instead of people.
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Exactly! Like I said, more child friendly.
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It seems like I remember some animals in vampire movies, like horses, having a sensitivity and neighing or otherwise showing fear in the presence of vampires. But on the other hand, animals like wolves are long associated with vampires as possible servant creatures. It might depend on whether the animal is naturally a predator, like the wolf, or prey, like the horse. I’m not sure if cats would be inclined to vampirism or not since they are predators but other animals can also prey on them.
I think if I was a vampire I would look for a common creature such as a dog or crow, that would be able to move around freely dyring the daytime, when I myself woukd have to hide from the sun.
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Vampires have a history of ghouling the ‘darker’ creatures of the world. Bats, rats, wolves, and snakes come to mind. The thing is that ghouling is different than vampirism. A ghoul possesses increased physical abilities, but not the rest of the abilities.
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