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About the vampires
This isn't Bram Stoker, or Anne Rice. The peculiarities of these vampires,
demons, and other creatures are defined by the show.
Giles says:
"A vampire isn't a person at all. It may have the movements, the memories, even the personality of the person
it took over, but it's still a demon at the core. There is no halfway."
A Buffy vampire is a soulless corpse, animated by a demon. They are dead, like Anne Rice vampires. They have no
reflection and no breath.
How is it that Angel was a "good" vamp?
Gypsy curse. What else?
Angel says:
"I fed on a girl your [Buffy's] age. Beautiful. Dumb as a post." She was a gypsy girl. "The elders
conjured up the perfect punishment for me: they restored my soul."
For the last 100 years, Angel hadn't killed a human. He had a conscience, and remorse for the truly horrendous
things he had done for a century.
Angel says:"A
hundred years, just hanging out, feeling guilty. Really honed my brooding skills."
All that changed. He got blissed out with Buffy, then became as bad as vampires get. He went back to his accustomed
habit of picking out a female victim and killing all of her relatives/friends before finishing her. He then had
his soul re-restored by Willow, just before being sent to Hell by Buffy in order to save the world. He has since
returned from Hell, soul intact, and apparently even more tortured by what he did as Angelus.
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How do you slay a vampire?
Buffy vamps commonly explode into a cloud of ashes and dust when they are slain. Sunlight also makes a vampire
burst into flame.
Stake through the heart, direct sunlight, beheading, and fire all kill
vampires very quickly. They fear crosses and are burned by them. Holy water burns, but does not scar or kill them,
unless they swallow it.
Anybody can slay a vampire. As Buffy says, "Stake through the heart, a little sunlight...it's like falling
off a log!" And all of the Slayerettes (except Cordelia) have slain a vampire at this point. Buffy is just
extraordinarily qualified to do so, due to her supernatural strength and skills. Buffy's the only one who can survive
the attack of two or more vampires at once - all the cases where a Slayerette has killed a vamp have involved at
least a 2 on 1 advantage on the vampire and was still a struggle.
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How does one become a vampire?
Buffy says:
"To make you a vampire, they have to suck your blood, then you have to suck their blood. It's like a whole
big sucking thing." Giles confirms that the last demon to walk the earth fed upon a human, and turned him
into a vampire. This demonic force is transmitted to a person who has been drained by the vampire and then drinks
their blood in return.
What's a sire?
Your sire is the vamp that made you a vamp. Joss has implied
that your sire could refer to the vamp that made the vamp that made you a vamp as well.
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How does a vampire enter someone's house/the school?
The vampire has to be invited in. The invitation can be revoked with a ceremony involving Latin chanting, and appropriate
props. Public places are considered an open invitation to all to enter.
If vampires don't have breath, how do they talk/smoke/whistle?
Angel tells Xander that he can't perform mouth-to-mouth on Buffy because he has no breath. The consensus seems
to be that sure they can talk, or smoke, or whistle, but they don't have the kind of breath that a living being
does. Maybe they do all those things in a way that doesn't involve moving air, or maybe Angel simply meant that
his breath couldn't bring someone back to life (it is coming from an old dead body, after all).
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If vampires
have no reflection, how can they be videotaped?
Spike had a crony videotape a fight between Buffy and a vampire. Angel had no reflection in glass, and mirrors
don't reflect vampire images. Light entering a video camera lens falls upon a CCD (charge coupled device) which
outputs an encoded electrical signal to the tape recording part and miniature TV view-finder. A vampire probably
cannot be seen through the viewfinder of an SLR camera, as a small mirror is used to direct light until the shutter
is snapped. It has been implied that vampires cannot see their own reflections (Willow: "Angel, how do you
shave?")
Do only Christian relics work on vampires?
Do crosses and holy water work on vampires because they're religious objects or specifically because they're Christian?
Would a Jewish symbol, for instance, work as well in the hands of Willow? According to one Joss (the shows creator)
quote, "I don't think vampires are affected by other religious symbols. It is not simple religiosity that
offends them -- I think there is old, bad blood between vampires and Christianity. This is partly because I don't
want to confuse the issue on the show." There has been no evidence that anything but Christian relics work
so far.
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