Vampire Evolution

We all know that vampires don’t exist (or do they?), but where did the idea of blood sucking creatures come from? Sink your teeth into this week’s blog as we learn about vampires and their evolution (it’s not detailed, it’s just the basics)!

Vampires are portrayed in many different ways. Some say that vampires are human corpses that are said to have returned from their graves to harm the living. Others say that vampires are not human at all, but instead supernatural, possibly demonic creatures that do not take human form*. The vampires that we are most familiar with are the ones that we see in movies or read about in books. They are supernatural beings (usually more beautiful) that keep to themselves and drink blood from humans or animals and help protect others from the “bad” vampires. The “bad” vampires always like to cause trouble. When they want something, they will destroy everything in their path to reach whatever it is they want.Vampires started out as ugly creatures that sucked the blood out of people and now we see them as beautiful supernatural beings.

Vampires throughout the years

Dracula

• One of the first mythical vampires is the famous Dracula which was created by Bram Stoker in 1987. Stoker says that some of Dracula’s characteristics come from the Romanian prince Vlad III (1431-1476). Vlad wasn't a vampire and didn't drink blood, but he did many terrible things (i.e. murder thousands of his countrymen). His chosen last name “Dracula” translates to “son of the devil” or “son of the dragon”**.
• In 1931, Dracula was seen as a threatening, powerful, alluring and evil being**.
• During the Cold War era in 1958, Dracula’s motives were unimportant; he was a vicious troublemaker with an appetite for destruction. He had red eyes and huge fangs, often with blood hanging off them**.
• After the years went on, they've made movies that viewed vampires as dangerous creatures who were able to do whatever they pleased. They started incorporating love in a few movies where vampires would fall for each other.
• In 1998, the Blade movies began. Blade is half man, half vampire and he loves humans. He found it

  

  Edward Cullen 

  his duty to protect the humans from vampires***.
• Modern day vampires are still known as dangerous, but not as much. From the vampire books I've read they’re beautiful and try to stay away from humans. They live a normal life, but have much more life problems. There is always a bad vampire or something that comes in the way of their life to try and ruin it. It’s mostly because they want revenge, because they want something or simply just want to cause trouble.

As we can see, the vampire perspective has changed a lot throughout the years. They’re constantly changing because every author or director has their own view on things. I wonder how vampires will be perceived as in the future. Do you think they’ll be the same or do you think they’ll change? We’ll never know, they may not even exist at all. 

Did You Know?

There is an animal called a vampire bat. It lives on animal blood and drinks during the night. It doesn't harm the animal since the vampire bat only drinks a small amount. The only problem is that it can cause rabies*.

* http://www.livescience.com/24374-vampires-real-history.html

** http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96282132

*** http://www.cracked.com/funny-69-vampires/

The day I realized

Believe it or not, I used to dislike reading books. I would get bored of them too quickly and just gave up on them. My family used to always encourage me to read books, but I never listened to them. Ironically, when they stopped encouraging me, I started to read. At a young age, all we wanted to do was go outside and play! No one had the time to sit inside and read. It’s like doing homework in the summer. Now, everything has changed. Instead of going outside, I’d rather stay inside and read.  

My oldest brother was the one who always wanted me to read. Here’s a little funny story. Back in grade school, we got these Scholastic papers where we could order some items. I loved everything they sold, but one thing caught my eye the most. It was a pink box with feathers around it and inside was pencils, a mini notebook and other things. My oldest brother told me that he would buy it for me on one condition: I have to buy a book and read it. I dreaded the thought but I accepted. Once I got the book, I put it aside and never read it. My brother doesn't know this yet (shh, don’t tell him). I still have it on my bookshelf, sitting there, untouched. It was a book by Tony Di Terlizzi called Les Chroniques de Spiderwick : Le Secret de Lucinda.

I never discovered my passion for reading until the start of high school. My friends would tell me of the different books they read and it interested me. In my grade 9 English class, we had to read the first book of the Harry Potter series. I wasn't happy because at the time I hated Harry Potter, although I didn't even know what it was about (yes, I judged a book by its cover). I thought to myself that it shouldn't be that bad, so I’ll give it a try! Of course after reading it I fell in love. I decided to read the rest of the series. Also, I decided never to judge a book by its cover.

It was at that time I realized that I loved to read and get lost in books. Also, I loved fantasy because they were very creative and full of excitement. It may seem like a “nerdy” thing to do, but it’s not. Reading is much more than that. Not only is reading fun and exciting, it can teach you so much! It enhances your vocabulary, opens up your imagination and shows you the world in many different perspectives.

So, whenever you don’t want to try something because it seems boring, then try it! You’ll never know, it could probably be the best thing that ever happened to you. 

Who Wrote This?

There are millions of books around the world written my many different authors. Every author is different; from their writing style to the genres of books they write. To become an author, you must open your mind to all possibilities because everything is possible, especially when writing fantasy. You must be very creative and imaginative. I think authors are amazing because they dedicate so much time and thought in writing books and they come out amazing. We all complain when we have to write a 3-5 page essay, yet authors write books that can come up to 400 pages! I don’t know about you but that’s pretty fantastic. I’m going to talk to you guys about a few authors; they aren't my favourites, but they’re the first that came to my mind.

J. R. R. Tolkien

The first author I’m going to talk about it J. R. R. Tolkien! His full name was John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. He was an English writer, a poet, a philologist and a university professor ¹. Many of you may know him by his famous books: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Although I didn't like the books much, I’m hoping the movies will be better!

C. S. Lewis 

The second author I’m going to talk about is C. S. Lewis. His full name is Clive Staples Lewis. He was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and one of the most influential writers. He was a tutor in English literature at Oxford University ². He wrote many books, but one of my favourites is The Chronicles of Narnia. It sold over 100 million books ²!

Rick Riordan

Next author I’m going to talk about is Rick Riordan. For fifteen years, he taught English and history. In 2002, Saint Mary’s Hall honoured him with the school’s first Master Teach Award ³. While teaching full time, he began writing mystery novels for grownups. He then turned to children’s fiction ³. One of his book series that I’d like to read is the Percy Jackson series. They seem very interesting!

Stephenie Meyer

The final author I’m going to write about is Stephenie Meyer. Yes, she is the one that wrote the Twilight series. I have to admit, I loved them when they first came out! She graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in English ⁴. She got inspired to write the Twilight Saga from a dream she had. She said that the characters seemed so real and she couldn't get them out of her head ⁴. She started writing down the plot and finally made the first book of the series: Twilight!

These are a few authors that have written fantasy books! There are many more authors that wrote fantasy and that have amazing books. Hope you learned something new today, because I know I did!

1- http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/656983.J_R_R_Tolkien

2- https://www.cslewis.com/us/about-cs-lewis

3- http://www.rickriordan.com/home.aspx

4- http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/bio.html