----- Original Message -----
From: "Thryth" <thrythlind@yahoo.com>
To: "Brendan O'Donnell" <brenda02@sprynet.com>; "FFML" <ffml@fanfic.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 09, 2000 6:08 AM
Subject: [FFML] Re: [Ranma] THE CLAN - Chapter 21
actually wood does represent yang and vampires would
be yin so that makes sense, by the way, staking
vampires is tradition going back to the black plague
and before, jade might have even been more appropriate
though since that is considered a spiritually powerful
material....and the garlic myth is sometimes thought
to have started in the orient....mirrors would have
been a better choice than crucifixes...several
oriental myths use mirrors to ward off evil...and in a
number of myths the mirror repels a vampire because
mirrors always show the truth and the truth is that a
vampire is nothing...at least that's what some of
those say....european vampire myths include a large
variety of vampires as well...including the nigh
unkillable type....so that isn't left only to oriental
myths....
Basically the myths of vampire like things pervade every culture, and
there are as many different kinds, with almost as many different strengths
and weaknesses as there are storytellers.
I would agree with the mirror bit myself, partially because Akane is so
upset by the changes to her body that Colougne and co might see her initial
reaction as proof that the myth is correct.
suggestions: yes the mistaken identity ploy is
good...technically, a vampire is just something that
drinks blood...and there are any of a large number of
demons that take humanoid form to obtain their
meal...whether this is for aesthic or practical
purposes I can't say...but the REALLY human looking
vampires often don't have the same combat abilities as
ones with inhuman features...
Though Akane seems to be aquiring some of those combat abilities.
Also if the vampires are always around to handle the
raveners some one is bound to notice it sooner or
later. There would probably be numerous tomes
theorizing possible connections....of course the first
assumption would probably that they are in
league....anybody that knew about how well they are
designed to eliminate raveners would start to think
that they are some other power's agents...there could
probably be stories that relegate them as servants of
Hecate or Persophene (probably not Hades since they
all seem to be female so far), Arawn, maybe actually
being the Valkyries, Gabriel, etc, etc, etc, etc,
Right at the begining Nodoka basically said that no man could become a
vampire, though I don't recall any reason being given. Indeed she said
point blank that if Ranma had been born female, she would have raised her to
become a vampire.
And as far as gods go, why not have is so vampires stole their power
from one of the gods of death, and one of the curses placed in retaliation
was "A Ravening death shall decend on all you know." As a response to the
first vampire refusing to return her power because she needed it to protect
all the people she knew. It would explain the Ravaners resiliancy, being
sent from death they could not be sent back too death, only send themselves
back.
Cologne mentioned in an earlier episode that
cannibalism was one of the worst sins in existence,
and that vampires, having to survive on the blood of
other humans, are thus essentially corrupted,
imbalanced in ki...I don't know what that would
indicate in terms of weaknesses...but she probably
would know from stories that vampires can be killed in
normal manners (it just takes a lot more doing) also
it seems that Cologne knows more about vampires from
stories than from actual experience...300 years is a
long time (and she DOES say that is her age in the
canon) but the history of Joketsuzoku extends
3000....perhaps the vampires learned to avoid the
village by the time Cologne was bored....
also these are not undead vampires, but are rather
very alive...Athia seems to indicate at somepoint that
even vampires have a limited life span...Cologne would
be able to sense that they have a living ki...whether
she chooses to ignore that or not is another matter...
--- Brendan O'Donnell <brenda02@sprynet.com> wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Johnston" <rgorman@telusplanet.net>
To: "C. Jones" <guilty@furinkan.net>
Cc: <ffml@fanfic.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 09, 2000 2:48 AM
Subject: [FFML] Re: [Ranma] THE CLAN - Chapter 21
Now, hold it right there. Why are Cologne and
Shampoo suddenly using
weapons out of a Hammer film? They watch a lot of
vampire movies in
the Amazon village? Chinese vampires and near
vampire equivalents
have no traditional vulnerability to Christian
symbols, and they
certainly wouldn't have any religious faith in
holy water and crucifixes.
Further, you already said that the Amazons had
been approached by vampires
looking for recruits, so didn't the Amazons learn
anything about what
works and
what doesn't as they tried to kill the vampires?
I mean sure, it does a
great
job of making Cologne and Shampoo look like total
idiots, but it doesn't
make
any sense.
I'd have to agree. One of the apparent themes
of this story is a
conflict between how vampires are perceived (As evil
or cursed blood sucking
monsters) and how they really are(Super-Goths with
no bad points except for
uncomplimentary P.R.), however this climactic
confrontation pushes that
discrepency much too far. Basically what we're
seeing would fit better if
Colougne was portrayed as never having seen a
vampire but having read about
one that her great grandmother fought once. Which
isn't how she's been
portrayed. And the method's she's using didn't
exist before the movies
dreamed them up, so the discrepency's that much
worse.
Alternatively you could set up a scene in the
next segment where Nodoka
realises that the attacks would have been effective
against a rare blood
drinking Chinese Demon. and explain the source of
the amazon's problem as
mistaken identity. Unsatisfying but functional.
Well, things continue. I certainly look
foreward to the eventual
revelations about the nature of Ravaners. Hopefully
the revelation will
compromise the whole argument of vampirism as a
counter to them. Sorry but
the basic Faustian agreement theme just fits too
well.
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