Vampire/Half Vampire/Schvampire -was all the other vampire Snape stuff

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 88595

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "junediamanti" 
<june.diamanti at b...> wrote:

> However, the Vampire!Snape lobby asserts that JKR will in fact 
make considerable alterations to all the standard traits of the 
vampire  for the sake of her story.  <

You've missed my point. There are *no* "standard traits of the 
vampire." There's Buffy vampires, yes,  but then there's Bram 
Stoker vampires, and Anne Rice vampires, and Laurell K. 
Hamilton vampires (no celibates, they) plus cinematic and 
folkloric vampires galore, all different. There is no reason to 
regard any one of these as  the standard version. There is no 
Bullfinch's Mythology for vampires to which we, or JKR, can refer. 

JKR does not seem to be  writing under some Tolkienesque 
imperative to create a mythology purged of popular, foreign or 
literary influence. All of these can be found in her work. She has 
also let us know that Muggles have limited ability to perceive 
magical creatures and are being deliberately misled by wizards 
besides---a handy explanation for any discrepancies between 
her mythos and others.

All of which makes me feel that she can tweak the vampire 
legend as she pleases.

I respect the desire to avoid squicky discussions about 
reproduction, but I am afraid that this is one of the sources of the 
monster myth in general. Monstrous births were thought to be 
the result of monstrous ancestry, and unexpurgated folklore 
leaves us in no doubt as to how this came about.

And "part" creatures are very important to JKR's theme, because 
sexual desire has ever been the undoing  of rigid social 
stratification. However Slytherins may boast that they restrict 
themselves to the pureblood as partners, it is hardly canon that 
they actually do so. There are many indications that they do not. 
Riddle's ancestry is mixed, there are all those inconvenient 
relatives not listed on the Black family tree, and all those 
Slytherins who seem to resemble hags or trolls. 

You can dismiss the indications if you like, but when the canary 
is missing and the cat has feathers on its chin, the prudent 
bird-fancier will purchase a sturdier cage and keep a closer eye 
on the kitty in future.

Pippin