Vampires and Werewolves, oh my!

[sunset]

I´m curious, does anyone know who/where/how/when the trend of establishing vampires and werewolves as rivals in a shared universe?

I grew up seeing them somewhat as standalone myths.
Like the mummy, I loved following its quest to ennact vengeance upon trespassers but it only rubbed shoulders with Count Dracula, Frankentein´s monter or werewolves in occasional saturday morning cartoons.

Twilight, Underworld, even the puppy in True Blood......... just seems strange to me.

Who is it to blame?

[Cenobite, that cute pariah]

Well, the Underworld people were initially sued by White Wolf, so they have an early claim.

I'm pretty sure in the old Universal horror movies of the 30s, the Wolf Man ran afoul of Dracula at some point.

[blacky]

I never understood what the confilct about the two is about, Why would vampires give a fuck about werewolves and vice versa? Theres no reason why they would be natural enemies, theres nothing connecting them which would make clashing evitable.

I mean vampires drink human blood and werewolves eat people, their real confiict is based around their prey.

And no, I refuse to take any information about the two from Twilight into considerstion, those are NOT werewolves and vampires, those are shapeshifters and...erm.....glittering supermen?

[Toadkiller Dog]

Apr 21, 2010 19:57:14 GMT @blacky said:

I never understood what the confilct about the two is about, Why would vampires give a fuck about werewolves and vice versa? Theres no reason why they would be natural enemies, theres nothing connecting them which would make clashing evitable.

I mean vampires drink human blood and werewolves eat people, their real confiict is based around their prey.

And no, I refuse to take any information about the two from Twilight into considerstion, those are NOT werewolves and vampires, those are shapeshifters and...erm.....glittering supermen?

Pretty much my thoughts on the matter.

[Tabris]

My guess is that it's just something people do to amuse themselves. People have an inherent interest in conflict. So they start making shit fight each other.

Like Aliens VS Predators.

Ninjas VS Pirates.

Amongst all the other silly things. Honestly, the ideas are just amusing and generally badass.

Then people find a way to make things impossible to fuck up suck.

See: Twilight and the AVP movies.

Many of us died inside a little bit when that shit came out.

[Lolli]

Maybe it's like rascism in the vampire universe.

"I'm not having a werewolf in MY house!"

But I really have no idea. It might be prey like Blacky said. The werewolves stepping in on the vamps turf and pissing each other off. Or perhaps a battle to be the strongest species. If you get bit by either of them there's a chance you'll turn into one, so it might be a clash of power.

[blacky]

After quick researching I've found something intresting,

Werewolves and Vampires were thought to be the one and the same thing. Vampires never turned into bats in prouper folklore, that's a modern idea. The creatures vampires really turned into were wolves.

Dracula himself even quotes when listening to wolves howling "Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make"

So mabye that's the connection right there, though that just makes it more stupid, if vampires and werewolves are related enougth for Dracula to show effection for wolves, why would they fight? There is still no reason for conflict.

[Lolli]

Well I did a bit of research and this is what I found:

There have been allusions to a battle between vampires and werewolves called the Trajanic Wars. In 101-102 and 105-106, there were two short wars between the Roman Empire during Trajan’s rule, and the Dacian kingdom, which had become a threat to the Empire. It was said that during that event the Dacian vampires betrayed the werewolves, which were their servants, to the Romans, and this unforgiveable act caused werewolves and vampires to become eternal enemies. Though the Trajanic War (also called the Dacian War) is a true part of history, the vampire and werewolf angle, of course, is only a myth.

Perhaps that's where the story stems from. It probably was just a movie creation made to pit the two against one another. It's like saying, why would 'Freddy fight Jason?' or 'Why would Predator fight Alien?' It's done for the fans I think.

There's no real evidence to suggest that vamps and weres are enemies, although in Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula does seem to have a soft spot for the wolves. Perhaps he wanted to keep werewolves as pets. In the film Van Helsing, Dracula uses werewolves to do his bidding but gets annoyed when the werewolves try to rise against him. It might be like slaves disobeying their masters and trying to claim their freedom.