Love that this suggests that for vampires, it's all in their head
That’s what Terry Pratchett’s Carpe Jugulum tells us. With sufficient exposure and willpower vampires (or “vampyres” as this more modern variety calls themselves) can become immune to sunlight and holy symbols!
Man, they’re all a fav. I’m finishing up a full read-through, and until The Embuggerance every book seemed better than the one before it. Even after The Embuggerance they’re still excellent.
GNU Terry Pratchett
Also a plot point of an older also amazing book (spoiler alert?)
!Richard Mattheson's I Am Legend. Not even close to the same as the movie!<
However, it doesn't reflect everything. Maybe it's a particular part of sunlight that impacts vampires, one that gets absorbed by the Moon's surface.
I wanted to see for myself and it looks like the spectra of the sun and moon are fairly similar:
Moon: https://olino.org/blog/us/articles/2015/10/05/spectrum-of-moon-light/comment-page-1/
Sun: https://seos-project.eu/earthspectra/images/Solar-spectrum_th.png
Looks pretty similar I gotta say
That being said, the intensity is of course much lower of the light reflected from the moon.
"Similar" is not identical. I'm assuming that slight difference is technically where the vampire-harming properties lie (lore-wise).
Kind of like how Duncan MacDougall published a study that human souls have weight, as he recorded someone losing 21 grams at the moment of their death. Not very significant at all, but perhaps humanity lies in the subtleties...
What if vampires' non-reaction to mirrors is why reflected sunlight does not bother them?
If we can figure out the magic wavelength, we could take out vampires with flashlights.
Reminds me of the part in Bloodlines where you (a vampire) are captured and they run a series of tests, including shining UV rays on you (it doesn't do anything).
This is funny, but I think stereotypical vampire lore still stands. I think it's only direct sunlight that is an issue. If a vampire stands in a room with an open window, but off to the side, they're generally considered fine. If light reflected off a wall is ok then why is the moon not?
I love how this implies that sunlight only hurts vampires if they know that sunlight is supposed to hurt them
The BBC series Dracula really explores this trope in a really interesting way. Worth a watch without spoilering anything.
My theory is that vampires can only handle sunlight in small doses, not when the sun is directly shining on the Earth.
i love the idea of london being infested by vampires since it's almost always overcast, and vampires going on holiday to the nordics in the winter
We learned it like this at school:
Light beam bounces once or more, suck that victim dry, senor
Light beam bounces none or less, seek the curtains now, princess
Werewolf school didn't teach me shit....i mean they did teach me how to shit to properly mark my territory, but didn't use any fancy poems or nothing.
count Dracula wasn't destroyed by sunlight, he just had weaker magical powers. during the day he could only change form at dawn, noon, and dusk, although he maintained that power throughout the entire night.
But he's the OV (Original Vamp). According to Supernatural logic, the Alpha monster is immune or isn't affected as badly by weaknesses as converted monsters.
I always head-canon that sunlight reflected off of moon rocks has some property that makes it not dangerous for vampires, sucks out the hamon or something.