Since their genesis, werewolves and vampires have been some of the most interesting and enduring creatures of folklore. While werewolves are often considered humans who transform into beasts each time the full moon makes its appearance, vampires are demons that thrive on the blood of the living. These two legends have endured for centuries and have been popularized by the entertainment industry, especially by depicting the creatures as brutal enemies in widespread television shows, films, and novels. In the novel Eclipse (of the Twilight saga) by Stephenie Meyer, werewolves and vampires have been enemies since the early Native American times. In the television series The Vampire Diaries, werewolves have been hunting vampires for thousands of years, since the reign of the Aztec kingdom. The relationship between vampires and werewolves in the novel Eclipse and an episode from The Vampire Diaries (“Bad Moon Rising”) is different in that the creatures in Eclipse agree to briefly put their differences aside to help each other rid the town of a common evil. However, their association is similar in that the vampires and werewolves of both works seem to have a mutual understanding of keeping the other’s secret and have been connected and bread against each other from their beginning.
Before examining the relationship between vampires and werewolves in these two popular texts, it’s important to understand the history behind the connection between them. In folklore it was sometimes believed that those who lived their lives as werewolves then became vampires when they died. In Serbia they were connected to such an extent that for some time the term vulkodlak referred collectively to vampires and werewolves. Some scholars believe that the animosity between vampires and werewolves can be traced back to Egyptian mythology where the godly brothers Set and Orisis hated each other from birth. Set, the wolf-like moon god, hated his brother Osiris who was immortal and god of the underworld. Osiris was often depicted looking like a vampire, with pale skin and red eyes. These brothers constantly fought in Egyptian myths. However, in most other folklore depictions of vampires and werewolves they were never at war with one another until the last few decades.
The Vampire Diaries follows a seemingly normal girl named Elena Gilbert as she discovers that vampires inhabit her town (Mystic Falls) and falls in love with one of them. The first mention of werewolves in this predominantly vampire-based show comes in the episode “Bad Moon Rising”, when Elena and the Salvatore brothers (who are vampires) begin to uncover a secret about one of the founding families of Mystic Falls, the Lockwoods. After realizing that the family is one of werewolves, the show’s twist on the werewolf curse is explained. It is traced back to the Aztec empire, when the land was plagued with both vampires and werewolves alike. In order to protect his people, an Aztec shaman cursed both of the creatures with ‘The Curse of the Sun and the Moon’, which “made vampires slaves to the sun and werewolves servants of the moon” and forever bound the two creatures together. This meant that werewolves could only transform in the presence of a full moon and vampires were permanently susceptible to sunlight. The legend goes on to explain that centuries of rivalry and competition for food and power have caused vampires to be a werewolf’s prey of choice. Since a werewolf bite is fatal to vampires, vampires hunted them almost to extinction in order to protect themselves. At the end of the episode, one of the Lockwood boys transforms into a werewolf at the peak of the full moon and attacks the Salvatore vampires, beginning the rivalry between vampires and werewolves that would last the entirety of the television series.
In Eclipse, the main character Bella Swan finds herself mixed up in a rivalry between vampires and werewolves. Coincidentally, the love of her life is a vampire and her best friend since childhood is a werewolf. Edward and Jacob, the vampire and werewolf respectively, both vie for Bella’s affection. In order for Bella to better understand his Native American tribe’s hatred of vampires and perhaps make her choose him instead of Edward, Jacob takes Bella to a tribal bonfire where his father explains the werewolf’s beginning. This telling of the werewolf story is much different than that of The Vampire Diaries but still ties werewolves to vampires. According to legend, long ago the tribe was attacked by ‘cold ones’ (vampires) and in order to stop them, the chief of the tribe’s spirit asked a giant wolf if it could share its body to vanquish the enemy. The wolf obeyed and after killing the cold ones, the chief realized that because of his bravery he could now transform into a wolf at will. He lived for two centuries and sired many children, many of which could transform into wolves at the age of adulthood as well. For the young people of the tribe, the ability to become wolves for the first time is only activated when faced with the threat of a vampire. Edward and his family (one entirely comprising of vampires) caused Jacob and the rest of his pack to phase for the first time and become wolves, ready to fight the new vampiric threat.
Since Jacob and the rest of the werewolves are so dangerous to vampires, they are feared by the vampires of the Twilight saga, just like werewolves are feared by the vampires on The Vampire Diaries. However, there is a rather large difference between the vampire/werewolf relationship in The Vampire Diaries and that of which in Eclipse. In Eclipse, the vampires and werewolves decide that they will form a truce and work together to rid the town of an army of new-born vampires that intend to kill all of the townspeople and Bella. The final chapters of the book describe a great battle where the werewolves and vampires are fighting side by side to protect the town. Their shared belief that these new-born vampires need to be destroyed, allows the vampires and werewolves to table their age-old feud and fight together. It also opens the door for future peace between the two groups of creatures, but this is not so in The Vampire Diaries. In the aforementioned episode “Bad Moon Rising”, the vampires make it clear that they are enemies with the werewolves. After the Salvatore brothers and Elena realize that werewolves exist, one of the brothers goes on to say that he would kill all of the werewolves in order to survive. When the transformed werwolves attack the Salvatore vampires at the end of the episode, the hatred between the two creatures is increased even further. This contrast in interaction between vampires and werewolves in The Vampire Diaries and Eclipse is one of the main differences in the portrayed relationship of the two supernatural beings.
The relationship between the vampires and werewolves in this film and literary work is also similar. In both works, vampires and werewolves are mutually dangerous to one another. Vampires are stronger than werewolves and can usually overpower them if they have their full energy. However, werewolves are biologically engineered to be vampire killers and in a pack can easily kill one. Werewolf bites, however, are not automatically fatal in Eclipse like they are in The Vampire Diaries. Both vampires and werewolves in both series wish to keep their supernatural identities a secret so despite their dislike, they have somewhat of a mutual respect towards each other. When Elena asks the Salvatore brothers if they will reveal the Lockwood family werewolf secret, the brothers refuse, since they as vampires also live in secret and wouldn’t want their own secret shared. Likewise, after the battle in Eclipse the werewolves and vampires work together to ensure no one discovers the new-born vampire army that has been slain and no human realizes the other’s supernatural secret.
Two of the most lasting legends of the last millennium are the vampire and werewolf. And like any enduring icon, these two creatures have been adapted and transformed for novels, television shows, and films. Early depictions of the vampire and werewolf dynamic never presented them as supreme enemies, which makes modern day portrayals of their relationship so interesting. In both the television series The Vampire Diaries and the novel Eclipse, vampires and werewolves are adversaries, engineered to kill one another. However in Eclipse, the two creatures set aside their differences to combat a greater evil. Despite their hatred towards another, vampires and werewolves in the show and novel have a mutual understanding about keeping the other’s secret. This understanding might stem from the fact that since their supernatural origins, the vampire and the werewolf have been inherently connected. And just as their association has changed from what it was at the genesis of the vampire and werewolf legend, their portrayed relationship will continue to change in the coming years and centuries.
References:
Meyer, Stephenie. Eclipse. London: Atom, 2007. Print.
“Bad Moon Rising” The Vampire Diaries. The CW Network. 23 Sept. 2010. Television.
Longinović, Toma. Vampires over the Ages: A Cultural Analysis of Scientific, Literary, and Cinematic Representations. San Diego, CA: Cognella Academic, 2014. Print.
SOPHIA PORTELLI 