Riddle me this, Suvudu readers: Let’s say that in the dead of night a fell spirit of darkness appears at the foot of your bed. The specter informs you that your life as you know it must end, and as of this moment you must choose to become a vampire or werewolf. Since there are so many ideas about what constitutes a proper vampire or werewolf these days, I suppose some elaboration is in order.
Should you choose to be a vampire:
- You’ll be immortal.
- You’ll need blood every night, but you won’t have to kill.
- Sunlight will burn you.
- A stake or beheading will kill you.
- Symbols of religious faith will hold you at bay, but only if its bearer has true faith.
- People will find your alluring, hypnotic – seductive.
Should you choose to be a werewolf:
- You’ll live for a very, very long time.
- You’ll kill at least once human being once a month unless you’re restrained.
- Silver will harm or kill you.
- Wolfsbane will repel you.
- You’ll be able to live a relatively normal life between full moons.
- You’ll be improbably strong and quick, even in human form.
The specter won’t wait for long, and you’ve got to make a choice. Which will it be?
I’ll go first:
Vampires are mesmerizing, sexually potent and dangerously alluring, but the idea of being limited to walking about by night doesn’t especially appeal to me. I’ve worked the evening shift before and it got old really fast. Most people aren’t awake when you are, and it can be lonely. I kind of feel like immortality might become more of a curse than a boon, too How long would it take before you grew bored? What kind of madness might you be capable of once human life lost meaning? Sounds scary. I’ll take werewolf. Maybe I would be able to take monthly trips to the mountains or find a way to have myself restrained during the full moon. Plus, I bet the extra strength and speed would be really useful in my Brazilian jiu-jitsu class.
You?
I’ll bite.
I would be a vampire, because of the immortality alone. In the future we will see another Ice Age, nuclear winter, etc. so you will have the opportunity to go out during the day eventually since the sun’s rays will be blocked. I would also choose to live in a city with a great nightlife like Vegas or Los Angeles so I could be around people as often as possible. You could also migrate from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere coinciding with winter so you get as much darkness as possible every day. Other advances in virtual reality and technology will make it so you can socialize without having to endure the sun.
Having the chance to see hundreds or thousands of years pass is too big of a temptation. Being a werewolf wouldn’t be a bad second, though.
vampire all the way, there isnt alot i wouldnt sacrifice for immortality and the chance to see excactly how everything happens in the future. and if you ever get lonely you can move to a city with a good nightlife as bigalosu said. besides, theres plenty of places in the world where theres alot of overcast during the day, like the british isles, or western canada, and then northern canada is arctic and has days of little to no darkness so lonleyness really wouldnt be an issue
A big question here is the nature of vampire you are… modern vampires are merely superheroes that drink blood and (sometimes) get burned by the sun… that’s a no-brainer. But if we’re talking classic vampire, with little self control around blood, no sex drive or sexual capacity to speak of (making the hypnotic allure fairly pointless from a human perspective), and possibly limited free will (Dracula’s minions were incapable of discretion). If we’re looking at “old school” vampires, I’ll take the werewolf…
Oh, and Matt Staggs, BJJ is designed for you to not have to be stronger or faster than your opponent… if you wanted to make the best of super strength and speed, you’d want to take something more contact oriented.