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Old 08-12-2005, 08:38 PM
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Dan Davenport Dan Davenport is offline
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Re: Regarding Dracula

Quote:
Originally Posted by Coglio
Since you seemed to take exception to the explanation of Dracula's shape-shifting, I am throwing in my 2 cents ... actually, 1 cent, since this is a niggling detail.

I thought Spike's explanation was perfect. After all, if shape-shifting was a vampiric ability, why don't others do it? Simply put, it's magic. Spells.

Spike dismisses it as "Gypsy tricks" like its a minor ability or something. However, that's just Spike. It would be totally in character for him to pooh-pooh Dracula's abilities, just like he mocks Angel.

I think it's safe to say however that his "tricks" are pretty powerful, and useful, spells. You could argue that Dracula is a talented sorcerer, having mastered a couple of very useful spells. It makes sense that few, and perhaps no other, vampires master any magic since they clearly lack the discipline to do so. Dracula would be an exception to that, which makes him unique.

Anyway, I liked how they handled that. So much of Buffy mysteries are handled through single, off-hand comments like that. Without it, the audience would be puzzling over questions like Dracula's abilities.

This opens an excellent can of worms for other vampires, who have perhaps mastered different spells. Imagine perhaps a vampire who can travel into your dreams, ala Freddie Krueger.
I suppose I could buy that what Spike is dismissing as Gypsy tricks are actually powerful spells. I just got the impression that the book was treating Spike's words as gospel truth.

You know, I just had a thought: what if the reason Dracula seems so different from other vampires is that he still has his mortal soul. It just so happens that he wasn't a very nice person in the first place. This might explain why we never see him go "game face," at least... perhaps he's too vain for that.
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Running: ---; Prepping: Earthdawn; Playing: Buffy; Reviewing: GODSEND Agenda; Reading: Earthdawn, Corporation
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