why are vampires troubled by their human lives? Why do they care? Why can their feelings be hurt by things that happened when they were human? Why do they have feelings at all?
The interpretation that works best for me:
The 'demon' controlling a vampire is little more than pure id. It has hungers and desires, it can fear and hate, and it's cruel and sadistic. But by itself it has no memories, so it's difficult to call it sapient. Instead, like a parasite it uses its host human's memories as its own. That's why vampires often take on the personalities of the human they once were: the demon doesn't know any different, and so it can only see the world through the filter of the human's memories and experiences. They shape its personality; but the demon's own primal urges in turn shape and distort the personality in a different direction.
(A soul quite possibly works the same way: it's the vital spark that animates a human, but by itself it has no intelligence or memory, only a set of urges and desires. Unlike a demon, though, the soul's urges are mostly benevolent and empathetic and humane.)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-01-17 03:49 am (UTC)The interpretation that works best for me:
The 'demon' controlling a vampire is little more than pure id. It has hungers and desires, it can fear and hate, and it's cruel and sadistic. But by itself it has no memories, so it's difficult to call it sapient. Instead, like a parasite it uses its host human's memories as its own. That's why vampires often take on the personalities of the human they once were: the demon doesn't know any different, and so it can only see the world through the filter of the human's memories and experiences. They shape its personality; but the demon's own primal urges in turn shape and distort the personality in a different direction.
(A soul quite possibly works the same way: it's the vital spark that animates a human, but by itself it has no intelligence or memory, only a set of urges and desires. Unlike a demon, though, the soul's urges are mostly benevolent and empathetic and humane.)