#vampire powers

Well, I can tell you that F would definitely struggle the most! Having never been human, they would really find it hard to adjust not having their usual powered abilities and senses!

To be honest, I think all wouldn't actually enjoy it much after going so long with being so powerful.

M would absolutely LOVE not having the constant pain of their hypersenses though! I think they would probably sleep for a week before anything else, lol.

A would adapt pretty fast—adapting is one of their best qualities.

N, on the other hand, seriously sucks at adapting, lol! So I think they wouldn't enjoy it as much as they have romanticised their time being human. Though the benefit of being human taking away one of their...biggest concerns would help lighten their mind!

Inspired by @oliversrarebooks and the Vampires SMP x The Rare Bookseller fic I'm writing >w<

Scott:

He's definitely the classic vampire archetype if I've ever seen one. Glowing, enrapturing red eyes, Silver Ttongue, all of that. I think specifically he would specialize in twisting his words to convince people to do anything with his condescension and mockery (think Vicious Mockery if it was more literal).

He's totally had EXTENSIVE practice using his enthrallment powers, like when he said he felled armies and was living it up in Oakhurst before he went into his 600 year nap, there was definitely a significant portion of Oakhurst under his enthrallment.

A few scenarios that I feel are very hypnosis-coded and I bounce around in my head a lot are him convincing Apo to become a vampire in ep. 3, and the Crypt scene with Pyro in ep. 5. The slow, predatory walk towards Apo while he talks about Cherri....ough. And then the crypt scene. Obviously. I feel like I don't need to say more lmfao

Plus all the times where he'd talk with the villagers and they'd just agree with Scott (to the chagrin of Avid) just scream him confidently enthralling the entire group.

Owen:

I imagine Owen having this Bloodlust where he imposes humans with a crippling sense of fear and dread and paralyzes them, forcing them to go along with whatever he wants (murder) out of bone chilling fear. Almost more like body control than any actual hypnosis? Or I guess just being so intimidating that he strikes fear into people's hearts (in a more literal way).

He probably accidentally enthralled a good chunk of Oakhurst when he did the massacre, unintentionally forcing them to line up for their demise and not being able to leave, maybe even encouraging the running around to make the hunt more satisfying?

I think since Louis died and wasn't able to teach Owen all the ins and outs of vampirism that he doesn't really know how to use his power, so it only really gets activated when he's in a rage, like during the massacre or some of his monologues with the villagers. He's kind of the opposite of Scott's extremely tight control and wielding of his abilities, instead wrangling what abilities he's able to control to do vaguely what he wants.

Pyro:

MAN DO I HAVE THOUGHTS ABOUT MY BOY JACK VON PYROSCYTHE. As always, to be fair, I'm never not thinking about v!Pyro lmfao

I'm SICK about the water and fire imagery in Pyro's lore so OF COURSE I'm including it in here. Because of him both drowning Czeslaw and BEING drowned, I think being enthralled by Pyro would also feel like drowning. That feeling of being held underwater, where it's suffocating, and not at all comfortable, but you're also powerless to do anything to stop it. This is kind of a consequence of Pyro being very new to vampirism and not having any control over his powers, or any control in general in Oakhurst. He's still seeking control and agency where he can find it, which leads to him overcompensating in his hypnosis.

In a Pyro Lives au or something where Pyro has the chance to heal, I imagine his power would eventually mellow out to feeling akin to being submerged in a bath where you feel calm and relaxed, or like the surface of a still lake where the thrall can feel this nice stillness and serenity, and then flow wherever Pyro directs them to with no distress.

Shelby:

I was a little stumped on Shelby but I thought it'd be funny if she had Infodumping but as a superpower. Like she somehow manages to be super super convincing even if you don't really understand why just from how earnestly passionate she is abt most things (cough cryptids).

It'd probably be similar to a mix of a confusion and overload induction where she starts rambling and the thrall tries to follow along but get's lost and starts mindlessly nodding because I mean, it sounds right? And she seems so knowledgeable about it so surely she's right. Definitely a more subtle power, and one that she accidentally uses a LOT before Scott finally picks up on it and teaches her how to control it.

Because the Avatar-Vampire is kinda stupid.

Yeah it really takes the powers out of ESP mental stuff into actually manipulating the physical world.

What's weird is that he seemed to legitimately have fire magic as a human. Which, again, opens up a whole new level of possible 'talents' that a person/future vampire can have as a human. It kind of ruins the mostly-set-in-the-real-world vibes of Twilight to drop that info. Even Alice you could argue was like just intuition and gut instinct that was super accurate, you know? It feels within the realm of plausible. Likewise Edward just having a knack for 'reading' people, or Jasper being especially persuasive and charismatic or whatever.

Can literally manipulate FIRE is a whole different kind of thing.

So I guess we have to go back and be like, could he actually control fire even as a human? Or was he just a really talented street magician? Certainly there are plenty of normal real life humans who can do all sorts of tricks with fire: fire eating, fire breathing, fire dancing. Lots of cultures have variants of these things.

Hey nonny!

(thx for the compliment^^, but I think there’s lots of "experts“ here :) - but I hope I do make sense.)

Ok, a… not so much tough as a bit difficult to explain one! (Sorry it took a bit longer.) There’s also some meta woven into this, because the gifts do not really develop in a linear way.

BOOK SPOILERS AHEAD for those who want to skip this one.

So let’s break it down a bit.

Marius is a roughly 2000 year old vampire, sired by the God of the Grove. His sire exchanged blood with him several times to ensure his strength. He is also the keeper of Those Who Must Be Kept (or was) and has drunk from Akasha several times.

Armand is Marius’ fledgling, Marius hadn’t made fledglings for a while before his Amadeo, so he got quite powerful blood.

Lestat was made by a 300 year old vampire who had never made another one before. He was deemed too strong for a fledgling (ironically by Armand‘s coven). And he then went and drank from both Marius and Akasha, resulting in a severe power-up.

Louis is Lestat’s fledgling, the third one made (in the books in a relatively short time). Of those three, he is the weakest, at least at first (though he should be physically stronger than Claudia).

Now, for the details :)

Generally, all the vampires have the same capacity for their gifts. The dark gift itself (the vampiric life) comes with side effects: the mind gift, the spell gift, the cloud gift, the fire gift. There’s also an intensified version of the last one, the killing gift, which only a handful vampires hold/held. And of course "true“ immortality, no starvation or beheading etc killing you off anymore. @nijah-archive wrote a nice summary of them here.

Marius At the time of the show (book canon or Dubai do not make that much of a difference for him imho)… Marius has severe skills in mind gift, fire gift (discovered more or less by accident) and in cloud gift. He is closing in on being truly immortal. He obviously knows how to use the spell gift (he has lots of human servants and influences the habitants of an island etc) but does not use them to the extent that Armand does (for example). He is stronger than others his age because of his exposure to Akasha‘s blood.

Armand has severe powers focused on mind gift and spell gift. He is 500 years old in (book) IWTV - and spent most of that time in a cult, telling him he is a child of Satan. Others have noted it, and I do think it is likely, that he spent a lot of his time disassociating, and therefore developing these particular skills further. He can call those who wish to die, and he can trap others in illusions. He is also a master manipulator. When he encounters Lestat he immediately falls for him, and tries to win him over with a combination of threat, spell gift and mind gift, literally hurting Lestat’s lover Nicki, and trying to bind him in illusions, while force-feeding on him. (That didn’t go over well). The show gives us Armand with the cloud gift, and the ability to withstand the sun. Personally I take these simple facts (and Fareed being there, and the sheer fact that there is a MARIUS painting in the apartment) as certain hints, which would mean that Armand himself also got a certain power upgrade fairly recently. EDIT: A helpful anon pointed out that he had it after/since Memnoch, so this should be noted here. It does fit with the timeframe imho. The time itself is not "enough“ for this kind of power upgrade, supposedly it takes a few thousand years to withstand the sun. He can likely not use the killing gift, though it is highly likely that he got the access to the fire gift, too. He might also not be truly immortal yet, sun-resistance or not.

Lestat, as stated before, was turned with significant power (too). Off the bat he focuses on the physical skills though (although it might be reasoned that he just didn’t know better). When Gabrielle is turned, it is immediately apparent that she can hear the other vampires better. Lestat strains to improve his skill (and he does). He can call humans and animals to himself (mind/spell gift). He is also mentally strong enough to break out of Armand’s spell gift by sheer will. Later he regularly scans and listens in on others, and is exceptionally able to lock down his own mind completely (that has been noted several times in the books), and "rebuffs“ others mentally meaning he has significant access to the spell gift and mind gift, but/and uses it differently. The power upgrade through Marius and Akasha (IN The Vampire Lestat) did not immediately bring out the other skills for him (in the books he is simply too young), however it meant that he would survive Claudia’s attempted murder, and what happened after. Marius also showed him the telekinesis part of the mind gift. In the books, the events of Queen of the Damned leave Lestat truly immortal, and equipped with fire gift, full mind gift, and ability to withstand the sun (he tries that one out later, and then uses it for tanning ^^). Over the course of the books he drinks from other older vampires several times, as well as from… supposedly God. His strength is beyond scale, however it IS noted that he is no match in sheer physical strength for the truly ancient ones (several thousand years old). In the show… well Lestat is 130 years older (than in the books). He would have had more experience with the vampiric gifts in general, which explains (imho) why he can access the power upgrade ones. It is noted that Nicki happened over 100 years ago, which leaves a significant gap. We know he did indeed encounter Marius through the Those Who Must Be Kept mention. If Lestat went and slept (as in the books, just longer) then his blood would have distilled somewhat before Marius woke him. (Which would make Louis somewhat stronger than in the books, too (imho).) Show Lestat has the cloud gift and a very powerful mind gift/spell gift already, though it does seem as if it takes a significant amount of power still (bleeding ears and he seems weak after). Probably indicating fairly recent acquisition, which would fit with the show/book timeline and an encounter of Marius/Those Who Must be Kept just prior to coming to the US. His little trick to stop the time is actually "just“ a rather clever combination of mind gift (telekinesis) and spell gift. (As it is something that obviously can come in very handy it doesn’t really surprise me he would have developed it, bc. he is often very practical/matter-of-fact with his gifts.)

Now Louis. Supposedly Louis is one of the weakest vampires. The most human-like. And in the books he keeps the possibility of suicide-by-the-sun as a kind of trump card till Merrick, refusing several offers for ancient blood. In the show Louis says he could hear Claudia calling for help, and he does call out to her, mentally. However she is able to lock him out, instinctively, which indicates that his mind gift is not overly developed. And he apparently does not hear or notice any other vampires close by either (contrary to Lestat who can hear them on long distance). Louis also gets a severe power upgrade after/at the end of Merrick. Show/Dubai Louis quite apparently has drunk from powerful sources, Armand obviously, and maybe others. (He always had an affinity for setting things on fire, so when he demonstrated the fire gift there were lots of "uh ohs“ by book readers :))) However he obviously is not strong enough to withstand the sun and the cloud gift is also very unlikely (though not impossible as of now). As I said before it actually sets the show in a very specific time slot book-wise if we can take the shown skills as literal hints.

So in summary:

The gifts and the powers of them depend a bit on their respective usage and affinity. And the personal approach. And circumstance :)

Obviously the access (time or powerful/old blood) has to be a given, i.e. Lestat in the books only tries out the cloud gift after knowing he has it.

It’s practice IF and WHEN you can.

And, it depends where you put the focus. Lestat also knows the killing gift because Akasha taught him in order for him to serve her. But it’s a skill based on the mind gift and fire gift.

Louis barely has any gifts for a long time because Lestat tries to keep him as human as possible, for a lot of reasons. It will be interesting to see if the show addresses that. Him developing (or adopting) the fire gift with the power through blood is not surprising, unfortunately (coughs).

If we (hopefully) get our seasons we will likely get more displays of these skills, too.