Topic: Why vampires didnt appear in photos and didnt have reflection in a mirror?

[Lelygax]

 Im thinking about mirrors lately (not related with mirror of fate, since anyone that read the paranormal topic knows why I think about that) and so anyone knows that? Maybe its because mirrors show our soul and in some cultures photos steal souls (I thinks its come from China or Japan, I could be wrong tough) so following this logic mirrors reflect our soul too? 
 Doest take that seriously, Im only curious about that and maybe someone that knows that can share that here, we maybe can debate or something else, atleast to me it seems a good topic of conversation. If a mirror really reflects our soul or maybe our "other side", Im thinking it would be a good concept for some project.

[DragonSlayr81]

I think that's one of the reasons, most definitely. I heard another reason somewhere about Silver(being seemingly pure and holy metal) doesn't cast the reflection of demons/evil spirits, which carried over to vampire lore. Though, the first one about reflecting one's soul is pretty universal. You see it being used in horror movies a lot with ghosts. Person looks in the mirror and sees a ghostly figure standing behind them, only to turn around and see nobody there. It's the same logic.

[X]

Mirrors are made of silver and glass. They reflect what is seen around them or what we see in them. But silver is a pure metal and it represents the father god. But that being the case then I cannot except that a mirror can not steal a soul as a soul is apart of god. And since silver represents god then the local deduction is that soul stealing due to a mirror is nothing but superstition; a thing of fear created out of our finite minds due to lack of knowledge. In terms of seeing ghosts in mirrors, I believe it. A ghost is a soul that is only half here and half on the otherside. Since a mirror is composed of silver then being able to see a ghost is all the more easier due to the nature of the metal in use. It's the same principle in spirit photography. Black and white photos used silver in their mixture and in some of these photographs we can see ghosts standing by their loved ones for one last family portrait. In terms of seeing your own soul I'd have to disagree to some extent. In a mirror I only see me. The physical me. I have seen my soul in astral travel once and I look nothing like I do here. My soul is that of a woman while here my physical body is that of a man. It's quite the contrast let me tel you!

[Lashen]

There's a few reasons for this, but I'm fairly-certain the notoriety came about in Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Jonathan Harker enters the Count's castle as a guest and finds it lacking in mirrors. Harker brought his own mirror to shave with, but accidentally cuts himself in the process when the Count interrupts him. The Count becomes enticed by the freshly-drawn blood and lunges himself at Harker's throat, but is repelled by the rosary around his neck. He then lectures Harker about how unwise it is to cut himself in "this country" and throws the mirror out the window, but not before Harker takes notice that the Count bears no reflection.

The reasons for this vary from hearsay to hearsay.

• Dracula is soulless. (This suggests that every inanimate object found within a mirror's reflection has a soul. Beware of that cabinet, it seems "crafty.")
• As a "dark entity," Dracula is harmed by light/sunlight and, in turn, cannot reflect it.
• Dracula is an apparition of illusion/shapeshifting (capable of manifesting himself as a bat, wolf or mist), and bears no reflection simply because he chooses not to.

As a rule, Dracula is a monster, and monsters are as elusive as they are dangerous. Some stories even claim that Dracula cannot be seen by those he keeps his back to. Mirrors have always been a subject of superstition, though. (To this day, children still dare eachother into playing "Bloody Mary.") The same could be said of cameras—I imagine that a wide-variety of cultures felt superstitious upon introduction.

Perhaps the best evidence of this can be found in Japan during the 1800s, regarding Ueno Hikoma: revered photographer and son of Ueno Toshinojo (first to import a daguerreotype). Many Japanese attributed illness/death to the device, but Ueno eventually led a successful career and turned iconic following his death in the early 1900s. Some of his photographs can be found in the Freer Gallery of Art.

[darkwzrd4]

I attribute the vampires not casting a reflection in mirrors and not showing up on film to the fact that both mirrors and cameras use light.  Vampires being beings of darkness and harmed by light likely can't be seen because they are in essence hiding from the light.

[Lelygax]

You guys explained very well this things, its make me more confident that this reasoning is in someway almost right, I didnt knew about this things about silver tough. I only knew somethings about photos and about mirrors, but not "why" or "how". This is becoming interesting.

 So it maybe is because the "soul" that they dont have, because of silver or because of the light (or both?).

[Darth Cariss]

A bit unrelated to the question of "why", but I've always wondered how the ability works, exactly. It always seems to make their clothes invisible too, so is it some kind of anti-mirror bubble? Does it only apply to inanimate objects? What happens if a vampire holds a cat and stands infront of a mirror? I can't help but wonder the rules of this ability.

But regarding the original "why" question, I can't say I've ever given it much thought. Why can a vampire turn into a bat? Why do you need to drive a stake through the heart? It's a supernatural being and it has strange rules like almost all of them always do.

[Lelygax]

About the transformation in a bat I think its because of some bats really drink blood and prefer the night, now about the clothes, maybe they simply didnt appear because these clothes are part of his ilusion too? Sometimes when they turn into a bat the clothes doesnt transform with them, but sometimes they do (someone please correct if Im wrong about that). But these are some really interesting question, even saying what I said I dont are satisfied with this as a answer... Also I didnt know why they transform in a wolf or mist, but I know that Carmilla transformation is different, she turns into a big cat.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

In ancient Mesopotamian traditions, mirrors would show a disguised demon's true face, and cause them to lose their powers if they actually looked at their own reflection. So it could also be an evolution of that belief.

[Kale]

I've only ever heard of the Soul explanation.

[MDI]

Vampires do appear in mirrors, their true forms are simply invisible. In reality they simply appear to have a physical form due to the effects of marijuana and illegal immigrants.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

Vampires do appear in mirrors, their true forms are simply invisible. In reality they simply appear to have a physical form due to the effects of marijuana and illegal immigrants.

Voted down, but that is so hitting Twitter RIGHT NOW.

Seriously, wtf was that response?

[Lelygax]

Voted down, but that is so hitting Twitter RIGHT NOW.

Seriously, wtf was that response?

Lets see what he says about why he did this...

Thats due to the effects of marijuana and illegal immigrants.

I seriously didnt have the strenght to make a post after that until someone posted after this, we obviously doesnt are talking about that so we can after go to streets hunt vampires at midnight xD

But I LOL'd

[Dracula9]

I don't really buy into the soul argument just on the basis that that explanation is very heavily religious and implies that all vampires are evil; but evil is relative and coexists with good, so the notion of all evil being universally so is out the window for me. The only reasonable explanation for the mirror thing is that they exist on a plane that is different from our own and that mirrors cannot reflect that. I've never heard this explained beyond that note, so it's a bit undefended-but I believe it more than "vampires have no souls and are evil and stuff."

[TheouAegis]

I dunno, I kinda like the whole "Vampires have no souls" routine. I mean, then where did their souls go? Souls don't just disappear. Did their souls go to Heaven and that's why vampires are so bad, because their bodies are jealous of the souls? Did their souls go to Hell? If so, then there's no reason to badmouth a vampire, since its original owner is already suffering. So yeah, if you're going to say a vampire has no soul, you've got a lot of explaining to do.

Marijuana doesn't make you invisible. Makes you even more visible, since everyone around you except the other people smoking marijuana will notice how high you are.