DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '06 II => Topic started by: Sunny_Collins on August 15, 2006, 11:14:39 PM
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We all know Barnabas was chained in his coffin for nearly two hundred years. That's an awfully long time to be confined anywhere, much less a coffin. So what I'm wondering is, once imprisoned in the coffin, was Barnabas conscious every night for almost two hundred years? Or did he go in to a sleep-like state and not realize the passing of time?
Also, during the day, does he "sleep", or is he awake and just sitting there being bored? ;D
I'll be interested to hear everyone's opinions.
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I think probably for a while he was concious of the passing of time while trapped in the coffin, but eventually time would become a blur and perhaps he did enter a dream-like state.
As for every day in the coffin he becomes for all intents and purposes truly dead, only to become "alive" again as the sun sets.
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (I haven't read it in a while) but I believe in the original Dracula novel Dracula could leave his coffin and move about in daylight at high noon or the change of tides or something. (I know somebody knows!)
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So what I'm wondering is, once imprisoned in the coffin, was Barnabas conscious every night for almost two hundred years? Or did he go in to a sleep-like state and not realize the passing of time?
I think he was fully conscious each and every second of each and every minute of each and every night, thinking about the events of 1795, and twisting them around until he got them into a format that he could live with: it was all Jeremiah's fault, and Angelique was just sort of by-the-way. The reason we don't hear about her until after the Vicky's trip to the past is that he just didn't want to remember that he had messed up so badly - but when Cassandra came along he had to dredge up some unwelcome memories. (I can't quite make this work, but then, I'm not a vampire.)
I see fan fiction in which he says he was in some sort of a coma or dreamlike state, and I don't buy it; it's sugar-coating the issue. He was trapped in a coffin for nearly two hundred years, and it was horrible, and that was that.
Also, during the day, does he "sleep", or is he awake and just sitting there being bored?
He's dead during the day. He can't see the visitors to his coffin, and has no idea when he rises at night who might have seen him.
Hmm...re-reading this post, I think it's coming across as sort of hostile. No hostility intended. Just really definite opinions.
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I think he was fully conscious each and every second of each and every minute of each and every night, thinking about the events of 1795, and twisting them around until he got them into a format that he could live with: it was all Jeremiah's fault, and Angelique was just sort of by-the-way. The reason we don't hear about her until after the Vicky's trip to the past is that he just didn't want to remember that he had messed up so badly - but when Cassandra came along he had to dredge up some unwelcome memories. (I can't quite make this work, but then, I'm not a vampire.)
Yep, totally agree! It makes total sense when you think about it! His history totally changes in 1795 from what we were led to believe pre 1795 [spoiler]Jeremiah being much older, having married Josette and THEN she comes to CW as J's bride and B has the hots for her, teaches her English etc...[/spoiler]Really, it's the ONLY thing THAT makes sense IMHO.
He's dead during the day. He can't see the visitors to his coffin, and has no idea when he rises at night who might have seen him.
This too is correct. ;)
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(I haven't read it in a while) but I believe in the original Dracula novel Dracula could leave his coffin and move about in daylight at high noon or the change of tides or something. (I know somebody knows!)
Dracula could move about in the sunlight but, according to Van Helsing, without his powers: "His power ceases, as does that of all evil things, at the coming of the day. Only at certain times can he have limited freedom. If he be not at the place whither he is bound, he can only change himself at noon or at exact sunrise or sunset."
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Dracula could move about in the sunlight but, according to Van Helsing, without his powers: "His power ceases, as does that of all evil things, at the coming of the day. Only at certain times can he have limited freedom. If he be not at the place whither he is bound, he can only change himself at noon or at exact sunrise or sunset."
Aha thanks! I was pretty sure it was you who would know as well! Thanks Midnite!
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You're welcome! Oh I'm so predictable. [blshy]
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The Dracula of Stoker's novel is quite a different figure from what he has morphed into, most especially with the Balderston play from which the original Lugosi/Universal film was adapted. In some ways the controversial Coppola version is much more accurate, but oddly contains an introduced subplot that made Mina into a rather Josette type figure. While many people pointed to the Dark Shadows influence as having been filtered down through Dan Curtis's Dracula adaptation, I think if you're going to add this element, Mina is a better Josette surrogate than Lucy as in the Curtis version. Honestly, the root of this subplot is really found in the original Karloff film, "The Mummy."
I prefer the concept that vampires in the day are in a "natural" state of death. I also tend to agree that at night, if trapped in the coffin, they would have some sense of the passage of time, but I wish I could remember the line Frid did so eloquently about 'winds of time sweeping past'. I would think this would be further altered by the placing of the cross in the coffin's upper lid. I'm sure someone here also remember how Anne Rice's novels refer to this, so I will beg their remembrance, as at this point its better than mine. I think it would be in a more altered state, a supernatural come so to speak.
I always note the contradiction of Barnabas moaning about spending "years in this state" when in actuality, he was really only active as an undead for maybe a few months before Joshua chained him in. This is very unlike Count Dracula who does appear to have been an active vampyre for centuries when the novel begins.
Michael
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It's for that exact reason that I love Christopher Lee as Dracula. Sure the Hammer Dracula movies are a far cry from the Dracula novel, but Lee plays Dracula superbly. He's very feral, very menacing. I LOVE it.
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(I haven't read it in a while) but I believe in the original Dracula novel Dracula could leave his coffin and move about in daylight at high noon or the change of tides or something. (I know somebody knows!)
Dracula could move about in the sunlight but, according to Van Helsing, without his powers: "His power ceases, as does that of all evil things, at the coming of the day. Only at certain times can he have limited freedom. If he be not at the place whither he is bound, he can only change himself at noon or at exact sunrise or sunset."
So, that must explain it! There was one scene in the book where I'm sure that several of those searching for him have an encounter with him during daylight hours and that has always driven me crazy!!!!
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I wish I could remember the line Frid did so eloquently about 'winds of time sweeping past'.
If it's the line I'm thinking of, that had nothing to do with being trapped in his coffin. It was said in 1967 when [spoiler]Julia had, at Barnabas's request, accelerated his treatments, and his hand had grown old, and he figured the rest of him would do the same.[/spoiler]
So there he was, moaning and groaning over something that was his own stupid fault. Eloquently, though.
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Willie must have gotten an odor fill when he opened Barnabas' coffin ;D I always wonder why Barnabas didn't wear pajamas or at least get some nice comfy pillows in that box.
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I think he was fully conscious each and every second of each and every minute of each and every night, thinking about the events of 1795, and twisting them around until he got them into a format that he could live with: it was all Jeremiah's fault, and Angelique was just sort of by-the-way. The reason we don't hear about her until after the Vicky's trip to the past is that he just didn't want to remember that he had messed up so badly - but when Cassandra came along he had to dredge up some unwelcome memories. (I can't quite make this work, but then, I'm not a vampire.)
I see fan fiction in which he says he was in some sort of a coma or dreamlike state, and I don't buy it; it's sugar-coating the issue. He was trapped in a coffin for nearly two hundred years, and it was horrible, and that was that.
Putting it that way, it sounds positively excruciating! That's enough to turn anyone in to a raving lunatic. Can you imagine rehashing every second of your life over and over again for two centuries? Poor Barnabas! :'(
Yes, I always wondered why before the events in 1795, Barnabas regards Jeremiah with such hatred, then in 1795 we see that Angelique manipulated both Josette and Jeremiah, and that she was solely to blame for everything that happened, including the disintegration of Barnabas's and Jeremiah's close relationship.
but it makes sense, that if after a while of being imprisoned in the coffin, Barnabas would start to mull things over and turn reality in to a fiction he could cope with. And after nearly two hundred years of this, it's no wonder he's a bit unbalanced as evidenced in all the strange things he did upon his arrival at Collinwood.
I'll say it again, poor Barnabas! :'(
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Yes, I always wondered why before the events in 1795, Barnabas regards Jeremiah with such hatred, then in 1795 we see that Angelique manipulated both Josette and Jeremiah, and that she was solely to blame for everything that happened, including the disintegration of Barnabas's and Jeremiah's close relationship. But it makes sense, that if after a while of being imprisoned in the coffin, Barnabas would start to mull things over and turn reality in to a fiction he could cope with. And after nearly two hundred years of this, it's no wonder he's a bit unbalanced as evidenced in all the strange things he did upon his arrival at Collinwood. I'll say it again, poor Barnabas! :'(
Yes, poor Barnabas. Which is why most fans feel so sorry for the poor bastard. :'( I love that scene early in 1967 when [spoiler]he's in the drawing room of the Old House and lamenting his lost life w/Josette and tells her portrait that he's "alive again" and ready to live his life, whatever that may turn out to be. It's like he was cheated out of his life before, and now all be damned, he's going to live it now, in the 20th century.[/spoiler]
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I love that scene early in 1967 when [spoiler]he's in the drawing room of the Old House and lamenting his lost life w/Josette and tells her portrait that he's "alive again" and ready to live his life, whatever that may turn out to be. It's like he was cheated out of his life before, and now all be damned, he's going to live it now, in the 20th century.[/spoiler]
Oh yes, Buzz, I love that part too, and it's even more meaningful after you watch events unfold in 1795, realizing that he's been through so much to get where he is.
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It's for that exact reason that I love Christopher Lee as Dracula. Sure the Hammer Dracula movies are a far cry from the Dracula novel, but Lee plays Dracula superbly. He's very feral, very menacing. I LOVE it.
Lee is always truly great. I think its a great example of how an actor can take a role that had been previously seen as having been done definitively and remake it into his own. (likewise George Reeves and Christopher Reeve) I have always absolved myself from Hammer vs Universal arguments noting I truly love both. I think someone once said the first 20 minutes of the 1931 Dracula is the best horror film EVER made. I watched it Monday night and I always love it. Likewise, Hammer was never better than 1958's Dracula. I love the way they lit Mina's seduction in autumn moonlight, with leaves swirling and Dracula's cape billowing like soft leather wings as he walks away.
One of the reason's I love DS so much is that the vampire films are my favorites and whether he likes it or not, lol ;), Jonathan gave one of the best portrayals ever of the undead. And again, it was truly original and a new palate of emotions previously unseen in that genre. The idea of combining a vampire with "soap" elements and gothic romance, added new dimensions to the vampire genre, is more than anything else, this is why we still watch DS today.
Michael [_Vampire_]
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I think Barnabas was conscious during the night and fully aware. As if that wasn't bad enough, he could probably barely move (if at all) because of the cross on the inside lid of the coffin. As for daytime, he's dead during the day and has no awareness.
Regarding Barnabas going insane while in the coffin - I don't know that a supernatural being like Barnabas could lose his sanity in the conventional sense. I think perhaps over the decades he just became more and more consumed by the evil of the curse and by his lust for blood. I suppose this could lead to a form of "madness" but probably not in the sense that say one of the human characters might lose their sanity.
And I agree with BuzzH, Barnabas definitely wanted to "live" the life he was cheated out of before. There was a very tragic quality to that desire.
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A few random questions about Barnabas:
Why, for long stretches of time when he was a vampire, did he not seem to have much of a need for blood? Sometimes he seems to go for months at a time without dining out on a single neck (1840 comes to mind).
Why was he able to sit at the table during the day when he was in the I Ching trance (the second time he uses it to go back in time), even though he was a vampire?
Why does he not seem amazed by all the modern inventions and conveniences he encounters when his coffin is opened in 1967?
Just some random thoughts.
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A few random questions about Barnabas:
Why, for long stretches of time when he was a vampire, did he not seem to have much of a need for blood? Sometimes he seems to go for months at a time without dining out on a single neck (1840 comes to mind).
He must have been feeding. We just didn't see it. Maybe he went to neighboring towns near Collinsport. As I said in another post, just because we never saw the main Collins family eating after early '67 doesn't mean they stopped eating. Same with Barnabas. It's just taken for granted that he's getting blood somewhere.
Why was he able to sit at the table during the day when he was in the I Ching trance (the second time he uses it to go back in time), even though he was a vampire?
Maybe Willie was instructed to dump him into his coffin once he was in the trance! It's the only explanation I can think of.
Why does he not seem amazed by all the modern inventions and conveniences he encounters when his coffin is opened in 1967?
Again, Willie to the rescue! He must have given Barnabas a crash course on modern advances.
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Why does he not seem amazed by all the modern inventions and conveniences he encounters when his coffin is opened in 1967?
Again, Willie to the rescue! He must have given Barnabas a crash course on modern advances.
I wrote a story about this once! ;D Imagine his reactions to all that had occured and been invented since 1795/96. Hell, the fact that America and England were playing nice by 1967 should have been enough to throw him into total shock! ;)
Can you just see Barnabas walking to CW to meet the present day family w/his head swimming w/all the info Willie MUST have given him (imagine Willie as a teacher, LOL!). What would he have done if a 707 had flown over the grounds on his way there? ^-^
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I'm sure it was a great comfort to Barnabas when he went to the Blue Whale and saw that, even though the name of the place had changed, the bartender was still the same.
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I wrote a story about this once! ;D Imagine his reactions to all that had occured and been invented since 1795/96. Hell, the fact that America and England were playing nice by 1967 should have been enough to throw him into total shock! ;)
LOL, Buzz! Yeah, I think the expression on his face would be priceless when he found out England and the U.S. were getting along just fine, (thank you very much), when the last time he knew it, the U.S. had recently gained their independence.
I have to agree with the others about how Barnabas must have been getting his supply of...um...well..blood from somewhere, there were things you know happened on the show that just weren't shown.
There is a great deal of vampire lore, Dracula, and other more recent authors, but IMHO, I think a lot of it is shaped by people's interpretations, and if an author, or person, doesn't like one particular aspect of the vampire lore, then they change it to something more inventive or something more to their liking.
I realize that some things, for example, the cross being a deterrent to vampires is something that is used in DS, but on the other hand, do we really know for certain that Barnabas, or vampires in general must "sleep" in a coffin during the day?
[spoiler]When Barnabas and Vicki were in that car accident just after Vicki's return from 1795, Dr. Lang wants to keep Barnabas in the hospital for observation. Julia tries to convince him to allow her to take Barnabas home, but he refuses. She then insists that all windows, and doors be completely covered so that no amount of sunlight can enter the room. Lang agrees.[/spoiler]
I may not have gotten all the details correct, but the gist of it is, that Barnabas was able to remain out of his coffin as long as no daylight entered the room he was occupying.
It's just something to think about...
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aren't vampires dead all the time hence they don't eat, pee
etc.. anne rice goes into this in her book about the body change when Lestat
changes bodies but i have found that different books have different
opinions about them as Barnabas should have been insane locked up all that time
but he was a vampire so who knows maybe he could have put himself into a trance
i just read Biten about a female werewolf pretty good!
jennifer
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There is a great deal of vampire lore, Dracula, and other more recent authors, but IMHO, I think a lot of it is shaped by people's interpretations, and if an author, or person, doesn't like one particular aspect of the vampire lore, then they change it to something more inventive or something more to their liking.
I realize that some things, for example, the cross being a deterrent to vampires is something that is used in DS, but on the other hand, do we really know for certain that Barnabas, or vampires in general must "sleep" in a coffin during the day?
[spoiler]When Barnabas and Vicki were in that car accident just after Vicki's return from 1795, Dr. Lang wants to keep Barnabas in the hospital for observation. Julia tries to convince him to allow her to take Barnabas home, but he refuses. She then insists that all windows, and doors be completely covered so that no amount of sunlight can enter the room. Lang agrees.[/spoiler]
I may not have gotten all the details correct, but the gist of it is, that Barnabas was able to remain out of his coffin as long as no daylight entered the room he was occupying.
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's Saint Germain series does this, despensing with the traditional fear of the cross, but keeping the idea that vampires are creatures bound to their native soil and so long as they rest on a bed lined with the soil from the land of their birth or line their shoes with it they maintain all their strength and powers even in daylight. So yes, sleeping in coffins is not compulsory.
DS however takes the view that as dawn approaches they must return to their coffin to sleep and that they become kind of dead and vulnerable at this time, hence the need for a Willie or a Julia. If this wasn't so, anyone coming to harm Barn at any time other than dusk would get a nasty shock when they open the casket. However, I think it is more simply a need to be cut off from any source of sunlight, hence Julia's insistance that Dr. Lang keep the curtains closed in Barn's room.
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I wonder in the case of Barnabas being in the hospital under Dr. Lang, the fact he was simply in Maine constituted his "native soil"? ::)
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I wonder in the case of Barnabas being in the hospital under Dr. Lang, the fact he was simply in Maine constituted his "native soil"? ::)
cyrusL, LOL! ;D
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I theorize that he must have put himself into some sort of trance when he was locked in the coffin for 200 years. Otherwise I think he would have been totally insane by the time he got out. It would seem plausible, because he had a variety of supernatural powers. If you can turn into a bat, have superhuman strength, turn invisible, and summon your victims to come to you via some sort of mental telepathy, I would think that achieving a deep meditative state wouldn't be much of a stretch.
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I theorize that he must have put himself into some sort of trance when he was locked in the coffin for 200 years. Otherwise I think he would have been totally insane by the time he got out. It would seem plausible, because he had a variety of supernatural powers. If you can turn into a bat, have superhuman strength, turn invisible, and summon your victims to come to you via some sort of mental telepathy, I would think that achieving a deep meditative state wouldn't be much of a stretch.
I think P Dreadful was right about it all. I say though that yes, he was legitimately insane after 175 years of all that, not some supernatural equivalent. Insane as any conscious being would be after this. BC later proved he could be a vampire, a supposedly "evil" creature, and have a conscience, though one with weird holes in it.
I say, awake for the 175 years, but at some point someone on DS said something about his not having been in a totally conscious state. Any conscious being would go off into some other zone. The fact that hypnosis supposedly exists shows what the mind can do to itself. But even if we're completely asleep, we have nightmares about what we have been through past and present.
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Any conscious being would go off into some other zone. The fact that hypnosis supposedly exists shows what the mind can do to itself.
Here's the problem: Barnabas would not have been continuously conscious for the 170 years that he was in the coffin. He'd die every morning and come to life every night, so any hypnosis or other consciousness-reducing process would have to start all over again. Imagine him, coming to life every night for 60,000 nights, and each time finding himself once again in a very small space looking up at the one thing that is the most physically painful to him, and craving blood as only a vampire can. (Thanks, PennyDreadful, for throwing in the harrowing details.) Then imagine him saying to himself, "Look for the center of the cross. Do you see the center of the cross?. Tell me when you see the center of the cross." Maybe it works the first few hundred times. But at some point himself answers: "No, I don't see the center of the cross, I don't want to see the center of the cross, and HOW COULD MY FATHER DO THIS TO ME?"
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The following may sound strident or pushy or something, you know, rude. Wasn't meant that way.
Stop thinking of cliche hypnosis. That's just one popularized manifestation of this phenomenon. I was never saying he'd say to himself, "Must hypnotize self. Imagine medallion. I'm getting sleepy." 170 years in a box takes the mind into some truly undiscovered country that we will never, ever know. I didn't imagine there would have been anything conscious or intentional about it at all. The mind does strange things to survive. In a sensory deprivation tank you eventually hallucinate.
By "hypnosis" I'm referring to going into any sort of trance or state that is different from lucidity and a connection to the real world. I believe bits of the same phenomenon we call hypnosis happen routinely every day. We adjust what we believe to be true about ourselves and the world around us on a daily basis, according to our emotional needs and fears, and what messages we are bombarded with by the popular culture. Some ideas become unthinkable because we are conditioned not to hear them, by the culture. Dreams could be part of the same thing that hypnosis is.
He'd go into some sort of "altered state" without trying; we just can never know what that state was. The mind struggles to escape inescapable circumstances, and often (not consciously) works out some pretty ingenious tricks to do this. Jung said I think that insanity serves that purpose. That's all I know about Jung by the way.
You're right, those daytimes would interrupt whatever altered state he had going, but I doubt he'd snap back completely into everyday sane consciousness at the start of each night.
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The following may sound strident or pushy or something, you know, rude. Wasn't meant that way.
Stop thinking of cliche hypnosis. That's just one popularized manifestation of this phenomenon. I was never saying he'd say to himself, "Must hypnotize self. Imagine medallion. I'm getting sleepy." 170 years in a box takes the mind into some truly undiscovered country that we will never, ever know. I didn't imagine there would have been anything conscious or intentional about it at all. The mind does strange things to survive. In a sensory deprivation tank you eventually hallucinate.
By "hypnosis" I'm referring to going into any sort of trance or state that is different from lucidity and a connection to the real world. I believe bits of the same phenomenon we call hypnosis happen routinely every day. We adjust what we believe to be true about ourselves and the world around us on a daily basis, according to our emotional needs and fears, and what messages we are bombarded with by the popular culture. Some ideas become unthinkable because we are conditioned not to hear them, by the culture. Dreams could be part of the same thing that hypnosis is.
He'd go into some sort of "altered state" without trying; we just can never know what that state was. The mind struggles to escape inescapable circumstances, and often (not consciously) works out some pretty ingenious tricks to do this. Jung said I think that insanity serves that purpose. That's all I know about Jung by the way.
You're right, those daytimes would interrupt whatever altered state he had going, but I doubt he'd snap back completely into everyday sane consciousness at the start of each night.
Having been hypnotized before myself (for past life regression) I can vouch for the fact that there is no loss of ANY function, you have all your faculties at your disposal, and your will still dictates what you will or will not do. Being "hypnotized" is just being put into an extremely relaxed state.
I think the idea of sensory deprivation quite scary, as who knows where your mind will take you when you begin to hallucinate? I think my Dad has done this before and he told me you start to hear voices and see things as the mind tries to cope with sensory loss.
The idea of insanity scares me to no end, as does being buried alive and KNOWING it. Trying to imagine what that would be like is just terrifying to me.
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Don't know if this has been discussed yet in this thread, and I'm too lazy to go back and read every post, but remember how [spoiler]shocked Barnabas is in 1840 when he's released from his coffin, can't remember now who lets him out, and told it's 1840? This of course is BEFORE he I-Ching's his 20th Century mind back to his 1840 body. I just recall him saying something like, "My God! I've been here over 40 years!" or something like that.[/spoiler]
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remember how [spoiler]shocked Barnabas is in 1840 when he's released from his coffin, can't remember now who lets him out, and told it's 1840? This of course is BEFORE he I-Ching's his 20th Century mind back to his 1840 body. I just recall him saying something like, "My God! I've been here over 40 years!" or something like that.[/spoiler]
That's right. so that suggests he was unaware of the passing of time.
As for myself, I prefer to have him awake, experiencing every dark moment of those two hundred years. It explains his behavior once he's released from his coffin in 1967.
Also, it makes for better ideas for the imagination. ;D
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I must be growing even more claustrophobic than I already am.
Every time I read a post in this thread I find myself becoming breathless.... ::)
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...do we really know for certain that Barnabas, or vampires in general must "sleep" in a coffin during the day?
[spoiler]When Barnabas and Vicki were in that car accident just after Vicki's return from 1795, Dr. Lang wants to keep Barnabas in the hospital for observation. Julia tries to convince him to allow her to take Barnabas home, but he refuses. She then insists that all windows, and doors be completely covered so that no amount of sunlight can enter the room. Lang agrees.[/spoiler]
I may not have gotten all the details correct, but the gist of it is, that Barnabas was able to remain out of his coffin as long as no daylight entered the room he was occupying.
It's just something to think about...
I have questioned this too. Why do they have to sleep in a coffin? Why can't they sleep in a bed in a room with no windows? It would be fully dark with no daylight. Why does it have to be a coffin?
Alondra
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I wonder in the case of Barnabas being in the hospital under Dr. Lang, the fact he was simply in Maine constituted his "native soil"? ::)
IIRC the "native soil" thing was only mentined in 1897 when [spoiler]Barnabas had Charity go to the Old House and find some soil downstairs and bring it to him. Edward caught her but I think she was able to bring the soil to Barnabas later on.[/spoiler] I don't know anything further about this since I think this is the only time this is even brought up at all.
Alondra
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That thing with Lang threw me. BC could have spent the day in a room with no windoes if the coffin weren't necessary. The reason for the coffin must be supernatural, since no real-world reason would account for it. Therefore, since the reasons were supernatural, the coffin having to do with deatrh, you can't just substitute.
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We all know Barnabas was chained in his coffin for nearly two hundred years. That's an awfully long time to be confined anywhere, much less a coffin. So what I'm wondering is, once imprisoned in the coffin, was Barnabas conscious every night for almost two hundred years? Or did he go in to a sleep-like state and not realize the passing of time?
Also, during the day, does he "sleep", or is he awake and just sitting there being bored? ;D
I'll be interested to hear everyone's opinions.
I wrote about this in a fanfic so I had time to think about it. I think during the days, Barnabas was comatose like any other day, his life-force drained from his body. In the beginning, for a period of time during the nights, he'd wake up and not be able to get out. At first he'd wonder what's going on and then dream about his life and people in it, rehashing the dreadful events that brought him to this moment. As time past, without blood to feed, his energy would weaken and eventually he'd go into some type of comatose state to preserve his energy until released. Of course all of this would drive the vampire crazy, planning the day he got out and NEVER get caught unprepared again.
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I think he's a corpse during the day. Yet, when someone stakes a vampire during the day, he/she sits up a little and glares angrily. That shouldn't be.
I think I had a lot to say on all this, here or on a very similar thread.
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I think he's a corpse during the day. Yet, when someone stakes a vampire during the day, he/she sits up a little and glares angrily. That shouldn't be.
Of course each story seems to use it's own set of vampire lore, but I read one account about vampires once which said that while they couldn't move in the coffin, they could still use their eyes to try a sort of hypnosis as a last means of trying to protect themselves.
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Of course each story seems to use it's own set of vampire lore, but I read one account about vampires once which said that while they couldn't move in the coffin, they could still use their eyes to try a sort of hypnosis as a last means of trying to protect themselves.
He was not able to move because he had a cross afixed either on his chest or on the inside of the coffin, but he was able to use hypnosis or something to get his eyes to glow. That's how he lured Willie to the coffin, his glowing eyes from the portrait and there was the heartbeat also. My question about that (and I always have a lot of questions!) is why did he wait 172 years to to lure someone there to free him? Why didn't he lure someone else long before then?
Alondra
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Perhaps Barn did try to lure others to the mausoleum but they weren't as susceptible to his powers. [idontknow] Greed would seem to be a factor, as that's why both Willie and Sandor ended up there. [greed]
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And maybe Willie was the only one who stared at the portrait for hours on end, giving Barnabas the opportunity to use his hypnotizing powers to manipulate Willie's greedy nature. Others who may have looked at the portrait did it during the day but Willie focused on it day and night. Just another idea.
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And maybe Willie was the only one who stared at the portrait for hours on end, giving Barnabas the opportunity to use his hypnotizing powers to manipulate Willie's greedy nature. Others who may have looked at the portrait did it during the day but Willie focused on it day and night. Just another idea.
That's possible but Sandor [spoiler]was lured there and had not been staring at the portrait. Oh gak my memory fails me. I think Magda sent him to the mausoleum didn't she? Something she saw in the crystal ball. Maybe Barn was luring someone through the crystal ball? I just saw this not long ago and I'm disgusted that I've forgotten the fine details already! >:( [/spoiler]
Cool avatar! [thumb]
Alondra
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I really never gave this much thought. I just took it for granted that he was in a comatose state, especially because of the need for blood and the lack of it for so many years. That's why I really liked what they did in the 2004 pilot to explain what happened. [spoiler]When the coffin was opened, he was nothing but a dried up skeleton thing, but when a drop of blood was accidentally spilled onto his body, he suddenly morphed alive sort of like The Mummy in the newer version, how his body was restored, only Barn's restoration was a lot faster.[/spoiler]
Judy
[angl]
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That's possible but Sandor [spoiler]was lured there and had not been staring at the portrait. I think Magda sent him to the mausoleum didn't she? Something she saw in the crystal ball. Maybe Barn was luring someone through the crystal ball?[/spoiler]
Yes, you have correcty rememberd Magda's contribution. I figure I Ching was giving Barnabas a helping hand...or wand. It probably had a soft spot for Barnabas, just like so many of us.
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That's possible but Sandor [spoiler]was lured there and had not been staring at the portrait. Oh gak my memory fails me. I think Magda sent him to the mausoleum didn't she? Something she saw in the crystal ball. Maybe Barn was luring someone through the crystal ball? I just saw this not long ago and I'm disgusted that I've forgotten the fine details already! >:( [/spoiler]
You are right about Magda and maybe Barnabas did have a "hand" in showing her the secrets to the imfamous jewels. The gypsies' greed could have had a hand in "hearing" Barnabas' call to the secret room.
Cool avatar! [thumb]
Thanks ;)