are vampires really evil?

[Ekonk]

No, because they don't exist.

HOWEVER if we were to go with the Vampire Of Vampires, Dracula, one can see that yes, they are evil, but this is not the fault of who they were in life. A curse has fallen upon them like a disease, and they cannot be blamed for that. In life Dracula was a fearsome warrior, cruel, but with honour, in death he's a scheming backstabbing bloodsucking monster.
Or Lucy, for that matter. In life a pure and good-mannered normal English woman, in death a seductive, childkilling monster.

So yes, they are evil, but it isn't the fault of the person they used to be.

 

[moretimethansense]

Depends on the setting,
But let's assume that they don't automatically become evil upon turning,
If they lose their mind and become nothing but killers - no they are a force of nature terrible but not evil,
If they have to kill humans to survive - yes anyone that would accept a (possibly eternal) life of slaughter without killing themselves is definately evil in my book,
If they have to feed from humans but dont have to kill them - depends, do they choose to kill?
if yes then yes, if no then it is a possible accident, they are selfishly risking anothers life to prolong their own but trying to avoid killing, it's murky,
If they can feed on animals/blood packs but choose to feed on humans - evil,
as above but choose not to - no more evil than any normal human,
If they sparkle - beyond redemption.

If they see themselves as a supirior form of life they are being quite blatantly racist which is a major strike against you,
beyond that it would depend on the individual.

 

[teh_Canape]

really

it's mostly because they're seen from the human vampire hunter point of view

or the renegade vampire point of view

I think they're just like humans

it just depends on how you look at them =P

 

[DarkenedWolfEye]

'Evil' is a relative term, the definition of which can change radically person to person. You can't really define an entire race of mythical beings by such a term, but I guess it mostly boils down to whether you think killing is evil.
Small-picture wise, when you kill someone, especially a young someone, you are robbing them of their chance at life and an opportunity to make a contribution to what they as people feel is important. That's pretty much what extinguishing a life is; snuffing out someone's possibilities. But still within small picture, vampires have no choice but to kill, and not all of them are going to nobly kill themselves to save their future meals because they, just like their prey, have a life that is just as precious as the ones they take. So that's a double-edged sword of hypocrisy; whether you kill them or let them live, you are still denying the value of a life.
Big-picture wise, one doesn't consider every human or animal as special, beautiful and unique little possibilities to change the world. One doesn't even take individuality into account; all that matters is 'Is the balance being kept? Is the human race being reasonably pruned, or massacred?' In the big picture, it doesn't matter who dies, but rather how many die. In this vein, an evil vampire is one who kills a species that is being reasonably hunted already or even over hunted already (take, for example, an endangered species like mountain lions, who are dying excessively thanks to human interference) and if another predator (vampire) joins in, that species is going to die. What this basically means is that a vampire would be considered benevolent in the big picture for killing humans; face it guys, we seriously need some cutting down to size.
What I'm trying to say is that Edward Cullen and co. are fucking evil. What the hell do they think they're doing, killing a new mountain lion and grizzly bear (both highly endangered; suck it, Emmet) every two weeks? What's so horribly, unspeakably wrong with killing humans? It's literlly what they're so perfectly built to do; even the sparkling thing helps because, while another animal would run knowing something's not fucking right, a human would stare dumbly in awe while getting their throats chewed out. They have no actual reason for not killing humans and no rational why it's wrong (here's rational why it's right: we are overpopulated and we need killing.). They basically just follow the stupid, biased and utterly deplorable mentality that humans deserve to live more than other animals; that we are somehow 'higher' than them.
This is not the case; we are just part of an ecosystem, on the same level with everything else, and Edward Cullen is the embodiment of that mentality I so hate.
Go get strapped to a stick of dynamite, you jerk.

 

[Radoh]

If they didn't risk infecting people with what is essentially a huge book o' restrictions while simultaneously not draining them of bodily fluids to keep themselves going, not really. I mean it would have to be voluntary blood donating, as I believe any sentient life is more or less on equal grounds, thus they should not be subjected to someone else willingly taking away their blood.

 

[ThreeWords]

Are humans really evil? I mean judging from the persecution fascination with war, repeated genocides, down to the greed and petty jealosy ofyou neighbor, humanity has a pretty bad track record
But I wouldn't say that huamns are evil as a rule

Or, this:

they are always evil; except when they're not.

 

[Steam Colossus]

Vampires are what they are in film, books and TV because thats what people want them to be. Why are orcs green in many games? Warhammer. Why are vampires (Historically) evil? Dracula. Because they aren't real they are what people make them. What is called a "Vampire" is what ever is needed to drive the plot forward.

 

[Pariah87]

It depends on the type of vampire. In the original folklore Vampires were little more than zombies or ghouls who drank the blood of the living. I wouldn't say that in itself is evil, simply because they were following instinct to preserve their own unlife, there was no malice or choice in whom they fed apon. It's like asking is a Tiger "evil" if it kills a man, or a shark? No, they are feeding, it's just unfortunate, albeit nature, that we happened to be the food source.

Stokers vampire and later versions are possibly more evil, they do not run on a need to feed, they act more like a sexual predator, hunting a specific target, grooming them, before moving in to satiate their own desires.

I know vampires aren't real, despite talking about them as if they were.

It's why out of Vampires/Werewolves I've always had more a liking for the latter, they are not evil beings, simply mans suppresed beastial instincts given form.

 

[Bobbovski]

I would say that vampires are usually evil, yes. They have the ability to talk to us and solve problems through negotiations. But in fiction they generally avoid this option and simply take whatever they want. They can also choose not to kill (and only take some blood) but still do it anyway.

 

[viranimus]

I would say no, because evil does not really exist. Good and evil are not static terms as much as they are subjective terms to describe out abject morality.

To cattle and chickens, we are the gods of unmitigated evil, yanno, if they had sentience.

But even with humans.. if the largest portion of a specific culture agrees that it is acceptable, it would not be considered evil. Good and evil are only what we make of it. So really... its only evil if you think its evil, and honestly by that point is moot, because your mind is already made up on it.

 

[Kakashi on crack]

Instead of looking at the question as are vampires evil, look at the question of what makes something evil.

Evil, to the average person, is something that is not considered the norm, or morally what we feel is correct. As such, we label it as evil. It's why everything from porn to murder has been labelled as "Evil."

Are vampires, mythological creatures, etc. actually evil? Think of Hades. He wasn't evil, he was just doing his job, a job that in original mythology he chose to do. As such, even though a lot of people look at hades and think "evil lord of the underworld" he's really just your average every day guy who chooses to work in that department.

So think about a vampire, wether he/she chooses to do so or not, is he/she truly "evil?"

MY opinion: I don't believe the word evil can be applied. As it is simply what we consider morally unacceptable. What another person does is what they think is morally correct, it's their way of life. If they think what they are doing is wrong, and doesn't have a true purpouse, than that person is just f***ed up in the head.

As such, a vampire isn't truly evil. They drink human blood for survival, and because human blood is a lot easier to come by than say... a Cow's blood. Cows are owned by farmers, you have to stay in a general area to feed on a cow, and risk being caught/killed more than if you were moving around.

It's like a necesity/instinct. Why choose the harder option when there's an easier one available? As such, vampires are -not- evil, they are just morally different, and we despise that difference.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

Using the unfortunate current 'generation' of vampires in pop culture (we're talking ur lover-boy sparkling assholes, a la Twilight) the only evil they perform is being hot enough to make bland women orgasm over their chests (not literally).

That and boring the bollocks off anyone male and above the age of 16.

 

[ThatLankyBastard]

Vampires aren't evil, just misunderstood...

Now Twilight, THAT is evil...

 

[Alon Shechter]

it seems that these days all vampires are considered blood sucking psychopaths.?

One of the most popular movies of this time beg to differ.
Then again, that movie WAS complete bullocks.

 

[manythings]

At-least understand what you're talking about before trying to sound intelligent. Needing to feed off of a living creatures does not a parasite make. A tiger could not live without killing and eating animals. It does not have the option of making a fruit salad. A Tiger is still not a parasite.

And FYI, vegetables are just as alive as animals. What you're referring to is a consciousness.

You're literally going to contend that a vegetable and an animal are equally alive and then saying should understand what I'm talking about? They are both metabolising, true. They are both growing for a single cell to maturity, true. They both eventually produce offspring by some method of reproduction, true. Now on the one hand I have a turnip, on the other I have a rat. Explain to me at what point the turnip proves to be a vital living creature in equal terms to the rat.

I know the difference. It doesn't however make them evil. Is a head louse evil for actually being a parasite and feeding off us? Would a bear be evil if it ate a human? It's the food chain, if vampires were real, we'd be their prey. That's survival, not malevolence.

The main aspect of a parasite is that they have hosts. We are not hosts to vampires. What they do is hunt and consume us. No different from how a spider eats flies. Ect. Ect. Ect.

They're not parasites.

Feeding on a living creature for a term period that results in eventual not instant death makes a vampire a parasite. A sentient creature capable of communicating, empathising and understanding on (more or less) equal terms with other sentient creatures actively using other sentient creatures as a source of sustenance is evil. There is no way around this fact, they would be actively fuelling their life by curtailling the life of another sentient creature. That's murder.

 

[Georgie_Leech]

I direct you to this lovely series:

In it, Vampires have morals and ethics like people do: varies with individuals. Give it a look.

Also, this is a nerdy site. Why hasn't it been brought up yet?

 

[geldonyetich]

I'll get back to you about whether or not vampires are really evil if you can establish if evil is really evil. It's a rather ambiguous label meant to encapsulate wanton wrongdoing of which the specific instances are often subjectively disagreed upon.

The easy answer, however, is this: as fictional characters, vampires are as evil as the writer wants them to be.

 

[Jroo wuz heer]

they should be, but, unfortunately, many modern movies ruin that

 

[KalosCast]

I always thought the World of Darkness setting handled it well, some vampires are pretty evil, but most of them just have to do things that the average person would find abhorrent in order to stay alive (well, undead).