Vampire Reflections

A circulating rumor claims that a vampire casts no reflection or shadow. While this creates startling imagery in movies, it is completely untrue. Really, have you ever met a vampire without a reflection...or shadow? I have not.

First, let's talk about where this idea originated:
"Once again, Bram Stoker has much to answer for, as it was he who conceived the idea of the vampire having no reflection. Jonathan Harker witnessed Dracula hurling his shaving mirror out the window, the vicious Count angered by his lack of reflection, a cruel reminder of his abhorrent, undead state" (Gregory 125). "The traditional vampire's lack of reflection implies the absence of soul" and "exemplifies the void he finds at the core of his identity" (Heldreth 121).

The power of mirrors is not limited to revealing a vampire. "In China it has been believed, "that mirrors can repel evil forces"...and in Nigeria the Ibo trick "evil spirits seeking to attack the souls of men...into fighting the 'soul' reflected in glass" (Gregory 125). According to these legends, mirrors reflect the soul and repel evil forces or energy. Along these lines of ration, a vampire should have no reflection.

Why this is problematic:
The idea of a physical vampire not casting a reflection is "problematic from a physics standpoint. All material objects should have a reflection, because all matter interacts in some way with light" (Ouellette 15). If nothing else, a vampire is material. If the creature were immaterial (and therefore not obligated to cast a reflection), the being would also not be able to interact with other material objects--like humans. Vampires are not spirits--they are physical beings and will therefore cast a reflection and a shadow. Soulful or soulless, a vampire sees himself in the mirror.

K'an ben sini,
Ana


Sources:
Heldreth, Leonard G. and Mary Pharr. In the Blood is the Life: Vampires in Literature

Gregory, Constantine & Craig Glenday. Vampire Watcher's Handbook.

Ouellette, Jennifer. The physics of the Buffyverse.