It’s never said explicitly in the books what the harmful aspect of the sun’s rays really are. Here have a gif of Claudia tiptoeing around the light bc of reasons.
Clearly, movie!Claudia can handle the bounced light from the floor.
As you do correctly point out, Ricean vampires can handle light sources at night, so it would appear that the UV rays are what differentiate sunlight from candle/electric/etc., so the UV rays could be the issue. I think there are other elements in sunlight that may be different, but I’m not a scientist, so I wouldn’t know specifics.
Whatever the elements in sunlight that are harmful to them, I think it’s because their vampiric parasite is always at work “perfecting” them, converting their organic cells to inorganic (well, preternatural) cells, all the time. Fresh infusions of blood fuel this process. The issue with direct sunlight is that it intensifies this process to the point that their host bodies can’t handle it, it’s painful, they have to get out of the light.
It’s an intriguing thought, whether a room treated with UV windows would be enough to protect the vampires! If I were a vampire, I probably wouldn’t feel wholly safe with the windows open, as the sun crept in… and Ricean vampires will naturally find shelter if any light touches them during the Death Sleep. So I think they would find themselves cocooned in blankets, or completely concealed under the bed, when they awoke in such a room.
The vampiric spirit of Amel, invisible to the human eye, was present more at night, possibly because his very substance couldn’t handle direct sunlight for similar reasons.
This manga is the content of the unofficial fanbook issued by me in 2013. This book,titled “Don Giovanni”,is Japanese only, but I tried to English translation. So sorry about my poor English.
The second half is coming soon. I’m translating the part into English now…
I need you, Louis. I want you to love me more. Please take your eyes off her once in a while, look at me, mon cher…! ;A;
Not a bother at all I LOVE being asked things and I do make an effort to answer bc honestly who wants to read a boring “Yes” or “No” like, no that’s boring bye. And, no, I don’t think I’ve answered this before so here we go…
Some vampires probably could do it with just sunscreen. Part of the difference is whether they can even be conscious during daylight hours. Mostly it’s due to their unique physiology. I could write an essay on this so I’m gonna keep it to 4 vampire types.
Well, Blade calls it sunblock, but same thing. It’s working for Frost in this scene (and I think he’s put it in his hair to cover his scalp, too, hence the greasiness), but as he says to Blade, “It’s a start, right? The goal, of course, is to be like you. Daywalker.” (Blade himself is a hybrid vampire so he can go out in the sunlight.) The rest of Frost’s skin is covered up with clothing which may also be treated in some way to protect him but his eyes aren’t protected, they should be affected but maybe it’s only light-sensitivity of the skin in that type of vampire.
Adam and Deacon share the ability to be awake during daylight hours. So it’s possible that Adam could wear sunscreen for protection, but given such a harsh physical reaction to such a small amount of exposure, I wouldn’t think any strength or amount of sunscreen would be strong enough for him, even if he was able to cover every last bit of skin, which would be a real challenge.
3. Louis de Pointe du Lac from movie!IWTV can’t handle the sunlight, but he’s fully conscious, reaching up to try protect himself.
Sunscreen might work for movie!Louis, too, but he would have the same issue as Adam, could he cover enough skin to make it work? I doubt it.
4. Louis and Claudia from book!IWTV fall into the Death Sleep during the day. They cannot be conscious during daylight hours, their physiology prevents it. So sunscreen, or other protective gear, would not work for them.
The Death Sleep is basically the unconscious state that the Ricean vampires succumb to when their bodies sense the sun rising, and they only break out of it when the sun sets again or they’re under attack. There’s also fanon that they can wake from the Death Sleep during the day when under extreme emotional distress. Even defending themselves in their sleep, they’re not really conscious and only realize what happened when they wake normally. Lestat says in TVL:
And those mortals who did find us during the daylight hours, unless they exposed us to the sun at once, were doomed. For example, outside Palermo [Gabrielle] had slept in a cellar far below an abandoned house, and when she had awakened, her eyes and face were burning as if they had been scalded, and she had in her right hand a mortal, quite dead, who had apparently attempted to disturb her rest.
“He was strangled,” she said, “and my hand was still locked on his throat. And my face had been burned by the little light that leaked down from the opened door.”
NEW – Lestat, Louis, and the Vampire Phenomenon: A conversation with author Anne Rice about her influence on the new wave of vampires as heroes and anti-heroes.
Director’s Commentary with Neil Jordan
In the Shadow of the Vampire
Introduction by Anne Rice, Neil Jordan and Antonio Banderas
Theatrical Trailer
20 freakin’ years and they can’t include the deleted scenes.
I’m still pissed off about the lack of deleted scenes.
omg mine is your favorite? *flails* Thank u! If u love this blog, u love the VC fandom by default.
My fave VC changes over time. When I first started, I was definitely more IWTV, I identified with Claudia, and then Louis. It wasn’t until later that I switched over to Team Lestat. Claudia is very nearly the biological daughter he probably would have had deserved, in a mortal Lestat AU!
When I reread the books now, I see different things than before, now that I’m older. I can see the parenting perspective better now, for example.
I feel like someone just asked me my fave recently and I think I said TVL, bc it’s the one that’s stood the test of time the most for me, probably.
Least favorite also changes over time. I’m a very generous person tho, I can find beauty and salvage elements/quotes/scenes from books, movies, etc, that I otherwise don’t like as a whole. Same is true for VC. Lots of gems tossed in amongst the later canon that you’ll only really appreciate if you excavate them yourself ;]
I wouldn’t call it disappointing per se, but I admit that I didn’t really enjoy Blackwood Farm, I’d say that was my least favorite, consistently. It’s almost a stand-alone novel. Probably the reason I don’t like it as much is bc it’s almost a stand-alone novel.
LESTAT’S NEVER BEEN LOVED BACK ARE YOU KIDDING ME Just take my heart and destroy it. I am ruined.
;A; IKR??
Well, that quote refers to movie!IWTV. If you’ve read TVL, you know Lestat’s been loved before in his life ;]
And, technically, it happens in an about 10 min in the movie, but Lestat, Louis, and Claudia happily together for some 60+ years, so there was love then 😉
I-want-my-IWTV 