Vampire supernatural

[Cthulhuthanos]

I was wondering for those who have read the book, is it ever really explained how vampirism works in the book other than that it is a virus? Eli bleeding to death by not being invited in seems very supernatural to me. Apparently, she was also transform into a bat-like creature as well as burst into flame when she enters sunlight. While those are really stretching what biology can do, I bring up a possible answer. What if vampirism, or whatever type of creature Eli is, is a curse that infects both the body and the soul (if there are spirits and ghost in this worlds canon even though I am aware they are not mentioned). This curse is then spread to those who don't die after being bitten. While I guess it's interesting to talk about, if anyone has a quotation from the book regarding this idea I would very much like to read it.

[metoo]

I was wondering for those who have read the book, is it ever really explained how vampirism works in the book other than that it is a virus?

The novel speaks of an infection, but isn't specific of its nature. Thus, it might be a virus, bacteria, or some kind of parasite. Or it might be something, perhaps magical, that science has so far not yet discovered. It does, however, induce changes in the body of the infected. There is a growth of nervous tissue around the heart, in effect an extra brain. The lungs and intestine are changed in a unspecified way. And apparently the infected gains extraordinary control over his/her body, being able to grow fangs, etc, and to speed up healing.

Eli bleeding to death by not being invited in seems very supernatural to me.

Yes, indeed. There is a magical component of this kind of infection.

Apparently, she was also transform into a bat-like creature ...

In the novel, Eli is able to modify his arms into wings by growing a translucent membrane, in an otherwise unspecified way.

... as well as burst into flame when she enters sunlight.

Yes, but the process isn't immediate, it requires a few seconds, starting with blisters that erupt, smelling of burnt flesh.

While those are really stretching what biology can do, I bring up a possible answer. What if vampirism, or whatever type of creature Eli is, is a curse that infects both the body and the soul (if there are spirits and ghost in this worlds canon even though I am aware they are not mentioned). This curse is then spread to those who don't die after being bitten.

The novel suggests that an infected person stays mentally unchanged, i.e. that the "soul" isn't involved. However, there is the new urge to feed on human blood, which affects the thoughts of the infected. This a source of anguish sufficient for most infected to quickly (?) commit suicide.

While I guess it's interesting to talk about, if anyone has a quotation from the book regarding this idea I would very much like to read it.

Then I suggest that you buy the book. The relevant parts in the novel are too long to quote here.

[Cthulhuthanos]

I will admit my ignorance in regards to the books (something which I will read in due time). The only reason I suggest the "soul" idea is due to the supernatural implications of the condition. That being said, I really just pulled that out of nowhere, as there is nothing to suggest this in the movies or the novel. I do wonder though, did JAL write other books that dealt with more supernatural things? Is it at all possible that he could pull a Stephen King and connect all of his "worlds" together? The idea behind it being a combination of biological and supernatural is relatively terrifying.

[Drakeule]

I do wonder though, did JAL write other books that dealt with more supernatural things? Is it at all possible that he could pull a Stephen King and connect all of his "worlds" together?

I've read only what has been translated to english, but I'm sure it's safe to say; all of his books have some sort of supernatural aspect to them. And as far as the world; they all take place in Sweden and use real places except for Harbor: Most of that story takes place on a fictional island.

[metoo]

I do wonder though, did JAL write other books that dealt with more supernatural things?

Yes. All of his books so far have a supernatural element in them. (I have read them all.) Furthermore, all of them are about what happens when normality comes in contact with "the other". And, as Drakuele writes, all of them take place in Sweden, specifically in the Stockholm area or in Roslagen (north of Stockholm), places that JAL knows well.

Is it at all possible that he could pull a Stephen King and connect all of his "worlds" together?

No, I don't think so. At least I hope he won't. If all of the strange things that happen in his various stories were possible at the same time, I think the quality of normality in his stories would suffer, which would be a great loss.

[Cthulhuthanos]

quote]
No, I don't think so. At least I hope he won't. If all of the strange things that happen in his various stories were possible at the same time, I think the quality of normality in his stories would suffer, which would be a great loss.

That is true. In fact, that is partly why I dislike Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series. The only way horror like that works in combination with other stories is with someone like H.P Lovecraft (who if you couldn't tell by the username, I am a big fan of), this is due to his view on the human race constantly on the brink of discovering the terrible entities that lurk just beyond the threshold of our reality. Coming across them and finding out our own insignificance in the universe will cause us to go mad. An idea which I kind of disagree with, regardless, it makes for good horror.

[sauvin]

I've never been able to slog through the Dark Tower works, partly because I can't handle that much bizarre over such a span of time or scope of vision. Many of King's earlier works, though, make brief interconnecting mentions, where a character in one story either appeared briefly in another work, or is the relative of somebody from another story, or something. King himself is also a huge fan of Lovecraft's work, having said more than once that Lovecraft inspired much of his work. There's another far less well known author, F. Paul Wilson, whose many works are really just novel-sized chapters of a much larger story, also (I believe) a Lovecraft fan - in his works, the general idea of our "reality" really just being a soap bubble bobbing around on a much larger and unquiet kind of multidimensional waters is more explicit in the storytelling.

There was something comforting (and simultaneously disquieting) that so many different people from such a relatively small area could experience "the Other" at various levels of indirection. Plus ca change, apres tout, plus c'est la meme chose: the good news is that people are just people no matter where you go, but the bad news is, so is the "Other".

Many years after Salems Lot came out, I had to discover that King's vampires, unfortunately, suck.

[Cthulhuthanos]

Back to the book, I'm wondering. How was the infection transferred to Eli from the Lord? I've also heard rumor that Eli at some point had met another vampire. How did Eli escape the servitude of the Lord? Was the Lord eventually killed? I realize the spoilers that follow with these questions, but curiosity has gained the upper hand.

[Drakeule]

Well as you may have guessed; he bit him. And as far as escaping; he just escaped.

[metoo]

And as far as escaping; he just escaped.

Or maybe he was released. Or kicked out. This isn't covered at all.

All there is in the novel about Eli's relation to the lord after the mutilation, is a slight hint that Eli might have stayed - captive or not - with the lord for a long time. Whatever that means, but I prefer to interpret it as several years, maybe decades.

Actually, my favourite idea regarding this (which is totally unsupported by the novel, although it isn't contradictory to it) is that the lord kept Eli as a pet, a thing that amused him to have around. And Eli stayed, because he didn't have any place else to go, and perhaps because he eventually became attached to the lord (read about the Stockholm syndrome).