I'm sort of baffled by all this. I mean looking at the choices they seem pretty straightforward , but once you start to consider it there really isn't a common witch, or vampire for that matter. I mean are we talking witches like the Hags from Macbeth? Or are they like witches from charmed? As for vampires they differ from series to series. I mean the ones from Vampire the Masquerade, Anne Rice Vampires, or ones like Cassidy from preacher? I suppose you could even make a case for real life equivalents perhaps Elizabeth Bathory vs. a Wiccan? I'm really starting to geek out here. I think I might have to make a huge fight bracket for this facet of a fight bracket just to decide who to vote for in a poll my vote won't really sway. #horror
@rek: I can't remember if in the Universal matchups Frankenstein's creature beat Dracula or vice versa... but without a doubt the original Shelley version was a major scary thing, partly because he was so intelligent. #horror
I voted Vampire merely because Witches are getting a River Tam-esque BJ all over this blogspot.
Everyone seems to ignore that witches need time and ingredients to cast spells. Things that Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies, and Poltergeists don't need.
There is a reason that Witches are constantly getting their asses beat by precocious children. They're just normal people unless they've got days or weeks to prepare for something. Even if they do have that time, not EVERY witch has unlimited power. There is such a thing as a power scale here. You people seem to consider every witch in fiction powered over 9000. #horror
@Unmarketable_Product: Could not say it better. I don't know why it's a big compliment to witches to say that they're the scariest monsters, which I believe was the original point of the poll. I know a few wiccans, and "scary" is not the word I would use for them. "Nice" is more likely.
And while I admit that Margaret Hamilton made me shiver when I was young, she wasn't the reason I had to sleep with the covers over my neck until I was 10. #horror
@Sunshineyness: And in all fairness, I can think of one witch book that I read that I quite enjoyed: Witch Hill by Marion Zimmer Bradley. A little on the pulpy side, but good. #horror
Even in regards to competition I still feel very vehemently that unless the witch's power is defined than he/she can ultimately do whatever and nail any vamp to dust. All I'm saying: don't fuck with a witch. Never ends well. #horror
Vampires have an addiction and are slaves to it whether they want to be or not. Witches are in full command of themselves and their powers. Witches win, hands down. #horror
@Vulcan Has No Moon: Except that they have to sacrifice something in order to get that power. So I say it's a lot more even. In any case it's which is SCARIER. #horror
i voted witches, because hermione is hot, and vampires are the sworn enemies of lycans. Also, i'd like to make a point that werewolves go around uncontrollably tearing things to shreds ( hence 'curse'), they don't turn into giant cgi puppy dogs or cuddle with the opposite sex while refraining from proper shirt wear. I only bring this up because ginger snaps was on tonight, and i love that movie. Continuedly, its halloween, so eat up them kit kats. #horror
Granny Weatherwax; the only person who has managed to turn the Vampire curse around. There's a reason the Dwarfs call her K'ez'rek d'b'duz (lit. "Go Around the Other Side of the Mountain"). #horror
@Neiten: "I learned my craft from Nanny Gripes, who learned it from Goody Heggety, who got it from Nanna Plumb, who was taught it by Black Aliss..." Granny does have one bad ass pedigree.
The trolls call her Aaoograha hoa ("She Who Must Be Avoided"). #horror
@wanion: Well the Six thing was vague. What Six? Caprica Six? Head Six? Ditzy bimbo on the baseship who frakked Baltar to make him feel better Six?
Obviously no one could do a damned thing to Head Six since she's non-corporeal but can still slam your ass into a mirror and is over 150,000 years old at least. #horror
@Motoki: I meant the Prisoner. Anyway, it's all moot, since the final round is between Samantha and a vampire who needs to floss. Seriously, what is that, a peppercorn? #horror
Oh, and one last thing: someone said something to the effect of a witch being able to someone one of the Great Old Ones.... Sorry, but it you summon one of the Great Old Ones, it's the Great Old One who gets the win. #horror
@Wookie1972: No, because the power needed to summon one of those creatures is reserved to a very select few.
Usually, the summoning comes with ties that make sure that the creature doesn't attack the summoner and is sent back after it's bidding is done.
That is some powerful mojo.
No ordinary vampire could do that and few creatures could. The win still goes to the person who raises the powerful creature to do their bidding. #horror
@spidyredneckjedi: I'm refraining from inane name-calling here, but if you think someone could summon an Elder God and get it to do their bidding, you automatically fail your Geek Cred-test and can leave your card by the door as you leave, banned for eternity. Sheesh! #horror
@jbq: Not much refraining in that statement, as you basically imply I'm an idiot.
It's been a while since I've dabbled in D and D, but I remember coming up against some powerful wizards who culd summon and control some pretty nasty creatures.
Suffice to say, I blanket covered that process for all potential summonings when I shouldn't have.
Elder Gods are sure to have their own free-will, but if they show up, via someone's invitation/summons, that someone has either more power or more courage than your average vampire. Vampire's aren't inclicned to try something that ballsy, but witches might, even the lowliest, and that's what makes them dangerous. They are willing to play with Gods for the win.
@braak: Okay. The distinction between inviting, which would be politely asking a God to come to your assistance andsummoning, which would be ordering, is what I must have gotten confused on. I know if you're powerful or vain/stupid enough to call on one of the Great Old Ones, and he heeds your call, you're not someone I would ever want to trifle with. Again, not something normal vampires could do, but something a witch would undoubtedly attempt in the heat of a battle. #horror
@braak: Well, I look at it this way: They Great Old Ones were top dogs at one time before they were banished into another dimension and replaced with newer, younger hipper demi-gods and demons. The Great Old Ones are the omnipotent equivalent of a homeless guy standing along side the turnpike with a "Will work for entrails" sign. Witches/Warlock chants are like getting a text from the employment agency for a temp job.
@Vulcan Has No Moon: Again, your assessment is inaccurate. The Old Ones weren't "banished" to another dimension. We, here on Earth, are the other dimension. This is the fringe, backwater, unimportant orb at the very peripheral edge of relevance to Them. The important things are happening wherever They are. The fact that the Old Ones haven't annihilated the Earth, and have permitted young demi-gods to run around here, isn't because they Old Ones are incapable of stopping it, it's because generally they don't give a shit. #horror
@braak: Ahem, summoning infers that the person who is standing in the pentagram arrived against their will and is forced to act against their will at the behest of the warlock/witch who did the summoning. That doesn't sound all-powerful to me. That sounds pretty wussy if they have to show up whenever some two-bit hex-fiend starts playing with runes. #horror
@Vulcan Has No Moon: Witches have a lot of misconceptions about how the Old Ones work. Lots of times, human beings think they're "summoning" entities from the great beyond. But think about that for a second: these are entities that exist outside of time, and are capable of perceiving all of human space and time at once. Do you think you've outsmarted them? Or did you find the spell and learn the sigils and the incantations because They wanted you to?
Here's what happens: not unlike Mephistophilus in Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, sometimes greater entities are "summoned" by lesser entities. What this means is, the greater entity has its attention attracted and then, for reasons unfathomable to us, plays along for a while. Why? Who knows? Certainly, since the Old Ones possess nearly limitless power, playing around with your mind isn't really anymore work than ignoring you.
Why not just destroy you on the spot? Well, probably a lot of people are destroyed on the spot, the way you or I might swat a fly that buzzes in our face. Naturally, not a lot of stories about that get passed around, because how would you report on it later on? It's not like the Old Ones issue a report of insects that they permitted some infinitely minor aspect of their personalities to annihilate.
And certainly, the witches are in no position to set the record straight. #horror
@braak: I was thinking it was like Om in Small Gods. Gods only have power if people believe in them. They only have as much power over you as you give them. They can frighten and control you if you let them. Like Granny Weatherwax once put it in so many words, "Spirits, Demons, and Gods exist but there's no call to go around believing in them. It only encourage's 'em." and "...But there is no need to go around believing it, we'd all be in trouble if we went around believing everything". #horror
@Vulcan Has No Moon: Well, why would you think that? The Old Ones are not gods. The Old Ones are the Old Ones. We call them "gods" because "god" is the only word that implies the fathomless power that the Old Ones possess.
Since the sprawling nuclear chaos that is Azathoth has existed since the beginning of time, and Cthulhu and his start spawn built R'lyeh nearly a billion years before human civilization, it seems more than a little unreasonable to posit them as a product of human belief structures. #horror
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@Roklimber: Grr... the url isn't showing, so I'm uploading the picture directly. #horror
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If IO9 does another one of these things, they really, really need to use brackets next time. #horror
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And also Cthulu. Where's that guy been? #horror
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Everyone seems to ignore that witches need time and ingredients to cast spells. Things that Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies, and Poltergeists don't need.
There is a reason that Witches are constantly getting their asses beat by precocious children. They're just normal people unless they've got days or weeks to prepare for something. Even if they do have that time, not EVERY witch has unlimited power. There is such a thing as a power scale here. You people seem to consider every witch in fiction powered over 9000. #horror
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And while I admit that Margaret Hamilton made me shiver when I was young, she wasn't the reason I had to sleep with the covers over my neck until I was 10. #horror
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@Unmarketable_Product: About those precocious children....
[jezebel.com] #horror
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Haven't had any luck finding any good ones lately though... Any suggestions of good books with witches in them? #horror
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Even in regards to competition I still feel very vehemently that unless the witch's power is defined than he/she can ultimately do whatever and nail any vamp to dust. All I'm saying: don't fuck with a witch. Never ends well. #horror
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The trolls call her Aaoograha hoa ("She Who Must Be Avoided"). #horror
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Obviously no one could do a damned thing to Head Six since she's non-corporeal but can still slam your ass into a mirror and is over 150,000 years old at least. #horror
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Usually, the summoning comes with ties that make sure that the creature doesn't attack the summoner and is sent back after it's bidding is done.
That is some powerful mojo.
No ordinary vampire could do that and few creatures could. The win still goes to the person who raises the powerful creature to do their bidding. #horror
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That's what makes them the Great Old Ones. #horror
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It's been a while since I've dabbled in D and D, but I remember coming up against some powerful wizards who culd summon and control some pretty nasty creatures.
Suffice to say, I blanket covered that process for all potential summonings when I shouldn't have.
Elder Gods are sure to have their own free-will, but if they show up, via someone's invitation/summons, that someone has either more power or more courage than your average vampire. Vampire's aren't inclicned to try something that ballsy, but witches might, even the lowliest, and that's what makes them dangerous. They are willing to play with Gods for the win.
@braak: Okay. The distinction between inviting, which would be politely asking a God to come to your assistance andsummoning, which would be ordering, is what I must have gotten confused on. I know if you're powerful or vain/stupid enough to call on one of the Great Old Ones, and he heeds your call, you're not someone I would ever want to trifle with. Again, not something normal vampires could do, but something a witch would undoubtedly attempt in the heat of a battle. #horror
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Here's what happens: not unlike Mephistophilus in Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, sometimes greater entities are "summoned" by lesser entities. What this means is, the greater entity has its attention attracted and then, for reasons unfathomable to us, plays along for a while. Why? Who knows? Certainly, since the Old Ones possess nearly limitless power, playing around with your mind isn't really anymore work than ignoring you.
Why not just destroy you on the spot? Well, probably a lot of people are destroyed on the spot, the way you or I might swat a fly that buzzes in our face. Naturally, not a lot of stories about that get passed around, because how would you report on it later on? It's not like the Old Ones issue a report of insects that they permitted some infinitely minor aspect of their personalities to annihilate.
And certainly, the witches are in no position to set the record straight. #horror
11/02/09
11/02/09
Since the sprawling nuclear chaos that is Azathoth has existed since the beginning of time, and Cthulhu and his start spawn built R'lyeh nearly a billion years before human civilization, it seems more than a little unreasonable to posit them as a product of human belief structures. #horror
10/31/09