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Let's try another question, this time one I don't have any clear ideas as to the reason,

Why are werewolves and vampires considered natural enemies in modern horror and fantasy literature?

I'm not asking why an author would have one group of monsters the natural enemies of another, but rather, why vampires against werewolves specifically.  As far as I can tell, it's a relatively recent development; I can't think of it existing in older literature or as being part of the traditional views of vampires or werewolves.  My only guess is it might have something do with the rivalry between cats and dogs, since you could stretch a point and consider vampires as being somewhat feline in temperament.

A. When one runs out of ideas, have a random fight between famous things. Alien vs Predator, Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies, et cetera.

B. They are two very famous humanoid monsters. Thus, having them fight presents more tension. It'd be boring for vampires and werewolves to only have minor domestic disputes.

C. They are markedly different and similar simultaneously. Werewolves still are human during various amounts of time depending on the author. Vampires are just vampires all of the time. Both are creatures of the night. Werewolves are animalistic. Vampires are cultured. Both attack humans. Werewolves often have two competing natures (the human and the wolf) as a dichotomy. Vampires are more single natured. Both are viewed as hot for some odd reason by many. Werewolves run around naked in the woods and rip their victims apart. Vampires are in castes or secluded places and meticulously attack a victim with hardly any wounds.
It sort of makes sense to have them not like each other akin to how dwarves and elves normally are opposed in some way.

Perhaps the mix of similarities and differences works out just right that makes them so attractive to be natural enemies.  Some good points there, certainly.

In some of the original myths, the best way to make sure you became a vampire after you died, was to be a werewolf during your life.

Also vampires would occasionally turn into wolves (as well as bats or mist) so yeah the werewolf vs. vampire thing is recent since they were sort of intertwined before.

I imagine the main blame is probably just Hollywood, going all the way back to when they were starting taking the classic movie monsters and mashing them up in the same movies like “Dracula vs. Frankenstein.” I think the first written example I ever read was actually in an old Mad magazine. And I mean the original Mad Magazine from the 50s that resembled more of a comic book.

There was a parody story about this guy going out with some hot chick and barely escapes after he finds out she’s a vampire. He stakes her during the day (I think) and goes on talking to the readers saying it was a shame she attacked him since he really wanted to show her something special. Then the full moon comes out where upon he turns into a werewolf and says something about its just as well he killed her because he didn’t need the competition from vampires.

You can have all sorts of monsters in “vs.” scenarios, but if you take all the “classic” movie monsters, you can really only do the vampires vs. werewolves on any large level since they can usually fit into human society in some way, will have territory competition overlap and have all sorts of secret wars and shit.

Mummies tend to be singular. These were kings and queens so you aren’t really going to have armies of them (Nope, not even Warhammer’s Khermi had hordes of mummies) to face off against packs of werewolves and broods of vampires. Also they’re a little more obvious with the whole walking corpse thing. Yeah I know they’ve updated them a bit so they look human, but again that’s a recent invention.

Frankenstein (Or “Monster” if you’re going to be technical about it). This was a flesh golem. And again they don’t usually have hordes of those mainly because they’re a pain in the ass to make. Unless some mad scientist is REALLY cranking them out on some assembly line, again you’re only going to have one of them. And again, they’re obviously not human looking so they would be more likely to be targeted by angry humans with torches immediately rather than a vamp or were having to bother.

Same goes for the clay version, though exchange mad scientist for Jew magic instead.

Creature From the Black Lagoon (Or “Gillpeople” I guess). Now you could make the argument that there might be a whole ocean full of these fuckers which means you could have them fighting packs of werewolves or vampire broods, but unlike weres and vamps, there probably isn’t any real competition overlap. Weres and vamps fighting makes more sense since their territory overlaps a bit more.

I mean if there was some vamp/were living on the coasts, I suppose they might be more of a problem, but again they’re so obviously not human looking, if an army of these came marching out of the oceans, humans would be directly attacking them and taking care of the problem.

I recall hearing that in medieval times it was believed that if you killed a werewolf improperly that it would turn into a vampire.  As for the rest of your points, they do make sense.  Perhaps it has to be werewolves vs vampires because no other combo really works.

That reminds me of another horror comic story where this local village thug gets into a bar fight and kills another man.

Not wishing to let him get away with murder, the villagers chase him down, but he escapes into the woods. The villagers don’t follow because there are supposed to be witches in there and they figure he’ll either get killed by them or he’ll run back out.

A couple days pass and he comes back out so they nab him and hang him. However, he doesn’t fall through the trap door and just laughs at them while he’s hovering the air. They figure the witches got him so the only way to kill him now is by burning him at the stake.

They tie him to a stake and light a bonfire around him, but then he turns into a bat. So now they figure he’s a vampire. The villagers manage to get him again, tackle him and stake him through the heart.

While they’re all celebrating, he comes back again as a ghost mocking them. At this point the villagers give up completely and just abandon the entire village leaving him to freely haunt the place.

Reminds me of an episode of The Simpsons, where they move the entire town to escape the garbage they've allowed other towns to dump there.

TeAm EdWaRd

I'm guessing that's a reference to Twilight, although I've never read the books or seen the movies.

And I missed this thread completely somehow. Werewolves are clearly not as interesting as wizards and dragons that are also vampires.

I guess thematically they're nicely opposed. One is a human with a hideous, violent monster hidden inside them revealed by the moon, and the other is a charismatic monster merely disguised as a human that it takes the sun to banish. The werewolves' powers are resented and a liability while the vampire literally sold their soul for their own and depend on them for everything.

But vampires and werewolves have been watered down and altered so much from their original sources anyhow that once again the issue is establishing a baseline as to what everyone's powers and dispositions are.

I could see a story where werewolves were aware of their nature and gained powers of strength and speed even when not transformed, which would make them naturally good at hunting vampires. Werewolves just being humans with special powers at that point, there'd be no reason to not be basically normal people with normal priorities and morals. It's not like their very existence requires killing people like vampires do.

Or a story where vampires took pains to disguise the existence of the supernatural from humans, only to have these big dumb animals running around every full moon and getting the villagers all riled up and arming themselves with silver bullets or putting crosses on their doors. Obviously they would need to go.

I'm just not sure if the actual werewolf form would be able to do much against a vampire. Again, it's a liability more than anything if it's the variety where you lose reason and self control. Even without that handicap, at best you're a big dog without the opposable thumbs needed to wield a stake or a crossbow, running around at night during a vampire's peak hours without any way of killing them short of actually tearing their head off somehow. A regular human going around killing vampires during the day is far more effective.

Of course, the million dollar question is whether a werewolf could contract vampirism, or vice versa.

Yes, I was petty surprised when I woke up and discovered that this thread hadn't changed into one about griffins who are also creatures from the black lagoon!

Seriously, though, I suppose their natures do make them appealing to writers.  You raised some good points, which makes me wonder if the rivalry is more a case of writers thinking it's just cool to think of the two fighting, rather than having really thought the implications through.

Given the modern interpretations of both monsters, I'd think it likely you could have a vampire werewolf, unless the author is too hung up on the idea that they are too much opposed in nature for that to be possible.

Of course, the million dollar question is whether a werewolf could contract vampirism, or vice versa.

Well I have one of those fun books about vampires (One of those huge books with all the cool drawings and little pouches with letters and extend flip pages. Almost like a violent pop up book. They did a lot of them about various mythological creatures and such for awhile) and there was a brief mention of a vampire lord who had extra security around his castle by infecting some werewolves with vampirism to act as guards.

They were considered abominations of course, but its not like an old vampire lord is going to give a shit about something like that.

There’s also the Underworld series that has a couple were-vamps which are generally frowned upon by both sides and pretty damn rare. (Haven’t seen all of the series though)

I suppose it's a matter of what's handy for the author, who will then have to think up the reason why or why not.  Or not bother.