Redemption: To bring something back from a state of corruption into its pure form. After the turn has taken place, how do you redeem the human part of a vampire or werewolf–one which has shed so much blood–caused so much pain?
Summary Thus Far
Due to varying sources and the span of human history, tales of the vampire and the werewolf have taken many forms. There are many versions of both creatures. Earlier parts in this series highlighted specific versions of the creatures. Below is a table summarizing these traits.
| Trait | Vampires | Werewolves |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Making a deal with the devil. | Being cursed by a supernatural being. |
| Transfer to “Offspring” | Drinking sire’s blood. | Attack from one cursed or born with the curse. |
| Transition | Monster qualities for eternity. | Monster qualities during full moon; otherwise human. |
| Killing Method | Seduce. Then, drain blood. | Mauling. Brute attack. |
| Purpose | Drain life-blood. Turn the worthy. | Kill and destroy. |
| Sacred Places | Must be invited into private homes. | Nothing is sacred. |
In Part 1, the traits of the vampire were compared to qualities of evil. Since entering vampirism is a choice, the term vampiric sins was used to describe those types of voluntary behaviors. The best method to defend yourself from being seduced by one of these sins is by having a discerning mind. Constantly renewing your mind and reconciling it with Truth is how you are able to tell the difference between good and evil. It is how you know who/what is worthy of entering your home.
In Part 2, the same procedure was applied to the werewolf. Due to the involuntary nature of the origins and transfer of werewolf-ism, the urge to sin was termed a lycanthropic curse. In order to guard yourself from the turn, you must do the work before the full moon rises. You must have constant vigilance when it comes to yourself, your heart, your surroundings, and your search for Truth. It is how you know which path leads to Life.
The prior articles focused on how to avoid the allure of the vampire and the pull of the moon. But…what if you’ve already become one of these monsters? What then? What if you committed a vampiric sin before knowing the full scope of the consequences or you were born into a lycanthropic curse of some sort? Is there any redemption for you?
The Fine Line
While these two beasts are incredibly different, they do share some similar qualities. They were both human once. Animal instincts take hold of their minds. When the turn takes place, the human is overtaken by an insatiable urge. They become creatures of the night. The curse that they share makes the difference between the two beasts a fine line. The core difference is the mode in which the change occurs.
Sin is the result of a choice you make. A curse is a sin nature you are fighting. When you become a vampire, the sin comes first and the urge to continue with the sin (i.e. the curse) comes second. For a werewolf, the curse comes first and the sin comes as a result of giving in to its power.
The nuance of this difference is this:
The vampire wants you to rebel against the Good that is already in you.
The werewolf wants you to embrace the Evil that is already in you.
The vampire causes you to ask questions like, “What if it can make me better than what I am? What if there is something missing in me?”
The werewolf causes you to ask questions like, “How do I achieve what I want regardless of the consequences?”
By knowing the root cause for Evil, you can better understand how to fight it and how to be redeemed from it.
Redemption from Vampiric Sins
Once you become a vampire you will be a vampire for eternity. Once you commit a sin which seems to fill a gap in you, you will tend to repeat that sin. You will chase that fleeting feeling of being complete; in reality, you are jagged and broken. It can become a life long struggle for you. The only way to correct your choice for evil is to actively choose goodness. And what is the ultimate good, but Life?
Choosing Life is more difficult than it sounds. The choice should be a no-brainer, but it requires discipline and sacrifice. It requires you to make hard choices. It requires you to forego immediate, tangible pleasures and choose delayed or intangible satisfactions. At times, it requires you to forego personal satisfaction altogether. You must be obedient to the path of Life in order to receive its greatest benefit. Søren Kierkegaard (a Christian, existential philosopher, and theologian) wrote the following about obedience:
What the age needs is not a genius — it has had geniuses enough, but a martyr, who in order to teach men to obey would himself be obedient unto death.
The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard (20 November 1847)[1]
This death isn’t necessarily a literal death. It could be a symbolic death; one where a person chooses to sacrifice immediate pleasures in order to stay true to the path of Life. This world does not need a genius to find clever loopholes in order to justify actions. What it needs is people willing to obey, to stay true to Life.
Your life is made of choices. The Goodness of your choices can be measured by how they stack up against Life. Whatever this world throws at you, there will always be a choice. How long will you stand in Life? Even to your own death? Will you die for Truth or something lesser? Will you forego that symbolic death and choose what benefits you alone?
Of course, choosing Life does not completely undo your choice for the original sin. As mentioned earlier, once you become a vampire, you will always be a vampire. While choosing Life redeems you on a small level, the sin is still a part of you. The effects of the sin you chose (the pain, the distrust, the loss) will remain a stain on your life’s story. Because you are a physical being in a physical realm, that feeling of emptiness will always be there, speaking against what you know to be true…that is, until you are redeemed.
30 Days of Night
Vampires are monsters. It’s not common to see them redeemed because they choose to be monsters, but there is a vampire movie that (pardon the pun) sheds some light on this concept of choosing Life. **Spoiler Alert** In the horror film, 30 Days of Night[2], Sheriff Eben Oleson and his small town are assaulted by vampires. Being set in an Alaskan town during winter, the assault lasts for 30 days of night. There are two vampiric redemptions in this movie.
Deputy Billy Kitka
The first redemption is of Deputy Billy Kitka. During the assault, the town barricades themselves in their homes. The town’s power and communications are cut. Their roads are blocked. The town sits in an open plain of snow. It is quiet in the arctic desert.
As the vampires attack, the screams of their neighbors echo into the night. The white snow is splattered with deep crimson which quickly freezes over. Since the sun isn’t due to rise for 30 days, the vampires have the run of the town. The town folk hide in fear.
In order to save his wife and daughters from a gruesome death, Billy decides to take control of his family’s fate. As his family sleeps, he creeps into their room, covers their faces with a sheet, and pulls the trigger three times.
Then, he turns the gun to himself. The gun jams and he is unable to finish his task.
When Sheriff Eben arrives, he cannot believe what Billy would do to his own family. “You protect them,” he says.
Regardless, Eben let’s Billy join their group of survivors.
Later, while Eben tries to protect his brother from a vampire, Billy gets bitten and begins to turn. He is still racked with the guilt of murdering his family. Maybe he is in shock from being bitten. Maybe he quickly came to terms with his vampiric sentence. In either case Billy is no longer scared of the vampire. He rushes the attacker and is able to save Eben’s life. However, in true horror movie fashion, the sinner has to die.
As Billy lets out a vampiric shriek, Eben kills him thereby making Billy’s last act one of redemption. Saving Eben did not undo the sin of murdering his family, but it did provide an opportunity for Billy to choose protection of loved ones, a task in which he had previously failed.
Sheriff Eben Oleson
The second redemption is of Sheriff Eben Oleson. Upon seeing Billy and others turn into vampires, he understands the human part of them stays for a little while before the transformation is complete. Eben decides to infect himself with vampire blood. In doing so, he is able to gain their supernatural powers and make his blood undesirable to the remaining vampires.
After saving his wife and killing the leader of the vampires, Eben is left with a choice. Does he go the way of the vampire or end his life like Billy? He decides for his last act to be one for the purpose of good. He decides to protect others from himself. Eben and his wife go to the icy shores and wait for the sunrise. As the sun rises, his skin chars, peels away, and the ashes float into the sky.
Obedient Unto Death
The story of Billy calls to mind the power of an effective testimony.
Let’s say you struggle with lust. It’s only a struggle if you recognize it as unhealthy, but you repeatedly choose to act on your lustful desires. If someone were to approach you, who did not have the same struggle, and say, “Hey, you shouldn’t do that. Just don’t be controlled by lust.” Their message would fall on deaf ears or move you to anger or guilt.
Alternatively, let’s say someone who also struggles with lust approached you and said, “I too share this curse. I’ve made decisions which fed this appetite and it is tearing me apart. I’ve seen the hurt that I’ve caused…the life that I’ve stolen from myself and others. But, I know each opportunity presents a new choice. Walk with me and we can do this together.” You are more likely to listen to the words of this second person.
The second person arrived at a redemptive state due to his recognition of the Truth. He underwent a symbolic death by choosing not to act on lust. He acknowledged that his ways were not the best ways. He was discerning in his choices of the past and resolved to choose more wisely in the future. He would then use this knowledge to help others.
Billy chose what he knew was wrong. Eben showed him compassion by saving him. Billy used this compassion later to help save the group from an attack.
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. - Deuteronomy 4:9 NIV
In this sense, the redemption of the vampire is using the experience of your decisions for the betterment of others. Teach the next generation about your struggles and how God helped you overcome them. To speak of Truth out of wisdom and lead others to Life, that’s where the redemption is held.
The end of Kierkegaard’s quote is this:
What the age needs is awakening. And therefore someday, not only my writings but my whole life, all the intriguing mystery of the machine will be studied and studied. I never forget how God helps me and it is therefore my last wish that everything may be to his honour.
The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard (20 November 1847)[1]
To choose Life means choosing that which honors God–that which is true and good. Unfortunately, this path is difficult in the physical realm. Since you are a physical body, temptations can be loud. This makes it challenging to listen to the Spirit. You have to choose a symbolic death each time an opportunity arises. You have to choose to actively listen to the Spirit and quiet the impulses of your body.
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. - John 3:19-21 NIV
Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. -Micah 7:8 NIV
Complete redemption happens on a spiritual level. When you finally escape the physical bonds of fleshly desires it is akin to Sheriff Eben Oleson welcoming the light of the sun. Just as the sun burns away every part of the vampire, the Son offers redemption for those who step into his light.
You will struggle in this life, but regardless, you should try to choose Life at every turn. [3] By trying to redeem past decisions, you will live a life which honors God.
Redemption from a Lycanthropic Curse
There are some desires that you do not actively choose, but are rather instilled in you. They are a part of you even before you decide to act on them. How do you cope with these desires?
Where Good exists, a natural reaction for Evil is to destroy it. They are polarized forces, pulling to opposite ends. They cannot occupy the same space at the same time. When bound within flesh, one or the other will prevail. Will you walk as a man or will the beast claw its way through?
In popular culture, a common conflict in the werewolf story is the destruction of the beast while being conscious of the human component. How do you destroy a part of that which shares a vessel? That part of the vessel has to be redeemed. It has to be made whole.
A definition for redemption is, “the act of making something better or more acceptable.” In the scope of Christianity it is, “the act of saving people from sin and evil”.[4] While you can strive to make your actions better or more acceptable on earth, you can’t be truly safe from evil as long as you exist within the same realm as evil. For a werewolf, the full moon will always rise.
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. -1 Peter 5:8-9 NIV
As mentioned before, true redemption can only be accomplished when a man is taken away from his flesh. The best a lycanthrope can do in the physical realm is to be constantly vigilant and to consider his ways–to be aware of the prowling beast. Although, when the beast prowls within him, sometimes these methods are simply not enough. When the full moon rises, the beast takes over. The temptation attacks and the beast claws at the inside of his flesh compelling him to give in and let it out. Like an attack of a beast, there is no time to think; there is only reaction and instinct. What you have practiced before will be what is put into practice now.
Understanding Your Actions
Paul understood the battle raging within us. His thoughts are recorded in Romans:
For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled and bewildered by them]. I do not practice what I want to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate [and yielding to my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity]. Now if I habitually do what I do not want to do, [that means] I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good (morally excellent). So now [if that is the case, then] it is no longer I who do it [the disobedient thing which I despise], but the sin [nature] which lives in me. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh [my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity]. For the willingness [to do good] is present in me, but the doing of good is not. For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want to do, I am no longer the one doing it [that is, it is not me that acts], but the sin [nature] which lives in me. - Romans 7:15-20 AMP
When are you You, but not You? When you are doing things that you do not want to do. At what point are you You vs your sin nature? How much of your sin nature makes up the essence of who you are? Does anyone have the ability to truly change themselves?
The School for Scoundrels is a comedy movie wherein, Dr. P asks if any of his students owns a self-help book. After the majority of the class admits to owning one, he promptly informs them, “Well, that’s your first problem! You can’t help yourself because your Self sucks!”[5]
It is painful and difficult to work through a temptation without giving in. So, many don’t make it through. They do not put up a fight. They end up embracing the beast. They make it a part of them.
Do you have the self-control to wait out a full moon? When you embrace the curse and feed the appetite, now…how much of your essence is truly you. How much is your sin nature? The full moon sets. Your human form returns, but your heart yearns for the next night where you can run wild. If the Wolf is embraced, then where does the Wolf part of you end and the Human part of you start?
A Search for Truth
In the videogame, Assassin’s Creed, there is a maxim, “Nothing is true; everything is permitted.”[6] If this maxim were Truth, then what is to prevent all men from embracing the Wolf? If there is no ultimate Truth, then there is no objective basis for morality.[7]
While speaking to Jesus (before sentencing him to crucifixion) Pilate hid this Truth from himself:
So Pilate said to Him, “Then You are a King?” Jesus answered, “You say [correctly] that I am a King. This is why I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth [who is a friend of the truth and belongs to the truth] hears and listens carefully to My voice.” Pilate said to Him [scornfully], “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no guilt in Him [no crime, no cause for an accusation]. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. So shall I release for you the King of the Jews?” -John 18:37-39 AMP
What angered Pilate?
If there is an objective basis for morality and his actions do not fall in line with this Truth, then he would need to change his ways. His worldview would have completely shifted. He would’ve had to face the beast within. The same beast he had long embraced.
If you do not know Truth, then you will never be able to quell the beast. You need outside help. You cannot save yourself.
This is the redemption of the werewolf; he admits he is not in control and is measured by a higher standard than himself. No matter his childhood trauma, his upbringing, his habits, or addictions there is a better way. There is an objective standard to reflect.
Redemption from Fur and Fangs
There is a lot of overlap in the nature of these two beasts. With a man suffering from a lycanthropic curse, it is only a matter of time before he embraces the lies and commits a sin. A man facing a vampiric sin may let curiosity get the best of him. Afterward, he too will be struggling with a curse.
Between the vampire and the werewolf, the threat of committing the sins of the latter would be more difficult to combat. Once you are cursed, the true struggle begins.
The vampire requires a choice. You have to welcome him into your home and accept his gift of blood; whereas, the werewolf can attack at day or night, as long as the full moon is in the sky. You are in danger whether you are indoors or outdoors, as nothing is sacred to this beast. You can defend against a vampire’s attack by being discerning. The werewolf’s attack is thrust upon you. It takes more self-awareness and prep-work to be equipped for a werewolf’s attack.
The vampire’s redemption is in using his past choices to make good choices in the future. He can then share those experiences and give help to future generations. A vampire’s redemption is in showing the path to Life to others.
The werewolf’s redemption is in admitting he cannot save himself; that a part of him is uncontrollable. He must seek wisdom in a higher power. A werewolf’s redemption is in admitting he needs help.
I swear the earth shall surely be complete to him or her who shall be complete. The earth remains jagged and broken only to him or her who remains jagged and broken.
Walt Whitman[8]
After the curse is applied, there is still hope for redemption. You can still be made complete. How complete or jagged and broken you are will shape how you view the world. How you view the world will shape the choices that you make. The fine line which differentiates between a vampiric sin and a lycanthropic curse may dictate how you start on your redemptive journey. Do you seek help or do you give help? Did the sin occur first or were you already cursed? Sometimes it is difficult to determine just what kind of monster lives inside of you. You may not even remember where the curse started. In those cases, it’s best to attack the curse using both methods. Seek help. Give help.
Do you want to be redeemed?
References
- Kierkegaard, Søren. The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard. November 20, 1847. Journal Entries from Wikiquotes. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/S%C3%B8ren_Kierkegaard. November 2, 2021. (Paperback)
- 30 Days of Night. Dir. David Slade. 2007. Motion Picture.
- John 16:33
- Merriam-Webster Inc. Merriam-Webster. November 2, 2021. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/redemption.
- School for Scoundrels. Dir. Todd Phillips. 2006. Dimension Films. Motion Picture.
- Assassin’s Creed. Dir. Patrice Désilets. 2007. Ubisoft. Video Game.
- Craig, William Lane. “How do you know objective morality is based on God?” https://youtu.be/C5MtBGdG36g. March 7, 2010. (Audiobook) (Kindle) (Paperback)
- Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. “A Song of The Rolling Earth.” Brooklyn, New York. (Kindle) (Paperback)
Verses from the Bible linked to The Bible Gateway.
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In this Series
Part 1 – Symbolism of Vampires and Vampiric Sins
Part 2 – Symbolism of Werewolves and Lycanthropic Curses
Part 3 – Redemption from Vampiric Sins and Lycanthropic Curses
Nicholas B. Spurrier 
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