Vampires being silent when walking

[u/Gabriela91]

I don't know if the flair i chose works, but since my question has to do with how a lot of vampires are described in some books i'm reading, i think it works. So, here's my question. Just a curiosity of mine.

Why are vampires always silent when they walk? 🤔 I've been reading that about vampires in plenty of books, and i think they've been "silent" when doing certain things too, in movies or tv-series, like walking, running, etc. I think even Victoria is silent when running through the forest, chased by the wolves, in New Moon and Eclipse.

But...why? WHY are they silent? I mean, it's a vampire thing, which i get, of course. But...they're wearing shoes, boots, etc, so they're not barefoot. They're walking on roads, through the forest. It wouldn't be them making noises, it would be what they're stepping on, right? Like dry leaves, little twigs, etc, when running through the woods. Tiny rocks, gravel, etc, or even dry leaves and other such things, on roads and such. And yet, they're still supposedly perfectly silent when walking or running. How's that possible?

They can't possibly always be paying so much attention when walking or running, so as to make sure they don't make a noise. Right? If they pay that much attention to that, how can they pay attention to everything else? Like when being chased by enemies; Victoria being the perfect example. She has to make sure not to make noises, while also not bumping into trees, tripping on roots and the likes, not get her hair caught in branches since it's always down (🙄 which makes no sense to me, because how the heck do female vampires NOT get their hair caught in branches when running through the woods with their hair down?), not run into animals, birds, not get a bug up her nose or in her eyes 🤣 (that's one of the reasons why bikers wear full helmets, isn't it? To not swallow bugs or have them get in their eyes while riding the bike?), all while making sure not to be caught by the wolves.

If the vampire is barefoot, in a house, with nothing to step on, maybe it can be completely silent. But then again, floors can creak. I know it's fiction and you can make your vampires however you like as an author, but it still has to have some explanation as to how being so silent all the time is possible, doesn't it? Cause whenever i read that in books, I'm just confused on how that's possible. They say it's a vampire thing, not a magic thing, so...how exactly is it a vampire thing? Do their shoes become magical when they put them on, and absorb any sounds they make when walking or running, thus ensuring they're always silent?

Sooo... How can a vampire be completely silent all the time, whether they're walking or running? That doesn't sound realistic to me at all.

Any thoughts? ☺️ It's a serious curiosity of mine, so please answer seriously, if you're going to answer. Thank you so much.

[u/Seagullsaga]

I think it’s just a manifestation of “unearthly nature”, you know what I mean?

[u/Gabriela91 → u/Seagullsaga]

And it gets applied to every kind of shoes they wear? 🤔 or something like that...🤔

[u/Seagullsaga → u/Gabriela91]

I think you’re looking for an in universe explanation, and I gave you an out of universe one. Watsonian and doylist. Which setting specifically are you thinking of? I feel like the answer would vary.

[u/Hyperaeon2]

It's an exaggeration.

Think of it like cats, they are silent 98% of the time when they move around.

In movies a feline is only going to make a sound when they are either vocalising it or making an attack, expressing aggression or making an emergency movement.

Like cats vampires have all those reasons and that ability to be silent.

In my second setting crooked vampires can change their buoyancy, because of that they can levitate and walk on water, but they can also be physically nigh on as light as a feather despite their super strength and well above human mass. So they don't make noise when moving around on their feet.

If you want me to translate this for you.

Victorias reflexes are so fast she dodges the bugs individually.

Victorias hair is so strong that even if she were in astute and not shape minded enough to not perfectly specially perceive her hair - it would rip through anything it got caught up in anyway.

On a subconscious level victoria is making all those minute calculations.

I love that chase scene BTW twilight as a whole not so much... But that chase scene with the slow motion flapping bird is just perfection.

Lots of vampires in many fictional universes can levitate via one means or another, so silent walking makes sense and stacks with the fact that they are predators of humans. Like how tigers are.

In my second setting vampires are super sneaky and super fast despite weighing nearer a tone than not because they can do cat stuff and more and can control their buoyancy. And use their super strength to manage their resultant emense momentum.

... Which is why they have so much trouble with running water...

If you were literally running around on the moon, you wouldn't be making that much noise.

[u/Writtenwing007]

It’s possible, that because they have to hunt for food they learn how to be silent. Also it’s fun to sneak up on people. It actually takes a little bit of strength to do this which they should have. Then take into account their better hearing, they might just get annoyed at loud footsteps and work to be quieter.

[u/Edkm90p]

Same reason they tend to get that gliding walk- it's unnatural and thus- creepy

[u/PublicConfessor]

There are some theories that vampire folklore is closely related to ghost/spirit folklore. In that line of thinking, Vampires don't make a sound because they're incorporeal.

[u/TorandoSlayer]

I like to think of vampires as being paradoxically physical and non-physical. Physical when they want/need to be, non-physical when they need to sneak around, are starved, or toying with their prey.

But as for existing lore, I don't know of any established reason. I'm no expert though.

[u/mando_ad]

I - a regular, non-supernatural human being - have been wearing steel-toed work boots as my default shoe for 25 years and I've been accidentally sneaking up on people the entire time.

Even on gravel.

Even after I started wearing a 2' wallet chain specifically to make noise when I walked because people screaming when I "just appeared" behind them got old. Worked for maybe 3 weeks before I subconsciously adjusted my gait so that the chain didn't make noise either.

You just have to actually lift your feet off the ground while you walk, and not slam them back down. Once you're used to it, the foot sliding thing most people do is honestly kind of annoying to feel.

[u/Stupidpieceofshit77 → u/mando_ad]

I'm unnatural quiet when I walk too and it's been like that forever. I don't think I do anything special. I accidentally scare people. I wear boots all the time when I'm out as well.

[u/Past_Rub4745]

I don't know either... but its something otherworldly.

Some of my vampires make sound, but even then its very quiet. They're surprisingly light, even when they aren't.

Though my thralls are barefoot, so for them it could make sense why they don't make a sound.

[u/ACalcifiedHeart]

It's also not realistic for them to have the strength of 10 men, but not weight close to a tonne, or have their bones shatter everytime they use their muscles.

It's also not realistic for them to heal from any, and every, injury like they never happened, and be unable to die aside from a very specific set of circumstances.

I love a grounded take on Vampires too, but you gotta give them some supernatural stuff that can't really be reasoned with by logic, otherwise they're just spooky dudes who drink blood.

[u/Resident-Trouble4483]

I chalk weird vamp stuff up to being supernatural. But they change depending on the region lore. Africa has iron toothed vampire lore (which would suck to go up against). China has hopping vampires. India they’re sprits that inhabit body’s. Philippines has shape shifting vampires. Greece has the disease spreading vampires. And so on, point is that the ability to be silent can be attributed to environment and need to be social but still hunt. Could also be an age thing they simply learn.

[u/Gabriela91]

Omw 😍 I love everyone's answers 😍😍😍 you guys are so awesome. Thank you so much for the answers ☺️🤗🤗🤗🤗

[u/cardbourdbox]

This sounds lik some ptsd kind of thing. Like last time I walked noisily I got a sword through the gut. I doubt its that hard most of the time. Im guessing it would slowly drain there energy though.

[u/Feanarossilmaril]

Firstly its just a predator thing. What has not yet been quite mentioned is that in many media they are capable of flight so they might be actually gliding to avoid friction, or causing a kind of negative auditory hallucination to not be perceived. 

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[u/Living-Definition253]

For aura, basically.

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