BSV Forum - General - The Bloodshedpub

I was wondering

Nov 11 2006 12:10 am   #1GoldenBuffy

about garlic. I mean Spike eats food. But a lot of things contain garlic, like hot wings (well the way I make them), pizza, pasta dishes, etc. So in the Buffyverse, does garlic not kill vamps? This is starting to hurt my head, did I miss something? lol

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 11 2006 12:15 am   #2Always_jbj

*giggles* Doesn't seem to... but then Spike isn't your average vamp. Maybe it would make Angel's head explode? Oh... that would be fun to see.

Aim from the heart
Some will love and some will curse you, baby
You can go to war
But only if you have to 


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Nov 11 2006 12:20 am   #3GoldenBuffy

*giggles* yes, that would be fun to see!

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 11 2006 01:18 am   #4slaymesoftly

LOL - well, in one episode, Buffy surrounded herself with garlic - which is the only time I can remember it being mentioned as a deterrent on the show. I've seen a lot of fics where Spike just explains it away as being an old wive's tale, or something that doesn't taste good to most vamps but doesn't hurt them.  I don't know that garlic is supposed to be fatal to vamps - just something to avoid - so being the contrary guy that he is, Spike just does his own thing, I guess. :)

I am not a minion of Evil...
I am upper management.
Nov 11 2006 01:23 am   #5GoldenBuffy

That makes sense, Spike would eat it. In Darcula, Blade, and Underworld garlic is fatal. It dissolves the vamp from the inside out. *ouch*  Now my brain is hurting less,lol.

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 11 2006 01:28 am   #6Diabola

Personally I've always liked the reasoning that it is all about the smell. Garlic has a very distinctive smell, and with vampires supposed to have a much stronger sense of smell than humans, it would make sense that they're not too found of it. A bit of garlic in a dip or on a pizza would hardly be much of a problem, especially since vamps don't HAVE to breathe. But decorating a room with the stuff, like Buffy did in S6, now that I could imagine making a vamp think twice about spending time there. Also, since Spike doesn't exactly stay silent for long, he'd have to breath while in that room (had he shown up), as it is hard to talk without taking in air first.

Of course, there is also the possibility that Buffy was just acting like a crazy person when she redecorated her room with food. She didn't appear all that sane for most of S6, so who knows. Garlic might simply not be something that bothers the vamps in the Jossverse.

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits." - Albert Einstein
Nov 11 2006 01:35 am   #7GoldenBuffy

rofl,

crazy buffy s6.  but didn't see do the samething in s2 when angel lost his soul? i think i remember she and willow sitting on her bed and the room covered with garlic. i think i watch to many vamp movies,lol.

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 11 2006 01:40 am   #8Diabola

Was there garlic? I either missed that or forgot about it. Didn't that have to do with the uninvite spell? It just doesn't make sense that it would have much effect, since they would have had many situations where they could have used it if that was the case.

You know what? Maybe it's simply that Buffy too, watched too many vamp movies. LOL Maybe while none of Giles' books or teachings ever mentioned garlic, every time she was really scared she pulled out the Hollywood bag-of-tricks.

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits." - Albert Einstein
Nov 11 2006 01:58 am   #9slaymesoftly

I've always figured that the garlic thing went into the lore because it does have a deterrent effect on bloodsucking insects.  Fleas and ticks will avoid dogs that eat a lot of garlic. (also, B vitamins found in brewers yeast work, but you never hear of chasing off vampires with Brewer's yeast. lol)


I am not a minion of Evil...
I am upper management.
Nov 11 2006 03:09 am   #10CopyKween

Yep...she had galic draped all over her room, and I'm pretty sure he laughed at her for it, but not positive about that last bit. 

Guess I'll just have to take one for the team and watch again.  *snicker*

Nov 11 2006 04:45 am   #11Blood Faerie

I thought in some fics or whatnot I had seen them say he liked the faint burning he got from eating the hotwings or whatever. I think we even brought that up at Writercon, lol, that and everywhere seems to say Drusilla was sick from garlic poisoning by the mob in Prague. I could never figure out if that was canon from one of the books or just fanon that made it on to like everywhere website I've been to.

Unfortunately, we had big vampires in the next room, and I didn't think they'd wait while we had hot monkey sex. ~Cerulean Sins :: (Anita to Jean-Claude)“Is there anything your bloodline does that doesn’t involve getting naked?" ~Danse Macabre :: I’m dating three men, living with two more, and having occasional sex with two others. That’s seven men. I’m like a pornographic Snow White. I think seven is plenty. ~Danse Macabre
Nov 11 2006 05:12 am   #12GoldenBuffy

Yeah, did Dru get sick from garlic in Pruge, or is that fanon? See, getting confused even more, never good. *sigh* lol.

Buffy falls back on good ol Hollywood too, and she's the Slayer, hee hee hee. Well I guess we'll never get to the root of the garlic mystery. O rmaybe we have kinda, and I just missed it cause I'm sleepy.

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 11 2006 05:30 am   #13Guest
If Buffy had ever read her slayer hand book we would all know if Garlic worked or not. (Has anyone actually come up with a slayer handbook??) Randi Giles
Nov 11 2006 05:32 am   #14Blood Faerie

Yes, they sell a book thats s'posed to be a slayer handbook of sorts, I believe. You can find it at Amazon.com

Unfortunately, we had big vampires in the next room, and I didn't think they'd wait while we had hot monkey sex. ~Cerulean Sins :: (Anita to Jean-Claude)“Is there anything your bloodline does that doesn’t involve getting naked?" ~Danse Macabre :: I’m dating three men, living with two more, and having occasional sex with two others. That’s seven men. I’m like a pornographic Snow White. I think seven is plenty. ~Danse Macabre
Nov 11 2006 06:16 am   #15weyrwolfen

If you count Tales of the Vampires as canon, then Dru was ill because of some magic-amped torture, not garlic.

 

On the other hand, I swear I remember Buffy opening her weapons chest early in season 1 and there was garlic in with her stakes and holy water.  No idea what that was all about, especially with the other examples listed above.  Maybe this is one of those "Angel is Spike's sire... oh wait, just kidding" things.

Nov 11 2006 07:12 am   #16GoldenBuffy

I found pics. See the garlic? lol

 

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 11 2006 09:37 am   #17ZoeGrace

LMAO @ "Angel is Spike's sire... oh wait, just kidding" 

also LMAO @ Of course, there is also the possibility that Buffy was just acting like a crazy person when she redecorated her room with food

You guys crack me up!

Nov 11 2006 02:05 pm   #18msclawdia

I'm one of those writers who put it in my fic.  I decided it loses potency when cooked, hence Spike's ability to eat buffalo wings and whatnot.


Nov 11 2006 03:15 pm   #19weyrwolfen

I treat it like a vampiric food allergy, and Spike just happens to have a very minor reaction.  Little extra burn for his hot wings buck, but that's all.

Nov 11 2006 06:27 pm   #20Niamh

The "legend" of why vampires don't like garlic comes from the practice of cutting off of the head and stuffing the body with garlic to prevent the person from rising from the grave.  Nothing I've ever read (and I've done it extensively on the subject) historically says otherwise -- and I'm not talking about fiction.  Fiction is different.  I'm talking about historic accounts of burial practices and how to keep bodies from rising again.  Garlic has always been considered magical -- mainly because it can be used in so many ways.  It's used in everything from poultices to cooking, so magical properties abound, and almost all of the garlic plant can be used.

Fictionally speaking, I'm not even sure Bram Stoker used garlic as a deterrent.

Nov 11 2006 08:18 pm   #21GoldenBuffy

Found this: link

 

In Dracula, van Helsing uses garlic to protect Lucy by placing it in her room and around her neck:

We went into the room, taking the [garlic] with us. The Professor's actions were certainly odd and not to be found in any pharmacopeia that I ever heard of. First he fastened up the windows and latched them securely. Next, taking a handful of the flowers, he rubbed them all over the sashes, as though to ensure that every whiff of air that might get in would be laden with the garlic smell. Then with the wisp he rubbed all over the jamb of the door, above, below, and at each side, and round the fireplace in the same way.
It all seemed grotesque to me, and presently I said, "Well, Professor, I know you always have a reason for what you do, but this certainly puzzles me. It is well we have no sceptic here, or he would say that you were working some spell to keep out an evil spirit."

"Perhaps I am!" He answered quietly as he began to make the wreath which Lucy was to wear round her neck.

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 11 2006 08:30 pm   #22slaymesoftly

aha - so it has been there from the get-go (so to speak). It would be fascinating (in an I-don't-have-enough-to-do-with-my-time kind of way) to explore all the vampire and vampire-like creatures found in other cultures to see if garlic is ever mentioned. Or, if not vampires, if it is used to ward off other evil spirits. *wanders off muttering to self, "I really need to dust and vacuum..."*

I am not a minion of Evil...
I am upper management.
Nov 11 2006 11:29 pm   #23GoldenBuffy

I know want to search deeper on the garlic/evil thing, but first dinner. I need to eat,lol.

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 12 2006 03:26 am   #24Spikez_tart

If Bram Stoker says so, it must be true.  I'm having Spike eat some raw garlic in my next story because he thinks it toughens him up.  Or, just to irritate Buffy.  Whatever comes first.

If we want her to be exactly she'll never be exactly I know the only really real Buffy is really Buffy and she's gone' who?
Nov 12 2006 04:28 am   #25GoldenBuffy

ROFL, I this its safe to say both! To toughen and irritate,lol.

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 12 2006 04:46 am   #26Blood Faerie

Oh oh! And then he tries to get kissy on her! LoL

Unfortunately, we had big vampires in the next room, and I didn't think they'd wait while we had hot monkey sex. ~Cerulean Sins :: (Anita to Jean-Claude)“Is there anything your bloodline does that doesn’t involve getting naked?" ~Danse Macabre :: I’m dating three men, living with two more, and having occasional sex with two others. That’s seven men. I’m like a pornographic Snow White. I think seven is plenty. ~Danse Macabre
Nov 12 2006 02:33 pm   #27Guest

Spike pretty much like playing thing dangerously. Eating garlic in food then look how much he smokes when vampires are flammable, wow that vampire just likes playing the danger game....How much more dangerous can you get than sleeping with the current slayer....lol....

But then as everyone has said Our Spike is one exceptional Vampire....

Spike's Mrs

Nov 12 2006 06:52 pm   #28GoldenBuffy

Yes, flamable death by one's own hands,lol. I know, Buffy could have staked him in one of her "I'm better than you" mad dash after sex. Good thing that never happened,lol.

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 17 2006 03:17 pm   #29The Space Between

From my understanding was that it was an allergy type thing. I mean first there is the smell...and we all know what our breath smells like after ingesting it so with enhanced vampiric senses, our garlic breath would what? Be doubled thrice to a vamp?

But yeah, I asked about it once and it was explained to me in this way: "You know how a larger number of people of an Asian background are lactose intolerant (milk allergies)? Think of garlic as milk and vampires as Asian. Some allergies will be more severe in some than they are in others and in a smaller percent, fatal."

I kinda looked at it similar to how allergies are treated sometimes. Someone with a moderate/slight allergey can overcome it by being exposed to it in smaller controlled doeses. Spike loves spicy/hot foods which most likely contain small amounts of garlic and has been eating food for the better part of acentury. Not to mention all of the Italian and West Indian people he ate that ingest garlic as a regular part of their diet almost. I'd say if he had an allergy, he's pretty much overcome it. And let's face it, most vampires don't bother eating human food. They exist on blood with dalliances in booze (or so a great number of vamps do on BtVS) so anything they know about garlic was probably never researched because they really didn't care. There are a TON of 'cures' that were used back in the day that have been found to be nothing more than an old wives tale.

I certianly wouldnt want too go back to using leeches to cure everything O.o

~*~ The Powers offer no sympathy for the way things are...Human deeds are left in human hands. It's what one does with what's left that makes any difference ~*~ Jenny Calander as created by HollyDB
Nov 17 2006 08:47 pm   #30GoldenBuffy

Well, if Spike got a hold of my food before he cured himself, he'd be dust ROFL. I LOVE garlic, and use it in everything, large amounts at that. But that asian thing, that's really good. I like it! Thanks for sharing it.

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 18 2006 12:27 am   #31The Space Between

I'm the same way Goldie^^ Garlic goes in everything...unless its a dessert.

But yet, there's a reference to the Asian lactose allergy thing towards the end of the show where Giles brings in the Cantonese girl and tries to give her warm milk and she looked at him like he was retarded. I think the subtext she was like "Milk?!? Umm...are you trying to kill me?!?" and then she ran off up the stairs.

But yeah, to my understanding, a large percentage of Asians (roughly 80-90%) have an allergy to some extent or another with lactose since they consume little to no dairy. I think its the same with Native Americans--I'm half and yes I do have a slight allergy to milk. I cant eat some cheeses and puddings and milk itself will have me doubled up. Skim milk is ok as long as its not too much and cheeses like swiss, mozzarella and provologne are tolerable in small doses which kinda sucks cause I loves me some Italian food so I have to use ricotta and mozzarella and provologne made with skim milk. No more snacking on cheddar for me though...will make me cry.

Anyhoo...I think people of and Afrian American or Hispanic descent have higher percentages of lactose intolerance as well considering their ancestors didn't consume much dairy either so the genes didn't pass down or something to that extent. I'll check my records later. I'm too wonky right now to make much sense.

~*~ The Powers offer no sympathy for the way things are...Human deeds are left in human hands. It's what one does with what's left that makes any difference ~*~ Jenny Calander as created by HollyDB
Nov 18 2006 12:48 am   #32GoldenBuffy

My mom has lactose allergy too. So she's all with the soy. *blech* But she'll eat pizza and ice cream once in a blue moon, but she gets sick after wards. I feel bad for her. As for me, I don't have a problem with any of it,lol. But I'm hoping as I age that doesn't change. No more pizza, mac-n-cheese, all the good stuff, lol.

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 18 2006 04:53 am   #33Guest

There is a difference between a milk allergy, and lactose intolerance, actually. Lactose intolerance means that the gene controlling the release of the enzyme lactase has shut off, so you no longer have the enzymes to break down lactose, which is the milk sugar. With the allergy, a person typically gets hives, vomiting, swelling of the throat - the typical reactions one would have to other allergens.

Lactose intolerance is easy to treat with lactase pills so you can still eat dairy. The allergy means you're just stuck.

CM

Nov 18 2006 06:12 am   #34GoldenBuffy

Umm, that souldn't like my mom when she eats anything pork or containing pork. She starts iching, and her nose swells, she start coughing and stuff. Some times she gets dizzy.

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 18 2006 03:52 pm   #35The Space Between

Allergy is more of an umbrella term since symptoms range in varying degress of severity.

It boils down to the same thing though: a sensitivity to one or more compounds.

With me, my intolerance didn't come until later on. After I gave birth to my second child, all of a sudden that big glass of chocolate milk would have me doubled over crying with cramps and crazy insane bloating. I switched from 2% to Skim and the reaction is a lot less.

The one main allergy that I do have that is non-negotiable is avocado. I am severely allergic and prone to anaphylaxis--rash, nose runs like a sieve, my face and tongue swell to alarming proportions not to mention the dropping of my blood pressure and difficulty breathing. So not a pretty sight.

The odd thing is, I've used products containing avocado oil and nothing to show for it but shiny hair or softer skin. The doc told me that in severe allergies such as mine, that is pretty uncommon and his theory is that whatever compound it is that I'm allergic to, its pretty much dependant of ingestion to cause the reaction.

Regardless, I still try to avoid using anything, especially ingesting anything, that has any kind of avocado anything.

~*~ The Powers offer no sympathy for the way things are...Human deeds are left in human hands. It's what one does with what's left that makes any difference ~*~ Jenny Calander as created by HollyDB
Nov 18 2006 03:53 pm   #36The Space Between

And eeeep! I so did not mean to hijack the thread! :(

~*~ The Powers offer no sympathy for the way things are...Human deeds are left in human hands. It's what one does with what's left that makes any difference ~*~ Jenny Calander as created by HollyDB
Nov 18 2006 05:00 pm   #37Guest

Space, my mother's like that with fish, especially shellfish. Near instant death.

Yep, that's how LI happens...one day, that gene just shuts off, like a switch. Had a big ol' discussion about it in my college biology class. The trick one day will be figuring out how to turn it back on!

So, garlic...they make a good use of the garlic allergy in the Spike: Soul Survivor series. Concentrated garlic darts to disorient vamps...pretty cool.

Nov 18 2006 07:55 pm   #38GoldenBuffy

My mom is also allergic to mangos. It's not bad, she just starts itching and turns a pretty shade of red. But she still eats them. *sigh*

Soul Survuvor huh? Not huh huh in I don't know, but in It's good, huh? lol

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 18 2006 10:01 pm   #39Guest

Definitely a good series. It just takes them quite a while with updates now.

Nov 18 2006 11:55 pm   #40GoldenBuffy

You know what? I used to have the link, started reading last year. Could you please give it to me,lol. I would like to start reading it once more.

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 19 2006 05:23 am   #41Guest

 http://www.newsgarden.org/soulsurvivor/ss.shtml

Caro Mio

Nov 20 2006 09:17 am   #42GoldenBuffy

Thank you!

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along