Can I get one for Astarion?
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Mirrors work by reflecting light. If the light isn't passing through the vampire from behind to hit the mirror, it cannot reflect it. If a vampire casts a shadow, this implies that light does not pass through them. For them to not reflect in a mirror, but still be able to see what is behind them, light would need to pass through their body, which would mean they also would not cast a shadow.
Right, I get what you're saying. So I guess you'd have to fall back on the lore... There's some that says they don't cast shadows, some that do, and if you consider Bram Stoker's Dracula, he's able to control his shadow.
Then I guess also the lore for why they don't have reflections comes into play? Either because the mirror is coated in silver, which destroys their reflection, or because the mirror reflects the soul, and vampires don't have souls.I dunno, I guess it all depends which mythos you want to follow and just how much you're willing to ignore basic physics.
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I thought all of their clothes disappear in mirrors, too. Or what about water that they're drinking...
Vampires drink blood, not water...
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Vampires drink blood, not water...
Surely, they must take in fluids besides blood, right? Otherwise they'd shrivel up!
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Pretty sure your eyes can't focus on anything that close. Nice try
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Tbf the silver is behind the layer of glass
Pretty sure they just poured silver nitrate over glass. You can still buy kits to do that to re-silver old mirrors for the original look. From what I can find, the layered ones were older, and they used tin and mercury which made breaking a mirror a rather unlucky event.
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Pretty sure your eyes can't focus on anything that close. Nice try
But you're not focusing on the mirror; you're focusing on the reflection 'behind' it.
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Mirrors now are chemically deposited silver to my knowledge.
Deposited on the back of the glass, then a protective layer applied on top. The amount of silver in that assembly is very low, and none is exposed, but the reflective component is the silver.Most use aluminium nowadays afaik.
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But you're not focusing on the mirror; you're focusing on the reflection 'behind' it.
i think it should be a concave mirror with a focal point on your retina for it to work
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Ummm... Because shadows aren't a solid mass. They're just where light isn't. So even in a case where a vampire casts a shadow, it wouldn't matter, mirrors still work in the dark.
mirrors still work in the dark.
I mean, do they? Mirrors reflect light. If there's no light then there's nothing for the mirror to do.
This is like saying a water wheel works without water. No it doesn't, it just sits there.
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Do vampires cast a shadow? Because if they cast a shadow, would they actually be able to see through themselves in a mirror, or would they just see a big void in the shape of their body as the light from behind them hits their body but not the mirror?
Idk about vampire lore but if they are invisible in mirror it means light passes through them undisturbed and therefore they shouldn't cast a shadow. But with the same logic they would be invisible altogether so it being exclusive to mirrors is a wild thing...
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i think it should be a concave mirror with a focal point on your retina for it to work
Nah, doesn't have to be. Just try putting a mirror very close to your eye, but angled sideways. You will be able to focus onto anything you want without issue. Because you aren't focussing at the mirror, but at the thing you look at.
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Pretty sure your eyes can't focus on anything that close. Nice try
Try it out. Take a mirror, put it very close to your eye but angled sideways, since you can obviously not look through your head.
You will have no issues at all focussing on what you are looking at, since you aren't looking at the mirror at all.
You can also try that while looking at yourself through a dirty mirror. You can either focus on the dirt on the mirror or on your face. You can't see both the dirt and your face in focus at the same time.
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Pretty sure your eyes can't focus on anything that close. Nice try
I had a pair of glasses that had mirrors on the far sides of them and they worked rather well.
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Mirrors work by reflecting light. If the light isn't passing through the vampire from behind to hit the mirror, it cannot reflect it. If a vampire casts a shadow, this implies that light does not pass through them. For them to not reflect in a mirror, but still be able to see what is behind them, light would need to pass through their body, which would mean they also would not cast a shadow.
We could say that vampires don’t have a material body and they just alter the wavelength of light that passes through them to project a living form towards the eyes of living observers. That way they could be visible without having a reflection.
Then they could give themselves a shadow by shifting the visible light from bright light sources into infrared or ultraviolet instead of blocking it as material objects do.
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Nah, doesn't have to be. Just try putting a mirror very close to your eye, but angled sideways. You will be able to focus onto anything you want without issue. Because you aren't focussing at the mirror, but at the thing you look at.
alright fair enough
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I'm nothing if not dangerously committed to incredibly bad science
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This belongs in What We Do In The Shadows.
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I'll keep this in mind if I ever become a vampire.
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Surely, they must take in fluids besides blood, right? Otherwise they'd shrivel up!
Blood is mostly water.
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Pretty sure they just poured silver nitrate over glass. You can still buy kits to do that to re-silver old mirrors for the original look. From what I can find, the layered ones were older, and they used tin and mercury which made breaking a mirror a rather unlucky event.
Huh, so 7 years bad luck was actually just heavy metal poisoning? Fascinating...
