Pride

Today's sin is Pride aka vanity, a desire to seem more important than others or, an extreme love of self.

Punishment in hell: Broken on the wheel

(which, yet again, I could do better. I mean wouldn't a better punishment be to get turned into whatever it is you feel so superior to? Or to be forced to look at yourself in the mirror and nothing else, forever. I really should be given some kind of administrative assistant gig in hell if I end up there.)

Demon in charge: Lucifer aka Satan - the top dog in hell, so this one is a biggie on the list. He's the one who wanted his throne on the highest cloud above earth, and so was punished with the whole underground thing.

Animal: Horse (damn prideful horses, up on their high...horses...)

Color: Violet, which is interesting because purple was a very difficult color to make in ancient times, so it was valued highly by aristocrats and royals. Who are PRIDEFUL. Get it?

Having pride is a good thing, but you can take it too far. On this special day, St. Patrick's Day, we can see great evidence of this. New York has Mr. Irish buttons guy:

There actually aren't many Irish enclaves in SoCal, but every pub in the area is already brimming with kids in green. And in my classes today, many people were, as they call it, "Irish for a day." I'm all for goofy cultural festivals, especially if they involve letting loose and having cocktails.

I've actually got some Irish in my background, but really, that's no feat, since I have about 20 different cultural groups in my background. Apparently Cuba was quite the melting pot since it was conquered by Spain. I've always wanted to get one of those DNA tests that can give you information about your background. They sell them on Ancestry.com and other genealogy sites. They give you a look at the migration of your DNA around the world. From family rumor and name origins, I've got connections to Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Italy, and Africa (nobody knows where specifically though). What if I get my map and it's just all covered with dots!? I'll be right where I started, only $350 poorer. Woo, working-class pride!

Dante conceived of pride as "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbor," and I bet you can probably attribute some of your all-time worst thoughts and actions to pride. Let's take Mr. Buttons guy, who has buttons that say Irish are #1. Why not just Irish are Awesome? Why you gotta make a list and put yourself up at the top, guy? Cultural pride is important, and especially in a country where assimilation is still considered the route to happiness, but loving your own doesn't mean hating everyone else. Unless, of course, you're a vampire.


Vampires are big on the whole superiority complex thing. Part of the reason Buffy had a stake in hand on the daily was that these guys and gals saw themselves as top of the food chain, humans being perhaps very chatty food. My favorite vampire saga, the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris (on which the TV show True Blood is based) explores the prideful vampire in detail. She creates a good estimation of our world, only one where vampires really exist and are no longer living in secret. They seem to feel that they are superior to humans, and to were-creatures (werewolves, were-panthers, shape-shifters), and at the same time have to lower themselves to campaign for rights in the human world. Even though they may create close friendships with humans, the vamps in the Sookieverse have a mantra, "vamps first."


Because they can live incredibly long (dead) lives in literature and film, vampires are presented as being or believing they are wiser, more cunning. And they've got all kinds of biological advantages like superior hearing, strength, sense of smell. They have some reasons to feel like they are superior to humans, but they usually take that sense of superiority too far. As the old saying goes, "pride goeth before the fall."

In vampire movies and books, it's usually the very creatures they feel are so beneath them that cause their demise. Somewhat like Lucifer's story, they underestimate their foes and overestimate their power.

The original vampire of legend, Dracula, was also arrogant. He went to England (homeland of arrogant dudes in the 19th century) and his character challenged a number of British social conventions, namely sucking on ladies and walking around all superior and top-hatty despite having a foreign *gasp* accent.

Other arrogant prick vampires:

Interview with the Vampire's Lestat de Lioncort, who is the biggest brat of all time. ALL TIME.

Deacon Frost from the first Blade movie, who was all "I'm wearing a leather jacket and I don't care about being late for super secret vampire council meetings."


Dragonetti, Blade, who was probably the most pissed off about Deacon being late. He gets a double pride fail for feeling superior to Deacon, whose superiority complex propelled him to do insanely megalomaniac stuff.

Viktor, from Underworld who was so "vampires rule, werewolves drool" that he killed his own daughter for having relations with Lucien, one of the most awesome werewolves in film history.

I think amount of fabric and brocade/monograms in your environment are clear indicators that you have a bit too much pride.

Vampire council the Volturi, Twilight, each of them more arrogant than the next.

Sophie Anne LeClerc, True Blood, who is doing well on the show, but in the books, well, she get cut off at the knees. Literally.

Danica Talos, Blade III which I own and Matt seems to like best of all the Blade movies (a travesty), but she truly does shine as the villain here. She totally outclasses the supposed big bad of the movie, Dracula.