If you look at vampires from the perspective that they are undead creatures of the night then does it make sense that a stake kills them? I don't think it would kill them only hurt them and severely piss them off. The reason for this is that their bodies are dead therefore their organs don't work at all except for the brain that somehow still manages to function. Which makes them have no pulse and blood flow is not a necessity for them to survive. So why would staking them in the heart cause them to die? It doesn't make any sense because vampires aren't allergic to wood. For instance in Angel he kills other vampires with a wooden stake but holds it in his bare hand and it doesn't burn him at all. However I could see where a stake could kill them if it was made of silver because vampires are actually allergic to silver. Just touching it will cause their skin to burn and blister so being staked in any part of their body even the heart would kill them like in Blade. I really just don't understand is it the destuction of the heart that kills the vampire or is it the allergic reaction to the wood and silver that kills them. Someone with more intelligence please help me out here because I am completely confused.

I think, though I'm not absolutely sure, that the wood is dangerous to vampires because wood in my cultures is a symbol of life. And the vampire, being the symbol of death, will be defeated by it. It is a good versus evil thing. In many myths it has to be a certain type of wood, can't recall exactly which, and it has to be sharpened and hardened in a fire. Fire is, as we know from the sunlight theory, is also bad for vampires...

But it is still an excellent point, what difference would it make to damage the heart of a creature with no pulse?

Well, I think it's back to the old "Heart as a mystical item" theory again. The Heart is seen in many cultures, as holding the essence of life. So if you stake the heart, it's a symbolic act: you are striking in the most vulnerable area, and also 'pinning' down that person's essence.

In eastern europe they used to stake corpses they suspected were walking dead. Excactly where the stake was driven in seems to have made little difference, the important thing was to literary nail the body to the ground, to prevent it from rising.

I've wondered about that too.

I guess some organs, like the brain still work. It might be in a different way than in it's human form, but it must still function in some way for the vampire to be able to do anything.

The heart still controls the blood, though without the pulse. If vampires can have sex, they'll need the heart to work. It's still an important part.

Though why only a wooden stake would kill the vampire, I don't know. Maybe it is all just symbolic.

Well I think if they want to have sx the they can use their dark gift of telekinesis to make their blood flow wth their mind power just bythinking it and the when the sex is over they can telekinetically make it flow back where it was originally.

there is a contraversy over whether vampires have a heartbeat and must breathe, for there have been several books I have read were they do indeed need to, but then there are more that suggests otherwise... I believe anything that destroys the heart may kill them... whether it be a blade, explosive round from a gun, or the ever common stake. Injecting silver nitrate into them probably wouldn't be very good for them either...

Well. I believe that a vampire's heart doesn't work- it just lays there.

But yeah- the stake, or wood in general, is a sign of life. The vampire is dead, and his heart is inactive. (Once again with the whole heart is a location of life and whanot.) By driving the stake (symbol of life) into the heart (a no-longer-working factor of life) I think the stake sort of jump starts heart. (not the actual muscle- just the spiritual part of it) and then the vampire's body dies.

Or if the heart does pump in vampires, a stake in the heart would not only hurt them from injurying that organ, but by allowing all the blood to pass by the wood. (vamp's blood = death, stake = wood = life. combination unstable.)

BUT as my "The Complete Vampire's Companion" book says:
(under ways to kill a vampire)

Thats what many books say, it pins the vampire's body long enough to allow the imprisoned soul to escape... a body that imprisons its own soul, how sweet

ok, i have researhced this pretty throughly and i think i kmow the answer to this. early cultures, as has already been said, beleived that the act of staking a vampire pinned them to the ground and imprisoned their body in the earth. later cultures beleived that, after the initial staking the head had to be cut off and buried seperately. later on, this process was simplified to only the staking being necessary for destruction. Victorian vampire authors, not fully understanding the nature of the vampires, helped spread this belief. the Victorian vampire stories have helped to shape our modern idea of the vampire. and that is why people now think that all you need to do to kill a vampire is impale them throught the heart on a sharp stake.

::Agreeing with Hallow::

Im divided on this one, although if the stake does kill vampires then wouldn't they just put a metal plate under their skin in front and behind of their heart so that a wooden stake couldnt penetrate it?

That would be the smart thing to do...but how excactly would you go about inserting a metal plate in your own body? And in the back too, even, that has to be tricky... Unless you get to the point where you embrace a surgeon.

I am legend ( damn good book if I've ever read one) said that germ are what made vamps and exposer to air makes em decompse at a rapide rate.

not sure if someone said this already but i would like to refer to the theory of dracula being Judas Iscariot.... and the cross of Jesus.... I've read legends, and heard stories and came across through research etc, that in some beliefs, the vampire can only be vanquished (in the case of a stake) by a stake made from the same type of wood used in the construction of christs cross

anyways, my two cents