Soucriant

Eleanor, a soucriant.

A soucraint, also called soucouyant or loogaroo, is a type of vampire witch from Caribbean folklore who is said to live as an old woman during the day but to slough off her skin and turn into a fireball at night in order to fly through the air and sneak into the houses of sleeping individuals in order to suck their blood.

Legend

The soucouyant that lives by day as an old woman at the end of the village. By night, however, she strips off her wrinkled skin, puts it in a mortar, and flies in the shape of a fireball through the darkness, looking for a victim. Still in the shape of a fireball, the soucouyant enters the home of her victim through the keyhole or any crack or crevice.

Soucouyants suck the blood of people from their arms, legs and other soft parts while they sleep. If the soucouyant draws out too much blood from her victim, it is believed that the victim will die and become a soucouyant herself, or else perish entirely, leaving her killer to assume her skin. The soucouyant practices witchcraft, voodoo, and black magic. Soucouyants trade the blood of their victims for evil powers with Bazil the demon who resides in the silk cotton tree. To expose a soucouyant, one should heap rice around the house or at the village cross roads as the creature will be obligated to gather every grain, grain by grain (an almost impossible task to do before dawn) thus being caught in the act. In order to destroy the soucouyant, coarse salt must be placed in the mortar containing the soucouyant's skin. She then cannot put the skin back on and will perish. The skin of the soucouyant is said to be very valuable, as it is used when practicing black magic.

Belief in soucoyants is still preserved to some extent in some Caribbean islands, including Dominica, St. Lucia, Haiti, and Trinidad.

Origin

Soucouyants belong to a class of spirits called jumbees. Some believe that soucouyants were brought to the Caribbean from European countries in the form of French vampire-myths. These beliefs intermingled with those of enslaved Africans.

In the French West Indies, specifically the island of Guadeloupe, the Soukougnan or Soukounian is a person able to shed his or her skin to turn into a vampiric fireball. In general these figures can be anyone, not only old women, although some affirm that only women could become Soukounian, because only female breasts could disguise the creature's wings.

The term "Loogaroo" also used to describe the soucouyant, possibly comes from the French mythological creature called the Loup-garou, a type of werewolf, and is common in the Culture of Mauritius.

Byzantium

In the context of the movie, the term 'soucriant' is used by Eleanor to refer to vampires.

Pre- Soucriant Transformation

Before the journey to the nameless island, one must already be prepared for death.

The Nameless Island

The Nameless Island is a location seen in the film. It is a

The entrance to the shrine.

shrine that has healing powers and is located in a cave on a barren island.

The ill person goes into the shrine and meets a 'nameless saint' that looks like him (or her). The doppelganger kills him/her. Hundreds of blackbirds (or possibly bats) emerge from the cave and the waterfalls on the hills flow red. Later, the newly-created vampire emerges, bloody but alive.

Powers/Abilities

• Immortality - Vampires are extremely healthy. They are stronger and faster than regular humans, with kenner senses, better agility and attractive features. They can regenerate and heal from all non fatal wounds, and are immune to all diseases. They cease to age after their transformation. The only way to kill a vampire immediately is through beheading.
• Sunlight - Although sunlight cannot hurt nor kill vampires, it is noted that it bothers them. Darvell once stated that he “prefers the dark”. Both Clara and Eleanor engaged in more nocturnal activities and had been seen resting during the day. It is unknown, but the Sun and daylight might weaken their supernatural abilities.
• Invitation - Vampires cannot enter private places without being invited first. Darvell and Savella were seen entering the Byzantium hotel without being invited, this can mean that vampires don’t need to be invited in private places inhabited by other vampires, or their walked in simply because the owner of the building was dead.
• <Telepathy - It is unknown, but theorized that vampires can sense people’s thoughts. Clara once stated that she “had eyes who cut through lies”. Eleanor could sense when an elderly person wanted to die. Werner could sense that a woman was lying and saw Clara.
• Claws - All Vampires have a retractable claw in their thumbnails to help them cut through their victim’s skin and feed on their blood.
• Blood Diet - Vampires can only sustain their bodies and their supernatural abilities with a diet based on fresh human blood. They don’t need to feed regularly like humans, but also cannot spend too much time without feeding. It is unknown if vampires can also feed on regular human food ,or use other animals as source for blood as none of the vampires in the film were seen feeding from anything else other than human blood after their transformation.

Vampires in the film

• Eleanor Webb
• Clara Webb
• Darvell
• Frank
• Savella
• Werner