One of the many archetypes that are postulated by Swiss philosopher Carl Jung, the Shadow is important in my distinction of what a vampire is. In short, the Shadow archetype is a character or being in a story that reflects the darker parts of either the protagonist or the society/culture they are in. And more importantly, the Shadow is something that is feared, either to be seen or talked about. To me, vampires are the most human form of the Shadow, because they come from a very human origin. the Shadow can represent anything from sex to social hierarchies to whole system structures like capitalism or dictatorship, but it can also be a difficult thing to talk about like identity or historical events.