In vampire mythology (and the Whedonverse), a vampire cannot enter a person’s home unless it has been invited. This is first seen in the Buffy episode 1.07 Angel:
Angel: “It’s all right. A vampire can’t come in unless it’s invited.”
There has been some debate as to whether Buffy actually invited Angel into her home in that episode, but she does quickly say to him, “Get in! C’mon!” as they’re being chased by vampires. When Angel first became a vampire he returned home to kill his family. From 1.15 The Prodigal:
Father: “Be gone, unclean thing! A demon can not enter a home where it’s not welcome. He must be invited!”
Angel: “That’s true. - But I was invited.”
Angel looks to the doorway. His father turns and sees Angel’s sister slumped against the wall.
Dad: “Och!”
Angel: “She thought I returned to her – an angel.”
A vampire can enter a public place such as a school or hospital (this is seen in 2.17 Passion and 2.18 Killed By Death). In 2.17 Passion Angel says the sign outside the school says ‘Romatia transicara edicatorum’ which translates to ‘Enter all ye who seek knowledge’. Vampires can also enter hotel rooms, which are considered public. In 2.09 The Trial, Angel says to Gunn after he has entered a motel room:
Angel: “Oh, Motel, public accommodation. She didn’t live here.”
Another vampire invitation rule is clarified in 5.02 Real Me: only someone who lives in a residence can invite a vampire in:
Xander: “Yeah, actually, she– Harmony– kind of happened to sort of get an invite.”
Buffy: “You guys can’t invite her in. I mean, only someone who lives here can…
If the owner of a house is dead, a vampire can enter. This is seen in 3.21 Graduation Day (Part One) when Angel enters the home of the dead Professor. It is also seen explicitly in 1.15 The Prodigal (Angel can only enter the home of Kate’s father after he has been killed) and in 2.04 Untouched (Angel enters when a victim on life support dies). In the latter example we see a visible barrier ripple when Angel tries to enter.
When a vampire is invited into a home once, it can enter again at any point, unless a reversal spell is done. The spell was first seen in 2.17 Passion, after Angel lost his soul and started stalking Buffy. The last words of the incantation (read by Willow at Buffy’s house) are “Hicce verbis consensus rescissus est,” which translates into English roughly as “By these words permission is rescinded.” Buffy uninvited Spike from her home in 5.14 Crush, Harmony was uninvited in 5.02 Real Me, and Dracula was uninvited in 5.01 Buffy Vs Dracula.
There have been several goofs/continuity errors concerning vampires and invitations in the Whedonverse:
- When Angel and Buffy are running from the Three in 1.07 Angel, they take refuge in Buffy’s house. As they close the door, one of the Three gets his arm through the door before Buffy forces him back out. But he was a vampire and also uninvited, so how did he get his arm in?
- A similar event occurs in 2.16 Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered - when Drusilla pushes Buffy’s door down, her hands go into the house - but Drusilla was never invited in.
- Angel says that he needs an invitation to enter Buffy’s dorm room in 4.20 The Yoko Factor, but Sunday and her gang didn’t need one in 4.01 The Freshman. This doesn’t count only for Buffy - the vamps are able to access Eddie’s room as well, and presumably they can get into the rooms of the other students they killed. How do they do that?
- In 1.17 Eternity, how can Angel jump through the window into Rebecca’s apartment to save her from the intruder? He was never invited in, and Rebecca only said to him to “Stop by”. Is this enough of an invitation?
- In 1.18 Five By Five, Faith is torturing Wesley in the apartment of the man she injured previously in the episode. When Angel finds them, he walks straight into the apartment… no invite needed. If Faith had killed the man, Angel would not have required an invitation. However, in 1.19 Sanctuary, the following dialogue is heard between Kate and a fellow officer:
Kate: “So do we think she is the one who threw the party here?”
Kendrick: “The guy who lives here identifies her as the woman who mugged him. Put him in the hospital, stole his keys, his wallet. We’re lifting prints now. My bet is - we get a match.”It’s apparent he is alive, therefore Angel should not have been able to enter his apartment. (It’s possible that Angel called the victim to ask permission to enter but this would be a very strange conversation indeed!)
- There is some confusion over who invited Spike back into the home he shared with his mother in 7.17 Lies My Parents Told Me, but this could have been a servant who lived there.
- In 5.15 A Hole In The World, Angel and Spike enter Lindsey and Eve’s residence without an invitation.
Related episodes: 1.07 Angel, 1.15 The Prodigal, 1.17 Eternity, 1.18 Five By Five, 2.04 Untouched, 2.09 The Trial, 2.16 Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered, 2.17 Passion, 2.18 Killed By Death, 3.21 Graduation Day (Part One), 4.01 The Freshman, 4.20 The Yoko Factor, 5.01 Buffy Vs Dracula, 5.02 Real Me, 5.14 Crush, 5.15 A Hole In The World, 7.17 Lies My Parents Told Me
Comments on this trivia
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Abby M. on July 16th, 2005 at 7:35 pm
You think everybody would have figured out by then that vamps could enter the school without a proper invite. Did none of them remember when the vamps were attacking the library in Prophecy Girl?
Saintsaucey on August 22nd, 2005 at 10:14 am
and in school hard
Abby M. on November 6th, 2005 at 5:14 pm
The subtitles for Passion say, “Formatia trans sicere educatorum”
superdinosaurboy on November 7th, 2005 at 12:38 am
Once again the curse of Buffy-Latin strikes again. Abby M’s emendation looks a lot more like real Latin, but neither of these phrases means anything.
StyrofoamBoulder on February 13th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
I agree. Bad Latin. Formatia isn’t in Lewis and Short, and neither is sicere, which looks like a verb. Trans and educatorum are indeed Latin, but the syntax is also problematic.
cyrax037 on July 6th, 2006 at 11:28 am
The exact translation of “Enter all ye who seek knowledge” to latin should be
Penetro totus ye quisnam peto scientia.
Abby M. on July 6th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
You speak latin? That’s cool.
Ebdim9th on July 6th, 2006 at 11:28 pm
I usually post in the forum-part but it’s down right now. Anybody know why? My Latin is non-existant, so I’ll have to take your word for it. In Room w/a vu there’s a bit in the commentary about giving Glenn Quinn a crash course in Latin pronunciation that’s kind a amusing coz it breaks it down so simply.
Jess on April 23rd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
I’ve combined all the vampire invitation related trivia here so it’s easier to discuss.
HarFang on April 23rd, 2008 at 7:11 pm
They only came into Eddie’s room after killing him, so that isn’t a goof.
As for Angel’s need of an invitation to enter his own home –hadn’t he just been thrown out and disowned by his father ? so technically it was not his home anymore ?
Maybe that explains why Spike didn’t need an invite : even though he had been turned, he was still welcome in.
And finally, is there any case where someone has several homes at the same time ? Because when Sunday and her gang come into the dorm room, Buffy is back in her house in Sunnydale, so maybe she temporarily stops considering the dorm room as “home”.
Jess on April 24th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Sorry, I should clarify - that’s not listed as a goof, just as invitation info…
Talmah on April 26th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
For buffy’s dorm room, perhaps vampires could enter because buffy is the only one to own the dorm room and because she is already dead in the season one final.
walkingblues on April 28th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I agree with Harfang about Spike returning home after Dru turned him, technically he still lived there. And with Buffy’s dorm, is it possible that her evil roommate invited one of Sunday’s gang in?
insaneinthebasement on April 28th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
The invitation rule has always been a bit fuzzy around the edges.
In the Angel episode 2.02 Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been, the shopkeeper, Denver, says: “I’m thinking very seriously about putting down my bedroll right here, so you bastards can’t just walk in here uninvited!” and that would suggest that all it takes is for someone to be living there no matter what kind of building it is. But then in 2.07 Darla, we see Spike coming out of a gypsy wagon after just eating the inhabitants. Surely that would be considered their home?
Meghann on May 18th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
I’ve always found it interesting how Angel needed an invite in Warzone. Gunn & everyone was squaking in the building and it stil required an invitation.
Angel: “Ask me in.”
Later….
Gunn: “Get everybody outside - into the daylight. Do it.”
Guy: “They are coming in? Don’t they have to be invited?”
Meghann on May 18th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
I’ve been curious is the Potentials could have invited a Vamp in when they were staying at Buffy’s. Because in The Girl In Question, Andrew is staying with Buffy and Dawn and can invite Angel & Spike:
ANDREW: Buffy and Dawn are letting me crash. My casa was incinerated when that thing happened.
SPIKE: What thing?
ANDREW: Cultural misunderstanding. Let us speak of more pleasant times. Entrate pure. I part my threshold.
insaneinthebasement on May 19th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I think the potentials would have been able to invite in a vampire, a trickier question, is would Spike have been able to?
HarFang on May 19th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Hem, from the amount of people now living in it, I think the Summers’ house in season 7 has become public accommodation !
Insaneinthebasement, I’m going to spend the next hours thinking about your puzzle, now ! The thing is, vampires don’t need to be invited into each other’s homes… and I doubt the case ever occurred before Spike (even Angel lived on his own in Sunnydale.)
Now, maybe Spike could invite people into the basement ! :D