I know anon asked me to write about Marius’ turning, and I absolutely will get into that properly when I am not falling asleep sitting upright. But there is one detail about his turning that has always bothered me.
Now before I get into this, let me say, I love Marius regardless of his hair. I’m sapiosexual. I like his brain. But his hair has caused quite a stir as of late.
Throughout The Vampire Chronicles, there is some inconsistency around the length of Marius’ hair. Later on, of course, he is famously described with long blond hair, because apparently immortality comes with a compulsory Pre-Raphaelite makeover. But if we are talking about the actual moment he was turned, the timeline becomes a bit suspicious.
Historically speaking, Marius was turned around 10 CE, placing him in the early first century CE during the reign of Augustus. For a Roman man of his class and status, especially one raised in an elite environment, the expected hairstyle would not have been long, flowing hair down his back. It would have been short, commonly worn at or above the ear. Elite Roman male portraiture from the Augustan period tends to show men as clean-shaven, with neatly arranged short hair, often brushed forward into controlled locks over the forehead. Augustus himself is repeatedly represented with short, carefully ordered hair, including those distinctive forked or comma-shaped locks on the brow.
A high-born Roman man was not wandering about looking like he had been raised by woodland deer. Grooming communicated civilisation, self-control, and class. Long, unmanaged hair could easily signal foreignness, mourning, neglect, or barbarism.
Now, yes, Marius was travelling when Mael took him. We can allow for some practical disruption. Maybe his hair was not freshly barbered. Maybe he looked a little more unkempt than usual. Maybe he had been on the road long enough to resemble “a man who has slept badly in several provinces.” Fair enough. But Romans did travel with grooming tools. Combs, razors, tweezers, oil flasks, and other toiletry items are well attested archaeologically across the Roman world. Grooming was not something they simply abandoned the moment they went on holiday. A wealthy, educated Roman man on the road would not automatically become a feral cave prophet after three inconvenient weeks without his favourite barber.
And then we get to the biological issue.
Canon says Marius was taken by Mael in the summer and held captive until the eve of Samhain, when he was turned. At absolute maximum, we are talking about roughly five months. Maybe six.
Human scalp hair grows at an average rate of about half an inch a month. Some people grow hair a little faster, some slower, depending on genetics, age, health, nutrition, and the hair’s growth cycle. But generally speaking, we are looking at three inches of new growth over six months. Maybe three and a half, if we are feeling generous and the gods of follicular drama are smiling upon him.
t could grow over his ears. It could curl at the nape. It could lose the tidy, controlled shape expected of a Roman aristocrat. It could absolutely look wild compared with his usual grooming standards. But getting from a typical elite Roman haircut, or even a slightly shaggy travelling version of one, to hair cascading down his back? No. Impossible.
No hair trailing halfway down his spine like my own! No glossy immortal curtain of blond tragedy. No “sir, your conditioner budget must be astronomical.” Shoulder-length, or very slightly past the shoulders, as Marius describes in The Vampire Lestat when recounting his transformation? Fine. I can work with that.
Personally, I think the most generous reading is that his hair was already on the longer side for a Roman aristocrat when Mael captured him. Not long-long, but perhaps grown out more than usual because he was travelling, away from his usual routines, and not maintaining the perfectly barbered standards expected of him. Then, after several months of captivity, with no proper grooming, no barber, no Roman toiletries, and no control over his own body or presentation, it grew enough to reach his shoulders.
So, shoulder-length? Yes. I can accept that.
Down his back? Unless Mael was feeding him enchanted rosemary oil and whispering growth spells into his scalp, the follicles simply did not have the time.
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