An aside…

Hi all. You probably already figured me out by now, given one of my earliest werewolf facts, but yeah, I am a vore person, and I want to talk to you about what vore is and why you probably have the entirely wrong idea about it. I don’t talk about vore because I don’t want to drive anyone away, but I feel like most people don’t really get what I mean when I say vore, and I want to try to do at least a little something about that.

So if you don’t know what vore is – whether you have already decided or not that you don’t like it/think it’s gross – I invite you to take a look at this post. Don’t worry, I won’t have any images of any kind! I promise it’s safe.

So if you think vore is disgusting, is cannibalism, involves death, is sexual, is only for furries, or any of the other preconceived notions, or even if you are just curious about what the heck this “vore” thing is (I assure you that you probably have the wrong idea), this post is for you.

If you don’t read this post, I, of course, will hold absolutely nothing against you, and I can promise I have no plans whatsoever to regularly bring up vore here (or probably bring it up ever again), but I encourage you to learn about it before deriding/teasing it like the rest of the internet at large.

I wrote this post for vore day, but I chickened out posting it, because genuinely enjoying vore on the internet is a very depressing, anxious, and even dehumanizing experience. So hopefully this will go okay.

Let’s get to it!

I mostly am using this to define to people what kind of vore I personally like and what I personally think vore is. I will not go into gratuitous detail about the many sundry kinds of vore out there (and probably scare you away), just what I personally like/enjoy and a few other things so you don’t get mixed up.

I love vore. It means a lot to me. Don’t ask me why. I’ve always been like this. I consider it an important part of my identity, and it always has been. When I was a kid, my favorite toys always involved opening mouths. I always liked stuffing things inside of other toys and saying they were eaten. I didn’t know there was a term for this weird obsession or that it was considered a “fetish” or of a sexual nature, because I don’t think of it that way at all. Never have, never will.

I just enjoy it and I enjoy the possibilities and meaning it can have. It fascinates me. I don’t enjoy it personally in the context of “I personally want to be eaten,” or “I enjoy it when characters are eaten by things in media,” I enjoy it as a character writer and storyteller and I enjoy vore as a concept and a trope, and I hate that it’s such a laughing stock on the internet at large – especially when vore has been a thing throughout human mythological and folkloric history! I’m clearly not the only one who’s ever been fascinated by/preoccupied with/obsessed with this concept.

As I said, this is just… how my brain works. I can’t turn this off. I always think through a vore lens, as it were. It makes sense to me, in my mind, and everything I think would sound completely ridiculous to everyone else.

So, for starters, what is vore?

The word “vore” comes from Latin “vorare,” or “to swallow.” It’s also where we get words like “carnivore” and “herbivore,” etc.

Vore is often defined as a fetish in which one character is eaten by another character, creature, or monster. That’s a horrible definition.

See how much potential there is there for misunderstanding? It’s massive! There’s so much! It’s crazy! I can see why people think it’s weird and freakish if they just approach it like that. You can make most anything sound terrible if you try to describe it poorly, and this is no exception. So here’s some clarity…

Vore comes in many different varieties – the most common meaning when someone refers to “vore” is a situation in which one character is swallowed whole and alive by another character.

So what is vore, to me?

Vore is when one character swallows another character for the purpose of protection, warmth, survival, to carry them, to heal them, etc., or even just to snuggle/cuddle them in the very closest way possible. It’s a matter of trust and a show of very close bonds. The character swallowing the other character (often referred to as the “predator”) is swallowing this other character (often referred to as the “prey”) in order to show their care for them. Sometimes it is done for a reason, as I said, but it can be simply an act of care and reassurance. Equate it with giving someone a hug – a very, very close hug. The closest hug imaginable.

(Please bear in mind this is, of course, written with my bias as to what I personally think of/love about vore. I know not everyone likes the same kinds of vore or for the same reasons, and the things I like about it are often belittled in vore communities, which is why I don’t interact with those. If you like any kind of vore and are reading this post, however, I’m not saying you are invalidated because of what I prefer!)

Here are some quick FAQs for a tl;dr:

Is vore specifically/exclusively a furry thing? No. I am an example of that. I do not consider myself a furry. The vore I enjoy most involves humans. Sometimes, though rarely, I can enjoy vore that involves something like a person who has turned into some kind of monster, but the creature in question is a human at heart and will turn back into a human at some point.
Is vore always fatal? No. There are subcategories of vore for that, but when someone generally say “vore,” they actually are referring specifically to a nonfatal type of vore.
Is vore always sexual? When presented as “vore,” it is being presented as a fetish, and yes it is thus sexual in that way. Is it always overtly sexual in nature? No. But the act is being perceived as sexual if it is under the context of being called “vore.” It doesn’t have to be sexual at all if it’s happening in a story for another reason, however. Regardless, children and anything being referred to as “vore” should never mix, as vore is still a sexual fetish at the end of the day.
Is vore cannibalism? No. No, no, and no. Cannibalism can be its own thing, but it is not the same thing as vore.
Is vore always malicious/intended to harm/one character attacking another? No. It definitely can be, but my favorite vore is done from a place of care. Think of it as a hug. Being as close to someone as anyone can possibly be. A character being sheltered, protected, and carried by another character who cares about them.
Is vore romantic? It can be, certainly! I find it quite romantic, even ridiculously so. However, is it always? No. It can be platonic, too.
Is vore micro/macro? It can be. Some people prefer things closer to the same size, some people like micro/macro, etc; it varies. Personally, I like very close-size vore best. The predator is bigger than the prey*, but the prey is still some form of human size. Definitely enjoy lots of kinds, though, so not writing the other ones off personally.
Does vore involve scat/defecating? No. Definitely not. That’s something else entirely. I personally cannot handle anything related to scat, so – no.
Does vore always involve digestion? No. Some types do, but that is always specified, because not everyone likes that in their vore. Then it’s not nonfatal anymore, is it?
Does vore generally involve burping? No. Some people like that with their vore. I personally do not. So that is not always part of the package.
Is vore inflation? No. That’s something else of its own, too. Many people who like vore can often enjoy inflation, as well, but they are not the same thing.
Does vore generally come with big/bulging bellies? Yes, though not always. Personally, I like those, of various sizes. Vore bellies are not always “hyper” (cartoonishly enormous and about 5x bigger than the predator character themselves) bellies, though some are. Vore bellies come in many sizes, ranging from a small bulge/bump, to more like a late pregnancy belly size to a bit larger, and some people like hyper-sized vore bellies.
Is vore associated in any way with pregnancy fetishes? No. It can be, but that is – again – something of its own entirely. Sometimes vore and mpreg (male pregnancy) are closely tied together because of the belly factor, much like inflation, and mpreg and vore can be closely associated because of the sheltering/nurturing/protective aspect as well, but they are not the same thing. (I do, personally, also greatly enjoy mpreg as a concept, but that’s a subject for another time)
Can vore be done realistically? Yes, absolutely, but it usually isn’t because the fun of vore is that it is not realistic. Obviously, by nature, vore is kind of a cartoonish thing. A stomach that magically is fit for someone to be spending a lot of time in. A person or creature that can swallow something that huge (if the prey is closer to same-size). It varies. Vore can be done realistically, yes, with enough time, thought, and effort. Is it always? No. Is it usually? No. That’s just part of the territory.

And now for some specific terminology in the vore community and types of vore. The kind of vore I like I define as “soft safe nonsexual protective vore.” It can be romantic or platonic, and I often enjoy it serving some kind of purpose in a story, such as to carry someone, warm someone, keep someone safe, etc., but it’s also fun for just… snuggles and to show that the person cares and will use their whole body to protect the “prey” (”prey” is such a negative term, but it’s the easiest one to use).

The prey character spends time in the predator’s stomach and they both enjoy it, and the prey is never – at any point – harmed. My favorite part is actually when the prey is in the stomach, not the act of swallowing, though the swallowing process is extremely important, too. To me, vore is like… the ultimate consummation of a relationship, romantic or platonic, and it involves no sex. It’s trust, it’s deep (literally) and meaningful, it’s being close to each other… it’s the best. Some people read slowburns waiting for a sexual consummation, I read them wishing there would be vore.

Now, you probably have no idea what I mean when I say “soft vore.” So let’s get to that now…

Soft vore – Vore in which the “prey” (character being swallowed) is not harmed and is swallowed whole and alive by the “predator” (character doing the swallowing), and stays that way. Often involves the prey character spending time in the predator’s stomach; this time is generally, but not always, considered enjoyable and a positive thing.
Hard vore – Vore in which the prey begins alive but is harmed, torn to pieces, chewed, etc., and is killed in the process of being eaten. This does not instantly equal cannibalism because it is not always humans eating each other. Obviously this is not a positive thing, really.
Nonfatal or safe vore – As it says on the tin: vore in which no one dies.
Fatal vore/digestion – As it says on the tin: vore in which the character being eaten dies, often specifically by being digested alive.
[insert bodypart here] vore – Sometimes you’ll see people define something as vore that I personally do not really think of as vore. To me, vore involves a mouth, a throat, and a stomach, with very very rare exception (like soul vore, which I’m kind of creating). Others disagree. I think those things need their own terms to not cause mixups.

That’s all for now! I think I covered the most important bits.

Hopefully you aren’t thinking of me as a freak right now! Happens all the time. Constantly. This is why I don’t talk about this kind of thing.

Either way, thank you for reading. If you want to pursue a story of this kind of thing, this might be my best example so far of what encapsulates what I’m talking about (you can find more vore pieces on my AO3, too, and I’m sure I’ll keep posting more, along with the occasional mpreg of the flavor that I enjoy).

I also include vore in some of my stories, though in a less “obviously vore” sense, in order to make them feel more palatable/acceptable to readers. I consider it part of a personal challenge to slowly inch vore toward being a more acceptable and understood fictional concept.

And by the way…

Happy very belated vore day!