Weird vampire physiology

[tkts]

My favorite weird vampire physiology moment:

So, for whatever reason, vampires' bodies seem to be incredibly permeable to wood. Witness Vamp Willow dying when she's pushed into what is, essentially, a jagged piece of two-by-four.

But what I love is that whatever a vampire is wearing becomes extremely permeable, too.

You know the scene where Willow is captured by the Mayor's goons and uses magic to stab a vamp in the back with a pencil? I don't want to try this, because I don't particularly want to ruin a good suit, but your average suit jacket is pretty thick. I'm betting if you tried to take a pencil and stab someone wearing a suit hard enough to actually penetrate the fabric, the pencil would break first.

I guess you could write this off to magical enhancement on Willow's part, but on the other hand, if any garment worn by a vampire magically becomes super-permeable to anything made of wood, it would explain why the vamps never bother to go out and buy Kevlar vests.

[N.D.U.O]

It's very weird. I think it's just a device to vary the way Vamps are killed

[drusillacakes]

Hmm I assumed that the reason Willow was able to slay that vamp with a pencil was due the speed that the pencil was going, which would enable it to pierce through fabric. I mean, I guess it really would be due to Willow's control of her magic to make it float and then fly at a high rate of speed though.

My vampire physiology quirk that bothers me most is the scene where Spike puts Dru in a headlock and she passes out. If vampires don't breathe, then they shouldn't pass out because they don't need the oxygen.

[Eric]

Mar 6, 2010 4:00:34 GMT -5 drusillacakes said:

Hmm I assumed that the reason Willow was able to slay that vamp with a pencil was due the speed that the pencil was going, which would enable it to pierce through fabric. I mean, I guess it really would be due to Willow's control of her magic to make it float and then fly at a high rate of speed though.

My vampire physiology quirk that bothers me most is the scene where Spike puts Dru in a headlock and she passes out. If vampires don't breathe, then they shouldn't pass out because they don't need the oxygen.

Yeah, the pencil thing is probably just the speed and strength that Willow's magic provided.

Perhaps during the choking scene, Spike was actually cutting off her circulation? I know it's very unlikely that that would be possible, but it is flat out said vamps don't need air, while it's implied that vampires have some sort of circulation.


Also, wouldn't this thread be better as a post in the "Little Stuff That Bugged You" thread?

[tkts]

Mar 6, 2010 5:05:55 GMT -5 Eric said:

Perhaps during the choking scene, Spike was actually cutting off her circulation? I know it's very unlikely that that would be possible, but it is flat out said vamps don't need air, while it's implied that vampires have some sort of circulation.

That one's a mixed bag. They certainly do things that, for humans, would require circulation -- for starters, male vampires are capable of having sex -- and there are probably other examples as well. But When Spike tells Buffy she's cutting off his circulation in "Pangs," she says "You don't have any circulation," and then there's the "If my heart could beat, it would break my chest" line.

Also, wouldn't this thread be better as a post in the "Little Stuff That Bugged You" thread?

I figured there were a lot of picky details of vampire physiology this could spin off into, potentially derailing the other thread.

I'm wondering if the process of being vamped changes the structure of a vampire's matter, making it simultaneously harder to hurt and much more permeable and malleable -- kind of like how a hard, brittle piece of wood will maintain its shape under pressure until it snaps, while a soft, flexible piece of wood will just bend.

[Eric]

Mar 6, 2010 10:20:30 GMT -5 tkts said:

Mar 6, 2010 5:05:55 GMT -5 Eric said:

Perhaps during the choking scene, Spike was actually cutting off her circulation? I know it's very unlikely that that would be possible, but it is flat out said vamps don't need air, while it's implied that vampires have some sort of circulation.

That one's a mixed bag. They certainly do things that, for humans, would require circulation -- for starters, male vampires are capable of having sex -- and there are probably other examples as well. But When Spike tells Buffy she's cutting off his circulation in "Pangs," she says "You don't have any circulation," and then there's the "If my heart could beat, it would break my chest" line.

Yeah. There are actually many times where Angel, Spike and other vampires specifically say and prove that vampires do not have beating hearts. Perhaps their blood pumps magically? Or maybe during their transformation they grow new demon parts that pump their blood instead of the heart? Both seem kind of cheesy, but there is just too much evidence that vampires have circulation throughout their body. Among the ones already said, there is the fact that Spike has been under the influence of alcohol quite a few times. Also, the "You don't have circulation" line could possibly caused by Buffy's ignorance of vampire anatomy.

Mar 6, 2010 10:20:30 GMT -5 tkts said:

Also, wouldn't this thread be better as a post in the "Little Stuff That Bugged You" thread?

I figured there were a lot of picky details of vampire physiology this could spin off into, potentially derailing the other thread.

Oh, ok. I only mentioned it because your original post sort of seemed like you just wanted to point out a few things and move on.

Mar 6, 2010 10:20:30 GMT -5 tkts said:

I'm wondering if the process of being vamped changes the structure of a vampire's matter, making it simultaneously harder to hurt and much more permeable and malleable -- kind of like how a hard, brittle piece of wood will maintain its shape under pressure until it snaps, while a soft, flexible piece of wood will just bend.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Are you using that as a sort of metaphor or are you literally saying you think vampire's insides are squishy? The former could potentially allow blood to move throughout the body easier than if it were sitting in veins without a pumping heart. However unlikely, it could explain some things.

[Tea - Total]

It weird how the Turok Han was holding Spikes head underwater? he doesn't breathe ; therefore, he carnt drawn. Weird vampire physiology.
Its the same issue with dru getting a head lock be spike , whats the point. It might be tension to make the subject unconscious,i dont know..

[tkts]

Mar 6, 2010 10:47:26 GMT -5 Eric said:

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Are you using that as a sort of metaphor or are you literally saying you think vampire's insides are squishy? The former could potentially allow blood to move throughout the body easier than if it were sitting in veins without a pumping heart. However unlikely, it could explain some things.

I'm not completely sure either. The train of thought started with the TVTropes entry "Made of Plasticine," which made me wonder if something like that could be literally true -- if the substance that makes up a vampire could in some way be altered when they're turned.

If you want to make something resilient, you make it flexible instead of brittle so it'll bounce back. The same theory could apply here. One argument against that is that vampires' bodies seem to respond to things in normal ways ... like when Spike is tortured by Glory. One argument for it is that it seems to be very easy for vampires to make themselves bleed, like when Darla is turning Angelus (although you could also hypothesize that she just keeps one of her fingernails very sharp for that purpose).

[elenasaur]

I know what you mean tkts, but I didn't really get the impression that vampires bled abnormally easily. I think it was more that she had very sharp fingernails, and she was able to put a lot of force behind them. Drusilla slit Kendra's throat with her nail, and Kendra did not have soft skin.

That is an interesting idea though. It definitely has some merit to it, though I feel like in my head, I'm picturing them without a backbone. =P
I've always felt like a blow to a human and to a vampire would deal a similar amount of damage, but vampires are more resilient. They kind of revel in the pain, especially since they don't believe they can die.
Still, vampires are stronger than humans. They may be more flexible in some ways, but I feel like they're just a caliber above humans.

[tkts]

Hm ... forgot about Drusilla and Kendra. I guess Drusilla and Darla just like to keep their fingernails sharp after all.

Vampires do seem to have a normal bone structure, with the exception of the whole "pieces of wood can slide into their hearts as if they didn't have ribcages" thing. (Although it seems weird that the doctor in "Out of My Mind" seems to be able to access Spike's brain really easily ... no indication that he has to drill through the skull or anything, and the dialogue suggests he IS poking around in the brain ... although Harmony wouldn't be hard to fool about something like that.)