The Science of Twilight

[rel8tivity]

There isn't too much in canon about the healing process of vampires. Does anybody know whether, according to canon, does a vampire heal quickly or slowly? How is it accomplished, if the vampire's tissues are considered to be crystallized?

I'd appreciate any thoughts.

[corona]

A vampire heals quickly, although a serious injury can still leave a scar.

Probably the best example is Kevin in the Bree Tanner book, who has his arm torn off by Riley into the three sections: the hand and then the arm broken at the elbow.

Kevin is able to reattach the broken pieces and appears to have full function of it throughout the rest of the book, until he is done in by Emmett.

A vampire's tissues are "crystallized" according to the way that humans perceive it. Stephenie's description of vampires being based on "science", though, means that the exact composition of vampire flesh could likely be discovered through a scientific inquiry. In other words, no magic or dark spirits involved, the flesh is simply composed of something that is unknown to us.

[GrayceM]

So... I don't know how many of you saw the movie, but a major point of vampire physiology canon got changed.

Stephenie clearly stated here that vampire hair does NOT CHANGE during transformation. Not at all. But in the movies, her hair changes as she transforms.

Interesting, isn't it?

I think the others are probably right in this respect. I don't think her hair changed so much as it repaired. Let's face it, overall after the pregnancy and delivery, she looks ragged, worn, wasted away. Her hair is brittle and dull, almost gray. Her lips are pale and blend in with her face which also has a gray tone. She is horrid. But the venom is supposed to restore the health; with the exception of the paleness. So everything that she went through during the pregnancy would be corrected. Including her expanded belly. I'm sure that Edward was in similar since he had been ill prior to his transformation. The others were changed rather quickly after the incident that should have resulted in their death. So their transformation may not have been as visually enhanced. Yes, their injuries were repaired but overall, their flesh didn't have to fill in again. I think Bella probably went further towards her own natural (or unnatural) death than any of the others so that was why the change had to be drastic. Her heart stopped so she actually did die... None of the rest of them had gone through such a lengthy downward spiral to their death as she had. She changed physically as much as humanly possible before she transformed. The venom had a lot to correct.

Keep in mind, what we were seeing was taking place over several days. It almost certainly didn't happen as rapidly as we saw in the movie. I believe that was just for the visual affect and comparison. I remember a guy sitting near me at the theater saying, "She didn't have make up on a second ago." I'm thinking, "Idiot, you aren't supposed to notice that..." Like the dieters with the before and after shot. They almost always have a tan in their after shots...

I've always noticed that Edward has a mole on the nape of his neck, below his hair line. But that's never bothered me as much as Alice cutting her hair off. They are physically incapable of change, so there would really be no way she would cut her hair so short. It would never grow back out. But then again, Edward shortened his hair as well...

[rel8tivity]

A vampire heals quickly, although a serious injury can still leave a scar.

Probably the best example is Kevin in the Bree Tanner book, who has his arm torn off by Riley into the three sections: the hand and then the arm broken at the elbow.

Kevin is able to reattach the broken pieces and appears to have full function of it throughout the rest of the book, until he is done in by Emmett.

Thanks for that info. I went back and read through BT, but still wasn't able to pinpoint how long it was before Kevin was fully functional. I'm going to guess anywhere up to a month, because he was functional during the attack on the ferry.

A vampire's tissues are "crystallized" according to the way that humans perceive it. Stephenie's description of vampires being based on "science", though, means that the exact composition of vampire flesh could likely be discovered through a scientific inquiry. In other words, no magic or dark spirits involved, the flesh is simply composed of something that is unknown to us.

I guess I was working off Stephenie's statement that her vampires had hardened into something like living stone, lubricated by venom. So if the venom was applied to both ends of the limb, it would cause the crystalline cells to meld together until they are fully joined.

Reason I'm asking is I have a plot point that may be affected by speed of healing. If they heal fast, well, I may have some re-writing to do.

[GrayceM]

I wonder if the extras on New Moon may help with that healing dilemma. I remember Chris mentioned that he asked Stephenie if the scene where Edward is slammed into the marble floor, would cause a crack or visible fracture and she told him that it very possibly could. I've wondered that myself since in EC it seemed that every newborn that was hit, stayed down. There was no movement at all that may suggest they weren't destroyed and would be able to put themselves back together.

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[corona]

rel8tivity, my impression was that applying venom helped speed the process up (and greatly so), but that it isn't necessarily critical to joining limbs together. There is already venom there.

HOWEVER, I can't be certain. Venom saliva is considered special in SM's world. I don't think BT is conclusive on that issue, so you have some wiggle room for your fanfic.

Kevin was battle ready by the next day in BT, but was he at 100%? I don't know.

Openhome has done some fanfics on the earlier life of Alice, and one of Alice's friends suffered a decapitation but was put back together. Her interpretation was that the healing was not instantaneous but would take some time. That seemed to be a reasonable assumption to me. I would think reattaching a head needs more time than reattaching a hand or arm.

I would also think a dismembered body that is left alone and puts itself back together will have a longer recuperation period. Maybe the hand finds the head first and then holds it up so it can apply venom to parts as they are rejoined? That's a pretty bizarre visual.

GrayceM, agreed, the EC movie gives us the best view of many vamps being put down due to decapitation, and once down they stayed down. This was in contradiction to the book where Bella witnesses vamp limbs still twitching and wriggling before they are turned to ashes. I guess that was too creepy to make it to the movies.