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Post by Illyria on Jun 20, 2016 0:35:45 GMT
I just ran into a treasure trove - essays by Peasant on AO3 Here's the start of one that I like: How much and how often do vampires need to feed? I wish I knew: it would make writing this stuff a lot easier. However enough information has been trickled out so that some informed guesses can be made. First off, vamps cannot die from starvation, but they do undoubtedly suffer. Spike showed this after he was chipped and could not feed, as did Angel when he was living in the gutters of New York and not feeding properly. It is interesting to note the changes that they experienced. They were both weak: Angel ‘couldn’t go two rounds with a fruit fly’ (Becoming, Part 1), and Spike was definitely staggering around. They also apparently show weight loss. Spike commented that starved vampires become like ‘Living skeletons, mate. Like famine pictures from those dusty countries, only not half as funny.’ (Pangs) And perhaps it provides an explanation for why Angel looked so much thinner in the early seasons (cough, cough) if he was recovering from a century of underfeeding. More here - archiveofourown.org/works/1280887
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Post by Sweet on Jun 20, 2016 17:24:12 GMT
I read the essay, it's very interesting and I agree with the estimates made by the person who wrote it. I too think that vampires need to eat everyday just like humans. On ATS we see Harmony bringing a cup of blood to Angel and it's implied that it's a daily routine and half a liter seems believable as well.
I made my own research though and wish to add some thoughts: ok a human has 10-12 pints of blood but on a website about blood donations they say that the blood that can be taken without consequences amounts to little less than half a liter (one pint) and that plasma regenerates in a few hours so it seems that what Angel said in Dead End could be true.
I learned something else, that to die humans have to lose 1/3 of their blood, which would be 3-4 pints (1,5 - 2 liters) and that's 3-4 times the estimated daily dose. And we see vampires drink from humans until these die, so they drink 3-4 pints in one go. And sometimes vampires kill more than one human. I think that this means that a pint is the minimum amount a vampire needs to 'survive' but they can drink a lot more. How much more? They have a human, albeit not living, body... is their body's capacity the same of a living human? 10-12 pints? Does this mean that they have to stop drinking when they are 'full' and have to wait that it consumes itself (much like fuel for cars)? If not where does the excess blood go?
Thank for sharing this, Illyria!
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