On vampire chromosomes

[Kat]

Thought I'd share this. It's a conversation between me and my friend David (who has not read the book) about vampire biology.

me: you'd have to read it i think
me: the doctor is like "well maybe this happened" and everyone else goes "hmm...maybe..." and then it's never mentioned again

David: and why can't Vampires have 25 chromosomes?

me: vampires can't have 25 chromosomes because they can't have chromosomes
they are NOT ALIVE
if ANYTHING, they should have 23 chromosomes that are dead, leftover from their human lives
but they certainly can't have manifested totally new ones

David: I have to admit I am unfamiliar with the causes of vampirism

me: well what happens is that you DIE
but if you've been bitten by a vampire, the venom kinda petrifies your body and lets you "live" forever
but you have no organ function, no heartbeat, no bloodflow, no growth, no change whatsoever
it would be as meaningful to say that a ROCK has 25 chromosomes

David: but vampires can move, so obviously something must be going on in there

me: yeah well
they can't procreate
vampires can move because it's magic. if you don't want to take that leap, you shouldn't read a vampire story

David: perhaps the same magic gives them two additional chromosomes

me: for what reason?
they can't procreate unless they interact with humans, in which case they don't need extra chromosomes
and that basically never happens anyway, and when it does, it doesn't produce new vampires
to get new vampires, you have to have biting and venom, which is 1000% not chromosomal
so yeah, magic could insert extra chromosomes, but there's no reason for it, and that makes it stupid.

David: maybe the venom contains a retrovirus containing the additional chromosomes

me: then why isn't that in the book?

David: sloppy writing

me: look i'm not saying no one could write a book about vampires with chromosomes that was good, or made sense
i'm saying THIS one doesn't make sense
and that's because there's no reason and no explanation for it
it doesn't SEEM to fit with what we already know about these vampires, and the author doesn't bother to tell us why it actually DOES make sense

[Lebbano]

lmao. Maybe we are reading into it alittle too much..

[Shannon]

Helkat14, I agree with you completely. I've made similar arguments on other forums. But maybe it's time we all take a break. ;) Is David worried about you now?

[Angel♥]

well, then again, this is fantasy........

[Kat]

Shannon - haha no, he finds the whole thing hilarious. His fiancee is currently reading the book, so I was prepping him on what to expect.

[Shannon]

Ahhhhhh. Maybe she'll fall into the "it's just fiction" camp and be blissfully happy. I hope, for her sake, that's true.

[Toni]

I'm so glad you brought this up, because I've been boggling at it for the longest time. It's been my understanding that an abnormal chromosome count is more likely to cause abnormalities, deformities, and in some cases a miscarriage than a vampiric fetus.

I know some people still consider Meyer a new author, but you'd think after three or four books she'd bother to open a biology book and research before introducing something so blatantly wrong, especially if she wasn't going to adjust the chromosome count for ALL humans in her canon.

But we can't do that and keep Bella a super special snowflake, who gives birth to pre-born abominations, can we?

[PandaRanda]

That's very true. I, pro-Breaking Dawn member, also believe that the idea of vampires having an extra 2 sets of chromosomes doesn't make much sense either.

I don't think science and vampires fit together particularly well, it was kind of stupid of her to try and piece the two together because obviously science and the supernatural do not cohere.

It makes enough sense that werewolves have an extra set of chromosomes because they're still alive and are very much like a mutated humanoid species, therefore the explanation that they have an extra set of chromosomes is reasonable enough...like evolution...or down syndrome...almost? But vampires aren't a different species to humans...they're just supernatural humans. Where magic and supernatural stuff comes into play...since all their cells are dead and stone, right? Living cells are needed for movement as cellular respiration has to come into play. So the fact that Vampires can move and talk ect. is already a huge hole in the scientific aspects of vampires. So bam supernatural magic stuff needs to be present, makes sense that that same stuff could be used to make a baby in Bella...so why the need for extra chromosomes to explain what Renesmee is? Big mistake on Stephenie Meyer's part...

It's all very confusing...but her biological claims are definitely off and it was a wrong step on her part to throw in the idea and leave it unjustified. I guess it allows the reader to come up with their own opinions on the matter...but I'm not fussed, I'm totally enjoying the fact that there are actually reasonable, intellectual people out there who read Twilight and actually think it through with a level head instead of just spouting nonsense about the love triangles and the wonderful romance.

I still like the idea of some parasitic entity living in the vampires (the venom?) and being the main cause of vampirism. The vampires are just puppets that do the bidding of the real mind-controlling leeches! Haha but that's so far-fetched and totally off from what Stephenie Meyer has written...oh well...it makes sense to me at least. Well most of the stuff I said was pretty off, as it's all just my twisted opinion, but I still agree that vampires shouldn't have 2 extra sets of chromosomes.