The issue of vampire’s breath arises again in the episode Out of My Mind, when Harmony attempts to smoke. She chokes on the smoke which seems impossible as vampires can’t breathe. This isn’t really a goof as such, as it could be seen as her just not being used to having smoke filling her throat. A certain amount of artistic license has to be allowed for this kind of mythology. Yes, vampires shouldn’t really be able to smoke, cough or be out of breath. But if we’re going to be picky - vampires aren’t real either so that’s kind of a goof too!
July 2nd, 2005 at 11:35 am
I’ve always held the theory that vampires can breathe, they just don’t need to. Like the way they can drink coffee and beer; they don’t need the liquid, they just do it. That would explain why vampires pant when they run (it’s a natural instinct to gasp when you’re tired and they might not have lost that with the need to breathe oxygen), why they can smoke if they choose and why Spike could be drowned (water would eventually have got into his lungs and the body’s response would have been to pass out). What it doesn’t explain is why Angel couldn’t perform CPR.
I don’t know, maybe the air gets defiled when it enters a vampire, so it wouldn’t have any oxygen when he breathed it out?
[Edit: Moved from ‘Suggest Some Trivia’ by Jess, 2 July 2005]
July 2nd, 2005 at 11:36 am
My only thought on the CPR issue would be that there are so many processes oxygen takes when we “humans” breathe. If a vampire is dead…the oxygen probably doesnt change chemically and warm up like it does when we breath. Angel could probably do the CPR but it wouldnt be as effective… Okay definitely its too late for me to be thinking scientifically. But that is just a thought. Who knows….this probably doesnt have a clear answer anyways.
[Edit: Moved from ‘Suggest Some Trivia’ by Jess, 2 July 2005]
July 2nd, 2005 at 11:38 am
I think the real answer, though, is probably that the actors are human. That it was convenient to the plot early on for Angel to not need to breathe, but then later it suited Spike’s character for him to smoke. And, in all fairness, it does. He wouldn’t be the same minus the cigarettes, don’t you think?
And if there weren’t little discrepancies like this throughout the show, a site like this wouldn’t be as much fun. Flaws are more fun than perfection.
I wouldn’t put it past Joss Whedon to do it all on purpose, to give us things to disect ;P
[Edit: Moved from ‘Suggest Some Trivia’ by Jess, 2 July 2005]
August 23rd, 2005 at 8:48 pm
I’m sure I read the ‘defiled’ theory on oxygen somewhere - either The Watcher’s Guide (vol 1) or possibly an interview with Joss Whedon.
August 23rd, 2005 at 10:22 pm
Cool. So I’m not just talking out of my arse?
I mean, of course I’m not!
August 24th, 2005 at 9:51 pm
Checked it last night. It IS in the Watcher’s Guide Vol 1 - although just a theory by the writers, rather than a ‘fact’.
August 26th, 2005 at 11:31 am
Who is the Watcher’s Guide Vol 1 written by.
August 26th, 2005 at 1:33 pm
Nancy Holder and Christopher Golden
August 31st, 2005 at 4:11 pm
You can also check out the Watcher’s Guides in the Resources page on this site.
April 22nd, 2006 at 12:52 am
Puja, I don’t know how Spike could have drowned in that puddle of water (I am assuming you are referring to the episode ‘Showtime’?) when we know that Angel certainly didn’t drown in his months of sitting at the bottom of the ocean between seasons 3 and 4, and also was able to sink down to the submarine in S5 ‘Why we fight’. I assumed that Spike’s difficulty arose from the fact that he was weak from loss of the blood to open the seal, and had been tortured by the Turok-Han.While he doesn’t breath it would be very uncomfortable to have lungs full of water.
April 22nd, 2006 at 1:49 pm
Well, Angel was inside a box that was sealed (so perhaps that kept water out), but most importantly, Spike was never in any danger of drowning in ‘Showtime’, as far as I could tell. It was a lame form of torure (shouldn’t the evil be better at it than that?), but I am sure that the First never planned for him to drown, or would have considered it a possibility. That’s just my opinion, though, so take it for what it’s worth.
April 22nd, 2006 at 3:29 pm
Was Angel’s box sealed? I thought it just had that mesh stuff over the front allowing water to pass through, otherwise it would have been full of air and floated wouldn’t it?. I’ll have to watch that again…