The human heart

efreysson

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I have a seedling for a vampire story, and I'm trying to decide on the vampire's attributes. I could use some advice on my own take on the "stake to the heart" tradition.
The idea is that a heart-stab isn't enough to kill a vampire, but causes it to lose much of its stolen blood and leaves it weakened; an important first step in destroying it.

How much blood could one store in a dead, inert heart, maybe assuming it was unnaturally swollen? And how easy is it to drive a blade into it? Would one have to slide a knife between the ribs, or can a fairly strong man puncture through them? And finally, would a heart-stab cause a very visible bleeding, or would it be mostly internal?
 

Cath

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This is the vampire's heart, right?

If the heart is inert, there's no circulation of oxygen around the body, therefore no circulation of blood. Vampire drinks blood, blood goes into stomach, through digestion system, and presumably out the other end (there's a question - do vampires ever use the loo?).

Basically, if the heart is a vital organ, enough so that damage to it will irreparably harm the vamp, I suspect it's not inert.

Unless you're preternaturally strong, driving a knife through the bone is going to be really difficult. Between the ribs, or upwards from the diaphragm under the rib cage is the path of least resistance.

If the heart is beating at all, I imagine there would be a lot of bleeding. Even with the wound full of knife, it's a powerful muscle pushing blood in any direction it will go, including out of the exit wound. If the heart isn't beating, I'm not sure what purpose the blood in the heart serves.
 

efreysson

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This is the vampire's heart, right?

If the heart is inert, there's no circulation of oxygen around the body, therefore no circulation of blood. Vampire drinks blood, blood goes into stomach, through digestion system, and presumably out the other end (there's a question - do vampires ever use the loo?).

Basically, if the heart is a vital organ, enough so that damage to it will irreparably harm the vamp, I suspect it's not inert.

Unless you're preternaturally strong, driving a knife through the bone is going to be really difficult. Between the ribs, or upwards from the diaphragm under the rib cage is the path of least resistance.

If the heart is beating at all, I imagine there would be a lot of bleeding. Even with the wound full of knife, it's a powerful muscle pushing blood in any direction it will go, including out of the exit wound. If the heart isn't beating, I'm not sure what purpose the blood in the heart serves.

Well, I haven't fully decided on the bodily functions of a vampire, but the idea is that they have no need for air and the blood serves a largely mystical purpose. But I guess for it to make any kind of sense I'll have to make the circulatory system at least semi-functional. I suppose I could make "living dead" mean that they die and then the vampirism curse animates them to a half-life, complete with a weak pulse.

Maybe I could have the blood gather and store in the heart, and from there pump slowly throughout the body as needed.
 

jclarkdawe

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In humans, the heart is a pump, designed to pump blood until it dies. Like any pump, it isn't designed for storing fluid, just pumping it. And if you rip your aorta, it will pump all of the blood stored in your circulation system out of your circulation system in a couple of minutes. The circulation system is so effective it only takes a minute or two for blood to go through the circulation system from the heart back to the heart.

The human heart is the size of a human fist and weighs about 300 grams. So I'm guessing it probably stores maybe a cup or two.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe