#why did smeyer invent the scariest possible vampire for her love story lmfai

[bellaslilpapercut]

Ok I’m so sorry for the unsolicited rambles but I’m obsessed with your sentient vampire theory which I FULLY subscribe to and would like to add a few things.

First off SM almost did actually write something similar for a minute there with The Host which to my mind means y’all were at least on a similar wavelength here haha.

ALSO about attraction: how about the fact that although vampires do share some universal features from transforming, “beauty” is the only symptom you can’t rubber stamp on a person like sparkles or super strength. Like the flu will universally make you sneeze and cough bc that’s how it spreads but it doesn’t make you attractive to other humans so they spend more time around you bc beauty is an entirely culturally measured standard beyond our evolutionary predisposition towards markers of good health/strength/fertility etc. It might seem intuitive that vampires have those markers BUT we also know that the transformation freezes them in time as a more attractive version of themselves- it doesn’t change their bone structure! If it did they’d all look like twins of each other! SO in order for them to be universally beautiful as described, this vampire bug either goes by what it knows its host finds attractive or what it’s hosts social environment finds attractive which is a very interesting thought bc it raises questions like:

If it’s the social environment that counts, given enough time would vampires actually change in appearance and would that rate of change speed up to match our increasingly speedy trend cycle? Bc it took centuries for the ideal body type to go from a plump girly with wide hips to a corseted rococo silhouette but it’s only been a decade since we’ve trended away from the 2010 Victoria’s Secret body type and into BBL territory 🥴 and If they don’t change does that mean we get vampires walking around lookn like a renaissance portrait with a huge forehead and weak chin as per the ideal back then? (My own person HC for the Volturi boyes lol)

If it’s an internal beauty standard that counts, would beauty manifest as what we are attracted to or what we think is attractive to others? If it’s the former you could get cute soul mate scenarios where you finally find sometime that looks like you and you both just know. 🥺 If it’s what we think is attractive to others then imagine all these dudes transforming with super jacked muscles and a massive jawbone or whatever and getting absolutely zero play only for some sensitive soul to transform with defined veiny forearms, fluffy hair and good communication skills to clean up 😌

Honestly I’d like to think it’s a bit of everything which is actually what makes them all so beautiful in sum bc when you think about it: a lot of models are considered beautiful for an unusually pronounced features and vampires would look so much more interesting to modern eyes than any other human could (a bit alien and alarming sure) but not enough to wander into outside of attraction and into grotesque territory!

Apologies if this was a bit forward or anything you’ve just really scratched a brain itch. Massive fan of all your analysis! 🙏💕

Totally fine, please send rambles whenever, my inbox I always open (though it might take a couple business weeks to get to messages sometimes ha). I appreciate this! I have to agree that I think venom may work on two levels when it comes to beauty: traditional/eternal beauty markers like clearer skin, symmetrical features, shiny/healthy hair, etc but taken to an extreme (actually probably to the extreme that the advent of Photoshop and facetune have already taken it to, remember when "clear skin" didn't mean "completely poreless?") as well as current cultural/social beauty standards. Hopefully that does mean there are some vamps walking around looking like renaissance paintings! Interesting though that if the venom does adapt to fit current local beauty standards, that might hint that vampires aren't supposed to be nomadic as their attraction lure bonus feature would work best right where they were turned. Adding to evidence that meyerpires were designed to destroy humanity entirely and the Volturi is still the only thing keeping that from happening a la @therealvinelle 's Volturi metas!