Easier in what way? Even in the modern day, a vampire can slaughter countless humans until someone decides it's time to nuke him. Before the invention of the atomic bomb, there was no feasible way to kill a vampire in one-on-one combat (except, perhaps, the flamethrower - a weapon of limited use and value). Believe me, I've done the math and the projections: vampires in numbers could (and would) have corralled the humans into "farms" and lived in relative comfort and luxury, supported by their own sadism. The fact that they did not is a rather large hole in Ms. Meyer's story.swedishskinjer wrote:Knives:
Vampires don't rule the world because they find it easier to keep their existence a secret. As Aro said in Breaking Dawn, humans may one day have the technology to pose a threat to vampires. Furthermore, vampires tend to be nomadic, and the covens that exist mainly keep to themselves. Ruling the world is not an interest to them.
Have you ever seen a human dismember one of his/her fellows with his/her bare hands? It can't be done. It's not a matter of strength, it's a matter of materials; it doesn't matter how hard you swing a sword if it shatters on impact. If their skin is (allow me to quote), "Like diamond, but harder", no known material can pierce it - for that matter, they can't move. Ignoring the immobility factor for a moment, however, that means that the only way for fire to find purchase in them is through unprotected portions of their body, such as the eyes, mouth, and nose. A vampire wearing a gas mask is thus effectively invulnerable.Dismembering another vampire *by* a vampire is quite possible. It's like a human dismembering another human. For another vampire, the skin a fellow vampire is easy to damage due to their equal amounts of strength. According to Stephenie, isn't the venom of a vampire highly flammable?
Aside from that, the big reason vampires went into hiding was supposedly the Inquisition. Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that a bunch of fanatical, but ultimately human, priests armed with swords, maces, bad information and torches aren't capable of catching a vampire, let alone killing one. Ms. Meyer's vampires don't sleep, don't get tired, and are many, many times faster and stronger than the average human - the only scenario I can concieve of that involves a Dark Ages human killing one is that said vampire could not stop laughing at the hilarity of his situation.
Attempting to bring science into the picture shot holes all through Ms. Meyer's story, which had quite a few of them to begin with. I can safely say that Ms. Meyer did not do her scientific or mythological research before writing this series, and that none of her supernatural beings, as presented, are capable of functioning in the currently known laws of physics - which means that all of their capabilities are magical.
Eagerly awaiting a counterargument!
- Knives