So, we can all agree that Spike is just. Different, even before he gets a soul. (And if we can't, shush, we are now.) He's a little odder, a little more human, a little less vamp, and even other vampires allude to it (well, mostly the polycule, but still) and how off he is. We also know Angelus (and a wee bit Darla) torture and break Dru before she's ever turned, he systematically focuses for weeks on breaking the humanity of Drusilla and then decides to turn her to leave her spiritually broken for all eternity. I have this stupid little headcanon theory that I hug with every fiber of my fandom being, that while he was manipulating, torturing, playing with Drusilla for ages, he shattered her soul, he broke her spiritually, he fractured her humanity (call it what you like). And I think that when Drusilla was turned, it made it more difficult to, let's say, scoop out all the human soul bits and leave a vessel with a demon only. I like to think he shattered her so completely that little shards and fragments remained, and that, tragically, Drusilla had slivers of her human spirit left behind (think of how she talks about her mother, sisters, uncle, etc, after 150+ years as a vampire). And that it's forever fractured any of her line, any vamps stemming from her, and any of their descendants. So, well. There's Spike *waves generally*. There's Holden, my god. There's the very human-like women (woman, was it just the one?) Spike turns in season seven. There's some depictions in the novels of "dolls" Dru makes (young, pretty women in pretty dresses) and they all act very human and Spike-ish (one wants to go get her dog from her sister, but burns in the sun because Drusilla can't raise no babies, she is the mid-point of 'if you don't raise your kids, you'll raise your grandkids').

And when you look at how Penn and James (and Elizabeth?) were and acted, compared to Drusilla and her line? Hell, even Lawson, who was a bit off for soul-related reasons, just kind of adds to this all and how different he is from Drusilla's line.

I think that Drusilla is broken and her line is broken. I think Angelus shattered her humanity before turning her and it left shards behind, and that she and her line continue to leave/pass on shards.

To clarify, I’m not talking about things like stab wounds/gun shot wounds and the likes. I’m talking about things where body parts end up places they should be. What is their body’s capacity to put itself back together? (I did a poll on one faction of this topic, but I’m now talking about a broader range of things that won’t fit in a poll)

Like spinal injuries. We know from Spike (or can at least presume) that spinal injuries are something that a vampire can heal from. I don’t remember if it ever explicitly said, but my assumption was always that he broke his back in What’s My Line Prt 2 and that’s why he was in the wheelchair for part of season 2. His injury in that case seemed like a kind of “simple” back injury. Like it was broken but not WAY broken. So what happens if a vampire’s back gets way broken? Like if the spinal cord gets completely severed and the spinal column itself gets misaligned so that some of the vertebrae are no longer remotely lined up the way they’re supposed to be? Will the vampire healing factor just magically make the bones navigate back to where they’re supposed to be and then slowly heal? Or will the vampire be permanently paralyzed on down from where ever the injury occurred, unless some form of intervention is performed to put the bones back where they belong?

Similarly, what about other compound fractures (arms/legs/ribs etc)? Like a snapped femur poking out of the leg, does that require some form of resetting before it can heal properly? Or will it just magically pop back into place and heal on its own?

Or what if part of the bone is completely gone? We know or can assume also from Spike that vampire’s can’t regenerate entire limbs, but what if it’s something slightly less dramatic, like getting shot and losing some fragments of bone? Does it grow back as long as the majority of the bone is still connected to the body?

Here’s a fun one: Vampire head injuries. What happens if you shoot or stab a vampire in the head? Does that count as decapitation? Or will they heal from it? Does the brain heal just like everything else? Or what if chunks of brain end up outside side of the head? Will those portions of the brain grow back because the majority of the brain is still there for them to grow back from?— which that question leads to another line of inquiry: disembowelment. If they get gutted do their insides have to be put back inside of them to heal properly? Or will they heal and grow back as long as there’s some stuff left for them to grow back from?

It’s been stated that vampire immortality is Eternal. They don’t change or grow physically or psychologically after they’ve been turned. I like to think that this idea of Eternity has to be permanently tied to a personal idea of the Self and a specific idea that the vampire has about who they are and what their purpose in life is. I’d imagine that this idea of the self is very important and solid, especially considering vampires’ tendency to self-mythologize.

If something very very significant happens that is so dramatic that it would change that image of the self— then there is some kind of scar. This scar CAN just be purely psychological if there was no physical trauma, but if there WAS physical trauma, then parts of the injuries won’t fully heal and will instead scar over, leaving permanent evidence of the event.

Me ⬇️ no no no she Buffy doesn’t deserve spike with a soul those demons are so stupid she doesn’t deserve anyone at she doesn’t deserve spike and she most definitely doesn’t deserve spike with a soul he’s to good for her. He deserves a nice girl like willow she was all ways so nice to him. ( screaming and jumping in anger )