Thereās a lot about the idea of the symbiotes from Venom (comics, movie, take your pick) thatās very fascinating to me, but I think the thing thatās most fascinating is the thing that makes Venom (meaning the media, not the character) different from other sharing a body fiction Iāve read or watched, regardless of if the two characters work in unison or not. Thereās a very physical tactility to the relationship between symbiote and host that is really absent in most fiction where two characters share a body, at least in my experience.Ā
Most of the times, itās the classicĀ ādemonic possessionā type where they end up being bros, where one character is the host and one character is some otherworldly being possessing them, but for the most part the host body doesnāt undergo any significant changes and the possession is metaphysical instead of physical - Greed and Ling from FMA is the prime example I can think of. For the most part, itās just Lingās body that Greed can augment it with his Ultimate Shield, but thereās nothing beyond that. Their communication is on some abstract level of the mind/spirit/soul/whatever, but as far as Iām aware, thereās no feeling of someone else being there. Another example of this is the Yeerkās in Animorphs, where they take over the brain - a weird experience for sure - but after that itās just the host and the controller, nothing more.
With Venom and the other symbiotes, from what I understand, itās much different than that. The symbiotes donāt just bond on a metaphysical level with their hosts - like Greedling - or with just part of the hostās body - like with the Yeerks - but instead bond very physically with the entirety of the hostās body. The host and symbiote can therefore share thoughts and sensory input so that one is entirely aware of what the other can feel, see, hear, etc, etc. Of course, this isnāt unusual in sharing a body fiction, but what makes it unusual in Venom is the physical nature of the symbiotes themselves.
The symbiotes are sometimes described asĀ āgooā, which is simultaneously accurate yet wholly inadequate an explanation of how they work. Theyāre amorphous and can form many different extensions of themselves, some shaped and some just tendrils of symbiote that can move things. From my understanding, the host can feel what the symbiote feels through such extensions that reach outside the hostās body. Otherwise, how would any of the hosts be able to work in conjunction with the symbiote when theyāre being Venom or Riot or Sleeper or whoever if they couldnāt see through the symbioteās eyes or feel what they feel or hear what they hear? Also, in Venom: First Host, we see one host interface with a ship through little tendrils of a symbiote (one that theyāre mentally controlling yikes) which leads me to believe that - at least in that canon - the host can sense through the symbioteās senses.
Which is just absolutely wild to me. Imagine, being host to this goo alien that youāre probably at least somewhat aware of being basically a part of your body because you can feel it in you - but more so, being able to feel though the symbioteās senses in whatever physical form outside your body the symbiote takes. Thatās gotta be weird. Some kind of physical ESP of feeling something through an alien thatās bonded with your nervous system. Like, probably something you can definitely feel, but not fully. And, of course, the fact that the symbiote is amorphous means that itās a sensory experience that is impossible to experience as a non-host human (okay, ignoring any Mutants or whatnot in the various Marvel universes). Itās likely an especially weird experience to feel the symbiote moving through or across skin, since the host and the symbiote would be feeling both sensations at once, one through primary senses and one through secondary senses.
It also makes things like Eddie and the symbiote holding hands (multiple times in the comics) very interesting to contemplate, since it stands to reason that they both can feel the othersā hand through their own hand, but also feel their hand through the senses of the other. To some extent. I donāt know how much control there would be moderating the sharing of senses. Probably some, since I know itās possible toĀ ālockā the symbiote out ofĀ āhigher brain functionsā (Venom: 2016) and also to pretty much completely mentally dominate it (Venom: First Host). But I donāt know how much Eddie and the symbiote would do that and at this point this is too much speculation.
This isnāt to mention all of the other physical things that would come with being host to a symbiote. Thereās the rapid changes in mass and volume, which are accompanied by changes in balance that come from such rapid changes, as well as issues of balance when the symbiote is stretching itself out in one direction really far. Plus there are changes in height and strength and speed which affect things, something that Eddie and Ann talked about in the movie. Thatās gotta feel physically weird. And there are the parts, in the comics at least, of relying on the otherās metabolism, which in some canon means less eating and less sleeping, or at least different habits for the two. Iām also just gonna throw in there the rapid healing thatās possible through the intervention of the symbiote, which must feel very, very strange.
Anyway, in conclusion the physical tactility of Venom and co. is a really interesting concept that combines sharing a body with amorphous goo blob and Iāve never seen that done anywhere else and it makes it utterly fascinating to me.