Oskar, A Blood Donor?

[danielma]

First and foremost I don't believe Oskar is a killer in the making, but a thought has occured. And unless someone can refute this with a plausible explination, because from memory (keep in mind its been a while since I've read the book) there is really no reason explained in the book as to why this could not work.

What's to stop Oskar giving Eli his own blood? In the book, there is that scene where Eli offers Money to Tommy in exchange for his blood. From memory, Tommy's description was that it had looked like (s)he had done this before and was experienced in this transaction. So clearly that would mean that maybe Eli has been doing this for a while...so whats to stop Oskar from being a blood donor to Eli???

Sorry if someone else has thought of this and posted this question before...but I was just recently re-watching Thirst, what strikes me about Thirst is the way the priest refuses to kill rather taking blood from Suicidal paitents. But not only the suicidal paitents, but also he gets his fix from the comatosed paitent in the hospital.

So a thought had occured, whats to stop Oskar from being a blood donater to Eli throghout life? You would imagine that (s)he could maybe live off Oskar's own blood supply right? Or is there any plausible reason as to why this theory could not work?

[TΛPETRVE]

I doubt Oskar's juice is enough.

[N.R. Gasan]

The human body does not replenish all that quickly. Yes, if done carefully, Oskar could donate a certain amount to Eli. But we don't really know how much blood is a full meal for her. For the sake of argument, say a meal is a pint. The average adult has 10 pints of blood. Oskar is only 12, so let's say for a ballpark estimate that he has 7 pints, 8 tops. One pint from Oskar would be a lot more that it would be from an adult. And being a child, it would probably take longer for him to renew it. As you can see, the idea sounds promising but in practice Eli would need more than one donor. But in a pinch, it is a viable option.

[danielma]

The human body does not replenish all that quickly. Yes, if done carefully, Oskar could donate a certain amount to Eli. But we don't really know how much blood is a full meal for her. For the sake of argument, say a meal is a pint. The average adult has 10 pints of blood. Oskar is only 12, so let's say for a ballpark estimate that he has 7 pints, 8 tops. One pint from Oskar would be a lot more that it would be from an adult. And being a child, it would probably take longer for him to renew it. As you can see, the idea sounds promising but in practice Eli would need more than one donor. But in a pinch, it is a viable option.

Isn't it mentioned in the book that she took about a litre from Tommy?

Well like I said, it was just a thought that popped to mind after re-watching Thirst the other day. To this day I have always wondered about that scene with Tommy in the book though and about that being an action that has seemingly been performed before by Eli. From memory (keep in mind its been a while since I read the book), is it ever really discussed how often she needs a feed? Its the one area where I think JAL is the most vauge in. I know there is that detail of how Eli can sleep for months on end and when (s)he awakens, (s)he is little and weak again. And I know at points in the book she is on the brink of starvation...but the vauge nature of details leaves you to wonder...if this transaction has been made before is it a desperate last act at her weakest? but at the same time it doesn't come across as a desperate last act (or maybe I misread it) when she does make the deal with Tommy, it actually comes across as an act of kindness by not outright killing him. And from memory (once again correct me if I'm wrong), I don't remember her being weak at that certain point in the novel.

But the point you make about replenishment is a good one...but for some reason I could still see that maybe being a viable option at some point in there ongoing travels. Maybe not a regular one...but I could see it maybe coming up at some point

[withinfocus]

She needs either a pint or liter, I can't remember which, according to her transaction with Tommy. It takes up to two months to "safely" re-stabilize your body's red blood cell count after roughly one pint of donation which is what it seems the infection needs since Hakan oozed only plasma after death. Therefore, Oskar couldn't scale.

[Barb]

You're ALL right, of course. Eli can't just feed off of him all of the time. However, there might be times when no other option is available, that Oskar wouldn't mind donating blood, as a last resort. That's the cool thing about the ending of LTROI. There are no wrong answers as to what happens after you turn that last page or see that last frame. There's just more likely answers and less likely ones.

[drakkar]

In the book, Eli feeds six times in about three weeks (VIrginia was abrupted). Plus the litre she bought from Tommy, but that was to replenish the bleeding caused by Oskar.
I don't know how much blood you can get from a person bleeding him to death, but that could be a way of estimate a meal. Substract a litre of spillage on the floor, walls and Elis clothes
In the film, I believe Håkans blood can has a capacity of five litres.
I have this feeling a blood donor ring has to be quite numerous to supply Eli on a regular basis. I remember this was estimated by someone the board quite recently.

[danielma]

Points taken all around

As I said, the only reason I thought about it was because of the Priest in Thirst, the way he gathers blood throughout that movie strikingly reminded me of that scene with Tommy in the basement

It was probably a stupid posting here, but I was curious

[morti-viventi]

I have this feeling a blood donor ring has to be quite numerous to supply Eli on a regular basis.

An interesting idea. Perhaps another layer on the Oskar = Håkan II theory? When Oskar doesn't see her, she's actually just hanging out with her other "boifrans".

Putting that aside, other posters brought up that Oskar could be an emergency source of blood. How would that work? I was always under the impression that the consequence for not ingesting blood on a regular basis was to go all animal style and feast on the closest human with a pulse (ie the scene in the basement where Oskar cuts himself). If she were in a particularly haggard condition, would she be able to control herself like she does when feeding off of Tommy?

[drakkar]

You certainly got a point - but one part of the story, Eli letting the right one in, is that Eli is getting more in touch with her human side, becoming gradually less dangerous to Oskar. The basement scene is the ultimate test, in that Eli manages to restrain herself.
Later on, in the bleeding scene, Eli does not show any sign of wanting to attack Oskar, even if she has lost blood, can see blood, and Oskar is right there with his guard down.
Eli being sustained by a blood donor ring as a way out of the misere has even been discussed earlier. Problem seems to be that Eli's hallmark is to go unnoticed - if (s)he senses she is about to be discovered, she will immediately flee the area. She must be very good at this, having kept it going for two centuries. So she is difficult to spot and approach, even with friendly intent; Eli will not stick around long enough to find out.
In the board fan fiction section the blood donor solution is dealt with, like in a_c_l's Once Bitten.