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In later episodes of Angel, we see the character of Marcus Hamilton. Marcus had the "power of the Senior Partners" coursing through his veins. He was seemingly invincible, withstanding attacks from Angel and Illyria with ease.

Then, Angel bites Marcus, sucks his blood, and gets some of the power. This always struck me as odd, as I wouldn't have thought the teeth could have pierced Hamilton's skin (although this was never stated, it was just my assumption, which inspired this question).

Is there reason to believe that the fangs of Vampires have the ability to bite through things that wouldn't be explained my having Vampiric jaw strength? Do the teeth pierce things normally resistant to harm?

For instance, do they bite through "impenetrable" skin of any demons, through metals, or through any protective enchantments?

The Buffy and Angel comics are acceptable sources.

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  • Calling @Richard ...
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 0:40
  • @randal'thor - I can't think of any instance where a vamp in Buffy has bitten someone/something with impenetrable skin
    – Valorum
    Commented Jan 9, 2016 at 18:39

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UPDATE: Since you've rewritten your question, I'll try to address it a bit better. I'll leave my original answer below.

To the best of my knowledge, no, vampire teeth are never noted as having any magical properties (piercing or otherwise).

Vampires don't seem to use their teeth as weapons (except to drain their prey), nor as tools. I can't recall any case off-hand of a vampire biting something other than human(-ish) flesh. I can't recall a case of a vampire trying to bit a demon either, let alone one with impenetrable flesh - is there even such a thing in the Buffyverse?

I may be forgetting something, but given how strong and tough Hamilton is, I doubt a vampire on the show has bitten into anything tougher. How many things on the show were tougher? Adam? Glory? The demon the mayor becomes? Illyria pre-depowering? Ubervamps? Caleb? None of those is bitten.

Even if you could find some solid evidence, I doubt the show has enough consistency to draw any real conclusions. It seems unlikely to me the writers sat down to calculate vampire jaw strength, and instead gave them the strength required by the plot.


Marcus Hamilton is clearly not invincible, since Angel snaps his neck after being powered up with his blood.

Yes, Marcus Hamilton takes punches from Angel and (de-powered) Illyria without flinching. (Actually Illyria only lands one punch, Hamilton dodges another and blocks a kick.) He's very strong and very tough. But lets put this into perspective - Angel is thrown by Hamilton through a pillar without suffering serious injury.

Furthermore, at no point in the fight does Angel use any sort of weapon - it's a brawl. Likewise with Illyria (who only lands a single punch). Marcus Hamilton isn't hit with anything sharp or pointy besides Angel's teeth. So we have no frame of reference to judge how hard it would be to penetrate his skin.

Given this, I see no reason to think Angel's bite would need to be magical to penetrate Hamilton's skin. Keep in mind that penetrating skin isn't just about the amount of force, but also about the area over which it is spread - pointy teeth focus all of Angel's jaw strength into a small area.

Bolstered by Hamilton's blood, Angel is finally strong enough to hurt Hamilton (and possibly Hamilton is weakened), and eventually lands a solid blow to his head that snaps neck.

You might also compare Angel's fight with Hamilton to Buffy's fight with the ubervamp in Buffy S7E11 "Showtime". The ubervamp is tough enough that Buffy fails to stake it - she doesn't strike hard enough to penetrate the ubervamp's rib cage (though she does penetrate its skin). However, she is later able to wrap some (entirely mundane) wire around it's throat and apply enough force to behead it. It isn't just about relative strength, it's also about how that strength is applied.

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  • This answer focuses primarily on the fight with Marcus, which was the inspiration for my question, but not the question itself.
    – user31178
    Commented Jan 9, 2016 at 17:55
  • I have tried to address your clarified question. I doubt my answer will be satisfying, but it's the best I can offer.
    – varradami
    Commented Jan 10, 2016 at 18:45

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