Eyes...

[skankyfish]

I've seen discussion around eyes recently on the forums, but damned if I can find it now, so new thread it is! Forgive me if this is common knowledge...

There's been pondering over whether Ink is fully turned, because his eyes are described as being green, not cloudy like the normal biters. I'm re-listening to the whole show again to tide me over between new episodes. In 33-3 Tanya autopsies number 2, and describes her eyes as:

"Eyes. Haemorrage in the left, the right fine, both light brown and normal. Not like the othe biters we've seen up close."

So eyes are clearly important, and it seems like there must be something different about special ones *before* they turn, because I can't see their eyes clouding over and then magically clearing up again. Is it some drug that's in their system when they turn? Is it something intrinsically different about these people that makes them into Special Ones? Or is it some combination? Do they have some natural difference to the rest of us that subtly altered their blood chemistry and made them special? Maybe naturally higher keratin 18?

Does anyone have any theories?

[tonyhind86]

In some way, shape or form he has been afflicted by the z-virus/germ due to his superhuman abilities and the fact that he can control (and judging from episode 40-2, somewhat intimidate) other biters. There seems to still be some speculation about whether or not he actually got bitten though, as Michael stated that "at one point, it almost looked like they got his arm".
If you've ever seen the Blade movies, the titular character was in the womb when his mother was bitten by a vampire. He inherited the vampire's strengths and none of their weaknesses, making him a sort of hybrid. Perhaps there's a similar biological catalyst that determines the difference between biters/little ones.

[skankyfish]

I have a pet theory that the Little Ones were in utero when Z-day hit. The blood smears and tattoo gun left at Cain Memorial hospital (it was described as a general hospital, so likely to have some form of maternity facilities) are what started me on that. Ink either foun biters who were pregnant, or some un-turned pregnant women and...experimented. And how do you keep track of lab rats? Tattoos.

I might be getting too :tinfoil: here, but the speculation's too much fun to stop!

[tonyhind86]

Sounds like a plausible theory, and it explains how the "little ones" were initially little, and how they are so different from the normal biters.

Any theories on the origin of the behemoths?

[skankyfish]

Sounds like a plausible theory, and it explains how the "little ones" were initially little, and how they are so different from the normal biters.

Any theories on the origin of the behemoths?

Lamentably no. I think the cocktail of drugs and hormones stolen from Radon has a lot to do with them (anabolic steroids, growth hormones...), but I hesitate to go further than that. They may have already been big people before they died (bodybuilders?), then Ink made them bigger, or Ink may have simply pumped them full of drugs once they turned. Excited to find out though, eventually!

[tonyhind86]

Lamentably no. I think the cocktail of drugs and hormones stolen from Radon has a lot to do with them (anabolic steroids, growth hormones...), but I hesitate to go further than that. They may have already been big people before they died (bodybuilders?), then Ink made them bigger, or Ink may have simply pumped them full of drugs once they turned. Excited to find out though, eventually!

When Tanya did the autopsy on the behemoth in Chapter 39-1, she found it to be riddled with tumours - normally a result of uncontrolled cell growth due to faulty DNA. Maybe he had been tinkering with them at the genetic level?