“Am I leaving Dawn in danger?†– Giles in OMWF

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Doesn't this "concern" seem a bit contradictory, considering how willing he was to let Dawn die earlier in the last season? Do you think he had a change of heart? I argue no, because later (when he is alluding to helping Wood in attempting to kill Spike) he tells Buffy she would let Dawn die now, if it was her only choice, to save the world and win the war.

Thoughts?

 

[Buffy Summers]

lol I think it just rhymed 😉

 

[Revolver]

Giles just comes from that Watcher school where the big picture is all that matters. It's not that he wanted Dawn dead in the previous season. He was just willing to accept it because they hadn't come up with another solution and the world was at stake. Once that crisis was solved, he had no reason to even think about hurting Dawn. At that point, she was just a young girl who might have needed his help. Or at least that was something he would have considered, something that crossed his mind as he tried to figure out what was best for himself and Buffy and crew in the future.

 

[sosa lola]

I believe Giles cares about Dawn a great deal, however, he's a guy who sees the big picture. If saving the world depends on killing Willow for example, I'm sure he'll do it if he couldn't find another way to save the world.

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

At the end of s5 it wasn't about anyone in particular, so no Dawn hate, just sacrificing one for the well-being of many.
And that was exactly the point, Giles considered that option because it could've saved so many thousand lives. Later in s6, however, there was no saving others by Dawn's death anymore, so her dying would've been very pointless and not what the Watcher's Council stands for.

Btw, as a good comparison. This is pretty much the same thing that was going on in Angel s5 with Fred. Angel and Spike got the possibility of saving Fred after all, but only at the risk of harming so many others. Here Angel made the choice to let Fred die to save others.
Of course the cases here are still pretty different. Giles killing Dawn would've meant killing someone innocent, but by that the inevitable would've stopped. With Fred it wasn't about actively killing anyone, just letting someone innocent die without intervention because otherwise the consequences would've been much worse.

 

[Wanabee-slayer]

I think Kristine says it best. At the end of the day Giles is a Watcher. He was raised by a proud family of Watchers and it was instilled in him from childhood that the most important thing in his life was saving the world no matter the cost. I'm sure he didn't want Dawn dead but when it is a choice between one person who would die anyway or everyone dying he chose the one! It's his job and it's what he was raised to believe: that you need to save the world no matter what you must sacrifice to do so!

 

[LizzieRainbow]

I believe Giles cares about Dawn a great deal, however, he's a guy who sees the big picture. If saving the world depends on killing Willow for example, I'm sure he'll do it if he couldn't find another way to save the world.

I will agree with that, as Giles was not put as a relative to Dawn with loads of buillt memories he was able to see what was right for the world and not right for Buffy. I do agree that if it was the only way Giles would sacrafice any character to save the world.

 

[Perny]

I think as a watcher Giles knew what had to be done to save the world. He didn't exactly smile or jumped around gleefully when he was willing to let Dawn die. It was his job, and what he knew was needed.

Sweet wasn't a grade Glory, A+ apocalypse. He was just taking Dawn, and that's where the watcher stepped down and let the emotional caring Giles step up. Also he knew Buffy had to get her head back in the game. But he realized that risking Dawn because of that was stupid...Bah I'm babbling

 

[crazysoulless]

I felt like he was too willing to consider Dawn's death in The Gift. He seemed too adamant about it hours before the ritual was even started. It was Willow who was all "Show of hands for stopping the ritual before Dawn gets bled". I thought he might try to pull a Knight of Byzantine and off Dawn so that there was no risk of the ritual ever even being started in the first place. Buffy was very hesistant at even considering killing Dawn partly because it was very defeatist to think of them not being successful at stopping Glory and rescuing Dawn and partly because she just lost her mother and the thought of losing her daughter/sister was too much for her as well as the fact that she had already been forced once to kill the person she loved most in the world and it nearly destroyed her. I think that Buffy would have let Dawn die when the time came though since the look on her face when Dawn said "You have to let me go" was filled with emotional pain knowing it was true and that she was going to let Dawn die.

I didn't like that in OMWF and the beginning of S6 he thought the best thing to do was to take himself out of the picture and force Buffy to step up the plate even though the reason she was leaning on him was because she was shellshocked and then extremely depressed from being ressurected.

 

[thevikingsgirl]

Letting Dawn get taken to hell in OMWF wouldn't have saved the world, so it would make no sense to let it happen. totally different circumstances. I thought it was a very bad time to try to force Buffy to snap out of it and I was glad when they came to their senses and went to help.

 

[dan k]

The issue of the world ending wasn't there anymore so i think its quite obvious why Giles wanted to keep Dawn safe. Dawn dying would only have caused pain to everyone who had known her for years or in this case thought they had known her.

Nevertheless everyone in the Scoobies cared for Dawn and Giles was no exception.

 

[Wishing Oceans]

Yeah, as people said, Giles was willing to sacrifice Dawn before because it meant that the world would be saved. It didn't mean that he didn't have concern for her. 🙂

(Still, as Buffy Summers said, it was also probably said just because it rhymed...)

 

[Taake]

like has been mentioned I think he's big picture guy who between Dawn and the world chooses the world. But he does care for her and on any other day she is just like another innocent human being and he'll want to protect her for that at least if nothing else.
But clearly, he didn't care enough not to put her in jepoardy in order to shake Buffy up a bit. So yeah, big picture guy who does what he feels best (as learned by the Watcher's academy pretty much a 'cut your losses' type of guys and gals)

 

[Fresley4ever]

I think at the time Giles felt Buffy wouldn't step up to save Dawn because of her depression. So yes it was a big picture type of thing.

 

[white avenger]

Along with everything else, "Am I leaving Dawn in danger?" worked out better in the song than "Am I leaving Buffy in danger?" even though Dawn was in danger either way, while BUFFY was left more in danger by Giles refusing to allow her any back up.

 

[Abby27]

I agree with the posts here. After months of research and trying to figure out a way to save Dawn from Glory, Buffy decided to run away from the danger and from Sunnydale to protect Dawn. That's something we've never seen before, but still they were brought back and had to deal with a way to stop Glory. I can understand why Giles at that point, mere hours away from the ritual suggested killing Dawn. I mean, we've seen Giles be the hardened warrior who can make the tough calls. Like when he kills Ben, he is able to do the dirty work for the greater good, and with that hardened rationale, he is able to suggest killing Dawn for the greater good.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I think after "The Gift" they all felt they had to protect Dawn, and since Buffy had come back so detached, I think he was concerned that if he left or didn't help Buffy save her, Buffy wouldn't try her best to protect her.