Buffy and Cordelia's Power

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Blessed

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I was just thinking that it was kind of funny that in the BTVS episode Get it Done and in the Angel episode Birthday, both Buffy and Cordelia were faced with the choices to either accept the power they currently possessed which would lead to uncertain events or to increase their power by becoming more demon. Buffy rejected the offer and Cordelia accepted. Who made the right choice? I think they both were thinking of the "Greater Good." However, maybe Cordelia was just being manipulated into recieving certain traits. Maybe Cordelia could have became some sort of powerful being w/o the demon boost. So I would have to side with Buffy, taking the pure road.
 
Good comparison.

Also, Buffy has been worried about the whole "Slayer as demon" thing since way back in Season Five, which might have led to her rejection of the new demon power. Staying human has always been very important to her.

Cordelia, on the other hand, cares very much about her visions, so she became part demon to keep them. Therefore, maybe she doesn't see becoming more demon as such a bad thing because she had positive experiences with it before.
 
On Angel, Demons are much more accepted I think. Just look at Angel, Doyle, Lorne, and finally Cordelia. It's not considered as such a bad thing. On Buffy, the only good demons are the ones cursed with souls and/or very random demons like Clem.

Cordelia also had the chance to see the repurcussions of her not accepting becoming part-demon, Buffy didn't have this opportunity.
 
Cordelia said:
On Angel, Demons are much more accepted I think. Just look at Angel, Doyle, Lorne, and finally Cordelia. It's not considered as such a bad thing. On Buffy, the only good demons are the ones cursed with souls and/or very random demons like Clem.

Cordelia also had the chance to see the repurcussions of her not accepting becoming part-demon, Buffy didn't have this opportunity.
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Were those "repurcussions" that Cordelia saw genuine? I rather doubt it. I suspect that if Cordelia had saw the genuine consequences, she would not have chosen to become part demon. A

And I don't think the status of demons on each show, had anything to do with Buffy and Cordelia's choices. I suspect that Buffy's choice had to do with her fear of of losing a part of herself . . . of becoming more dehumanize. And I think that Cordelia's choice had more to do with her self-esteem and her need to feel more wanted and to be more useful for Angel.
 
I wouldn't call that self-esteem, but rather a genuine concern for helping people. Cordelia never had any special powers until she inherited the visions and that was the point where her life really changed and what she wanted out of life changed as well.

The repurcussions Cordelia saw may not have been 100% correct, but first of all, she had no reason to believe they weren't and secondly, the Scourge would have came after Doyle with or without Cordelia being there. He still would have died and he would have needed someone to pass the visions to. The logical person would have been Angel - who already is burdened with the choices he made in his own "un-life" and now has to bear the burdens of feeling the suffering of those around the world. It's not too out of the ordinary to think that he would have been overwhelmed, even to the point of insanity.
 
Cordelia's powers were destroying her. The visions were too powerful for a human to cope with. For Cordy if she wanted to keep helping people she would have had to become part demon.

Buffy on the other hand didn't need the added boost of power. She coped well with her slayers powers and was confident enough to think that she could defeat the first without become more different than she already was.

I'm not saying that Cordy was weak in become part demon. She did what she needed to do to help the innocent. So did Buffy. But were as Cordy wouldn't take the chance that she might not be able to help if she didn't become part demon, Buffy did.

And in the end, Buffy, who had rejected the added power to help innocents, ended up saving the world as usual. Whereas, Cordelia, who had accepted the demon power ended up bringing about the next big bad. I think that's very ironic.
 
Unfortunately Cordy didn't have the option of just being relieved of the visions, she had to go back in time and relive her life, die or become part demon.

Buffy could take the power and become stronger and less human or stay as she was, which has been good enough to that point.
 
I wouldn't call that self-esteem, but rather a genuine concern for helping people. Cordelia never had any special powers until she inherited the visions and that was the point where her life really changed and what she wanted out of life changed as well.
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I'm sure that Cordelia may have wanted to help others, but I'm also certain that her own esteem issues played a part in her choice to become half-demon. I don't believe in selflessness. I don't think it exists. Nor do I believe that humans are really capable of it. Not really. Even when it comes to helping others, there is always a selfless reason why someone would do it.
 
That kind of reminds me of the Friends episode where Phoebe is trying to prove that she can do a selfless act. 🙂

But you got a point. Nothing is truly selfless. When you give money to a charity you get a sense of pride/happiness that comes along with doing something intrinsically good.
 
LadyLavinia said:
I'm sure that Cordelia may have wanted to help others, but I'm also certain that her own esteem issues played a part in her choice to become half-demon. I don't believe in selflessness. I don't think it exists. Nor do I believe that humans are really capable of it. Not really. Even when it comes to helping others, there is always a selfless reason why someone would do it.
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Well thats depending on your perspective.

Any act of selflessness can also be viewed as something done rather selfishly.

Take for instance Buffy in the Gift. Buffy did something extremely selfless, jumping into the portal for Dawn, but yet others see it as Buffy's way of escaping the world that caused her pain.

But her actions in Becoming are completely selfless.

Back to Cordy, I think that her not knowing the repercussions really didn't play any part. If she had known that she could grow a tail or antlers, she most probably would have done it. That is just where that character was in her life. But then you could see it as a selfish act because she was giving up the pain.

Guess it is up to the viewer's perspective.
 
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