Buffy and the Knights of Byzantium

[Gum Gnome33]

Don't forget that Ben was an innocent human being. He might have made some bad decisions, but no one can really blame him. The Knights of Byzantium presumably had choice in their actions, and surely knew that their live's were at risk when they made the choice to go after the slayer and her kin.

That's one way to look at it. The other way is that since Ben is Glory, unfortunately he is not an innocent human being even if he may try to be. Killing him would have saved Dawn and the entire world while still basically, and for the sake of argument, maintaining her "no-kill" policy for humans. As far as human beings go, Ben comes with a giant caveat in the form of the ultimate in murderous beasts. So at the very least, killing him wouldn't exactly have made her a hypocrite.

Also at the time when Buffy caught up with Ben/Glory, he was acting far from innocent. I'm just not sure this can be considered in my argument since I don't remember exactly whether Buffy knew that at the time.

 

[david4wt]

I always thought that they were humans and never so the problem in that. What was she supposed to do? Not defend herself and the gang because they're not demons?

I remember hey saying something like this: when it comes to normal murders and violence and stuff it's the justice and police's duty to intervene, when it's mystical it's hers. And this was mystical.

 

[Shawnie]

Possibly Buffy was so unhesitating in killing the Knights of Byzantium for the same reason that she was so adamant about protecting Dawn, even at the cost of that literally destroying the world because of the spell that the mysterious monks used to morph the Key into Dawn, then have everyone connected with Buffy and her family believe that they had known her for 14 years. If the main purpose of the spell was to have Buffy protect the Key at all cost, any inhibitions that she might have had, as in taking human lives or allowing her primary mission, keeping the world safe and averting the occasional apocalypse, would have been overpowered by her desire to protect Dawn. That would also explain why, by Season 7, once any threat to the Key had been averted, Buffy admits that, if the decision were hers to make at that time, she would have let Dawn die. was The protection spell no longer in force.

In other words, the monks' spell overrode Buffy's value on human life.

Wow, what a great thought. This never even occurred to me. But seeing as how Buffy says in Season 7 that looking back she would've killed her, it makes complete sense. Also with her telling the gang "If anyone comes near Dawn, I'll kill them" - this makes complete sense.

 

[Sweet J]

Possibly Buffy was so unhesitating in killing the Knights of Byzantium for the same reason that she was so adamant about protecting Dawn, even at the cost of that literally destroying the world because of the spell that the mysterious monks used to morph the Key into Dawn, then have everyone connected with Buffy and her family believe that they had known her for 14 years. If the main purpose of the spell was to have Buffy protect the Key at all cost, any inhibitions that she might have had, as in taking human lives or allowing her primary mission, keeping the world safe and averting the occasional apocalypse, would have been overpowered by her desire to protect Dawn. That would also explain why, by Season 7, once any threat to the Key had been averted, Buffy admits that, if the decision were hers to make at that time, she would have let Dawn die. was The protection spell no longer in force.

In other words, the monks' spell overrode Buffy's value on human life.

As others have pointed out, this makes a lot of sense. Buffy was under the monks spell so her whole control over herself was compromised.

Something that has been bugging me is, If the Knights were human, why didn't buffy get the Police after them? and get Dawn into Police protective custody?

 

[white avenger]

Something that has been bugging me is, If the Knights were human, why didn't buffy get the Police after them? and get Dawn into Police protective custody?

Probably because she figured (rightly) that, as big a threat as the Knights were, Glory was much worse, and the police wouldn't have a prayer of stopping her. Their best bet was to leave and just keep running until the time passed for when Glory could perform her ritual, but that plan, thanks to the aforementioned Knights, got royally screwed up.

 

[ashleigh]

If the Knights were human, why didn't buffy get the Police after them? and get Dawn into Police protective custody?

I can't imagine Buffy really has much faith in the police to do anything, let alone when mystical things are involved. The Knights may have been human, but there was certainly something not quite right with them.

 

[Jaeger]

Liking this topic so far, just wanted to point out that this wasn't even the first time in the series that Buffy has killed humans. She killed those two German terrorists back in season 3.

 

[Gum Gnome33]

just wanted to point out that this wasn't even the first time in the series that Buffy has killed humans. She killed those two German terrorists back in season 3.

Well, the terrorists actually kill each other; when she throws the transmitters at them they adjust for the target and shoot each other. Probably that was her plan and though it's not a world away from killing them herself, I think there's a case to be made for the fact that even then she was resisting hand to hand combat to the death with a human.

(Also, are we sure they were human? I know they probably are but I wasn't sure it was made clear...)

 

[Jaeger]

Well, the terrorists actually kill each other; when she throws the transmitters at them they adjust for the target and shoot each other. Probably that was her plan and though it's not a world away from killing them herself, I think there's a case to be made for the fact that even then she was resisting hand to hand combat to the death with a human.

(Also, are we sure they were human? I know they probably are but I wasn't sure it was made clear...)

Yeah, I'd considered that too. The fact that they technically kill each other kind of gets Buffy off the hook for that one.

It was stated they were human.