Buffy's Watcher

white avenger

white avenger

white avenger
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We know that Buffy's original Watcher was Merrick, and that he died in Los Angeles before Joyce and Buffy moved to Sunnydale. My question is this: Was Giles actually ever SUPPOSED to be Buffy's Watcher, or did he just happen to be the man in the right place at the right time?

For that matter, was Buffy, in the beginning, ever supposed to actually wind up living on the hellmouth? The other Slayers that we have seen from the past (as shown in "Tales Of The Slayer" volumes) just seemed to be more or less moving from one spot to another, following demonic/vampire activity wherever it happened to be, with the exception of Nikki Wood, who apparently was permanently assigned to New York.
 
Are the comics from the Omnibus canonical? I know that at least the origin story is supposed to be but in volume 1 there's also a part where Giles is competing to be assigned to the latest Slayer.

The final scene of that is pretty funny. "HER NAME IS BUFFY?!"
 
S
Skytteflickan88
Only The Origin is canon. I assume WA meant the tales of the slayers stories, where we seen slayers move around.
S
Spike Angelus
I think Joss has said that both "Tales of the Slayers" and "Tales of the Vampires" are canon, but don't quote me on that just yet :)
I think I can answer, but I would have to write a spoiler for The Wish(season 3) and I don't know how to write spoilers.
 
Nix
Nix
[spoiler]lalalalala[/spoiler]
Black Eye Guy
Black Eye Guy
You dont have to spoiler tag things from S3, its ok to post it :)
Thanks Nix. But It didn't work. Am I just suppose to write this:

Spoiler - Highlight to view: and then the comment?
 
We find out in Welcome to the Hellmouth that Giles is the new librarian at the school, which makes me think that he was only sent there because the Council knew that Buffy was going to end up there at some point. It's too big of a coincidence that the Slayer moves to a new town and there's a Watcher there, who just happened to move to the same town just a few weeks/months before.

The Council probably have a lot of people on their staff who can predict the future, read bones/runes and can tell where the Slayer is needed, or where she'll end up. It wouldn't even surprise me if the Council worked some form of magic to make sure Joyce chose to move to Sunnydale or Cleveland, as those towns would have been where a Slayer was needed most.
 
BuffyElevated
BuffyElevated
OMG, your banner is unbelievably BEAUTIFUL! Did you do all the Merrick Prom banners, babe?
Lyri said:
We find out in Welcome to the Hellmouth that Giles is the new librarian at the school, which makes me think that he was only sent their because the Council knew that Buffy was going to end up there at some point. It's too big of a coincidence that the Slayer moves to a new town and there's a Watcher there, who just happened to move to the same town just a few weeks/months before.
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True, it would be a big coincidence, but it would stand to reason that the Council would most likely have a Watcher assigned to the hellmouth, whether there were a Slayer there or not, just to keep an eye on and record the goings on. As far as Giles being just assigned there, there's no reason to believe that there hasn't been a Watcher there for years. Given the amount of demon activity there, the mortality rate among assigned Watchers might be pretty high, and he just happened to have arrived in Sunnydale prior to the arrival of the Slayer.
 
I'm repeating what other people have said, but damn it, I just learned how to write spoilers.

In The Wish, Giles says "You were suppose to come here" as if he was told she was going to be there so he could watch her. I guess the watchers could somehow tell where she was going to move, maybe they have seers working for them. But when she didn't go there, they sent her another watcher. Or maybe different watchers were sent to different locations that the seers had seen she was likely to move to.

That being said, WA, you could be right. Maybe they always had a watcher in Sunnydale all along, to keep track of the hellmouth. Would make sense. Maybe they had one stationed in Cleveland too. And then Buffy happened to move there, so they didn't need to send a new one.

Since in
Season 3 we find out Giles wasn't sent to that retreat Faith's watcher was sent on, it shows he wasn't so appreciated by the Council. Maybe they didn't "give" Buffy to Giles because he was agood watcher, they just picked him because he was convinient(however that's spelled)

And thanks Nix!
 
crazysoulless
crazysoulless
that is really cute, you wanting to use spoiler tags because you just realized how to use them.
Black Eye Guy agrees: You dont have to spoiler tag things from S3, its ok to post it 🙂
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Really? I thought we were strict on that. Oh well, at least I learned to make things black 🙂
 
Skytteflickan88 said:
That being said, WA, you could be right. Maybe they always had a watcher in Sunnydale all along, to keep track of the hellmouth. Would make sense. Maybe they had one stationed in Cleveland too. And then Buffy happened to move there, so they didn't need to send a new one.
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Plus the Council might very well have manipulated conditions, as in using some sort of connections, to get Joyce a job at the art gallery in Sunnydale, in order to get their current Slayer in contact with the nearest available Watcher, and, as a bonus, having that Slayer take up residence on the hellmouth.

It could have just been a case of everything coming together pretty much by chance, with a few gentle adjustments in circumstances.
 
S
Skytteflickan88
I think it's more likely that they manipulated the school, since I think Joyce mentioned Sunydale was the only one willing to accept Buffy.
Skytteflickan88 said:
Really? I thought we were strict on that. Oh well, at least I learned to make things black 🙂
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Only for anything new, or stuff that has aired in America but not in the UK, mainly.

I'd be pretty sure Giles was sent there only becasue they knew she was going there.

He knew Buffy's name, he just moved there, and like Skytteflickan88 said in the Wish he says he was told she was coming, as he does in the first episode.

Plus in the first episode he says:
Now, I believe this whole area is a center of mystical energy, (comes back with four books) that things gravitate towards it that, that, that you might not find elsewhere. (sets them on the table)
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That to me sounds like he just found this info out, being a giant nerd he swatted up on the town and found all this out, he doesn't actually refer to it as the hellmouth till he reads it from a book.

I don't think the watchers council prepared for what they found in Sunnydale.
 
Dammit, you're right, it sounds like he just found out.

Come to think of it, maybe the watcher's didn't even know what a Hellmouth was. Didn't Giles get the name Hellmouth from translating a name in another language or something?
 
S
Spike Angelus
I believe you are right.
I'm going to have to go with the whole "Watchers Council knew she was going to move there" and it was just dumb luck that it happened to be at the Hellmouth.
 
I haven't read about Merrick, just want to know did Buffy ever meet him? eg: was Giles her second watcher or did he die before he met Buffy?
 
dan k said:
I haven't read about Merrick, just want to know did Buffy ever meet him? eg: was Giles her second watcher or did he die before he met Buffy?
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Merrick was her original watcher/trainer in LA..he was killed and Buffy was expelled..so then comes the move to Sunnydale and Giles the new watcher
 
Does she ever mention Merrick in the tv series? Usually Buffy is the kind of person you'd think who would take a lot of time to get over a death to someone's she's close too. Yet when she moves to Sunnydale i don't remember her feeling sad, someone correct me if i'am wrong.
 
dan k said:
Does she ever mention Merrick in the tv series? Usually Buffy is the kind of person you'd think who would take a lot of time to get over a death to someone's she's close too. Yet when she moves to Sunnydale i don't remember her feeling sad, someone correct me if i'am wrong.
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She mentions him..and they show him in Becoming ep in season 2
 
dan k said:
What does she say about him exactly?
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She doesn't say him by name but says shes had a previous watcher and now hes dead..something like that..i dont remember the specific epp..you gotta remember Merrick didn't have a lot of time with Buffy before he killed himself from Lothos..so while she was attached somewhat i'm sure..she most likely got over it within the months between LA to Sunnydale..she didnt dwell on Kendra much either..what she gonna do
 
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