Continuation of "Go Ahead and Argue But Buffy is The Slayer, and I Can prove it."

[SlayerThe]

The previous thread is now currently located in the Sunnydale Cemetery, so I decided to revive the discussion since I have many things to contribute (whether fact or fiction) to this argument.

1. On the idea of the First trying to or not to attack Willow:

I believe that the First did try to hurt Willow and or discourage her from using magicks. Look at "Conversations with Dead People" (Season 7, Episode 7)

These two instances show the First trying to persuade Willow to give up her witchy ways :

CASSIE
Things are more clear where Tara is, where we are. We can see your path, and you have to stop. You can't use magic again, not ever.

WILLOW
Black magic, of course. But Giles says it isn't as simple as-as quitting it all cold-turkey"”

CASSIE
It's too dangerous. You can't take the chance that you'll lose control.

WILLOW
I-I don't want to. I-I can't. I never want to cause that kind of pain.

CASSIE
Of course you don't.

WILLOW
So, I won't. I'm gonna be OK.

CASSIE
She says...

WILLOW
What?

CASSIE
You're not gonna be OK. You're gonna kill everybody.

CASSIE
But if you stop"”completely. No more magic.

WILLOW
Right. Right. Stop. W-what about Giles? He made it seem like it was just as dangerous for me to quit completely, like I'll go off the deep end again"”

CASSIE
You can't. If you do so much as another spell"”

Now the next quote shows the First trying to get Willow to eliminate herself--suicide, because she's obviously standing in the First's way:

CASSIE
Well, there is one thing"”one thing you could do to stop it.

WILLOW
(eyes wide) What? Anything.

CASSIE
And you could see her. You wouldn't have to talk through me.

WILLOW
(softly) Tara?

CASSIE
That's what you want, isn't it?

WILLOW
Of course.

CASSIE
So go. Be with her. Everybody will be safe, and you'll be together again. It's not that bad. Really. It's just like going to sleep.

CASSIE
Suicide thing was too far, huh? Hmm. You seemed so ripe.

WILLOW
Tell me who you are.

CASSIE
(leans forward) I stand by my opinion. The world would be a better place if you took a razorblade to your wrist"”

WILLOW
Stop.

CASSIE
I can see it now. (stands) Candlelight, the Indigo Girls playing, picture of your dead girlfriend on your bloody lap.

WILLOW
Stop it!

Next we see that in "Bring on the Night" (Season 7, Episode 10), Willow is temporarily a vessel for the First and this renders her frightened. This may have also been an attempt of trying to get Willow afraid of using her powers.

But what we don't know is, what did the First think Willow was capable of? I don't think the First knew that she could use the scythe to activate all the other potentials because why would he use Caleb and the Bringers to find it, why not just let it stay hidden where Buffy would never find it?



2. The idea that only Faith can activate a new Slayer:

As stated previously, and by previously I mean a lot of times, Buffy died momentarily, activated Kendra, who died at the hands of Drusillia, thus activating Faith. Faith does currently hold the line, because she's never died previously.

But Buffy held the line twice. Got ya thinking? When Buffy died the First time, she used up her ability to activate another Slayer. Her only replacement. But when she's revived in "Bargaining" - Parts 1 & 2 (Season 6), she is re-inserted into the line of the Slayer.

I believe this because the power of the Slayer is physical and Buffy's body had pretty much decomposed by the time Willow brought her back. And we know the no one (with the exception of Cordelia and especially no other Slayer) had ever been pulled out of paradise before. Which leads to the theory that since Buffy's body was so used to being in the line of the chosen and having that power, that her body/spirit searched for that power or maybe the Slayer line sensed her once again so it automatically re-inserted her into the line, because both she and it were so used to having her wield the power.

But then Buffy flat lines in "Villains" (Season 6, Episode 20), thus using up her activation once again. Now could another Slayer been activated:

- An answer yes could be the simple fact that they were never told about it. Kendra and Faith both came because they had specific reasons to go to Sunnydale and this Slayer probably wouldn't (especially at the end of Season 6 with Evil Willow, because no Slayer could stop Willow, only a normal human being). Plus the Council knew that Buffy guarding the Hellmouth.

- A no answer could tell us that the Slayer line couldn't balance another Slayer. Or that another Slayer was activated, just that she didn't receive the power aspect.

or with what I'm thinking...

I believe that Buffy was re-inserted on the Slayer line, but I still don't think she could activate another Slayer.

3. Buffy is THE Slayer and Faith is just A Slayer:

I do believe the Buffy is the Slayer, not only because of the dialogue used by the Scoobs and various vampires(Alliteration, I love it), but because of this:

Buffy is still the original Slayer, the only Slayer to come back, twice. Kendra and Faith may have held the line, but Buffy holds the title. Why? Because she was there first and because of this:

CALEB
Oh yeah. That's it! That's a cleansing fire. Hallelujah! Now, if I'm not mistaken, there's a car a little ways behind us, and I do believe there's some folk in it goin' the same place you are. Now, I want you to deliver a message for me, but it's not for them. It's for the other one"”the one and only, the original, accept-no-substitutes slayer. Would you tell her something for me?

Caleb obviously knows that Faith is in the car behind him and since has pretty tight with the First, he would know about the truth of who is the Slayer.

There's also possibly the biggest reference to Buffy being the Slayer:

BUFFY/FIRST
How do you like what I'm wearing?

CALEB
Just another dirty girl. And, since you only dress up in dead folk, I'm guessing, one who's already been paid her wage.

BUFFY/FIRST
Look hard. What do you see?

CALEB
(checks out the First's form) Strength. And the loneliness that comes with real strength.

BUFFY/FIRST
Nothing about my pert and bouncy hairdo?

CALEB
You're her.

BUFFY/FIRST
The slayer.

Caleb sees and senses the power of the Slayer and the First aptly refers to Buffy as the Slayer, and I would assume the First knows a lot about the Chosen.

There are also other instances of Caleb referring to them as the Slayer and a Slayer (though not all the time in that generalization):

BUFFY
Save the sermon, padre. I heard you have something of mine.

CALEB
(chuckles) Well, I do now. You liked my little message, did you? You know, I ruined a perfectly good knife on that girl. Got her soiled blood all over the place. I may have to get a new truck. (Buffy looks taken aback) So, you're the slayer. The slayer. The strongest, the fastest, the most aflame with that most precious invention of all mankind"”the notion of goodness. The slayer must indeed be powerful. (with one powerful punch, he sends Buffy flying across the room) So, what else you got? (looks around smugly)

CALEB
(looks Faith up and down) Well, you're the other one, aren't you. Your Cain to her Abel. (Faith throws a knife at Caleb) No offense meant to Cain, of course.

CALEB
You know what I figured out tonight? Every high school in this country, from one end to the other, smells exactly alike. Now, why do you suppose that is?

BUFFY/FIRST
(walks out from the shadows) And how was our best girl?

(Note that the preceding quote could refer to Buffy as the better of her and Buffy, stating she is the real Slayer)

BUFFY/FIRST
You realize what will happen if the slayer and her girls get it, don't you?

(Another elusive reference to Buffy being the one, since the girls are seen as her army, not Faith's)

Buffy trots quickly down the stairs to be on the same level as Caleb.

CALEB
Well, if it ain't the prodigal slayer?

Ok now that was a lot of quoting.

Not to mention the fact that Buffy found the scythe and she was the one meant to wield it. Another reference that she's the true-original Slayer (Hence the name!)


Now that I've spent forever on this thread, I'll let someone else reply with their ideas/opinions.

 

[nerd4hire]

Number 1 seems well supported, and personally I don't have any problem with the idea Willow was in the First's scope. You might also say that after it so thoroughly freaks Willow in Bring on the Night it felt it had her under control, and that would explain why it didn't pay even more attention to her than it did.

I'm not sure I remember the significance of this though. Didn't it have something to do with someone saying something like "If the First knew Willow could release slayers through Buffy, why didn't it go after Willow?"

Number 2 is a theory. Season 7 does seem to open up the possibility of new theories as to how the slayer line passes on. I hope you're not saying it's the only possible, credible theory though. I've heard others that also sound good.

Personally I like the one where both Faith and Buffy have to die to pass the slayer line on. When they enter the Hellmouth, they're in Hell. Willow is maintaining the slayer line in the scythe and releasing it, then directing the power through the two Slayer's connection to the scythe. The magiks that created the slayer line would now sense them as being dead (in Hell). She directs the power to all potentials in this reality and the Hellmouth, at just the right moment. At the end of Chosen they tell us Willow can sense Potentials. This is also why she must be directly over the Hellmouth.

The reason The First went after Buffy and not Faith was because it saw Buffy as vulnerable. She had feelings for souled vampires. It sought to influence one of those vampires then turn Buffy, then release the slayer power for it's own purposes.

That's another theory that makes use of the fact that the slayer line appears to behave differently in Season 7. I like it, because it makes all those unanswered questions in Season 7 make a kind of sense.

Number 3. Good work. As you know I also like the one in Chosen when The First as Caleb tells Buffy none of the girls will know real power unless Buffy dies. I think that one has particular significance because Joss Whedon wrote the episode.

 

[SlayerThe]

Personally I like the one where both Faith and Buffy have to die to pass the slayer line on. When they enter the Hellmouth, they're in Hell. Willow is maintaining the slayer line in the scythe and releasing it, then directing the power through the two Slayer's connection to the scythe. The magiks that created the slayer line would now sense them as being dead (in Hell). She directs the power to all potentials in this reality and the Hellmouth, at just the right moment. At the end of Chosen they tell us Willow can sense Potentials. This is also why she must be directly over the Hellmouth.

I honestly like this idea alot.

But the biggest question to me still is, if the scythe was so important, why not let it remain stone, because without Caleb and the Bringers searching for it, Buffy never would have found it and couldn't have activated the potentials. Unless...

Does anybody remember that theory that was pretty popular (alliteration, k I'm obsessed) about that the First wanted Buffy to activate the potentials, because that would destroy the balance.

I think its pretty weird that the First would become corporeal if evil was more powerful than good on earth, if the ubervamps out populated humans. I think it would be opposite - The First would become corporeal if there was more good on earth, thus retaining the balance if say, all the Slayers wiped out most of the evil. It also is pretty plausable since the First seems to incite Buffy to activate the potentials, I think theres some meaning behind that.

(And personally, I was hoping at the end of Chosen when Buffy is smiling that Buffy would start to attack the Scoobs because she was the First Evil. That would have been wicked)

 

[nerd4hire]

Why would The First want the Scythe? Well slayer power is demon power unleashed on earth. And yeah I could see The First wanting to get it's non-corporeal mits on that.

If as the theory I mentioned says, the power must be activated through the Scythe, through the slayer, The First would want a say in where that power went.

Also remember The First said it's over the whole balance of power thing. I'm going to suggest The First sees the scythe as an opportunity to sway power on earth to it's side.

And Buffy's smile at the end of Chosen... Have you seen the movie, Alien Ressurection? Joss Whedon wrote it, or co-wrote it, I can't remember which. Nevertheless the ending is interesting. Ripley and the Winona Ryder character are flying away from the final battle. They can now do anything they want. Winona asks Ripley something along the lines of "What are you going to do now?" Ripley just looks into space with a cryptic smile on her face. Sound familiar?