Did Dawn's presence cause Giles to leave?

[Buffy Summers]

In season 5, Giles is feeling useless and ready to return to England. But after the events of the end of season 4, Buffy asks him to be her Watcher again so he stays. Then is season 6, Giles leaves so that Buffy needs to stand on her own two feet.

Do you think he still would have left if Dawn hadn't been in the picture? If Buffy hadn't had to "grow up" that much faster?

 

[Lyri]

I don't think Dawn had anything to do with the decision.

Before Dawn's arrival, Giles has already decided that Buffy doesn't need him anymore. That had nothing to do with Dawn and everything to do with Buffy as a person.

Buffy had been moving further and further away from the ritualistic aspect of being the Slayer, from the mystical side of it, where Giles resides, since S3. S4 and her involvement with the Initiative and their more tactical, practical, military-like take on slaying made Giles feel redundant through much of that season. She didn't need spells or research - she had Willow and Riley for that. Giles was surplus to requirements.

Until the end of the season and 'Restless', when the mystical side of Buffy's Slayer-self reintroduced itself to her. The demon that makes up the Slayer woke up and Buffy's blood lust started churning and she knew she needed help to control that. She needed someone who as trained to train a Slayer. Giles was needed again, Giles was needed to be a Watcher again, legally or not.

In S6, Giles feels like he's done everything he can to help her Slayer side, and his decision to leave is more about helping her human side. It's a very wrong decision, as far as I'm concerned, but I can see how Giles thought it might have worked. Buffy was leaning on him too much, and Giles thought that taking away her crutch would make her stand up straight.

But Dawn never factors in to his decision. He doesn't think about this innocent, scared, fifteen year old child who is left alone with a guardian who is barely hanging on. Forcing Buffy to stand on her who two feet by removing himself from the equation might have worked if Buffy wasn't responsible for Dawn. But the stress of looking after Dawn just adds to the weight on Buffy's shoulders and she buckles under it.

Giles didn't think of Dawn at all.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

From "All the Way 6ABB06" we have this exchange after Dawn sneaks out to a Halloween party where she meets a vampire she likes and shares her first kiss but eventually has to stake:

BUFFY
She's taking it pretty hard.
GILES
Not surprising. Still, we can't
ignore this kind of behavior.
Something has to be done before it
spins out of control.
BUFFY
You're right.
(a beat)
I'm glad you're here to sort it out.
Don't be too hard on her, okay?

Buffy turns and heads up the stairs, leaving Giles holding the bag. He watches her go, not happy with the big avoiding of responsibility.

It wasn't Dawn's presence, it was the idea that Buffy was saddling him with the task of being Dawn's father figure that convinced him that his presence was being used as an excuse for not growing up. He was also convinced that Buffy no longer needed him. Giles actually preferred someone like Kendra who could quote and discuss the Slayer's Handbook, something he never gave to Buffy because it would have been futile. His manner of doing things was different from anything Buffy would accept (and we saw at the beginning of Season 7 that he had a much better rapport with Willow when he was teaching her in England).

 

[Taake]

But Dawn never factors in to his decision. He doesn't think about this innocent, scared, fifteen year old child who is left alone with a guardian who is barely hanging on. Forcing Buffy to stand on her who two feet by removing himself from the equation might have worked if Buffy wasn't responsible for Dawn. But the stress of looking after Dawn just adds to the weight on Buffy's shoulders and she buckles under it.

Giles didn't think of Dawn at all.

I think this is a great point.
Because if he had been thinking about doing something for Dawn's best interest it certainly wouldn't have been to leave her with an emotionally unstable guardian who was struggling to just keep herself together. Like Lyri said, I think leaving would have been the best decision if Dawn hadn't been in the picture, then Buffy could have coped. But being the Slayer and being a mother to a teenager all without the one adult support pillar in her life... that wasn't in anyone's best interest.

So if Dawn was factored into Giles' equation he is either grossly incompetent or uncaring about her, or as Lyri said, he didn't think about her at all.

 

[Blaze]

I don't think Dawn was a factor. Giles leaving made no sense, and no matter which way you put it, it was the wrong decision. Even more so because he left Dawn behind with people he knew couldn't take proper care of her. Giles might not have been responsible for Dawn legally, but as an adult who knew what was going on in her life, he had every responsibility to take care of her. Just like if I saw a kid getting abused I'd have the responsibility to report it. As a watcher, as a father figure, and as a friend, Giles made the wrong decision x3.

 

[BuffyElevated]

The thought that Dawn was the reason Giles left has never crossed my mind, honestly, and I don't understand how anything would think that. Giles had been thinking about leaving way before Dawn's appearance. In Season 4, it was because he felt useless, and by Season 6 it was because he felt overused...

 

[KatPratt]

I don't think Dawn had anything to do with the decision.

Before Dawn's arrival, Giles has already decided that Buffy doesn't need him anymore. That had nothing to do with Dawn and everything to do with Buffy as a person.

Buffy had been moving further and further away from the ritualistic aspect of being the Slayer, from the mystical side of it, where Giles resides, since S3. S4 and her involvement with the Initiative and their more tactical, practical, military-like take on slaying made Giles feel redundant through much of that season. She didn't need spells or research - she had Willow and Riley for that. Giles was surplus to requirements.

Until the end of the season and 'Restless', when the mystical side of Buffy's Slayer-self reintroduced itself to her. The demon that makes up the Slayer woke up and Buffy's blood lust started churning and she knew she needed help to control that. She needed someone who as trained to train a Slayer. Giles was needed again, Giles was needed to be a Watcher again, legally or not.

In S6, Giles feels like he's done everything he can to help her Slayer side, and his decision to leave is more about helping her human side. It's a very wrong decision, as far as I'm concerned, but I can see how Giles thought it might have worked. Buffy was leaning on him too much, and Giles thought that taking away her crutch would make her stand up straight.

But Dawn never factors in to his decision. He doesn't think about this innocent, scared, fifteen year old child who is left alone with a guardian who is barely hanging on. Forcing Buffy to stand on her who two feet by removing himself from the equation might have worked if Buffy wasn't responsible for Dawn. But the stress of looking after Dawn just adds to the weight on Buffy's shoulders and she buckles under it.

Giles didn't think of Dawn at all.

YES yes thank you, I am glad I am not the only one who thinks this!

 

[Riderofapocalypse]

Yes I think he would have left. I agree with Blaze in that Giles leaving made no sense on any level unless there was a family emergency back in England. Needing a vacation is one thing but leaving your friends who are pretty much your family...on a hell mouth...where bad things always happen and they need all the help they can get...way to go Giles.