Faith

[nightshade]

When Buffy died why wasn't Faith released from prison, as there was no longer a slayer?

Do you think that Giles never told the Watchers Council that Buffy died?

 

[LizzieRainbow]

1. No nobody was told that Buffy had died as they were trying to make everyone believe there was still a slayer, plus social services would have taken Dawn away.
2. They couldn't release Faith as she wouldn't follow orders and would probably just turn against the watchers council.

 

[white avenger]

1. No nobody was told that Buffy had died as they were trying to make everyone believe there was still a slayer, plus social services would have taken Dawn away.
2. They couldn't release Faith as she wouldn't follow orders and would probably just turn against the watchers council.

Add something else there as to why Buffy's death was never made public:

Almost certainly, the only thing keeping Faith alive and relatively safe was the fact that the Watchers believed that Buffy, though she was not working under their orders, despite the fact that she was no longer the Official Slayer, was still fulfilling the duties of Slayer in Faith's absence. If they ever found out that she was dead, I doubt that they would have hesitated to either have Faith killed outright or somehow returned to their custody, where she would have either been "rehabilitated" to the Watchers' satisfaction or liquidated (much more civilized than common murder) in order for a new, hopefully more tractable, Slayer to take her place. The bottom line being, as long as the Watchers' Council believed that they didn't actually need Faith, they were happy to let her rot in a California women's prison. Once the inevitable happened, however, and Buffy was no longer there to do the job, Faith's days were numbered. Therefore, whether intentionally or by accident, Giles and the Scoobies' efforts to conceal Buffy's death also served to keep Faith alive.

 

[Tsquared]

I know they had to keep Buffy's death a secret for the above reasons, but the idea of keeping it a secret forever is pretty stupid. The Buffy-Bot was only a temporary decoy, and to be living right on top of the Hellmouth, Buffy's absence wouldn't have gone unnoticed. The news of her death would have eventually reached The Council. Giles must have known this because he would have more than likely lost his job again once they found out of his deceit. I know it was a subplot to ease Buffy back in after her revival, but Giles must have thought of this. Leaving the remains of the Scooby Gang alone in Sunnydale would be pretty much suicide once the next Big Bad decided to show its face. So, what I'm thinking is Giles would have eventually notified The Council once activity started stirring up. I mean, he was willing to kill Dawn to save the world, and that was when Buffy was alive. If the Hellmouth had started warming up again, I don't doubt he would have made the hard decision for the greater good. With Angel busy in LA, Sunnydale would have eventually needed a slayer to keep it in check.

So, I think in time Giles would have told The Watcher's Council of Buffy's death. And once he did, I agree with WA about Faith's days being numbered, especially if nobody like Angel intervened. The bigger question is, would Faith have been able to accept the responsibility of taking on Sunnydale if presented with the option? Now that I look at it this way, I know I said something differently in WA's FtVS thread, I kind of like the idea of Faith in Sunnydale.

 

[white avenger]

I know they had to keep Buffy's death a secret for the above reasons, but the idea of keeping it a secret forever is pretty stupid.

The use of the Buffy Bot was almost certainly a stop gap measure, intended, at least in part, to keep Dawn from either being forced to leave Sunnydale and live with her estranged father (assuming that they could even find him) or more likely end up a ward of the court in some Social Services home. Certainly, they never intended it to be any kind of permanent solution. Normal wear and tear on the Bot alone would have probably left it a pile of patched up junk within a few years at most, leaving the gang with no pseudo Buffy to pose as Dawn's guardian. Maybe they were just trying to stall for those few years until Dawn would become of legal age, thus avoiding Social Services. Maybe Giles, the only REAL adult of the group, was trying to find Hank "somewhere in Europe," or wherever he and his secretary/lover were currently residing and convince him to appoint Giles as Dawn's de facto guardian.

Just a few lines of dialogue somewhere in the first couple of episodes of Season 6 would have cleared this up completely, but it was either never even considered by the writers and Joss, or it was written but never made it into the final version of the episodes.

 

[Bungle Jerry]

I'm always confused by the marked grave. Like, how do you purchase a gravesite and a gravestone, bury a body and not, er, raise suspicions? I know living on the Hellmouth is different, but...

Plus, advice for people trying to hide a death: engraving a gravestone with the person's name? Not the smartest idea.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

I don't think Watcher's Council never knew Buffy died. They tried to replace Buffy with BuffyBot.. and I really ask myself would they go so far and release her, because they think she's a murderer. I don't think they think she deserves a second chance, like som thought.. I think they would kill her so another slayer can be activated.

 

[fly on the wall]

The use of the Buffy Bot was almost certainly a stop gap measure, intended, at least in part, to keep Dawn from either being forced to leave Sunnydale and live with her estranged father (assuming that they could even find him) or more likely end up a ward of the court in some Social Services home. Certainly, they never intended it to be any kind of permanent solution. Normal wear and tear on the Bot alone would have probably left it a pile of patched up junk within a few years at most, leaving the gang with no pseudo Buffy to pose as Dawn's guardian. Maybe they were just trying to stall for those few years until Dawn would become of legal age, thus avoiding Social Services. Maybe Giles, the only REAL adult of the group, was trying to find Hank "somewhere in Europe," or wherever he and his secretary/lover were currently residing and convince him to appoint Giles as Dawn's de facto guardian.

This is what I was going to say. More likely than not, the Buffybot was primarily "Dawn's guardian" until she no longer needed one. It's not totally consistent with the plot, because Giles and the others seem to be much more concerned with the demon world believing in the Buffybot than the human one (rightly so, but come on, it just takes one little mistake to expose the Bot for what it is...which was exactly what happened).

I also think that subconsciously the Bot may have been more about helping with the grieving process than anything else. It gave them purpose, it allowed them to keep fighting evil, it kept Buffy's legacy alive, and although it was painful sometimes, it kept Buffy in their daily lives. They gave her silly puns, Dawn slept near her at night...she wasn't Buffy at all, but she was all they had and I think they took more comfort in that than they let on.

 

[HellmouthPodcst]

Maybe I am confused but I always thought this was a bit of a continuity issue. The calling of a new slayer is not something consciously done by the council. When one slayer dies, another is called. Somewhere in the world a girl is given enhanced abilities, be it strength, healing, stamina, etc. When Buffy died in season 1 Kendra was called. When Kendra died in Season 2 Faith was called. When Buffy died in Season 5, shouldn't another slayer have been called, meaning that at any point in time there would be three slayers? The logic that made Kendra and Faith a reality was not followed through in season 5 and I was always confused by that. Does anyone have any ideas that I am missing?

 

[Wesley]

What I don't understand is that.... wouldn't the Council have detected by magic that Buffy had died? They seem to have wizards of varying styles under their employ. Not only that, but since Faith was incarcerated anyway, why wait for Buffy to die? Isn't there another Hellmouth in Cleveland? It seemed like a unique to the world situation occurred. 2 slayers active at once? Why not pop Faith as soon as she turns herself in, activate a new slayer and get to work in mid-Ohio?


Hellmouth Podcast - as far as your question, the generally accepted theory (as far as I know) is that Faith was the true holder of the Slayer continuity not Buffy. The slayer line went like such:

Buffy (died S1) ---> Kendra (died S2) ---> Faith (active) ---> ? ? ?

So although Buffy was brought back to life by Xander, she is now exempted from the lineage, having already passed her power onto Kendra and subsequently Faith. If Buffy died 100 more times no more slayers, but if Faith dies, poof into every generation....

 

[Connor Holtz]

Wesley already answered half your question HellmouthPodcast as for the other half, the council does NOT activate the new slayer to my knowledge. The shadow men who imbued the first slayer made it so the power is transferred instantaneously to the new slayer once the old slayer dies. I would assume if the council could manually activate slayers, they would have when Buffy quit the council in 1999. Seeing as they didn't I'm under the impression the council as no power to activate slayers. So that on top of the fact Faith is the official slayer is why.