Hot Topic: If Buffy's main strength is her friends and family, how has Faith lasted so long?

The in-universe answer is: She didn't, really. She spent most of her time on the shows in a coma or in jail, where she wasn't slaying, so she didn't really last so long. In the comics she lasted so long because she DID finally get friends and family, kind of - Angel, Giles, her slayers, etc.

The REAL answer is: Because plot armor.
 
Faith was more logical and pragmatic than Buffy. When she faced a monster she could not defeat - Kakistos - she fled town thus surviving. When Buffy faced a monster she could not defeat - the Master (whom, according to the rules of the Buffyverse was not as old as Kakistos) - Buffy died. Faith survived against a greater foe while Buffy died against a lesser one.
 
Faith survived by force of will, she always had a goal and she was focused in the pursuit of it, without the same distractions Buffy had. She has an arrogance that carried her through situations that Buffy would turn to friends and family for help and comfort.

I also agree with @Guy in that Faith really didn't survive that long and psychologically she eventually crumbled under the pressure. She was so lonely and in need of real closeness that she put her trust in The Mayor which only added to her damage.
 
Faith was protected in a way Buffy never was. Buffy was in the spotlight as the lead Slayer for so long whereas Faith could hide in the shadows with far less preassure.
 
You can't really compare Buffy and Faith unless you see them as opposites, yin and yang/ the two sides of a coin, the Golden Slayer and the Dark Slayer, or some such metaphor. That's not to say that the two girls are totally opposite. Like yin and yang, where the white has a little black, and the black has a little white, Buffy and Faith have their similarities, but the difference comes in the two girls' "dominant color."

Buffy (white) is family oriented, a natural leader, the "take charge girl," who still likes to slip once in awhile (like when she and Faith broke into the sporting goods shop and practiced "want, take, have") but she knows that it's just a short walk on the wild side, not the "real" her. Possibly, that was what first led to her relationship with Spike in Season 6 ("come on, we were having fun") before it all got way too far out of hand too quickly.

Faith (dark) on the other hand, is the loaner, the girl who makes up her own mind, goes her own way, and acts on impulsively. Impulsive doesn't necessarily equate as suicidal, however. She had the good sense to realize that she was no match for Kokistos (plus, she was just plain scared of him) Her relationships tend to be short lived and without much in the way of commitment. On the other hand, there is that part of her who, if she allows it, desperately wants attention and even love, and is pit bull loyal to those lucky few to whom she actually feels friendship, such as Angel, Mayor Wilkins, and, I think, Buffy, if she would just allowed it.

Buffy will always become the leader of any group she joins. That's her character dynamic. She needs her friends, just as she needs a lover. When the obvious choices (Angel, Riley, or Spike) she is attracted to someone NOT so obvious, some might say even inappropriate, such as her "brother," Xander, or her "daughter," Satsu. Faith will always be on the fringes of the group. She's the perfect scout of advance guard, the one who goes ahead and checks out the situation. She CAN lead, if leadership is forced upon her, but she's a far better guide than a leader. Faith prefers passion to love. Long term relationships just aren't her thing.
 
Okidoki. I tend to use karma comments when I'm in a hurry. (Like then, when I was on the train and nearly home. But yeah, I think your question indicates that the task at hand (actually survive as a slayer) can only be solved in one particular way. Most complex tasks can be solved in quite a few ways, some more successful than others. Thus, Buffy succeeding because of her friends doesn't mean that Faith succeeding as a loner is an anomaly.
 
I think it all depends on what is the average life span of a slayer between when they are called and when they die?

We know Buffy has survived 7+ years which is already a supposedly longer than average life span (though technically she has died twice), Faith has been going 5+ years. Buffy lasted 5 years before her "real" death so maybe Faith is due to die soon? Though with the numerous slayers around, it kind of takes the pressure off.
 
There are a few very logical hypothesis for this.

1. Why kill a slayer who is on the dark side, in a comma, or in prison. No matter which of the three she is, it means that the slayer is out of commission, and it's actually an advantage not to kill her, especially if the slayer line runs through her. No killing means no new slayer, and complete freedom for demons.

2. Most demons had likely heard of Buffy but not Faith, meaning that meeting with Faith would have likely been accidental. The best way to kill a slayer is likely with an actual plan, meaning that you would hunt her down, not simply have a random encounter with her where she actually has the element of surprise on her side.

3. Faith did not fight any of the big bads from s3-6

4. Pass s7 there are so many slayers, we are no longer playing under the same rules anymore.
 
If we want to go by the premise of Buffy and Faith being yin/yang...then perhaps they are just two sides to the same coin of "why do they survive?" Buffy excels when she has family/friends to support her. Faith has always been portrayed at excelling alone. Although my answer could be colored by my reading "Go Ask Malice" and I have not yet read the comics, I think Faith's tough life before being called made her resourceful and therefore needing less people in her corner.
 
Blaze said:
There are a few very logical hypothesis for this.

1. Why kill a slayer who is on the dark side, in a comma, or in prison. No matter which of the three she is, it means that the slayer is out of commission, and it's actually an advantage not to kill her, especially if the slayer line runs through her. No killing means no new slayer, and complete freedom for demons.
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Except that then she's a target for the Watcher's Council. It always seemed a bit strange that they waited several months before sending a team to take her out when she was in a coma. And then just didn't bother when she was in prison?
 
Blaze
Blaze
That I agree with, how was she even allowed to remain in Synnydale during her coma, why not just bring her to the council
Taake said:
Except that then she's a target for the Watcher's Council. It always seemed a bit strange that they waited several months before sending a team to take her out when she was in a coma. And then just didn't bother when she was in prison?
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Perhaps she slipped off the radar when she was in her coma. If they were trying to take her out covertly, since the Watcher's council is big on secrecy, then they couldn't do that whilst she was in prison because there would be too many witnesses.
 
DeadlyDuo said:
Perhaps she slipped off the radar when she was in her coma.
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How could she slip off the radar when members of the nursing staff were monitoring her for them? If they wanted to kill her they could have done it easily.
 
DeadlyDuo said:
Perhaps she slipped off the radar when she was in her coma. If they were trying to take her out covertly, since the Watcher's council is big on secrecy, then they couldn't do that whilst she was in prison because there would be too many witnesses.
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I'm sure they could've slipped someone in. We see her attacked in the prison after all. Wouldn't be impossible for the Council to have gotten some guard to like slip something into her food. They must have had the motivation to do so for years considering that Buffy didn't work for them anymore, they were without a Slayer to do their bidding. Getting a new one could only have been good news for them.
 
Taake said:
I'm sure they could've slipped someone in.
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Maybe they were afraid of having their asses handed to them 😛. But, yeah, it doesn't make sense that they gave up on killing Faith after Sanctuary. It's also surprising that they didn't go after Angel. I mean, a vampire with two slayers and two ex-watchers on his side?
 
I think Faith did have friends... just often in spite of herself. Plus, she kind of flew under the radar. The Big Bads were all focused on Buffy because she was the one everybody considered "The Slayer." Probably a lot of them didn't even realize Faith existed.
 
Offhand, I could see the Council wanting an experienced Slayer that they could hone against Buffy if necessary, though surely they argued with each other on the best way to do that. The original goal had been to take Faith to a secured facility, but then it was changed to killing her pretty fast...perhaps different Watchers gave different orders that confused the sitch.

But I can't say that they just assumed Faith was in a coma indefinitely (they'd know Slayers and surely they'd have divinations), nor the ability to get Faith out (they have magic and money, and probably simple bureaucracy could do wonders if Faith was wanted by the law...and now that I think about it, I don't see why the cops were after Faith unless the Council got the Sunnydale PD to change her status in their buried investigations, which seems possible). Even if they weren't so quick to murder (which seems unlikely to me, they'd rationalize it as "for the cause" with reasoning very similar to Faith on why it was okay to kill rather than keeping the moral high ground, though one possibility was that they were taking too much time in an attempt to "control which Potential gets Chosen next, as these rebellious bad girls are getting ridiculous, and we need more control over the process so that we score another Kendra"), they could've also kept her in a medically induced coma easily enough.

'Course if there's another Watcher gone rogue that we, the viewers, were never shown with his or her own agenda that made sure Faith woke up (but then promptly got killed, possibly even by some random horror in Sunnydale if not the Watcher's attack dogs) then that could explain a lot, and might've made the story (and Buffyverse in general) more interesting.
 
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