How does one become a demon?

Cast No Shadow

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Ha, not that I'm trying to become one or anything *cough* *cough* but how is a demon on Buffy actually formed?

Like the Mayor, on his desk it says "Richard Wilkins III", does this mean he's the third in a line of demons? Or has he become one for some reason? Or is he lying?

Opinions please 🙂
 
Well, I think the scoobies assumed he was the same guy as his father (that it was a disguise) whe they saw a pic of his dad, so he changed it from first, to second to third, whe he changed identity. I guess. I can't recall if it was mentioned that his "grandfather" had the same name or if it was just the "father".

I can't recall if he ever said he wa sa demon. Did he? He might just be human with the secret to eternal life.
 
I always wondered this too. Perhaps there are multiple ways of becoming a demon, due to the variety of different demon species there are out there. Some may have been human first like Anya and some might be born from eggs like in Bad Eggs (were they demons? Or aliens?). I think it's just whatever happens to fit in with the story to be honest.

I don't know about the Mayor though.
 
There's probably zillions of ways. Who knows how many species there are or how they can be made?

Spells, being born for it and getting infected seems to do the trick. Any way I missed, that we saw on the show?
 
Wild At Heart
Wild At Heart
[No message]
As for Mayor Wilkins, he said that he was the founder of Sunnydale, that he had no soul, and that he was immortal (which would tie in well with the "founder of Sunnydale" statement. But in order to actually become a demon, he had to eat those bug things. Probably, at some point several hundred years earlier, he made one of those deals with someone or some THING that would make him immortal in exchange for his soul. Most likely, he wasn't a permanent resident of Sunnydale for all of those years, but rather stayed there for awhile, then moved away for a few years, then returned as his own son, nephew, or something, then repeated the process whenever necessary, sort of like Robert Heinlein's character, Lazarus Long, did. In that way, he could keep tabs on the hellmouth while traveling all over the world studying and gathering all of the information that he would eventually need to trigger his Ascension. Then, when the time was right, he moved back "home," set up his identity, worked his way into being elected mayor, and set up his final plans. Just his luck, some airhead Slayer moved in with a big lumbering Neanderthal vampire following her around like a love sick puppy, complicating all of his best laid schemes.

As for becoming a demon, I think that they were distinct species who reproduced in a more or less normal way. Werewolves are the result of the equivalent of a supernatural disease, passed on by biting, and vampires are demon possessed and reanimated corpses, neither one actual demons, more "halfbreeds" as Ilyria described them. So you can't actually become a demon. Sorry to disappoint you if you had your heart set on it...
 
S
Skytteflickan88
Giles became a Fyarl demon, and he seemed to lose more and more of himself. Could be spells could get it done.
K
kittenpoker
awesome post!
Could be. But then, how do others keep on living?

Maybe there was only one at first, and then it infected the other, and so on, and so on..

I'm not sure if I understand what you're saying. We've been shown that it's not something that runs in the family for all demon species. We've seen people being turned by infections, spells and breeding.
 
PrincessBuffy16
PrincessBuffy16
That's what I was trying to say, but I often mumble :P
I don't really understand the question. Are you asking how a human becomes a demon or how demons are created from nothing i.e. born?

According to Giles, the earth started out with demons who walked the earth. Many years after that the humans appeared. And hybrids were created out of demons and humans. It wasn't explained, I don't think. I think all humans turning into demons are hybrids.
 
I think most species need a mummy demon and a daddy demon, if you only have one then you become half-demon half human, as we saw with Doyle and co.

Vengeance demon's are different - they have to be invited, and they are harder to kill than a lot of demons, so that seems to be something magical going on there. I was always puzzled that Anya could o back and forth as a human-demon-human-demon again for a bit, back to human etc. Maybe it was more of a job description and all their power came through D'Hoffryn.
 
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Skytteflickan88
i think Anya was demon the whole time, same power, no diff expect for the face. Otherwise, she might have aged while she was human.
I think most species need a mummy demon and a daddy demon, if you only have one then you become half-demon half human, as we saw with Doyle and co.

Vengeance demon's are different - they have to be invited, and they are harder to kill than a lot of demons, so that seems to be something magical going on there. I was always puzzled that Anya could o back and forth as a human-demon-human-demon again for a bit, back to human etc. Maybe it was more of a job description and all their power came through D'Hoffryn.

Notice how demons such as vengeance demons and vampires can go back and forth from demon to human, were originally humans who turned into demons sometime along the road. I don't remember any demon morphing to human form (not talking about that demon who seemed like 2 little kids, because that's like a veil for the real demon) unless they're part human, they WERE humans and that humanity wasn't complelety gone.
 
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Skytteflickan88
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F
FetalPig
True - i can't think of a demon to human transformation
[MENTION=8557]Skytteflickan88[/MENTION] agrees: i think Anya was demon the whole time, same power, no diff expect for the face. Otherwise, she might have aged while she was human.

d'you mean even back when she was living with Olaf? I thought she was human then.

I could imagine that everyone calling her an ex-demon was wishful thinking but i'm not sure - i'd have to watch that episode where her crystal gets smashed to see what D'Hoffryn or Giles says about it.

Anya herself certainly believed she was human and would age and die.
 
d'you mean even back when she was living with Olaf? I thought she was human then.

I could imagine that everyone calling her an ex-demon was wishful thinking but i'm not sure - i'd have to watch that episode where her crystal gets smashed to see what D'Hoffryn or Giles says about it.

Anya herself certainly believed she was human and would age and die.

No. I mean that after D'Hoffryn had "turned" her, she was a demon the whole time, even when she was in human face. She wasn't switching species, just faces. Then when her amulet smashed, just like you said, she became human, like she was with Olaf.
 
No. I mean that after D'Hoffryn had "turned" her, she was a demon the whole time, even when she was in human face. She wasn't switching species, just faces. Then when her amulet smashed, just like you said, she became human, like she was with Olaf.

That makes you think. About Anya and the amulet. Does this amulet have special abilities, can this little thing make a human a demon? Taking it off and you're human again?
 
OK gotcha!
when i said
I was always puzzled that Anya could o back and forth as a human-demon-human-demon again for a bit, back to human etc.

I meant - human(with olaf)-demon-(for 1000 years)-human (broken crystal)- demon again for a bit (after the wedding) - back to human (after halfrek is snuffed by D'Hoff)

not every time Anya wore her demon face. sorry for the confusion 😱
 
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Skytteflickan88
Okay, then i'm with you.
That makes you think. About Anya and the amulet. Does this amulet have special abilities, can this little thing make a human a demon? Taking it off and you're human again?

I don't think so. Because Cordelia had the necklace on when Anya fulfilled her wish. At first I thought that meant a new girl had to wear the necklace everytime if they wanted the wish fulfillt, but dawn didn't need one when Halfrek fulfilled it. And it seems troublesome.
 
I don't think so. Because Cordelia had the necklace on when Anya fulfilled her wish. At first I thought that meant a new girl had to wear the necklace everytime if they wanted the wish fulfillt, but dawn didn't need one when Halfrek fulfilled it. And it seems troublesome.

My conclusion: the writers don't know what they want!

I need to think it over some more, thank you 😛

---------- Post added at 11:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:14 AM ----------

Skytteflickan88 agrees: I don't believe they planned to keep Anya around, but when that happened, either they changed the rules or forgot

You're right, they didn't. Anya wasn't meant to stick around, but fans loved her too much (kinda like Spike, no?).
 
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Skytteflickan88
I agree, they didn't plan ahead. I don't believe they planned to keep Anya around, but when that happened, either they changed the rules or forgot.
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