If Ben had presented himself to Buffy?

[CordelliasHeart]

If Ben had at any point in the season presented himself to Buffy, and explained his situation, how far do you think she would have gone to try Sealing Glory away, without hurting him?

 

[dtrain24]

She would've looked into it, I think, but nothing at the cost of anything happening to her, Dawn, or any of the other Scoobies.

That leads to another question: if it's possible or not. Giles smothered Ben because he was worried about Glory somehow finding a way to come back to full power and getting revenge. It shows he didn't know any way off the top of his head, and the possibility was never brought up after it was revealed. Then again, by that point, Dawn was kidnapped (hah) and they probably didn't have the time to look for a solution.

Back to the original question though, I think Buffy would've attempted to see if she could save Ben, but if she knew time was running short and Glory posed an immediate threat to the Scoobies, she'd have to kill Ben, though it would destroy her emotionally. She'd probably think its one innocent life vs. every innocent life. Wouldn't want to be Buffy in that scenario.

 

[white avenger]

I think Buffy would've attempted to see if she could save Ben, but if she knew time was running short and Glory posed an immediate threat to the Scoobies, she'd have to kill Ben, though it would destroy her emotionally. She'd probably think its one innocent life vs. every innocent life. Wouldn't want to be Buffy in that scenario.

I'm not sure that that would be the case, though. Just about all of the other characters in the two series, Giles, Angel, Spike, Wes, Gunn, or Faith might have killed Ben under those circumstances, but Buffy does not, at that point, have the least concept of a "greater good" mindset. Even in Season 7, when she told Giles that she would, if the situation came up again, allow Dawn to die, I have my doubts that she would have actually gone through with it. She sacrificed Angel at the end of Season 2, and it almost destroyed her. I don't think that she could ever do that again, whatever the consequences. The closest that we have ever seen her come to that point after Angel was Spike in Season 7, and in my opinion, he made that decision himself. Buffy didn't sacrifice him for the greater good, she allowed him to make that decision, just as she did in Season 5, though I'm sure that there are contrarians lurking about just waiting to pounce on that.

 

[dtrain24]

I'm not sure that that would be the case, though. Just about all of the other characters in the two series, Giles, Angel, Spike, Wes, Gunn, or Faith might have killed Ben under those circumstances, but Buffy does not, at that point, have the least concept of a "greater good" mindset. Even in Season 7, when she told Giles that she would, if the situation came up again, allow Dawn to die, I have my doubts that she would have actually gone through with it. She sacrificed Angel at the end of Season 2, and it almost destroyed her. I don't think that she could ever do that again, whatever the consequences. The closest that we have ever seen her come to that point after Angel was Spike in Season 7, and in my opinion, he made that decision himself. Buffy didn't sacrifice him for the greater good, she allowed him to make that decision, just as she did in Season 5, though I'm sure that there are contrarians lurking about just waiting to pounce on that.

You make some good points- I definitely agree other characters would have bad no qualms about killing Ben for the greater good, maybe even more than those listed.

I still think Buffy could kill Ben if it really came down to it though. If she could kill Angel, who she truly loved at that point, she could definitely kill Ben only if she had to. Buffy finally had Angel back after his time as Angelus, and she put her desire to be with him aside to save the world.

It hurt her a lot emotionally to do that to Angel, but I think she could kill Ben if it meant saving everyone else in the world. The only other option would be to ask Giles or Spike to do it, and I'm not sure she would.

 

[Blaze]

I think the answer is exactly the one we got on the show. Giles would have killed Ben for Buffy, just this time sooner.

 

[bespangeled]

If Ben had at any point in the season presented himself to Buffy, and explained his situation, how far do you think she would have gone to try Sealing Glory away, without hurting him?

He joined with Glory at the end - and was helping her sacrifice Dawn. He made his choice then, even if he had talked to her earlier.

 

[white avenger]

Something else to consider, though, is, even if Ben had told Buffy and the gang who he really was, would they have been able to grasp the fact any more than they actually did on the show? The forget-as-soon-as-the-idea-occurs factor might have still made reaction to any such revelation impossible. Remember, Spike was the only one who could retain the idea, and he couldn't convince the others.

 

[Doppelgang]

you mean Glory is Ben? 😕

😀

I think assuming they could have seen through the illusion earlier, it may have given them more time to consider other options. But the illusion was part of Glory's power, and so whatever way it played out, Buffy would end up with a defeated Glory and been left faced with a weak human Ben pleading for compassion.

I don't think she would have been able to take a human life like that. Bear in mind the context of season 3 where there was the whole storyline with Faith killing a man. And the strong line Buffy took on this. I don't think it was something in Buffy's moral makeup. It's not like Ben was in any way responsible for glory's actions. He was an innocent in it all, and so Buffy would feel compelled to not kill him. Though others may have a different take on it, of course.