If Faith Hadn't Gone Bad...

white avenger

white avenger

white avenger
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Just imagine for a moment that Faith had never killed the Assistant Mayor, which pretty much set her on her path into the Dark Side. Faith stayed one of the good guys.

Kept her on as a regular for the rest of the series?

What would they have done with her?

Killed her?

Reassigned her to another post?

Something else? (let your imagination run as wild here as you might care to)
 
It's hard to tell, but knowing Joss, I think she might have been killed off. I actually think Faith was a better fit for "Angel", though... I like that Faith went rogue; it made her more interesting. And I think her road to redemption has been a great storyline for her.
 
She goes over to Angel and kicks ass there. No, she probably would have got the Kendra treatment. Go away for a while then come back and die. Being that the show is called Buffy the Vampire Slayer, they would have kept Faith on as the second slayer for very long.
 
I don't think she would've stayed in Sunnydale- all that sexual tension and Buffy standing there with Angel blinders on- maybe left and hit the road Watcherless (after quitting the council along with Buffy) but learning from Buffy about fighting the good fight and helping people, not just the punch-grunt-stab that she'd been used to. 🙂

She might've returned to occasionally guest star and shake things up a bit, like Kendra onlt much more so, but I doubt she'd have been killed off in the same manner- it would've been too repetative.

Also I think Faith would've fitted in a lot on Angel, kinda like another Gunn, lots of muscle and a certain way of looking at thinks. Could be a leader-type but Angel's a bit more qualified (depending on how you judge these things) so yeah, fighting for her place in the world as 'the other slayer' in LA about fits.
Faith could've developed friendships with Cordy (that would've been fun to see) Doyle (Boston Irish and Irish Irish) and then Wesley...maybe Wes might've developed more confidence sooner if he was working with an actual slayer, even a rogue one.

Who knows then we might've had Fangel rather than Cangel in that case- Faith kinda has chemistry with anyone.
 
Fuffy Baith
Fuffy Baith
I would prefer Fangel to Cangel, but I still don't want it. Agree Faith has chemistry even with Connor! lol
From the very first episode she starred in, I thought she could have been great spin-off material.
So "Faith the vampire slayer" would have been a bit repetitive, but I believe there could have been something there.
A slayer with less morals, less friends. She's, after all, lonely and alone at core, like slayers were meant to be before Buffy came along.
Faith could have gone off to protect that infamous Cleveland Hellmouth.
That's just an idea.
 
Well if Faith hadn't gone bad then I'm not sure what the point would have been to bring her to the show at all actually. If Faith hadn't gone bad then she would've (and probably should've) been killed off much like Kendra was.
 
It's hard to picture Faith not going bad because it's such an integral part of her story. Faith literally isn't Faith without her moral ambiguity and complicated life. But if she were to stay good, the only way it would work in my mind is if they give her a spin off show after s3 where she goes and travel the world and tries to find her purpose. She may stay good, but you can't erase the fact that she was very lost in s3 and that she needed to find her way, and find her place in the world. I could see Faith working well as a 1 woman show. A bit a la Supernatural where there's a lot of travelling, and other recurring characters, but it would have to be about her journey.
 
We would have missed out on her redemption arc, which would be a great shame, because i my opinion, her's is one of the best atonement arcs in the verse.
But as has been said already, I can see it going one of two ways:
1) Killed off, a la Kendra.
2) Becoming a regular in Angel.
I can't see another good slayer being a long term main character in Buffy.
 
RoxySilver said:
From the very first episode she starred in, I thought she could have been great spin-off material.
So "Faith the vampire slayer" would have been a bit repetitive, but I believe there could have been something there.
A slayer with less morals, less friends. She's, after all, lonely and alone at core, like slayers were meant to be before Buffy came along.
Faith could have gone off to protect that infamous Cleveland Hellmouth.
That's just an idea.
Click to expand...

I think that assigning her somewhere besides Sunnydale, with or without her own series, would have worked quite well, and there would have always been the opportunity to have her show up in either Sunnydale of Los Angeles to lend an occasional hand when things got especially rough, even to the point of being the element that carries a story line between one series and the other after "Buffy" changed networks. As nothing more than a rather frequent guest star, she wouldn't have been bound by the restrictions that Buffy and Angel were. She could travel between networks whenever the plot required it
.

Taake said:
Well if Faith hadn't gone bad then I'm not sure what the point would have been to bring her to the show at all actually. If Faith hadn't gone bad then she would've (and probably should've) been killed off much like Kendra was.
Click to expand...

But if you kill Faith, you get into that, "one dies, another takes her place" rule, which could lead to a string of new Slayers being brought in two or three times a season, just to act as vampire bait, because you just KNOW that the writers couldn't resist bringing in each and every new girl in turn. Eliza, as an actress, and Faith, as a character, worked quite well forming a foil to Sarah and Buffy. The next actor and character might not have done so well.
 
I agree with everyone who's said that Faith's going bad was essential to her character. Her redemption arc was fantastic, and her crossovers into ATS worked seamlessly.

But since you're asking about hypotheticals here, if Faith hadn't gone bad, I will say that the only thing they could really do was exile her to some other Hellmouth and have her show up occasionally for a 3-episode arc. Can't kill her because they'd have to keep introducing some new gal who's been called, which would've been really annoying. Like, having a new S7 Potential-type character every season? Yuck.

Something fun and sort of different they could've done with her, though is have her become a vampire. Has there ever been a Slayer-turned-vampire? I mean, this almost inevitably would've concluded with Buffy having to slay her, but I think this is something that could've been potentially fun.
 
Aud said:
. Has there ever been a Slayer-turned-vampire? I mean, this almost inevitably would've concluded with Buffy having to slay her, but I think this is something that could've been potentially fun.
Click to expand...

I think that there was a Slayer turned at the end of Season 9, but there's not been anything more developed from that fact so far. Maybe there will be later in Season 10. I can't see the writers creating a situation like that and not exploiting it.
 
@white avenger @VisionBoy ok this information is helpful. I haven't read the comics so I wasn't sure (although I am aware of a lot of the major plot developments that happen in them).

Still, come on! Faith becomes a vamp! That would've been pretty fun to watch. And kind of terrifying.
 
white avenger said:
But if you kill Faith, you get into that, "one dies, another takes her place" rule, which could lead to a string of new Slayers being brought in two or three times a season
Click to expand...
I actually forgot about that. Yea it would have been annoying, but it also could have opened up more of the slayer mythology. I think after Buffy and Kendra dying and being replaced that maybe it got old and they would just keep Faith around somehow. Possibly still end up in a coma, to return at a later time. Perhaps it's Buffy's fault and she feels bad about it and we see her at the hospital bedside. Or once they resurrect Buffy they could have changed the slayer line to again go through her and then Faith could die without another slayer being called. Buffy and the scoobies seem to think that if she dies another slayer will be called again. I think it's just continuity error but doesn't it have something to do with the First. It's all a little confusing.
Aud said:
Has there ever been a Slayer-turned-vampire?
Click to expand...
Not in the show, but that was the original concept for the vampire Sunday in 'The Freshman'. 
Oh and as for Vamp Faith, I would have loved to have seen that a la The Wish style. Most certainly she would be dangerous and crazy, kind of like Angelus, thus Buffy would have no choice but to stake her. I'm not sure if they would be able to find a way for her to get her soul back. Unless...she gets the Spike treatment and we could have Fuffy instead of Spuffy!
 
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