Is Buffy a failure as a ruler?

[Robb Stark]

I've kind of had the idea for this thread tumbling around in my head for a while, but since I've gotten into S8 I've formulated it more. I think it's fairly easy to see that Buffy is one, if not the, best warriors in the Buffyverse. However, as the series progresses she takes on increasingly large leadership and ruling responsibilities, especially in S7 and beyond. To me at least, in that time it's also become increasingly clear that Buffy's capacities as a leader, as a commander and as a ruler are pretty limited.

I understand her at least in S7, and in the past I've defended some of the decisions she's made. I actually agree with her decisions regarding Caleb and the vineyard, but not with her execution, at all. She's essentially right in her line of thinking, but she totally fails to convey that to the Scoobies and the Potentials, and doesn't understand the impact Caleb had on them. She doesn't even try to scout the vineyard, or think about other methods of attack beyond "charge". And while I hated the group for kicking her out, it wasn't overly surprising, all things considered. Her lack of planning in "Chosen" is directly responsible for multiple deaths and the spell to activate the Potentials, while necessary for the final battle against The First, was done without even considering the fallout or the consequences. More people died because of that.

I've always defended Buffy in the past, but it's tough to go to bat for her in S8. Pretty much every decisions she makes, or doesn't make, that season is a disaster. Being visibly in charge, the figurehead of the Slayers, carries responsibility. So she sleeps with Satsu after telling her they can never be together, and then does nothing when Satsu directly disobeys orders multiple times. The fact that her castle in Scotland gets repeatedly invaded, and she takes no steps whatsoever to prevent it from happening again is a disaster. Letting Simone go for no discernible reason after she's literally sacked a town and forced the residents out is beyond horrible. Completely failing to see how world governments are concerned about thousands of new Slayers is just mind-boggling, really. Her decision making process all throughout the "Retreat" arc isn't even remotely logical. I mean, how do you not post sentries anywhere? Twilight gets the jump on her several times because she doesn't even think to guard her perimeter.

She just seems to have lost her ability to motivate and really...lead after she's brought back from the dead. She's an incredible warrior, and there are certainly instances where she's made great decisions, but as a leader and later on a ruler, Buffy seems to be lacking.

 

[Jodast]

I have got to agree with [MENTION=11975]Robb Stark[/MENTION]. She is a great character and a fantastic warrior, and but she is not a great leader. Which I am actually pleased about. If she was amazing at everything and had no weaknesses or flaws she wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting a character and as the main character, the entire franchise would suffer as a result. The fact that she is weak in such an important area where the stakes are so high, pardon the pun, lends an air of uncertainty to everything. Nothing is ever a foregone conclusion.

 

[white avenger]

What this illustrates perfectly is that, while Buffy is a quite capable field officer and team leader, she is sadly lacking in the sort of skills that it takes an administrator and high command officer. In her defense, it must be remembered that until Season 8, she had never had any sort of experience in commanding a force of hundreds of Slayers, scattered out in teams of various sizes, all over the world. As a team leader and squad commander, Buffy is quite capable. Being a General, however, coordinating the activities of all of those teams, plus handling the literally thousands of mundane things associated with running an army of Slayers is something beyond all of her experience. Considering the problems that she had to handle just associated with her Slayer duties would be daunting, at the least, without having a sister who goes through several totally atypical changes in life, a junior Slayer who is in love with her, and negotiating an alliance with the Prince Of Darkness himself, Count Dracula, would be enough to have anyone sitting in a corner singing nursery rimes to the wallpaper. Add to that you-know-who trying to destroy the world, and you have conditions that Solomon himself couldn't have handled without an occasional "oopsie" incident.

Given what she had to accomplish, with the resources at her command, and no more experience than she possessed, I think that Buffy did an outstanding job.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I wouldn't say she's a FAILURE, but she isn't the best leader, IMO. Buffy allows her emotions to drive her so much sometimes that she blinds herself to the decisions she should be making. She puts others in danger because of her feelings, which is not something a good leader should allow. Also, she shuts herself off from other people. When you're leading a group, especially a group whose lives depend on you, you don't have the luxury of shutting out and shutting down...

 

[Kean]

I think Buffy is a very strong leader, but there is a particular role that she flourishes in and being The General is not it. Buffy requires the freedom to do her own thing and play off the "holding" or traditional leader e.g. how she and Giles worked S1-3. Giles held the team together, giving Buffy the freedom to lead on the battlefield. Buffy can plan, and motivate and execute, but she can't hold it all together. She needs someone having her back and picking up the pieces she misses. For instances, she needed someone looking after the Potentials in S7. They needed nurturing, as well as training. She needed help with silly day to day things that distracted her. She needed to have the type of relationship with her inner circle where she would run her plans past them and seek their counsel. Similarly, she needed a team that would express their concerns in private and not in front of the entire group. So much of what went wrong in S7 can be attributed to the breakdown of the Scoobies as well, scoobies.

We've discussed in a lot of threads lately how the Scoobies essentially fall apart in S6 and cease to be a functioning unit. This factors heavily into Buffy's failure as a leader. She no longer has a team she trusts, nor do they trust her, so she adopts a very rigid leadership style. It doesn't suit her at all and a lot goes wrong. Buffy, to my eye, can't lead as successfully as I think she is capable, because she doesn't have the team behind her necessary to facilitate that. That's an issue that I really don't know how she remedies, because she is partially to blame for her not having that support. I don't think there is any fixing the Scoobies, the only alternative I can think of is a new fighting unit.