Joyce and memories of Dawn

[crazysoulless]

And yet Dawn does the opposite. Another reason to be annoyed with her. In many episodes she left the safety of her house for the dangerous Hellmouth streets. Harmony and her minions attack in The Real Me and later that night Dawn walks out the back door and gets mad at Anya for trying to stop her and is snotty when Buffy rescues her. In Blood Ties she finds out she is The Key and leaves even though she knows there is a powerful Hell Goddess and her demon minions and the Knights of Byzantine looking for her. In All The Way she lies to Buffy about where she is going and puts herself in a very dangerous situation and then is snotty after she is rescued. In Potential she thinks she is an SIT and decides to sneek out of the house even though she knows that there are Bringers trying to hunt down and KILL every Potential in the world and then is told by Xander how "extraordinary" she is while Buffy (the one with the weight of the world on her shoulders that has to make the decisions and do 80% of the fighting) is just "special".

 

[Beaumonde]

Except that Dawn isn't just going through these things for only two years, according to the monk's spell she has all the memories of going through life as the Slayer's little sis basically ever since Buffy was called. There were numerous instances throughout seasons 5-7 where Dawn did reference things that happened in past seasons as if she were there just as other characters talked about past events that had Dawn in them. Considering that Buffy was actually the one who's life was forever changed as she could neither have a normal life nor be expected to ever see her thirties and how well she handled it, I do believe there's a lot of justification for being annoyed at how Dawn acted for so much of the series.

It was in those two years (seasons 5 - 6) that Dawn went through the worst of her life. Her whole life turns out to be a lie, she had 3 parental figures die (Joyce, Buffy, Tara), Giles up and left them all, Willow decided it was a good idea to become a lame villain and try to kill everyone. She thought Spike was decent, then he tries to rape her sister. She has issues, and she dealt with them in a really short time. Of course, I don't think anyone can truly "recover" from their problems completely, but she pushes it all to the side and finds some maturity.

And you're right, we don't see what Dawn went through before season 5. I can't imagine it was all rainbows and puppies for her either though. Buffy running away, Faith going evil, Angel leaving and whatever else would have had a big impact on her. I find some of her behaviour in season 6 childish (and she's one of my favourite characters) but I find her behaviour to be justified also.

 

[saturn5]

It was in those two years (seasons 5 - 6) that Dawn went through the worst of her life. Her whole life turns out to be a lie, she had 3 parental figures die (Joyce, Buffy, Tara), Giles up and left them all, Willow decided it was a good idea to become a lame villain and try to kill everyone. She thought Spike was decent, then he tries to rape her sister. She has issues, and she dealt with them in a really short time. Of course, I don't think anyone can truly "recover" from their problems completely, but she pushes it all to the side and finds some maturity.

And you're right, we don't see what Dawn went through before season 5. I can't imagine it was all rainbows and puppies for her either though. Buffy running away, Faith going evil, Angel leaving and whatever else would have had a big impact on her. I find some of her behaviour in season 6 childish (and she's one of my favourite characters) but I find her behaviour to be justified also.

Dawn acts childish but you know Dawn IS a kid and she fits flawlessly into the Summers house, you can see so much of both Buffy and Joyce in her. As the younger sibling of a high achieving brother and sister I can tell you Bette Midler is right and it is hard to sit in the shadows especially when your sister is a superhero who saves the world/get's voted FHM's sexiest woman. That fact that Dawn plays her role without any special powers makes her extraordinary, she's the kick.

No matter what happened to Buffy it was all ok because she could always go home to Joyce's loving arms (Anne, Innocence). When Joyce died it nearly destroyed Buffy. But it was all ok, because she had Dawn, everything she does is for her wonderful Dawnie

 

[Giantevilhead]

That's why it makes sense that the monks didn't actually make Dawn. It's much more plausible that the spell made the Summers created Dawn as the vessel for the Key.

 

[Stakesteak]

That's why it makes sense that the monks didn't actually make Dawn. It's much more plausible that the spell made the Summers created Dawn as the vessel for the Key.

I disagree with your assertion though I respect you opinion as I believe that either possibility is equally plausible as the details of the monks' spell were never divulged so it's all up to personal interpretation. Whatever the specifics of Dawn's creation were, it's definitely beyond question that Buffy and Joyce loved her dearly 🙂

 

[Giantevilhead]

I disagree with your assertion though I respect you opinion as I believe that either possibility is equally plausible as the details of the monks' spell were never divulged so it's all up to personal interpretation. Whatever the specifics of Dawn's creation were, it's definitely beyond question that Buffy and Joyce loved her dearly 🙂

But considering how important the Key was, there was absolutely no reason for the monks not to make Dawn at least competent enough to defend herself if they had the power to make her from scratch. It just makes no sense for them to overlook such a huge hole in their plan.

 

[saturn5]

But considering how important the Key was, there was absolutely no reason for the monks not to make Dawn at least competent enough to defend herself if they had the power to make her from scratch. It just makes no sense for them to overlook such a huge hole in their plan.

I think that we must assume that they would have if it was in their power but as they couldn't they did the next best thing and made her into the Slayer's most precious love?