Most Competent Watcher?

Most Competent Watcher

  • Edna Giles

    Votes: 1 3.2%

  • Rupert Giles

    Votes: 28 90.3%

  • Wesley Wyndham-Pryce

    Votes: 3 9.7%

  • Collins

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Roger Wyndham-Pryce

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Quentin Travers

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Merrick

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    31
To be fair, the only people we can really go on are Giles, Wes, and Merrick, cause they're the only watchers we see in action.

And we all know, as Giles was able to keep his slayer alive and in control the longest without himself dieing, the award goes to him.
 
R
Relic
yep, course Faith is still alive too...but her watchers not! (and she was naughty and mean anyway.) :)
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Sweetescape
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sk8rj04 said:
To be fair, the only people we can really go on are Giles, Wes, and Merrick, cause they're the only watchers we see in action.

And we all know, as Giles was able to keep his slayer alive and in control the longest without himself dieing, the award goes to him.
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I don't know, I went with Edna Giles. If she was that good as a young child, I can only imagine how competent she was in her prime.
 
The poll is missing Gwendolyn Post...

I voted Rupert Giles in terms of de facto effectiveness (not to mention likeability 😉 ), even though given the qualities the CoW itself seems to be looking for, it should probably be Quentin Travers. No wonder he was head of the Council.
 
sk8rj04 said:
To be fair, the only people we can really go on are Giles, Wes, and Merrick, cause they're the only watchers we see in action.

And we all know, as Giles was able to keep his slayer alive and in control the longest without himself dieing, the award goes to him.
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That was what I was going to say. Giles wasn't really over authorative (sp?), he let Buffy find her own way, and I think that was the key to their success. And successful they were, them two together 😉
 
it would really have to depend on your definition of compitence.

If you mean the best teacher/trainer/fighter, then, certainly Giles is the answer, simply because we never saw the others in very much action, if any. If, on the other hand, you mean the Watcher who was most able to maintain control of their Slayer, Giles fails abysmally.

Mrs Post, for the short amount of time that she was there, had much better control of Faith than Giles ever had of Buffy. Granted, she wasn't around long enough for Faith to get fed up with the whole authority thing and rebel again, but still, while she was there, she did a better job according to Watcher standards, even though she was no longer a Watcher, than Giles did.
 
Buffyverse Fan said:
Post was never a Watcher when we saw her.
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That's techincally true, she was fired by the time we see her for use of dark magics but she was once a Watcher, I suppose it's difficult to judge her as her main intentions were to obtain the Glove of Myhnegon and her 'control' of Faith was manipulation to that effect.

Giles was the only watcher we actually see in action of any considerable length of time so I'm not sure if it's fair to look at the other watchers.

One of Giles assets as a Watcher for Buffy was the emphasis on the emotional ties to the charge. He insists his feelings for Buffy were an asset. I doubt that Mrs Post's style would have worked on Buffy for the main reason that it was actually Giles' flexibilty in regards to the rules that indirectly kept Buffy alive. It is generally an rule that a Slayer should work alone and in secret. It's been a while since I've seen the Revelations but Mrs Post, to my memory didn't encourage this but like I said, she was deliberately manipulating Faith so we can't really say those methods were the methods she'd actually use for the good of mankind rather than for her own good.

Wes was an interesting one because he was a textbook fallguy for botched operations, mainly because he tried to be the textbook watcher. This said, Wes has displayed what seems to a greater ken for esoteric knowledge. He worked better on Angel as an advisor or demonology consultant. Overall, yes Giles is the man but it's not exactly a fair race lol.
 
I agree with SK8rjo4, Both Giles and Buffy are still alive, a credit to themselves as a team. Faith could not find a mentor from what I've saw of her on BtVS short of the mayor. I honestly believe given time Rupert could have gotten through to her where Wes could/did not.

Buffy...season 1 and 5 not withstanding, is the oldest slayer ever recorded, she also is unique to the establishments standards. I think Rupert is the same way when compared to other watchers. these two together made their partnership what it was, and thats a success.

Giles taught her what she needed almost by letting her learn it herself. I think he gets the award.
 
The answer to this is Giles simply because he's the only one we've seen in a full time Watcher position.

But then, this is a very one sided discussion, so rather pointless by the way its been set out, leading to only one actual answer.
 
Relic said:
Buffy...season 1 and 5 not withstanding, is the oldest slayer ever recorded, she also is unique to the establishments standards.
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Do they actually ever say that Buffy is the oldest slayer recorded standing? Principal Wood's mother certainly looked older than Buffy when we saw her in flashbacks.
 
Edmund Blackadder said:
this is a very one sided discussion, so rather pointless by the way its been set out, leading to only one actual answer.
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No one's forcing you to respond.
[br][/br]
Edit:
[br][/br]
Edmund Blackadder disagrees: *yawns* Yup, you're right
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lol. Might want to make sure your taking the right prescription EB 😉
 
E
Edmund Blackadder
*yawns* Yup, you're right, but I do like to point out to people the pointlessness of things
.... And if we could keep the bickering off the boards that would be appreciated, thanks guys.


Anyway, as for the most competent watcher: I do have to agree with Revolver in that I think Wes had some real potential to be a good watcher. He was pretty uptight (much more than Giles started out, in my opinion!) but I think that if he had the chance he would have loosened up over time. We saw that he did that in ATS as a demon hunter, I'm sure a similar effect would have eventually happened on BtVS. Buffy seemed to have a rather humanizing effect on people that way.

So my vote went to Wes and Giles; I think that he would have had a lot to bring to a slayer's training had he been given a chance (and loosened up, eventually). But that being said, Giles was an undeniabley good watcher as well. He was more like a father than anything, which seemed to work in Buffy's favour. Like has been said, she's made it this far, so he must have done something right! 🙂
 
~angelic slayer~ said:
Anyway, as for the most competent watcher: I do have to agree with Revolver in that I think Wes had some real potential to be a good watcher. He was pretty uptight (much more than Giles started out, in my opinion!) but I think that if he had the chance he would have loosened up over time. We saw that he did that in ATS as a demon hunter, I'm sure a similar effect would have eventually happened on BtVS. Buffy seemed to have a rather humanizing effect on people that way
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See, we can't know that for sure, though, because when he first come to Angel, he wasn't a very competent demon hunter. He didn't really get good until Angel left them all halfway through season 2. And then when he was alienated in season 3. I can't say the same would have happened if he stayed on Buffy.

Plus, he made both of his charges despise him. Neither one of the slayers wanted Wes as they're watcher. They went immediately through him to Giles every time. So, he didn't gather any kind of authority over them, something the watcher needs in order to control his slayer. Both his charges quit the council, one going rogue.

As a watcher, he sucked. Plain and simple.
 
While we never saw Kendras watcher, we did basically see his work in Kendra. He taught her how to fight, made her study books on demons, and she respected and followed his orders.
 
Primal Slayer said:
While we never saw Kendras watcher, we did basically see his work in Kendra. He taught her how to fight, made her study books on demons, and she respected and followed his orders.
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We don't know much about Sam Zabuto. He most likely adhered to the traditions considering Kendra's MO and comes from a culture where they take the calling extremely seriously. What he didn't seem to nuture is her intuition and natural cunning.
 
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