Smile when you say that
🙂 Them's fightin words.
😉
Let's begin then shall we.
I want to begin with something that's been an itch under my skin for a couple of weeks now; the statement I keep hearing that Joss Whedon says the slayer line passes through Faith, and only Faith.
Post a link damnit. It's not even that I don't believe he said it (although I don't, at least not in the clear bold, point of definition, factual manner some have suggested) I want to know when he said it, and what the context was.
Marti Noxon did say exactly what you're suggesting. Here's the quote:
Tuesday, October 30, 2001
New Vampire Slayer Wanted?
by Charlie Mason
Where's the Watchers Council when you need it? Historically, every time that one Slayer is killed on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, another is magically drafted for active duty. Heck, back in the first season, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) only stopped breathing for a matter of seconds before a successor, Kendra (Bianca Lawson), was dispatched to Sunnydale. So, after Buffy spent the entire summer pushing up daisies, how come no new Slayer has been called to arms? Has the show forgotten its own mythology?
"We actually have an answer for that," executive producer Marti Noxon tells TV Guide Online. "It's a technicality. The reason [Buffy's demise didn't activate another vampire hunter] is that when she died the first time, a Slayer was called, so she's already had her replacement Slayer.
"It doesn't happen twice," she continues. "You only get one, and Buffy already did."
The fact that Kendra quickly kicked the bucket, and her next-in-line, Faith (Eliza Dushku), is behind bars makes no difference to the powers that be. "Since Faith is still alive," Noxon notes, "the line remains intact."
So, in other words, viewers shouldn't look for another stake-toting teenager to turn up in Sunnydale anytime soon "” at least not unless Dushku's burgeoning film career takes a dive. "It would take Faith dying for another Slayer to be called," Noxon says, "and since we can't get [Dushku] on the show, the odds of that happening aren't big."
Here's a link to the source:
http://www.tvguide.com/search/artic...leNum=0&flag=progid&keyword=iProgramID=14477"
Here's the thing though. This quote pre-dates Season 7. In Season 7, things changed.
Before I get to how, though, let's address the arguement that Season 7 doesn't matter. It seems to go something like, "Season 7 doesn't matter, because I didn't like it". My response would be, "Tough".
Now let's get to what Joss actually does say about how the slayer line works in Season 7.
It happens in Chosen. Joss Whedon wrote Chosen. The First Evil appears as Caleb to Buffy in her basement.
CALEB/FIRST
(rolls eyes) Then why aren't you asleep in your dead lover's arms? (looks over at Spike) 'Cause he can't help you. Nor Faith, nor your friends, certainly not your wanna-slay brigade. None of those girlies will ever know real power unless you're dead.
Now I'm going to assume that in Joss Whedon's eyes The First Evil knows how the slayer line works at this point in the story.
I imagine the arguement against this would be the First is just messing with Buffy. It knows Buffy believes the slayer line still passes through her or at least she seems to believe it as seen in Potential when she is talking to the potentials:
BUFFY
Death is what a slayer breathes, what a slayer dreams about when she sleeps. Death is what a slayer lives. My death could make you the next slayer.
I'm going to suggest Buffy knows how the slayer line works as well as we do. She knows it passed from her to Kendra, to Faith. So why does she now believe it passes through her. What off-camera information has she received.
The arguement goes, she doesn't believe it, she's just messing with the potentials to get their attention. Well, if Buffy doesn't believe it and she's just messing with the potentials, then why is the First supposedly just messing with her when it tells her the line passes through her? Why does it expect her to believe it?
Not only that, but The First doesn't just tell Buffy the line passes through her. It apparently told Caleb. Here's some stuff collected by a fellow quester for the truth; Original Slayer.
"
CALEB
Oh yeah. That's it! That's a cleansing fire. Hallelujah! Now, if I'm not mistaken, there's a car a little ways behind us, and I do believe there's some folk in it goin' the same place you are. Now, I want you to deliver a message for me, but it's not for them. It's for the other one"”the one and only, the original, accept-no-substitutes slayer. Would you tell her something for me?
Caleb obviously knows that Faith is in the car behind him and since has pretty tight with the First, he would know about the truth of who is the Slayer.
There's also possibly the biggest reference to Buffy being the Slayer:
BUFFY/FIRST
How do you like what I'm wearing?
CALEB
Just another dirty girl. And, since you only dress up in dead folk, I'm guessing, one who's already been paid her wage.
BUFFY/FIRST
Look hard. What do you see?
CALEB
(checks out the First's form) Strength. And the loneliness that comes with real strength.
BUFFY/FIRST
Nothing about my pert and bouncy hairdo?
CALEB
You're her.
BUFFY/FIRST
The slayer.
Caleb sees and senses the power of the Slayer and the First aptly refers to Buffy as the Slayer, and I would assume the First knows a lot about the Chosen.
There are also other instances of Caleb referring to them as the Slayer and a Slayer (though not all the time in that generalization):
BUFFY
Save the sermon, padre. I heard you have something of mine.
CALEB
(chuckles) Well, I do now. You liked my little message, did you? You know, I ruined a perfectly good knife on that girl. Got her soiled blood all over the place. I may have to get a new truck. (Buffy looks taken aback) So, you're the slayer. The slayer. The strongest, the fastest, the most aflame with that most precious invention of all mankind"”the notion of goodness. The slayer must indeed be powerful. (with one powerful punch, he sends Buffy flying across the room) So, what else you got? (looks around smugly)
CALEB
(looks Faith up and down) Well, you're the other one, aren't you. Your Cain to her Abel. (Faith throws a knife at Caleb) No offense meant to Cain, of course.
BUFFY/FIRST
You realize what will happen if the slayer and her girls get it, don't you?
(Another elusive reference to Buffy being the one, since the girls are seen as her army, not Faith's)
Buffy trots quickly down the stairs to be on the same level as Caleb.
CALEB
Well, if it ain't the prodigal slayer?
"
Then there's the fact that Buffy King Arthurs the sword out of the stone. The Guardian immediately recognizes Buffy as the slayer, because she knows only the Slayer could have the scythe.
Remember the scythe is connected to the magic that passes on the slayer line. Is it a great leap of logic to assume it was built to recognize who should have it based at least in part on that criteria?
Ok, so how much more of this do you want? Because there is more.
Let's leave it for now. If Season 7 doesn't say Buffy is the slayer then I just don't get it.
So what changed? Why were we first asked to believe the line passed through Faith and only Faith, but now we are told it passes through Buffy (although admittedly not necessarily only through Buffy.)
Beljoxa's Eye gave us the answer to that question "Beljoxa's Eye. It's an oracle type creature that exists in a dark dimension." It says, "The eye sees not the future, only the truth of the now and before":
GILES
If The First has been around for all time, then why hasn't it attempted something like this before? Why now?
BELJOXA'S EYE
The opportunity has only recently presented itself.
GILES
Opportunity?
BELJOXA'S EYE
The mystical forces surrounding the chosen line have become irrevocably altered, become unstable, vulnerable.
ANYA
Something The First did?
BELJOXA'S EYE
The First Evil did not cause the disruption, only seized upon it to extinguish the lives of the chosen forever.
GILES
Then what has caused the disruption? What"”what is responsible for letting this happen?
BELJOXA'S EYE
The slayer.
and just in case you're wondering who Beljoxa meant by the slayer, here's what Giles and Anya have to say on the subject.
ANYA
(limping) Yeah, I just"”I don't understand how Buffy's death mucked up the whole slayer mojo. You know, it's not like she hasn't died before.
GILES
It's not because she died. The Beljoxa's Eye was quite clear about that in its enigmatic way. It's because she lives. Again. Buffy's not responsible for that.
ANYA
Oh. Oh. Willow and me and Xander and Tara. We're the ones who brought Buffy back. We're"”we're the reason The First is here, the reason those girls were murdered. No, it's our fault. The would would've been better off if Buffy had just stayed dead. (walks off)
So what was Neilxan's original question again?
hey all,
I was wondering about something. I know the idea is that when one Slayer dies, another is called to replace her. thus when Buffy dies at the hand of the Master, Kendra is called. I was wondering about the episode "The Gift" where Buffy sacrifices herself. is another Slayer called or, since Faith is around, that doesn't happen? just curious.
Here is my answer;
We don't know exactly when, but if Anya is correct a corruption happened in the slayer line after the Scoobies brought Buffy back to life in Bargaining at the beginning of Season 6.
Before that if we can believe Marti Noxon, and possibly some fan who claims to have heard Joss Whedon say something at a convention, the slayer line passed through Faith.
After the Bargaining resurrection, the line appears to pass at least through Buffy and possibly through Faith (in which case both slayers would have to die, or as we saw in Chosen be in a Hell dimension with a powerful witch passing the power through the scythe).
If you would like to read more on this, you can check out these 2 threads:
https://www.buffy-boards.com/showthread.php?t=9821&highlight=slayer+prove
and
https://www.buffy-boards.com/showthread.php?t=18186&highlight=slayer+prove
