Power Surge.

[Willow Rosenberg]

Well that does make sense since Faith was brought down in Chosen as well and rose up out of the pile of ubervamps seemingly stronger as well.

 

[eponinethen]

I'd go with the confidence thing too, sort of. Buffy knew she was going to die, which can't be an encouraging thought. When she "woke up", she realized she had survived her death (eh, you know what I mean), she realized she didn't have ti die and that she could kill the Master. (I also agree with Cordelia on the beginning of season 4.)
No, this isn't something that's only happened to Buffy. It's not strange in any way really. How you feel emotionally, if you believe in yourself or not, affects how strong you are. It affects how much effort you put in what you do.. and so on..

 

[nerd4hire]

Yeah, I get all that. I got it when Pagan first suggested it, and agree, but there are a couple times when Buffy seems to draw more power than can be explained away by simple confidence.

For me the confidence thing can explain the Becoming sword-grab, and the Faith stuff, and even the Dracula thing, or breaking the Master's mind control, but somehow the added power surge in Prophecy Girl, and Chosen, seems to have something else on top of it.

 

[SpikedBuffy]

I agree with the confidence theory. She just felt that they could take on the bigger fights, and she knew she could win. When she gets in that mind set, nothing can stop her.

That's probably the best way to explain it. It goes along with human nature as well: people are always better at the things they are confident with.

 

[SlayerThe]

See I would agree with you guys on the confidence theory on the events occurring in Becoming and S4 and maybe even Chosen. But I have to completely disagree with the occurence in Prophecy Girl.

This is because the whole power system of a slayer is based on death and maybe even a form of "resurrection" or the birth of a new slayer.

When Buffy comes back she doesn't say "Having died and all, I feel less afraid and somewhat more confident". She says "I feel strong". This leads me to believe that while she does feel confident and all, her slayer power is much greater than it was before.

Buffy may have been able to resist the Master's hypnosis because they now had a connection. Remember she was only able to release her thrall from Dracula once she tasted his blood. Tells me that there is some sort of connection with her and these two vampires that allowed her will to overcome their hypnotic powers.

And being a huge X-Men/Jean Grey buff, it would appear that the Master only had powers of hypnosis, not telepathy or telekinesis. Telepathy and hypnotic powers are completely different. With telepathy he not only would have been able to put her under a thrall, but probe her mind, read her thoughts, hell even send a mental bolt. Because I doubt that someone with telepathy could put a slayer in hypnosis, but couldn't read her thoughts so he could detect her movements during their final fight.

 

[eponinethen]

nerd4hire - I agree that what happens with Buffy in (especially) Chosen is more than confidence. I always just thought it was convenience, that she needed to be stronger (just like the first uber vamp needed to be stronger than the ones that followed), tt bothered me when I first watched it but it doesn't anymore. Slayers heal really fast, why can't there be something that makes the confidence-thing give her more new strength than it would give normal people..? Eh..

 

[nerd4hire]

Slayers heal really fast, why can't there be something that makes the confidence-thing give her more new strength than it would give normal people..? Eh..

When Buffy got shot in Seeing Red, was it her own fault she had to be hopitalized? Was she just not confident enough?

 

[Jill_Valentine]

And being a huge X-Men/Jean Grey buff, it would appear that the Master only had powers of hypnosis, not telepathy or telekinesis. Telepathy and hypnotic powers are completely different. With telepathy he not only would have been able to put her under a thrall, but probe her mind, read her thoughts, hell even send a mental bolt. Because I doubt that someone with telepathy could put a slayer in hypnosis, but couldn't read her thoughts so he could detect her movements during their final fight.

Whoa... only if you're assuming that the Master's telepathy is exactly the same as Jeans. Given that telepathy may not even exist, we don't know it's possible limitations. I'd argue that the Master seemed perfectly able to predict Buffy's movements in their first fight, but lost it in the second because Buffy's fear was no longer leaving her so mentally vulnerable. But it couldn't have been bog standard hypnosis, because to be hypnotised requires a certain atmosphere, at least a few minutes of loosening up the subject, and it takes quite a bit of dreamy surreal hypnotist talk. The Master simply said "Come Here." This suggests to me that he had to be communicating to Buffy on a less visible level in order to plant a hypnotic suggestion deep enough into her consciousness to overcome natural and powerful fight-or-flight instinct.

When Buffy got shot in Seeing Red, was it her own fault she had to be hopitalized? Was she just not confident enough?

Youch. Hang on here, given that we know that a person's mental outlook really does affect their recovery from injury (There's evidence to suggest that every cell in our body can be sent deliberate insruction) wouldn't it be a simple leap to assume that a Slayer can will themselves to heal faster or fight harder? I mean, not only are they physically stronger than we are, their abilities are mystical and not subject to the same rules as ours. Magic in the Buffyverse seems very much subject to emotional whims. Getting shot is something of an overwhelming shock to any system, but if Buffy had recovered without Willow's help, it's perfectly imaginable that her recovery could have been faster and easier if she'd been mentally willing her body to heal. I'm not suggesting Buffy would be invincible if she just !believed! but based on what we've seen in the show I think it's safe to say that a Slayers' mindset has a definite effect on their abilities.

 

[SlayerThe]

Whoa... only if you're assuming that the Master's telepathy is exactly the same as Jeans. Given that telepathy may not even exist, we don't know it's possible limitations. I'd argue that the Master seemed perfectly able to predict Buffy's movements in their first fight, but lost it in the second because Buffy's fear was no longer leaving her so mentally vulnerable. But it couldn't have been bog standard hypnosis, because to be hypnotised requires a certain atmosphere, at least a few minutes of loosening up the subject, and it takes quite a bit of dreamy surreal hypnotist talk. The Master simply said "Come Here." This suggests to me that he had to be communicating to Buffy on a less visible level in order to plant a hypnotic suggestion deep enough into her consciousness to overcome natural and powerful fight-or-flight instinct.

In no way was I comparing Jean Grey's telepathy and or power level exactly to the Master's. Simply because Jean Grey wields unlimited power via the Phoenix force and she has been stated to be the strong psi in existence (This is because it is believed that her ability to channel the Phoenix Force's power is actually her natural mutation. It is just she has been mostly able to wield this power through the psionic powers of telepathy, telekinesis, blah blah).

And there are many other psionic powered mutants that have hypnotic powers, this is why I can compare.

I think that it was hypnosis because her state of mind was changed. For Buffy to fight off telepathy, she would most likely have to have some protection.

It seems like confidence is the reason she was able to have a good mental state. And a good mental state is what deters hypnosis.

You yourself said that your ability to reason was what made you able to slip out of hypnosis. Not some telepathic protection.

I mean we really can not know the limitations of the Master's powers, especially if it was telepathic, but from all previous incidents, it would seem more like hypnotic powers.

And I really do not think he could predict her movements in the first fight. Remember he was playing on his home turf, thus an advantage, then factor in those flashy disappearing skills and others and it seems like he was just a hypnosis powered vampire who knew his ground.

 

[nerd4hire]

I think I get SlayerThe's point.

When we're talking about the Master's hyno trick, were talking about something beyond simple hypnosis. It appears to have some sort of a supernatural component.

Kindred could not defeat the same kind of thing, even though she was in the middle of an adrenalin pumping fight, and was brimming with watcher trained confidence in her abilities.

In Chosen we're not just talking about quick recovery, we're talking about almost instantaneous recovery from a wound Seeing Red tells us should have been serious.

In Prophecy Girl we're talking about a power boost that allows what by my estimate amounts to at least double.

I believe like the rest of you that the psychological component can explain away an increase in strength, recuperative ability, and mental will, it's just that there's a point where you say, "Wait a minute. Something else seems to be going on here."

 

[SlayerThe]

And confidence does not necessarily mean a victory.

It certainly may help Buffy in battle but it is not the ultimate determinate. Look at Fool For Love.

Although I would think walking into a battle would knowing you would win would have it's ups and downs. You wouldn't want to think that you were going to lose and you wouldn't want to be overtly cocky.

 

[eponinethen]

When Buffy got shot in Seeing Red, was it her own fault she had to be hopitalized? Was she just not confident enough?

Um, that's not what I meant. Even if it only had to do with confidence it certainly wouldn't be her fault she wasn't confident enough. I also wrote in my last post that "I agree that what happens with Buffy in (especially) Chosen is more than confidence".. And I don't take that back. I'm just saying it's definitely part of it, in my opinion. I do believe her will and courage and confidence has a lot to do with her strength and what she is able to do. And Buffy wasn't at all prepared in Seeing Red, being shot by Warren wasn't something she expected. I think it's a totally different thing. Cause what happened in Chosen was in a battle, and she had to survive, she had to be stronger, she had to fight, not just for her own life but for the people around her and to save the world..
I'm not saying confidence will always help her, but it can, I and believe that it what we see, at least in Prophecy Girl, and at least partly in Chosen.