Slayers Life Span

[white avenger]

There was a theory put forth in a book that I read a long time ago, not about Slayers, but it could just as easily hold true for them. Assuming that part, if not all,of the aging process could be considered the body's gradually losing its ability to heal itself and fully recover from the various injuries encountered in our day to day lives, if, in fact, the very process of aging could be considered an ongoing injury in and of itself, might it not be possible that a person with the sort of enhanced healing abilities that a Slayer possesses be expected to have a greatly extended life span, if not be virtually immortal? Obviously, given the fact that Slayers always die from causes in no way related to natural aging, the possibility of such a thing has never been proved or disproved up to this point, but now,given the fact that there are many more Slayers, the possibility of one or more of them reaching an advanced age has greatly increased. Maybe Slayers aren't literally immortal in the same way that vampires are, but there might still be the possibility that Buffy, Faith, or some other Slayer in the future could live 100, 150, or even more years, and spend the majority of that time appearing no more that 25 or 30 years of age.

Would you consider that to be possible? If so,it might eliminate at least one barrier to the possibility of Buffy having a relatively long, happy life with the vampire of her choice.

 

[Mischlings]

I've heard that theory before, and I think that I've read it in some fanfiction before. So it is entirely possible, though the show and comics never gave any indication that they might be going in that direction.

 

[Kean]

It's certainly a trope in fan-fiction. It can't be ruled out but unless the comics go that long (merciful Christ NO!) or they flash significantly forward in the future, we'll never know.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

Interesting theory.

Although I would think it possible it would be the opposite. Since the slayer is demon essence merged with a human body (as potentials they are pretty much human) I would have though the stress of just having the slayer powers could be a bad thing long term.
Like the (one would presume) higher metabolism and advanced healing. One of the theories on ageing is that it occurs from cell reproduction, and the cell not being 100% the same as the cell that it comes from it, cell reproduce faster when your cut or injured to heal the wound, so you'd imagine a slayers metabolism and cell reproduction would be higher to be ready for that, which could lead to them ageing quicker.

 

[Mischlings]

One of the theories on ageing is that it occurs from cell reproduction, and the cell not being 100% the same as the cell that it comes from it, cell reproduce faster when your cut or injured to heal the wound, so you'd imagine a slayers metabolism and cell reproduction would be higher to be ready for that, which could lead to them ageing quicker.

When you go all scientific on it, it does seem to imply that a slayer would either age faster or be more likely to develop cancer, but I'm not entirely sure that a scientific approach to things is the most relevant to this particular series.

 

[white avenger]

Interesting theory.

Although I would think it possible it would be the opposite. Since the slayer is demon essence merged with a human body (as potentials they are pretty much human) I would have though the stress of just having the slayer powers could be a bad thing long term.
Like the (one would presume) higher metabolism and advanced healing. One of the theories on ageing is that it occurs from cell reproduction, and the cell not being 100% the same as the cell that it comes from it, cell reproduce faster when your cut or injured to heal the wound, so you'd imagine a slayers metabolism and cell reproduction would be higher to be ready for that, which could lead to them ageing quicker.

I can see the point of accelerated aging as well, assuming that we're looking at basically the supernatural equivalent of the old "burning the candle at both ends," but in that case, I would think that Slayers would have to have much more food to fuel there supercharged metabolism (they did that approach in a book called "The Reassembled Man" several years ago. Sorry, but I can't recall the author) something that we've never seen with either Buffy or Faith, though mealtime is something rarely seen on the show, so it's entirely possible. However, since that the Slayer's powers come from a supernatural source rather than any sort of scientific process, that may rule that theory out.

The Slayer's powers are the result of demon infestation, the same as vampires, or at least similar enough for the to to be compared, and vampires don't appear to age. That, of course, doesn't assure that the same thing would hold true for Slayers, but, as I said, since it has never been put to the test, due to the previous 100% mortality rate that their lifestyle involved, it is still a question yet to be answered. Do they burn out quickly, or remain young and powerful permanently?

As Miss K said, barring some sort of flash forward story line, we're not apt to ever know, but Buffy wouldn't be the first superhero to remain perpetually young, as long as her comic books remain selling and Joss continues to write her story, at least.

 

[Mischlings]

I would think that Slayers would have to have much more food to fuel there supercharged metabolism (they did that approach in a book called "The Reassembled Man" several years ago. Sorry, but I can't recall the author) something that we've never seen with either Buffy or Faith, though mealtime is something rarely seen on the show, so it's entirely possible.

I know that it's pretty heavily implied that they're heavy eaters -- with Faith, it could easily just be due to her background, but Buffy doesn't have that explanation (I wish I could remember specific scenes at the moment, but the only one I can think of is Faith, Hope, and Trick when Faith starts eating Buffy's food the moment she steps out of the dining room), so it's something that seems to be a fairly plausible possibility.

 

[Blaze]

If were going by the theory that they still remain 100% human, even if the rest of the body can regenerate, they would most likely die of dementia since the neurons can't replicate. So even if they die a bit older, all the hits that they take to the head would make them most certainly senile by the time they are 70 and they would most likely die of natural death just like everyone else.

I also find the theory about them ageing faster really interesting, they should have touched that subject on the show! Even if they most likely wouldn't know themselves since a slayer doesn't usually live pass 20.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

I can see the point of accelerated aging as well, assuming that we're looking at basically the supernatural equivalent of the old "burning the candle at both ends," but in that case, I would think that Slayers would have to have much more food to fuel there supercharged metabolism (they did that approach in a book called "The Reassembled Man" several years ago. Sorry, but I can't recall the author) something that we've never seen with either Buffy or Faith, though mealtime is something rarely seen on the show, so it's entirely possible. However, since that the Slayer's powers come from a supernatural source rather than any sort of scientific process, that may rule that theory out.

The Slayer's powers are the result of demon infestation, the same as vampires, or at least similar enough for the to to be compared, and vampires don't appear to age. That, of course, doesn't assure that the same thing would hold true for Slayers, but, as I said, since it has never been put to the test, due to the previous 100% mortality rate that their lifestyle involved, it is still a question yet to be answered. Do they burn out quickly, or remain young and powerful permanently?

As Miss K said, barring some sort of flash forward story line, we're not apt to ever know, but Buffy wouldn't be the first superhero to remain perpetually young, as long as her comic books remain selling and Joss continues to write her story, at least.

True yeah, hasn't thought of the food thing, like Mischlings said Faith does mention food, but it's not much to go on.
It'd be interesting to explore, if they live longer it'd be interesting to know if the shadow men wanted that, and hasn't thought they'd be killed as quickly as they were.
Though if they aged quicker, I could see them not caring about sticking their chosen girl with that.

 

[white avenger]

I know that it's pretty heavily implied that they're heavy eaters -- with Faith, it could easily just be due to her background, but Buffy doesn't have that explanation (I wish I could remember specific scenes at the moment, but the only one I can think of is Faith, Hope, and Trick when Faith starts eating Buffy's food the moment she steps out of the dining room), so it's something that seems to be a fairly plausible possibility.

The closest that I can find to Buffy actually mentioning food are two times, once when she mentions in response to Faith's "hungry and horny" comment that she sometimes has a craving for low fat yogurt (not much help there) and when she returns from her secret meeting with Angel in Season 6. She comes in with a huge bucket of chicken, and when she notices that everyone else had already eaten, comments, "More for me." Again, not much help, since we don't know whether or not she is serious, and, once more, we never see her eating, so we don't know how much she actually ate.

As for Faith's appetite, it might just be within Faith's nature to eat the way that she fights, dances, or has sex. All out, no holding back, want, take, have. Or, it could be that, on the occasion that she was invited to Buffy's home for dinner, she was just extremely hungry. She had been traveling, alone, from Boston to California, and we have no idea what her financial resources actually were when she first arrived in Sunnydale. She might very well not have had a substantial meal in days or even weeks.

And again, it's all based on conjecture and one of many possible interpretations of the story line as it was presented. Unless some day, for some reason, Joss specifically comments on the matter, one guess or theory is as good as another.

 

[Mischlings]

As for Faith's appetite, it might just be within Faith's nature to eat the way that she fights, dances, or has sex. All out, no holding back, want, take, have. Or, it could be that, on the occasion that she was invited to Buffy's home for dinner, she was just extremely hungry. She had been traveling, alone, from Boston to California, and we have no idea what her financial resources actually were when she first arrived in Sunnydale. She might very well not have had a substantial meal in days or even weeks.

And again, it's all based on conjecture and one of many possible interpretations of the story line as it was presented. Unless some day, for some reason, Joss specifically comments on the matter, one guess or theory is as good as another.

With Faith, I have to imagine, given what's described of her life, that she probably never really had enough to eat in her life, not just when traveling across the country, but in general, given what we know of her family. (The money thing leads me to wonder what money she had when she got to Sunnydale and what she did to keep that motel room, and that leads to some really interesting conclusions, especially taken in context of her conversation with Lilah in Angel.)

But yeah, it's mostly conjecture, but seems to be a pretty common interpretation from what I can tell.

 

[white avenger]

I think that the general consensus is that Giles,once he was officially Faith's Watcher, even if only on a temporary basis, provided her with a living expense allowance, but if that actually was the case, he must not have paid much attention to the way in which she chose to spend that allowance. As far as that goes, as Faith's Watcher, Giles, in my opinion, did a really poor job of providing for her welfare and in general just taking an interest in what she did and who she associated with beyond her Slaying activities. Compare that to the as often as not meddlesome concern that he showed for Buffy, and it makes it easier to see how Faith could fall under the influence of an evil charmer like Mayor Wilkins. Wilkins showed much more genuine concern and affection for Faith than Giles and all the Scoobies put together.

And I'm gonna stop right there on that topic before I hijack my own thread.