Solution: The Riddle of Beljoxas Eye

[nerd4hire]

Do you remember after the episode Showtime everyone was baffled by the whole question of what did Giles mean when he told Anya Beljoxas eye was clear in it's contention the new opportunity for the first was caused by the slayer. Anya concluded this was because her Xander, Tara and Willow had brought Buffy back to life.

Assuming they were both correct the most logical solution to the puzzle of how the slayer could cause an opportunity for the First, was the idea that a corruption caused by the existence of 2 slayers weakened the line and allowed the first to attack.

There was immediate opposition to that. Some people couldn't wrap their minds around the idea the writers were possibly not telling us the whole truth when they said there could only be one, and there were rules of succession to the slayer line. To these Buffologists it was impossible for there to be two slayers in the universe at the same time. To them Buffy was no longer the slayer.

I think neither answer is entirely correct. I kick myself in the ass for not seeing it right away. The whole of Season 7 makes sense if you consider another alternative.

Here it is...

Unknown to everyone at the time a magic sythe exists. It has the power to cut through any demon, but that isn't it's most important power. It can release the power of the slayer line.

When Buffy comes back from the dead it creates this power, because now 2 slayers exist at the same time meaning the restriction created by the watchers of only 1 slayer at the same time no longer applies. The power can now be passed immediately to any and all she designates. The first was going kill the potentials and release the slayer power to it's own supplicants.

This is why the First didn't want to kill Buffy. It wanted to control her. It needed her to direct the power. This also explains why the First didn't want to kill Spike. The First was working on the assumption Spike was the way to Buffy. Perhaps the idea was for Spike to sire Buffy. Who but Spike could do it?

To me if you look at it from this perspective it provides an answer to almost all the puzzles of Season 7.

 

[Pezz]

Good observations. On slayage.com, I read a similar theory that was the same, but used it to talk about different things that made the whole series make sense and you could see they were planning it from season 3. This will contain spoilers, obviously and since I have no way to paraphrase this (I suck) I will just copy and paste this person's message. My apologies...

"In response to Syn's comment...I too was disappointed that Beljoxa's Eye's comments were not explained...lo and behold, I'm just not smart enough, because someone explained it to me on www.atpobtvs.com...Buffy being alive was important to he First because the knowledge that more than one Slayer could exist simaltaneouly was dangerous...the same reason that this scythe was important (and no, it did not come out of nowhere, a true Joss fan would recognize it from "Fray") With the scythe and this knowledge, nothing was stopping Buffy from doing exactly what she did...making her own Slayer army. This is why the First attempted to make Angel kill Buffy in "Amends" and more importantly why the First tried to kill all the potentials...the Slayer line had become "irrevocably altered" as Beljoxa's eye had said, and this gave the First a chance to strike...namely, killing the potentials before the Scoobs realized how they could harness the power of the scythe...all in all, a very good connection made. Most importantly it was a beautiful ending for Buffy, who has been struggling with her superiority complex and dealing with Slayerhood for seven years."

Posted by someone by the name of Nino. Sorry, I wish I could paraphrase it, but I am bad at that stuff.

 

[killerdwarf]

Wow. I'd been puzzling over that particular loose end for a bit now. I thought the slayer's power might be getting interference from the powers surrrounding her...Willow, especially, or even Dawn with her "key with no lock" power. Guess that's why they didn't hire me as a writer...

 

[nerd4hire]

I don't know, KD. From reading some of the other posts on this board, I get the feeling a lot of people would have prefered a clear-cut answer like yours to the way Joss handled it.

Joss surprised us with the answer he gave, by not giving it to us. It kind of forces us to inject our own postulations.

This only works if you care enough about the story to try to make sense of it.

I'm not sure the technique was %100 successful.

 

[nerd4hire]

Originally posted by Pezz
I read a similar theory that was the same

There is a slight difference, in the 2 theories.

He's saying the "knowledge" two slayers could exist in the same place is what activated the first.

I'm saying it was the actual event, because once two slayers exist in the same place, the magic that was created by the watchers allowing only one person to receive slayer power no longer applies.

Either way it works. I'm just being technical, is all, and only cause it amuses me.

 

[killerdwarf]

I think your technical musings are right on...knowledge of something is fine, but the actual event's first occurance is the proof that it can be done. If it hasn't been done before, it's only a theory. The First may have acted on a theory, but probably only reacted to the event, since running off madly in all directions to prevent theoretical events would be virtually impossible.