The Bigger Sacrifice?

[faeriegrrl27]

Throughout the course of the show, Buffy has made two huge sacrifices, as I see it. At the end of Season 2, she kills Angel, the love of her life, newly reensouled. At the end of Season 5, she sacrifices herself to save her sister and, you know, the world.

So I'm wondering: which do you think was the bigger sacrifice. I think when she killed Angel. When she died, she didn't have to deal with it. But after killing Angel, she had to live every day knowing that she'd killed her love. I can't imagine anything more terrible than living with that knowledge. When she died, she didn't have to live with that knowledge.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I think the obvious answer here is killing herself to save the world. Sure it hurt when she killed Angel, but it was something she could deal with and learn to move on from. Killing herself ended her life, and if Willow, Tara, Xander, and Anya hadn't brought her back it would have been the end of Buffy altogether.

 

[ubi4soft]

Buffy going to meet her death at the hands of The Master is a bigger sacrifice than sending Angel to Hell. In Prophecy Girl she gave up her last hopes to a normal life, her future to became a slayer and fulfill her destiny.

 

[faeriegrrl27]

Buffy going to meet her death at the hands of The Master is a bigger sacrifice than sending Angel to Hell. In Prophecy Girl she gave up her last hopes to a normal life, her future to became a slayer and fulfill her destiny.

But she knew then that another slayer would be called.

I still think Angel was the bigger sacrifice. It was the one she had to live with.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I see what you're saying... When she died, she was freed from worry, but when she killed Angel it was something she had to think about every day of her life. Still... we all go through things that weigh heavily on us every single day of our lives, and we have no choice but to "Embrace the pain, spank your inner moppet, whatever, but get over it.", as Cordelia said. But doing something knowing you're going to die and cease to exist anymore at all... That is heroic.

 

[GrrArghx]

It's really hard to say. When she killed Angel, she was really upset, she was crying... obviously she was wishing she didn't have to. When she sacrificed herself to save the world, she was clearminded... at peace. She knew it was her time. & she was in heaven afterwards, while after killing Angel she could barely live with herself.

All things considered, I really can't choose. She had to do both in order to save the world, regardless.

 

[SeeingBlue]

I definitely think killing Angel was the bigger sacrifice. In The Gift, it seemed like she almost wanted to die anyways.

 

[ubi4soft]

There's nothing bigger than selfsacrifice. Buffy did that twice, after that came sending Angel to Hell. In that moment, before closing Achatla, if Angelus turned into Joyce, Dawn, Giles, or a four year old innocent girl, Buffy would have sent that person to Hell. For dramatic purposes it was Angel and she was extremely sad afterward.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

I think it was harder to kill Angel. At that time in her life everything was almost perfect. She had boyfriend, until he turned in the beast, she had friends, she had life. She had strong will to live. Then she had to kill him. She thought she was ready, but she wasn't. As I always say, she was ready to kill Angelus, not Angel. She had to live with that every day of her life. With that picture in front of her eyes. Because I think she loved him more then life. She tried to run away, but she couldn't. When she sacraficed her self for Dawn, for world, she felt like she losted everything. Her mother was dead, both Angel and Riley were gone, and she sacraficed herself for one thing that kept her alive - Dawn. She left to Heaven. She was happy. Like she said. She knew everyone were fine, she wasn't living with picture in her head that she is killing love of her life.

 

[Flannen]

This actually quite a tough decision but I think I also have to go with Angel actually. I'd say that's a kind of 'self sacrifice' in itself.

And I agree with Seeing Blue, I think she kind of wanted to end it. I think she thought that would be it, she could rest now except her friends wouldn't let her. She was certainly more calm and passive when it came to jumping than she was when it came to driving a sword through Angel's chest.

Although her sacrifice was huge, I don't think it was as emotionally damaging as killing Angel. Well it was, but not until she'd been bought back and had all that to deal with.

 

[white avenger]

Both of the sacrifices mentioned were ultimately equal, if different. With her sacrifice in Season 2, Buffy immediately felt the pain and loss. Stabbing Angel and sending him through a portal into hell (shoving a sword into a vampire's chest won't kill him. That is probably the biggest single flub of the entire series) was something that had to be done in order to save the world, but there was also the feeling that, even if for the greater good, Buffy had betrayed Angel's love and trust. Almost certainly, if he had known what was happening, he would have jumped voluntarily. It was his mess, it was for him to do the cleaning up. (I think that that would have made a better scene, actually. Angel kisses Buffy one final time, tells her that he will always love her, then dives through the portal. Buffy would have been just as heart broken, and would still have had to run away from the hellmouth in order to sort out her feelings. In fact, it couls be seen as the direct inspiration for doing exactly the same thing in Season 5)

In Season 6, we see Buffy suffering from basically the same things, only their sources were different. She didn't betray someone she loved, THEY betrayed HER, out of ignorance and with good intentions, certainly, but betrayal, nonetheless. Also, the sense of loss was equal but different. Instead of losing a lover, Buffy lost eternal rest and contentment. The similarity goes even further. Buffy tried unsuccessfully to conceal Angel's return in Season 3, just as she tried, just as unsuccessfully in Season 6 to conceal where she had been.

The two sacrifices are more similar on close examination than they might appear to the casual observer. They might even be said to be simply two variations of the same story.

Both, ultimately, equal in their pain and sense of loss for the Slayer.

 

[BuffyElevated]

Almost certainly, if he had known what was happening, he would have jumped voluntarily. It was his mess, it was for him to do the cleaning up. (I think that that would have made a better scene, actually. Angel kisses Buffy one final time, tells her that he will always love her, then dives through the portal. Buffy would have been just as heart broken, and would still have had to run away from the hellmouth in order to sort out her feelings. In fact, it couls be seen as the direct inspiration for doing exactly the same thing in Season 5)

Oh wow, I've never thought about it that way before, and I agree; I think it would have been a great alternative to the scene!! Aww....

 

[Kean]

To be honest I feel like this is comparing chalk and cheese. If I had to choose between the two I think I would choose Angel. Guilt, grief. confusion, doubt and regret are probably the hardest emotions in the world to life with. How she dealt with them on her own for so long during that summer after Becoming is testament to her strenght of character and as we saw in Selfless is still something that stays with her years later, even after Angel returned.

Buffy dying in season 5 was a Gift, just as the first Slayer said it would be. It was her time, she was at rest. She was happy. She wasn't going to her death simply out of duty but because she knew it was time for her to lay her weapons down. It was self sacrifice but I don't feel like it was unwanted.

I agree with WA though, I think perhaps trying exist after her friends tore her out of Heaven was harder for Buffy. For her, she really had been torn out of Heaven and shoved into Hell.

 

[Eleftheria]

White Avenger you wrote some very nice words! And if the last scene in Becoming was as you described tha would be totally amazing.

These two sacrifices were very important but I will go with Angel too.

In season 2 things are much more depressing and difficult for Buffy.She is 17, she is kicked out of her house, she realises she has to kill the love of her life who lost his soul and in the end she kills ensouled Angel. Buffy must be a really special person because I don't know who could find the strength to kill a soulmate especially when he is being such disorientated and confused as Angel was when he got the soul back. Just compare the look on her face.

In "The gift" (although I need to watch season 5 first... I have seen the last moments in youtube) her face is content,satisfied.She sacrifices herself for the person she loves so much, her sister, she saves the world. She fulfills her destiny as the slayer. She knows it's right. I still cry when I see her running and falling but I know it was the right thing to do and that she knows that too.

So I believe the hardest thing was Angel cause she regretted that every day of her life. I don't think she could forgive herself easily for that although Angel forgave her.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

So I'm wondering: which do you think was the bigger sacrifice.

This depends on how you are define 'sacrifice'. In general, when referring to a hero, we define sacrifice as having an element of self, as in, the sacrifice results in a personal loss.

Buffy's jump in 'The Gift' was more of a surrender IMO, where her sending Angel to Hell was more about simply doing her duty b/c there was no other choice. By which was the bigger sacrifice, you mean to herself or to others? If the the later, I would say that her leap in 'The Gift' qualifies. With that choice, she left behind not only friends and what family she had left, but her duty as the Slayer and all she had sworn to protect. But I agree with others in this thread in that she didn't have to live with that decision. She only had to deal with the concequences when she was brought back.

If you define sacrifice by the effects it has on her, when I would vote for her decision to send Angel to hell (note: WA is right about "killing" him. She did not kill him, she sent him to hell. That flub always irritates me.) . Doing that was one of the hardest things for her, at that point, that she had ever had to do. It was so hard for her, in fact, that she couldn't handle it - hence her decision to leave Sunnydale and the events of 'Anne.'

So, both sacrifices had a similar affect; causing her to leave her duty as Slayer, if only temporarily.

Despite how interesting this discussion is, I don't know how 'right' it is so compare the difficult decisions Buffy has made in her life and try to decide which one is 'worse' or 'bigger.' They all had an impact on her, every one. In different ways and for different reasons.

---------- Post added at 07:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:53 AM ----------

I agree with WA though, I think perhaps trying exist after her friends tore her out of Heaven was harder for Buffy. For her, she really had been torn out of Heaven and shoved into Hell.

Exactly. At least after she was brought back she had her friends for support. After she sent Angel to Hell, she left. She didn't even give them the chance to be there for her.

 

[faeriegrrl27]

Personally, I don't count season six as part of Buffy's The Gift sacrifice. I view sacrifice at knowing what's coming. She didn't know she's be yanked out of Heaven and hate living on Earth when she jumped. But when she killed Angel, she *did* know that she'd have to live with that the rest of her life.

 

[Emzzie]

That is a very thought-provoking question! It was really hard for me to make a choice but I'm going to go with killing Angel.
Buffy was ready to go. I may even go as far to say that she wanted to go. Buffy wanted to be free and while it was a sacrifice, at the same time it was what she thought was her destiny and what she had already accepted and prepared as much as you can for that sort of thing. In my opinion, She was better off and safer in heaven anyways.
I would sacrifice myself for someone I love. That in itself shows you which sacrifice I think is bigger. I would rather die for them then have someone I love die. So I think actually having to kill that someone would ruin my world. I think Buffy would have given her life for Angel and feeling helpless to help him, and on top of that having to kill him? That was a selfless sacrifice and more ultimate IMO.