The Glory/Dawn Connection

[white avenger]

This isn't about hating Dawn or what she became in the next two years, it's strictly about her role in Season5 as the Key.

Would it not have made sense if, at the end of the season, with no more use for the Key, Dawn and all memory of her, had simply faded away with Ben/Glory's death? There was no further use for the Key, and, as far as that went, the Key no longer existed, leaving only its Vessel, which was, essentially, no more useful that an empty milk carton. She could have vanished as easily as she had appeared, taking all knowledge of her existence with her, leaving behind only the fact that a hell god named Glory had come to Sunnydale to open a gate between earth all of the hell dimensions, and that, in order to stop her, Buffy had had to sacrifice her life.

 

[Evil Angelus 95]

I don't know. It's an interesting question, and even though I love Dawn as a character, I wonder how that all would have worked. Would the fans watching have had some information to go on regarding this, or would it have been one of those things that would be pieced together over the next couple years?

I'm honestly happy with the way the Season turned out. But then again, I'm a Dawn fan, so I'm biased.

 

[Blaze]

I think this scenario actually makes more sense, and it would have been absolutely heart breaking to watch, knowing that this whole season basically didn't exist in the memories of the group. We would have to watch the rest of Buffy knowing that this huge part of the show just vanished to never be talked again, it could have been very interesting, but probably a bit hard on the audience.

I'm also a fan of Dawn, so I'm glad with what we got, but both scenarios are plausible I think. It makes sense that Dawn wouldn't die because they did create the human part of her, including everything she needs to live, so it's logical that she would keep on living. It's not like they just made the key, they actually did make a Buffy's sister. But again, is the energy still in her or not? Cause if it was then yes, she might have disappeared along with it, or maybe the energy left and Dawn was left behind.

Isn't this brought up in the comic also? I'm not sure I haven't read then.

 

[Lyri]

, but probably a bit hard on the audience.

It was bad enough watching AtS S5 after Connor was wiped from everyone's memory. Even with the odd hints about him, trying to come to terms with the fact that no one buy Angel and Eve (and Cordelia) knew who Connor was was painful, and that was with knowing that he would be back at some point. Something like this? With Dawn just fading into nothingness? No, I'm sorry, but it would have been too much for me to take. Unless she came back somehow, this sort of scenario would have made me SO angry.

In my mind, there was no sort of 'clause' in the monks spell. They made the Key into a human. That's it. They didn't 'house' it in a human, or mention any sort of time-limit on when and how the spell would run out, and I think it would be incredibly unfair to Buffy to never know why she gave up her life and why she has to go through everything in S6.

Plus, it was Dawn who gave Buffy a reason to go on living at the end of S6, without that, Buffy might not have had the strength to get out of that grave.

Isn't this brought up in the comic also? I'm not sure I haven't read then.

Yes, the comics do deal with Dawn's Keyness, but it is a MASSIVE part of S9, so I'm not going to go into detail to prevent those who haven't read it from being spoiled.

 

[EVIL UU]

Dawn and all memory of her should have faded the moment last of the monks that had cast the spell died, in "No Place Like Home". Why? Because, as revealed in "The Witch", you can reverse every spell by killing the caster.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

There is a "Change One Thing in Season 5" in which I suggested:

I would have written it like Johnathan in "Superstar" where everyone's memory of his star status slowly disappeared over a period of about a day, with Buffy being the last to acknowledge remembering. It could be very annoying, the way the Scoobies didn't realize that Ben was Glory or handled suddenly like "I Will Remember You" or done gradually with people struggling to remember her. It would be interesting to see who retained the final memory of her and I would not necessarily write it to be Buffy. Lots of possibilities here and maybe someone would never forget.

There are limitless possibilities here with the potential for a spell or new plot twist to bring Dawn back. So who should be the last to remember? Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya, Tara, Spike, Halfreq, Drusilla, Clem, Riley? Notice I didn't include Buffy. Whoever retained the memory would get an episode or arc from trying to convince the others that something was missing or you could get something like Tara being shot and Drusilla seeing an imbalance in the world from what she knew and seeing that Tara had the only memory of Dawn and now the only memory was Drusilla's.

 

[Yosso]

I think the idea of Dawn's memory vanishing is a great one. After S5, really she didn't serve much purpose in my opinion. She was key to the idea of Buffy being a grown up and having to look after her little sister as her guardian, but that's really it.

Though I'm still satisfied with the way it turned out, I'm not a Dawn hater. But Dawn disappearing kind of makes Buffy's sacrifice at the end of S5 kind of pointless then.

What would have been more emotionally painful for Buffy, would have been if she was the only one to remember Dawn as her sister but nobody else did. It would have intensified her pain and isolation S6 all the more.

 

[Xin Rong]

I think the idea of Dawn's memory vanishing is a great one. After S5, really she didn't serve much purpose in my opinion. She was key to the idea of Buffy being a grown up and having to look after her little sister as her guardian, but that's really it.

Though I'm still satisfied with the way it turned out, I'm not a Dawn hater. But Dawn disappearing kind of makes Buffy's sacrifice at the end of S5 kind of pointless then.

What would have been more emotionally painful for Buffy, would have been if she was the only one to remember Dawn as her sister but nobody else did. It would have intensified her pain and isolation S6 all the more.

I wouldn't have liked this, I think Buffy in season 6 had enough pain and isolation to deal with, having her deal with this would have been OTT, and a little boring... for me at least

 

[buffffy]

Anybody ever watch the Buffy's Back 2001 E! Special?
Michelle talks about how they'd be showing off the powers she had as the key, and nothing ever transpired.. Maybe Dawn would have served an actual purpose if they went with that.