The Slayer Activation Spell

[white avenger]

My problem with the empowerment spell is that a) it was unnessessary. There were many ways to defeat the hellmouth. b) talk about playing with fire- Dana in Angel S5, Genevieve in the comics, etc. The results were disasterous. More thought should have been put into it. Seeing as Willow pretty much invented the spell, she could have narrowed her range to just the potentials, and with that, I wouldn't have had a problem.

The Empowerment Spell, as it was created, is probably the single greatest potential disaster in the entire Buffyverse. Empowering all of the Potentials there in Sunnydale at the scene of the battle, I could understand and approve of, since they were more or less trained and had knowledge of what was about to happen. Activating every single Potential on the planet, having that many girls suddenly, and without either explanation, is like giving every child in a kindergarten class a loaded shotgun, then leaving them alone to play.

The only possible explanation for such recklessness, not only on Buffy's part, but with Giles' approval ("I think it's bloody brilliant.") that I can imagine is that they were so pressed for time that there was no possibility of Willow having time to refine the spell so that she could make it more selective, allowing her to activate only the Potentials in Sunnydale. Given Giles' statement earlier about there being "only a handful" of potential Slayers left, it's quite possible that he wasn't aware of how many undiscovered, untrained, unsupervised girls there actually were, that what he and the Watchers in general, had assumed to be only a few dozen were, in fact, hundreds.

 

[thetopher]

Right, the Empowerment Spell. I think it was a calculated risk, do this and save the world, defeat the First (Ultimate Evil), whatever. The down-side is that you give a couple of thousand girls superpowers (it's not really clear how similar these powers are to Buffy and Faith, since the come from the sycthe and not some demonic essence-I'm presuming they don't have the 'darkness' that Buffy and Faith have but I could be wrong).
We've seen precisely 3 bad apples out of thousands (Dana- poor damaged girl, and two others, I can't remember their names, I know one of them turned down slayer membership and the other was a gun-toting psycho).
So, to say this is a horrible, terrible thing is 1) a massive exaggeration. and 2) more importantly, it's being disingenuous to the show's intent. The message in 'Chosen' is a positive one, women sticking up for themselves, gaining confidence and drive. It's beautiful.
Yes, we see a downside in Angel, a shade of grey that's always been that shows strength, but to call the spell a 'violation' (which somebody- I'm sorry I can't remember who said it was) is missing the point.
Do we see lots of slayers castigating Buffy for 'violating' them? No, she's seen as this awesome, cool, chick who leads them. I get the impression of lots of girls glad of their powers, and reveling in them.
Of course then Twilight happens...and the badness starts, and apparently the empowerment spell was somewhat responsible for that. (Stupid Twilight plot...😡)

 

[Black Eye Guy]

The empowerment spell also gets way to much flack. I dont think Willow created the spell, I assume that would be a lot harder, all Willow did was bend the rules, she used the Scythe to tap into the power of the slayer and activate every girl that already had that power within them. I don't think she could have narrowed it down to which one get the power.

That also defeats the purpose of the spell. The Slayer is a single girl that is obligated to give her life over to fighting evil, spread that to Buffys 20 or so potentials and they are still obliged to fight, by giving all 1800 girls the power, all of those girls can choose to use that power or not use it, Yes it's unfortunate they get the abilities, but the alternative is had they asked all the potentials and only done the spell if there was a 100% yes answer, if 1 girls says no, she could wind up being the next slayer and then she has to fight and die alone and doesn't get a choice. The girl that says no can actually say no, she can turn her back on slayerhood and not deal with it.

The fact that the scoobies found every single slayer, and they have a process in place every time a new girl is activated makes any recklessness moot. Dana and Simone are exceptions, not the rule and shit happens, it's unfortunate but it was never going to be 100% perfect.

 

[Robb Stark]

Right, the Empowerment Spell. I think it was a calculated risk, do this and save the world, defeat the First (Ultimate Evil), whatever. The down-side is that you give a couple of thousand girls superpowers (it's not really clear how similar these powers are to Buffy and Faith, since the come from the sycthe and not some demonic essence-I'm presuming they don't have the 'darkness' that Buffy and Faith have but I could be wrong).
We've seen precisely 3 bad apples out of thousands (Dana- poor damaged girl, and two others, I can't remember their names, I know one of them turned down slayer membership and the other was a gun-toting psycho).
So, to say this is a horrible, terrible thing is 1) a massive exaggeration. and 2) more importantly, it's being disingenuous to the show's intent. The message in 'Chosen' is a positive one, women sticking up for themselves, gaining confidence and drive. It's beautiful.
Yes, we see a downside in Angel, a shade of grey that's always been that shows strength, but to call the spell a 'violation' (which somebody- I'm sorry I can't remember who said it was) is missing the point.
Do we see lots of slayers castigating Buffy for 'violating' them? No, she's seen as this awesome, cool, chick who leads them. I get the impression of lots of girls glad of their powers, and reveling in them.
Of course then Twilight happens...and the badness starts, and apparently the empowerment spell was somewhat responsible for that. (Stupid Twilight plot...😡)

The empowerment spell is a complete joke. The intent was positive, yes, and if I turn my brain off "Chosen" is a heartwarming episode. That doesn't mitigate the fact that however many girls had their genetic codes rewritten to grant them superpowers, superpowers which paint a massive target on their back for every demon nut case out there, regardless of if they want to fight evil or not, and the test case for invasive Slayer dreams.

On top of that, and this is the part that always gets glossed over or illogically reasoned against, is that the empowerment spell makes no tactical or strategic sense whatsoever. Of the thousands upon thousands of Turok-Han storming north when Buffy invades the Hell Mouth, they kill how many? 20? 30? 50? Spike, through Angel's amulet, kills how many? All the rest. All the thousands and thousands of them. So really, how effective or required was the empowerment spell? And I won't even get started on the actual threat level of the Turok-Han, which I'm not convinced was anything any semi-competent military couldn't have handled.

Sure, the intent is very different than everything I just wrote, I get that. But intent only goes so far. I can only suspend my disbelief so much.

 

[EVIL UU]

Personally, I would not use the word empowerment to describe Willow's spell. Empowerment is not about physical strength, reflexes, dreams and instincts that compel you to hunt vampires. On the top of that, Sunnydale potentials ( Kennedy, Rona, Vi etc. ) are not exactly empowered - they follow Buffy like the slayers of the past followed their watchers. Yes, the slayers are now free to leave and free to not hunt but the methods of training ( slayers are still being separated from their families for example ) and the structure of power withing the system remains unchanged.

As to the spell itself - it's horrible, mostly because the potentials' bodies and minds are altered without their consent. It's a violation done mostly to children. Of course, there's an argument to be made here that while it's horrible for the potentials, it's actually good for the world and the humanity - after a period of chaos and turmoil there's still thousands of slayers to hunt demons and protect humans. So it's all good, right?

No, it's still horrible. Humanity is not a little tribe in the desert anymore, there's 7 billion of us and we have technology that can be as destructive as any magic. We don't need to sacrifice teenage girls and tie them to a demonic heritage to protect ourselves. Please, we eradicated smallpox. Vampires? Demons? Bring it on, we'll deal.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

The empowerment spell is a complete joke. The intent was positive, yes, and if I turn my brain off "Chosen" is a heartwarming episode. That doesn't mitigate the fact that however many girls had their genetic codes rewritten to grant them superpowers,

Their genetic code wasn't rewritten, it was already written, it was activated. They were already potentials with the nightmares and the improved stregth and speed over a normal human.

superpowers which paint a massive target on their back for every demon nut case out there, regardless of if they want to fight evil or not, and the test case for invasive Slayer dreams.

That was already the case, that is the exact storyline of season 7, being potentials made them targets, they are already different. Being a slayer and being a potential is no different, some vampires sought out the slayer becasue she was the only one and builds a reputation, if slayer chooses not to fight she isn't going to have that.

On top of that, and this is the part that always gets glossed over or illogically reasoned against, is that the empowerment spell makes no tactical or strategic sense whatsoever. Of the thousands upon thousands of Turok-Han storming north when Buffy invades the Hell Mouth, they kill how many? 20? 30? 50? Spike, through Angel's amulet, kills how many? All the rest. All the thousands and thousands of them. So really, how effective or required was the empowerment spell? And I won't even get started on the actual threat level of the Turok-Han, which I'm not convinced was anything any semi-competent military couldn't have handled.

Sure, the intent is very different than everything I just wrote, I get that. But intent only goes so far. I can only suspend my disbelief so much.

I agree with this, but on the flip side, they didn't know what the amulet would do. they only thing they could be certain of is that there would be a group of slayers in that cave, the amulet wasn't the plan.

 

[EVIL UU]

[MENTION=11975]Robb Stark[/MENTION]

superpowers which paint a massive target on their back for every demon nut case out there, regardless of if they want to fight evil or not

This is very true - demons don't care. Also, humans might not be...I don't want to say intolerant towards slayers because I'm not thinking about extreme stuff like killing them or restricting their rights or anything like that, but about smaller things like friendship or dating. I mean Riley fights demons, he is totally in the know and he still asks Buffy What are you? And it's a fair question. Now imagine a "normal" person's reaction. Will they be afraid? Will they be disgusted? Will they still want to hang out or date? There's also the problem of finding a balance between slaying and personal life. Buffy is one of the longest living slayers and she still hasn't solved it.

It's just so much shit to deal with.

---------- Post added at 01:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:16 PM ----------
[MENTION=5973]Black Eye Guy[/MENTION]

being potentials made them targets, they are already different

I think that having watchers made them a target.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

I think that having watchers made them a target.

That was a part of it, but didn't Rona mention not having a Watcher, if Willow can find them, I'm sure the First could find them.

 

[thetopher]

Personally, I would not use the word empowerment to describe Willow's spell. Empowerment is not about physical strength, reflexes, dreams and instincts that compel you to hunt vampires. On the top of that, Sunnydale potentials ( Kennedy, Rona, Vi etc. ) are not exactly empowered - they follow Buffy like the slayers of the past followed their watchers. Yes, the slayers are now free to leave and free to not hunt but the methods of training ( slayers are still being separated from their families for example ) and the structure of power withing the system remains unchanged.

As to the spell itself - it's horrible, mostly because the potentials' bodies and minds are altered without their consent. It's a violation done mostly to children. Of course, there's an argument to be made here that while it's horrible for the potentials, it's actually good for the world and the humanity - after a period of chaos and turmoil there's still thousands of slayers to hunt demons and protect humans. So it's all good, right?

No, it's still horrible. Humanity is not a little tribe in the desert anymore, there's 7 billion of us and we have technology that can be as destructive as any magic. We don't need to sacrifice teenage girls and tie them to a demonic heritage to protect ourselves. Please, we eradicated smallpox. Vampires? Demons? Bring it on, we'll deal.

It's not horrible, hardly any of the girls think its horrible. You don't have anything to back this up apart from personal opinion. 'Violation' is a loaded word and not really warrented in this case. Where do we see these 'victims'? These 'mostly children'? (the montage showed one? two at most.)
But the world doesn't believe in vampires or demons anymore, that's the problem.They don't know how to kill them, sure most of them you break their necks, hack them up, blow them apart. But some can only be killed with silver, or drowned or whatever. That knowledge is occult in nature.
The Intiative was a fairly organised, well-funded opperation (implied that it had formed over many years since the forties) and what happened to them? They were pretty much outsmarted and almost wiped out to a man. Governments and modern thinking would believe the demons to be animals, nothing more, they would underestimate them and then, well, vamps bite people, who become vamps who bite people...etc. That's why the slayer was needed in the first place. That's why the spell was needed.
Oh, and it was the scythe's power, not demonic power, that gave these 'victims' superpowers.
If you don't like the ending, fine, I get that. If you think its cheesy or over the top, or disappointing, but turning this in to some ethics debate, making out that they all did a 'horrible thing' is silly.

---------- Post added at 08:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:32 PM ----------

The empowerment spell is a complete joke. The intent was positive, yes, and if I turn my brain off "Chosen" is a heartwarming episode. That doesn't mitigate the fact that however many girls had their genetic codes rewritten to grant them superpowers, superpowers which paint a massive target on their back for every demon nut case out there, regardless of if they want to fight evil or not, and the test case for invasive Slayer dreams.

On top of that, and this is the part that always gets glossed over or illogically reasoned against, is that the empowerment spell makes no tactical or strategic sense whatsoever. Of the thousands upon thousands of Turok-Han storming north when Buffy invades the Hell Mouth, they kill how many? 20? 30? 50? Spike, through Angel's amulet, kills how many? All the rest. All the thousands and thousands of them. So really, how effective or required was the empowerment spell? And I won't even get started on the actual threat level of the Turok-Han, which I'm not convinced was anything any semi-competent military couldn't have handled.

Sure, the intent is very different than everything I just wrote, I get that. But intent only goes so far. I can only suspend my disbelief so much.

The amulets powers were entirely vague, plus provided by Wolfram and Hart, who are y'know, evil and can't really be trusted.
Look at actually what happens to the slayers? They don't seem particularly unhappy, not many of them turn down Buffy's offer to join her (at least that we see). I still don't see 'violation'.

Oh, and again, the Intiative was semi-competent military (that actually believed in demons) and they failed, big time.

 

[EVIL UU]

[MENTION=12614]thetopher[/MENTION]

These 'mostly children'?

Not a single potential is an adult. Not a single slayer ever was an adult in the moment of activation. Slayers are teenagers or younger - still children as far as I'm concerned.

'Violation' is a loaded word and not really warranted in this case.

That's the word Buffy uses in "Get It Done" to describe the process - You violated that girl, made her kill for you because you're weak, you're pathetic, and you obviously have nothing to show me. I think that it's the right word.

But the world doesn't believe in vampires or demons anymore, that's the problem.

So you make them believe. You take a camera, you record a patrol and then you put it on youtube or whatever. You keep on doing it until journalists show up. Then you take them on a patrol.

They don't know how to kill them, sure most of them you break their necks, hack them up, blow them apart. But some can only be killed with silver, or drowned or whatever. That knowledge is occult in nature.

So you make the knowledge available to everyone. You write down everything you know about vampires, demons etc, add the scans of Giles' books and then put it on the internet next to your videos.

Oh, and it was the scythe's power, not demonic power, that gave these 'victims' superpowers.

The source of scythe's power is a spirit of a demon. It was confirmed in season 8, here's the relevant quote:

Take my sword. It's one of the ancient relics. Bound with demon spirit - like your scythe.

The Initiative was a fairly organised, well-funded operation and what happened to them? They were pretty much outsmarted and almost wiped out to a man.

Only because their leader was a nutcase who in an attempt to bring her favorite soldier back to life fused human, demonic and robotic/cybernetic elements creating the smartest and toughest enemy Buffy's ever faced. More importantly, Adam was not just a demon, OK? Demons are notoriously dumb, there's only one in the entire series that uses a self-made device to fight Buffy ( Toth in "The Replacement" )

not many of them turn down Buffy's offer to join her (at least that we see)

Only about 500 out of 1800 identified slayers joined Buffy's army, that's less than a third.
[MENTION=5973]Black Eye Guy[/MENTION]

That was a part of it, but didn't Rona mention not having a Watcher

True, she did.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

Only about 500 out of 1800 identified slayers joined Buffy's army, that's less than a third.

Thats an important number. There is a good chance the next slayer could have been in the 1300 girls and she wouldn't have the choice, which is the entire point of the spell. Yes 1300 girls get the power, but I'd take getting the power and choosing not to use it, over choosing not to get it, but being 'cursed' with it, being the only one and loosing my choice to use it or not.

 

[EVIL UU]

[MENTION=5973]Black Eye Guy[/MENTION]
I'd take one ruined life over potentially ruined 1300 lives.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

[MENTION=5973]Black Eye Guy[/MENTION]
I'd take one ruined life over potentially ruined 1300 lives.

You would if your one of the 1300, not if your the one.

If you asked 1800 people if they'd take the power over one of the group getting cursed with it, I think most people would say yes

 

[The Bronze]

I've got a few thoughts regarding the slayer activation spell.

1. It was Willow's slayer activation spell. Anyone who disagrees with the use of it should be assigning all blame to Willow and not to Buffy. Willow is an adult capable of making her own decisions. She is also one of the most intelligent and powerful people we see in the verse. Willow was the only one capable of performing the spell and she alone chose to do that.

2. Willow's slayer activation spell was not the same as the Shadowmen's slayer creation spell. The Shadowmen when faced with a threat they believed they could not cope with selected a normal woman and violated her with the essence of a demon to create the first slayer. They were all too cowardly to volunteer for this process. By luck or design this spell carried on through generations. Thousands of girls (maybe more) have been magically altered to become potential slayers. It's unclear if this process happens at birth or later but there is no indication that the girls are violated or distressed by the process. When a potential is called to become the next slayer they are not violated in the same way as the first slayer was. This is quite clear from Buffy's reaction when seeing what happened to the first slayer.

3. Willow's activation spell did not change normal girls into slayers by way of violating them. It merely activated potential slayers who were already different to human girls. If I remember correctly some potentials have slayer dreams before being called and there is also the suggestion of certain enhanced abilities/instincts before activation.

4. The potentials were already a target of The First. The plan was to eliminate the slayer line and then go for the rest of the world. Activating them did not increase their risk level, it just armed them.

5. The spell was neccessary as the events unfolded in the show. Without it Spike would have been dust long before the amulet kicked in.

[MENTION=11194]EVIL UU[/MENTION]

No, it's still horrible. Humanity is not a little tribe in the desert anymore, there's 7 billion of us and we have technology that can be as destructive as any magic. We don't need to sacrifice teenage girls and tie them to a demonic heritage to protect ourselves. Please, we eradicated smallpox. Vampires? Demons? Bring it on, we'll deal.

I don't share your confidence here. In the real world we have got people killing each other for religion, money, land and power. Not too mention the challenges we face with the environment and over crowding. If demons suddenly popped up in the real world I'm not sure I'd trust humanity to deal with it well. We'd have some people claiming it's God's punishment for whatever and others claiming they were created by the opposition. That's just for the real world. In the Buffyverse it's a fair bet that the world governments are considerably less reliable. We've seen a demon as mayor of Sunnydale. Wolfram & Hart have a global presence. The Circle of The Black Thorn had people in the US Government. I'd suspect if The First got it's plan in motion there would be no cohesive response from humanity without the newly called slayers. It would probably receive help from some people and demons in authority.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

[MENTION=12470]The Bronze[/MENTION]

Complete agreement here.

There was also the montage of girls receiving slayer powers. The nervous girl with the baseball bat who suddenly gains confidence, the girl who leans on her locker, the girl who has fallen out of her chair, the Asian girl who stands up at a family dinner, the (probably South American) girl who is about to get slapped and stops the man's hand all seem to benefit from the sudden infusion of slayer power.

None of them seem appalled or regretful or seem to have any negative reaction to the power (although the people around them might). None of the potentials in Buffy's house declined the slayer power. The girls in the montage all act like they have just found a sense of purpose. They may need training, but the basics are there.

But more importantly for the story, after years of suffering the loneliness of the overspecialized, Buffy finally gets camaraderie with others of her kind and a chance to relax and share the burden, as is shown when the final question she is asked is:

WILLOW:
Yeah. (smiles) The First is scrunched, so... what do you think we should do, Buffy?

FAITH:
Yeah, you're not the one and only chosen anymore. Just gotta live like a person. How's that feel?

DAWN:
Yeah, Buffy. What are we gonna do now?

Her smile is the answer.

 

[EVIL UU]

[MENTION=5973]Black Eye Guy[/MENTION]

If you asked 1800 people if they'd take the power over one of the group getting cursed with it, I think most people would say yes

Knowing the whole truth about the source of the power and the history of the slayer line? I honestly doubt that.

You know what else irks me about this whole 500 out 1800 thing? Among those 1300 slayers there are those who choose not to slay, a perfectly valid choice in my opinion, and those who do but for whatever reason ( maybe they don't want to relocate, separate from their families, friends, boyfriend/girlfriend etc, don't like taking orders - whatever ) refuse to join Buffy's organization. And they are on their own - no watcher, no training, no support. It's join my quasi-army and follow my orders or sod off, I don't care. This is one of the methods watchers council's employs to keep their power over the slayer and Buffy completely replicates it, just on a bigger scale.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

[MENTION=5973]Black Eye Guy[/MENTION]


Knowing the whole truth about the source of the power and the history of the slayer line? I honestly doubt that.

But the source of the power doesn't matter in that question. If you were asked to choose between being given the power and then being able to choose what to do with your life, or choosing not to get the power but you might be cursed with it and then have no choice.
Why would anyone say no to that? If you say no there is a possibility you'll get the power next anyway and there is no choice then, at least if you choose to take the power, you can choose to use it or not.
The rules weren't set by the scoobies, they were set of the original guys, presumably since Willow doesn't depower the ones who don't want it, or didn't only target the potentials that were in Sunnydale she didn't have complete control over that spell. And by complete control, I dont mean she was out of control, just that she was just bending rules already set in place, she couldn't just completely change the rules. All she did was basically break the part of the original spell that limited the slayer line to 1, which we already knew could be broken as there are two active slayers, so there was a prescient for it.

You know what else irks me about this whole 500 out 1800 thing? Among those 1300 slayers there are those who choose not to slay, a perfectly valid choice in my opinion, and those who do but for whatever reason ( maybe they don't want to relocate, separate from their families, friends, boyfriend/girlfriend etc, don't like taking orders - whatever ) refuse to join Buffy's organization. And they are on their own - no watcher, no training, no support. It's join my quasi-army and follow my orders or sod off, I don't care. This is one of the methods watchers council's employs to keep their power over the slayer and Buffy completely replicates it, just on a bigger scale.

You don't know that. You don't know what kid of support service they offer, it might just be giving them their phone number if the slayer ever wants to call.
Even if they don't, in order to help 1300 girls who possibly didn't want to move, they'd need 1300 people to do that, presumably if they didn't mind moving they could come to the scoobies, even if it is only for a time. Girls are free to leave, as Courtney tries to do. So if they were struggling they could come for a short while, if their not struggling then there's no problem.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

The girls did not get any strings attached to the slayer powers. This was not a military draft. They suddenly got more power and were informed of an organization that gave them the power and would show them what it was, what it could be used for, the kinds of enemies they were facing, guidance about training, limits of the power and an invitation to join the active slayers. No coercion was involved. If Buffy had said that they would have to relocate or join their group or be subservient to her commands, then they would certainly have grounds to object. But they could opt out and a majority of them did. I don't see anything even remotely resembling "violation" going on here. If someone offered me superpowers with these terms and conditions, I would consider myself lucky.

 

[Robb Stark]

I'm a little confused as to why some are using the empowerment spell as "now they have a choice". It's not really THAT different. Buffy had a choice to slay or not to slay. She's endowed with these Slayer powers, and at least initially it's just her, but she uses them to fight evil because she's a good person and feels the weight of the responsibility that comes with knowing you can make a difference.

But that's Buffy. If Faith had been the next one called ahead of Buffy, she could have easily just elected not to fight evil and do whatever she felt like, just as Buffy could have. It's a personal choice, dreams and all. The trouble is that instead of one (or two, give or take a fracturing in the line) girl being confronted with an awful choice like that (and let's not spin it here, being given that power is grossly unfair. They can't turn the power down, and while they can walk away from Slaying, they do so with the knowledge that people will die because of that decision. It's a horrible catch-22), thousands are.

Buffy (and Faith) always had a choice to continue slaying or not. It wasn't, as they say, a good choice, but it was a decision. Now thousands have to make the same call. It's difficult to say "let someone else handle it (meaning Buffy and her army)" when you have persistent prophetic dreams about terrible things poised to happen, and you know that not acting will, if not cause then allow, people to die.

 

[Xin Rong]

I'm a little confused as to why some are using the empowerment spell as "now they have a choice". It's not really THAT different. Buffy had a choice to slay or not to slay. She's endowed with these Slayer powers, and at least initially it's just her, but she uses them to fight evil because she's a good person and feels the weight of the responsibility that comes with knowing you can make a difference.

But that's Buffy. If Faith had been the next one called ahead of Buffy, she could have easily just elected not to fight evil and do whatever she felt like, just as Buffy could have. It's a personal choice, dreams and all. The trouble is that instead of one (or two, give or take a fracturing in the line) girl being confronted with an awful choice like that (and let's not spin it here, being given that power is grossly unfair. They can't turn the power down, and while they can walk away from Slaying, they do so with the knowledge that people will die because of that decision. It's a horrible catch-22), thousands are.

Buffy (and Faith) always had a choice to continue slaying or not. It wasn't, as they say, a good choice, but it was a decision. Now thousands have to make the same call. It's difficult to say "let someone else handle it (meaning Buffy and her army)" when you have persistent prophetic dreams about terrible things poised to happen, and you know that not acting will, if not cause then allow, people to die.

I completely agree, it seems it would be more appropriate to say that they now have the choice to ignore the slayer duties without feeling as guilty as previous slayers, who had the whole world on their singular set of shoulders, may have felt.