Was Spike's gift love?

[Tsquared]

Death was Buffy's gift. Was Spike's gift love?

I've been thinking about this lately. Not too long ago I posted a thread speculating on Vampire Willow and her possible abilities, and I was wondering about Spike, as a vampire. It's not impossible in the Buffyverse that some characters have abilities or gifts. Drusilla kept her gift of visions/clairvoyance even after she was sired, and it has been noted that vampires do keep certain traits from when they were human. However, this still doesn't clear things up on Spike. I have a hard time accepting that it was solely a trait kept from William. We've seen that once humans become vampires even their most precious and loved ones mean essentially nothing to them anymore. Yet, this was never the case with Spike.

I'm still in season three of Angel, today I watched "Lullaby" and remember something Darla said (keeping it in spoiler tags because I'd already been spoiled).

Spoiler

When she was speaking with Angel about Connor, him being inside her, his soul gave her the ability to love. Darla loved her son. She made it clear that once she was no longer carrying him she would be scared that she couldn't love him anymore, and would forget how it felt.

Yet, Spike did not have a soul. Spike sired his own mother because he loved her, and killed her afterwards because she wasn't the kind loving woman anymore. He played a part in saving the world because he loved Drusilla. He chose good over evil because he loved Buffy. He sought out and fought to regain his soul, why? He loved Buffy. In the end, he became a champion, and it all traces back because he loved so hard.

So, what is your take? Do you guys think Spike's gift was love?

 

[Vengeance]

I think it was just a trait he kept from William. I know it's not the case for other vampires like Angel, but I think it just takes your strongest traits to pass on.

Also, if Buffy's gift was death, I'd hate to see how that translates to vamp Buffy. lol

 

[Marisa]

I agree completely and think that Spike's gift could have easily been love. You see so many times that the lines of vampire are blurred with him even without a soul. He loved Buffy without a soul, he loved Drusilla like you said he even still loved his mother. So when thinking that way Spike's gift could have been love.

 

[Taake]

I think it was just a trait he kept from William. I know it's not the case for other vampires like Angel, but I think it just takes your strongest traits to pass on.

Also, if Buffy's gift was death, I'd hate to see how that translates to vamp Buffy. lol

I agree with Vengeance.
I think because he was a very 'feeling' human so to speak he became a more 'human' vampire. Which mad him very special indeed but I don't necessarily think it was his gift (although I do suppose one could view it as that) 🙂

 

[Ms.Trick]

I've always have been impressed by his ability to love someone that much while being soulles...so I guess it totally makes sense to say love is his gift ...or maybe just his humanity?
Like when he said to Buffy that Willow was far from being ok after Oz left and they were completly blind, or when he said to Buffy "So what? You are telling me that a powerful witch was going to avenge her lover until you what, explain? Would you back up if it was Dawn? I wouldn't. If it was you, I wouldn't." (not the exact quotes). When he said those things, he was beyond love to me, it was showing a real empathy that some humans don't even have!

So I think is gift would be like love+empathy=...humanity?

 

[StarSlayer]

Interesting topic discussion 🙂

I can see Spike's gift being love. When he was sired, he gave love to his mother by siring her because he believed it would make her well again. In s2, he gave love to Dru by keeping her healthy and seeking to get her strength back. And he gave love to Buffy, in more ways than one. But, I think the most significant was in "Touched," when he gave her the strength to keep fighting after expressing his love.

I also think that it wasn't just the gift of love to others, but the gift of love to himself. After he got his soul, he said he truly hated himself for all the evil things he did. But, by the end in the Hellmouth, he finally felt the good that was there inside him. "My soul. It's really there." IOW, death was Buffy's gift, meaning she had to die in order for others to live. So, with Spike, if love was his gift, he had to love himself in order for others to live. And that happened in the Hellmouth when he became a true champion and saved the world.

 

[white avenger]

I think that above everything else, Spike's gift would be loyalty. Once he chose someone as a friend (whether they returned his feelings or not) his loyalty and support was unwavering, such as with Drusilla, despite the fact that she was never in any way loyal to him unless it suited her purposes, Dawn, Buffy, even before she recognized it, or even Angel, toward the end of Season 5, when he was the first one to agree with Angel's plan about the Circle Of The Black Thorn and the Senior partners.

 

[zobothehobo]

I think it was a trait he got from William and it was also his gift. His gift was that he kept William's heart.

---------- Post added at 01:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:25 PM ----------

I think that above everything else, Spike's gift would be loyalty. Once he chose someone as a friend (whether they returned his feelings or not) his loyalty and support was unwavering, such as with Drusilla, despite the fact that she was never in any way loyal to him unless it suited her purposes, Dawn, Buffy, even before she recognized it, or even Angel, toward the end of Season 5, when he was the first one to agree with Angel's plan about the Circle Of The Black Thorn and the Senior partners.

Interesting. I concur!