Was there a force keeping The Master from rising?

[Joshua]

Throughout season 1 of Btvs, The Master kept on going on about how he needed the blood of The Slayer (Buffy) to free and arise to Sunnydale to reach to the Hellmouth. But when he "kills" Buffy in Prophecy Girl he just walks out the door.

Was there an invisible force stopping him from leaving the church?

 

[Skytteflickan88]

Not sure if it was a force. I can't recall exactly what was said, but apparently it was some sort of shield, because of the church collapse. I don't think it was a entity that did it, it was just a consequence of a failed ritual.

 

[white avenger]

There was some sort of barrier that affected the Master and no other vampire, keeping him confined in that underground chamber.
I always envisioned it as some kind of variation on the vampire invitation rule, where if they aren't ever invited into your home, they can't cross the threshold. Maybe some wizard, sorcerer, monk, or whatever devised a spell that kept him from crossing the threshold in the opposite direction, even though the chamber wasn't anybody's home.

 

[Skytteflickan88]

From The harvest:

GILES: This is what we know. Some sixty years ago, a very old, very powerful vampire came to this shore, not just to feed.

BUFFY: He came 'cause this town's a mystical who's it.

GILES: Yes. The Spanish who first settled here called it 'Boca del Infierno'. Roughly translated, 'Hellmouth'. It's a sort of, um, portal between this reality and the next. This vampire hopes to open it.

BUFFY: Bring the demons back.

XANDER: End of the world.

WILLOW: But he blew it! Or, I mean, there was an earthquake that swallowed half the town, and him, too.

GILES: You see, opening dimensional portals is a tricky business. Odds are he got himself stuck, rather like a, uh, cork in a bottle.

XANDER: And this Harvest thing is to get him out.

GILES: It comes once in a century, on this night. The Master can draw power from one of his minions while it feeds. Enough power to break free and open the portal. The minion is called the Vessel, and he bears this symbol.

So, failed ritual leading to The Master being stuck.

 

[VisionGirl]

Wow, a "cork in a bottle". And when do we hear that again, lol? And here I thought Joss pulled the season 8 stuff with The Master out of his, er, Hellmouth.