What If Buffy Had Told Riley About The Key?

[thetopher]

So, what if Buffy had told Riley the truth about Dawn straight away, like she did with Giles.

How would he have handled it? Better than the Scoobies?

Would he still have left? Or would he just have left later on?

Would it have strengthened their relationship, having Buffy confide in him like that?

 

[RoxySilver]

I don't really have an answer but I always wondered why Buffy didn't tell Riley. He proved himself trusworthy.
I'm pretty sure he would have been useful and would have handled it as well, if not better, as the Scoobies.
Instead, she leaves him in the dark while he sees she's lying to him, which, I might add, the Scoobies don't do before a few episodes.
I always thought not telling him was a part of what killed them. On the contrary, trusting him would have been proving that she, on some level, needed him, which is what Riley needed.
I never bought the "let's not tell them, that's too dangerous" that Buffy throws repeatdly at Giles. It's a false excuse and I really don't get her motivations for not telling anybody.
However, I was really glad she told Giles immediatly and didn't lie to her mother about it.

 

[thetopher]

I don't really have an answer but I always wondered why Buffy didn't tell Riley. He proved himself trusworthy.
I'm pretty sure he would have been useful and would have handled it as well, if not better, as the Scoobies.
Instead, she leaves him in the dark while he sees she's lying to him, which, I might add, the Scoobies don't do before a few episodes.
I always thought not telling him was a part of what killed them. On the contrary, trusting him would have been proving that she, on some level, needed him, which is what Riley needed.
I never bought the "let's not tell them, that's too dangerous" that Buffy throws repeatdly at Giles. It's a false excuse and I really don't get her motivations for not telling anybody.
However, I was really glad she told Giles immediatly and didn't lie to her mother about it.

If its the one consistant fault that Buffy has its that she keeps secrets from her friends. She leaves them after killing Angelus because she doesn't thing they'll be able to understand, she lies to them about Angel returning, about Dawn being the key, about Spike and about returning from heaven. It's probably her most consistant fault.
So, at least by not telling Riley she's being consistant to her character.

As to why she doesn't tell them...maybe she thinks that they won't understand because they're not in her shoes, they''re not the slayer so they won't get it. That's all I can really think of, its a way of cutting them off.
I'm not saying its not a sacrifice for Buffy, her not telling them- Buffy makes it much harder on herself by shouldering all the things I listed above on her own. But I'm pretty sure Buffy's got an unhealthy martyr streak in her that manifests a lot of the time.

If she had told Riley, I think that they would've been on a much stronger footing relationship-wise and he probably wouldn't have left. Although he might've insisted that she tell everybody from the start which is maybe why, in the end, she didn't.
But I think he would've handled it better than the others- after all he's been part of Buffy's life for what- about a year. It wouldn't be such a shock to him to realise that her sister was...new. (although Riley never really gets magic anyway so...)

Yeah, I'm glad she told Giles- I think at this time he's the one person she trusts more than anyone and he handles it very well. 🙂

And the not lying to her Mom, that whole hospital scene was very moving. 🙁

 

[white avenger]

If Riley had known about Dawn being the key, I think that he would have probably stayed to help protect her.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

We saw from the treatment Glory dished out to Spike that anyone who could be expected to know the answer could be tortured and might give out the information. And all of Buffy's close friends could be assumed to know who the key was. The continued torture almost happened when Glory ripped out the wall of the building and was not carried out only because Tara in her altered state gave Glory the information, so no further torture was needed. Otherwise they would have been picked off one by one until someone said something. It is necessary to have secrets sometimes and this is one of those times. Certainly Riley would know about confidentiality in his capacity as a part of a military organization. With the choice between:

"Boo hoo, she didn't tell me about this."

and

"The world could be sucked into a mingling of all dimensions and transformed into hell."

if Riley didn't get that the second idea is far more important, then he isn't much of a soldier or much of a man. Don't forget, Riley had been devoted to an organization that has some ideas about demons and the occult world that are very different from what Buffy knows (and Buffy's information is correct). Maybe Riley would think that the might of the US military could take out a God, and would fail in the process. Or maybe he would have the right idea but would not be able to convince the chain of command.

I think Buffy made the right choice in this particular instance. Given the choice to be reinstated in the military after he left with all its arbitrariness and fixation on who has the right to take action or leave the group that almost killed him, he chose to revert to what he had been.

 

[RoxySilver]

We saw from the treatment Glory dished out to Spike that anyone who could be expected to know the answer could be tortured and might give out the information. And all of Buffy's close friends could be assumed to know who the key was. The continued torture almost happened when Glory ripped out the wall of the building and was not carried out only because Tara in her altered state gave Glory the information, so no further torture was needed. Otherwise they would have been picked off one by one until someone said something. It is necessary to have secrets sometimes and this is one of those times. Certainly Riley would know about confidentiality in his capacity as a part of a military organization. With the choice between:

"Boo hoo, she didn't tell me about this."

and

"The world could be sucked into a mingling of all dimensions and transformed into hell."

if Riley didn't get that the second idea is far more important, then he isn't much of a soldier or much of a man. Don't forget, Riley had been devoted to an organization that has some ideas about demons and the occult world that are very different from what Buffy knows (and Buffy's information is correct). Maybe Riley would think that the might of the US military could take out a God, and would fail in the process. Or maybe he would have the right idea but would not be able to convince the chain of command.

I think Buffy made the right choice in this particular instance. Given the choice to be reinstated in the military after he left with all its arbitrariness and fixation on who has the right to take action or leave the group that almost killed him, he chose to revert to what he had been.

I see your point, and I agree to a certain extent (mainly on the fact that Riley going back to the Initiative is pretty, well, reckless and stupid).

But, Buffy says she's not telling the Scoobies to protect them, and not really to protect Dawn (of course, it's part of the plan).
Glory would have tortured anyone and everyone until she found someone who knew about the key. Now that you mention this, I wonder why she didn't start by that, it would have saved her a lot of time.
So if Buffy didn't tell them to protect Dawn, thinking that if one of her friend was kidnapped and tortured, he couldn't spill that Dawn's the key, I really do see why she didn't.

But not telling them to protect them? They are constantly in danger, and she even states to the Council how brave they are. For me, it's because she doesn't trust them enough.

I am not mad at Buffy or anythig (well maybe for lying to Riley, but she has trust issues and he really didn't handle it well), I just do not understand why after 4 years and a half of fighting and killing and pain, she just doesn't start by telling them, and then try and figure out how to protect Dawn.

I am no sure I make sense, I'm struggling to express some thoughts in english. Sorry.

 

[thetopher]

I sort of agree, Buffy is being irrational by not telling her friends. She's being a big matryr by hoarding this secret, but she's done it before and she goes on to do it again.

I guess its a character flaw, like Willow's insecurity or Xander's quipping at inappropriate times- its just one of those things built into her character.
'Why should I burden my friends- what right do I have to do that to them?' That kind of thing.
I'm sure she trusts them- she trusts them with damn near everything else, when she's in her right mind.

And Riley goes back to the Intiative in a moment of stupidity, he doesn't think he has a future with Buffy after she discovers what he did. The whole Dawn thing would've short circuited that, I'm sure of it.

 

[Xin Rong]

I sort of agree, Buffy is being irrational by not telling her friends. She's being a big matryr by hoarding this secret, but she's done it before and she goes on to do it again.

I guess its a character flaw, like Willow's insecurity or Xander's quipping at inappropriate times- its just one of those things built into her character.
'Why should I burden my friends- what right do I have to do that to them?' That kind of thing.
I'm sure she trusts them- she trusts them with damn near everything else, when she's in her right mind.

And Riley goes back to the Intiative in a moment of stupidity, he doesn't think he has a future with Buffy after she discovers what he did. The whole Dawn thing would've short circuited that, I'm sure of it.

I agree, I think Riley was worthy of keeping this secret, he would have died for Buffy, and therefore would never have revealed Dawn's status as the key, under any circumstance, at least IMO.

I think if Buffy had told Riley it would have been enough to convince him that she really did love him, properly love him, I guess the fact that she didn't suggests that she did not truly love him.

On a tangent, but related question, would Buffy had told Angel? I think she would, maybe with her heartbreak and the events of season 2, she felt unable to trust Riley. Plus, if we're honest, Buffy was very arrogant towards Riley, somewhat rightly, and she probably thought there was no reason to tell him, same goes with the other scoobies. The only person she told is someone who might have been able to illuminate certain aspects of the situation: Giles had knowledge that might have helped, whereas the others could only really offer moral support.

 

[Blaze]

Because it involves Buffy's little sister, in this instance I agree with Buffy's decision to keep it from the others until they knew more. In reality, she only really needed Giles and her mom to know until they came up with a better plan. Dawn was the most important thing to Buffy, I see why she did this. It wasn't a permanent things not to tell others, it was a temporary situation that she wanted to educate herself on until further actions. Sure, might turns out that telling others would have been better, but it could have also been worst.

As for Riley, if he can't deal with Buffy keeping something away from him for ulterior motives (aka, figure things out before jumping to conclusion and possibly preventing any of them from making a huge mistake), than he doesn't deserves her. As a military man, he should know best that sometimes duty need to be kept from personal lives. In my opinion he was asking too much of Buffy.

 

[The Chosen]

But not telling them to protect them? They are constantly in danger, and she even states to the Council how brave they are. For me, it's because she doesn't trust them enough.

I think this has something to do with keeping her friends out of danger. If, somehow, Glory found out for sure that the rest of the Scoobies knew who the Key was she would have gone after them and then, of course, the risk of violent forced admission is run. Buffy probably thought she was doing her friends a favor by keeping them in the dark. (But I also agree with [MENTION=12614]thetopher[/MENTION] about Buffy's tendency to not let people in -- that definitely had something to do with it.)

Re: Riley -- I think that if Buffy had fully clued Riley in he would have stayed. He would still have all the issues with Buffy that he ends up having, but his loyalty and desire to keep Buffy safe would have eclipsed his opportunity to get back in with the Initiative.

Though I'm sure he could have used his government connections to hook Buffy up with something to lay the smackdown on glory, ala Xander's wrecking ball.

 

[ExLibris]

Buffy didn't tell the others right away because she thought they'd act differently around Dawn (she says so when Giles asks her if they should tell the others), knowing that she wasn't actually real and all their memories involving her were fake. I do agree with this, it would be difficult for anyone to try and act normally knowing something like that, and, I think, especially Willow has a tendency to act weird when she's struggling to hide a secret. My guess is she didn't want Dawn to feel like there was something wrong with her, especially because of the way Buffy herself reacted when she did the spell and saw Dawn fading in and out the pictures. There was also the strange guy in the beginning of the season who tells Dawn she isn't real, and then later Joyce when she is sick. Having the rest of the gang knowing, with the possibility they might act strange or slip up, which would definitely make Dawn feel like she really wasn't normal and might have her do something reckless or dangerous. Buffy couldn't risk that with Glory hunting for her. The fewer that knew (at least until they could gather more information), the better. For Dawn's safety, and also the rest of the gang's safety.

I'm glad she told Giles, she knew she'd need his help and could trust that he'd be able to act normally around Dawn.

Well, back to the original question of this thread... 😛 I think it would have been good if she'd told Riley, it'd have shown him that she did trust him, at a time when he was beginning to doubt that. Also, I think he could have helped. He'd be discreet enough to act like nothing was wrong and be able to keep an extra eye on Dawn.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I think in the beginning, Buffy felt that the less people knew, the better. She wanted to protect Dawn and she didn't want people acting weird around her. I do think, though, that she should have told Riley. I think, though, that because his beliefs were more grounded toward the science of things instead of the supernatural element, he would have been significantly freaked out.
I have no idea if he would have stayed, although Buffy showing enough trust in him by telling him about Dawn might have showed him that Buffy cared about him more than he thought.

 

[white avenger]

Get right down to it, though, and I know that this really isn't part of the question, but, really, what could Riley have done to make any real difference? The three, each in their own way, most powerful fighters in Sunnydale, Buffy, Spike, and Willow, were pretty much powerless before Glory, and Riley was by that time simply a normal human with military training, no electronic or chemical enhancements, and almost certainly no access to any sort of special weaponry. I can't see how he would have mattered all that much.

 

[thetopher]

Get right down to it, though, and I know that this really isn't part of the question, but, really, what could Riley have done to make any real difference? The three, each in their own way, most powerful fighters in Sunnydale, Buffy, Spike, and Willow, were pretty much powerless before Glory, and Riley was by that time simply a normal human with military training, no electronic or chemical enhancements, and almost certainly no access to any sort of special weaponry. I can't see how he would have mattered all that much.

Riley could've easily mattered in the same way as Giles or Xander. Moral support, emotional support. It's not all about how much power you have.
Riley was supposed to be her boyfriend, and should've been one of the people that Buffy could've leaned on, just like Giles.

We intially saw how much sympathy/emotional support Spike showed to the whole situation (not much at first), and Willow just let her insecurities show to Dawn the minute she found out and almost gives the game away.
I think Riley could've been a alot more sympathetic and level-headed, helping Buffy in a time of neeed.

And btw, who is crutial to beating Glory in the end? Anya. Not very powerful. She comes up with the Dagon sphere, troll hammer and Buffy-bot diversion. All more crutial than Willow's or Spike's contributions. 🙂