What If They Lost Their Power?

[vellavu]

What if Buffy doesn't have super strength? What about a Giles/Wesley who doesn't remember his watcher education? A Fred who forgets all physics/engineering stuff? Other people?

What would their positions be in the job market?

 

[Blaze]

Well no one would be anything without their knowledge, so I don't think it's fair to compare Fred's knowledge in physics to Buffy's superpowers, to me intelligence and knowledge isn't really a power. Remove all my education in chemistry, and my knowledge of horses, and all I'm qualified to do is work at the Double Meat Palace. Actually this is what we see with Buffy, due to her responsibility as the slayer, she was not able to obtain an education in anything other than the forces of evil, which is why she works at the fast food restaurant.

But to get back to the question, remove all of Giles' and Fred's knowledge, and they can essentially not work anywhere. Remove Buffy's super strength, and she might actually get a decent job because she would have been able to finish her schooling.

 

[vellavu]

Well no one would be anything without their knowledge, so I don't think it's fair to compare Fred's knowledge in physics to Buffy's superpowers, to me intelligence and knowledge isn't really a power. Remove all my education in chemistry, and my knowledge of horses, and all I'm qualified to do is work at the Double Meat Palace. Actually this is what we see with Buffy, due to her responsibility as the slayer, she was not able to obtain an education in anything other than the forces of evil, which is why she works at the fast food restaurant.

Oops.

What I intended to say is "what if they change their major/expertise but keep their character/personality", not that they are illiterate or dumb or something.😳

 

[white avenger]

"what if they change their major/expertise but keep their character/personality"

Even without Giles' knowledge of Watcher matters and Buffy's Slayer abilities, I can't see either one of them just walking away from what they have been doing for so long. You don't have to be an expert in sorcery or be the "one girl in all the world" to see fighting the forces of darkness as your duty, your mission, your vocation, and your fate. Giles might dream of becoming a fighter pilot when he grows up (again) and Buffy might have her dreams of freshly baked cookies, but, when it comes down to making the choice, they're just like the defenders who stepped across Travis' line at the Alamo. They knew the risk, they made the decision, and they're not backing out, come Hell of high water. They're going down swinging.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

Well Giles knew about the dark magic before he was a watcher, so he still had some knowledge about the supernatural. Wesley seems like a natural book worm and academic so if he wasn't a watcher I think he'd still have a great education and be able to get a job, possibly in a library😛😛. lol. Fred seemed like a bit of a stoner when she regressed to a teenager in Spin the Bottle. So maybe she would have a fast food job. I'm not sure what her interests outside of science are though. Buffy without her super strength? Well she did get a really good SAT score and got into Northwestern. So I think Buffy could have had a decent job. maybe got into fashion design or something.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

maybe got into fashion design or something.

Or she could be a buyer.

 

[white avenger]

Buffy could have had a decent job. maybe got into fashion design or something.

Or she could be a buyer

Or she could work in the women's clothing department at J C Higgins.

Come to think of it, the Buffy from the movie wanted to be a buyer. Course, she also wanted to "graduate high school, marry Christian Slater, and die." And maybe visiting Europe was in there somewhere, too.

 

[thetopher]

We have a fairly good guide to this in 'Tabula Rasa'. Everyone had lost knowledge of their power along with all their memories and they were still willing to fight vampires.
Joan defended Randy, Giles proposed that they fight back using things from the magic box, etc.

So even if they lost thier powers I suspect that at least Giles and Buffy would be brave enough to still try and fight against dark forces.

 

[Athena]

If everyone lost their powers / abilities / knowledge in the forces of darkness, they'd become just like one of us. We all have the ability to be great, average or rubbish, so the world would be their oyster, assuming that this is a world where the supernatural doesn't exist....

Buffy did get great exam scores, so I'm guessing she could be anything but I'd like to think she would join the police and fight normal crime. I'd imagine Willow as a scientist, discovering cures for illnesses. Giles as a respected secondary school teacher, Xander (well he had no powers to begin with but....) perhaps in a stint in the armed forces, because he did seem to have a knack for it. 🙂

 

[Kana]

Can I be naughty and answer a slightly different question? What would the Scoobies and AI be doing if the supernatural didn't exist? In other words: no vampires or demons and certainly no Watchers.

If this is the case then Xander and Fred could pretty much be in the fields were/are in. Xander would be in contruction and Fred would be a theoretical physicist. Giles after his rebellious stint, would probably end being a cool and inspirational tenured professor at Oxford, teaching History or Philosophy. Considering how he tossed out the Slayer Handbook, I could see him being a 'Dead Poet Society' type teacher.

Wesley would also work at the university in Anthropological Linguistics. As far as I'm concerned, he was one of the best linguists on the show.

Willow I could see working in some computer science field within the government. It fits in with her wanting to do good but also giving her that naughty thrill of power.

Gunn? I have to be honest. As an African American with no GED, his prognosis doesn't look good. It looks especially bad when you consider the guy's got a criminal record, which if the supernatural didn't exist, I could have imagined him getting by maybe defending a friend etc. However, I could see him perhaps running homeless shelter like Anne.

Spike and Angel? Well if the supernatural didn't exist then they would be dead. However if we could be pretend they were simply humans living in the 21st century? I could see them as a couple of unemployed trust fund kids. William is a failed writer who still lives in his parents estate and Liam is living at home after getting kicked out of art school.

Buffy? Not sure yet. I'll come back to you on that.