Who chooses the Chosen One?

[RoxySilver]

I couldn't find any thread that tackled this, even though there are some elements this and there.

Basically, we know there are Potentials, some that know they might be Slayers someday, some don't know (Buffy until her first Watcher came to pick her up at after school in LA).

But who chooses which one of those Potentials should be Called?

Is it the Council, is it Magic (as priests created the First Slayer with demons and black magic, if I remember correctly)?

I remember Kennedy and the Potentials talking the fact they might be Called, but not by who...

So, who? How the Chosen One, is, well, Chosen? 😉

 

[Taake]

I don't think it's a "who", I think it's random. The power settles on one girl by chance.

If there was a who it seems likely that the Watchers council would have figured out a way to estimate who was the likeliest to be Chosen next, or have the magical powers to ask the PTB (or whoever the 'who' would be), which girl was next. But during the show it seems like not even they know who is going to be chosen until she actually is.

 

[RoxySilver]

To be honest I think pretty much the same thing.
I'm just surprised that the issue doesn't come up in the series (well I haven't read the comics yet, but I don't believe they would explain it).
How or who appoints her isn't the point of the series, but I wish that at some point, Buffy asked "who did this to me and why" rather than "I'm the Slayer, so be it".
I feel like there's something missing. It could have been mentioned in season 5 when she tells Giles she wants to understand her power. One of the questions asked could have been "why her" for instance.
Again, we'll never know. But it's sometimes frustrating 😉

 

[EVIL UU]

The vampires do. Kinda. Basically, girls from all over the world are chosen and marked as potentials. Whenever vampires show up in a given location a potential is activated and deals with the undead or dies trying. The system is not designed to protect humans, it's designed to control the vampire population. Buffy was activated because a powerful vampire decided to visit LA.

 

[white avenger]

The vampires do. Kinda. Basically, girls from all over the world are chosen and marked as potentials. Whenever vampires show up in a given location a potential is activated and deals with the undead or dies trying. The system is not designed to protect humans, it's designed to control the vampire population. Buffy was activated because a powerful vampire decided to visit LA.

Pretty much this. Probably, the Shadow Men, when they set up the spell in the first place, worked it so that, wherever the greatest demand for a Slayer might be, a Potential in the near vicinity would be called, assuming, of course, that the previous Slayer was dead. Buffy was Called because of the presence of Lothos (?) plus, possibly, the Sunnydale hellmouth was becoming more active. I've always suspected that the Watchers set up the conditions that convinced Joyce to leave LA and move to a small town.