Who chooses the next Slayer?

[Allycat]

There's been a little discussion in the thread Trust 1993, when Lyri mentioned in her fanfic that the PTB choose who becomes the next Slayer. To stop the hijacking of her thread, I figured we could discuss it here.... who chooses the next Slayer? PTB, some other power, or nobody in particular (ie it's random)?

 

[Wicked]

I assumed it was fate. Whoever gets chosen, it was their destiny.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

Well I have always thought of the slayer line as independent to the PTB's as I said because it was created by man, and so was not controlled by the PTB's. I thought of it like, the power chooses the next most suitable girl?

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

Fate/Destiny by its definition insinuates something controlling it, simply because if something is meant to happen, a predetermined event, which means someone/thing has determined it.

I have no problem with the notion that a Slayer is a random act, however, i just believe in the context of the show, a higher force would control the 'selection process' as it would have a vested interest. We know that it isnt an evil force controlling it, we also gather that although it was a man initiated line, they have no control over the course, leaves us with Good.
In the verse the only beings we have seen that have that intention is the PTB's and although it is never said on either show, does not mean its not the case. Simple fact is, no one has said who made it snow in Amends, yet we know something was behind it, as its far to important to be coincidental.

 

[Wicked]

I always figured fate/destiny was bigger than the PTB.

 

[SpikedBuffy]

Well, if it's fate, then how does the Watcher's council know that the new slayer has been chosen. Do they get a memo from fate? The next bigger question is how does the Watcher's council know? Who tells them?

I think it's random, but who knows.... it's kinda screwed up.

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

It might be, but until we are given a definitive commentary on who or what the Powers that Be are, then we cannot assume there IS anything bigger then them, but same toss of that coin is we can't assume they are the highest in the fight of Good either.

All these different interpretations are plausible because of the ambiguity of those Beings, i just feel that in the context of what we know, the PTB's have their fingers in so many pies that controlling an aspect as significant as who will be chosen, should be up to them.

The Irony being, as its a man made warrior, its a human being that changes the course again in Chosen, outside the power of the PTB's....or was it 'Fate' that Willow would learn the Magicks, Tara would Die, Willow turn Evil then back to an almost ultimate epitome of Goodness and create this Slayer Army.......

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

Well, if it's fate, then how does the Watcher's council know that the new slayer has been chosen. Do they get a memo from fate? The next bigger question is how does the Watcher's council know? Who tells them?

I think it's random, but who knows.... it's kinda screwed up.

According to the Movie each potential is given a mark(Buffy had hers removed), this could be the calling card, given a medical term that alerts the Council of another Potential. Then the Watchers council 'watch' the potential until they are old enough to train.

 

[Wicked]

Well, if the PTB were the biggest, I'd think they'd have more power to stop the Senior partners. As far as I can tell, the Senior Partners are just really big bads. The PTB wanted Angel to stop them (or at least take a stand against them) but fate as far as I believe (since I dont actually believe in such things) isnt good or bad, it just IS. Therefore Id figure it was bigger than PTB.

Still doesnt answer the question though 🙂

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

Well i didnt say i believed the Slayer line WAS Fate, i said i thought that the PTB's controlled the line.
Also, we are led to believe that the First Evil is in every being on the planet, born in man and beast, its the ultimate Evil, nothing has a greater presence to it, yet it can't wipe out a simple Slayer line, can it.

Just because the PTB's could be the ultimate Good doesnt mean they should wipe out anything that threatens Man. Ehy should they take away that ability. The PTB's left the Senior Partners as it was upto us to fight our battles, they just gave us guidance. Remember Jasmine was here because she was tired of the PTB's sitting back and not doing anything.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

Just on the whole thing about how the watchers council find the potential slayers, There was the mention of the birthmark that every slayer has, although that was never used in the show. But there is also the Spell Willow used to find the potential, I mean they could have just done that!

 

[nerd4hire]

I'm going to vote for some hidden, almost mechanical law of nature, or metaphysics. Like there's this slayer souce power we see in Get it Done. It has this attraction towards something in certain human females. When a Slayer dies the source power goes looking for another girl to join with. Unknown almost random natural forces lead it to the next candidate of girls who have what it needs.

For me this would be how the watchers can identify a girl as a potential slayer. They know what the source power is attracted to, or needs to connect with. Willow can identify this whatever it is with magic.

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

I'm going to vote for some hidden, almost mechanical law of nature, or metaphysics. Like there's this slayer souce power we see in Get it Done. It has this attraction towards something in certain human females. When a Slayer dies the source power goes looking for another girl to join with. Unknown almost random natural forces lead it to the next candidate of girls who have what it needs.

For me this would be how the watchers can identify a girl as a potential slayer. They know what the source power is attracted to, or needs to connect with. Willow can identify this whatever it is with magic.

While that is certainly plausible in the way things work and what we see, it still doesnt dimiss the fact that as the whole process is so ambigous all the theories that people come up with are possible....unless someone says Bunnies, cause if they do...we'll need words!!!

 

[Wicked]

it was bunnies 😛

 

[BillieHunter]

I always just figured it was the magic itself that chose the next slayer. The magic was man made, so i never associated it with the ptb but when one slayer dies couldn't the magic itself be attracted to the next slayer. So the slayer would die, the magic would be released and then find the best suitable replacement to be the next slayer. That would also explain why Willow could do magic to detect potentials, cause she was detecting the actual magic with her own magic.

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

But that doesnt give a reason why the potentials ARE potentials.
Think about it, how do they get the 'marker' to make them potential.
The PTB's could give them some thing that attracts the line, allowing it to pick from them.
Or it could be the PTB's pick themselves.....

 

[mayukhers112]

Well, even though it's not canon, I think the back of Tales of the Slayer Vol. 1says that Slayers are 'girls in a long line of warriors for the Powers that Be.' So, I guess that implies that the PTB choose them, but I dunno....

 

[nerd4hire]

Well yeah, but if it's not canon, why does some publisher's assistant's opinion matter more than yours or mine?

Canon tells us the Shadowmen created the slayer. It doesn't mention the PTB. Even if we're going to say "Well maybe the PTB were guiding the Shadowmen's hand", we'd have to ask, "Well if the PTB are so concerned about the slayer line why didn't they do something when it was, as Beljoxa's eye said, disrupted? Where were they when Buffy decided to recreate the line?"

I guess you could say maybe sometimes they step in, and sometimes they don't, but if we don't have any canonical information on when they decide to do one or the other, wouldn't one person's best guess be as good as anybody elses?

 

[Allycat]

Wait, I thought that TotS was canon? Joss even wrote parts of that himself.

Anyway, I agree with N4H and BillieHunter. I think that the Slayer is chosen by the magical spell that created it through a very complex and therefore seemingly random process. I think that the spell might make a pre-selection, which the Watcher's can (usually) detect, that marks certain girls as Potentials.

About that the Slayers may be warriors for the PTB or not... I don't see how that's connected to whether or not they're actually directly chosen by the PTB or not. Silly analogy: you can get an Academic degree at one University, but proceed to become a teacher at another.

 

[HellGods]

I always just thought it was the PTB.