Who was the true slayer?

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tjkphilosopher

Need Faith on your side
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Ever since Buffy died and came back the first time, the tradition of the slayer was broken. Was Buffy still the one. Should she have let first Kendra than Faith take the title.

Buffy could have had a life like she always wanted. She didn't want the responsibility.

Faith understood what it was to be slayer better. She only went dark because she came to Sunnydale and was treated as the extra slayer. It was all Buffy this and Buffy that. Buffy was the extra slayer.

Now I admire quite a lot about Buffy but she had a lot of emotional problems that she never really dealt with. Despite Faith problems she overcame them and became a much better person. My Faith...the one.
 
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ProphecyGirl
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She didn't really call herself THE Slayer anymore, did she? I don't remember that.

She lived in Sunnydale. The Hellmouth. There was no way she'd live a normal life there.

Faith was tempted to the dark side. She was alone, no one to guide her like Giles did with Buffy.
It was only "all Buffy this and Buffy that" 'cause in the Scoobies mind, she was the one. She's the one they fought with side by side and she was their friend.
In a sense, Faith was the extra. She was practically only accepted 'cause she was the Slayer and helped with the demon problem. She wasn't the type to go to school so the Scoobies wouldn't have known her if she wasn't the Slayer (that and she was originally in... I forget).

Not really sure how to respond to that last part...
 
tjkphilosopher said:
Ever since Buffy died and came back the first time, the tradition of the slayer was broken. Was Buffy still the one. Should she have let first Kendra than Faith take the title.

Buffy could have had a life like she always wanted. She didn't want the responsibility.

Faith understood what it was to be slayer better. She only went dark because she came to Sunnydale and was treated as the extra slayer. It was all Buffy this and Buffy that. Buffy was the extra slayer.

Now I admire quite a lot about Buffy but she had a lot of emotional problems that she never really dealt with. Despite Faith problems she overcame them and became a much better person. My Faith...the one.
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I like this post. Yup 🙂
I don't really think Buffy could've ever not been the slayer though. She is just not that kind of person. Even though there was another "true" slayer at this point, Buffy just couldn't escape her destiny. Things like "Anne" would happen again, and Buffy wouldn't be able to ignore that.. But yeah, Buffy was the extra slayer at least in season 2 and 3.
 
Buffy was always THE slayer and will probably always be known as that. She was the one who stayed at the hellmouth and fought the hard battles.

Kendra, Faith, and all the newly activated potentials could only hope to play Robin to her Batman 😀
 
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ProphecyGirl
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I think that Faith was tempted to the dark side because she got to Sunnydale too late. By the time she met and was accepted into the circle of friends who would support her..it was too late.

They never treated her as the 'secondary' slayer...Joyce, Giles and even Buffy herself saw Faith's arrival as a great opportunity to lighten the heavy Hellmouth load that Buffy had been carrying for so long.

It was definitely Buffy's sense of duty that kept her as the slayer though..she couldn't turn her back on her destiny no matter what (and thank goodness she didn't!)
 
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ProphecyGirl
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StuckinTraffic
I agree....I think Faith ultimately chose the easier path.
tjkphilosopher said:
Ever since Buffy died and came back the first time, the tradition of the slayer was broken. Was Buffy still the one. Should she have let first Kendra than Faith take the title.

Buffy could have had a life like she always wanted. She didn't want the responsibility.

Faith understood what it was to be slayer better. She only went dark because she came to Sunnydale and was treated as the extra slayer. It was all Buffy this and Buffy that. Buffy was the extra slayer.

Now I admire quite a lot about Buffy but she had a lot of emotional problems that she never really dealt with. Despite Faith problems she overcame them and became a much better person. My Faith...the one.
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I see where you're coming from but I have to disagree. I have enormous respect for Faith overcoming her personal demons, but Buffy was always making the tough decisions and, though there were times she wanted to walk way, she never did for very long. I think she did deal with her emotional problems, and with exception of that period between s2-s3 stayed in the fight to deal with them. She was still a very effective slayer even though she encountered heartbreak and loss through pretty much every season.

She also has heaps more experience than Faith and showed on numerous occasions she was a very strong, though not always popular, leader/general. When they did fight in Grad. Day it was Buffy who won. It was pointed out several times in the show that she was not the better fighter because she had better technique than either Kendra or Faith, but because she used her emotions to give herself power or whatever was necessary to win. On the other hand Faith let her emotions use her. When she comes back in Angel s4 and Buffy s7 she's in control but what if she was pushed emotionally again? We just don't know. Whereas Buffy had been pushed many times and come though each time.

They were all slayers with the potential to be great but the only one who we saw save the world numerous times was Buffy. Even though it cost her her life twice. The fact that she was still fighting after that makes her The Slayer. Whereas Kendra, unfortunately, died very early in her calling and Faith may have helped save the world a couple of times, but she also helped in trying to end it once as well.

Buffy has the will, experience, leadership, and stabilty advantages over Faith.
 
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StuckinTraffic
I love your posts!
Tucker's Cousin said:
I see where you're coming from but I have to disagree. I have enormous respect for Faith overcoming her personal demons, but Buffy was always making the tough decisions and, though there were times she wanted to walk way, she never did for very long. I think she did deal with her emotional problems, and with exception of that period between s2-s3 stayed in the fight to deal with them. She was still a very effective slayer even though she encountered heartbreak and loss through pretty much every season.

She also has heaps more experience than Faith and showed on numerous occasions she was a very strong, though not always popular, leader/general. When they did fight in Grad. Day it was Buffy who won. It was pointed out several times in the show that she was not the better fighter because she had better technique than either Kendra or Faith, but because she used her emotions to give herself power or whatever was necessary to win. On the other hand Faith let her emotions use her. When she comes back in Angel s4 and Buffy s7 she's in control but what if she was pushed emotionally again? We just don't know. Whereas Buffy had been pushed many times and come though each time.

They were all slayers with the potential to be great but the only one who we saw save the world numerous times was Buffy. Even though it cost her her life twice. The fact that she was still fighting after that makes her The Slayer. Whereas Kendra, unfortunately, died very early in her calling and Faith may have helped save the world a couple of times, but she also helped in trying to end it once as well.
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I agree. I think, ultimately, Faith just chose what she thought of as the 'easier' path. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em was her philosophy. Sure, she had some bad breaks, and was beginning to overcome them, but then she killed the Deputy Mayor by accident, and just gave up. That was a choice on her part. Buffy never gave up, even tho it killed her twice and cost her the man she loved.
 
ProphecyGirl said:
Why does everything have to be Buffy versus Faith?
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I don't think Miffed67 and I are Buffy versus Faith! I know I like Faith and said so above. It's just that it's bewildering how there are so many people who think Faith would've had it all over Buffy if she hadn't gotten "all those bad breaks".
 
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StuckinTraffic
LOL! Eh - it's the spirit of discussion! You're a sweetie.
For me Buffy will always be THE slayer the real one Faith's calling was an accident. Buffy is also the one who taught Faith alot so Faith owes what she has to Buffy in more ways then one.
 
Jenny said:
They never treated her as the 'secondary' slayer...Joyce, Giles and even Buffy herself saw Faith's arrival as a great opportunity to lighten the heavy Hellmouth load that Buffy had been carrying for so long.
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But they still referred to Buffy for all the important descisions. Wouldn't that imply she's the secondary Slayer?
 
Wanabee_slayer said:
For me Buffy will always be THE slayer the real one Faith's calling was an accident. Buffy is also the one who taught Faith alot so Faith owes what she has to Buffy in more ways then one.
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Geeez, that was harsh 🙂
Faith being called was an accident? Well, if you call Kendra being killed an accident, then sure but hey, that's the way the Slayer-thang works.

I understand if people dislike Faith, she did turn totally psycho, though never evil. But I think it's unaccetable to demean Faith's abilitys as a slayer. Likewise to ignore the circumstances, the relation between Buffy/Faith and The Scoobies/Faith. Not to mention the whole thing with mrs psycho-watcher-Post.
MentPatient mentioned, she was too treated like the secondary Slayer, Buffy called all the shots, it was her town after all. Faith was just an "intruder".
So Faith wasn't the most stable girl in Sunnydale, but it's not like it's uncommon for people to not be so stable in that town.
(-cough- buffy -cough-)
 
doppelganger Buffy is perfectly stable by the end of things you'd be unstable if your friends so rudely pulled you out of heaven.
 
So Buffy gets to blame her unstableness on other people but Faith doesn't?
🙂

A lot of people are unstable through the show, if not everyone.
 
Yeah, but they both ended up workng through it.
At least Buffy didn't end up killing people, almost did but didn't.
 
The way I always saw it.... Buffy was still alive and kicking, even after some temporary 'deaths', therefore she is THE slayer. While there were other, very qualified slayers out there, they were a fluke. They should've never been called, because in reality, Buffy was alive. I understand the mythology that Buffy was technically dead for a minute, and that's why Kendra was called... but it was still a fluke none the less because two slayers should not have existed at the same time.
 
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Kimm
[No message]
Not place blame on either

One of you mention being unfair to Buffy. Well some of you are being unfair to my Faith.

It wasn't Faith that pushed Buffy out of the house after the group first assault on preacher and the bringers. The potentials, Xander, and Giles even Dawn felt that was foolish to go into another battle with little information on what looking for. Xander may lose the other eye.

They each had problems to overcome. They each were very powerful and effective slayers.

When Faith killed the deputy mayor by accident she turned to dark side only because didn't want to face that made a mistake by attacking without seeing who was on the other end of the stake. Buffy also made those kinds of mistakes. Remember almost killing Cordelia behind the bronze.

Faith was a cooler slayer and more in touch with what meant to be slayer. I never agreed with what Buffy said that a slayer is not a killer. Killing is killing regardless who kill.

The slayer line and tradition was broken when Buffy died the first time. It was more than a fluke. Funny that can't count on something supernatural to be without kinks. Although perhaps Buffy was meant to relinquish being the slayer and do something else for the greater good against evil.
 
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doppelgänger2
good post :)
Well, yeah. The Potentials figured that Buffy was driving them too hard.
But look what happened with Faith, not that it couldn't have happened with Buffy. Buffy just would have figured something was up since there was no Caleb.

Buffy was stalking a vampire, it's reasonable that she'd be jumpy.
Yeah, Faith turned to the dark side.. and in turn, murdered much more people.

The things Buffy said did seem kind of off.
But, as Faith implied, being a Slayer doesn't make you above human laws. You can't "want, take, have".

What else is there to do in the BATTLE against evil?
It'd just be a waste of her Slayer abilities if she did something else.
 
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