And he would never suggest that the Scoobies consider the possibility that they would have to kill Dawn in order to save the world, and he would never go behind Buffy's back and kill the man who she depended on the most to support her in her fight against the First Evil. And he would never kill a helpless, injured young man just in case his hell god alter ego might someday return and try to destroy the world once more. And he would never refuse to help a young woman being destroyed so that her body could become the vessel for another hell god. And he would never weaken the girl who was like a daughter to him so that she could be locked in a house with a starving vampire. (And what he has been searching for all over Europe in Season 8, and for what purpose, which I won't mention here because it would be a spoiler)
I think that a lot of people here tend to underestimate just how ruthless Giles can be if the thinks that what he is doing will ultimately serve the greater good. He might regret his actions afterward, he might get roaring drunk and stay that way for a week, just in a vain attempt to forget, but when it comes down to what Giles considers "has to be done," he doesn't hesitate.
And, no, I'm not particularly a Giles fan, but I base my judgment of him on his actual past actions. Giles has a dark side, just the same as Angel does, and I wouldn't trust either Ripper or Angelus to do anything that doesn't serve their own purposes at any given time. The major difference between the two is that it's a whole lot harder to bring Angelus back than it is Ripper.
I don't see how your post in any way contradicts my point. If anything, it proves part of my point.
As I said, he would never risk the world for his personal feelings, and many cases you've described in your post proves that. He would not let his feelings get in the way of the greater good, which means that he would not in fact let Willow botch up the spell so that Angelus
might die. It was too risky. Buffy could have died, the world could have ended, best case senario, he would ended up with a damaged slayer (maybe he forsaw how Buffy would react to killing Angel, but expected her to do worse to herself than just running away to LA). So I don't see your point. Yes, he's ruthless, but in the case of Angel's soul, there's no reason to expect that he wanted the spell to fail, specially since that would have hurt both Buffy and the world. The small picture and the big picture, the smaller good and the greater good. So I still disagree with your earlier post. He would never be that selfish, and take his own personal feelings into account when the world was at stake.
I also stand by that he wanted to do anything to spare Buffy from the pain of killing her boyfriend, just because it would hurt her, but I agree with you that he was probably ruthless enough to have demanded Buffy to kill Angelus if forced, if they had not had the spell. I mean, that's what he and the others had been aiming for before Becoming.
On a bit different note, I disagree with you about a lot in your post, because I don't think all of those decisions show him to be ruthless in the bad way(I suppose that was your point?). Him killing Ben was necassary, practically self defense. Worlds, pural, were at stake. Glory would recover, there was no indication she wouldn't, and the people Giles cared about would be in danger. Possibly several worlds as well, if Glory would have another chance of opening the gate(who knows maybe it opend every 50 years). He did what he had too, but that doesn't make him a bad man.
And you can't blame him for whatever he said to Angel (which we don't know). Angel, or for all Giles knew, Angelus, was running a evil lawfirm, and asking to meet the one woman who was a threat to Angelus. I don't know what Giles said, or why, or how much he knew of Fred's condition, but I supsect he didn't do it out of spite, or the greater good angle. He wanted to protect his people.
And while what he did to Buffy can't be defended, I trully hope that he learned his lesson after that, and would never put anyone through such a pointless test. But who knows. You are right. He is a bigger picture man. And without him, Glory might have beaten everyone to death with their own limbs by now.
[I can't say anything about the season 8 thing, I'm only at issue 33.]
---------- Post added at 02:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:32 AM ----------
I see a simple answer to this question. Giles didn't know how to perform the spell, Willow seemed to think she could. At this point in time although Giles was worried about Willow's meddling with magic there were no clear indications that it would be damaging to her.
Also at this stage they were running out of options so Willow provided an option which Giles wasn't going to refuse.
But even if he thought she had the knowledge, isn't it weird that he would let someone who never performed magic to a dangerous spell? Kind of like throwing someone in the water, expecting them to swim, because they've researched how to.
