Why did the monk tell Buffy anyway?

Kenimowy

Kenimowy

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I was just thinking the other day about this and it made me wonder, isn't the worst possible thing that happened this season being that monks told Buffy to begin with about Dawn? If nobody had known that Dawn was the key, then Buffy would never had gone in protect mode. Watching this season several times over, it almost seems as though the scoobies more or less unintentionally gave themselves away.
Like Dawn had said once, they were all acting weirdly around her, and I think that Glory probably figured out that Buffy knew who/what the key was because of that very thing.
Also, why would the monks go through all that trouble of creating a sister and implanting memories if they were going to just turn around and tell her about it? Kind of defeated the whole purpose of disguising the key didn't it?

Do you think that things would have been better if Buffy had not been told by the monks?
 
All valid points, and since Glory was on a deadline most likely she wouldnt have had the time to find out on her own.
 
Ok lets say Buffy was never told about Dawn by the busted up monk.
Buffy comes home one day in S5 the monks mojo falters and Buffy and the Scoobies suddenly know Buffy never had a sister that would be it for Dawn and she would have bolted leaveing her completly unprotected.
 
Do you think that things would have been better if Buffy had not been told by the monks?
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No.

Here's what happens. Glory magics-in her ridiculously cute snake friend to find The Key. The snake finds Dawn and returns to Glory. Glory attacks and captures Dawn.

Also, why would the monks go through all that trouble of creating a sister and implanting memories if they were going to just turn around and tell her about it? Kind of defeated the whole purpose of disguising the key didn't it?
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I have a theory. Essentially, Dawn was created to get rid of Buffy and prevent the twilight. In the end, what choice does Buffy have? She can either kill herself or kill Dawn. Fortunately, the monks brainwashed her but they didn't put a love spell on her, so it's kill someone you don't love to save yourself, not bad, could be worse, right? Well, it gets worse because Buffy actually falls in love with Dawn...in a platonic way, for Joyce's sake! No, really, it's a classic love story and by the end of season 5 Buffy pretty much loves Dawn more than anything ever. So again, that's Buffy's choice. Kill herself or kill Dawn and both of those options stop the coming of twilight, because If Dawn dies, I'm done with it. I'm quitting., Buffy gives up, some random vampire kills her during a patrol. Problem solved.

Decent plan, it doesn't consider resurrection, but still, rotten brainwashing wankers sure thought it through. Seemingly, there's no way out. Buffy has to die, no matter what?

No.

If you take a close look, there are two ways to solve every problem Buffy has ever faced, two solutions:

1. Be incredibly powerful

Buffy's powerful enough to defeat Glory before she menages to capture Dawn. She turns into a super-slayer via enjoyment spell, I guess the monks altered that memory as well, or whatever. She's strong enough to kick her ass before any damage is done.

2. Be a psychopath, an absolutely ruthless monster

Buffy learns the truth, comes back home, whacks Dawn in the head and throws her into a crypt full of vampires, or rips her head off or cuts her wrists or whatever. She murders the little shit before Glory has a chance to find her.

Of course, Buffy's neither of those and that's why she's such a pathetic loser who always suffers. It's like, I don't even feel sorry for her anymore.

Also, be powerful, be ruthless or suffer? What kind of message is that?
 
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It was something that Buffy would've never anticipated. She never expected something called 'the key', an all powerful ball of energy that has the power to break down the barriers between dimensions, to be the one thing that she cares most about. The fact that Dawn us so young and vulnerable, matched with the fact that she's the most important person in Buffy's life after the loss of Joyce and Riley, matched with the fact that she knows what Dawn really is equals her suicide pretty much being the only option for her.

She was prepared to kill Angel in Season 2 because everything that Angelus did was by his own free will, whereas Dawn (arguably 😛 ) did nothing wrong, her destiny was chosen for her and her whole narrative timeline up to that point written for her.

It could have gone very differently if Buffy had not known, for the very reason that Dawn is so young and innocent Buffy would've never suspected anything, and could only do so much of a job of protecting her.
 
If Buffy had not known that Dawn was the Key, she would have had no clue as to why Glory was there or what she was trying to accomplish. The Knights Of Byzantium would have shown up searching for the mystical "Key," and, once more, neither Buffy nor any of her friends would know why they were there or hat they were after. Eventually, either Glory or the Knights would have learned that Dawn was the object of their search and acted upon the knowledge, which clueless Buffy and the Scoobies would have been totally unprepared for. In one case, Glory would have grabbed Dawn and opened her portal before any defense could have been mounted, and in the other case, the Knights would have found, identified, and killed Dawn, again, before anyone would have been able to prevent it.

The monk told Buffy about Dawn's true origins so that she would know what was happening and why it was vital that Dawn be protected at all cost before it was too late to act on that knowledge.

The real question in my mind was, why did the monks simply destroy the Key themselves in the beginning, thereby eliminating the threat before it even developed? The Key, as a ball of green, glowing energy, wasn't human, therefore destroying it should not have presented any sort of moral problem for them. Considering the potential consequences if Glory had been successful, destroying the Key should have been one of those "For the greater good" actions that Joss is so fond of having his characters commit, avoiding a whole lot of hate, pain, and death. So why didn't they just extinguish the green glowing ball?

Of course, if they had done that, there would haqve been no spoiled, obnoxious, self centered brat to contend with dor the next three seasons.
 
I
iShower4free
amen lol
The monks 'gave' Dawn (key girl) to the slayer so that the slayer could protect her.
Before Buffy was told what Dawn was she thought Dawn was out to get her mother and wanted to end her.
When the monks told Buffy what Dawn was, and that she was there to be protected, only then did Buffy start to protect her.
So, by having the monks use the words that Buffy is to protect, if the monks hadn't told Buffy she couldn't have known to protect her.
Thing is, if Buffy had killed Dawn, the season would have been about who Dawn really was. And, for arguments sake, I'd suggest that Dawn might have been a green ball of mystical energy. What was this green ball of mystical energy like as a person? (See the last bit of white avengers post).
It was stated the the green ball of energy was neither good nor bad. Glory wanted to use its powers for bad. But we were never told what good it could be used for.
 
I find it interesting that Buffy doesn't really show any affection for Dawn until she finds out that Dawn is the key. Buffy goes into protective mode then and only then, and from there she begins to truly love Dawn. Before that, she sees her only as her annoying little sister who she takes care of as a chore. Dawn seems to be her burden to bear.... After she finds out Dawn's true nature Buffy's whole attitude toward her changes.

So, yes, I think it was a good thing.
 
Buffy already knew that something was wrong with Dawn from the meditation thing, so she potentially could have killed her....which would presumably have destroyed the Key and solved everything. If the monk hadn't of told buffy, S5 would have been over about 10 episodes too early. 😉
 
white avenger said:
If Buffy had not known that Dawn was the Key, she would have had no clue as to why Glory was there or what she was trying to accomplish. The Knights Of Byzantium would have shown up searching for the mystical "Key," and, once more, neither Buffy nor any of her friends would know why they were there or hat they were after. Eventually, either Glory or the Knights would have learned that Dawn was the object of their search and acted upon the knowledge, which clueless Buffy and the Scoobies would have been totally unprepared for. In one case, Glory would have grabbed Dawn and opened her portal before any defense could have been mounted, and in the other case, the Knights would have found, identified, and killed Dawn, again, before anyone would have been able to prevent it.

The monk told Buffy about Dawn's true origins so that she would know what was happening and why it was vital that Dawn be protected at all cost before it was too late to act on that knowledge.

The real question in my mind was, why did the monks simply destroy the Key themselves in the beginning, thereby eliminating the threat before it even developed? The Key, as a ball of green, glowing energy, wasn't human, therefore destroying it should not have presented any sort of moral problem for them. Considering the potential consequences if Glory had been successful, destroying the Key should have been one of those "For the greater good" actions that Joss is so fond of having his characters commit, avoiding a whole lot of hate, pain, and death. So why didn't they just extinguish the green glowing ball?

Of course, if they had done that, there would haqve been no spoiled, obnoxious, self centered brat to contend with dor the next three seasons.
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I think this sums it up just about perfectly. I actually liked Dawn though 🙂.

There were a LOT of holes in the monks plan. I still maintain the best plan would have been to just turn The Key into a rock or something mundane and hide it in plain site out in the California desert somewhere.

Then however, I remembered that demon-snake thing Glory conjured up, which seemed to be pretty much bred to hunt down The Key. That thing probably would have found it no matter what the monks transformed The Key into, and Buffy being armed with the knowledge that Dawn was The Key certainly helped her protect her better.

Plus, let's not forget that the monks knowledge was breaking down. I can't remember the specific episode, but Buffy does experience flashes of life before Dawn. She sees more than once that Dawn's room is a mirage created by the monks. So it does make sense that the monks would tell her about who and what Dawn really was.
 
Always Bangel said:
Plus, let's not forget that the monks knowledge was breaking down. I can't remember the specific episode, but Buffy does experience flashes of life before Dawn. She sees more than once that Dawn's room is a mirage created by the monks. So it does make sense that the monks would tell her about who and what Dawn really was.
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It's not so much that their knowledge was breaking down. Buffy put herself under a magic trance that is used to "reveal magic spells" i.e. so you can see where a spell has been cast. In this case, a spell has been cast to place Dawn into all their lives so in the trance Buffy can see that Dawn isn't *really* there (for want of a better way of puting it!). (Buffy originally went into the Trance to try and find if there was something magical harming her mother).

This does raise an interesting question though. From season 5 onwards, all the scoobies (and, I guess, the whole world) are under a spell that the monks cast. How long can this magic sustain? Surely at some point the spell would indeed start breaking down? Throughout season 6 and 7 I kept half expecting Dawn to just randomly vanish mid-scene as the monks' magic spell ran out of gas.
 
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