Why was the focus on Buffy and not Faith?

H

Hero

Scooby
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Oct 18, 2003
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What I've never understood about the last arc of season 7 was how the main focus by the bad guys was on Buffy, and not at all on Faith. When The First let the Turak Hahn go out it said "kill all of them, except her." Why let Buffy live? Why let Buffy live when she was the only possible person who could stop was about to happen? Even Caleb, in my opinion, had more respect for Buffy than he did Faith. When he first encountered both slayers in the vineyard I felt like he had respect for Buffy as a being of power, where-as when he was fighting Faith I felt like he was just toying with her for fun. Wouldn't the best thing to do is kill Buffy? After all, Faith was the slayer who would pass on the line, not Buffy. So, why kill Faith who would pass the Slayer line onto another girl and keep Buffy alive who would pretty much do nothing in terms of legacy?

Does this make sense? I mean, I know obviously Buffy is the title character, but in terms of plot I never understood why they wanted to keep Buffy alive so badly and just disregaurded Faith.
 
E
eunsoma
[No message]
Theory is that when Buffy was resurrected in S6, the Slayer line somehow got messed up and was passed back to her, so she became The Slayer again. It kind of makes sense in that maybe whatever it is that passes on the Slayer line "felt" someone awaken with Slayer powers and transferred the line back. How the bad guys knew? Who knows. Probably felt a disturbance in the Force.
 
Yeah, but didn't Joss give us that battery analogy a long long time ago. About how a Slayer is like a battery, once you lose that charge you can't get it back or something.
 
But thats the thing, no new Slayer was created because of Buffy's death 147 days on, that was unprecedented, it was hinted that Buffys slayer essense was trapped with her in death by the vortex and came back with her, she never actually "lost it".
 
T
TaylorSwift
I agree with this comment. Makes sense.
Wild At Heart
Wild At Heart
I agree with this also
Because Buffy mostly acts like a boss in S7, I guess. 😀

Maybe they just think Faith wasn't at her best after she went to jail. Back to the boss thing, I think at that point Buffy was the leader. So when they hurt the Potentials, it effected Buffy to the core. And when it's time Caleb hurt Buffy, it effected the Potentials. It's about making them feel emotionally weak.
 
MinwaraYana said:
Because Buffy mostly acts like a boss in S7, I guess. 😀

Maybe they just think Faith wasn't at her best after she went to jail. Back to the boss thing, I think at that point Buffy was the leader. So when they hurt the Potentials, it effected Buffy to the core. And when it's time Caleb hurt Buffy, it effected the Potentials. It's about making them feel emotionally weak.
Click to expand...

What she said! haha.
 
I'm not sure about whether Buffy's slayer essence being trapped when she died is canon or not (although it's interesting, as it was not a natural death), but the bottom line is that Buffy has more experience than Faith. More experience as a Slayer, and as a leader. Since becoming activated, Faith spent part of that time being bad, part of it hiding out, and then even more of it in jail. It's not that Faith couldn't be the Slayer or leader that Buffy was, it's just that up to this time she hasn't been actively involved in either slaying or leading others.
 
Maybe the first just didn't want it's minions killing Buffy because it wanted a crack at her itself but it needed or wanted the others out of the way *shrugs* who knows evil baddies never seem to think things through completely so in the end maybe thats their downfall? Not thinking things through lol
 
H
Hero
true! wasnt that what caleb was for?
I think it makes sense that Buffy became The Slayer again after she came back. That would fit with what they eye said too... It's like Buffy was the slayer, then Kendra, then Faith, then Buffy again.
 
Possibly the entire "Get Buffy first" tactic wasn't actually the First Evil's plan as much as it was Caleb's. With his woman hating ego, it only stands to reason that he would, seeing Buffy as the most powerful, most experienced fighter around, wanted prove his superiority over everyone by defeating her soundly and totally with all of the girls watching. That would also explain why he didn't finish the job there in the school when she was unconscious. No audience, no glory. Caleb wanted everyone to absolutely know that he, and he alone, with no help or tricks, defeated the major Big Good. For that, he needed an audience.
 
Well, the whole "reactivated Slayer" thing is a totally different topic. And the more yall mention it the more confused I get! lol

but, the point of the thread was why the main focus was on Buffy and none at Faith. I like Angels Baby's idea of the First wanting a crack at Buffy itself instead of having the minions kill her. Because wasn't that kind of what Caleb was for? The First would fuse with him and then kind of have form.
 
Yes, but the whole point was that The First's plan was to kill off all the Potentials so the Slayer line ended with killing The Slayer, so it makes sense to leave her for last, hsving a go at her itself. That Buffy was the de facto leader didn't really figure into that. If she hadn't died at the end of The Gift and thus didn't need resurrection, Faith would still have been The Slayer, so The First's focus would have been on her.
 
So, in your theory (i call it yours because it hasnt been proved yet, right?) Faith is no longer THE Slayer, just A Slayer. Because Buffy's death in season 5 somehow brought the line back to her. Faith is easily killable because she wouldn't pass the line on to anyone. With all the potentials gone, and no more Faith, if/when Buffy died the line would just go...no where. This is an interesting theory, I wish we had some sort of confirmation from Joss or something!
 
It's not proven, no, but it's the only thing I can think of why The First would go after Faith (as seen earliest in Angel), but not Buffy. I rather like the theory of multiple Slayer lines after Xander revived Buffy (hence, her death in The Gift would have activated Olga The Vampire Slayer somewhere in Russia, we just haven't seen her), but it seems unlikely, if The First's plan is anything to go by - which is the only thing we have to go by. Of course, The First's plan is flawed, since there seemed to be a lot more Potentials than it was aware of, so the question is if it really could have gotten every single one, since the Slayer line would continue, if it missed just one.
 
You never 'lose' the ability to be the Slayer. It never leaves you (unless its drugged out of you) not even in death; its who you are. The only anomaly was that a slayer, it didnt matter who, was brought back from the dead. It has less to do with Buffy as a person versus her lifestyle- ie having selfish friends in a position to bring her back and disrupt the balance. The 'reproduction' aspect is the only thing that goes to the next chosen.
 
I always considered this to be a bit of a plot hole; like they forgot that after Kendra was called Buffy was more a slayer anomaly than the current slayer. I always scratched my head every time in season 7 where Buffy would make a speech about how after she died, one of them would be called. My best reasoning for why the first didn't just kill Buffy early on was that, like Angel, she was destined to play a great role in later events and it had to wait until its army was massed before it could kill her. Either that or it was arrogant and wanted to spend a few months knocking Buffy down a peg or two 🙂
 
Perhaps because Buffy actually did her job while Faith didn't? Faith wasn't the Slayer, Faith was a slayer. She had the power, but she didn't really do much with it but get into trouble.
 
caitaintdead
caitaintdead
[No message]
I just rewatched all of Buffy myself and I don't get it either.

The First although interested in maximum pain etc has a very specific goal which is to end the slayer line. As far as everyone (Scoobies, council and viewers) is concerned Faith carries the line not Buffy, it doesn't matter if Faith has spent her whole time as the slayer being a dancer on Broadway she is still the "carrier".

Regardless of what the eye said Buffy et al repeatedly refer to Buffy carrying the Slayer line before Giles and Anya visit it.

It made me a little sad as it seemed simply like sloppy writing to be honest.

Oh and o/ Hi guys, am new here <3
 
W
Willow My Love
She may be a carrier, but she's not a threat.
H
Hero
welcome :)
Welcome! And you're right, it was sloppy writing. Too much of S7 requires a lot of fanwanking to make any sense.
 
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