History Characters / BuffyverseFaithLehane

* AndStarring: Eliza Dushku gets this treatment in Seasons 3-4 of ''Buffy'' and 1-4 of ''Angel''. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] as part of a CreditsGag in "Who Are You?", where she's credited "as Buffy", and during her return in Season 7, where she's credited as a special guest star.

* LooksLikeCesare: Faith's become a RareFemaleExample of this by the time she reaches L.A. in ''Angel'' Season 1

* AmbiguouslyBi: While she's definitely into guys, she also has a ''lot'' of HomoeroticSubtext with Buffy, particularly in Season 3. The First-as-the-Mayor outright says that all Faith ever wanted was for Buffy to "love" her. Eliza Dushku even said she always thought that Faith definitely had something for Buffy. In Season 8 Faith herself denies this, but it isn't like this would be the first time Faith has lied about something personal, and the very same arc included some heavy-handed lesbian innuendo between Faith and Gigi.

* AboveGoodAndEvil: Faith believed since she and Buffy were slayers that they were better than everyone else. This is explicitly lampshaded after Faith accidentally kills the Deputy Mayor.

* BreakTheCutie: Life has not been kind to Faith. ''At all''. Until she started working for [[ParentalSubstitute The Mayor]] the best thing that had happened to her was becoming a slayer. So naturally, when the Mayor dies, Faith is absolutely broken and begs for Angel to end her suffering.

* CharacterCatchPhrase: She often used the expression "five by five" to mean everything was well. Tara once asked what it even meant, and Willow replied: "See?! That's the thing! No one knows." She had her own personal, unique slang and it was revealed that she had inherited her catchphrase of the word "wicked" from her father.

* DistaffCounterpart: To Spike. Both have spent time in the villain camp before fully becoming heroes and both [[HellBentForLeather have a taste for wearing black leather]]. They're sometimes referred to as "the other one" (the other slayer and the other vampire with a soul, respectively), have similar interests, and constantly live in the shadow of their main rival.

-->'''Cordelia:''' (to Connor) What the hell is it with you and Faith! As if I didn't see the way you looked at her. She [[WhipOfDominance cracked her whip]], and you liked it. You were practically in her [[HellBentForLeather leather-clad lap!]]

* DudeWheresMyRespect?: Seems to be a major factor in her decision to turn evil. Despite being a Slayer just like Buffy, Faith often felt like she was the backup, being left out of the loop and treated like she didn't matter as much as the other slayer, whether the Scoobies intended it that way or not. This, coupled with her low self-esteem and the fact she was blamed for a lot of mistakes (which in retrospect were just as much Buffy's mistakes) caused her to snap and join the Mayor's side. In contrast the Mayor treated her with respect, gave her a nice apartment and shiny new toys, and often praised her abilities as better than Buffy.

* HealingFactor: Despite being closest to the bomb, she survived an explosion that caused an entire sewer tunnel to cave-in, killing several potential slayers in the process. Although she was severely wounded and weakened, Faith was ready to fight Turok-Han vampires after about a day of rest.

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Accidentally killing someone, or getting yelled at for her actions (such as when she tried to kill Angel or saved Buffy and an evil slayer) makes Faith completely snap. The second time especially.

* UnstoppableRage: In Season 8, she tries to save Buffy from a rogue slayer who wants to kill her, but when Buffy sees them together she is thoroughly convinced that Faith has gone evil again, refusing to believe that it was Giles who put Faith up to the job. Faith is reasonably pissed to the point where she tries to drown Buffy, realizing that to some extent, as long as Buffy's around she'll always be considered the villain and that Buffy will never completely trust her.

* GamerChick: The Mayor gives her a UsefulNotes/PlayStation, and she treats it as just about the greatest thing ever. The novel ''Go Ask Malice'' confirms that Faith is very much a gamer, as do the comics where she's a fan of, or at the very least familiar with, ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum.''

* ClosetGeek: Believe it or not she is familiar with cosplay, reads comic books, references Franchise/StarWars quite a bit, Creator/DrSeuss, Franchise/{{Transformers}}, Mayor Wilkens buys her off with a UsefulNotes/PlayStation and she wears a Franchise/{{Batman}} t-shirt, so she definitely has geekish tendencies.

* DistaffCounterpart: To Spike. They're sometimes referred to as "the other one" (the other slayer and the other vampire with a soul, respectively), have similar interests, and constantly live in the shadow of their ArchEnemy.

* TheFarmerAndTheViper: Buffy goes out of her way to be kind and welcoming to her, and even tries to help her after her faceheelTurn... and Faith rewards her by repeatedly trying to kill her or simply ruin her life. By the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "[[Recap/AngelS01E19Sanctuary Sanctuary]]", Buffy is finally done trying to be nice to Faith, [[ReformedButRejected refuses to accept]] her HeelRealization, and fully intends to kill her.

* HellBentForLeather: Among Faith's many ''colorful'' outfits are her [[EvilIsSexy infamous leather pants]], which Spike uses to identify her during their first official meeting in "Dirty Girls."

* DarkMagicalGirl: She's a loner foil for the friendly and perky Buffy. She looks up to an arc villain as a father-figure. She's redeemed from evil with ThePowerOfFriendship. She even managed to be close friends with Buffy for a short while.

* {{Catchphrase}}: She often used the expression "five by five" to mean everything was well. Tara once asked what it even meant, and Willow replied: "See?! That's the thing! No one knows." She had her own personal, unique slang and it was revealed that she had inherited her catchphrase of the word "wicked" from her father.

* DeadpanSnarker: Most of the time it's pretty adult.

* BadassTeacher: First to Team Angel, then to the Potentials, then to activated Slayers and now literally with ''the'' Slayer infiltrating a school as a coach. Even if there is truth in the title "Those Who Can't Teach, Teach Gym" it's highly doubtful anyone has the balls to say it to her face. Let's see, her...well, [[JustForPun track]] record include killing Kakistos, going toe to toe against Buffy, defeating Angel, lives after being stabbed and jumping from a building, effortlessly wards off an assassin Buffy had trouble with; then escaping prison and uses her body to cushion Wesley's body from a multi-story fall, survives against The Beast, fights Angelus to a standstill longer than Buffy ever could while higher than a kite, and uses the scythe to decimate Turok Han. ''There's'' a woman to take home to papa.

* AnythingThatMoves: When Faith first appears she lists off a number of previous boyfriends and makes it clear that she thinks of sex as nothing more than a stress relief tool. This is demonstrated by her use of [[ButtMonkey Xander]] as a physical release following an open-ended fight with a demon. Later, Faith tries to sleep with Angel to get him to lose his soul, sleeps with Riley [[GrandTheftMe while in Buffy's body]], and enters into a short-lived relationship with Wood at the end of Season 7. She also has two intimate conversations with Spike that border on ShipTease. For those keeping track at home, that's at least three guys Faith bagged during her twenty appearances on the show, compared to Buffy's four for the entire series. As of Season 9, Faith has started to mature, which includes setting higher standards for herself and rejecting a hapless Spike's advances on the grounds that he is obviously still in love with Buffy, declaring herself "nobody's rebound girl." Faith is also currently preoccupied with looking after Angel, marking it as the first non-Mayor/Watcher male relationship she's had [[PlatonicLifePartners which didn't involve a sexual element.]]

* PetTheDog: Before her redemption ahe decides to rescue some churchgoers inatead of leaving them to their fate.

* ClosetGeek: Believe it or not she is familiar with cosplay, reads comic books, references Franchise/StarWars quite a bit, Creator/DrSeuss, {{Transformers}}, Mayor Wilkens buys her off with a UsefulNotes/PlayStation and she wears a Franchise/{{Batman}} t-shirt, so she definitely has geekish tendencies.

* TheHero: In an official capacity she is the Slayer, despite Buffy being BackFromTheDead. In-universe and out she is treated as one of the nicer characters at the end, when Buffy TookALevelInJerkass. And in the comics she is not only a NiceGirl, but Angel specifically wanted her to keep him on a muzzle lest he go off the rails, and she leads a squad of Slayers in London. Also, she's treated as TheHero over Buffy even before she saves the world.

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* ContraltoOfDanger: Speaks with a really low and husky voice, courtesy of Eliza Dushku.

-->'''Cordelia:''' (to Connor) What the hell is it with you and Faith! As if I didn't see the way you looked at her. She cracked her whip, and you liked it. You were practically in her [[HellBentForLeather leather-clad lap!]]

* WhipItGood:
** It's unsurprising considering Faith's dominatrix tendencies, but this lies in her sexual past (or present).
-->'''Faith:'''This one guy I ran with, he liked me to dress up like a schoolgirl, and take this friggen bullwhip, and I'd be like--
** If the Faith-inspired novel ''Go Ask Malice'' can be considered canon, the guy with the bullwhip was her ex-boyfriend, Ronnie, who she describes to Buffy in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E7Revelations Revelations]]" as a "deadbeat".

* ADateWithRosiePalms: In the game ''VideoGame/BuffyTheVampireSlayerChaosBleeds'', she alludes to using stakes as sex toys, which returns as a monster of a BrickJoke in the comics when Giles' aunts discover Faith's stash of stakes and refer to them as vibrators.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: In Season 7, after the Scoobies and Potentials all turn on Buffy and force her out of the house, they all nominate Faith to replace her as leader simply because she's ''also'' a full-fledged Slayer, despite the fact that Faith has almost no leadership experience and Giles and Willow are both better candidates. This decision backfires horribly when Faith's first plan leads the Potentials into a near-fatal trap, leading Buffy to bail them out.