History Headscratchers / BuffyverseSlayers

---> '''Joyce:''' Well, good. I mean, just as long as the two of you are spending some quality time with ... the lord.

*** Why not? I'm sure if she acted pouty she'd get it from him. (Side note, Buffy knows Angel has a son. At least Willow did in Orpheus so we must assume buffy does as well.)

Headscratchers for ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Spoilers abound.

** Plausible Answer: Vampire Bait. Girls are stereotypically seen as the weaker sex and most vamps seem to be male. Could be that vampires underestimate her and see her as abnother easy meal, when BAM! she fights back and stakes them with her incredible strength.

***** They did, but she had leverage and the only money she actually got him that they wouldn't have had to pay eventually (based on rehiring him) was retroactive pay (and that was only at Giles' suggestion). If she didn't just not think of it, it's possible that she didn't want t push it ("it" being as much or more her personal [[[YourMileageMayVary mis?]]]use of power as their patience, since, leverage).

*** We're explicitly told that she's not supposed to have any ties to the world. Giles tells Buffy outright in the first season that she must put slaying above all else in her life, it's a source of friction in the early days of their relationship. Wesley strongly discourages the existence of the Scooby Gang and permits it only because he's firmly outvoted and lacks any real power over Buffy. Kendra is played up as the ideal Slayer, being taken from her family and raised by her Watcher, and outright tells Buffy that the Slayer is not to have friends or family. The Watchers' Council, when they return in Season Five, openly objects to the existence of the Scooby Gang, berating Buffy for involving "civilians". Spike tells Buffy to her face in Fool For Love that she's special because she has ties to the world that Slayers never have, and that's why she's lived as long as she has. Where do you get the idea that the Council discouraging Slayers from having outside interests is Fan Wank? We see it all the time.

** Or maybe it's just because the First Slayer was female and it was somehow easier or whatever to keep the line one gender only.

** Maybe it's just that the Slayer powers are naturally drawn to females for some reason. In many cultures it's a very typical belief that women are more magical or mystical than men. Also the whole bleeding every month thing makes people associate women with dark powers.

** The Jasmine arc in {{Angel}} adds extra twist to the relation between gods and religion. According to Jasmine's version of the history of Buffyverse, gods of all kinds existed before the great demons, who are actually offspring of "the malevolent among them". For eons the gods have been withdrawn from Earth and pay only peripheral attention, powering the magical mojo of those respectfully invoking them. The gods themselves seem to be so omnipotent and caught up in good-versus-evil that they don't care about the things that religion is called to explain. To them creation is nothing more than a battlefield, and magic is a mundane fact of life. No abrahamic God seems to be in the mix, but the effectiveness of a cross can be attributed to just about any powerful being willing so. Note that the cross doesn't have to be of canonical religious design to work (for practical application the longer plank is just there to hold the cross by), and faith certainly has nothing to do with it's effectiveness, as it scorches even ''the vampire holding it''. The ''only'' unexplainable thing is holy water.

*** The problem with this theory is that even if Buffy's death didn't call anyone, the characters think otherwise. They act as though Buffy's third death would call someone, even if that's false. If they think that Buffy's third death would call someone, they must also think that Buffy's second death already did call someone, and they would expect another Slayer. Even if this expectation is false and no other Slayer is called, the characters should behave as though it's true.
**** WMG: The Third Slayer was Dana (the insane slayer who appeared in ''Angel'' Season 5). The Council found out, got her medical records, maybe even infiltrated the asylum the way they did with Buffy in "The Origin" so they could see for themselves, and concluded that Dana was too dangerous to be released. They might have considered offing her, but to do so could have sparked a war with the Scooby Gang, a war which the Council would almost certainly have lost.

***** Kendra was called there when something was happening that could require both slayers to stop. And yes, I would assume her watcher knew and was just a dick. After all, he made Kendra fly in a cargo hold, didn't he?

**** The difference was that [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment the potential slayers were already potential slayers]]. Making a random girl into a slayer is not the same as activating a potential slayer, which is an entity with some distinct mystical standing in the Buffyverse. Willow merely gave these girls access to something that was already theirs, and already a part of them. Further: since the state of girls and women has improved [[{{understatement}} just a bit]] since the stone age, these girls can truly ''wield'' the power of the slayer, unlike Sineya, who was ruled by it. Sineya didn't even have language, while the modern potentials had culture, community, and sense of their own personhood that made them stronger than their common spiritual ancestor. The first Slayer's suffering, while tragic, is now a part of their heritage, and more than just something to honor and respect; heritage is something that can be made use of. Hence Buffy's remark about the Scythe, which was the physical embodiment of the slayerdom: "It’s old, it’s strong, and it feels like it’s ''mine''."