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!!Faith Lehane
[[quoteright:341:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/buffy_faithlehane3.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:341:"''You hurt me, I hurt you. I'm just a little more efficient."'']]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/ElizaDushku, Creator/SarahMichelleGellar ("Who Are You?")
->''"You know, I come to Sunnydale. I'm the Slayer. I do my job kicking ass better than anyone. But what do I hear about everywhere I go? Buffy. So I slay, I behave, I do the good little girl routine. [[DudeWheresMyRespect And who does everybody thank? Buffy.]]"''
Slayer from Boston activated by Kendra's death at the hands of Drusilla in the penultimate episode of Season 2, and a {{Foil}} for Buffy in Season 3. Loved slaying a little too much, and ended up playing TheDragon to [[BigBad the Mayor]]. Moved to ''Series/{{Angel}}'', ended up in jail, and came back redeemed for the final few episodes.
After the battle in Sunnydale, Faith joined the others as part of the worldwide Slayer Organization, setting up shop in Cleveland, where she assisted a Slayer squad led by ex-boyfriend Robin Wood. This changed after assisting Giles with a mission against a rogue Slayer, and together they decided to find Slayers that were having difficulty with their new life and help them out.
In the aftermath of the destruction of the Seed of Wonder by Buffy and Giles' death at the hands of a brainwashed Angel, Faith remains the only person willing to associate with Angel, and is dedicated to helping him -- and herself -- find redemption.
----
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[[folder:A-F]]
* 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.
--> '''Buffy:''' We help people! It doesn't mean we can do whatever we want.\\
'''Faith:''' Why not? The guy I offed was no Gandhi. I mean, we just saw he was mixed up in dirty dealings.\\
'''Buffy:''' Maybe, but what if he was coming to us for help?\\
'''Faith:''' What if he was? You're still not seeing the big picture, B. Something made us different. We're warriors. We're built to kill.\\
'''Buffy:''' To kill demons! But it does not mean that we get to pass judgment on people like we're better than everybody else!\\
'''Faith:''' We ''are'' better! That's right, better. People need us to survive. In the balance, nobody's gonna cry over some random bystander who got caught in the crossfire.
* AbusiveParents: Her mother was a neglectful alcoholic who was likely physically and mentally abusive. The Mayor was a better parent!
* AccidentalMurder: Of Deputy Mayor Finch.
* AllMenArePerverts: As she believes.
--> '''Faith:''' ''All'' men are beasts, Buffy.\\
'''Buffy:''' Okay, I was hoping to not get that cynical till I was at least forty.\\
'''Faith:''' It's not cynical. I mean, it's realistic. Every guy from Manimal down to Mr. I-Love-The-English-Patient has beast in him. And I don't care how sensitive they act. They're all still just in it for the chase.
* AllThereInTheScript: Her surname, Lehane, was not revealed until the release of the official ''Buffy'' RPG.
* AlwaysSecondBest: To Buffy. Ironically this is how Buffy feels in regards to Faith.
--> '''Faith''' ''[While holding the Scythe]'' It's old, strong and it feels like its mine. ''[Pauses]'' I guess that means it's yours.
* 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.
* 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.
* AntiHero: Types I through to IV, when she's not psychotic.
* AntiHeroSubstitute: Faith is the one true Slayer, since she was called upon Kendra's death (who was in turn called when Buffy died.) She's a decidedly less moral, more antagonistic mold -- at least initially.
* 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.]]
* ArchEnemy: For Buffy, being her ShadowArchetype and (for a time) EvilCounterpart.
* ArentYouGoingToRavishMe: After stealing Buffy's body she tries to get Riley to engage in creepy sex. Instead [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex he's so gentle]] it freaks her out.
* AscendedExtra: Originally started out with a planned minor role in the series, similar to Kendra's, both the audience and Joss Whedon became fans of Eliza and her character and she became much more important to the story.
* 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.
* TheAtoner: Not only could she have taken a run at Angelus in the monster stakes, Faith is the biggest example of this trope this side of Angelus, to the point she JumpedAtTheCall to find Riley so she can make up for hurting him.
* AxCrazy: This is very much a condition she has even as a good guy. She is able to mostly keep it in check, but she is tempted to kill Angel in a hell dimension (so he would no longer place her and others in danger) and working as TheMole she loses her temper and tries to drown Buffy in a pool.
* 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.
* BadLiar: Giles quickly realizes that it was her who killed Finch and not Buffy. In his own words: "Faith has many skills, but fortunately lying is not one of them."
* BastardGirlfriend: In "Consequences", at the absolute nadir of her sanity, Faith holds a protesting Xander down in her bed, and seems entirely undecided about whether she's going to rape him, murder him, or both. She does lose interest in creepy kinky sex though after spending a night with Riley, who is more of the vanilla missionary-style school.
* BatmanGambit: She tries to kill Angel, assaults Cordelia, and kidnaps and tortures Wesley, all in an attempt to force a showdown with Angel and get him to kill her.
* BathtubBonding: With Genevieve Savidge in Season 8, which Faith does with the knowledge that she has to kill her. Awkward.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Usually played straight, and easily explained by the enhanced resilience enjoyed by all Slayers. Even after extended battles with Buffy, who hit harder than most vampires, Faith always looked fine, without even a smudge on her makeup. Averted occasionally:
** As a result of a particularly significant battle, such as the rooftop duel with Buffy (Though the only real damage to her face came as a result of a long fall onto a moving truck, ''not'' from Buffy's fists).
** While attempting to defeat The Beast in Los Angeles, Faith suffers a horrific beatdown, and is so bloody and battered afterwards that she can barely walk. Her reactions afterwards show that her confidence is just as damaged as her body.
** Her and Buffy were shown to have bruises lining their faces after their first fight with each other.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: A total of three times, with one-time watcher Gwendolyn Post, The Mayor, and Angel. She was willing to die to save him, all because he helped her come back from being evil while everyone else hated her (mainly because he understood her, seeing as he was in the same situation about 100 years previously). In season 4 of ''Series/{{Angel}}'', this is the reason why she refused to even try to kill [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Angelus]], and in ''ComicBook/AngelAndFaith'', she is still very loyal to him. Also, another reason why she helps Angel in Season 9 is because she really wants Giles back, since he was nice to her, too.
* BedTrick: Sleeps with Riley by pretending to be Buffy, whose body she had stolen at the time.
* BeingEvilSucks: When she begged Angel to kill her, it was because of this. "Who Are You" focuses on Faith's realization of how far she's fallen from the Slayer ideal.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Arguably with Buffy. Writer Doug Petrie was very much aware of the 'lesbian subtext' between the two, and as such, many of the episodes he wrote are ''riddled'' with LesYay.
* TheBerserker: When we first meet her, the result of witnessing the gruesome death of her Watcher. She relapses back into it when she awakens from her coma.
-->'''Buffy:''' Girl's not playing with a full deck, Giles. She has no deck. She has a 3.
* BerserkButton: Being told off for trying to do the right thing seems to be this. After she tries to kill Angel to stop who she thinks is Angelus it causes a deep rift from the gang (although them keeping it from her and giving her the "need to know basis" treatment was even worse). When told off for trying to rationalize killing the deputy mayor and getting rid of the body she gradually becomes more and more of a loose cannon, especially since they completely ignore Buffy's role in his death. In the comics when Buffy won't let her explain what she's doing Faith tries to drown her in a fit of rage, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone before realizing what she's doing.]]
* BerserkerTears: Briefly does this before collapsing in grief when she tried to get Angel to kill her.
* BetterLivingThroughEvil: The first thing the Mayor did for Faith was get her her own apartment (an instant upgrade from the crappy motel room she'd previously been forced to call home), complete with a Playstation. Miniature golf [[ParentalSubstitute only further sealed the deal.]]
* BewareTheSuperman: Believed she was better than other people because she's a Slayer. Giles sums it up best:
-->'''Giles''': We have a rogue Slayer on our hands. I can't think of anything more dangerous.
* BeyondRedemption: When Faith begins to go rogue after accidentally killing the Deputy Mayor, Willow [[NiceGirl of all people]] outright asks the other Scoobies why they should help her, stating that since Faith had taken a human life and tried to pin it on Buffy and had also tried to strangle Xander to death, she believed that the smartest thing to do would be to simply turn her over to the police or the Watchers' Council and be done with it. In "Choices," when Faith and Willow confront one another, Faith expects Willow to give her a speech that it wasn't too late for her to turn back, only to be caught off-guard when Willow gives her a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech and declares it ''is'' too late. Buffy herself eventually comes to agree after Faith [[GrandTheftMe swaps bodies with her]] and uses it to her advantage to [[PowerPerversionPotential have sex with Riley]]; when they confront one another in L.A., Buffy is determined to have Faith either killed or locked up, not caring that Faith is remorseful of her crimes and firmly believing that Faith can't be saved and Angel is wasting his time trying to help her.
-->'''Faith:''' Angel told me there was no way you were gonna give me a chance.\\
'''Buffy:''' I gave you ''every'' chance! I tried so hard to help you, and you ''spat'' on me!
* BigEater: Being superpowered [[VampireHunter vampire hunters]] Slayers tend to eat a lot. Faith showed this quality more, but it's likely due to living in PerpetualPoverty and eating up when she can.
* BloodKnight: Faith's favorite part of Slaying? The kill. That's what she used to live for. Even before she contemplated killing when younger, just to see what it was like. This extended to innocents where she looked for the thrill from killing and violence. Thankfully she got better.
* BookDumb: On having the phrase "AchillesHeel" explained to her.
--> "Ah. [[BuffySpeak School thing]]. I was kinda absent that decade."
* BreakoutCharacter: She was originally supposed to last one season and commit suicide out of guilt of committing murder. Instead she underwent a dramatic redemption arc and proved so popular that there were plans to give her a spin-off, though she did headline a comic series with Angel.
* 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.
* BrokenBird: Lives with knowing she is borderline psychotic and has a hell of a lot to atone for. Even before the series started, she reveals some things about her past that weren't too pleasant.
* TheBusCameBack: In Season 4 of ''Angel'' and Season 7 of ''Buffy''. The latter also counts as BackForTheFinale.
* CallingTheOldManOut: After it's revealed that Faith's father George only came looking for Faith because he wanted her to kill someone for him, Faith lets him have it, berating him for never being around and leaving her always looking for a father figure, and then nearly strangling him to death in a fit of rage.
* {{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.
* CharacterDevelopment: She goes from AntiHero, to villain, to genuinely finding redemption and making peace with Buffy.
* TheChosenOne: She is the One True Slayer, with Buffy having died and being the direct replacement for Kendra. Creator/JossWhedon has implied that, after Willow's spell activated all the Potentials alive at the time of the casting, no new Slayer will be Chosen until and unless Faith dies.
* 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.
* ClothingReflectsPersonality: Prior to her reformation, her look typically involved namely leather jeans and jackets and tight tops, often in dark clothes as to clash with Buffy's more "good girl" appearance. Her makeup was often dark and had red or maroon lipstick and she would wear accessories ranging from chain necklaces and chokers to belted bracelets and studded belts. After reforming, her appearance changed: she took to wearing more color and her makeup became much less intense and dark.
* ColdSniper: Her heel/face turns respectively.
* CombatPragmatist: Borrowed stakes. Chain link fences. Support beams used as stakes. Werewolf tails. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Hinting as sexual disease from Scott to scare off his date.]] Chairs. Glass doors. Crossbows. Police car cages. Anything's a weapon for a Slayer and Faith's a walking talking screwing armory.
* CombatSadomasochist: Faith makes no secret that slaying gets her horny. So naturally, a fight with no kill requires some kind of release, as Xander found out.
* ContraltoOfDanger: Speaks with a really low and husky voice, courtesy of Eliza Dushku.
* ConvenientComa: Was in one for eight months after Buffy tried her level best to kill her. This didn't stop her.
* CoolAunt:
** Creator/JossWhedon said that during season seven, she was this to the Potentials while Buffy was the mom.
** Becomes one to Giles when he's resurrected as a twelve year old...she's bemused by his childish behavior and helps him cope with what happened to him and everything he's lost.
* CoolBigSis: She became this in season seven, primarily because she was took the potentials out to let off steam and was seen as more reasonable than Buffy.
* CreateYourOwnVillain: The Scoobies neglecting to inform her about Angel's return was the first nail in the coffin, but [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Wesley having her arrested]] after she accidentally killed Deputy Mayor Finch made Faith completely snap.
* CulturedBadass: Given some of her quotes she at least tries to be. She ends up mangling some lines or uses them out of context.
* CuteAndPsycho: Hoo boy, she's as crazy as she is sexy, and she's portrayed as perhaps the most sexed up character in the series.
* TheCynic: Life's been utter crap for Faith, of course she takes this approach with family and men.
* CynicismCatalyst: Her AccidentalMurder of the Deputy Mayor is what really pushed her over the edge.
* DaddysLittleVillain: Despite not really being his daughter, she winds up very much playing this role to The Mayor — she's his loyal Dragon, of whom he is clearly protective. Her loyalty is based on him being the first (and possibly ''only'') person who ever valued her just for being her (not using her or trying to change her). When he tells her that even if Buffy did a FaceHeelTurn, he'd still pick Faith over her, it's a weird but touchingly sincere moment that clearly means the world to her. Buffy sending her into a coma led to his one swear word and Buffy taunting him about said loss led to his defeat. Many scenes between Faith and the Mayor involved him acting very fatherly and tender, giving her gifts and general life advice (about respecting and valuing herself) alongside assassination missions. Nice little CallBack in both Season Seven and the Season Eight comics, showing that Faith remembers him fondly despite her HeelFaceTurn.
* DanceBattler: In "[[Recap/AngelS01E18FiveByFive Five by Five]]", Faith dances about as the clubgoers get involved in various fights, working in some good punches and kicks as she gyrates.
* DarkActionGirl: After her FaceHeelTurn she becomes a rather cold blooded murderer.
* 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.
* 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.
* DeadpanSnarker: Most of the time it's pretty adult.
** On being promised that she'd get off (the murder charges against her would be dropped).
-->'''Faith:''' You don't know how many men have promised me that.
** On getting back into slaying after her stint in prison.
-->'''Faith:''' Just like riding a biker.
* DeathSeeker:
** First, she is clearly unafraid of the possibility of Buffy killing her at the end of Season 3. Dying isn't her exact plan then, but she'd still welcome it as a victory because it would corrupt Buffy like she herself was corrupted. Secondly comes the literal example, where after spending time in Buffy's body and learning that BeingEvilSucks, she goes to LA in hopes of getting Angel to kill her.
** She even shows signs of this while a good guy: she was perfectly willing to go into a 1 on 8 situation without Buffy, and her fight with Angelus was borderline suicidal.
* DidntSeeThatComing: In "Choices," when confronting Willow, Faith expects her to give her a speech about how they're still her friends and it's not too late for her to turn back. She's taken by surprise when Willow does the exact opposite, telling her point-blank that it ''is'' too late for her and now that she's switched sides, she's alone, friendless, and a "big, selfish, worthless waste."
* {{Dominatrix}}: Doesn't mind playing sex games with boys "as long as they know who's on top."
-->'''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!]]
* TheDragon: To [[BigBad The Mayor]] during the second half of Season 3.
* DrivenByEnvy: Her reasoning for going evil.
* DrivenToSuicide: After the events of "Who Are You?", she comes to realize just how bad she's become and tries to get Angel to kill her. Angel refuses to let her take the easy way out, and Faith ends up going to jail instead.
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: After going to work for the [[BigBad Mayor]], she absolutely ''revels'' in embracing in her dark side.
* 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.
* DynamicCharacter: From edgy AntiHero to psychotic to stubborn ReformedButRejected and back again. Come season nine she is considered by some InUniverse as more of TheHero than Buffy.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Mayor Wilkins was the first person to fulfill Faith's need for a loving parental figure, genuinely valued her as a person, and moved her out of the trashy motel room she'd called home into a well-furnished studio apartment. Because of this, she returns his familial feelings towards her, acting out of genuine loyalty towards him and a desire to make him proud of her. The nightmares she has while comatose include Buffy killing him, and when she finds out about his death after waking up, she's clearly devastated. Even after her HeelFaceTurn, she still remembers him fondly and considers him a better father than her biological dad.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: In "Who Are You?", Faith has taken over Buffy's body and experiments by trying to live Buffy's life. She gets very confused and rather upset when people are nice to her. Especially Riley. It seems that "emotionally intimate and loving" is the only way Faith ''hasn't'' had sex yet.
* EvilCounterpart: Whereas Kendra was the polar opposite of Buffy in nearly every way, Faith was meant to represent Buffy's "road not taken", a living embodiment of what Buffy might have been had her life's circumstances been different.
* EvilFeelsGood: When Faith pulls a FaceHeelTurn, she goes from living in a dive motel that can and had been attacked by vampires with a barely functioning A/C and TV, to living in a studio loft with all of the fixings and no worries about vampires getting in. Suffice to say it's no wonder she felt proud to be a bad guy. Of course, after the Mayor's death and Buffy puts her in a coma, she shifts gears and decides that BeingEvilSucks.
* EvilIsNotAToy: Realizes this after waking up from her coma. Angel sums it up quite well when asking her:
-->'''Angel''': I once told you that you didn't have to go out in that darkness. Remember? That it was your choice. Well, you chose. You thought that you could just touch it. That you'd be okay. 5x5, right, Faith? But it swallowed you whole. So tell me — how did you like it?
* EvilMeScaresMe: Faith is so disgusted with herself after she turned evil that she wants to die. Her fight with Angelus shows just how concerned she is with keeping her dark side in check.
* EvilWearsBlack: After her FaceHeelTurn she starts wearing darker clothing.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: During her coma, her hair grew longer and became noticeably wavy and lighter.
* {{Expy}}: While developing the character, Douglas Petrie took inspiration from ComicBook/{{Elektra}}:
-->For inspiration for Faith, I read ''Elektra Lives Again'' about a hundred times. In a different, teen, punkier context, Faith is so much like Elektra.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:F-M]]
* FaceHeelTurn: During the second half of Season 3.
* FallenHero: She's the One True Slayer. A violent, immoral, somewhat crazed young woman who snaps and goes evil. It reaches the point where she realizes she's a monster and becomes a DeathSeeker. Comes full circle after her reform, now Buffy's cracking up and Faith is the more grounded, thoughtful hero.
* 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.
* FauxAffablyEvil: She has this demeanor when talking to Joyce in "This Year's Girl".
* FemmeFatale: Hot and [[ProudBeauty she knows it]], and how to use it, such as trying to pull a WoundedGazelleGambit on Angel to get him to sleep with her and lose his soul.
* FoeRomanceSubtext: She and Buffy repeat the same dynamic the latter had with Angelus, only with more emotional baggage, complete with TakeThatKiss from Faith (on the forehead, though originally scripted to be on the lips) and both of them acting like spurned girlfriends every time they cross paths. Fast forward to Season 7, and the First says everything Faith did was so Buffy would love her (which Faith doesn't deny).
* ForcedToWatch: Her first Watcher was [[CruelAndUnusualDeath torn in half]] in front of her by Kakistos.
* FormerTeenRebel: When first introduced she was a ReallyGetsAround BloodKnight who didn't mind if she had to ShootTheDog because Buffy wouldn't, such as whether or not Angel was good. After her FaceHeelTurn she became a psychopath who killed and did wrong ForTheEvulz, and actually tried to be this to attempt [[SuicideByCop suicide by vampire.]] After breaking out of prison she has become one of the nicest people in both series, a SergeantRock to younger Slayers, and has only seemingly grown out of her bad habits.
* FreudianExcuse: Her desire to be the Mayor's surrogate daughter is unsurprising, given that he's the first parental figure she had that actually loved her. Aside from her first Watcher, who was brutally murdered in front of her. Even before she joined the Mayor she wasn't in the best of places mentally, having serious issues with men and authority figures.
* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: After her FaceHeelTurn, Buffy explicitly mentions Faith's bad childhood as a reason to give her a second chance. However, when Faith expects Willow to offer her a chance at redeeming herself, Willow denies her that and said she had Buffy and the others supporting her but now she has nothing.
-->'''Willow''': I know you had a tough life, I know some people think you had a lot of bad breaks. Well boo-hoo, poor you. You know, you had a lot more in your life than some people, I mean you had friends like Buffy, now you have no one, you were a Slayer, now you are nothing. You're just a big selfish, worthless waste.
* FriendsWithBenefits: She and Xander were not exactly friends, about as close as they got was him revealing that Angel was alive, and all for killing him. Nonetheless, in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E13TheZeppo The Zeppo]]" he saves Faith from a Sisterhood of Jhe demon, and she takes his virginity with her treating it as a casual fling, kicking him out of her room moments after. Then, when he tries to use their "connection" to talk to her about her accidental murder of the Deputy Mayor, this becomes a MoralEventHorizon crossing, as she refuses to listen, insists that guys only ever want one thing from her, pushes him onto the bed and starts forcing herself on him, and chokes him, before Angel knocks her out.
* FullFrontalAssault: In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E3FaithHopeAndTrick Faith, Hope and Trick]]", one of the stories she tells her gang had her fighting three vampires in the buff after she sense them while she SleepsInTheNude. Xander gets [[DistractedByTheSexy particularly distracted]] by the mental image.
* 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.''
* GoodFeelsGood: When she switched bodies with Buffy, she was expected to do Buffy-like things since nobody knew she did it. This was what led to her HeelFaceTurn.
* GoodGirlGoneBad: Common knowledge by now, she's the rough tough sexed up Slayer compared to Buffy's more conservative nature, and she allows her psychotic nature to get the better of her. Even after having reformed and shown that she is really a good girl Faith gets treated as such.
* GoodIsNotNice: Before and after her FaceHeelTurn.
-->'''Faith:''' I'm gonna find these Enders. I'm gonna ''kill 'em.'' I'm gonna get this MacGuffin and use it to save Angel and Giles. Anyone who wants to help, speak up. Anyone who doesn't, ''screw you!'' ''[Spike's cowed and falls into line].
* GoodIsNotSoft: She matures into this. A seriously nice girl, caring, and points out EvenEvilHasLovedOnes. She's also up for maiming and killing human and demon alike, even her deadbeat father. In season nine, after slicing off the arm of a gun-toting gangster, then burning drug dealers alive, she brings up the proper arrangements for their bereaved families. Even when she was introduced, she proved to have what it takes: aside from being genuinely nice, she would say a dumped Buffy is a good Buffy (because of how aggressive a fighter she was after Scott dumped her) before sabotaging Scott's future conquests on Buffy's behalf, then lending a kind ear to a pissed Xander before going behind Buffy's back to kill Angel, since for all Faith knew he was still capable of being the grand master villain of the series.
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Faith has taken to smoking after her HeelFaceTurn. The comics suggest it's to steady her nerves, what with dealing with what she's done and fighting over a second Hellmouth. She goes through the better half of a pack because of her unease with assassinating a rogue Slayer.
** She smoked in the later seasons on the television show too, though it was shown rarely. One assumes she didn't do so during Season Three because the censors dislike having 'good' characters smoke. After her FaceHeelTurn, it would have been the Mayor preventing her, since he wouldn't want DaddysLittleVillain engaging in such a nasty habit.
* GrandTheftMe: During a two-part episode in Season 4, she awakens from her coma and uses a magic talisman left to her by the Mayor to steal Buffy's body, with the intention of ruining her life and then taking off to start a new life in some other place. She initially succeeds, since she manages to switch bodies with Buffy and then alienates her from her friends and family, but Buffy's loved ones eventually find out the truth and help reverse the body switching spell.
* GreenEyedMonster: Both the victim and the source of this: she wants what Buffy has, family, friends, respect, finally rationalizing that she is unlikely to have any of these things. Likewise Buffy is put out when Faith is adored, and when Buffy pushes people away most happily turn to Faith instead, causing Buffy to go all green eyed.
* GuiltComplex: Seemingly averted after she kills Deputy Mayor Finch and claims not to care. However, it's clear from the following episode that Faith is trying to erase the guilt by saying Buffy killed him. After her FaceHeelTurn she doesn't show any remorse for her actions, but "Five by Five" and "Sanctuary" over on ''Series/{{Angel}}'' reveal that Faith is so guilty that she tries to get Angel to kill her.
* HatesBeingTouched: She finds physical contact uncomfortable, due to her abusive parents. When she switched bodies with Buffy she was not used to Joyce hugging her, at all. She doesn't like Riley near her unless it's for casual sex. And she stabs Giles with a fork, before apologetically saying she doesn't like being pawed, unless she paws first.
* HeadbuttingHeroes: With Buffy. Special mention goes to 'Revelations', where they slug it out after Faith tried to kill Angel (being led by Xander into thinking she was doing the right thing).
* 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.
* 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.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Wesley pretty much ruined any chance Angel had of getting through to her (and it seemed to be working, mind you). About a year later he is more successful.
* HeelRealization: When she switched bodies with Buffy, she eventually figures out that she could have taken a run at Series/{{Angel}} for evil, and would reappear on his show as one in the hope he would kill her. He sees right through this ploy and doesn't comply with it. Another mild example crops up in the comics, when she snaps and tries to kill Buffy again, due to a combination of liking the person she actually ''was'' going to kill (on Giles' orders), trying to protect her from Buffy, and some belief that if she kills Buffy she'll be a hero; she realizes she treats those who are decent to her like dirt. She makes more of an effort to treat people as people, rather than as a means to an end.
* HeelFaceReturn: Her return to Sunnydale in Season 7 looks like this to anyone who wasn't watching ''Series/{{Angel}}''.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Even as a good guy she easily gives into her impulses and quite knowingly knows she's not all there, resulting in conflict with good guys and bad guys alike.
* HighHeelFaceTurn: After Angel shows her ThePowerOfFriendship.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Slowly adopts more and more violent tendencies, until finally she is indistinguishable from Angelus himself.
* TheHedonist: Faith's carefree approach to slaying backfired horribly after her AccidentalMurder of a human.
* 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."
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Buffy puts Faith in a coma by stabbing her in the gut with her own knife. Which she got after Faith unintentionally left it behind.
* HotBlooded: Faith sees something she doesn't like (such as Scott dancing with another girl after dumping Buffy) or is told something that upsets her (Angel was kept a secret and still may be evil) and she'll make no bones about her opinion before springing into action with no thought.
* IconicSequelCharacter: She is introduced in early Season 3, becoming one of the season's primary antagonists, before returning for a two-part guest spot in Season 4. She returns again for the last arc of the final season after pulling a HeelFaceTurn on Angel.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: Though she'd never admit it, she wants to have Scoobies of her own.
* InterruptedCooldownHug: Angel is finally getting through to her when Wesley has Faith detained and shipped out. About a year later, Angel tries it again when he realizes that Faith is now suicidal, this time successfully and before Wes can muck it up.
* InspectorJavert: In "Revelations", after seeing an injured and unconscious Giles in the library, Faith automatically assumes that Angel attacked him. By contrast, Xander, who can't stand Angel and manipulated Faith into going after him to begin with, doubts that Angel did so, and he's proven right.
* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: After her FaceHeelTurn Faith invokes this when Buffy attacks her.
* InTheBlood: In ''[[ComicBook/AngelAndFaith Angel & Faith]]'', Faith's own father tells her that, no matter how much she tries to change or how much she tries to be one of the good guys, she will ''always'' be in trouble simply because she is a Lehane, which drives Faith into a brief HeroicBSOD.
* ItsPersonalWithTheDragon: Buffy definitely had more of a bone to pick with Faith than with the [[BigBad Mayor]].
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Before and after her FaceHeelTurn. She tends to play things off nonchalantly and can be a Jerkass, though usually genuinely wants to help. She becomes nicer after her Heel–Face Turn, holds a lot of loyalty towards certain people and feels guilt for her terrible crimes, but is still an example of GoodIsNotNice and ChaoticGood.
* JokerImmunity: At the end of Season 3 she is put into a coma rather than killed. Over on ''Series/{{Angel}}'', he refuses to let her commit SuicideByCop and she goes to jail instead.
* JumpedAtTheCall: Perhaps the major difference between her and Buffy (at least initially) is that while Buffy always resented being the Slayer Faith loved the new found responsibility and power that came from being a ChosenOne. Chalk this up to because it was the first time her life had any meaning to it and she could make something of herself.
* 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.
* KlingonPromotion: Elevates herself to TheDragon after dusting Mr. Trick.
* KnifeNut: The Mayor gives her a knife as a reward for her services, which Faith seems to immediately fetishize, even going so far as to sniff it like a Cuban cigar.
* KnightInSourArmor: Played with. To Faith slaying is [[ItsTheBestWhateverEver the best damn job in the world.]] That's the slaying itself... having to stress over a Watcher having lost one, trust others, have them trust her, and the realization that she really is crazy is what brings the sour in. Gratitude from a victim she saves, something she seemingly never had, really touches her and she loses some of the sour part.
* TheLadette: In stark contrast to [[GirlyBruiser Buffy]], Faith smokes, drinks, enjoys violence, and has no problems with emotionless, casual sex.
* TheLeader: When Buffy forces the Slayer army to kick her out Faith is seen as more reasonable and takes up the leadership role, only to relinquish it when a mission ends in disaster. When Spike enters the fray and the pair of two hundred-year-old vampires are acting about five she has to step in, much to Angel's embarrassment.
* LeaderWannabe: {{Subverted}}. After Buffy is deposed as leader, the Potentials place her in charge, despite her protestations. Buffy finally puts her resentment of Faith aside and encourages her to lead them. She proves to be more amiable than Buffy, but leads a raid on the vineyard that turns out to be a trap. Unlike Buffy, she displayed no prior leadership ability whatsoever, being merely a blunt instrument. Following the failed attack and Buffy is back in charge, the Potenitals try to pin the blame on Faith, but Buffy reassures her that it wasn't her fault.
* LeeroyJenkins: Before she became OlderAndWiser, this was her general attack strategy... and her strategy in general.
-->'''Buffy:''' Stop, wait, think!\\
'''Faith:''' No, no, no.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Buffy and Faith are Vampire Slayers, the Chosen Two. Bad girl Faith says that killing vampires always makes her hungry and horny contrasted with Buffy who sometimes craves a nonfat yogurt afterward and cares about always doing the right thing.
* LikeASonToMe: Mayor Wilkins treated her like a surrogate daughter.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop:
** In ''Buffy'' Season 3, the Scooby Gang neglects to include Faith in the intervention when they find out about Buffy hiding Angel. This winds up making her less trustful of them, and allows Gwendolyn Post to manipulate her into fighting Buffy.
** In ''Buffy'' Season 7/''Angel'' Season 4, despite full knowledge of the First's threat to the Slayer line, the Scoobies neglect to warn Faith of the danger, believing that Faith would be safe from the First's minions in prison. Faith ends up finding out the hard way when one of said minions infiltrates the prison she's in and attacks her.
* LovesTheSoundOfScreaming: Demonstrated with her torture of Buffy and Wesley.
--> '''Faith:''' Before we get started, I just want to let you know... if you're a screamer, feel free.
* MadeOfIron: She once crashed through a window with Wesley in hand and landed on a car. The car's roof was severely damaged, yet Faith was unharmed.
* MeaningfulName: Faith as in her faith in people which she keeps losing.
* {{Mentor}}: After the Twilight crisis, Faith begins mentoring a group of Slayers based in London.
* MentorOccupationalHazard: Faith cites this as a reason she doesn't like authority figures in general. Her previous Watcher was horribly murdered by Kakistos.
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: From Faith's point of view; she made bad choices, sure, but she faced fairly constant betrayal even while friends with the Scoobies. She clashed with Buffy over Angel, Gwendolyn Post used and betrayed her, and her Watcher Wesley had her abducted on the brink of her possible atonement. Faced with distrust and threats from every corner, it's little wonder she wound up working for the Mayor.
* MoralityChain: Serves as one for Angel during the ''Angel & Faith'' comics, which is exactly what Angel wants: a friend he trusts to make sure he doesn't [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jump off the slippery slope]] again like he did as Twilight.
* MsFanservice: Other characters take note of how attractive she is, and her dress style favors leather pants and low-cut tops with prominent cleavage. After becoming good again she starts to dress more modestly.
* MusclesAreMeaningless: Slightly more physically imposing than Buffy, and her fighting style favors powerful strikes. She still shouldn't be able to hit like a truck without Slayer powers.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:N-Y]]
* NaughtyNurseOutfit: Discussing sex role play with Spike Faith mentions this as a whack fantasy. Naturally, it's revealed a certain ''[[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer crunchy granola girl]]'' has such three-way vampire fantasies.
* TheNicknamer: Faith christens Buffy 'B' almost immediately after meeting her.
* NinetiesAntiHero: From the get-go she's much more violent than any of the heroes, enjoys fighting, drinking, and promiscuous sex. She's also street smart and snarky even by the standards of this show.
* NotSoDifferent: Claims this is the case between her and Buffy, who tries to deny it every time. Unfortunately for Buffy, Faith is right.
** Buffy hints a couple of times that she has a huge CelebCrush on Creator/DanielCraig. When Angel hooks Spike up with his ex Faith was expecting the Bond actor to be dragged to her to ravish. The series and comics also allude that Buffy partakes in, well, [[ADateWithRosiePalms an activity]] Faith admits to enjoying.
** Neither is ever brought up, but Faith has this dynamic with both Spike and Willow. With 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. Faith and Willow had pretty shitty lives (though Faith's is implied to have been far worse), and gained new, amazing abilities which they began to abuse. After a great trauma they turned evil, trying to kill Buffy and cause mass destruction with their power. They were both brought down by someone showing compassion when they really didn't deserve it, leaving everyone they knew for a while and then returning in Season 7 with more control over themselves. One wonders what they talked about during their car ride back to Sunnydale.
* NotQuiteDead: At the end of her fight with Buffy in "Graduation Day, Part One".
* NotStayingForBreakfast: How she treats her one night stands. Wood teases her about it motivating Faith to try and ravish him despite them trying to prepare for the final battle, before he convinces her to give him a chance to show that men can be more than a quick lay.
* OlderAndWiser: Faith had a take-each-day attitude when she first appeared; she was reckless, impulsive and sought instant gratification. This ultimately led her down a very dark path, and after becoming TheAtoner, Faith gradually shifts to become more focused inward, more in control of her emotions and acknowledging of her own faults and bad choices.
* OppositesAttract: With [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Wood]] at the end of Season 7. It doesn't last, as we find out in Faith's first comic book appearance (she refers to him as "the ex"), though they remain allies and seem to have a steady working relationship.
* OrphansOrdeal: Has a terrible home life while with the good guys. It says a lot about the Mayor that the first thing he did for her was getting her into a place that wasn't a dive motel.
* PaedoHunt: Has shades of this. When interrogating a demon she's all for busting him open when he reveals he had slept with underage girls. When acting as a bodyguard and she finds out the wannabe rock star she's protecting is into underage girls Faith first does nothing when a PapaWolf attacks him, then when he goes demon attacks him herself. [[AbusiveParents Makes sense really.]]
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Angel in ''ComicBook/AngelAndFaith''.
* PlayAlongPrisoner: During her stint in prison. Her near-effortless escape proves she could have easily gotten out whenever she wanted.
* PopCulturedBadass: It's more notable in the comics than in the show, but Faith has a habit of referencing classic literature, music, ''Franchise/StarWars'' of all things, and in one particularly frightening scene even ''Transformers''. You'd think she had been hanging out with Andrew.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Buffy lied to her about Angel's resurrection, which allowed Gwendolyn Post to use this to turn Faith against the Scooby Gang.
* PowerPerversionPotential: In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E16WhoAreYou Who Are You]]", she takes advantage of having swapped bodies with Buffy to [[BedTrick sleep]] with her new boyfriend Riley. When the switch is undone and she finds out, Buffy is pissed and chases her to L.A. for payback.
* PropheticName: You can take this from several viewpoints. For instance, her sponsorship by Angel, or (in the comic series) Faith's loyalty to same.
* PsychoForHire: She enjoys beating up the bad guys a little too much from the beginning. Even before she became a Slayer she was with a boy, thinking of her dead mother, and mused how easy it is to kill someone. Faith gets a vision before she does anything but it shows her dark thoughts are there even way back then.
* PutOnABus: She was rendered comatose at the end of Season 3, and later turned herself into the police.
* TheQuisling: Before going evil became common knowledge.
* ReallyGetsAround: Well, a night of [[InterplayOfSexAndViolence intense slaying does make her horny]], after all. Not only is she quick to jump Xander's bones [[GladToBeAliveSex after he saves her from an apocalypse demon]], she also tries to hook up with ''all three'' of Buffy's boyfriends, succeeds in doing so with Riley, and [[{{Netorare}} steals away]] Buffy's on-off LoveInterest Wood during her return in Season 7. Faith seems to have dropped this as of late in favor of looking after Angel (in a non-sexual way).
* RedemptionInTheRain: It just so happens to be raining when Faith breaks down and admits to Angel about having a death wish. In the next episode, she turns herself in to the police.
* RedOniBlueOni: The Red to Buffy's Blue. While Faith is hotheaded and impulsive, Buffy is careful and collected. "Bad Girls" is a whole episode revolving around this dynamic, and how radically different the two Slayers are in their methods despite Faith's attempts to get Buffy to be more like her. Ultimately, Faith's freewheeling attitude [[AccidentalMurder goes about as well for her as you might think.]]
* ReformedButRejected: For a good while in Season 7. About the only one to accept her is Willow, [[NotSoDifferent who just came off from a stint of evil-doing herself]].
* ReformedCriminal: Most of her sins were buried, with her only real crime she was paying for was the murder of a volcanologist. Turns out she strives to atone for this even today, as well as everything else she's done, by trying to help others.
* TheResenter: Buffy having everything Faith didn't while not even wanting to be the Slayer made Faith just a wee bit pissed. She hates that Buffy has a loving family, loyal friends, a caring Watcher and a relatively nice middle-class background while Faith comes from an abusive household and troubled upbringing.
* RivalTurnedEvil: Even during her friendship with Buffy, there were smacks of rivalry between the two.
* RogueAgent: Faith's default setting, before she goes evil and psychotic.
* RunningGag: PlayedForDrama. From her introduction Faith takes Buffy's friends, her meal and looks like she's trying to take her job. From there it gets worse: first she sleeps with Xander, before later trying to kill him. She tries to take Angel from Buffy (which she ironically succeeds at), her life; in both senses of the word, her body, her current boyfriend, and then she hits on with Spike, takes Buffy's leadership of the potentials, then Robin Wood who was Buffy's potential boyfriend, then Giles, then Angel, in short everything Buffy had Faith takes away from her. Tragically half of these are by accident. Buffy's friends like Faith, Angel rejects Buffy over the way she acts when he tries to help Faith, the potentials reject Buffy over the way she's acting, Buffy is outraged with Giles and Angel over what they've done and thus turn to Faith. Things like Buffy's food, or boyfriends, are a case when Faith does not think, [[JerkAss or]] worse, [[FaceHeelTurn when]] she [[PsychoForHire does.]]
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers: Her philosophy.
--> '''Faith:''' When are you gonna get this, B? The life of a Slayer is very simple. Want, take, have.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Outside of her selfish nature Faith is willing to ShootTheDog and kill Angel in case he goes evil, cover up her AccidentalMurder of a morally grey character, and allow herself to be killed to satisfy Buffy's thirst for vengeance and go against Angel trying to redeem her. In the comics, she gets so upset with Angel tormenting himself that she tries to stab him in the back and turn him human so he can let go of the guilt he feels, only stopping because of the BodyHorror her actions would cause.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: Her tossing a handgun to Angel to give him in her words, "one free shot." It was to see if he would try and kill her. When he doesn't (he tries to shoot her in the leg instead), she tries to force him to. See BatmanGambit.
* SelfHarm: A bit of an atypical variant, as she's harming her body while her mind isn't actually occupying it. (As such, this could be argued not to be harming "herself" per se. That said, all of the self-loathing and rage of a self-harmer is present as she lays into her Buffy-occupied body.)
* SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains: While not exactly {{Stripperific}}, Faith tends to show a lot more cleavage than Buffy (and wear generally tighter outfits). Subverted after she is reformed in prison and, embracing her status as an AntiHero, starts to dress more modestly.
* SexGoddess: Faith is the one who implies all Slayers can be this due to their powers and brags about it to Spike.
--> '''Faith:''' I could ride you at a gallop till your legs buckled and your eyes rolled up, I've got muscles you've never even dreamed of, I could squeeze you till you popped like warm champagne and you'd beg me to hurt you just a little bit more.
* SexIsCool: Faith's raison d'etre. Not only does she needle Buffy about her own love life, she also puts the moves on most, if not ''all'' of Buffy's potential and actual love interests, including at least two vampires.
* ShadowArchetype: Unlike Kendra, who was Buffy's polar opposite, Faith was, in essence, a mirror image of Buffy, a representation of what Buffy would have been like had her life circumstances been different; whereas Buffy grew up in a loving home surrounded by caring friends and family, Faith was raised by abusive and neglectful parents and suffered from various issues.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Not that she isn't attractive in her casual attire, but Giles is clearly impressed when Faith shows off her look for going undercover at a formal party, a PimpedOutDress with AbsoluteCleavage. Before that, there's the dress she wears to homecoming, and the dress the Mayor gets for her in "Graduation Day".
* ShipTease: She and Spike had a bit of this in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E14DirtyGirls Dirty Girls]]". Also with Angel in Season 3, and perhaps most infamously, [[LesYay Buffy]].
* SixthRangerTraitor: To the Scoobies in Season 3.
* SmitingEvilFeelsGood: She openly enjoys killing vampires and demons, and tries several times to get Buffy to do the same.
* {{Southies}}: Hails from South Boston, as noted in her first appearance. Also a case of ActorSharedBackground, as Creator/ElizaDushku is a Boston native as well.
* StreetSmart: Where a lot of her strengths come from. Faith isn't well-read, but she's intelligent and savvy.
* SugarAndIcePersonality: This trope bounces around with Faith. She makes snap judgments on those she thinks she can trust and those she thinks she can she's very friendly and open with, while still keeping some deep down personal issues to herself. Faith doesn't even pretend to be interested in everyone else, though this changes as the series moves on.
* SuicideByCop: Tries to get Angel to kill her by turning up her more psychotic behavior.
* SuperReflexes: In prison, she turns around in time to prevent a hired assassin from striking her from behind as she is doing chin-ups.
* SuperToughness: She has fallen from a height of three stories on top of a closed dumpster, rolled off it to hit the ground and got up immediately with no signs of damage; she also could hold her own in a fight with Buffy less than 24 hours after waking from a nine-month coma without suffering any muscle atrophy — a coma which she entered after surviving a deep stab wound to the abdomen immediately followed by a fall from the top of a multi-story building into a moving truck. Also, in an attempt by the Watcher's Council to capture Faith without killing her, they prepared a tranquilizer that was capable of knocking out a man twice her size which is more than enough to subdue an ordinary young woman of her size.
* SurvivorsGuilt: Her first watcher was horribly murdered by Kakistos and Faith was only able to scar him across the eye before escaping to Sunnydale.
* TankTopTomboy: She's often seen wearing tank tops, befitting her [[TheLadette Ladette]] nature.
* TattooedCrook: She has a tribal tattoo on her arm. Its meaning is never explained in-series, but the novel ''Go Ask Malice'' reveals it to be the mark of Kakistos.
* TeensAreMonsters: A teenage girl who knows all about the Five Basic Torture Groups. The Mayor must be so proud!
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: After trying and failing to find acceptance and live up to Buffy and the other Scoobies' moral standards, Faith [[spoiler: accidentally stakes and kills Deputy Allen Finch, mistaking him for a vampire.]] After this point, she begins to lean into being evil, since she sees no other path available to her. Fortunately, when she reaches the culmination of her downward spiral and [[spoiler: [[SuicideByCop tries to manipulate Angel into killing her]], he shows her that [[HeelFaceTurn it's never too late]] [[TheAtoner to get back on the right path]].]]
* TokenEvilTeammate: In Season 3. The Scoobies never really accept her as part of the gang due to her violent, unstable nature, and she soon goes from the Token Evil Teammate to a straight-up villain.
* TookALevelInJerkass: During her FaceHeelTurn, UpToEleven. Only a couple of good [[FreudianExcuse Freudian Excuses]] and her surprisingly touching relationship with the [[ParentalSubstitute Mayor]] keep her from becoming irredeemable.
* TookALevelInKindness: There's little resemblance from her psychotic earlier years and the way she becomes after her incarceration.
* TortureTechnician: She was quite fond of torture - at one point, Angel complimented her on how well she knew how to do it. [[AbusiveParents One wonders how a teenager knew so much about the "five basic torture groups"]].
* ToxicFriendInfluence: To Buffy in Season 3, especially in the episode "Bad Girls." She convinces Buffy to skip school (which she'd already done before to fight monsters, but she didn't need to at the time) and steal.
* UnclePennybags: At the end of Season 8, Giles dies and it turns out he left Faith with his belongings, rather than Buffy. Faith uses it to good effect, such as using it to buy the Arsenal football team beers when a Slayer picks a fight with them. Outside of that she also fulfills the trait of [[CoolAunt being fun to be around]].
* UndyingLoyalty: To [[ParentalSubstitute Mayor Wilkins]], [[ThePowerOfFriendship Angel]], and [[{{Mentor}} Giles]], who put it best when he said that Faith is slow to let people in, but when she does, she has their back ''for life''.
* UnkemptBeauty: In deliberate contrast to Buffy's more well-groomed look.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: Played with in regards to [[ArchEnemy Buffy]]. The LesYay between the two was through the roof, especially in "Who Are You?", where the first thing [[GrandTheftMe Faith-in-Buffy's body]] does after the switch is ''take a bath''.
* 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.
* UnwittingPawn: To [[SmallRoleBigImpact Gwendolyn Post]], for all of about one episode. Needless to say, Faith found it pretty hard to trust ''anyone'' after that.
* VilerNewVillain: She kills Mister Trick and then becomes the Mayor's new dragon. Among her acts were the attempted rape of Xander, the (indirect) rape of Riley, the kidnapping of Willow, the brutal torture of Wesley, a murder attempt on Angel, and at least four murders (three humans and a benevolent demon, the first of which was really an accident).
* VillainEpisode: "Who Are You?", which is about Faith struggling to come to terms with what she's done after having pulled a GrandTheftMe on Buffy.
* VillainousBreakdown: Has one after carrying out an elaborate charade [[SuicideByCop to get Angel to kill her]]:
--> '''Faith:''' I'm evil! I'm bad! I'm evil! Do you hear me? I'm bad! Angel, I'm bad! I'm bad! Do you hear me? I'm bad! I'm bad! I'm bad. Please. Angel, please, just do it. Angel please, just do it. Just do it. Just kill me. Just kill me.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Buffy in Season 3 until [[FaceHeelTurn she breaks that friendship up badly.]] She and Buffy do become closer again at the ends of Season 7 and Season 8.
* WantingIsBetterThanHaving: For a long time, Faith is so envious of Buffy's "perfect life" (loving family, lots of friends, perfect boyfriend, lots of popular and praise, etc) that she can hardly stand it. When she finally gets a chance to swap bodies with her and live Buffy's life in "Who Are You?", however, she is clearly uncomfortable with the amount of love, trust, and kindness she receives from everyone, and has a minor FreakOut after having [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex slow and loving sex]] with Buffy's boyfriend. It clearly dawns on her that even if she had the "perfect" life and family she always wanted, she's too damaged to know what to do with it. Notably, when Buffy-in-Faith's-body comes back for her own body, Faith doesn't put up as much of a fight as one would expect, and after Buffy manages the switcharoo Faith runs off, and Buffy rightly guesses that they won't have to worry about her for a while. From then on, Faith is noticeably less consumed with envy over Buffy.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Faith loads up on weapons after learning of a BackFromTheDead, supposedly reformed Angel being in possession of a magical glove, scared of who he might kill. When she finds Giles had been attacked she immediately thinks 'Angel' and defies everyone in a bid to kill him. Then there was the time she and Angel discovered demon blood that could heal and even turn vampires back into humans. Because of how obsessed he was with making amends Faith intended to force it into him, and was just about to do so when she learned it would have done a lot more harm.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: She and Buffy were the Chosen Two, until Faith allied with the Mayor and made it her personal mission to turn Buffy's life into a living hell.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: In "Who Are You?", Faith spends much of the episode in Buffy's body living it up, and messing with Buffy's life. She also finds several unexpected sources of goodness thrown her way, such as a loving parent who isn't a wannabe demon, a loving boyfriend, genuine gratitude, and actual friendship. She is all set to leave Sunnydale in Buffy's body, having gotten her revenge as well as a get out of jail free card. Then she sees a report on a TV while at a bus depot of a hostage situation in a church, and drops everything to save those people.
-->'''Faith-in-Buffy's-body:''' Because it's wrong.
* 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.'
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Good Lord, yes. Her parents were abusive, violent alcoholics who couldn't have cared less about her; she then found a parent figure in her Watcher, who was brutally murdered in front of her. Fleeing to Sunnydale, Faith tries to fit in with, and is ritually ignored by the Scooby Gang, and her new Watcher, who she quickly grows attached to, betrays and tries to kill her. Then she accidentally kills Deputy Mayor Finch, which pretty much destroys her mentally. She is almost helped by Angel, but Wesley's actions see to it that Faith doesn't trust anyone else ever again. She finds a father figure in [[BigBad Mayor Wilkins]], who asks her to kill people for him, but that is cut short when Faith is stabbed into a coma by Buffy. Faith wakes up a year later to find that Mayor Wilkins is dead, and that Buffy has broken up with Angel, the man who she tried to kill Faith to save. A short arc later and Angel finally gives a distraught, mentally unstable Faith the CooldownHug she's deserved for a long, ''long'' time.
* WrittenInAbsence: Before Faith turned evil, the writers had to come up with reasons why she wasn't around to help Buffy in episodes like "Helpless" or "Lovers' Walk" -- it was usually put down to her self-isolation and wayward nature.
* YinYangClash: Faith once theorized that this is why she and Buffy don't get along. After all, ThereCanBeOnlyOne.
[[/folder]]
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[[quoteright:341:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/buffy_faithlehane3.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:341:"''You hurt me, I hurt you. I'm just a little more efficient."'']]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/ElizaDushku, Creator/SarahMichelleGellar ("Who Are You?")
->''"You know, I come to Sunnydale. I'm the Slayer. I do my job kicking ass better than anyone. But what do I hear about everywhere I go? Buffy. So I slay, I behave, I do the good little girl routine. [[DudeWheresMyRespect And who does everybody thank? Buffy.]]"''
Slayer from Boston activated by Kendra's death at the hands of Drusilla in the penultimate episode of Season 2, and a {{Foil}} for Buffy in Season 3. Loved slaying a little too much, and ended up playing TheDragon to [[BigBad the Mayor]]. Moved to ''Series/{{Angel}}'', ended up in jail, and came back redeemed for the final few episodes.
After the battle in Sunnydale, Faith joined the others as part of the worldwide Slayer Organization, setting up shop in Cleveland, where she assisted a Slayer squad led by ex-boyfriend Robin Wood. This changed after assisting Giles with a mission against a rogue Slayer, and together they decided to find Slayers that were having difficulty with their new life and help them out.
In the aftermath of the destruction of the Seed of Wonder by Buffy and Giles' death at the hands of a brainwashed Angel, Faith remains the only person willing to associate with Angel, and is dedicated to helping him -- and herself -- find redemption.
----
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:A-F]]
* 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.
--> '''Buffy:''' We help people! It doesn't mean we can do whatever we want.\\
'''Faith:''' Why not? The guy I offed was no Gandhi. I mean, we just saw he was mixed up in dirty dealings.\\
'''Buffy:''' Maybe, but what if he was coming to us for help?\\
'''Faith:''' What if he was? You're still not seeing the big picture, B. Something made us different. We're warriors. We're built to kill.\\
'''Buffy:''' To kill demons! But it does not mean that we get to pass judgment on people like we're better than everybody else!\\
'''Faith:''' We ''are'' better! That's right, better. People need us to survive. In the balance, nobody's gonna cry over some random bystander who got caught in the crossfire.
* AbusiveParents: Her mother was a neglectful alcoholic who was likely physically and mentally abusive. The Mayor was a better parent!
* AccidentalMurder: Of Deputy Mayor Finch.
* AllMenArePerverts: As she believes.
--> '''Faith:''' ''All'' men are beasts, Buffy.\\
'''Buffy:''' Okay, I was hoping to not get that cynical till I was at least forty.\\
'''Faith:''' It's not cynical. I mean, it's realistic. Every guy from Manimal down to Mr. I-Love-The-English-Patient has beast in him. And I don't care how sensitive they act. They're all still just in it for the chase.
* AllThereInTheScript: Her surname, Lehane, was not revealed until the release of the official ''Buffy'' RPG.
* AlwaysSecondBest: To Buffy. Ironically this is how Buffy feels in regards to Faith.
--> '''Faith''' ''[While holding the Scythe]'' It's old, strong and it feels like its mine. ''[Pauses]'' I guess that means it's yours.
* 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.
* 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.
* AntiHero: Types I through to IV, when she's not psychotic.
* AntiHeroSubstitute: Faith is the one true Slayer, since she was called upon Kendra's death (who was in turn called when Buffy died.) She's a decidedly less moral, more antagonistic mold -- at least initially.
* 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.]]
* ArchEnemy: For Buffy, being her ShadowArchetype and (for a time) EvilCounterpart.
* ArentYouGoingToRavishMe: After stealing Buffy's body she tries to get Riley to engage in creepy sex. Instead [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex he's so gentle]] it freaks her out.
* AscendedExtra: Originally started out with a planned minor role in the series, similar to Kendra's, both the audience and Joss Whedon became fans of Eliza and her character and she became much more important to the story.
* 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.
* TheAtoner: Not only could she have taken a run at Angelus in the monster stakes, Faith is the biggest example of this trope this side of Angelus, to the point she JumpedAtTheCall to find Riley so she can make up for hurting him.
* AxCrazy: This is very much a condition she has even as a good guy. She is able to mostly keep it in check, but she is tempted to kill Angel in a hell dimension (so he would no longer place her and others in danger) and working as TheMole she loses her temper and tries to drown Buffy in a pool.
* 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.
* BadLiar: Giles quickly realizes that it was her who killed Finch and not Buffy. In his own words: "Faith has many skills, but fortunately lying is not one of them."
* BastardGirlfriend: In "Consequences", at the absolute nadir of her sanity, Faith holds a protesting Xander down in her bed, and seems entirely undecided about whether she's going to rape him, murder him, or both. She does lose interest in creepy kinky sex though after spending a night with Riley, who is more of the vanilla missionary-style school.
* BatmanGambit: She tries to kill Angel, assaults Cordelia, and kidnaps and tortures Wesley, all in an attempt to force a showdown with Angel and get him to kill her.
* BathtubBonding: With Genevieve Savidge in Season 8, which Faith does with the knowledge that she has to kill her. Awkward.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Usually played straight, and easily explained by the enhanced resilience enjoyed by all Slayers. Even after extended battles with Buffy, who hit harder than most vampires, Faith always looked fine, without even a smudge on her makeup. Averted occasionally:
** As a result of a particularly significant battle, such as the rooftop duel with Buffy (Though the only real damage to her face came as a result of a long fall onto a moving truck, ''not'' from Buffy's fists).
** While attempting to defeat The Beast in Los Angeles, Faith suffers a horrific beatdown, and is so bloody and battered afterwards that she can barely walk. Her reactions afterwards show that her confidence is just as damaged as her body.
** Her and Buffy were shown to have bruises lining their faces after their first fight with each other.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: A total of three times, with one-time watcher Gwendolyn Post, The Mayor, and Angel. She was willing to die to save him, all because he helped her come back from being evil while everyone else hated her (mainly because he understood her, seeing as he was in the same situation about 100 years previously). In season 4 of ''Series/{{Angel}}'', this is the reason why she refused to even try to kill [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Angelus]], and in ''ComicBook/AngelAndFaith'', she is still very loyal to him. Also, another reason why she helps Angel in Season 9 is because she really wants Giles back, since he was nice to her, too.
* BedTrick: Sleeps with Riley by pretending to be Buffy, whose body she had stolen at the time.
* BeingEvilSucks: When she begged Angel to kill her, it was because of this. "Who Are You" focuses on Faith's realization of how far she's fallen from the Slayer ideal.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Arguably with Buffy. Writer Doug Petrie was very much aware of the 'lesbian subtext' between the two, and as such, many of the episodes he wrote are ''riddled'' with LesYay.
* TheBerserker: When we first meet her, the result of witnessing the gruesome death of her Watcher. She relapses back into it when she awakens from her coma.
-->'''Buffy:''' Girl's not playing with a full deck, Giles. She has no deck. She has a 3.
* BerserkButton: Being told off for trying to do the right thing seems to be this. After she tries to kill Angel to stop who she thinks is Angelus it causes a deep rift from the gang (although them keeping it from her and giving her the "need to know basis" treatment was even worse). When told off for trying to rationalize killing the deputy mayor and getting rid of the body she gradually becomes more and more of a loose cannon, especially since they completely ignore Buffy's role in his death. In the comics when Buffy won't let her explain what she's doing Faith tries to drown her in a fit of rage, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone before realizing what she's doing.]]
* BerserkerTears: Briefly does this before collapsing in grief when she tried to get Angel to kill her.
* BetterLivingThroughEvil: The first thing the Mayor did for Faith was get her her own apartment (an instant upgrade from the crappy motel room she'd previously been forced to call home), complete with a Playstation. Miniature golf [[ParentalSubstitute only further sealed the deal.]]
* BewareTheSuperman: Believed she was better than other people because she's a Slayer. Giles sums it up best:
-->'''Giles''': We have a rogue Slayer on our hands. I can't think of anything more dangerous.
* BeyondRedemption: When Faith begins to go rogue after accidentally killing the Deputy Mayor, Willow [[NiceGirl of all people]] outright asks the other Scoobies why they should help her, stating that since Faith had taken a human life and tried to pin it on Buffy and had also tried to strangle Xander to death, she believed that the smartest thing to do would be to simply turn her over to the police or the Watchers' Council and be done with it. In "Choices," when Faith and Willow confront one another, Faith expects Willow to give her a speech that it wasn't too late for her to turn back, only to be caught off-guard when Willow gives her a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech and declares it ''is'' too late. Buffy herself eventually comes to agree after Faith [[GrandTheftMe swaps bodies with her]] and uses it to her advantage to [[PowerPerversionPotential have sex with Riley]]; when they confront one another in L.A., Buffy is determined to have Faith either killed or locked up, not caring that Faith is remorseful of her crimes and firmly believing that Faith can't be saved and Angel is wasting his time trying to help her.
-->'''Faith:''' Angel told me there was no way you were gonna give me a chance.\\
'''Buffy:''' I gave you ''every'' chance! I tried so hard to help you, and you ''spat'' on me!
* BigEater: Being superpowered [[VampireHunter vampire hunters]] Slayers tend to eat a lot. Faith showed this quality more, but it's likely due to living in PerpetualPoverty and eating up when she can.
* BloodKnight: Faith's favorite part of Slaying? The kill. That's what she used to live for. Even before she contemplated killing when younger, just to see what it was like. This extended to innocents where she looked for the thrill from killing and violence. Thankfully she got better.
* BookDumb: On having the phrase "AchillesHeel" explained to her.
--> "Ah. [[BuffySpeak School thing]]. I was kinda absent that decade."
* BreakoutCharacter: She was originally supposed to last one season and commit suicide out of guilt of committing murder. Instead she underwent a dramatic redemption arc and proved so popular that there were plans to give her a spin-off, though she did headline a comic series with Angel.
* 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.
* BrokenBird: Lives with knowing she is borderline psychotic and has a hell of a lot to atone for. Even before the series started, she reveals some things about her past that weren't too pleasant.
* TheBusCameBack: In Season 4 of ''Angel'' and Season 7 of ''Buffy''. The latter also counts as BackForTheFinale.
* CallingTheOldManOut: After it's revealed that Faith's father George only came looking for Faith because he wanted her to kill someone for him, Faith lets him have it, berating him for never being around and leaving her always looking for a father figure, and then nearly strangling him to death in a fit of rage.
* {{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.
* CharacterDevelopment: She goes from AntiHero, to villain, to genuinely finding redemption and making peace with Buffy.
* TheChosenOne: She is the One True Slayer, with Buffy having died and being the direct replacement for Kendra. Creator/JossWhedon has implied that, after Willow's spell activated all the Potentials alive at the time of the casting, no new Slayer will be Chosen until and unless Faith dies.
* 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.
* ClothingReflectsPersonality: Prior to her reformation, her look typically involved namely leather jeans and jackets and tight tops, often in dark clothes as to clash with Buffy's more "good girl" appearance. Her makeup was often dark and had red or maroon lipstick and she would wear accessories ranging from chain necklaces and chokers to belted bracelets and studded belts. After reforming, her appearance changed: she took to wearing more color and her makeup became much less intense and dark.
* ColdSniper: Her heel/face turns respectively.
* CombatPragmatist: Borrowed stakes. Chain link fences. Support beams used as stakes. Werewolf tails. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Hinting as sexual disease from Scott to scare off his date.]] Chairs. Glass doors. Crossbows. Police car cages. Anything's a weapon for a Slayer and Faith's a walking talking screwing armory.
* CombatSadomasochist: Faith makes no secret that slaying gets her horny. So naturally, a fight with no kill requires some kind of release, as Xander found out.
* ContraltoOfDanger: Speaks with a really low and husky voice, courtesy of Eliza Dushku.
* ConvenientComa: Was in one for eight months after Buffy tried her level best to kill her. This didn't stop her.
* CoolAunt:
** Creator/JossWhedon said that during season seven, she was this to the Potentials while Buffy was the mom.
** Becomes one to Giles when he's resurrected as a twelve year old...she's bemused by his childish behavior and helps him cope with what happened to him and everything he's lost.
* CoolBigSis: She became this in season seven, primarily because she was took the potentials out to let off steam and was seen as more reasonable than Buffy.
* CreateYourOwnVillain: The Scoobies neglecting to inform her about Angel's return was the first nail in the coffin, but [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Wesley having her arrested]] after she accidentally killed Deputy Mayor Finch made Faith completely snap.
* CulturedBadass: Given some of her quotes she at least tries to be. She ends up mangling some lines or uses them out of context.
* CuteAndPsycho: Hoo boy, she's as crazy as she is sexy, and she's portrayed as perhaps the most sexed up character in the series.
* TheCynic: Life's been utter crap for Faith, of course she takes this approach with family and men.
* CynicismCatalyst: Her AccidentalMurder of the Deputy Mayor is what really pushed her over the edge.
* DaddysLittleVillain: Despite not really being his daughter, she winds up very much playing this role to The Mayor — she's his loyal Dragon, of whom he is clearly protective. Her loyalty is based on him being the first (and possibly ''only'') person who ever valued her just for being her (not using her or trying to change her). When he tells her that even if Buffy did a FaceHeelTurn, he'd still pick Faith over her, it's a weird but touchingly sincere moment that clearly means the world to her. Buffy sending her into a coma led to his one swear word and Buffy taunting him about said loss led to his defeat. Many scenes between Faith and the Mayor involved him acting very fatherly and tender, giving her gifts and general life advice (about respecting and valuing herself) alongside assassination missions. Nice little CallBack in both Season Seven and the Season Eight comics, showing that Faith remembers him fondly despite her HeelFaceTurn.
* DanceBattler: In "[[Recap/AngelS01E18FiveByFive Five by Five]]", Faith dances about as the clubgoers get involved in various fights, working in some good punches and kicks as she gyrates.
* DarkActionGirl: After her FaceHeelTurn she becomes a rather cold blooded murderer.
* 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.
* 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.
* DeadpanSnarker: Most of the time it's pretty adult.
** On being promised that she'd get off (the murder charges against her would be dropped).
-->'''Faith:''' You don't know how many men have promised me that.
** On getting back into slaying after her stint in prison.
-->'''Faith:''' Just like riding a biker.
* DeathSeeker:
** First, she is clearly unafraid of the possibility of Buffy killing her at the end of Season 3. Dying isn't her exact plan then, but she'd still welcome it as a victory because it would corrupt Buffy like she herself was corrupted. Secondly comes the literal example, where after spending time in Buffy's body and learning that BeingEvilSucks, she goes to LA in hopes of getting Angel to kill her.
** She even shows signs of this while a good guy: she was perfectly willing to go into a 1 on 8 situation without Buffy, and her fight with Angelus was borderline suicidal.
* DidntSeeThatComing: In "Choices," when confronting Willow, Faith expects her to give her a speech about how they're still her friends and it's not too late for her to turn back. She's taken by surprise when Willow does the exact opposite, telling her point-blank that it ''is'' too late for her and now that she's switched sides, she's alone, friendless, and a "big, selfish, worthless waste."
* {{Dominatrix}}: Doesn't mind playing sex games with boys "as long as they know who's on top."
-->'''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!]]
* TheDragon: To [[BigBad The Mayor]] during the second half of Season 3.
* DrivenByEnvy: Her reasoning for going evil.
* DrivenToSuicide: After the events of "Who Are You?", she comes to realize just how bad she's become and tries to get Angel to kill her. Angel refuses to let her take the easy way out, and Faith ends up going to jail instead.
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: After going to work for the [[BigBad Mayor]], she absolutely ''revels'' in embracing in her dark side.
* 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.
* DynamicCharacter: From edgy AntiHero to psychotic to stubborn ReformedButRejected and back again. Come season nine she is considered by some InUniverse as more of TheHero than Buffy.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Mayor Wilkins was the first person to fulfill Faith's need for a loving parental figure, genuinely valued her as a person, and moved her out of the trashy motel room she'd called home into a well-furnished studio apartment. Because of this, she returns his familial feelings towards her, acting out of genuine loyalty towards him and a desire to make him proud of her. The nightmares she has while comatose include Buffy killing him, and when she finds out about his death after waking up, she's clearly devastated. Even after her HeelFaceTurn, she still remembers him fondly and considers him a better father than her biological dad.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: In "Who Are You?", Faith has taken over Buffy's body and experiments by trying to live Buffy's life. She gets very confused and rather upset when people are nice to her. Especially Riley. It seems that "emotionally intimate and loving" is the only way Faith ''hasn't'' had sex yet.
* EvilCounterpart: Whereas Kendra was the polar opposite of Buffy in nearly every way, Faith was meant to represent Buffy's "road not taken", a living embodiment of what Buffy might have been had her life's circumstances been different.
* EvilFeelsGood: When Faith pulls a FaceHeelTurn, she goes from living in a dive motel that can and had been attacked by vampires with a barely functioning A/C and TV, to living in a studio loft with all of the fixings and no worries about vampires getting in. Suffice to say it's no wonder she felt proud to be a bad guy. Of course, after the Mayor's death and Buffy puts her in a coma, she shifts gears and decides that BeingEvilSucks.
* EvilIsNotAToy: Realizes this after waking up from her coma. Angel sums it up quite well when asking her:
-->'''Angel''': I once told you that you didn't have to go out in that darkness. Remember? That it was your choice. Well, you chose. You thought that you could just touch it. That you'd be okay. 5x5, right, Faith? But it swallowed you whole. So tell me — how did you like it?
* EvilMeScaresMe: Faith is so disgusted with herself after she turned evil that she wants to die. Her fight with Angelus shows just how concerned she is with keeping her dark side in check.
* EvilWearsBlack: After her FaceHeelTurn she starts wearing darker clothing.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: During her coma, her hair grew longer and became noticeably wavy and lighter.
* {{Expy}}: While developing the character, Douglas Petrie took inspiration from ComicBook/{{Elektra}}:
-->For inspiration for Faith, I read ''Elektra Lives Again'' about a hundred times. In a different, teen, punkier context, Faith is so much like Elektra.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:F-M]]
* FaceHeelTurn: During the second half of Season 3.
* FallenHero: She's the One True Slayer. A violent, immoral, somewhat crazed young woman who snaps and goes evil. It reaches the point where she realizes she's a monster and becomes a DeathSeeker. Comes full circle after her reform, now Buffy's cracking up and Faith is the more grounded, thoughtful hero.
* 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.
* FauxAffablyEvil: She has this demeanor when talking to Joyce in "This Year's Girl".
* FemmeFatale: Hot and [[ProudBeauty she knows it]], and how to use it, such as trying to pull a WoundedGazelleGambit on Angel to get him to sleep with her and lose his soul.
* FoeRomanceSubtext: She and Buffy repeat the same dynamic the latter had with Angelus, only with more emotional baggage, complete with TakeThatKiss from Faith (on the forehead, though originally scripted to be on the lips) and both of them acting like spurned girlfriends every time they cross paths. Fast forward to Season 7, and the First says everything Faith did was so Buffy would love her (which Faith doesn't deny).
* ForcedToWatch: Her first Watcher was [[CruelAndUnusualDeath torn in half]] in front of her by Kakistos.
* FormerTeenRebel: When first introduced she was a ReallyGetsAround BloodKnight who didn't mind if she had to ShootTheDog because Buffy wouldn't, such as whether or not Angel was good. After her FaceHeelTurn she became a psychopath who killed and did wrong ForTheEvulz, and actually tried to be this to attempt [[SuicideByCop suicide by vampire.]] After breaking out of prison she has become one of the nicest people in both series, a SergeantRock to younger Slayers, and has only seemingly grown out of her bad habits.
* FreudianExcuse: Her desire to be the Mayor's surrogate daughter is unsurprising, given that he's the first parental figure she had that actually loved her. Aside from her first Watcher, who was brutally murdered in front of her. Even before she joined the Mayor she wasn't in the best of places mentally, having serious issues with men and authority figures.
* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: After her FaceHeelTurn, Buffy explicitly mentions Faith's bad childhood as a reason to give her a second chance. However, when Faith expects Willow to offer her a chance at redeeming herself, Willow denies her that and said she had Buffy and the others supporting her but now she has nothing.
-->'''Willow''': I know you had a tough life, I know some people think you had a lot of bad breaks. Well boo-hoo, poor you. You know, you had a lot more in your life than some people, I mean you had friends like Buffy, now you have no one, you were a Slayer, now you are nothing. You're just a big selfish, worthless waste.
* FriendsWithBenefits: She and Xander were not exactly friends, about as close as they got was him revealing that Angel was alive, and all for killing him. Nonetheless, in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E13TheZeppo The Zeppo]]" he saves Faith from a Sisterhood of Jhe demon, and she takes his virginity with her treating it as a casual fling, kicking him out of her room moments after. Then, when he tries to use their "connection" to talk to her about her accidental murder of the Deputy Mayor, this becomes a MoralEventHorizon crossing, as she refuses to listen, insists that guys only ever want one thing from her, pushes him onto the bed and starts forcing herself on him, and chokes him, before Angel knocks her out.
* FullFrontalAssault: In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E3FaithHopeAndTrick Faith, Hope and Trick]]", one of the stories she tells her gang had her fighting three vampires in the buff after she sense them while she SleepsInTheNude. Xander gets [[DistractedByTheSexy particularly distracted]] by the mental image.
* 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.''
* GoodFeelsGood: When she switched bodies with Buffy, she was expected to do Buffy-like things since nobody knew she did it. This was what led to her HeelFaceTurn.
* GoodGirlGoneBad: Common knowledge by now, she's the rough tough sexed up Slayer compared to Buffy's more conservative nature, and she allows her psychotic nature to get the better of her. Even after having reformed and shown that she is really a good girl Faith gets treated as such.
* GoodIsNotNice: Before and after her FaceHeelTurn.
-->'''Faith:''' I'm gonna find these Enders. I'm gonna ''kill 'em.'' I'm gonna get this MacGuffin and use it to save Angel and Giles. Anyone who wants to help, speak up. Anyone who doesn't, ''screw you!'' ''[Spike's cowed and falls into line].
* GoodIsNotSoft: She matures into this. A seriously nice girl, caring, and points out EvenEvilHasLovedOnes. She's also up for maiming and killing human and demon alike, even her deadbeat father. In season nine, after slicing off the arm of a gun-toting gangster, then burning drug dealers alive, she brings up the proper arrangements for their bereaved families. Even when she was introduced, she proved to have what it takes: aside from being genuinely nice, she would say a dumped Buffy is a good Buffy (because of how aggressive a fighter she was after Scott dumped her) before sabotaging Scott's future conquests on Buffy's behalf, then lending a kind ear to a pissed Xander before going behind Buffy's back to kill Angel, since for all Faith knew he was still capable of being the grand master villain of the series.
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Faith has taken to smoking after her HeelFaceTurn. The comics suggest it's to steady her nerves, what with dealing with what she's done and fighting over a second Hellmouth. She goes through the better half of a pack because of her unease with assassinating a rogue Slayer.
** She smoked in the later seasons on the television show too, though it was shown rarely. One assumes she didn't do so during Season Three because the censors dislike having 'good' characters smoke. After her FaceHeelTurn, it would have been the Mayor preventing her, since he wouldn't want DaddysLittleVillain engaging in such a nasty habit.
* GrandTheftMe: During a two-part episode in Season 4, she awakens from her coma and uses a magic talisman left to her by the Mayor to steal Buffy's body, with the intention of ruining her life and then taking off to start a new life in some other place. She initially succeeds, since she manages to switch bodies with Buffy and then alienates her from her friends and family, but Buffy's loved ones eventually find out the truth and help reverse the body switching spell.
* GreenEyedMonster: Both the victim and the source of this: she wants what Buffy has, family, friends, respect, finally rationalizing that she is unlikely to have any of these things. Likewise Buffy is put out when Faith is adored, and when Buffy pushes people away most happily turn to Faith instead, causing Buffy to go all green eyed.
* GuiltComplex: Seemingly averted after she kills Deputy Mayor Finch and claims not to care. However, it's clear from the following episode that Faith is trying to erase the guilt by saying Buffy killed him. After her FaceHeelTurn she doesn't show any remorse for her actions, but "Five by Five" and "Sanctuary" over on ''Series/{{Angel}}'' reveal that Faith is so guilty that she tries to get Angel to kill her.
* HatesBeingTouched: She finds physical contact uncomfortable, due to her abusive parents. When she switched bodies with Buffy she was not used to Joyce hugging her, at all. She doesn't like Riley near her unless it's for casual sex. And she stabs Giles with a fork, before apologetically saying she doesn't like being pawed, unless she paws first.
* HeadbuttingHeroes: With Buffy. Special mention goes to 'Revelations', where they slug it out after Faith tried to kill Angel (being led by Xander into thinking she was doing the right thing).
* 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.
* 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.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Wesley pretty much ruined any chance Angel had of getting through to her (and it seemed to be working, mind you). About a year later he is more successful.
* HeelRealization: When she switched bodies with Buffy, she eventually figures out that she could have taken a run at Series/{{Angel}} for evil, and would reappear on his show as one in the hope he would kill her. He sees right through this ploy and doesn't comply with it. Another mild example crops up in the comics, when she snaps and tries to kill Buffy again, due to a combination of liking the person she actually ''was'' going to kill (on Giles' orders), trying to protect her from Buffy, and some belief that if she kills Buffy she'll be a hero; she realizes she treats those who are decent to her like dirt. She makes more of an effort to treat people as people, rather than as a means to an end.
* HeelFaceReturn: Her return to Sunnydale in Season 7 looks like this to anyone who wasn't watching ''Series/{{Angel}}''.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Even as a good guy she easily gives into her impulses and quite knowingly knows she's not all there, resulting in conflict with good guys and bad guys alike.
* HighHeelFaceTurn: After Angel shows her ThePowerOfFriendship.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Slowly adopts more and more violent tendencies, until finally she is indistinguishable from Angelus himself.
* TheHedonist: Faith's carefree approach to slaying backfired horribly after her AccidentalMurder of a human.
* 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."
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Buffy puts Faith in a coma by stabbing her in the gut with her own knife. Which she got after Faith unintentionally left it behind.
* HotBlooded: Faith sees something she doesn't like (such as Scott dancing with another girl after dumping Buffy) or is told something that upsets her (Angel was kept a secret and still may be evil) and she'll make no bones about her opinion before springing into action with no thought.
* IconicSequelCharacter: She is introduced in early Season 3, becoming one of the season's primary antagonists, before returning for a two-part guest spot in Season 4. She returns again for the last arc of the final season after pulling a HeelFaceTurn on Angel.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: Though she'd never admit it, she wants to have Scoobies of her own.
* InterruptedCooldownHug: Angel is finally getting through to her when Wesley has Faith detained and shipped out. About a year later, Angel tries it again when he realizes that Faith is now suicidal, this time successfully and before Wes can muck it up.
* InspectorJavert: In "Revelations", after seeing an injured and unconscious Giles in the library, Faith automatically assumes that Angel attacked him. By contrast, Xander, who can't stand Angel and manipulated Faith into going after him to begin with, doubts that Angel did so, and he's proven right.
* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: After her FaceHeelTurn Faith invokes this when Buffy attacks her.
* InTheBlood: In ''[[ComicBook/AngelAndFaith Angel & Faith]]'', Faith's own father tells her that, no matter how much she tries to change or how much she tries to be one of the good guys, she will ''always'' be in trouble simply because she is a Lehane, which drives Faith into a brief HeroicBSOD.
* ItsPersonalWithTheDragon: Buffy definitely had more of a bone to pick with Faith than with the [[BigBad Mayor]].
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Before and after her FaceHeelTurn. She tends to play things off nonchalantly and can be a Jerkass, though usually genuinely wants to help. She becomes nicer after her Heel–Face Turn, holds a lot of loyalty towards certain people and feels guilt for her terrible crimes, but is still an example of GoodIsNotNice and ChaoticGood.
* JokerImmunity: At the end of Season 3 she is put into a coma rather than killed. Over on ''Series/{{Angel}}'', he refuses to let her commit SuicideByCop and she goes to jail instead.
* JumpedAtTheCall: Perhaps the major difference between her and Buffy (at least initially) is that while Buffy always resented being the Slayer Faith loved the new found responsibility and power that came from being a ChosenOne. Chalk this up to because it was the first time her life had any meaning to it and she could make something of herself.
* 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.
* KlingonPromotion: Elevates herself to TheDragon after dusting Mr. Trick.
* KnifeNut: The Mayor gives her a knife as a reward for her services, which Faith seems to immediately fetishize, even going so far as to sniff it like a Cuban cigar.
* KnightInSourArmor: Played with. To Faith slaying is [[ItsTheBestWhateverEver the best damn job in the world.]] That's the slaying itself... having to stress over a Watcher having lost one, trust others, have them trust her, and the realization that she really is crazy is what brings the sour in. Gratitude from a victim she saves, something she seemingly never had, really touches her and she loses some of the sour part.
* TheLadette: In stark contrast to [[GirlyBruiser Buffy]], Faith smokes, drinks, enjoys violence, and has no problems with emotionless, casual sex.
* TheLeader: When Buffy forces the Slayer army to kick her out Faith is seen as more reasonable and takes up the leadership role, only to relinquish it when a mission ends in disaster. When Spike enters the fray and the pair of two hundred-year-old vampires are acting about five she has to step in, much to Angel's embarrassment.
* LeaderWannabe: {{Subverted}}. After Buffy is deposed as leader, the Potentials place her in charge, despite her protestations. Buffy finally puts her resentment of Faith aside and encourages her to lead them. She proves to be more amiable than Buffy, but leads a raid on the vineyard that turns out to be a trap. Unlike Buffy, she displayed no prior leadership ability whatsoever, being merely a blunt instrument. Following the failed attack and Buffy is back in charge, the Potenitals try to pin the blame on Faith, but Buffy reassures her that it wasn't her fault.
* LeeroyJenkins: Before she became OlderAndWiser, this was her general attack strategy... and her strategy in general.
-->'''Buffy:''' Stop, wait, think!\\
'''Faith:''' No, no, no.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Buffy and Faith are Vampire Slayers, the Chosen Two. Bad girl Faith says that killing vampires always makes her hungry and horny contrasted with Buffy who sometimes craves a nonfat yogurt afterward and cares about always doing the right thing.
* LikeASonToMe: Mayor Wilkins treated her like a surrogate daughter.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop:
** In ''Buffy'' Season 3, the Scooby Gang neglects to include Faith in the intervention when they find out about Buffy hiding Angel. This winds up making her less trustful of them, and allows Gwendolyn Post to manipulate her into fighting Buffy.
** In ''Buffy'' Season 7/''Angel'' Season 4, despite full knowledge of the First's threat to the Slayer line, the Scoobies neglect to warn Faith of the danger, believing that Faith would be safe from the First's minions in prison. Faith ends up finding out the hard way when one of said minions infiltrates the prison she's in and attacks her.
* LovesTheSoundOfScreaming: Demonstrated with her torture of Buffy and Wesley.
--> '''Faith:''' Before we get started, I just want to let you know... if you're a screamer, feel free.
* MadeOfIron: She once crashed through a window with Wesley in hand and landed on a car. The car's roof was severely damaged, yet Faith was unharmed.
* MeaningfulName: Faith as in her faith in people which she keeps losing.
* {{Mentor}}: After the Twilight crisis, Faith begins mentoring a group of Slayers based in London.
* MentorOccupationalHazard: Faith cites this as a reason she doesn't like authority figures in general. Her previous Watcher was horribly murdered by Kakistos.
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: From Faith's point of view; she made bad choices, sure, but she faced fairly constant betrayal even while friends with the Scoobies. She clashed with Buffy over Angel, Gwendolyn Post used and betrayed her, and her Watcher Wesley had her abducted on the brink of her possible atonement. Faced with distrust and threats from every corner, it's little wonder she wound up working for the Mayor.
* MoralityChain: Serves as one for Angel during the ''Angel & Faith'' comics, which is exactly what Angel wants: a friend he trusts to make sure he doesn't [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jump off the slippery slope]] again like he did as Twilight.
* MsFanservice: Other characters take note of how attractive she is, and her dress style favors leather pants and low-cut tops with prominent cleavage. After becoming good again she starts to dress more modestly.
* MusclesAreMeaningless: Slightly more physically imposing than Buffy, and her fighting style favors powerful strikes. She still shouldn't be able to hit like a truck without Slayer powers.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:N-Y]]
* NaughtyNurseOutfit: Discussing sex role play with Spike Faith mentions this as a whack fantasy. Naturally, it's revealed a certain ''[[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer crunchy granola girl]]'' has such three-way vampire fantasies.
* TheNicknamer: Faith christens Buffy 'B' almost immediately after meeting her.
* NinetiesAntiHero: From the get-go she's much more violent than any of the heroes, enjoys fighting, drinking, and promiscuous sex. She's also street smart and snarky even by the standards of this show.
* NotSoDifferent: Claims this is the case between her and Buffy, who tries to deny it every time. Unfortunately for Buffy, Faith is right.
** Buffy hints a couple of times that she has a huge CelebCrush on Creator/DanielCraig. When Angel hooks Spike up with his ex Faith was expecting the Bond actor to be dragged to her to ravish. The series and comics also allude that Buffy partakes in, well, [[ADateWithRosiePalms an activity]] Faith admits to enjoying.
** Neither is ever brought up, but Faith has this dynamic with both Spike and Willow. With 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. Faith and Willow had pretty shitty lives (though Faith's is implied to have been far worse), and gained new, amazing abilities which they began to abuse. After a great trauma they turned evil, trying to kill Buffy and cause mass destruction with their power. They were both brought down by someone showing compassion when they really didn't deserve it, leaving everyone they knew for a while and then returning in Season 7 with more control over themselves. One wonders what they talked about during their car ride back to Sunnydale.
* NotQuiteDead: At the end of her fight with Buffy in "Graduation Day, Part One".
* NotStayingForBreakfast: How she treats her one night stands. Wood teases her about it motivating Faith to try and ravish him despite them trying to prepare for the final battle, before he convinces her to give him a chance to show that men can be more than a quick lay.
* OlderAndWiser: Faith had a take-each-day attitude when she first appeared; she was reckless, impulsive and sought instant gratification. This ultimately led her down a very dark path, and after becoming TheAtoner, Faith gradually shifts to become more focused inward, more in control of her emotions and acknowledging of her own faults and bad choices.
* OppositesAttract: With [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Wood]] at the end of Season 7. It doesn't last, as we find out in Faith's first comic book appearance (she refers to him as "the ex"), though they remain allies and seem to have a steady working relationship.
* OrphansOrdeal: Has a terrible home life while with the good guys. It says a lot about the Mayor that the first thing he did for her was getting her into a place that wasn't a dive motel.
* PaedoHunt: Has shades of this. When interrogating a demon she's all for busting him open when he reveals he had slept with underage girls. When acting as a bodyguard and she finds out the wannabe rock star she's protecting is into underage girls Faith first does nothing when a PapaWolf attacks him, then when he goes demon attacks him herself. [[AbusiveParents Makes sense really.]]
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Angel in ''ComicBook/AngelAndFaith''.
* PlayAlongPrisoner: During her stint in prison. Her near-effortless escape proves she could have easily gotten out whenever she wanted.
* PopCulturedBadass: It's more notable in the comics than in the show, but Faith has a habit of referencing classic literature, music, ''Franchise/StarWars'' of all things, and in one particularly frightening scene even ''Transformers''. You'd think she had been hanging out with Andrew.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Buffy lied to her about Angel's resurrection, which allowed Gwendolyn Post to use this to turn Faith against the Scooby Gang.
* PowerPerversionPotential: In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E16WhoAreYou Who Are You]]", she takes advantage of having swapped bodies with Buffy to [[BedTrick sleep]] with her new boyfriend Riley. When the switch is undone and she finds out, Buffy is pissed and chases her to L.A. for payback.
* PropheticName: You can take this from several viewpoints. For instance, her sponsorship by Angel, or (in the comic series) Faith's loyalty to same.
* PsychoForHire: She enjoys beating up the bad guys a little too much from the beginning. Even before she became a Slayer she was with a boy, thinking of her dead mother, and mused how easy it is to kill someone. Faith gets a vision before she does anything but it shows her dark thoughts are there even way back then.
* PutOnABus: She was rendered comatose at the end of Season 3, and later turned herself into the police.
* TheQuisling: Before going evil became common knowledge.
* ReallyGetsAround: Well, a night of [[InterplayOfSexAndViolence intense slaying does make her horny]], after all. Not only is she quick to jump Xander's bones [[GladToBeAliveSex after he saves her from an apocalypse demon]], she also tries to hook up with ''all three'' of Buffy's boyfriends, succeeds in doing so with Riley, and [[{{Netorare}} steals away]] Buffy's on-off LoveInterest Wood during her return in Season 7. Faith seems to have dropped this as of late in favor of looking after Angel (in a non-sexual way).
* RedemptionInTheRain: It just so happens to be raining when Faith breaks down and admits to Angel about having a death wish. In the next episode, she turns herself in to the police.
* RedOniBlueOni: The Red to Buffy's Blue. While Faith is hotheaded and impulsive, Buffy is careful and collected. "Bad Girls" is a whole episode revolving around this dynamic, and how radically different the two Slayers are in their methods despite Faith's attempts to get Buffy to be more like her. Ultimately, Faith's freewheeling attitude [[AccidentalMurder goes about as well for her as you might think.]]
* ReformedButRejected: For a good while in Season 7. About the only one to accept her is Willow, [[NotSoDifferent who just came off from a stint of evil-doing herself]].
* ReformedCriminal: Most of her sins were buried, with her only real crime she was paying for was the murder of a volcanologist. Turns out she strives to atone for this even today, as well as everything else she's done, by trying to help others.
* TheResenter: Buffy having everything Faith didn't while not even wanting to be the Slayer made Faith just a wee bit pissed. She hates that Buffy has a loving family, loyal friends, a caring Watcher and a relatively nice middle-class background while Faith comes from an abusive household and troubled upbringing.
* RivalTurnedEvil: Even during her friendship with Buffy, there were smacks of rivalry between the two.
* RogueAgent: Faith's default setting, before she goes evil and psychotic.
* RunningGag: PlayedForDrama. From her introduction Faith takes Buffy's friends, her meal and looks like she's trying to take her job. From there it gets worse: first she sleeps with Xander, before later trying to kill him. She tries to take Angel from Buffy (which she ironically succeeds at), her life; in both senses of the word, her body, her current boyfriend, and then she hits on with Spike, takes Buffy's leadership of the potentials, then Robin Wood who was Buffy's potential boyfriend, then Giles, then Angel, in short everything Buffy had Faith takes away from her. Tragically half of these are by accident. Buffy's friends like Faith, Angel rejects Buffy over the way she acts when he tries to help Faith, the potentials reject Buffy over the way she's acting, Buffy is outraged with Giles and Angel over what they've done and thus turn to Faith. Things like Buffy's food, or boyfriends, are a case when Faith does not think, [[JerkAss or]] worse, [[FaceHeelTurn when]] she [[PsychoForHire does.]]
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers: Her philosophy.
--> '''Faith:''' When are you gonna get this, B? The life of a Slayer is very simple. Want, take, have.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Outside of her selfish nature Faith is willing to ShootTheDog and kill Angel in case he goes evil, cover up her AccidentalMurder of a morally grey character, and allow herself to be killed to satisfy Buffy's thirst for vengeance and go against Angel trying to redeem her. In the comics, she gets so upset with Angel tormenting himself that she tries to stab him in the back and turn him human so he can let go of the guilt he feels, only stopping because of the BodyHorror her actions would cause.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: Her tossing a handgun to Angel to give him in her words, "one free shot." It was to see if he would try and kill her. When he doesn't (he tries to shoot her in the leg instead), she tries to force him to. See BatmanGambit.
* SelfHarm: A bit of an atypical variant, as she's harming her body while her mind isn't actually occupying it. (As such, this could be argued not to be harming "herself" per se. That said, all of the self-loathing and rage of a self-harmer is present as she lays into her Buffy-occupied body.)
* SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains: While not exactly {{Stripperific}}, Faith tends to show a lot more cleavage than Buffy (and wear generally tighter outfits). Subverted after she is reformed in prison and, embracing her status as an AntiHero, starts to dress more modestly.
* SexGoddess: Faith is the one who implies all Slayers can be this due to their powers and brags about it to Spike.
--> '''Faith:''' I could ride you at a gallop till your legs buckled and your eyes rolled up, I've got muscles you've never even dreamed of, I could squeeze you till you popped like warm champagne and you'd beg me to hurt you just a little bit more.
* SexIsCool: Faith's raison d'etre. Not only does she needle Buffy about her own love life, she also puts the moves on most, if not ''all'' of Buffy's potential and actual love interests, including at least two vampires.
* ShadowArchetype: Unlike Kendra, who was Buffy's polar opposite, Faith was, in essence, a mirror image of Buffy, a representation of what Buffy would have been like had her life circumstances been different; whereas Buffy grew up in a loving home surrounded by caring friends and family, Faith was raised by abusive and neglectful parents and suffered from various issues.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Not that she isn't attractive in her casual attire, but Giles is clearly impressed when Faith shows off her look for going undercover at a formal party, a PimpedOutDress with AbsoluteCleavage. Before that, there's the dress she wears to homecoming, and the dress the Mayor gets for her in "Graduation Day".
* ShipTease: She and Spike had a bit of this in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E14DirtyGirls Dirty Girls]]". Also with Angel in Season 3, and perhaps most infamously, [[LesYay Buffy]].
* SixthRangerTraitor: To the Scoobies in Season 3.
* SmitingEvilFeelsGood: She openly enjoys killing vampires and demons, and tries several times to get Buffy to do the same.
* {{Southies}}: Hails from South Boston, as noted in her first appearance. Also a case of ActorSharedBackground, as Creator/ElizaDushku is a Boston native as well.
* StreetSmart: Where a lot of her strengths come from. Faith isn't well-read, but she's intelligent and savvy.
* SugarAndIcePersonality: This trope bounces around with Faith. She makes snap judgments on those she thinks she can trust and those she thinks she can she's very friendly and open with, while still keeping some deep down personal issues to herself. Faith doesn't even pretend to be interested in everyone else, though this changes as the series moves on.
* SuicideByCop: Tries to get Angel to kill her by turning up her more psychotic behavior.
* SuperReflexes: In prison, she turns around in time to prevent a hired assassin from striking her from behind as she is doing chin-ups.
* SuperToughness: She has fallen from a height of three stories on top of a closed dumpster, rolled off it to hit the ground and got up immediately with no signs of damage; she also could hold her own in a fight with Buffy less than 24 hours after waking from a nine-month coma without suffering any muscle atrophy — a coma which she entered after surviving a deep stab wound to the abdomen immediately followed by a fall from the top of a multi-story building into a moving truck. Also, in an attempt by the Watcher's Council to capture Faith without killing her, they prepared a tranquilizer that was capable of knocking out a man twice her size which is more than enough to subdue an ordinary young woman of her size.
* SurvivorsGuilt: Her first watcher was horribly murdered by Kakistos and Faith was only able to scar him across the eye before escaping to Sunnydale.
* TankTopTomboy: She's often seen wearing tank tops, befitting her [[TheLadette Ladette]] nature.
* TattooedCrook: She has a tribal tattoo on her arm. Its meaning is never explained in-series, but the novel ''Go Ask Malice'' reveals it to be the mark of Kakistos.
* TeensAreMonsters: A teenage girl who knows all about the Five Basic Torture Groups. The Mayor must be so proud!
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: After trying and failing to find acceptance and live up to Buffy and the other Scoobies' moral standards, Faith [[spoiler: accidentally stakes and kills Deputy Allen Finch, mistaking him for a vampire.]] After this point, she begins to lean into being evil, since she sees no other path available to her. Fortunately, when she reaches the culmination of her downward spiral and [[spoiler: [[SuicideByCop tries to manipulate Angel into killing her]], he shows her that [[HeelFaceTurn it's never too late]] [[TheAtoner to get back on the right path]].]]
* TokenEvilTeammate: In Season 3. The Scoobies never really accept her as part of the gang due to her violent, unstable nature, and she soon goes from the Token Evil Teammate to a straight-up villain.
* TookALevelInJerkass: During her FaceHeelTurn, UpToEleven. Only a couple of good [[FreudianExcuse Freudian Excuses]] and her surprisingly touching relationship with the [[ParentalSubstitute Mayor]] keep her from becoming irredeemable.
* TookALevelInKindness: There's little resemblance from her psychotic earlier years and the way she becomes after her incarceration.
* TortureTechnician: She was quite fond of torture - at one point, Angel complimented her on how well she knew how to do it. [[AbusiveParents One wonders how a teenager knew so much about the "five basic torture groups"]].
* ToxicFriendInfluence: To Buffy in Season 3, especially in the episode "Bad Girls." She convinces Buffy to skip school (which she'd already done before to fight monsters, but she didn't need to at the time) and steal.
* UnclePennybags: At the end of Season 8, Giles dies and it turns out he left Faith with his belongings, rather than Buffy. Faith uses it to good effect, such as using it to buy the Arsenal football team beers when a Slayer picks a fight with them. Outside of that she also fulfills the trait of [[CoolAunt being fun to be around]].
* UndyingLoyalty: To [[ParentalSubstitute Mayor Wilkins]], [[ThePowerOfFriendship Angel]], and [[{{Mentor}} Giles]], who put it best when he said that Faith is slow to let people in, but when she does, she has their back ''for life''.
* UnkemptBeauty: In deliberate contrast to Buffy's more well-groomed look.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: Played with in regards to [[ArchEnemy Buffy]]. The LesYay between the two was through the roof, especially in "Who Are You?", where the first thing [[GrandTheftMe Faith-in-Buffy's body]] does after the switch is ''take a bath''.
* 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.
* UnwittingPawn: To [[SmallRoleBigImpact Gwendolyn Post]], for all of about one episode. Needless to say, Faith found it pretty hard to trust ''anyone'' after that.
* VilerNewVillain: She kills Mister Trick and then becomes the Mayor's new dragon. Among her acts were the attempted rape of Xander, the (indirect) rape of Riley, the kidnapping of Willow, the brutal torture of Wesley, a murder attempt on Angel, and at least four murders (three humans and a benevolent demon, the first of which was really an accident).
* VillainEpisode: "Who Are You?", which is about Faith struggling to come to terms with what she's done after having pulled a GrandTheftMe on Buffy.
* VillainousBreakdown: Has one after carrying out an elaborate charade [[SuicideByCop to get Angel to kill her]]:
--> '''Faith:''' I'm evil! I'm bad! I'm evil! Do you hear me? I'm bad! Angel, I'm bad! I'm bad! Do you hear me? I'm bad! I'm bad! I'm bad. Please. Angel, please, just do it. Angel please, just do it. Just do it. Just kill me. Just kill me.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Buffy in Season 3 until [[FaceHeelTurn she breaks that friendship up badly.]] She and Buffy do become closer again at the ends of Season 7 and Season 8.
* WantingIsBetterThanHaving: For a long time, Faith is so envious of Buffy's "perfect life" (loving family, lots of friends, perfect boyfriend, lots of popular and praise, etc) that she can hardly stand it. When she finally gets a chance to swap bodies with her and live Buffy's life in "Who Are You?", however, she is clearly uncomfortable with the amount of love, trust, and kindness she receives from everyone, and has a minor FreakOut after having [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex slow and loving sex]] with Buffy's boyfriend. It clearly dawns on her that even if she had the "perfect" life and family she always wanted, she's too damaged to know what to do with it. Notably, when Buffy-in-Faith's-body comes back for her own body, Faith doesn't put up as much of a fight as one would expect, and after Buffy manages the switcharoo Faith runs off, and Buffy rightly guesses that they won't have to worry about her for a while. From then on, Faith is noticeably less consumed with envy over Buffy.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Faith loads up on weapons after learning of a BackFromTheDead, supposedly reformed Angel being in possession of a magical glove, scared of who he might kill. When she finds Giles had been attacked she immediately thinks 'Angel' and defies everyone in a bid to kill him. Then there was the time she and Angel discovered demon blood that could heal and even turn vampires back into humans. Because of how obsessed he was with making amends Faith intended to force it into him, and was just about to do so when she learned it would have done a lot more harm.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: She and Buffy were the Chosen Two, until Faith allied with the Mayor and made it her personal mission to turn Buffy's life into a living hell.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: In "Who Are You?", Faith spends much of the episode in Buffy's body living it up, and messing with Buffy's life. She also finds several unexpected sources of goodness thrown her way, such as a loving parent who isn't a wannabe demon, a loving boyfriend, genuine gratitude, and actual friendship. She is all set to leave Sunnydale in Buffy's body, having gotten her revenge as well as a get out of jail free card. Then she sees a report on a TV while at a bus depot of a hostage situation in a church, and drops everything to save those people.
-->'''Faith-in-Buffy's-body:''' Because it's wrong.
* 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.'
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Good Lord, yes. Her parents were abusive, violent alcoholics who couldn't have cared less about her; she then found a parent figure in her Watcher, who was brutally murdered in front of her. Fleeing to Sunnydale, Faith tries to fit in with, and is ritually ignored by the Scooby Gang, and her new Watcher, who she quickly grows attached to, betrays and tries to kill her. Then she accidentally kills Deputy Mayor Finch, which pretty much destroys her mentally. She is almost helped by Angel, but Wesley's actions see to it that Faith doesn't trust anyone else ever again. She finds a father figure in [[BigBad Mayor Wilkins]], who asks her to kill people for him, but that is cut short when Faith is stabbed into a coma by Buffy. Faith wakes up a year later to find that Mayor Wilkins is dead, and that Buffy has broken up with Angel, the man who she tried to kill Faith to save. A short arc later and Angel finally gives a distraught, mentally unstable Faith the CooldownHug she's deserved for a long, ''long'' time.
* WrittenInAbsence: Before Faith turned evil, the writers had to come up with reasons why she wasn't around to help Buffy in episodes like "Helpless" or "Lovers' Walk" -- it was usually put down to her self-isolation and wayward nature.
* YinYangClash: Faith once theorized that this is why she and Buffy don't get along. After all, ThereCanBeOnlyOne.
[[/folder]]
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to:
[[quoteright:341:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/buffy_faithlehane3.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:341:"''You hurt me, I hurt you. I'm just a little more efficient."'']]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/ElizaDushku, Creator/SarahMichelleGellar ("Who Are You?")
->''"You know, I come to Sunnydale. I'm the Slayer. I do my job kicking ass better than anyone. But what do I hear about everywhere I go? Buffy. So I slay, I behave, I do the good little girl routine. [[DudeWheresMyRespect And who does everybody thank? Buffy.]]"''
Slayer from Boston activated by Kendra's death at the hands of Drusilla in the penultimate episode of Season 2, and a {{Foil}} for Buffy in Season 3. Loved slaying a little too much, and ended up playing TheDragon to [[BigBad the Mayor]]. Moved to ''Series/{{Angel}}'', ended up in jail, and came back redeemed for the final few episodes.
After the battle in Sunnydale, Faith joined the others as part of the worldwide Slayer Organization, setting up shop in Cleveland, where she assisted a Slayer squad led by ex-boyfriend Robin Wood. This changed after assisting Giles with a mission against a rogue Slayer, and together they decided to find Slayers that were having difficulty with their new life and help them out.
In the aftermath of the destruction of the Seed of Wonder by Buffy and Giles' death at the hands of a brainwashed Angel, Faith remains the only person willing to associate with Angel, and is dedicated to helping him -- and herself -- find redemption.
----
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:A-F]]
* 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.
--> '''Buffy:''' We help people! It doesn't mean we can do whatever we want.\\
'''Faith:''' Why not? The guy I offed was no Gandhi. I mean, we just saw he was mixed up in dirty dealings.\\
'''Buffy:''' Maybe, but what if he was coming to us for help?\\
'''Faith:''' What if he was? You're still not seeing the big picture, B. Something made us different. We're warriors. We're built to kill.\\
'''Buffy:''' To kill demons! But it does not mean that we get to pass judgment on people like we're better than everybody else!\\
'''Faith:''' We ''are'' better! That's right, better. People need us to survive. In the balance, nobody's gonna cry over some random bystander who got caught in the crossfire.
* AbusiveParents: Her mother was a neglectful alcoholic who was likely physically and mentally abusive. The Mayor was a better parent!
* AccidentalMurder: Of Deputy Mayor Finch.
* AllMenArePerverts: As she believes.
--> '''Faith:''' ''All'' men are beasts, Buffy.\\
'''Buffy:''' Okay, I was hoping to not get that cynical till I was at least forty.\\
'''Faith:''' It's not cynical. I mean, it's realistic. Every guy from Manimal down to Mr. I-Love-The-English-Patient has beast in him. And I don't care how sensitive they act. They're all still just in it for the chase.
* AllThereInTheScript: Her surname, Lehane, was not revealed until the release of the official ''Buffy'' RPG.
* AlwaysSecondBest: To Buffy. Ironically this is how Buffy feels in regards to Faith.
--> '''Faith''' ''[While holding the Scythe]'' It's old, strong and it feels like its mine. ''[Pauses]'' I guess that means it's yours.
* 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.
* 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.
* AntiHero: Types I through to IV, when she's not psychotic.
* AntiHeroSubstitute: Faith is the one true Slayer, since she was called upon Kendra's death (who was in turn called when Buffy died.) She's a decidedly less moral, more antagonistic mold -- at least initially.
* 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.]]
* ArchEnemy: For Buffy, being her ShadowArchetype and (for a time) EvilCounterpart.
* ArentYouGoingToRavishMe: After stealing Buffy's body she tries to get Riley to engage in creepy sex. Instead [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex he's so gentle]] it freaks her out.
* AscendedExtra: Originally started out with a planned minor role in the series, similar to Kendra's, both the audience and Joss Whedon became fans of Eliza and her character and she became much more important to the story.
* 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.
* TheAtoner: Not only could she have taken a run at Angelus in the monster stakes, Faith is the biggest example of this trope this side of Angelus, to the point she JumpedAtTheCall to find Riley so she can make up for hurting him.
* AxCrazy: This is very much a condition she has even as a good guy. She is able to mostly keep it in check, but she is tempted to kill Angel in a hell dimension (so he would no longer place her and others in danger) and working as TheMole she loses her temper and tries to drown Buffy in a pool.
* 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.
* BadLiar: Giles quickly realizes that it was her who killed Finch and not Buffy. In his own words: "Faith has many skills, but fortunately lying is not one of them."
* BastardGirlfriend: In "Consequences", at the absolute nadir of her sanity, Faith holds a protesting Xander down in her bed, and seems entirely undecided about whether she's going to rape him, murder him, or both. She does lose interest in creepy kinky sex though after spending a night with Riley, who is more of the vanilla missionary-style school.
* BatmanGambit: She tries to kill Angel, assaults Cordelia, and kidnaps and tortures Wesley, all in an attempt to force a showdown with Angel and get him to kill her.
* BathtubBonding: With Genevieve Savidge in Season 8, which Faith does with the knowledge that she has to kill her. Awkward.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Usually played straight, and easily explained by the enhanced resilience enjoyed by all Slayers. Even after extended battles with Buffy, who hit harder than most vampires, Faith always looked fine, without even a smudge on her makeup. Averted occasionally:
** As a result of a particularly significant battle, such as the rooftop duel with Buffy (Though the only real damage to her face came as a result of a long fall onto a moving truck, ''not'' from Buffy's fists).
** While attempting to defeat The Beast in Los Angeles, Faith suffers a horrific beatdown, and is so bloody and battered afterwards that she can barely walk. Her reactions afterwards show that her confidence is just as damaged as her body.
** Her and Buffy were shown to have bruises lining their faces after their first fight with each other.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: A total of three times, with one-time watcher Gwendolyn Post, The Mayor, and Angel. She was willing to die to save him, all because he helped her come back from being evil while everyone else hated her (mainly because he understood her, seeing as he was in the same situation about 100 years previously). In season 4 of ''Series/{{Angel}}'', this is the reason why she refused to even try to kill [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Angelus]], and in ''ComicBook/AngelAndFaith'', she is still very loyal to him. Also, another reason why she helps Angel in Season 9 is because she really wants Giles back, since he was nice to her, too.
* BedTrick: Sleeps with Riley by pretending to be Buffy, whose body she had stolen at the time.
* BeingEvilSucks: When she begged Angel to kill her, it was because of this. "Who Are You" focuses on Faith's realization of how far she's fallen from the Slayer ideal.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Arguably with Buffy. Writer Doug Petrie was very much aware of the 'lesbian subtext' between the two, and as such, many of the episodes he wrote are ''riddled'' with LesYay.
* TheBerserker: When we first meet her, the result of witnessing the gruesome death of her Watcher. She relapses back into it when she awakens from her coma.
-->'''Buffy:''' Girl's not playing with a full deck, Giles. She has no deck. She has a 3.
* BerserkButton: Being told off for trying to do the right thing seems to be this. After she tries to kill Angel to stop who she thinks is Angelus it causes a deep rift from the gang (although them keeping it from her and giving her the "need to know basis" treatment was even worse). When told off for trying to rationalize killing the deputy mayor and getting rid of the body she gradually becomes more and more of a loose cannon, especially since they completely ignore Buffy's role in his death. In the comics when Buffy won't let her explain what she's doing Faith tries to drown her in a fit of rage, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone before realizing what she's doing.]]
* BerserkerTears: Briefly does this before collapsing in grief when she tried to get Angel to kill her.
* BetterLivingThroughEvil: The first thing the Mayor did for Faith was get her her own apartment (an instant upgrade from the crappy motel room she'd previously been forced to call home), complete with a Playstation. Miniature golf [[ParentalSubstitute only further sealed the deal.]]
* BewareTheSuperman: Believed she was better than other people because she's a Slayer. Giles sums it up best:
-->'''Giles''': We have a rogue Slayer on our hands. I can't think of anything more dangerous.
* BeyondRedemption: When Faith begins to go rogue after accidentally killing the Deputy Mayor, Willow [[NiceGirl of all people]] outright asks the other Scoobies why they should help her, stating that since Faith had taken a human life and tried to pin it on Buffy and had also tried to strangle Xander to death, she believed that the smartest thing to do would be to simply turn her over to the police or the Watchers' Council and be done with it. In "Choices," when Faith and Willow confront one another, Faith expects Willow to give her a speech that it wasn't too late for her to turn back, only to be caught off-guard when Willow gives her a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech and declares it ''is'' too late. Buffy herself eventually comes to agree after Faith [[GrandTheftMe swaps bodies with her]] and uses it to her advantage to [[PowerPerversionPotential have sex with Riley]]; when they confront one another in L.A., Buffy is determined to have Faith either killed or locked up, not caring that Faith is remorseful of her crimes and firmly believing that Faith can't be saved and Angel is wasting his time trying to help her.
-->'''Faith:''' Angel told me there was no way you were gonna give me a chance.\\
'''Buffy:''' I gave you ''every'' chance! I tried so hard to help you, and you ''spat'' on me!
* BigEater: Being superpowered [[VampireHunter vampire hunters]] Slayers tend to eat a lot. Faith showed this quality more, but it's likely due to living in PerpetualPoverty and eating up when she can.
* BloodKnight: Faith's favorite part of Slaying? The kill. That's what she used to live for. Even before she contemplated killing when younger, just to see what it was like. This extended to innocents where she looked for the thrill from killing and violence. Thankfully she got better.
* BookDumb: On having the phrase "AchillesHeel" explained to her.
--> "Ah. [[BuffySpeak School thing]]. I was kinda absent that decade."
* BreakoutCharacter: She was originally supposed to last one season and commit suicide out of guilt of committing murder. Instead she underwent a dramatic redemption arc and proved so popular that there were plans to give her a spin-off, though she did headline a comic series with Angel.
* 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.
* BrokenBird: Lives with knowing she is borderline psychotic and has a hell of a lot to atone for. Even before the series started, she reveals some things about her past that weren't too pleasant.
* TheBusCameBack: In Season 4 of ''Angel'' and Season 7 of ''Buffy''. The latter also counts as BackForTheFinale.
* CallingTheOldManOut: After it's revealed that Faith's father George only came looking for Faith because he wanted her to kill someone for him, Faith lets him have it, berating him for never being around and leaving her always looking for a father figure, and then nearly strangling him to death in a fit of rage.
* {{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.
* CharacterDevelopment: She goes from AntiHero, to villain, to genuinely finding redemption and making peace with Buffy.
* TheChosenOne: She is the One True Slayer, with Buffy having died and being the direct replacement for Kendra. Creator/JossWhedon has implied that, after Willow's spell activated all the Potentials alive at the time of the casting, no new Slayer will be Chosen until and unless Faith dies.
* 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.
* ClothingReflectsPersonality: Prior to her reformation, her look typically involved namely leather jeans and jackets and tight tops, often in dark clothes as to clash with Buffy's more "good girl" appearance. Her makeup was often dark and had red or maroon lipstick and she would wear accessories ranging from chain necklaces and chokers to belted bracelets and studded belts. After reforming, her appearance changed: she took to wearing more color and her makeup became much less intense and dark.
* ColdSniper: Her heel/face turns respectively.
* CombatPragmatist: Borrowed stakes. Chain link fences. Support beams used as stakes. Werewolf tails. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Hinting as sexual disease from Scott to scare off his date.]] Chairs. Glass doors. Crossbows. Police car cages. Anything's a weapon for a Slayer and Faith's a walking talking screwing armory.
* CombatSadomasochist: Faith makes no secret that slaying gets her horny. So naturally, a fight with no kill requires some kind of release, as Xander found out.
* ContraltoOfDanger: Speaks with a really low and husky voice, courtesy of Eliza Dushku.
* ConvenientComa: Was in one for eight months after Buffy tried her level best to kill her. This didn't stop her.
* CoolAunt:
** Creator/JossWhedon said that during season seven, she was this to the Potentials while Buffy was the mom.
** Becomes one to Giles when he's resurrected as a twelve year old...she's bemused by his childish behavior and helps him cope with what happened to him and everything he's lost.
* CoolBigSis: She became this in season seven, primarily because she was took the potentials out to let off steam and was seen as more reasonable than Buffy.
* CreateYourOwnVillain: The Scoobies neglecting to inform her about Angel's return was the first nail in the coffin, but [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Wesley having her arrested]] after she accidentally killed Deputy Mayor Finch made Faith completely snap.
* CulturedBadass: Given some of her quotes she at least tries to be. She ends up mangling some lines or uses them out of context.
* CuteAndPsycho: Hoo boy, she's as crazy as she is sexy, and she's portrayed as perhaps the most sexed up character in the series.
* TheCynic: Life's been utter crap for Faith, of course she takes this approach with family and men.
* CynicismCatalyst: Her AccidentalMurder of the Deputy Mayor is what really pushed her over the edge.
* DaddysLittleVillain: Despite not really being his daughter, she winds up very much playing this role to The Mayor — she's his loyal Dragon, of whom he is clearly protective. Her loyalty is based on him being the first (and possibly ''only'') person who ever valued her just for being her (not using her or trying to change her). When he tells her that even if Buffy did a FaceHeelTurn, he'd still pick Faith over her, it's a weird but touchingly sincere moment that clearly means the world to her. Buffy sending her into a coma led to his one swear word and Buffy taunting him about said loss led to his defeat. Many scenes between Faith and the Mayor involved him acting very fatherly and tender, giving her gifts and general life advice (about respecting and valuing herself) alongside assassination missions. Nice little CallBack in both Season Seven and the Season Eight comics, showing that Faith remembers him fondly despite her HeelFaceTurn.
* DanceBattler: In "[[Recap/AngelS01E18FiveByFive Five by Five]]", Faith dances about as the clubgoers get involved in various fights, working in some good punches and kicks as she gyrates.
* DarkActionGirl: After her FaceHeelTurn she becomes a rather cold blooded murderer.
* 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.
* 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.
* DeadpanSnarker: Most of the time it's pretty adult.
** On being promised that she'd get off (the murder charges against her would be dropped).
-->'''Faith:''' You don't know how many men have promised me that.
** On getting back into slaying after her stint in prison.
-->'''Faith:''' Just like riding a biker.
* DeathSeeker:
** First, she is clearly unafraid of the possibility of Buffy killing her at the end of Season 3. Dying isn't her exact plan then, but she'd still welcome it as a victory because it would corrupt Buffy like she herself was corrupted. Secondly comes the literal example, where after spending time in Buffy's body and learning that BeingEvilSucks, she goes to LA in hopes of getting Angel to kill her.
** She even shows signs of this while a good guy: she was perfectly willing to go into a 1 on 8 situation without Buffy, and her fight with Angelus was borderline suicidal.
* DidntSeeThatComing: In "Choices," when confronting Willow, Faith expects her to give her a speech about how they're still her friends and it's not too late for her to turn back. She's taken by surprise when Willow does the exact opposite, telling her point-blank that it ''is'' too late for her and now that she's switched sides, she's alone, friendless, and a "big, selfish, worthless waste."
* {{Dominatrix}}: Doesn't mind playing sex games with boys "as long as they know who's on top."
-->'''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!]]
* TheDragon: To [[BigBad The Mayor]] during the second half of Season 3.
* DrivenByEnvy: Her reasoning for going evil.
* DrivenToSuicide: After the events of "Who Are You?", she comes to realize just how bad she's become and tries to get Angel to kill her. Angel refuses to let her take the easy way out, and Faith ends up going to jail instead.
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: After going to work for the [[BigBad Mayor]], she absolutely ''revels'' in embracing in her dark side.
* 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.
* DynamicCharacter: From edgy AntiHero to psychotic to stubborn ReformedButRejected and back again. Come season nine she is considered by some InUniverse as more of TheHero than Buffy.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Mayor Wilkins was the first person to fulfill Faith's need for a loving parental figure, genuinely valued her as a person, and moved her out of the trashy motel room she'd called home into a well-furnished studio apartment. Because of this, she returns his familial feelings towards her, acting out of genuine loyalty towards him and a desire to make him proud of her. The nightmares she has while comatose include Buffy killing him, and when she finds out about his death after waking up, she's clearly devastated. Even after her HeelFaceTurn, she still remembers him fondly and considers him a better father than her biological dad.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: In "Who Are You?", Faith has taken over Buffy's body and experiments by trying to live Buffy's life. She gets very confused and rather upset when people are nice to her. Especially Riley. It seems that "emotionally intimate and loving" is the only way Faith ''hasn't'' had sex yet.
* EvilCounterpart: Whereas Kendra was the polar opposite of Buffy in nearly every way, Faith was meant to represent Buffy's "road not taken", a living embodiment of what Buffy might have been had her life's circumstances been different.
* EvilFeelsGood: When Faith pulls a FaceHeelTurn, she goes from living in a dive motel that can and had been attacked by vampires with a barely functioning A/C and TV, to living in a studio loft with all of the fixings and no worries about vampires getting in. Suffice to say it's no wonder she felt proud to be a bad guy. Of course, after the Mayor's death and Buffy puts her in a coma, she shifts gears and decides that BeingEvilSucks.
* EvilIsNotAToy: Realizes this after waking up from her coma. Angel sums it up quite well when asking her:
-->'''Angel''': I once told you that you didn't have to go out in that darkness. Remember? That it was your choice. Well, you chose. You thought that you could just touch it. That you'd be okay. 5x5, right, Faith? But it swallowed you whole. So tell me — how did you like it?
* EvilMeScaresMe: Faith is so disgusted with herself after she turned evil that she wants to die. Her fight with Angelus shows just how concerned she is with keeping her dark side in check.
* EvilWearsBlack: After her FaceHeelTurn she starts wearing darker clothing.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: During her coma, her hair grew longer and became noticeably wavy and lighter.
* {{Expy}}: While developing the character, Douglas Petrie took inspiration from ComicBook/{{Elektra}}:
-->For inspiration for Faith, I read ''Elektra Lives Again'' about a hundred times. In a different, teen, punkier context, Faith is so much like Elektra.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:F-M]]
* FaceHeelTurn: During the second half of Season 3.
* FallenHero: She's the One True Slayer. A violent, immoral, somewhat crazed young woman who snaps and goes evil. It reaches the point where she realizes she's a monster and becomes a DeathSeeker. Comes full circle after her reform, now Buffy's cracking up and Faith is the more grounded, thoughtful hero.
* 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.
* FauxAffablyEvil: She has this demeanor when talking to Joyce in "This Year's Girl".
* FemmeFatale: Hot and [[ProudBeauty she knows it]], and how to use it, such as trying to pull a WoundedGazelleGambit on Angel to get him to sleep with her and lose his soul.
* FoeRomanceSubtext: She and Buffy repeat the same dynamic the latter had with Angelus, only with more emotional baggage, complete with TakeThatKiss from Faith (on the forehead, though originally scripted to be on the lips) and both of them acting like spurned girlfriends every time they cross paths. Fast forward to Season 7, and the First says everything Faith did was so Buffy would love her (which Faith doesn't deny).
* ForcedToWatch: Her first Watcher was [[CruelAndUnusualDeath torn in half]] in front of her by Kakistos.
* FormerTeenRebel: When first introduced she was a ReallyGetsAround BloodKnight who didn't mind if she had to ShootTheDog because Buffy wouldn't, such as whether or not Angel was good. After her FaceHeelTurn she became a psychopath who killed and did wrong ForTheEvulz, and actually tried to be this to attempt [[SuicideByCop suicide by vampire.]] After breaking out of prison she has become one of the nicest people in both series, a SergeantRock to younger Slayers, and has only seemingly grown out of her bad habits.
* FreudianExcuse: Her desire to be the Mayor's surrogate daughter is unsurprising, given that he's the first parental figure she had that actually loved her. Aside from her first Watcher, who was brutally murdered in front of her. Even before she joined the Mayor she wasn't in the best of places mentally, having serious issues with men and authority figures.
* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: After her FaceHeelTurn, Buffy explicitly mentions Faith's bad childhood as a reason to give her a second chance. However, when Faith expects Willow to offer her a chance at redeeming herself, Willow denies her that and said she had Buffy and the others supporting her but now she has nothing.
-->'''Willow''': I know you had a tough life, I know some people think you had a lot of bad breaks. Well boo-hoo, poor you. You know, you had a lot more in your life than some people, I mean you had friends like Buffy, now you have no one, you were a Slayer, now you are nothing. You're just a big selfish, worthless waste.
* FriendsWithBenefits: She and Xander were not exactly friends, about as close as they got was him revealing that Angel was alive, and all for killing him. Nonetheless, in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E13TheZeppo The Zeppo]]" he saves Faith from a Sisterhood of Jhe demon, and she takes his virginity with her treating it as a casual fling, kicking him out of her room moments after. Then, when he tries to use their "connection" to talk to her about her accidental murder of the Deputy Mayor, this becomes a MoralEventHorizon crossing, as she refuses to listen, insists that guys only ever want one thing from her, pushes him onto the bed and starts forcing herself on him, and chokes him, before Angel knocks her out.
* FullFrontalAssault: In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E3FaithHopeAndTrick Faith, Hope and Trick]]", one of the stories she tells her gang had her fighting three vampires in the buff after she sense them while she SleepsInTheNude. Xander gets [[DistractedByTheSexy particularly distracted]] by the mental image.
* 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.''
* GoodFeelsGood: When she switched bodies with Buffy, she was expected to do Buffy-like things since nobody knew she did it. This was what led to her HeelFaceTurn.
* GoodGirlGoneBad: Common knowledge by now, she's the rough tough sexed up Slayer compared to Buffy's more conservative nature, and she allows her psychotic nature to get the better of her. Even after having reformed and shown that she is really a good girl Faith gets treated as such.
* GoodIsNotNice: Before and after her FaceHeelTurn.
-->'''Faith:''' I'm gonna find these Enders. I'm gonna ''kill 'em.'' I'm gonna get this MacGuffin and use it to save Angel and Giles. Anyone who wants to help, speak up. Anyone who doesn't, ''screw you!'' ''[Spike's cowed and falls into line].
* GoodIsNotSoft: She matures into this. A seriously nice girl, caring, and points out EvenEvilHasLovedOnes. She's also up for maiming and killing human and demon alike, even her deadbeat father. In season nine, after slicing off the arm of a gun-toting gangster, then burning drug dealers alive, she brings up the proper arrangements for their bereaved families. Even when she was introduced, she proved to have what it takes: aside from being genuinely nice, she would say a dumped Buffy is a good Buffy (because of how aggressive a fighter she was after Scott dumped her) before sabotaging Scott's future conquests on Buffy's behalf, then lending a kind ear to a pissed Xander before going behind Buffy's back to kill Angel, since for all Faith knew he was still capable of being the grand master villain of the series.
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Faith has taken to smoking after her HeelFaceTurn. The comics suggest it's to steady her nerves, what with dealing with what she's done and fighting over a second Hellmouth. She goes through the better half of a pack because of her unease with assassinating a rogue Slayer.
** She smoked in the later seasons on the television show too, though it was shown rarely. One assumes she didn't do so during Season Three because the censors dislike having 'good' characters smoke. After her FaceHeelTurn, it would have been the Mayor preventing her, since he wouldn't want DaddysLittleVillain engaging in such a nasty habit.
* GrandTheftMe: During a two-part episode in Season 4, she awakens from her coma and uses a magic talisman left to her by the Mayor to steal Buffy's body, with the intention of ruining her life and then taking off to start a new life in some other place. She initially succeeds, since she manages to switch bodies with Buffy and then alienates her from her friends and family, but Buffy's loved ones eventually find out the truth and help reverse the body switching spell.
* GreenEyedMonster: Both the victim and the source of this: she wants what Buffy has, family, friends, respect, finally rationalizing that she is unlikely to have any of these things. Likewise Buffy is put out when Faith is adored, and when Buffy pushes people away most happily turn to Faith instead, causing Buffy to go all green eyed.
* GuiltComplex: Seemingly averted after she kills Deputy Mayor Finch and claims not to care. However, it's clear from the following episode that Faith is trying to erase the guilt by saying Buffy killed him. After her FaceHeelTurn she doesn't show any remorse for her actions, but "Five by Five" and "Sanctuary" over on ''Series/{{Angel}}'' reveal that Faith is so guilty that she tries to get Angel to kill her.
* HatesBeingTouched: She finds physical contact uncomfortable, due to her abusive parents. When she switched bodies with Buffy she was not used to Joyce hugging her, at all. She doesn't like Riley near her unless it's for casual sex. And she stabs Giles with a fork, before apologetically saying she doesn't like being pawed, unless she paws first.
* HeadbuttingHeroes: With Buffy. Special mention goes to 'Revelations', where they slug it out after Faith tried to kill Angel (being led by Xander into thinking she was doing the right thing).
* 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.
* 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.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Wesley pretty much ruined any chance Angel had of getting through to her (and it seemed to be working, mind you). About a year later he is more successful.
* HeelRealization: When she switched bodies with Buffy, she eventually figures out that she could have taken a run at Series/{{Angel}} for evil, and would reappear on his show as one in the hope he would kill her. He sees right through this ploy and doesn't comply with it. Another mild example crops up in the comics, when she snaps and tries to kill Buffy again, due to a combination of liking the person she actually ''was'' going to kill (on Giles' orders), trying to protect her from Buffy, and some belief that if she kills Buffy she'll be a hero; she realizes she treats those who are decent to her like dirt. She makes more of an effort to treat people as people, rather than as a means to an end.
* HeelFaceReturn: Her return to Sunnydale in Season 7 looks like this to anyone who wasn't watching ''Series/{{Angel}}''.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Even as a good guy she easily gives into her impulses and quite knowingly knows she's not all there, resulting in conflict with good guys and bad guys alike.
* HighHeelFaceTurn: After Angel shows her ThePowerOfFriendship.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Slowly adopts more and more violent tendencies, until finally she is indistinguishable from Angelus himself.
* TheHedonist: Faith's carefree approach to slaying backfired horribly after her AccidentalMurder of a human.
* 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."
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Buffy puts Faith in a coma by stabbing her in the gut with her own knife. Which she got after Faith unintentionally left it behind.
* HotBlooded: Faith sees something she doesn't like (such as Scott dancing with another girl after dumping Buffy) or is told something that upsets her (Angel was kept a secret and still may be evil) and she'll make no bones about her opinion before springing into action with no thought.
* IconicSequelCharacter: She is introduced in early Season 3, becoming one of the season's primary antagonists, before returning for a two-part guest spot in Season 4. She returns again for the last arc of the final season after pulling a HeelFaceTurn on Angel.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: Though she'd never admit it, she wants to have Scoobies of her own.
* InterruptedCooldownHug: Angel is finally getting through to her when Wesley has Faith detained and shipped out. About a year later, Angel tries it again when he realizes that Faith is now suicidal, this time successfully and before Wes can muck it up.
* InspectorJavert: In "Revelations", after seeing an injured and unconscious Giles in the library, Faith automatically assumes that Angel attacked him. By contrast, Xander, who can't stand Angel and manipulated Faith into going after him to begin with, doubts that Angel did so, and he's proven right.
* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: After her FaceHeelTurn Faith invokes this when Buffy attacks her.
* InTheBlood: In ''[[ComicBook/AngelAndFaith Angel & Faith]]'', Faith's own father tells her that, no matter how much she tries to change or how much she tries to be one of the good guys, she will ''always'' be in trouble simply because she is a Lehane, which drives Faith into a brief HeroicBSOD.
* ItsPersonalWithTheDragon: Buffy definitely had more of a bone to pick with Faith than with the [[BigBad Mayor]].
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Before and after her FaceHeelTurn. She tends to play things off nonchalantly and can be a Jerkass, though usually genuinely wants to help. She becomes nicer after her Heel–Face Turn, holds a lot of loyalty towards certain people and feels guilt for her terrible crimes, but is still an example of GoodIsNotNice and ChaoticGood.
* JokerImmunity: At the end of Season 3 she is put into a coma rather than killed. Over on ''Series/{{Angel}}'', he refuses to let her commit SuicideByCop and she goes to jail instead.
* JumpedAtTheCall: Perhaps the major difference between her and Buffy (at least initially) is that while Buffy always resented being the Slayer Faith loved the new found responsibility and power that came from being a ChosenOne. Chalk this up to because it was the first time her life had any meaning to it and she could make something of herself.
* 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.
* KlingonPromotion: Elevates herself to TheDragon after dusting Mr. Trick.
* KnifeNut: The Mayor gives her a knife as a reward for her services, which Faith seems to immediately fetishize, even going so far as to sniff it like a Cuban cigar.
* KnightInSourArmor: Played with. To Faith slaying is [[ItsTheBestWhateverEver the best damn job in the world.]] That's the slaying itself... having to stress over a Watcher having lost one, trust others, have them trust her, and the realization that she really is crazy is what brings the sour in. Gratitude from a victim she saves, something she seemingly never had, really touches her and she loses some of the sour part.
* TheLadette: In stark contrast to [[GirlyBruiser Buffy]], Faith smokes, drinks, enjoys violence, and has no problems with emotionless, casual sex.
* TheLeader: When Buffy forces the Slayer army to kick her out Faith is seen as more reasonable and takes up the leadership role, only to relinquish it when a mission ends in disaster. When Spike enters the fray and the pair of two hundred-year-old vampires are acting about five she has to step in, much to Angel's embarrassment.
* LeaderWannabe: {{Subverted}}. After Buffy is deposed as leader, the Potentials place her in charge, despite her protestations. Buffy finally puts her resentment of Faith aside and encourages her to lead them. She proves to be more amiable than Buffy, but leads a raid on the vineyard that turns out to be a trap. Unlike Buffy, she displayed no prior leadership ability whatsoever, being merely a blunt instrument. Following the failed attack and Buffy is back in charge, the Potenitals try to pin the blame on Faith, but Buffy reassures her that it wasn't her fault.
* LeeroyJenkins: Before she became OlderAndWiser, this was her general attack strategy... and her strategy in general.
-->'''Buffy:''' Stop, wait, think!\\
'''Faith:''' No, no, no.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Buffy and Faith are Vampire Slayers, the Chosen Two. Bad girl Faith says that killing vampires always makes her hungry and horny contrasted with Buffy who sometimes craves a nonfat yogurt afterward and cares about always doing the right thing.
* LikeASonToMe: Mayor Wilkins treated her like a surrogate daughter.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop:
** In ''Buffy'' Season 3, the Scooby Gang neglects to include Faith in the intervention when they find out about Buffy hiding Angel. This winds up making her less trustful of them, and allows Gwendolyn Post to manipulate her into fighting Buffy.
** In ''Buffy'' Season 7/''Angel'' Season 4, despite full knowledge of the First's threat to the Slayer line, the Scoobies neglect to warn Faith of the danger, believing that Faith would be safe from the First's minions in prison. Faith ends up finding out the hard way when one of said minions infiltrates the prison she's in and attacks her.
* LovesTheSoundOfScreaming: Demonstrated with her torture of Buffy and Wesley.
--> '''Faith:''' Before we get started, I just want to let you know... if you're a screamer, feel free.
* MadeOfIron: She once crashed through a window with Wesley in hand and landed on a car. The car's roof was severely damaged, yet Faith was unharmed.
* MeaningfulName: Faith as in her faith in people which she keeps losing.
* {{Mentor}}: After the Twilight crisis, Faith begins mentoring a group of Slayers based in London.
* MentorOccupationalHazard: Faith cites this as a reason she doesn't like authority figures in general. Her previous Watcher was horribly murdered by Kakistos.
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: From Faith's point of view; she made bad choices, sure, but she faced fairly constant betrayal even while friends with the Scoobies. She clashed with Buffy over Angel, Gwendolyn Post used and betrayed her, and her Watcher Wesley had her abducted on the brink of her possible atonement. Faced with distrust and threats from every corner, it's little wonder she wound up working for the Mayor.
* MoralityChain: Serves as one for Angel during the ''Angel & Faith'' comics, which is exactly what Angel wants: a friend he trusts to make sure he doesn't [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jump off the slippery slope]] again like he did as Twilight.
* MsFanservice: Other characters take note of how attractive she is, and her dress style favors leather pants and low-cut tops with prominent cleavage. After becoming good again she starts to dress more modestly.
* MusclesAreMeaningless: Slightly more physically imposing than Buffy, and her fighting style favors powerful strikes. She still shouldn't be able to hit like a truck without Slayer powers.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:N-Y]]
* NaughtyNurseOutfit: Discussing sex role play with Spike Faith mentions this as a whack fantasy. Naturally, it's revealed a certain ''[[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer crunchy granola girl]]'' has such three-way vampire fantasies.
* TheNicknamer: Faith christens Buffy 'B' almost immediately after meeting her.
* NinetiesAntiHero: From the get-go she's much more violent than any of the heroes, enjoys fighting, drinking, and promiscuous sex. She's also street smart and snarky even by the standards of this show.
* NotSoDifferent: Claims this is the case between her and Buffy, who tries to deny it every time. Unfortunately for Buffy, Faith is right.
** Buffy hints a couple of times that she has a huge CelebCrush on Creator/DanielCraig. When Angel hooks Spike up with his ex Faith was expecting the Bond actor to be dragged to her to ravish. The series and comics also allude that Buffy partakes in, well, [[ADateWithRosiePalms an activity]] Faith admits to enjoying.
** Neither is ever brought up, but Faith has this dynamic with both Spike and Willow. With 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. Faith and Willow had pretty shitty lives (though Faith's is implied to have been far worse), and gained new, amazing abilities which they began to abuse. After a great trauma they turned evil, trying to kill Buffy and cause mass destruction with their power. They were both brought down by someone showing compassion when they really didn't deserve it, leaving everyone they knew for a while and then returning in Season 7 with more control over themselves. One wonders what they talked about during their car ride back to Sunnydale.
* NotQuiteDead: At the end of her fight with Buffy in "Graduation Day, Part One".
* NotStayingForBreakfast: How she treats her one night stands. Wood teases her about it motivating Faith to try and ravish him despite them trying to prepare for the final battle, before he convinces her to give him a chance to show that men can be more than a quick lay.
* OlderAndWiser: Faith had a take-each-day attitude when she first appeared; she was reckless, impulsive and sought instant gratification. This ultimately led her down a very dark path, and after becoming TheAtoner, Faith gradually shifts to become more focused inward, more in control of her emotions and acknowledging of her own faults and bad choices.
* OppositesAttract: With [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Wood]] at the end of Season 7. It doesn't last, as we find out in Faith's first comic book appearance (she refers to him as "the ex"), though they remain allies and seem to have a steady working relationship.
* OrphansOrdeal: Has a terrible home life while with the good guys. It says a lot about the Mayor that the first thing he did for her was getting her into a place that wasn't a dive motel.
* PaedoHunt: Has shades of this. When interrogating a demon she's all for busting him open when he reveals he had slept with underage girls. When acting as a bodyguard and she finds out the wannabe rock star she's protecting is into underage girls Faith first does nothing when a PapaWolf attacks him, then when he goes demon attacks him herself. [[AbusiveParents Makes sense really.]]
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Angel in ''ComicBook/AngelAndFaith''.
* PlayAlongPrisoner: During her stint in prison. Her near-effortless escape proves she could have easily gotten out whenever she wanted.
* PopCulturedBadass: It's more notable in the comics than in the show, but Faith has a habit of referencing classic literature, music, ''Franchise/StarWars'' of all things, and in one particularly frightening scene even ''Transformers''. You'd think she had been hanging out with Andrew.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Buffy lied to her about Angel's resurrection, which allowed Gwendolyn Post to use this to turn Faith against the Scooby Gang.
* PowerPerversionPotential: In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E16WhoAreYou Who Are You]]", she takes advantage of having swapped bodies with Buffy to [[BedTrick sleep]] with her new boyfriend Riley. When the switch is undone and she finds out, Buffy is pissed and chases her to L.A. for payback.
* PropheticName: You can take this from several viewpoints. For instance, her sponsorship by Angel, or (in the comic series) Faith's loyalty to same.
* PsychoForHire: She enjoys beating up the bad guys a little too much from the beginning. Even before she became a Slayer she was with a boy, thinking of her dead mother, and mused how easy it is to kill someone. Faith gets a vision before she does anything but it shows her dark thoughts are there even way back then.
* PutOnABus: She was rendered comatose at the end of Season 3, and later turned herself into the police.
* TheQuisling: Before going evil became common knowledge.
* ReallyGetsAround: Well, a night of [[InterplayOfSexAndViolence intense slaying does make her horny]], after all. Not only is she quick to jump Xander's bones [[GladToBeAliveSex after he saves her from an apocalypse demon]], she also tries to hook up with ''all three'' of Buffy's boyfriends, succeeds in doing so with Riley, and [[{{Netorare}} steals away]] Buffy's on-off LoveInterest Wood during her return in Season 7. Faith seems to have dropped this as of late in favor of looking after Angel (in a non-sexual way).
* RedemptionInTheRain: It just so happens to be raining when Faith breaks down and admits to Angel about having a death wish. In the next episode, she turns herself in to the police.
* RedOniBlueOni: The Red to Buffy's Blue. While Faith is hotheaded and impulsive, Buffy is careful and collected. "Bad Girls" is a whole episode revolving around this dynamic, and how radically different the two Slayers are in their methods despite Faith's attempts to get Buffy to be more like her. Ultimately, Faith's freewheeling attitude [[AccidentalMurder goes about as well for her as you might think.]]
* ReformedButRejected: For a good while in Season 7. About the only one to accept her is Willow, [[NotSoDifferent who just came off from a stint of evil-doing herself]].
* ReformedCriminal: Most of her sins were buried, with her only real crime she was paying for was the murder of a volcanologist. Turns out she strives to atone for this even today, as well as everything else she's done, by trying to help others.
* TheResenter: Buffy having everything Faith didn't while not even wanting to be the Slayer made Faith just a wee bit pissed. She hates that Buffy has a loving family, loyal friends, a caring Watcher and a relatively nice middle-class background while Faith comes from an abusive household and troubled upbringing.
* RivalTurnedEvil: Even during her friendship with Buffy, there were smacks of rivalry between the two.
* RogueAgent: Faith's default setting, before she goes evil and psychotic.
* RunningGag: PlayedForDrama. From her introduction Faith takes Buffy's friends, her meal and looks like she's trying to take her job. From there it gets worse: first she sleeps with Xander, before later trying to kill him. She tries to take Angel from Buffy (which she ironically succeeds at), her life; in both senses of the word, her body, her current boyfriend, and then she hits on with Spike, takes Buffy's leadership of the potentials, then Robin Wood who was Buffy's potential boyfriend, then Giles, then Angel, in short everything Buffy had Faith takes away from her. Tragically half of these are by accident. Buffy's friends like Faith, Angel rejects Buffy over the way she acts when he tries to help Faith, the potentials reject Buffy over the way she's acting, Buffy is outraged with Giles and Angel over what they've done and thus turn to Faith. Things like Buffy's food, or boyfriends, are a case when Faith does not think, [[JerkAss or]] worse, [[FaceHeelTurn when]] she [[PsychoForHire does.]]
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers: Her philosophy.
--> '''Faith:''' When are you gonna get this, B? The life of a Slayer is very simple. Want, take, have.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Outside of her selfish nature Faith is willing to ShootTheDog and kill Angel in case he goes evil, cover up her AccidentalMurder of a morally grey character, and allow herself to be killed to satisfy Buffy's thirst for vengeance and go against Angel trying to redeem her. In the comics, she gets so upset with Angel tormenting himself that she tries to stab him in the back and turn him human so he can let go of the guilt he feels, only stopping because of the BodyHorror her actions would cause.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: Her tossing a handgun to Angel to give him in her words, "one free shot." It was to see if he would try and kill her. When he doesn't (he tries to shoot her in the leg instead), she tries to force him to. See BatmanGambit.
* SelfHarm: A bit of an atypical variant, as she's harming her body while her mind isn't actually occupying it. (As such, this could be argued not to be harming "herself" per se. That said, all of the self-loathing and rage of a self-harmer is present as she lays into her Buffy-occupied body.)
* SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains: While not exactly {{Stripperific}}, Faith tends to show a lot more cleavage than Buffy (and wear generally tighter outfits). Subverted after she is reformed in prison and, embracing her status as an AntiHero, starts to dress more modestly.
* SexGoddess: Faith is the one who implies all Slayers can be this due to their powers and brags about it to Spike.
--> '''Faith:''' I could ride you at a gallop till your legs buckled and your eyes rolled up, I've got muscles you've never even dreamed of, I could squeeze you till you popped like warm champagne and you'd beg me to hurt you just a little bit more.
* SexIsCool: Faith's raison d'etre. Not only does she needle Buffy about her own love life, she also puts the moves on most, if not ''all'' of Buffy's potential and actual love interests, including at least two vampires.
* ShadowArchetype: Unlike Kendra, who was Buffy's polar opposite, Faith was, in essence, a mirror image of Buffy, a representation of what Buffy would have been like had her life circumstances been different; whereas Buffy grew up in a loving home surrounded by caring friends and family, Faith was raised by abusive and neglectful parents and suffered from various issues.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Not that she isn't attractive in her casual attire, but Giles is clearly impressed when Faith shows off her look for going undercover at a formal party, a PimpedOutDress with AbsoluteCleavage. Before that, there's the dress she wears to homecoming, and the dress the Mayor gets for her in "Graduation Day".
* ShipTease: She and Spike had a bit of this in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E14DirtyGirls Dirty Girls]]". Also with Angel in Season 3, and perhaps most infamously, [[LesYay Buffy]].
* SixthRangerTraitor: To the Scoobies in Season 3.
* SmitingEvilFeelsGood: She openly enjoys killing vampires and demons, and tries several times to get Buffy to do the same.
* {{Southies}}: Hails from South Boston, as noted in her first appearance. Also a case of ActorSharedBackground, as Creator/ElizaDushku is a Boston native as well.
* StreetSmart: Where a lot of her strengths come from. Faith isn't well-read, but she's intelligent and savvy.
* SugarAndIcePersonality: This trope bounces around with Faith. She makes snap judgments on those she thinks she can trust and those she thinks she can she's very friendly and open with, while still keeping some deep down personal issues to herself. Faith doesn't even pretend to be interested in everyone else, though this changes as the series moves on.
* SuicideByCop: Tries to get Angel to kill her by turning up her more psychotic behavior.
* SuperReflexes: In prison, she turns around in time to prevent a hired assassin from striking her from behind as she is doing chin-ups.
* SuperToughness: She has fallen from a height of three stories on top of a closed dumpster, rolled off it to hit the ground and got up immediately with no signs of damage; she also could hold her own in a fight with Buffy less than 24 hours after waking from a nine-month coma without suffering any muscle atrophy — a coma which she entered after surviving a deep stab wound to the abdomen immediately followed by a fall from the top of a multi-story building into a moving truck. Also, in an attempt by the Watcher's Council to capture Faith without killing her, they prepared a tranquilizer that was capable of knocking out a man twice her size which is more than enough to subdue an ordinary young woman of her size.
* SurvivorsGuilt: Her first watcher was horribly murdered by Kakistos and Faith was only able to scar him across the eye before escaping to Sunnydale.
* TankTopTomboy: She's often seen wearing tank tops, befitting her [[TheLadette Ladette]] nature.
* TattooedCrook: She has a tribal tattoo on her arm. Its meaning is never explained in-series, but the novel ''Go Ask Malice'' reveals it to be the mark of Kakistos.
* TeensAreMonsters: A teenage girl who knows all about the Five Basic Torture Groups. The Mayor must be so proud!
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: After trying and failing to find acceptance and live up to Buffy and the other Scoobies' moral standards, Faith [[spoiler: accidentally stakes and kills Deputy Allen Finch, mistaking him for a vampire.]] After this point, she begins to lean into being evil, since she sees no other path available to her. Fortunately, when she reaches the culmination of her downward spiral and [[spoiler: [[SuicideByCop tries to manipulate Angel into killing her]], he shows her that [[HeelFaceTurn it's never too late]] [[TheAtoner to get back on the right path]].]]
* TokenEvilTeammate: In Season 3. The Scoobies never really accept her as part of the gang due to her violent, unstable nature, and she soon goes from the Token Evil Teammate to a straight-up villain.
* TookALevelInJerkass: During her FaceHeelTurn, UpToEleven. Only a couple of good [[FreudianExcuse Freudian Excuses]] and her surprisingly touching relationship with the [[ParentalSubstitute Mayor]] keep her from becoming irredeemable.
* TookALevelInKindness: There's little resemblance from her psychotic earlier years and the way she becomes after her incarceration.
* TortureTechnician: She was quite fond of torture - at one point, Angel complimented her on how well she knew how to do it. [[AbusiveParents One wonders how a teenager knew so much about the "five basic torture groups"]].
* ToxicFriendInfluence: To Buffy in Season 3, especially in the episode "Bad Girls." She convinces Buffy to skip school (which she'd already done before to fight monsters, but she didn't need to at the time) and steal.
* UnclePennybags: At the end of Season 8, Giles dies and it turns out he left Faith with his belongings, rather than Buffy. Faith uses it to good effect, such as using it to buy the Arsenal football team beers when a Slayer picks a fight with them. Outside of that she also fulfills the trait of [[CoolAunt being fun to be around]].
* UndyingLoyalty: To [[ParentalSubstitute Mayor Wilkins]], [[ThePowerOfFriendship Angel]], and [[{{Mentor}} Giles]], who put it best when he said that Faith is slow to let people in, but when she does, she has their back ''for life''.
* UnkemptBeauty: In deliberate contrast to Buffy's more well-groomed look.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: Played with in regards to [[ArchEnemy Buffy]]. The LesYay between the two was through the roof, especially in "Who Are You?", where the first thing [[GrandTheftMe Faith-in-Buffy's body]] does after the switch is ''take a bath''.
* 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.
* UnwittingPawn: To [[SmallRoleBigImpact Gwendolyn Post]], for all of about one episode. Needless to say, Faith found it pretty hard to trust ''anyone'' after that.
* VilerNewVillain: She kills Mister Trick and then becomes the Mayor's new dragon. Among her acts were the attempted rape of Xander, the (indirect) rape of Riley, the kidnapping of Willow, the brutal torture of Wesley, a murder attempt on Angel, and at least four murders (three humans and a benevolent demon, the first of which was really an accident).
* VillainEpisode: "Who Are You?", which is about Faith struggling to come to terms with what she's done after having pulled a GrandTheftMe on Buffy.
* VillainousBreakdown: Has one after carrying out an elaborate charade [[SuicideByCop to get Angel to kill her]]:
--> '''Faith:''' I'm evil! I'm bad! I'm evil! Do you hear me? I'm bad! Angel, I'm bad! I'm bad! Do you hear me? I'm bad! I'm bad! I'm bad. Please. Angel, please, just do it. Angel please, just do it. Just do it. Just kill me. Just kill me.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Buffy in Season 3 until [[FaceHeelTurn she breaks that friendship up badly.]] She and Buffy do become closer again at the ends of Season 7 and Season 8.
* WantingIsBetterThanHaving: For a long time, Faith is so envious of Buffy's "perfect life" (loving family, lots of friends, perfect boyfriend, lots of popular and praise, etc) that she can hardly stand it. When she finally gets a chance to swap bodies with her and live Buffy's life in "Who Are You?", however, she is clearly uncomfortable with the amount of love, trust, and kindness she receives from everyone, and has a minor FreakOut after having [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex slow and loving sex]] with Buffy's boyfriend. It clearly dawns on her that even if she had the "perfect" life and family she always wanted, she's too damaged to know what to do with it. Notably, when Buffy-in-Faith's-body comes back for her own body, Faith doesn't put up as much of a fight as one would expect, and after Buffy manages the switcharoo Faith runs off, and Buffy rightly guesses that they won't have to worry about her for a while. From then on, Faith is noticeably less consumed with envy over Buffy.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Faith loads up on weapons after learning of a BackFromTheDead, supposedly reformed Angel being in possession of a magical glove, scared of who he might kill. When she finds Giles had been attacked she immediately thinks 'Angel' and defies everyone in a bid to kill him. Then there was the time she and Angel discovered demon blood that could heal and even turn vampires back into humans. Because of how obsessed he was with making amends Faith intended to force it into him, and was just about to do so when she learned it would have done a lot more harm.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: She and Buffy were the Chosen Two, until Faith allied with the Mayor and made it her personal mission to turn Buffy's life into a living hell.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: In "Who Are You?", Faith spends much of the episode in Buffy's body living it up, and messing with Buffy's life. She also finds several unexpected sources of goodness thrown her way, such as a loving parent who isn't a wannabe demon, a loving boyfriend, genuine gratitude, and actual friendship. She is all set to leave Sunnydale in Buffy's body, having gotten her revenge as well as a get out of jail free card. Then she sees a report on a TV while at a bus depot of a hostage situation in a church, and drops everything to save those people.
-->'''Faith-in-Buffy's-body:''' Because it's wrong.
* 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.'
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Good Lord, yes. Her parents were abusive, violent alcoholics who couldn't have cared less about her; she then found a parent figure in her Watcher, who was brutally murdered in front of her. Fleeing to Sunnydale, Faith tries to fit in with, and is ritually ignored by the Scooby Gang, and her new Watcher, who she quickly grows attached to, betrays and tries to kill her. Then she accidentally kills Deputy Mayor Finch, which pretty much destroys her mentally. She is almost helped by Angel, but Wesley's actions see to it that Faith doesn't trust anyone else ever again. She finds a father figure in [[BigBad Mayor Wilkins]], who asks her to kill people for him, but that is cut short when Faith is stabbed into a coma by Buffy. Faith wakes up a year later to find that Mayor Wilkins is dead, and that Buffy has broken up with Angel, the man who she tried to kill Faith to save. A short arc later and Angel finally gives a distraught, mentally unstable Faith the CooldownHug she's deserved for a long, ''long'' time.
* WrittenInAbsence: Before Faith turned evil, the writers had to come up with reasons why she wasn't around to help Buffy in episodes like "Helpless" or "Lovers' Walk" -- it was usually put down to her self-isolation and wayward nature.
* YinYangClash: Faith once theorized that this is why she and Buffy don't get along. After all, ThereCanBeOnlyOne.
[[/folder]]
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* ContraltoOfDanger: Speaks with a really low and husky voice, courtesy of Eliza Dushku.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/faith_lehane.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"You hurt me, I hurt you. I'm just a little more efficient."'']]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"You hurt me, I hurt you. I'm just a little more efficient."'']]
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->''"You know, I come to Sunnydale. I'm the Slayer. I do my job kicking ass better than anyone. But what do I hear about everywhere I go? Buffy. So I slay, I behave, I do the good little girl routine. [[DudeWheresMyRespect And who's everybody thank? Buffy.]]"''
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->''"You know, I come to Sunnydale. I'm the Slayer. I do my job kicking ass better than anyone. But what do I hear about everywhere I go? Buffy. So I slay, I behave, I do the good little girl routine. [[DudeWheresMyRespect And who's who does everybody thank? Buffy.]]"''
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-> ''"Five by five."''
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--> '''Faith:''' You know, I come to Sunnydale. I'm the Slayer. I do my job kicking ass better than anyone. But what do I hear about everywhere I go? Buffy. So I slay, I behave, I do the good little girl routine. And who's everybody thank? Buffy.
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* FauxAffablyEvil: She has this demeanor when talking to Joyce in "This Year's Girl".
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* DesignatedGirlFight: She and Buffy had quite a few of these. One of them ended with Faith in a coma.
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* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: After going to work for the [[BigBad Mayor]], she absolutely ''revels'' in embracing in her dark side. Y'know, because [[EvilIsCool it's just so much fun being bad]].
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* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: After going to work for the [[BigBad Mayor]], she absolutely ''revels'' in embracing in her dark side. Y'know, because [[EvilIsCool it's just so much fun being bad]].
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* AmbiguouslyBi: Faith routinely has sex with guys—though, if her treatment of Xander is any indication, she never has any emotional or romantic feelings for them—but also has huge LesYay/FoeYay with Buffy, and occasionally Willow. She also has some innuendo with Lilah in her first ''Angel'' arc (it's been said in interviews that this was so strong in early takes that the actresses were ordered to tone it down). Her having a crush on Buffy is seemingly confirmed by the First as the Mayor in season 7, and Dushku, said that 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.
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* AmbiguouslyBi: Faith routinely has sex with guys—though, if her treatment of Xander is any indication, While she's definitely into guys, she never has any emotional or romantic feelings for them—but also has huge LesYay/FoeYay a ''lot'' of HomoeroticSubtext with Buffy, and occasionally Willow. She also has some innuendo with Lilah particularly in her first ''Angel'' arc (it's been said in interviews Season 3. The First-as-the-Mayor outright says that this all Faith ever wanted was so strong in early takes that the actresses were ordered to tone it down). Her having a crush on for Buffy is seemingly confirmed by the First as the Mayor in season 7, and Dushku, to "love" her. Eliza Dushku even said that she always thought that Faith definitely had something for Buffy. In season 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.
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* AscendedExtra: Originally started out with a planned minor role in the series, similar to Kendra's, both the audiences and Joss Whedon became fans of Eliza and her character and she became much more important to the story.
* 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 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.
* 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 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.
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* AscendedExtra: Originally started out with a planned minor role in the series, similar to Kendra's, both the audiences audience and Joss Whedon became fans of Eliza and her character and she became much more important to the story.
* 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.
* 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.
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* BadLiar: Giles once said of her, "Faith has many skills, but fortunately lying is not one of them." FridgeLogic sets in when he hires her to infiltrate a castle and assassinate a slayer.
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* BadLiar: Giles once said of her, quickly realizes that it was her who killed Finch and not Buffy. In his own words: "Faith has many skills, but fortunately lying is not one of them." FridgeLogic sets in when he hires her to infiltrate a castle and assassinate a slayer."
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* BatmanGambit: Her trying to get Angel to kill her. She tries to kill Angel, breaks into Cordelia's and assaults her, kidnap's and tortures Wesley all in an attempt to force a showdown with Angel.
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* BatmanGambit: Her trying to get Angel to kill her. She tries to kill Angel, breaks into Cordelia's and assaults her, kidnap's Cordelia, and kidnaps and tortures Wesley Wesley, all in an attempt to force a showdown with Angel.Angel and get him to kill her.
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* TheBusCameBack: In Season 4 of ''Angel'' / Season 7 of ''Buffy''. The latter also counts as BackForTheFinale.
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* TheBusCameBack: In Season 4 of ''Angel'' / and Season 7 of ''Buffy''. The latter also counts as BackForTheFinale.
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* CharacterDevelopment: She went from AntiHero, to villain, to genuinely finding redemption and making peace with Buffy.
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* CharacterDevelopment: She went goes from AntiHero, to villain, to genuinely finding redemption and making peace with Buffy.
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* DeadpanSnarker: Faith likes this. Most of the time it's pretty adult.
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* DeadpanSnarker: Faith likes this. Most of the time it's pretty adult.
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* TheLadette: In stark contrast to [[GirlyBruiser Buffy]], Faith smokes, drinks, gets off on violence, and has no problems with emotionless, casual sex.
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* TheLadette: In stark contrast to [[GirlyBruiser Buffy]], Faith smokes, drinks, gets off on enjoys violence, and has no problems with emotionless, casual sex.
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* PopCulturedBadass: Faith has a habit of referencing classic literature, music, ''Franchise/StarWars'' of all things, and in one particularly frightening scene even {{Transformers}}. You'd think she had been hanging out with Andrew.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Buffy lied to her about Angel's resurrection, which allowed Gwendolyn Post to use this to turn Faith against the gang.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Buffy lied to her about Angel's resurrection, which allowed Gwendolyn Post to use this to turn Faith against the gang.
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* PopCulturedBadass: It's more notable in the comics than in the show, but Faith has a habit of referencing classic literature, music, ''Franchise/StarWars'' of all things, and in one particularly frightening scene even {{Transformers}}.''Transformers''. You'd think she had been hanging out with Andrew.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Buffy lied to her about Angel's resurrection, which allowed Gwendolyn Post to use this to turn Faith against thegang.Scooby Gang.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Buffy lied to her about Angel's resurrection, which allowed Gwendolyn Post to use this to turn Faith against the
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* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Outside of her selfish nature Faith is willing to ShootTheDog and kill Angel in case he goes evil, cover up her AccidentalMurder of a morally grey character, and allow herself to be killed to satisfy Buffy's thirst for vengeance and go against Angel trying to redeem her. Recently, she gets so upset with Angel tormenting himself that she tries to stab him in the back and turn him human so he can let go of the guilt he feels, only stopping because of the BodyHorror her actions would cause.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: Her tossing a handgun to Angel to give him in her words, "one free shot." It was to see if he would try and kill her. When he doesn't (he tried to shoot her in the leg instead), she tries to force him to. See BatmanGambit.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: Her tossing a handgun to Angel to give him in her words, "one free shot." It was to see if he would try and kill her. When he doesn't (he tried to shoot her in the leg instead), she tries to force him to. See BatmanGambit.
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* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Outside of her selfish nature Faith is willing to ShootTheDog and kill Angel in case he goes evil, cover up her AccidentalMurder of a morally grey character, and allow herself to be killed to satisfy Buffy's thirst for vengeance and go against Angel trying to redeem her. Recently, In the comics, she gets so upset with Angel tormenting himself that she tries to stab him in the back and turn him human so he can let go of the guilt he feels, only stopping because of the BodyHorror her actions would cause.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: Her tossing a handgun to Angel to give him in her words, "one free shot." It was to see if he would try and kill her. When he doesn't (hetried tries to shoot her in the leg instead), she tries to force him to. See BatmanGambit.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: Her tossing a handgun to Angel to give him in her words, "one free shot." It was to see if he would try and kill her. When he doesn't (he
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* SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains: While not exactly {{Stripperific}}, Faith tended to show a lot more cleavage than Buffy (and wear generally tighter outfits). Subverted after she is reformed in prison and embracing her status as an AntiHero, starts to dress more modestly.
* SexIsCool: Faith's raison d'etre. She needles Buffy about her love life and sets her sights on Xander. Possibly the most varied and numerous of sex lives, putting the moves on most if not all of Buffy's potential and actual love interests, including at least two vampires.
* SexIsCool: Faith's raison d'etre. She needles Buffy about her love life and sets her sights on Xander. Possibly the most varied and numerous of sex lives, putting the moves on most if not all of Buffy's potential and actual love interests, including at least two vampires.
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* SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains: While not exactly {{Stripperific}}, Faith tended tends to show a lot more cleavage than Buffy (and wear generally tighter outfits). Subverted after she is reformed in prison and and, embracing her status as an AntiHero, starts to dress more modestly.
* SexIsCool: Faith's raison d'etre. She needles Buffy about her love life and sets her sights on Xander. Possibly the most varied and numerous of sex lives, putting the moves on most if not all of Buffy's potential and actual love interests, including at least two vampires.modestly.
* SexIsCool: Faith's raison d'etre. She needles Buffy about her love life and sets her sights on Xander. Possibly the most varied and numerous of sex lives, putting the moves on most if not all of Buffy's potential and actual love interests, including at least two vampires.
* SexIsCool: Faith's raison d'etre. Not only does she needle Buffy about her own love life, she also puts the moves on most, if not ''all'' of Buffy's potential and actual love interests, including at least two vampires.
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* SheCleansUpNicely: Giles is clearly impressed when Faith shows off her look for going undercover at a formal party, a PimpedOutDress with AbsoluteCleavage. Before that, there was her dress she wore at the homecoming party at the Bronze, or the dress the Mayor got her.
* ShipperOnDeck: Before her FaceHeelTurn she prods Buffy about having never hooked up with [[JustFriends Xander]] and wonders what it was like for Buffy to have "boinked the undead" when she was with Angel. Ironically she had already hooked up with Xander and tries to with Angel a few episodes later.
* ShipperOnDeck: Before her FaceHeelTurn she prods Buffy about having never hooked up with [[JustFriends Xander]] and wonders what it was like for Buffy to have "boinked the undead" when she was with Angel. Ironically she had already hooked up with Xander and tries to with Angel a few episodes later.
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* SheCleansUpNicely: Not that she isn't attractive in her casual attire, but Giles is clearly impressed when Faith shows off her look for going undercover at a formal party, a PimpedOutDress with AbsoluteCleavage. Before that, there was her there's the dress she wore at the homecoming party at the Bronze, or wears to homecoming, and the dress the Mayor got her.
* ShipperOnDeck: Beforegets for her FaceHeelTurn she prods Buffy about having never hooked up with [[JustFriends Xander]] and wonders what it was like for Buffy to have "boinked the undead" when she was with Angel. Ironically she had already hooked up with Xander and tries to with Angel a few episodes later.in "Graduation Day".
* ShipperOnDeck: Before
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* SuicideByCop: Tried to get Angel to kill her by turning up her more psychotic behavior.
* SuperReflexes: She turned around in time to prevent a hired assassin from striking her from behind as she was doing chin-ups.
* SuperReflexes: She turned around in time to prevent a hired assassin from striking her from behind as she was doing chin-ups.
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* SuicideByCop: Tried Tries to get Angel to kill her by turning up her more psychotic behavior.
* SuperReflexes:She turned In prison, she turns around in time to prevent a hired assassin from striking her from behind as she was is doing chin-ups.
* SuperReflexes:
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* TankTopTomboy: She's often seen wearing tank tops, as befitting her [[TheLadette Ladette]] nature.
* TattooedCrook: She has a tribal tattoo on her arm, the origin of which is never explained in-series, but is elaborated upon in the Faith novel ''Go Ask Malice'' to be the mark of Kakistos.
* TattooedCrook: She has a tribal tattoo on her arm, the origin of which is never explained in-series, but is elaborated upon in the Faith novel ''Go Ask Malice'' to be the mark of Kakistos.
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* TankTopTomboy: She's often seen wearing tank tops, as befitting her [[TheLadette Ladette]] nature.
* TattooedCrook: She has a tribal tattoo on herarm, the origin of which arm. Its meaning is never explained in-series, but is elaborated upon in the Faith novel ''Go Ask Malice'' reveals it to be the mark of Kakistos.
* TattooedCrook: She has a tribal tattoo on her
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* TokenEvilTeammate: In Season 3. The Scoobies never really accept her as part of the gang due to her violent, unstable nature, and she soon goes from the TET to a straight-up villain.
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* TokenEvilTeammate: In Season 3. The Scoobies never really accept her as part of the gang due to her violent, unstable nature, and she soon goes from the TET Token Evil Teammate to a straight-up villain.
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* AscendedExtra: Originally started out with a planed minor role in the series, similar to Kendra's, both the audiences and Joss Whedon became fans of Eliza and her character and she became much more important to the story.
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* AscendedExtra: Originally started out with a planed planned minor role in the series, similar to Kendra's, both the audiences and Joss Whedon became fans of Eliza and her character and she became much more important to the story.
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* CharacterDevelopment: She went from AntiHero, to villain, to geuinely finding redemption and making peace with Buffy.
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* CharacterDevelopment: She went from AntiHero, to villain, to geuinely genuinely finding redemption and making peace with Buffy.
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Start Of Darkness is about flashbacks or prequels of established villains.
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* TheFarmerAndTheViper: Buffy goes out of her way to be kind and welcoming to her, and even tries to help her after her StartOfDarkness... 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.
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* TheFarmerAndTheViper: Buffy goes out of her way to be kind and welcoming to her, and even tries to help her after her StartOfDarkness...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.
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* [[{{Southies}} Southie]]: Hails from South Boston, as noted in her first appearance. Also a case of ActorSharedBackground, as Creator/ElizaDushku is a Boston native as well.
* StartOfDarkness: When the Scooby Gang decided to intervene with Buffy after learning Angel was back, they conspicuously left Faith out. For a girl who already had serious trust issues, this was a real low blow to her, and was a big reason why she was so hesitant to talk to anybody after she staked the deputy mayor.
* StartOfDarkness: When the Scooby Gang decided to intervene with Buffy after learning Angel was back, they conspicuously left Faith out. For a girl who already had serious trust issues, this was a real low blow to her, and was a big reason why she was so hesitant to talk to anybody after she staked the deputy mayor.
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* [[{{Southies}} Southie]]: {{Southies}}: Hails from South Boston, as noted in her first appearance. Also a case of ActorSharedBackground, as Creator/ElizaDushku is a Boston native as well.
* StartOfDarkness: When the Scooby Gang decided to intervene with Buffy after learning Angel was back, they conspicuously left Faith out. For a girl who already had serious trust issues, this was a real low blow to her, and was a big reason why she was so hesitant to talk to anybody after she staked the deputy mayor.well.
* StartOfDarkness: When the Scooby Gang decided to intervene with Buffy after learning Angel was back, they conspicuously left Faith out. For a girl who already had serious trust issues, this was a real low blow to her, and was a big reason why she was so hesitant to talk to anybody after she staked the deputy mayor.
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* {{Expy}}: While developing the character, Douglas Petrie took inspiration from ComicBook/MarvelComicsElektra:
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* {{Expy}}: While developing the character, Douglas Petrie took inspiration from ComicBook/MarvelComicsElektra: ComicBook/{{Elektra}}:
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* BreakoutCharacter: SavedByTheFans due to PopularityPower? Check. Became important to the story and was PutOnABus [[JokerImmunity rather than killed?]] Check. Almost got her own spin-off show after Buffy ended? Check. Headlined [[ComicBook/AngelAndFaith her own comic series with Angel?]] Check check.
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* BreakoutCharacter: SavedByTheFans due She was originally supposed to PopularityPower? Check. Became important to the story last one season and was PutOnABus [[JokerImmunity rather than killed?]] Check. Almost got commit suicide out of guilt of committing murder. Instead she underwent a dramatic redemption arc and proved so popular that there were plans to give her own spin-off show after Buffy ended? Check. Headlined [[ComicBook/AngelAndFaith her own a spin-off, though she did headline a comic series with Angel?]] Check check.Angel.
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* {{Expy}}: While developing the character, Douglas Petrie took inspiration from ComicBook/MarvelComicsElektra:
-->For inspiration for Faith, I read ''Elektra Lives Again'' about a hundred times. In a different, teen, punkier context, Faith is so much like Elektra.
-->For inspiration for Faith, I read ''Elektra Lives Again'' about a hundred times. In a different, teen, punkier context, Faith is so much like Elektra.
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* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Mayor Wilkins was the first person to fulfill Faith's need for a loving parental figure, genuinely valued her as a person, and moved her out of the trashy motel room she'd called home into a well-furnished studio apartment. Because of this, she returns his familial feelings towards her, acting out of genuine loyalty towards him and a desire to make him proud of her. The nightmares she has while comatose include Buffy killing him, and when she finds out about his death after waking up, she's clearly devastated. Even after her HeelFaceTurn, she still remembers him fondly and considers him a better father than her biological dad.
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!!!'''Appearances:''' ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' | ''Series/{{Angel}}''
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* TankTopTomboy: Goes with her [[TheLadette Ladette]] personality.
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* TankTopTomboy: Goes with She's often seen wearing tank tops, as befitting her [[TheLadette Ladette]] personality.nature.
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* ThenLetMeBeEvil: After trying and failing to find acceptance and live up to Buffy and the other Scoobies's moral standards, Faith [[spoiler: accidentally stakes and kills Deputy Allen Finch, mistaking him for a vampire.]] After this point, she begins to lean into being evil, since she sees no other path available to her. Fortunately, when she reaches the culmination of her downward spiral and [[spoiler: [[SuicideByCop tries to manipulate Angel into killing her]], he shows her that [[HeelFaceTurn it's never too late]] [[TheAtoner to get back on the right path]].]]
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* ThenLetMeBeEvil: After trying and failing to find acceptance and live up to Buffy and the other Scoobies's Scoobies' moral standards, Faith [[spoiler: accidentally stakes and kills Deputy Allen Finch, mistaking him for a vampire.]] After this point, she begins to lean into being evil, since she sees no other path available to her. Fortunately, when she reaches the culmination of her downward spiral and [[spoiler: [[SuicideByCop tries to manipulate Angel into killing her]], he shows her that [[HeelFaceTurn it's never too late]] [[TheAtoner to get back on the right path]].]]
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* TookALevelInJerkass: During her FaceHeelTurn, UpToEleven. Only a couple of good [[FreudianExcuse Freudian Excuses]] and her relationship with the [[ParentalSubstitute Mayor]] keep her from becoming irredeemable.
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* TookALevelInJerkass: During her FaceHeelTurn, UpToEleven. Only a couple of good [[FreudianExcuse Freudian Excuses]] and her surprisingly touching relationship with the [[ParentalSubstitute Mayor]] keep her from becoming irredeemable.
