Faith Lehane

Name Faith Lehane

Position Slayer

Basic Info
Personality
History

Character Information

Gender

Male

Physical Appearance

Family

Father		Pat Lehane
Mother		Mrs. Lehane
Other Family		Unidentified Grandfather, Aunt Stella

Personality & Traits

General Overview

Faith Lehane was a Slayer called in 1998 when her predecessor Kendra Young died at the hands of Drusilla,[3] and the last Slayer to be called by the original succession line abolished in 2003.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Faith had a difficult upbringing and life, which left her with various trust and emotional issues. Though she found some stability with her Watcher, Faith retreated to Sunnydale when they were brutally murdered by the vampire Kakistos, where she became a friend and ally of Buffy Summers and the Scooby Gang. However, numerous events and circumstances took a toll on Faith’s better judgement and she defected to the side of the evil Mayor Richard Wilkins, helping him to carry out his Ascension, able to find the stable father figure she always wanted. On the day before the climactic Graduation Day Battle, Faith was critically injured by Buffy and put in a coma, from which she awakened eight months later.

She proceeded to wreak even more havoc in Buffy’s life and then attempted to kill Angel in Los Angeles as part of a deal with Wolfram & Hart. However this was a ruse by Faith in order to get Angel to kill her instead as Faith had actually become remorseful of her past deeds and wanted to end her life. Nevertheless, with help from Angel, she came to terms with her past and willingly surrendered herself to the L.A.P.D. to face the consequences of her actions. Three years later, Faith busted out of prison to assist Angel Investigations in containing the recently released Angelus, subsequently returning to Sunnydale with Willow Rosenberg after Angel was re-ensouled to assist the Scoobies in their battle against the First Evil and its army. Furthermore, Faith was even appointed the leader of the Scoobies after they lost confidence in Buffy’s leadership, only for Buffy to be accepted back as the leader when Faith’s first plan led herself and several Potentials into a near-fatal trap.

After the First was defeated and all Potential Slayers were activated worldwide, Faith initially stationed herself with the new Slayer Organization’s Cleveland squad, and then joined forces with Rupert Giles to prevent more Slayers from going rogue. After the ensuing Twilight crisis and the end of magic, which also resulted in Giles’ death, Faith was bequeathed with all of Giles’ property and possessions in accordance with his will. She stationed herself in London, where she continued to run a London-based Slayer squad while working alongside Angel, who was used as a pawn of Twilight and forced to kill Giles, to tend to Giles’ unfinished business. Faith decided to stick by Angel when he wanted to resurrect Giles, initially to stop him from crossing a line again and going too far. The two went on many adventures before resurrecting Giles, and Faith helped Angel against Whistler in his plan to destroy millions of people to "save the world". After the world was saved, Faith decided to leave Angel and London behind, justifying it by her realization that she still needed time on her own to sort out her life.

Personal History		Early life Faith was born in South Boston, Massachusetts, to alcoholic mother and father. Her mother used to read her Dr. Seuss’s Oh, the Places You’ll Go! before bed. “Nights she was sober enough, anyway.”[4] Her father, Patrick “Pat” Lehane, was often absent during Faith’s life, and always owing money to an Irish mob led by “Handsome” Jimmy Mulligan. Faith used to wear her father’s Drew Bledsoe jersey,[5] becoming a New England Patriots supporter. Becoming the Slayer On May 12, 1998, upon the death of Kendra Young, Faith obtained full power, becoming The Slayer.[3] Faith experienced a number of memorable battles and events as a Slayer. She described once being arrested after killing three vampires who slaughtered an entire bus full of Baptists leading to a preacher hugging her, despite her being in the nude and the temperature being 180 degrees. Another noteworthy tale included her encounter with a large, male vampire in Missouri who owned alligators as pets, forcing her to wrestle with one of them. According to Faith, it was her toughest kill.[6] Buffy’s Ally Faith arrived to Sunnydale during the start of Buffy’s senior year. Buffy met Faith after witnessing her kill a vampire that she lured in an alleyway by the Bronze nightclub which Buffy and her friends were patronizing. Buffy’s friends quickly warmed to Faith along with her Watcher Rupert Giles and mother Joyce, and Faith claimed her Watcher was currently at the Watchers Retreat in England so she came to Sunnydale in hopes of comparing notes to the “imfamous Buff”. As Kakistos followed Faith into Sunnydale, Faith revealed to Buffy what happened to her Watcher and was reduced to fear at facing her Watcher’s killer. However, Faith managed to overcome this with the help of Buffy and finally killed Kakistos.[6] Faith felt like an outsider in Buffy’s world even though she initially endeared herself to Buffy’s mother and friends. Buffy resented Faith for "trying to take her life from her" in Faith’s first days in Sunnydale, though the two reconciled after the dusting of Kakistos. Buffy, who was still recovering from the trauma of killing Angel, maintained emotional distance from Faith, and the Scoobies not inviting Faith to Buffy’s intervention after their discovery of Angel’s resurrection[7] further contributed to a feeling of alienation from the group. Although she disapproved of Faith’s carefree attitude toward violence, Buffy still trusted Faith enough to leave her to protect her mother at Christmas[8] and was even shown being attracted by Faith’s wilder way of Slaying[9] as the two, through slaying, began to grow closer. Faith’s trust issues and isolation heightened when her new Watcher, Gwendolyn Post, gained and abused her trust to obtain the Glove of Myhnegon; which led to Faith almost killing Angel and led to an all-out fight with Buffy.[7] Later, Faith took Buffy on a whirlwind tour of her way of slaying, ditching school to attack vampire nests during the day, dancing at the Bronze while attracting the attention of several men and escaping arrest after being caught stealing weapons at a sports store. This eventually climaxed when Faith accidentally killed a human being, Deputy Mayor Allan Finch, an act that caused her to withdraw into denial.[9] When it became clear that Buffy intended to reveal what had happened, Faith told Watcher Rupert Giles that Buffy who had killed Finch. Giles immediately discerned Faith’s lie, but played along to avoid pushing Faith too far. Xander (who Faith had recently and almost as an afterthought deflowered) arrived to Faith’s motel room to reason with her, but she did not respond well: she nearly sexually assaulted him while strangling him. Angel arrived in time and took Faith to his home to try to reason with her, but just when it seemed that he was getting through to her, Faith’s new Watcher, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, broke into the mansion and arrested Faith with the help of a special ops team sent by the Watchers Council. She was briefly captured, but attacked them inside their armored car and escaped.[10] Working for the Mayor Isolated and bitter, she secretly turned to current Big Bad, the Mayor Richard Wilkins, filling the void of his "right hand man" that was left by the death of the vampire Mr. Trick, whom Faith had recently killed when he was sent to kill her. Though she initially functioned as a double agent, rejoining the Scoobies and undergoing tests issued by the Watchers Council while feeding the Mayor information, her betrayal was revealed through an elaborate plan concocted by Buffy, Giles, and Angel, whom had grown suspicious of her. After her true loyalties were revealed, Faith descended still further in her slide to isolation, betrayal, and mental illness, as she realized that she had completely lost Buffy and the Scoobies as friends. This brought her closer to the Mayor, who acted as both father figure and friend to the lost Faith. Faith and Mayor Wilkins developed an affectionate, emotional closeness. The Mayor genuinely felt a father’s love for the fatherless Faith. While serving Mayor Wilkins undercover, she killed a smuggler and a bookseller demon. She was also ordered by the Mayor to murder a geology professor who had valuable information related to the Mayor’s ascension. Later, Faith kidnapped Buffy’s best friend Willow Rosenberg and wanted to kill her;[11] Willow boldly stood up to her, telling her that, despite her rough life, she had a lot working with the Scoobies, and now that she was working for the Mayor, she was alone, friendless, and a "big, selfish, worthless waste." Having been expecting a speech on how it was not too late for her to turn back, Faith was briefly taken aback before assaulting Willow. In order to distract Buffy, Faith shot Angel with an arrow coated with the Killer of the Dead, a poison specifically designed to kill vampires. The only antidote was the blood of a Slayer, and Buffy visited Faith’s apartment to apparently take her, dead or alive, intending to give Faith to Angel so he could drain Faith’s blood, but Buffy only managed to stab Faith in the abdomen with her own knife, a gift from Mayor Wilkins. Taking advantage of Buffy’s shock of stabbing her, Faith jumped from the apartment building roof onto a moving truck and escaped.[12] However, their fight left Faith in a coma, with doctors claiming that she would never come out of it. During that time, Buffy and Faith shared a series of psychic dreams.[13][14] Faith was also the first to give Buffy a cryptic message about the arrival of Dawn Summers. After the Coma Eventually, Faith regained consciousness months later.[14] After learning what had happened while she was comatose, she confronted Buffy and Willow on the UC Sunnydale campus where Buffy was studing. Faith was angry at Buffy’s attempt to sacrifice her to Angel, and even more so when she found out that Buffy wasn’t even with him anymore. ("I wake up to find the blonde chick isn’t even dating the guy she was so nuts about before… Not only has she forgotten about the love of her life, but she’s forgotten about the chick she nearly killed for him."). After a brief fight, Faith escaped from the approaching police officers who had come to arrest her. Faith was devastated further upon hearing about the death of Mayor Wilkins. However, Wilkins left with a magical device that allowed her to swap bodies with someone else so she could restart her life. Faith attacked Buffy’s mother at her house and held her hostage. As Buffy was about to win the ensuing battle, Faith used the magical device to swap bodies with Buffy. Buffy, in Faith’s body, was kidnapped by the Watchers Council Special Ops team to be taken to England, while Faith (as Buffy) planned to flee the country. Tara Maclay realized something was wrong and told Willow.[1] In the meantime, Faith flirted with the vampire Spike, and slept with Buffy’s then boyfriend Riley Finn (essentially raping him), and discovered what it was like to be surrounded by loving friends and family. She was torn between her desire to flee and her sense of duty to rescue a group of churchgoers taken hostage by vampires. When she chose to save the hostages, Faith also encountered Buffy (who arrived on the scene with the same intentions). Buffy arrived in time to stake the last vampire and the two Slayers entered combat once more. During their confrontation, she savagely beat her own body, physically and verbally expressing her self-loathing. With Tara and Willow’s help, Buffy managed to undo the body switch, and Faith fled Sunnydale by hopping on a freight train. Her meddling also left a problem in Buffy and Riley’s relationship which was later resolved in an altered universe.[15] Angel’s Assassin In Los Angeles, Faith was approached her by a pimp, Dick, and proceeded to beat him up and rob him. Faith rampaged through the city, causing a fight to break out at a nightclub and squatting in her victims’ apartments. Faith was approached by Lindsey McDonald, Lilah Morgan and Lee Mercer from the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart, who had learned that a "rogue Slayer" was in town, and hired her to kill Angel in exchange for having all of the criminal charges against her in Sunnydale dropped and along with a desirable pay cheque. Faith was open with her confrontation to Angel, seemingly trying to kill him in public at an office building and approaching him at his detective agency. Faith further demonstrated her "evil" side to Angel by kidnapping Wesley and brutally torturing him, wanting to go through various forms of torture such as blunt, sharp, cold, hot and loud though showed no enjoyment of it. Angel came to the rescue and a vicious fight between him and Faith broke out. During the whole event, Faith insisted that he kill her because she’s "bad". Angel repeatedly refused, and Faith eventually broke down crying, begging Angel to kill her as it had been her plan all along. Redemption Angel began the task of saving Faith’s soul, forgiving her and working to break down her emotional walls. He let her stay at his apartment where she was then attacked by a demonic assassin sent by Wolfram & Hart. Faith managed to kill the assassin but, staring down at her bloody hands, she then almost collapsed. Just as Faith began to feel remorse for her crimes, Buffy arrived, looking for revenge. In the meantime, the Watchers Council also showed up, intending to kill Faith, and Kate Lockley also came to Angel’s apartment after learning from Lindsey McDonald that she was in Angel’s custody. After Buffy and Angel saved her, Faith decided to surrender to the police and face the consequences for her actions, and was convicted for two counts of murder and received a life sentence of which she’d serve at least twenty-five years. Faith, ironically, found some level of stability in her prison life, noting that at least she had three meals a day and an occasional movie. Although capable of escaping at any time and having developed a reputation among both the guards and her fellow prisoners as a force not to be trifled with, the penitent Faith chose to cooperate with the terms of her confinement, and was periodically visited by Angel. Though, she was once attacked by a fellow prisoner with a shiv attempting to build her reputation, but Faith refrained from killing the girl, instead only breaking her wrist.[16] Escape from Prison Faith was attacked by a fellow prisoner named Debbie, an agent of the First Evil in prison; although Buffy and the Scooby Gang in Sunnydale were aware of the threat of the First’s Harbingers attempting to wipe out the Slayer line, they had neglected to warn Faith of the danger, believing that she would be safe in prison. Soon after, she was visited by Wesley who informed her that Angel had once again lost his soul and become the ruthless Angelus while Los Angeles was rendered into an eternal night due to the Beast, a powerful demon. Without hesitation, Faith broke out of prison, easily taking out the its guards and breaking through one of its windows, determined to save Angel, the one person who never gave up on her. Arriving in L.A., she easily slayed the first couple of vampires she had come across since being jailed, remarking it was "Just like riding a biker". Word got out about her presence in L.A. while she quickly took initiative by setting up a hunting party consisting of herself as leader, Wesley, Charles Gunn and Angel’s son Connor. During their outing, a vampire ambushed the group and Connor staked it before anyone could confirm if it was Angelus or not. After having already warned Connor at the hotel that she was in charge and it was a salvage mission, not a kill, Faith challenged Connor about his continuing intent to kill Angelus. Connor starts fighting with Faith in a seeming attempt to show off his prowess (to assert himself as the leader, his plan to be the way to go) and she comments he has special powers, she gets it, but proceeds to dominate him in the fight and ends up with Connor on the wrong end of a crossbow. She sends him back to the hotel since she no longer trusts him to follow through with her plan. She confronted the Beast and fought him while Angelus watched from the sidelines, commentating. Despite her Slayer powers, Faith’s efforts were no match for the near-invulnerable Beast who beat her badly. However, before he could harm her any more, the Beast was killed when Angelus stabbed him with his own bone, bringing back the sun, much to Angelus’ own displeasure. Angelus then moved in for the kill and Faith slings a heavy chain on a pully towards him and it swings past him towards the window beyond. Angelus laughs at what he thinks is an attempt to hit him with the slow, heavy mass and mocks her "miss". The mass then crashes through the window behind him allowing the sun to pour in, surrounding Faith and forcing Angelus back to the shadows where he laments he will have to wait until dark to kill Faith. Faith is taken back to the Hyperion Hotel to recover, everyone thinking she was responsible for the Beast’s demise as the sun rose, once again.[17] Having completely recovered, Faith and Wesley set out to find Angelus, hitting several demon business to do so. When finding him, she battled and defeated Angelus. When she refused to kill him, he regained the upper hand and bit her. Unbeknownst to Angelus, Faith had injected herself with a powerful mystical drug known as "Orpheus" that incapacitated both of them. While Willow worked on a spell to restore Angel’s soul, Faith and Angelus astral projected into Angel’s subconscious. The drug almost killed Faith who accepted her fate, but during the mental link with Angel and Angelus, she was persuaded by Angel not to give up, because for them, the act of atonement never ended. Re-joining the Scoobies After Angel’s re-ensoulment, Faith left with Willow to return to Sunnydale to help Buffy and her allies battle the First Evil. Like Angel, Faith switches from a more "passive" redemption to an "active" redemption. Rather than remaining in jail, out of society, she chooses to help fight "the good fight" and make the world better. he initially followed Buffy’s command even though she had some doubts about Buffy’s decision-making skills. Buffy was less than enthusiastic about Faith’s return, but recognized that reinforcements are desperately needed, and Faith showed dedication to being "one of the good guys." After a botched attempt to fight the First’s minion Caleb, the Scoobies and Potential Slayers lost confidence in Buffy’s leadership and appointed a reluctant Faith as their leader over her, as they preferred to be under her freer wing as she took them to the Bronze, despite encountering a group of corrupt police officers. This decision, however, literally blew up in their faces when Faith’s first plan ends up leading them right into a trap, leaving many girls, including Faith herself, critically injured. However, Buffy arrived and saved them from a Turok-Han attack, once again becoming the undisputed leader. When the Potentials complained about Faith’s decision, stating that they believed that God had punished them for shunning Buffy and following Faith, Buffy defended her, and she and Buffy finally made peace, noting that the friction in their relationship was perhaps due to the fact that under normal circumstances, two fully-activated Slayers were never supposed to co-exist. During her stay in Sunnydale before the final Battle at the Hellmouth, Faith had a brief sexual tryst with ally Robin Wood, the son of Slayer Nikki Wood. After (jokingly) shunning Faith’s sexual experience, Robin dares Faith to let him surprise her, an act he accomplishes by surviving the battle.
Powers/Abilities		Faith was a Slayer, and thus had the usual powers of such, including a healing factor and superhuman strength, speed, durability, and reflexes. In her earliest days as a Slayer, Faith employed a more brawler-type fighting style than Buffy, who was more prone to oriental martial arts. Faith tended to be more aggressive and reckless, using her Slayer brute strength rather than speed or agility as Buffy did. Due to their identical powers, Buffy and Faith were evenly matched in their various brawls until Buffy narrowly bested her.[12] Over time and as she matured and stabilized Faith has developed a more well-rounded fighting style. Faith has shown herself to have equal or superior fighting skills to Angelus (although she was drugged and pulling her punches during her fight with him); Faith was also able to easily take out Connor. Also while in London mentoring displaced slayers, Faith was the only one who was able to defeat an enraged Nadira whereas a squad of fully trained slayers failed or couldn’t handle an out-of-control slayer.[52]