Buffy Summers

Name Buffy Anne Summers

Position Slayer

Basic Info
Personality
History

Character Information

Gender		Female
Species		Human
Age		26

Physical Appearance

Height		5' 4"
Weight		118 lbs
Hair Color		Blonde
Eye Color		Green
Physical Description		Buffy is an attractive young woman, with blonde hair and green eyes. As one of the only slayers to reach her age she stays in great athletic shape by getting plenty of exercise during her patrols and training sessions. Most would consider her a fashionable young lady, Buffy keeps up with the latest fashion trens. However she has learned to keep things comfy and casual while on patrol, baring those surprise encounters.

Family

Father		Hank Summers
Mother		Joyce Summers (Deceased)
Sister(s)		Dawn Summers
Other Family		Celia (cousin - deceased)

Personality & Traits

General Overview

Buffy Anne Summers was a Slayer that was activated in the late 20th century. Born on January 19 1981, she was called to be the Slayer in 1996 at the age of fifteen. Buffy was originally living in Los Angeles; but, due to an incident involving a gang of vampires at Hemery High School, she moved to Sunnydale with her mother. There, she acted as guardian of the Hellmouth for seven years before the town’s destruction in mid-2003. Initially a reluctant hero who constantly wished for nothing more than a normal life, Buffy eventually grew to embrace her destiny. Buffy is unique as a Slayer in many ways; she refuses to sacrifice her ordinary life for her supernatural destiny, often operates as part of a team with her friends the Scooby Gang, and has maintained several romantic relationships, two of which were with notorious vampires Angel and Spike.

Buffy is one of the longest-lived Slayers, and has returned from death not once, but twice, an act that disrupted the magic surrounding the traditional Slayer line. During their war with the First Evil, Buffy enacted a plan to activate every Potential Slayer in the world, abolishing the traditional line of Chosen Ones, before dedicating herself to gathering and training the Slayers she was responsible for creating.

A few years after the destruction of Sunnydale, Buffy, along with Angel, was involved in an ancient prophecy that would bring about the sentient Twilight dimension, destroying the Earth in the process. When Angel, possessed by Twilight, murdered her beloved Watcher and father figure, Rupert Giles, Buffy, enraged and grief-stricken, destroyed the Seed of Wonder, thus bringing about the end of magic on Earth. Considered a pariah among the remaining Slayers, Buffy established herself in San Francisco, where she continued her Slayer duties.

Personal History		Los Angeles - Early life Buffy was born to Hank and Joyce Summers on January 19, 1981, in Los Angeles, California. In childhood, she was close friends with her cousin Celia and enjoyed playing Power Girl with her. When she was eight, she witnessed Celia’s murder in her hospital bed by Der Kindestod, a demon that killed sick children and who was only visible to those who were ill. Buffy was left with a fear of hospitals after the experience.[10] As she grew up, she came to idolize Olympic ice skater Dorothy Hamill and practiced the sport herself.[14] Her father took her for trick-or-treating until she was twelve.[15] In the fifth grade, she developed a crush on sixth-grader Billy Fordham; although the two were friends, he never returned her feelings.[16] Buffy started attending Hemery High School in 1995, where she became a popular cheerleader and was elected both Prom Princess and Fiesta Queen.[17][18] Called as the Slayer At the age of fifteen, Buffy suddenly began having violent dreams about women from different historical periods slaying monsters. Although she didn’t understand at first, her experiences were soon explained to her when she was approached at school by Merrick Jamison-Smythe, a mysterious man who revealed her destiny as the "Chosen One" and became her first Watcher.[19] Buffy and Merrick initially butted heads due to his intolerance of her teenaged-girliness; however, the pair eventually gained a mutual fondness for each other as he trained her for battle against the vampire king Lothos. As her increasingly strange behavior alienated her from her peers and her boyfriend Jeffrey Kramer, she befriended fellow outcast Pike. She began relying on him for support after Merrick sacrificed himself to protect her from Lothos. Despite having had very little training, Buffy managed to defeat Lothos and his minions at a school dance. Unfortunately, she burnt down her high school’s gym in the process, for which she was subsequently expelled. Shortly after her expulsion, Buffy and Pike took an impromptu trip to Las Vegas to hunt vampires.[20] Upon their return, Buffy told her parents what had happened at Hemery High and about her destiny as the Slayer. They refused to believe her, thinking instead that she was losing her mind. They made the decision to commit her to an insane asylum. Shortly after her arrival, Buffy realized that it was better not to perpetuate her story, and she was released after a few short weeks. Buffy and her parents never spoke of it again.[21] Sunnydale High - Sophomore Buffy’s parents, who had been experiencing marital troubles for years, finally divorced, and Buffy moved with her mother to 1630 Revello Drive in Sunnydale, a small town in California. Little did they know that the town was located on a Hellmouth and that Buffy’s presence there was predestined. Buffy enrolled at Sunnydale High School where she became friends with Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg as well as meeting her new Watcher, Rupert Giles. She also met Cordelia Chase, a superficial cheerleader reminiscent of Buffy before she became the Slayer, and Angel, a mysterious and handsome stranger who aided Buffy with cryptic advice.[22] Buffy at first rejected her Slayer duties in favor of a normal life but was forced into action to stop the vampire ritual known as the Harvest by the Order of Aurelius, a vampire cult under the rule of ancient and powerful vampire the Master, who was trapped underground in Sunnydale. Together, Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles formed the Scooby Gang and continued to investigate the various supernatural mysteries that occurred on the Hellmouth.[23] Wishing to have a social life separate from her Slayer duties, Buffy tried out for the cheerleading squad and briefly dated fellow student Owen Thurman, but these attempts at normalcy were quickly thwarted by supernatural activity.[17][24] Buffy gradually developed an attraction to Angel and was horrified when she came to realize that he was a vampire. Though initially reluctant to slay him, she ultimately decided to do so when it appeared that Angel had attacked her mother. She relented upon discovering that he had a soul as a result of being cursed with the Ritual of Restoration by the Clan Kalderash as punishment for his vicious crimes. Additionally, she found out that Angel had in fact been set up by the vampire Darla of the Order of Aurelius, Angel’s sire and Joyce’s true attacker, who was staked by Angel in the ensuing confrontation.[25] When people’s nightmares began coming true in Sunnydale, Buffy’s guilt over her parents’ divorce manifested and she was briefly transformed into a vampire.[4] When a string of odd occurrences started, making what was believed to be the oncoming apocalypse, Giles warned Buffy that she would eventually be forced to battle the Master as the Hellmouth opened. Upon learning that the infallible Pergamum Codex prophesied her death at the hands of the Master, a saddened and fearful Buffy temporarily quit being the Slayer and contemplated leaving town, but accepted her fate after Willow discovered bodies of their classmates slaughtered inside the school. Armed with a crossbow and wearing a prom dress, Buffy descended down the sewers to confront the Master at his lair. Buffy was overpowered and bitten once, discovering it was her that would set the Master free as her Slayer blood gave him the power to do so. The Master then left Buffy to drown in a pool of water in the Master’s dwellings, but Xander resuscitated her, Awakening, Buffy felt much stronger and confronted the Master once more, managing to defeat him and effectively closing the Hellmouth.[26] First love Buffy spent the summer with her father in Los Angeles. During her time there she didn’t slay a single vampire, but after her fatal experience, she began suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, causing her to obsess over material items like clothes while remaining emotionally distant from others. Upon her return to Sunnydale in the fall, she made her condition obvious by taking out her anger on her slaying-targets and behaving rudely to her friends. She finally recovered emotionally when she destroyed the Master’s skeleton when his remaining followers attempted to resurrect him.[27] In her junior year of high school, Buffy came into conflict with Spike, a vampire renowned for murdering two Slayers previously. Spike and his lover Drusilla were Angel’s former associates,[28] and had come to Sunnydale intent on wreaking havoc on the town. Spike, in particular, wanted to make Buffy his third slayer kill. Buffy once again attempted to attain some level of normalcy in her life when she lied to her Watcher so she could attend a frat-party alongside Cordelia, due to Giles’ strictness and Angel’s reluctance to start a real relationship. However, she was again forced into action when she was offered as a sacrifice to Machida by the fraternity. She also took her relationship with Angel to the next level, and the two began officially dating.[29] During the school career fair, Buffy’s test qualified her for training in law enforcement. Around this time, Buffy was targeted by the Order of Taraka, an order of assassins hired by Spike to kill her so she wouldn’t interrupt a ritual to heal a sickly and weak Drusilla. While hiding in Angel’s apartment, Buffy met Kendra Young, a second Slayer who had been mystically activated when Buffy drowned. The two quickly proved to be near-polar opposites, with Kendra’s complete devotion to her Slayer duties contrasting to Buffy’s emotions and loyalty to her friends and family. They eventually became friends and Kendra helped Buffy rescue Angel after he was kidnapped to complete Drusilla’s healing, his life for hers. From this, Kendra taught Buffy to appreciate that being a Slayer was part of who she was and not just a burden.[14][30] On the night of her seventeenth birthday, Buffy lost her virginity to Angel when their passion for each other grew too strong.[31] By causing Angel to experience a moment of true and utter happiness, she unknowingly lifted the curse placed on him a century earlier, causing him to lose his soul and revert to the evil Angelus, the most notoriously evil vampire in recorded history.[32] Angelus became obsessed with destroying Buffy’s life and joined Spike and Drusilla (now restored), who had reconstructed an invincible demon called the Judge to destroy humanity. Buffy managed to defeat the Judge with a stolen rocket launcher but was unwilling to kill Angelus when the opportunity first presented itself. Angelus’ pathological harassment continued to take a heavy toll on Buffy and her friends over the months through the form of creepy letters and threatening to endanger her friends and family. He even revealed their intimate night together to her mother, forcing Buffy to go through “the talk” with her, though they came to an understanding when Joyce assured her that she would always be looking out for her no matter how distant they were. Angelus emotional abuse eventually climaxed when he murdered the Scoobies’ ally and Giles’ love interest, Jenny Calendar. This caused Giles to endanger himself in an attempt to kill Angelus in retribution, nearly getting killed himself before Buffy saved him, not wanting to lose him, especially at a time like this.[33] When faced with Angelus’s subsequent plan to destroy the world, Buffy was completely willing to kill him, but also relied on Willow to re-ensoul him as a last resort after they discovered the spell to do so in Jenny’s office. Buffy accepted Angelus’ challenge to a duel with him under the threat of innocent’s lives but was tricked again when he staged an attack against Willow and the others in the meantime which culminated in the death of Kendra at the hands of Drusilla. Coming to the scene of the crime, Buffy was suspected for Kendra’s murder and resisted arrest, making her a target to the Sunnydale police force. Buffy then reluctantly accepted an alliance with Spike, who had become tired of Angelus’ presence and had no desire to see the world end. When returning home with Spike, she killed a vampire in front of her mother; this forced her to reveal her identity as the Slayer. Joyce reacted badly to the news and the two got into a fight, leading to Joyce giving Buffy a spur-of-the-moment ultimatum where she would be thrown out if she left the house to stop Angelus’ plot. Buffy accepted and returned to the scene of the crime to acquire a mystical sword given to her by Kendra prior to her death. The school’s Principal Snyder then arrived and expelled her. Buffy confronted Angelus and tried to prevent him from opening a vortex to a hell dimension, while Willow cast the spell to re-ensoul Angel. Though the spell was successful, Angelus had already opened the vortex, and Buffy was forced to tearfully drive the sword through Angel’s chest seconds after his re-ensoulment, sending him through the vortex to the hell dimension before he could even remember Angelus’ siege against her. Traumatized and alone, Buffy then boarded a bus out of Sunnydale and escaped to Los Angeles.[34] Return to Sunnydale In L.A., Buffy spent the summer waiting tables in a diner under a false identity (her middle name, Anne), trying to turn her back on her destiny. However, after rescuing a runaway from a hell dimension which struck her into battle mode, Buffy returned to Sunnydale to face her own demons.[1] Buffy had some difficulties reconnecting with her mother and friends which culminated in them having a big argument in the middle of her welcome back party after she was caught trying to run away once more. Buffy eventually reconciled with her friends and family following a zombie attack during the party.[35] Buffy was also released from the charges against her and let back into Sunnydale High even though Snyder initially prevented her return from happening before being overruled by the School Board. Buffy was required to improve her grades by doing several makeup tests, obtain a recommendation from a member of the school staff that wasn’t Giles himself, and receive counseling for a short time. She also started a relationship with her schoolmate Scott Hope which ended after a number of weeks. While this was happening, she discovered Angel had been returned from the hell dimension in a feral state.[36] She secretly rehabilitated him at his mansion, helping him heal while still finding herself greatly drawn to him. When the Scoobies discovered this, they were disgusted, confused, and furious, though they begrudgingly accepted him back into the team when he saved Willow from being killed by Gwendolyn Post, a corrupt ex-Watcher.[37] Meanwhile, a rebellious new Slayer, Faith Lehane, arrived in town, immediately winning over Buffy’s friends and family and providing Buffy with a new ally. Contrary to Kendra who was the model slayer, Faith was a fun-loving brawler that rejected responsibility more so than Buffy did. Buffy discovered that under her façade of enthusiasm for the kill was fear, having escaped from Sunnydale after the vampire Kakistos killed her Watcher and threatened to come after her. After averting the problem by slaying the vampire, Buffy and Faith started a complicated sisterly relationship, learning each others’ strengths and weaknesses.[38] Though Buffy and Angel attempted to simply be friends and nothing more, they eventually continued dating, though they took great care to keep their relationship celibate.[39] Shortly before her eighteenth birthday, Buffy was de-powered in preparation for her Cruciamentum, a Slayer rite of passage organized by the Watchers Council meant to test the Slayer’s practical capabilities. This pitted her against a psychotic vampire which she initially avoided though packed the courage to take him on when held her mother hostage and she ended victoriously. Giles’ reluctance to see Buffy hurt and subsequent interference in the test led to him being fired as her official Watcher and replaced with Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, though Buffy quickly rebelled against Wesley and refused to take him seriously when he turned out to be little more than a bumbling idiot and a coward.[40] Eventually, Faith led Buffy on a rebellious tour of her side of Slaying, which did entice Buffy to some degree. This proved disastrous when Faith accidentally killed the Deputy Mayor Allan Finch and refused to recognize the problem and take responsibility for her actions.[41] Buffy tried to make her own up but was shot down and Faith herself tried to frame Buffy for her crime by lying to Giles, though he saw through this. Buffy and Faith’s relationship would be then changed from that point on.[42] As the Senior Prom was closing in, Buffy expressed excitement in having her perfect high school experience with Angel as her date. However, realizing he could never give her a normal life, Angel broke up with Buffy the day before. Despite being extremely saddened, Buffy still made it her duty that she and her friends enjoy themselves at the event. She went forth and killed a group of mind-controlled hellhounds released by a dateless nerd, Tucker Wells, before attending prom dressed in formal wear. To her surprise, she was presented with a Class Protector Award, acknowledging the countless times she saved the student body. Just as she thought it couldn’t get any better, Angel arrived in a tuxedo, not wanting to take her back but to give her the slow dance she desired.[43] Faith became increasingly alienated from the Scoobies and found a friend in the affable yet sinister Mayor of Sunnydale Richard Wilkins,[42] who was preparing to become an Old One on the Sunnydale High Graduation Day and devour the student body.[44] As the Mayor relied on Faith to help him prepare for his ascension, Buffy worked first to thwart his plans, then to organize a resistance. Faith impeded these efforts by poisoning Angel with Killer of the Dead, leaving him on the verge of death; when the Watchers Council refused to help on the grounds that Angel was a vampire, a furious and disgusted Buffy chose to stop following the Council’s orders altogether, severing all ties with them. When the Scoobies learned that only the blood of a Slayer could save Angel’s life, Buffy attempted to sacrifice Faith to save him, willing to kill a human in this case.[44] Their battle left Faith in a seemingly-permanent coma, and Buffy ultimately saved Angel by offering him her own blood. Buffy then led her classmates in a climactic battle against the Mayor, ascended into the Olvikan, and his minions, which culminated in an explosion that destroyed the Mayor as well as the school. After the smoke cleared, Angel left for Los Angeles so that Buffy could try to have a more normal life without him.[45] U.C. Sunnydale After the explosive events of her high school graduation, Buffy experienced difficulties adjusting to life as a college freshman at the University of California, Sunnydale. She was injured during an encounter with a group of on-campus vampires,[46] and came off as unstable to her friends when she suspected her unpleasant roommate Kathy Newman to be a demon (which she was eventually proven correct in her assumption), and she began rooming with Willow after the Mok'tagar demon departure.[47] Her troubles were only worsened by Angel’s recent departure, and she sought comfort with fellow student Parker Abrams and slept with him a few weeks after meeting him. He then brushed her off as a one-night stand despite having made her believe that this was the start of a new relationship. Her experience with Parker was made more difficult by Spike, who had returned to Sunnydale after Drusilla left him once again. He uncovered the Gem of Amara — a ring that made any vampire who wore it invulnerable to vampiric weaknesses — and attacked her on campus. Though she managed to defeat him and take the ring back, Spike escaped into the sewers. At Buffy’s request, Oz delivered the Gem to Angel in Los Angeles.[48] During Thanksgiving, Buffy was forced to deal with Hus, the vengeful spirit of a Native American warrior, after he was released by Xander’s construction crew. Buffy — who had been determined to have a safe and normal holiday meal with her friends — was also shocked when Spike arrived unexpectedly at Giles’ flat, begging for help. Spike had been captured by the mysterious Initiative; a group of army-clad individuals Buffy had previously encountered on campus who implanted Spike with a cerebral microchip that made it impossible for him to harm humans.[49] Buffy was aided in the battle against Hus by Angel, who had returned to Sunnydale without her knowledge. When Xander accidentally revealed that Angel had reappeared, Buffy immediately traveled to Los Angeles to confront him as she was hurt that he had spoken to everyone but her. Buffy and Angel agreed to remain apart; just as she was about to leave, they were attacked by a Mohra demon. They tracked the demon down into the sewers and succeeded in wounding it before it escaped. The demon’s blood had mixed with Angel’s during the confrontation, causing him to become human again. Buffy and Angel reveled in finally being able to be together, but Angel soon discovered that The Powers That Be had not yet offered him redemption. When Angel was almost killed by the regenerated Mohra demon, Buffy managed to slay it. After Angel discovered that Buffy would die much sooner if he remained human, Angel had the Oracles create a temporal fold to reverse his transformation into a human. Buffy was left with no memory of the incident.[50] Back in Sunnydale, Buffy and the Scoobies kept Spike tied up in Giles’ flat as he bartered information about the Initiative for shelter and blood. At school, Buffy eventually attracted the sincere attention of her psychology teacher’s assistant, Riley Finn, and began to wonder how she could balance her Slayer duties while dating a seemingly-normal boy. While fighting the Gentlemen, however, Buffy came to discover that Riley had a secret of his own; he was a member of the Initiative, which Buffy learned was a government task force led by Buffy's psychology professor, Maggie Walsh, which was created to research mystical and demonic creatures.[51] Buffy briefly joined forces with the Initiative, but her relentless questioning of the organization’s motives, as well as her relationship with Riley, began to unsettle Professor Maggie Walsh, who tried to have her killed in action.[52] Walsh was subsequently murdered by a creature of her own creation, the monstrous half-human/half-demon cyborg, Adam, who then escaped and began his plan to create an army of super soldiers like him.[53] Faith then awakened from her coma and used a Draconian Katra left to her by the Mayor to switch bodies with Buffy.[54] In Faith’s body, Buffy was taken into custody by the Watchers Council Special Operations Team. She managed to escape and convince Giles of her true identity. With the help of Willow and Tara Maclay, Buffy reversed the body swap.[8] Upon discovering that Faith had traveled to Los Angeles and was attempting to kill Angel, a furious Buffy traveled to L.A. for vengeance, only to discover that Faith had become remorseful for her crimes. This put Buffy into direct conflict with Angel, who insisted that Faith could be rehabilitated. Though understandably unwilling or unable to believe that Faith was capable of redemption, Buffy ultimately had no choice but to work together with her to fight back against the Watchers Council Special Operations Team. Faith subsequently surrendered herself to the police, and Buffy got into a heated exchange with Angel, climaxing when she used her relationship with Riley to put Angel on the defensive, who then harshly ordered her to go back to Sunnydale after reminding her that he himself could not move on from their relationship.[55] Angel subsequently returned to Sunnydale to apologize, and after running afoul of the Initiative in the process, succeeded in mending things with Buffy, with both sides admitting that they had been wrong.[56] Riley, who had been torn between the Scooby Gang and the Initiative for some time, eventually turned his back on the corrupt organization to join Buffy after helping them save Oz from the Initiative complex.[57] Having been drifting apart for the previous year, the existing tensions between Buffy, Giles, Willow, and Xander reached their boiling point when Spike, wanting to have the chip removed from his head, exploited them to turn the gang against each other as part of Adam’s plan.[56] When Spike let too much information about the plot slip during an encounter with Buffy, it caused the Scoobies to reconcile; then, with the enjoining spell, they combined their essences within Buffy’s body, allowing her to destroy Adam. The Scoobies, helped by Riley and Spike, subsequently helped save the Initiative’s soldiers from the rampaging demon hordes within the complex; the Initiative was subsequently closed down by the U.S. government, and Riley was honorably discharged from the military.[58] The four were later attacked in their dreams by the first Slayer, Sineya, who was offended by their use of the adjoining spell to defeat Adam; Buffy promptly rejected Sineya’s insistence that the Slayer work alone without friends.[59] Sisterhood and sacrifice Soon after her confrontation with Sineya, Buffy started to wonder about what it meant to be the Slayer and this encouraged her to start patrolling every night. On one of these patrols, she encountered the world-renowned vampire Dracula, who had traveled to Sunnydale with the intention of making the legendary warrior his bride. Buffy — among others — was at first left powerless to Dracula’s unique "thrall", but managed to overcome his control over her and forced him to leave town. Her battle against the infamous Count combined with her encounter with the first Slayer made Buffy realize the inherent "darkness" behind the Slayer legend and made her want to learn more about the other slayers. She began to fully accept her duty as the Slayer for the first time in her life and enlisted Giles to put her through more extensive training in order to make her a better Slayer.[60] Meanwhile, a younger sister, Dawn Summers, had mysteriously appeared in the Summers’ household; her existence had been seamlessly integrated into the memories of all those she had ever known.[61] After casting a spell on herself in the hopes of discovering the mystical source of an illness she believed her mother was blighted by, Buffy discovered that Dawn was not her sister at all, but rather a ball of magical energy known as the Key capable of opening interdimensional portals. A group of monks had caused the Key to take human shape in order to protect it from a mentally unstable higher being known as Glorificus; they had chosen to put the Key in the Slayer’s care, as a sister, in the hopes that she would protect it with her life. Though Buffy was understandably skeptical of Dawn when she learned that she had been fabricated and integrated into her life without her prior knowledge, she quickly came to accept her responsibility as Dawn’s protector, not because she felt obliged to carry out the monks’ wishes, but because she slowly realized that she truly did love her sister, regardless of the circumstances of her existence.[62] Buffy continued to patrol Sunnydale and fight evil with the Scoobies, despite the looming threat of Glory. After an encounter with an average vampire left her badly wounded, she became interested in learning the deaths of past Slayers and poured through old Watchers Diaries with Giles in an attempt to better understand her situation. She eventually went to Spike for information instead, who, having killed two Slayers in his lifetime, proved particularly knowledgeable on the subject. He brought her to the Bronze, where he recounted to her the events of his life in great detail, from his human life as William Pratt, to his siring by Drusilla, his rivalry with Angelus and his obsession with Slayers. He imparted to her his own personal philosophy in regards to Slayers — that everyone has a death wish — before she shoved him to the ground and returned home, where she had to confront her mother’s worsening state. As she cried on the back porch, Spike suddenly appeared; though he at first seemed frustrated and intent on harming her for her prior words, upon seeing her in distress, he abandoned his pointless vendetta and comforted her for the first time.[63] Buffy’s relationship with Riley slowly began to deteriorate as she repeatedly failed to give him the emotional intimacy he craved. Riley began visiting a vampire brothel where he would allow vampires to bite him; when Buffy discovered this as a result of Spike’s interference, she destroyed the brothel and confronted Riley, after which he left her and returned to the military.[64] Buffy dealt with Riley’s departure as best as she could but remained emotionally sensitive. Buffy’s pain over having had two failed relationships caused her to take an interest in Ben Wilkinson, a handsome medic. However, an encounter with April, the love-struck robot girlfriend of Warren Mears, made her realize that she was overly dependent on men and decided she needed to be by herself for a while. This proved to be greatly fortunate as Ben was secretly Glory’s human vessel.[65] The Watchers Council eventually came to Sunnydale with information about Glory but refused to give it up until Buffy passed a test they had prepared for her. The Council interviewed Buffy’s friends and allies in order to ascertain if she was “worthy” of the knowledge they had to deliver. Though Buffy at first failed to meet their high standards, it was a conversation with Glory (who threatened to kill her and her friends) that gave her the confidence to stand up to the Council. Through a rousing speech, she managed to convince them to give her all the information they and reinstate Giles into the Council as, her, paid Watcher. With the Council’s knowledge, Buffy discovered Glory was not a demon at all, but a deity. Later, Dawn casually revealed to Buffy that Spike had fallen in love with her, much to Buffy’s surprise and disgust. She confronted him about it on a stakeout; while she attempted to tell him that his feelings were impossible, he kidnapped her in order to proclaim his devotion to her via murdering his sire and ex-lover, Drusilla. Buffy managed to escape, and subsequently alienated Spike from the Scoobies and had Willow recant his invitation into her house — something she had not bothered to do since he first helped her during their fight against Angel.[66] Buffy and Dawn were then devastated by the death of their mother shortly after. Joyce had been experiencing health problems for months, and only recently received surgery for a brain tumor when she died unexpectedly from an aneurysm.[67] In order to fully take up her role as Dawn’s legal guardian, Buffy was forced to drop out of college, though she faced difficulties as a result of Dawn’s increasingly rebellious behavior.[68] Meanwhile, Giles decided to take Buffy on a Vision Quest to help her discover what being the Slayer truly meant. It involved the first Slayer, her vision guide, cryptically telling her that death was her "gift." Buffy found such a message both confusing and hurtful so soon after her mother’s passing, and immediately returned to Sunnydale. Upon her return, she discovered that Spike had forced Warren to build Buffybot, a robotic sex toy in her likeness, which had resulted in him being captured by Glorificus’ minions in the belief that he was the Key. Despite her understandable rage and disgust over the robot’s existence, Buffy saved Spike and subsequently discovered that he had endured intense torture — and come close to dying — at the hands of Glory in order to protect Dawn’s identity as the Key. Moved by his sacrifice, Buffy rewarded Spike with a kiss and reconciled with him, welcoming him back into her circle of friends.[69] When Glory finally discovered that Dawn was the Key, Buffy immediately had her and the gang rushed out of Sunnydale in a Winnebago piloted by Spike. This attempt was hampered when the Knights of Byzantium, a militia intent on killing the Key to stop Glory, attacked the Scoobies on the road. The Scoobies then held up inside an abandoned gas station and called in Ben to treat Giles who had been injured in the assault. He then unwillingly turned into Glory who kidnapped Dawn, despite Buffy and the others’ attempts to protect her. Believing she had failed, Buffy broke down retreated into her subconscious, where she battled with the guilt of having failed to protect her sister.[12] Via magic, Willow successfully dove into Buffy’s mind and helped her overcome her helplessness. Although she knew that Dawn’s death would destroy Glory’s plan for good, Buffy refused to allow her sister to be harmed. She prepared for the battle with the Scoobies; whilst retrieving weapons from her house, she granted Spike permission to enter again, after which he expressed his gratitude to her for treating him "like a man." Buffy and the others subsequently attacked Glory’s stronghold in full force. Willow weakened Glory’s mentality, while Xander hit her with a wrecking ball and Buffy beat her repeatedly with Olaf the Troll God's Enchanted Hammer before she finally reverted to Ben’s weaker form. Not wanting to kill an innocent human, Buffy allowed Ben to live, warning him not to go after Dawn again. Giles, however, knew that Glory would rise again and killed Ben with his own hands, thus destroying her. Spike climbed the tower where the ritual was to be performed in an attempt to rescue Dawn but was outmaneuvered and thrown off the tower by Doc, secretly one of Glory’s followers. Despite all the Scoobies’ best efforts, Dawn’s blood had already been used to open the interdimensional portal by the time Buffy reached her atop the tower. Dawn offered to sacrifice herself in order to stop the ritual, but Buffy, who at that moment understood the meaning behind Sineya’s message, chose instead to sacrifice herself for the good of the world. She lept into the portal — her blood, which Dawn’s had been modeled after, effectively closed the rift. Buffy’s allies stood over her body and wept openly. She was buried on the outskirts of Sunnydale with the epitaph: "She saved the world. A lot."[70] Finally able to rest, she ascended to heaven, where she apparently found peace.[71] Resurrection Several months later, Buffy was resurrected by her friends who had feared that her spirit had been trapped in a hell dimension due to the mystical circumstances of her death.[72] In reality, she had been allowed to move onto heaven, where she had apparently found peace and happiness. After crawling from the depths of her own grave, Buffy aimlessly wandered the streets of Sunnydale before being found and taken back to her house by Dawn. Buffy was comforted by Spike, who had been serving as Dawn’s protector and sitter in Buffy’s absence and officially joined the Scooby Gang in Buffy’s absence. Her transition back to life was very difficult; she experienced an overwhelming sense of loss after being — as she put it — ripped out of heaven and thrust back into a world of pain. She had to take back her duties as the Slayer and deal with the everyday responsibilities of raising Dawn, working and paying bills. She attempted to keep the secret that she had been in heaven from her friends, not wanting them to share in her grief, and confided only in Spike, though the truth ultimately came out when she was under the influence of the demon Sweet.[73] Buffy’s depression worsened when Giles left Sunnydale and returned to England when she became overly dependent on him.[3] Struggling to feel alive and seeking someone who understood her, Buffy began a violent sexual relationship with Spike which left neither of them satisfied, keeping it secret from everyone but Tara out of fear of their reaction.[74] What initiated the relationship was the fact that Spike could now hit her despite his chip still working. Buffy consulted with Tara on whether her resurrection changed who she is and thus no longer made her a human according to the chip. Tara discovered that the chip was merely confused due to her mystical resurrection, upsetting Buffy as it made her come to terms with the fact that her relationship with Spike was her own doing and not anything outside her control.[75] In order to deal with her increasing financial problems, Buffy started working at a local burger bar called the Doublemeat Palace, a job she found degrading and disturbingly mundane.[76] With all of these problems, Buffy sank into severe depression and self-loathing. Meanwhile, Willow, following Buffy’s resurrection, developed an addiction to magic and began to use it excessively, which Buffy, faced with her own problems, failed to notice and largely ignored at first, even when confronted with evidence by Anya Jenkins and Xander.[74] This climaxed when a memory purge spell cast by Willow went awry and erased all of the memories of the Scooby Gang; when the spell was ended, Tara dumped Willow, which immediately caused Willow’s addiction to spiral out of control.[3] Buffy finally became aware of the full extent of Willow’s addiction when she and Amy Madison (having been transformed into a rat for three years,[77] only to be finally changed back) began making regular visits to Rack, a shady sorcery dealer, which only worsened Willow’s condition. When Willow made another trip to Rack’s place with Dawn in tow, the two were attacked by Mandraz, who Willow unwittingly summoned during her high, and Willow’s carelessness caused a car accident that left Dawn severely injured. Buffy and Spike arrived in time to save them and, despite being understandably furious with Willow, relented slightly when Willow desperately begged her for help. With Buffy’s help, Willow renounced the usage of her magic altogether and was put on the road to recovery.[77] In contrast to the ruthless hell-goddess Buffy faced the year before, her newest "nemesis" consisted of her old nerdy classmates that formed a group called the "Trio", with the intent of committing crimes, obtaining women and eventually taking over Sunnydale. Seeing Buffy as a foil in their plans, they made it their top priority to take the Slayer out, proceeding with several, ongoing minor annoyances against her, though she never had any interest in directly stopping them. One of their games led to accidentally turn Buffy invisible. At first, Buffy enjoyed this new power, by tricking the mentality of the social worker Doris Kroeger, who had been unimpressed by Buffy’s ability as Dawn’s guardian; and by going to Spike for sex, without the risk of their affair being discovered. Upon learning that if she were to continue being invisible her molecule structure would break down, Buffy sought to stop the Trio and made herself visible, not wanting to die despite her current grime state of life. The Trio’s scheme’s finally reached a breaking point when their leader, Warren Mears, accidentally killed his ex-girlfriend Katrina Silber after a mystical date-rape attempt. With the use of Jonathan Levinson’s magicks and Andrew Wells’s demon summoning, he manipulated events to make Buffy think she killed Katrina. Convinced, Buffy was ready to confess to the police, although this was thwarted when Spike dumped the body to save her. In a combination of grief and denial in her relationship with Spike, Buffy beat him severely. Luckily for her, Buffy discovered that she wasn’t actually the perpetrator of the crime and the death was ruled as a suicide; nonetheless, Buffy realized that the Trio was becoming too dangerous for her to ignore and resolved to bring them to justice.[75] Buffy soon met Riley again when she enlisted her help with a demon he’s tracking. Buffy discovered that his current situation was much more desirable than her own; Riley was happily married now while Buffy was desperately turning to Spike for relief. This realization shocked Buffy into finally breaking up with Spike, admitting to him that she was just using him and it was killing her.[78] Confused and angry, Spike later got drunk with Anya, who had recently been left at the altar by Xander, and the two had sex in The Magic Box, which the Scoobies discovered through hidden cameras that the Trio had planted in the Bronze, the Magic Box, and Buffy’s house. Xander subsequently attempted to kill Spike in a jealous rage, but Buffy intervened, revealing her secret relationship with Spike in the process; though Willow, Dawn, and Anya accepted it with relative grace, understanding what Buffy had been going through, Xander reacted exactly as Buffy feared, though he eventually realized why Buffy had kept it secret and apologized. Later, Spike cornered her in her bathroom, and in a misguided attempt to force her to admit her love for him, tried to rape her. She managed to fight him off, and in tears, dared him to ask again why she couldn’t love him. Frustrated with his own inability to be either a man or a monster and disgusted with himself for his own actions, Spike fled Sunnydale.[79] After yet again foiling the Trio’s plan, an enraged and embarrassed Warren tried to kill Buffy by shooting at her while she was caught off-guard in her backyard. Buffy used the split-second she had after being made aware of Warren’s presence to push Xander out of the way and take the bullet in the process. Meanwhile, one of Warren’s stray bullets accidentally killed Tara. Willow, enraged and grief-stricken, suffered a relapse and recklessly absorbed a large amount of dark magic. Willow saved Buffy at the hospital by removing the bullet with telekinesis, before proceeding to hunt down Warren and exacting bloody revenge against him; Willow flayed him alive before the eyes of her friends who came to stop her.[80] Despite Warren’s actions, Buffy was adamant that Willow had done the wrong thing and worked to protect Andrew and Jonathan (who had no involvement in Tara’s murder) to prevent further deaths and to prevent her friend from becoming completely evil. Buffy even battled her best friend one-on-one so that the remaining Trio members could escape, but was promptly defeated before Giles came to her rescue.[81] In the ensuing battle, the Magic Box was destroyed and Willow tried to kill Andrew and Jonathan with a homing fireball which Buffy managed to stop, though this resulted in Dawn and herself being trapped underground in the cemetery where the fireball impacted. Willow then tried to destroy the whole world to end everybody’s pain, which caused a number of demons to spawn and attack Buffy and Dawn. Xander finally got through to Willow in the end. The trauma of Tara’s death, Willow nearly destroying the world and seeing Dawn’s showing her proficiency with a sword allowed Buffy to realize that life was worth living after all. With that, Buffy promised to stop her self-destructive behavior in order to be there for Dawn when Dawn needed her; with this crisis resolved, Buffy was finally ready to live again.[82] Leader to the Potentials When Dawn enrolled in the recently rebuilt Sunnydale High as a freshman, Buffy was offered a job as guidance counselor by Principal Robin Wood, which she gratefully accepted.[83] Initially, she found it to be an unfulfilling experience, as she was unable to connect with any of the students that came to her for advice, many of them having trivial reasons. She soon became concerned when a girl with psychic powers, Cassie Newton, came to her claiming she would soon die. Buffy at first thought she was suicidal, but after learning it was an upcoming event, she saved her from being sacrificed by a group of demon-worshiping students. Afterward, Buffy discovered that Cassie would actually die from a congenital heart condition. Cassie would be the first of numerous young women Buffy wouldn’t be able to save in the following months.[84] Meanwhile, Buffy had discovered that Spike was living in the basement of the high school. Though at first taken aback by his madness, she eventually came to realize that he had regained his soul in order to prove himself to her. Recognizing that he had changed, she brought him out of the basement and helped him to recover. It eventually became apparent that he was being controlled by an evil force to feed on, kill and sire humans in town. Buffy tied Spike to a chair in order to prohibit him from moving; after he went into a frenzy and attacked Andrew Wells, she chained him in her basement. When he begged her to kill him, she refused and expressed her belief in him. He was later kidnapped by the agents of the First Evil.[85] The First’s minions had been tracking down and killing Potential Slayers in an attempt to abolish the entire Slayer chain. These Potentials were brought to Sunnydale for protection and training at Buffy’s home; the house was quickly overrun with teenage Potentials. Andrew, who had been under the influence of the First and captured by Buffy and her friends, led them to the First’s area of focus, the Seal of Danzalthar, situated on the gateway to the Hellmouth; Spike’s blood had been used to open the Seal. Upon investigating the creature that had been released, Buffy encountered an ancient and powerful vampire known as a Turok-Han.[86] Buffy eventually stepped up as a leader to the Potentials and killed the Turok-Han to prove her determination and ability. Afterward, she delved into the First’s lair, where she rescued Spike, who had been brutally tortured by both the First and the Turok-Han.[87] She later used the Slayer Emergency Kit given to her by Robin, whose mother was a Slayer herself. She used this to contact the Shadow Men for assistance. In response, they took her into another dimension and offered to increase her strength via the essence of a demon. Buffy refused, unwilling to sacrifice her humanity in exchange for power.[88] Meanwhile, a reformed Faith, having escaped from prison to help Angel, traveled to Sunnydale to aid the Scoobies in the battle. Upon learning that the First’s minion Caleb had something of hers, Buffy led the Potentials into battle at a Vineyard to retrieve it, which resulted in the loss of several girls as well as Xander’s eye.[89] With this, the Scoobies and Potentials, having been losing confidence in Buffy’s leadership skills and methods for quite some time, became mutinous, appointing a reluctant Faith their leader and forcing Buffy out of the house.[90] Alone, she briefly resided in a house that had been abandoned by its owner. Only Spike remained loyal to her; he followed her to the house, and expressed his love and admiration for her; it was because of his belief in her that Buffy was able to overcome her feelings of rejection and depression, and found the strength to keep fighting.[91] Through quick maneuvers and witty remarks, Buffy found the object Caleb was keeping from her — an ancient Slayer scythe called Mʔ — and saved the Potentials and Faith after the latter led them into a trap,[92] earning back the gang’s loyalty and finally making peace with Faith before revealing her plan to share her power with the other Potentials. Also, with the help of Angel, Buffy finally defeated Caleb and killed him by cutting him in half, killing the First’s leading enforcer and one of her greatest foes. The First confronted her once more. From the rantings on how there was only one Slayer, Buffy realized her revolutionary idea. Willow used the Scythe to perform a spell that activated Slayers all around the world. This happened just as Buffy led an army of potential Slayers down to the Hellmouth through the Seal of Danzalthar in the now abandoned Sunnydale High. A huge battle was then waged between the newly-activated Slayers and the Turok-Han Vampires. During the fight, Buffy was struck down with a sword and then taunted by the First while witnessing the loss of several new Slayers; Buffy, however, found the strength within herself to get up again and continue fighting. When Spike’s amulet suddenly activated, she rushed to his side and urged him to accompany her to the surface. He made it clear that he needed to finish his job; the two locked fingers, and their hands ignited in flame. Buffy confessed her love for him, though he remained unconvinced yet pleased by the gesture, and then she escaped the ruins at Spike’s insistence. With the other survivors, she looked on at the crater where her hometown had been and revealed to them that Spike had sacrificed himself to save the world. Resolved to go on, she reflected on what they would do next.[93]
Powers/Abilities		Slayer Powers Buffy was arguably the most powerful and successful Slayer to have existed (though Faith Lehane was her rival and considered herself more powerful), as seen through her long-Slayer lived-life and numerous victories. A contributing factor to this is the emotional connections she formed, thus increasing her will to live which is in contrast to previous slayers who are disconnected from everyone, giving them little to live for. As with every Slayer, Buffy possessed a natural proficiency with virtually all forms of weaponry and unarmed combat styles, and in addition to this she had years of combat training to hone in her skills using various marital arts (particularly jiu jitsu and aikido [164]). Buffy tended towards a more improvisational approach to fighting, utilizing her emotions and anything in her environment that could help best her enemy.[30][164] Her insistence to "go with the flow" during fights was sometimes looked down upon by others who considered her technique too "sloppy",[25][37] but Buffy believed this gave her the upper hand.[30] As a Slayer, Buffy had the normal powers that came with the role: superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes, durability, accelerated healing, a limited ability to sense supernatural activity, the collective memories of all past Slayers, and precognitive dreams, the last of which had allowed her to foresee events such as: Angel’s transformation into Angelus,[32] Jenny Calendar’s deception, the arrival of the Gentlemen,[51] and the deaths of the Potentials Slayers by the Harbingers of Death. However, Buffy never fully developed the Slayer power to sense supernatural activity and normally relied on her wits to discern demons and vampires from humans. While her exact strength level is unclear, her former boyfriend, Riley Finn has marveled at her strength level saying "You’re really strong. Like, Spider-Man strong."[186] Although she was sometimes considered a dumb blonde by herself and others, Buffy frequently showed herself to be quite intelligent, possessing strong leadership skills and having a natural flair for tactical planning. Prominent examples of Buffy’s intelligence included her near-perfect S.A.T. score,[187] her defeat of Zachary Kralik by using his dependency on anti-psychotic medication against him,[40] her quick deduction of the Buffybot’s true nature,[69] her rapid deduction of Riley’s affiliation to the Initiative based on weeks of evidence,[188] and her immediate realization of Katrina Silber’s true murderer upon hearing her name at the police station.[75] Even without her Slayer powers, Buffy retained her fighting skills and years of training; when temporarily stripped of her powers by Joanna Wise's Supernatural Crisis Act, she was able to take on a human MMA fighter and defeat him. [189]. Other Powers In addition to the common Slayer powers, Buffy has gained other abilities through spells: Mystical link with Willow — Buffy’s connection to Willow was strong to the point that even when unconscious, Willow could channel an amount of her power at will through Buffy. While Willow lay dying, she empowered Buffy, turning Buffy’s eyes black and allowing her to conjure up a shield and a fist-enhancing gauntlet made out of green magical energy.[100] Temporary Mystical protection — After becoming a leader to the activated Slayers, Xander commented that Buffy had some degree of mystical protection over her now, at least while she slept. To that end, her protection meant even daggers split apart so as not to pierce her skin.[190]