Rupert Giles
Name Rupert Edmund Giles Mr
Position Watcher
Second Position Watcher
Character Information
| Gender | Male | |
| Species | Human | |
| Age | 52 |
Physical Appearance
| Hair Color | Brown with grey at the temples | |
| Eye Color | Brown |
Family
| Father | Mr. Giles | |
| Other Family | Edna Giles (Grandmother), Lavinia Fairweather (Great-Aunt), And Sophronia Fairweather (Great-Aunt) |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | Rupert Edmund Giles was the Watcher and father figure of Slayer Buffy Summers, the former librarian of Sunnydale High School, and the occult expert of the Scooby Gang. Born into a family who worked for the Watchers Council for at least three generations, Giles initially rebelled against his family legacy and became a rogue magician, until the death of a close friend led him to return to the Council’s fold. Nevertheless, he would retain his rebellious streak and a fierce, ruthless devotion to his loved ones. As the Watcher of Buffy Summers, Giles developed a father-like bond with his charge, not only training her but also fighting by her side and openly defying the Council in order to save Buffy’s life, which ultimately led to his dismissal from the Council. Fired from the Council, Giles remained as a member of the Scooby Gang for two more years, trying to find his way even after being reinstated in his position as Watcher. He left Sunnydale in 2001 when he came to the realization that he had to leave Buffy so she would embrace the responsibilities of adulthood. He returned to Sunnydale the next year to stop Willow Rosenberg from destroying the world and nearly lost his life in the process. After she was stopped, Giles took her to England to aid her in her rehabilitation and coming to terms with her power. When the First Evil began its campaign and had the Watchers Council destroyed, Giles, gathered a group of Potential Slayers and returned to Sunnydale to prepare for the coming battle. However, he came into conflict with Buffy regarding the vampire Spike, whom Giles considered a potential threat. When Buffy’s leadership was questioned by her friends and allies, Giles sided against Buffy but reconciled with her when Buffy devised a plan that would allow the Scoobies to defeat the First. When the power of the Slayer was activated in all potential Slayers throughout the world, Giles helped Buffy create the Slayer Organization, though in secret he sent Slayer Faith Lehane to eliminate a rogue Slayer. After Buffy discovered Giles had gone behind her back, they were not on speaking terms for a while, and Giles joined Faith as the two sought troubled new Slayers to help them come to terms with their powers and prevent them from falling into the path Faith had fallen to in the past. A short time later, however, as the Twilight crisis came to the near destruction of the world, Giles was murdered by Angel, who was possessed by the sentience of a newly created universe. Angel and Faith worked tirelessly the next year to resurrect and bring back Giles despite it being a near-impossible task in a world without magic. Angel figured out a way through the Tooth of Ammuk, a magical artifact that would gather pieces of his soul through magical artifacts. Giles’ soul was snatched away for eternal torment by Eyghon the Sleepwalker and briefly inhabited in Angel’s own body. After finding a proper incantation, Giles’ was successfully brought back to life. However, the spell had backfired through his aunts’ involvement in the ritual, and Giles was forced to deal with the stressful return to his twelve-year-old body, but with his memories, intellect, and experience still intact. Feeling purposeless and disconnected, Giles nevertheless chose to aide Angel and Faith from stopping Whistler’s release of deadly magical all over the world. After the battle was won, Giles briefly helped them with the changed people of London but nonetheless chose to part from Angel with Faith, seeing that the place he was at his best was with Buffy. |
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| Strengths & Weaknesses | Research and Information, the ability to use magic are some of Giles' strengths. Computers and Buffy are some of Giles' weaknesses, he thought of Buffy like a daughter. |
| Personal History | Early life Rupert was born in 1954 into an upper-class family in London, England. His family had worked within the Watchers Council for at least three generations; both his father and grandmother, Edna Giles, were also Watchers, though his great-aunts, Lavinia, and Sophronia Fairweather, instead used their magical prowess to remain forever young and pursue carefree lives as hedonists. Although as a child Giles dreamed of being either "a fighter pilot or perhaps a green-grocer," being a Watcher was a calling, much as being a Slayer was, and Rupert’s father explained his destiny to him when he was ten years old.[4] However, any chance of Rupert having a normal life ended when, as a child, he used the Shard of Stronnos to turn a light demon that was attacking his aunts into a solid form that they could kill, his use of such powerful magic at such a young age confirming his potential, prompting his father to send him immediately to the Watchers Academy where his aunts would have preferred him to have more time as a child before taking on such a responsibility.[5] In 1972, as part of his Watcher training, Rupert, along with four other Watchers-in-training, was dispatched to the Highgate Cemetery to deal with the mysterious "Highgate Vampire." As it turned out, the Council had sent them out to deal with the threat on faulty intelligence, and the "vampire" turned out to be a Lorophage demon, a powerful and deadly insectoid demon that fed on the traumatic memories and experiences, driving the victim insane and killing them in the process. The Lorophage killed the other four Watchers-in-training and began to feed on Rupert, but two elder Watchers, one of them Rupert’s own father, arrived and fought the Lorophage off before it could complete the process. Giles lost his innocence that day and his already-tense relationship with his father only worsened. Because of the incident with the Lorophage, Giles chose to turn his back on his destiny and follow his own path.[6] Ripper In 1975, Rupert was a rebellious youth, rejecting his responsibility as a Watcher and dropping out of his attempt at a history degree at Oxford University when he was twenty-one. He delved into dark magic and befriended a group of young people who delved into the dark arts for fun or money: Ethan Rayne, Philip Henry, Dierdre Page, Thomas Sutcliffe, and Randall. Rupert gained the nickname "Ripper" during this time. Together, they summoned the demon Eyghon and continued to explore dark magic. During this time, Ripper employed tales of demons and dark magic and also claimed to be a founding member of Pink Floyd in order to impress girls, although he later admitted this was untrue. He delved into minor criminal activity, primarily stealing cars, but most likely for joyriding.[7] Following the death of Randall, Ethan and the others failed to exorcise Eyghon, Rupert halted his dark magic dabbling and started his own Punk band Wretched. He ran into Edna after many years who expressed to him her worry for Giles and encouraged him to become a watcher. Giles rejected it at first, showing her his Mark of Eyghon and how unworthy he felt over mentoring a Slayer.[8] Edna was angry and remarked his mistakes in his youth made him perfect to be a watcher so he could have insight over them not making the same decisions. He showed his guilt over the deaths of his friends because of his recklessness, causing his grandmother to say he could accept his destiny to redeem himself.[9] Rupert accepted his destiny of becoming a Watcher in 1980.[10] At some point, Giles acquired homes around the south of England, including properties in Bath, Devon, and Westbury, in addition to his family home in London. Watcher to Buffy Summers At the behest of the Watchers Council, Giles traveled to Sunnydale, California, and took up the post of librarian at the local high school. There, he met the Slayer, Buffy Summers, whom he began to train. The library, a sort of command center for Buffy and her friends who became known as the Scooby Gang, sat right above the Hellmouth. He was a father figure to Buffy and an adviser to her friends Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, who aided Buffy in her Slayer activities. He also shared a mutual attraction with the computer science teacher Jennifer Calendar. While researching the Master, Giles and Angel discovered a prophecy in the Pergamum Codex that stated that Buffy would face the Master and be killed by him. When Buffy learned of this, she decided to quit being the Slayer altogether; thus, Giles, realizing that he has spent too much time in his books, decided to fight the Master in her place. However, Buffy ultimately accepted her fate and knocked Giles out with a single punch when he attempted to intervene. Subsequently, a Hellmouth Spawn emerged from the floor and attacked Giles, Willow, Cordelia Chase, and Jenny, but they were saved when Buffy killed the Master.[11] When Buffy returned from Summer vacation, Giles’ constant pressuring of her to hold to her Slayer duties led to her directly disobeying him and attending a party at the Delta Zeta Kappa fraternity, where she and Cordelia were nearly sacrificed to the demon Machida. After being scolded by Willow, Giles assisted in saving Buffy and decided to stop pushing Buffy so hard.[12] When Ethan Rayne came to Sunnydale to flee the demon Ehygon, Giles shamefully admitted to Buffy that he was responsible for summoning the demon in his youth and was horrified when Jenny became possessed by Ehygon. Although Ehygon was defeated, Jenny took time to cope with her ordeal, retaining distance from Giles in the process. Eventually, Jenny revealed she was actually a member of the Clan Kalderash, sent to keep an eye on Buffy’s relationship with the vampire, Angel, whom they cursed with a soul. Giles felt betrayal when he learned that Jenny knew that if Buffy gave Angel a moment of pure happiness, he would lose his soul. When Angel lost his soul and murdered Jenny, leaving her corpse for Giles to find in his apartment, Giles sought revenge by burning down Angel’s home, and attempted to the vampire on, only being saved when Buffy arrived, punching Giles out for doing so, telling him that he could not leave her alone.[13] Later, Angel kidnapped and tortured Giles in order to get information on how to awaken the demon Acathla. As Giles refused to reveal anything, the vampire Drusilla hypnotized him into seeing her as Jenny, convincing him to tell what he knew. Buffy was forced to kill Angel and subsequently left Sunnydale an emotional wreck.[14] Giles spent the summer desperately following up any clues of Buffy’s whereabouts and was overjoyed when she finally returned months later.[15] Giles briefly served as Watcher for new Slayer Faith Lehane.[16] The Scoobies were given another disturbing glimpse in Giles’ past when, along with every other adult in Sunnydale, he was reverted to his teenage self by enchanted candy supplied by Ethan Rayne. During this time, he indulged in theft and vandalism and had a romantic and sexual fling with Buffy’s mother, Joyce Summers. Despite that, he aided Buffy in rescuing babies from the demon Lurconis, remembering a snippet of information his older self knew about the demon.[17] When Buffy kept Angel’s return from hell a secret from the other Scoobies, Giles felt betrayed by her affection for the man who tortured him and murdered Jenny, but later agreed to help Angel.[18] As Buffy’s Cruciamentum, a brutal tradition of the Watchers Council in which a de-powered Slayer was forced to battle a vampire, approached, Giles struggled to cope with the guilt of betraying Buffy’s trust. Despite describing the test as "an archaic exercise in cruelty," he secretly injected Buffy with numerous adrenal suppressors and muscle relaxants, which weakened her significantly, before eventually coming clean when the vampire she was meant to fight, Zachary Kralik, escaped. Buffy was disgusted and heartbroken but was later moved when Giles interfered in her Cruciamentum to save her life, staking her foe’s minion, Blair, after Buffy managed to best Kralik through a trick involving Holy Water. Because of this, and having a father’s love for Buffy which Head Watcher Quentin Travers described as "useless to the cause," Giles was fired[19] and replaced with Wesley Wyndam-Pryce but continued to act as Buffy’s adviser, especially since Wesley turned out to be coward and incompetent. In a battle with the demonic Mayor of Sunnydale, Richard Wilkins, Giles pressed the trigger which destroyed him and Sunnydale High, putting himself out of a job.[20] Unemployment As Giles learned to cope with being unemployed and the growing belief that Buffy no longer needed him, he resumed a sexual relationship with his old friend, Olivia Williams, who Anya Jenkins tactlessly labeled his "orgasm friend".[21] Lacking a sense of purpose, he spent most of his time lounging around his apartment, watching Passions with the vampire Spike who had become a hostage. He began to suffer from depression, especially when the Scoobies failed to keep him in the loop regarding Buffy’s new boyfriend Riley Finn and his affiliation to the Initiative. When Ethan Rayne cast a spell on Giles which turned him into a Fyarl demon, he enlisted Spike’s help to escape the Initiative and Buffy, who believed him to be the demon who murdered Giles. However, Buffy later realized from his eyes and "annoyed" expression that he was, in fact, Giles and Ethan were taken into custody by the Initiative.[2] In order to defeat the bio-mechanical Demonoid, Adam, the four Scoobies cast a spell to combine their strength. Giles provided the "mind," granting Buffy access to his superior knowledge, enabling Buffy to defeat Adam.[22] Giles, no longer seeing his place in Sunnydale, decided to return to England, telling no one except Willow, whom he needed to organize the research documents for the Scoobies. However, after an encounter with the legendary Dracula, Buffy confessed to Giles that she still needed him, both emotionally and in order to find out more about what being the Slayer means and asked him to be her Watcher again. Clearly pleased by this turn of events, Giles decided that he still had a place in Sunnydale after all.[23] Owner of The Magic Box When the owner of The Magic Box was killed by vampires, Giles was convinced by the shop’s high-profit margins to buy it, hiring Anya as his overtly enthusiastic assistant. Buffy discovered that her sister, Dawn Summers, was actually the Key: a mystical energy in human form in need of protection from the hell-goddess Glory. Buffy initially confided only in Giles about Dawn’s true nature and he decided to contact the Watchers Council for more information about Glory.[24] Quentin Travers blackmailed Buffy into obeying the Council’s demands, threatening to have Giles deported if she did not comply. Buffy stood up to the Council, informing them that they would release all information concerning Glory to them and would re-instate Giles as her official Watcher, to be paid retroactively from the month he was fired. Travers reluctantly agreed and revealed Glory’s true nature as a god before leaving.[25] As the Scoobies labored to find a way to defeat Glory, Giles brought up the difficult idea of killing Dawn to end her plans which involved using Dawn’s blood to break down the barriers to other dimensions, causing an apocalypse. Giles admitted that he loved Dawn, but that sacrifices had to be made. Buffy refused to listen and vowed to protect Dawn at all costs, much to Giles’ consternation. Glory shared her body with the human Ben Wilkinson and could be killed if Ben died. In the final battle against Glory, Buffy decided to spare Ben’s life, but Giles was less merciful. Explaining that Buffy was a hero and therefore different from them, he suffocated Ben with his bare hands. Buffy then sacrificed her own life to save Dawn’s, saving the world in the process.[26] Return to England Several months after Buffy’s second death, Giles decided to return to England.[27] On the very day he left, Willow, Xander, Anya, and Tara resurrected Buffy, and he came back as soon as he heard of this. Despite being overjoyed to have Buffy back, Giles was furious at Willow for invoking such dark magic and angrily dismissed her as "a rank, arrogant amateur". While the other Scoobies believed Buffy had been in hell, Giles was unconvinced, which proved to be correct when the demon Sweet’s musical spell forced her to reveal that she was indeed in Heaven.[28] Back to life, Buffy began to over-rely on Giles for financial and emotional support; at one point, when Dawn had sneaked out to hang out with a teenager who was, in fact, a vampire, Buffy avoided to scold her herself leaving the job to Giles.[29] This eventually caused Giles to decide that his presence was preventing her to assume responsibility for her own life. He left again for his native England, moving to a place near Bath, where he worked with a powerful local coven. A few months later, Tara was killed by a stray bullet as Warren Mears attacked Buffy. Willow, still recovering from an addiction to dark magic, vengefully gave into the magic, killed Warren, and attempted to kill his former partners in crime, threatening the lives of her friends as well. Hearing about a dark power rising in Sunnydale, Giles teleported back, wielding great magical power borrowed from the Devon Coven. As "Dark Willow" boasted of her indestructibility, Giles knocked her to the floor with a blast of magic energy, stating "I’d like to test that theory."[30] Upon discovering all that had gone wrong in his absence, Giles apologized to Buffy, insisting that he never should have abandoned them, but Buffy reassured him that he did the right thing. Knowing that Willow was too strong, he tricked her into draining him of his magic, which brought him near death. Willow stealing his borrowed power allowed her to feel all of the pain of humanity, convincing her to end the world. However, Xander was able to reach the last spark of humanity in Willow that was brought out thanks to stealing Giles’ power, by telling her that he loved her no matter what, causing Willow to break down and give up her attempt at causing the apocalypse.[31] Giles returned to England with Willow to rehabilitate her. A few months later, he began bringing Potential Slayers to Sunnydale to protect them from the First Evil and its Harbingers of Death, who were attempting to wipe out the Slayer line. Giles became one of the only Watchers left when The First’s lieutenant, Caleb, blew up the Council’s headquarters, though Giles was able to extract a few integral volumes of text and certain files beforehand. The Watcher Robson, while injured, witnessed Giles about to be decapitated by a Bringer, before blacking out. When the Scoobies hear about this, they worried that Giles may have been killed and that the First was merely impersonating him. They are relieved, however, when they manage to tackle him to the ground, proving he is corporeal and therefore not the First; it turns out that Giles heard the Bringer approaching and decapitated it before it could kill him. Giles later loses Buffy’s trust somewhat when he takes part in a scheme with Robin Wood to kill Spike, who had recently regained his soul, though Giles believed the vampire was too dangerous to be kept alive.[32] After the ordeal, Buffy told him, "I’ve think you’ve taught me everything I need to know." Giles participated in the final battle at the Hellmouth, surviving it. |
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| Powers/Abilities | Knowledge Giles had immense knowledge of demonology and Slayer combat (including at least a theoretical knowledge of Jujutsu and Aikido, but excelling at the art of fencing), mainly due to his training as a Watcher. While he had no true supernatural powers of his own, his extensive experience in dealing with vampires, demons, and other creatures made him capable of handling them effectively. His youthful interest in witchcraft and sorcery had endured into his adult life, granting him knowledge of a wide variety of spells, though his natural aptitude for it was only moderate (much less than that of Willow or Amy). Giles was proficient in several languages, including Latin, ancient Greek, Sumerian,[22] Japanese,[25] and possibly Gaelic,[58] but weak in German,[59] Mandarin, and Cantonese.[57] Fighting skill Giles had moderate skill in hand-to-hand combat, as well as various melee weapons. He also implied that he was a skilled marksman.[60] While his demeanor was typically mild and polite, Giles was not above using raw violence to solve a problem (his nickname "Ripper" should suggest something), such as physically threatening Principal Snyder into readmitting Buffy to school after her expulsion,[7] pummeling Angelus senseless with a flaming baseball bat and burning down his hideout upon discovering that he had killed Jenny Calendar,[13] smothering Ben to death with his bare hands to prevent Glory’s return when Buffy chooses to spare him,[26] brutally beating Ethan Rayne for information[61] or simply to improve his mood,[2] manhandling Spike while ordering him to get over his obsession with Buffy,[62] and forcing Glory’s minion, Slook, to talk by inflicting a painful-sounding injury.[63] Typically however, Giles’ calm demeanor and professionalism offered him a detached state of authority even in the face of fearsome monsters, as demonstrated during his confrontation with a violent demon.[64] He was also shown to be able to quickly hot-wire a car.[7] Magical powers Giles was granted the powers of the Devon Coven in an attempt to stop Willow. During this time, he demonstrated powers such as teleportation, telekinesis, and energy projection. He lost all of these powers when Willow drained him and left him on the brink of death, but he recovered immediately after Xander calmed her down from her rampage.[31] His moderate proficiency in magic combined with his natural acumen and intelligence made him quite formidable; he killed Roden, a skillful warlock, through using a spell inventively.[60] When Giles was resurrected as a child, he possessed magical abilities surpassing that of his older self. This was due to him being born with a natural talent for magic which he repressed in his previous life.[65] Magical feats include energy blasts that could vaporize vampires, force fields and sleeping spells. |