Spike

Character Information

Gender		Male
Species		Vampire
Age		127

Physical Appearance

Hair Color		Platinum White
Eye Color		Brown

Family

Spouse		Drusilla (Ex), Harmony (Ex),
Mother		Anne Pratt
Other Family		Unknown Cousin

Personality & Traits

General Overview		Spike (born William Pratt) was a famous and widely-feared vampire turned in 1880. He was well-known among both humans and demons for having faced and killed two Slayers during his unlife, and his history of torturing his victims with railroad spikes (which is rumored the moniker of “Spike” is derived from). His reputation for evil and bloodshed was second only to that of his grandsire Angelus. In his human life, William was an unsuccessful and unappreciated romantic poet known as William the Bloody, for his “bloody awful” poetry, though after he became a vampire, that moniker was re-purposed to imply he was very violent. After being sired by Drusilla, he reinvented himself and terrorized Europe alongside Drusilla, Angel, and Darla throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Spike first traveled to Sunnydale in 1997, accompanied by Drusilla. He quickly established himself as one of Buffy Summers’ most dangerous enemies but was eventually forced into a series of uneasy alliances with her and her team, the Scooby Gang, after being captured by the Initiative and implanted with a cerebral microchip that rendered him unable to harm humans. Eventually, Spike realized that he had fallen in love with Buffy and officially joined the Scooby Gang, later being motivated by his love for her to successfully fight to regain his soul. Spike sacrificed his life in battle against the First Evil, both defeating its army of Turok-Han and permanently closing the Hellmouth, as well as destroying the town of Sunnydale. However, bound to an ancient amulet, Spike became an incorporeal entity haunting the halls of-of Wolfram & Hart Los Angeles branch, then under the management of Team Angel. After becoming corporeal again, Spike struggled to find a place in the world, only to join Angel in his battle against the Senior Partners and become a Champion in his own right. After a slew of adventures, Spike reunited with Buffy and the Scoobies in Europe and joined them in the battle against Twilight. When the world was made void of magic, he moved to San Francisco to continue fighting by Buffy’s side but left for a time in the hopes of “finding himself”, before returning to San Francisco when he heard the news that Dawn Summers was sick. He then established himself in the city alongside the Scooby Gang, sharing an apartment with Xander and working as a supernatural consultant for S.F.P.D. With this new life, he and the Slayer gave a chance for a serious relationship.
Strengths & Weaknesses		Weaknesses: Sun, holy water, wouldn't stakes, the chip in his head (not sure if it's still active), and Buffy. Strengths: see powers and abilities

Personal History		Early history William Pratt[1] was born circa 1850 to 1853 in London, England to Anne Pratt and her unidentified husband. Anne often sang him the English folk song “Early One Morning” throughout his infancy and childhood.[2] By 1880, William had grown into a sentimental, and ineffectual gentleman who lived alone with his ill mother. He was a poet and enjoyed a certain level of economic comfort. Struggling to make a place for himself in London’s high society, he attended parties, and was nicknamed “William the Bloody” because his poetry was so “bloody awful”. This moniker, with far deadlier connotations, followed him into his future as a vampire. While he moved within elite circles, William found little in common with his contemporaries, who often made him the butt of their jokes. Still, he showed a strong capacity for loyalty and was highly devoted to the idea of love, two traits that remained with him long after his siring. After his romantic overtures were rejected by Cecily, a despondent William literally collided with Angelus, Darla, and Drusilla, who had been terrorizing London. Drusilla followed him into an alley, where she found him in tears. She desired a playmate — a “knight” —, whom she could make hers forever. After a brief talk with the young poet, Drusilla seduced him and turned him into a vampire.[3] William the Bloody After Drusilla sired William, she buried him and allowed him to be reborn as a vampire; he crawled from the depths of his own make-shift grave.[4] The pair partied for several days afterward, both draining human victims and drinking alcohol. They eventually decided to go back to William’s mother’s residence, where a live-in servant ignorantly invited them inside. William’s devotion to his mother remained with him even after he became a vampire. Anne Pratt suffered from tuberculosis, and, not wanting to see his mother die while he was gifted with eternal life, William sired her so she could join his afterlife. Unfortunately, after being sired, William’s mother was no longer the woman he had known. Without a soul, she taunted him, claiming that she had despised him all along, and insinuating that William had always had a sexual fascination with her. In the end, he was forced to stake her because he could not bear to see his mother in such a twisted light.[2] The entire experience remained terribly traumatic for William, as he was haunted by the memory over a century later when the First Evil used it to control him.[5] After staking his mother, William began a new existence with Drusilla. Euphoric with his newfound vampiric abilities, he abandoned the genteel hypocrisy and morals of Victorian life but still remained emotionally sensitive. He was eventually introduced to Drusilla’s sire, Angelus, who initially embraced him by expressing an interest in killing with another man. At first, the innocent William idolized Angelus but was still quick to disagree when he insulted Drusilla in his presence. He preferred to think of her as childish rather than insane, and treated her with undying loyalty. After walking in on Angelus having sex with her he was once again denied his desire for his idealized romance. Aware that Angelus had only slept with Drusilla to hurt and desensitize him after becoming aware of the extent of his infatuation with her, William declared to his grandsire that Drusilla was his “destiny.” Angelus openly mocked William’s romantic outlook on life and explained that in a vampire’s world, such things as “deserving” and “belonging” no longer mattered — as a vampire, William could take whatever he desired, but never truly have anything.[6] This incident brought about the beginnings of a rivalry that would carry on through both William and Angelus’ unlives. William was urged to give up his last drop of aristocracy, and became a rebel, adopting a working-class North London accent and embracing impulsiveness and violence. He took on the nom de guerre “Spike”, inspired by a detractor from his human days who had exclaimed he would rather “have a railroad spike driven through his head“ than listen to William’s poetry. It was even indicated that he was involved in criminal activities, as Spike later remarked that he spent “the better part of a century” in delinquency. In the company of Drusilla, Darla, and Angelus, Spike tyrannized Europe and Asia for the better part of two decades under the banner of the Whirlwind. As time passed, he remained utterly devoted to Drusilla and grew to despise and envy Angelus. Though Angelus did enjoy the company of another male vampire in their travels, he found Spike’s eagerness for battle unnecessary. Angelus regarded killing as an art, not a sport, and brutalized for the sheer act of committing evil. He reveled in destroying his victims’ minds and bodies, while Spike did it for amusement and to feel the "rush." Angelus avoided fights that he feared could result in his demise; Spike thought danger added to the thrill. Despite their vehement rivalry, they proved to be a formidable team and bested many opponents.[7] In Sunnydale, Spike referred to Angel as his sire, likening Angelus to a mentor.[8] Spike later noted that although Drusilla had made him a vampire, it was Angelus’s influence over him that had made him a monster.[6] Spike also developed an intense and all-consuming obsession with Slayers. He reveled in dangerous battles, and to him, there was nothing more exciting than a life-and-death struggle with his kind's greatest adversary, the Chosen One. He first learned about the Slayer from Angelus, who used the term in an attempt to frighten him. It had a very different effect on the young vampire, who, from then on, sought out Slayers to battle.[3] 1890: Spike, Drusilla, Angelus, and Darla attended the ballet Giselle, in St Petersburg, Russia.[9] 1894: The four vampires were in Rome, Italy and encountered the Immortal. He locked up Angelus and Spike whilst simultaneously bedding Darla and Drusilla. This sparked a rivalry with the Immortal that made him the enemy of both Spike and Angel.[10] October 1898: Spike & Dru were in Borsa, Romania with Angelus and Darla. Spike, however, was oblivious that Angelus had been cursed and regained his soul. But he joined in the massacre of the Clan Kalderash.[11] November 28, 1898: Spike tried to convince Drusilla to forget about Angelus; since the incident with the Kalderash, he believed that they should consider him gone. June 18, 1900: in Beijing, China, Spike killed Slayer Xin Rong during the Boxer Rebellion. During the fight, in which she used a sword and Spike was unarmed, the Slayer gave him the scar on his left eyebrow, which he still had over a century later. Once again, Drusilla and Spike’s attraction to each other was heightened by chaos and bloodshed, as they immediately become intimate after Spike has murdered Xin Rong.[3] Shortly afterward, he and Drusilla lost touch with Darla and Angelus, and the couple wandered the world seeking amusement and mayhem, occasionally separating to pursue individual interests but always reuniting September 1943: Spike, Nostroyev, and the Prince of Lies were captured by Nazi agents at a virgin blood party in Madrid, and taken aboard a submarine which in turn was seized by Americans. However, Spike and the two other imprisoned vampires broke free and killed most of the crew. The trio was stopped from killing everybody by Angel (pretending to be Angelus), who arrived with instructions to deliver the submarine and the records of the Nazi’s experimentation with vampires to the United States military. While the submarine was delivered thanks to the help of the newly-sired Sam Lawson, Spike, who had burned the notes from the experiments, was forced by Angel to leave the submarine and swim back to land.[12] 1947: Spike was defeated by Hermanos Número ("Number Brothers") and forced to flee Los Angeles. 1953: Back in Rome with Drusilla, Spike had apparently caused a Black Widower demon to be in debt to him. The demon had avoided repaying his debt, however, and Spike catches up to him when he’s just had sex with then 18-year-old half-demon Pearl and was about to eat her, while her brother Nash had been knocked out. In an attempt to collect his debt, Spike became an accidental hero, decapitating the demon and inadvertently rescuing Pearl. She became fascinated by the vampire that she considered her hero.[13] June 1959: At some point, Spike spent time in prison for tax evasion because of the Immortal. 1963: Spike and Drusilla were caught in the middle of slaughtering an orphanage. Spike killed two members of the Watcher's Council before Roger Wyndam-Pryce escaped with his life.[14] At some point in a century or so of being his own boss, Spike employed a pair of Fyarl Demons as muscle (and learned their language), which is unusual because vampires and demons rarely get along; he continued this diversity in friendships and relationships throughout his unlife. 1969: Spike attended Woodstock, where he drank blood from a flower child and spent the next several hours watching his hand move; a side effect from the psychoactive drugs in their bloodstream.[8] 1977: He fought Nikki Wood, a Slayer in New York City at least twice. The first time he initially gave up but noted he loved her leather duster. The second battle was aboard a subway train and stole her black leather duster, which he continued to wear even decades later.[3] At some point, he met British punk rocker Billy Idol, who was inspired by Spike's look and copied it. 1997: Spike and Dru traveled to Prague, where the pair was attacked by an angry mob. Drusilla was also kidnapped and severely tortured as a warning sign for other vampires to stay away from the city.[15] Sunnydale Big Bad Conflict with the Scoobies Spike first appeared in Sunnydale accompanied by his longtime lover Drusilla, who had recently been wounded by an angry mob in Prague. He was a devoted caretaker to Drusilla in her weakened condition and initially hoped the Hellmouth’s powerful energy would help to restore her strength. The presence of a Slayer made the town an even more attractive retreat to Spike. He tracked Buffy Summers down at The Bronze and observed her from afar. His interest in her immediately seemed more perverse than homicidal. He was quick to reveal that he had killed two Slayers throughout his life and hoped to make Buffy his third Slayer victim. Ironically, his plans were thwarted by his grandsire Angelus, whom he greeted like an old friend before realizing he was cursed with a soul and allied with the new Slayer, Buffy. Spike observed that it was very unusual for a Slayer to have family and friends so dedicated to her well-being — Buffy’s way of life proved to be a direct affront to the duties of past Slayers. Still, Spike’s impatience to fight Buffy had foiled the Order of Aurelius’ plans for the Night of Saint Vigeous. He killed the Anointed One and took control of then-defunct Order, planning to make things “a little less ritual and a little more fun.”[8] Eventually, Spike discovered that Drusilla could only be healed by the blood of her sire; he was more than happy to kill Angel to restore her and kidnapped him with the help of Willy the Snitch. He subsequently hired the Order of Taraka to assassinate Buffy, though he ultimately canceled the bounty when she defeated the three assassins who had been sent.[16] With the help of Kendra Young, a second Slayer activated when Buffy drowned the previous year, Buffy tracked down Spike and Drusilla to the church where they were going to perform the ritual to heal Drusilla. The ensuing fight ended when Spike was crushed under a collapsing pipe organ; he was left paralyzed from the waist down for several months. Though Angel was saved, Spike’s ritual succeeded, and Drusilla was restored to perfect health.[17] Despite being incapacitated in a wheelchair, Spike made huge preparations for Drusilla’s birthday. He planned a large party at the factory, dressed their vampire lackeys in Gothic attire, arranged flowers to Drusilla’s insane standard and collected the pieces of the Judge’s body. Meanwhile, Angel and Buffy had grown closer than ever — his curse was broken when he achieved a moment of pure happiness upon sleeping with her and reverted to his soulless self.[18] After murdering several Sunnydale inhabitants, Angelus rejoined Spike and Drusilla and plotted with Drusilla to destroy all of humanity. Spike initially celebrated their reunion with Angelus and demonstrated affection toward his grandsire, but their longtime rivalry was renewed over arguments about how to attack Buffy. Angelus, who was cruel and calculating, preferred playing mind-tricks with her, while Spike feared such actions would only anger her. Angelus also taunted the temporarily helpless Spike by pursuing Drusilla as a lover while Spike was unable to fulfill her needs as a result of his paralysis. Spike continued to use his wheelchair even after he had recovered, feigning weakness to avoid suspicion while he plotted against Angelus. When Angelus decided to use the demon Acathla to suck the entire world into hell, Spike decided to ally himself with Buffy Summers; he explained to Buffy that, in addition to wanting Drusilla back, he also wanted to “save the world.” Despite Buffy opposing the idea to save Drusilla considering she had killed Kendra not hours earlier, they made an agreement when Rupert Giles’ life was on the line. Spike promised Buffy that he and Drusilla would leave Sunnydale for good after the battle ended. He helped Buffy during her battle against Angelus and Drusilla and knocked Angelus unconscious long enough for Buffy to kill his minions and rescue her Watcher. Spike briefly fought Drusilla, who resisted betraying Angelus; he managed to knock her out; ever loyal to his promises, Spike departed Sunnydale with Drusilla once more, leaving Buffy to face Angelus alone.[19] Depression It was later revealed that Spike and Drusilla traveled to Brazil, where she remained horrified by his alliance with the Slayer. Drusilla’s abilities caused her to sense that Spike would come to develop romantic feelings for Buffy; she rejected him and cheated on him with a Chaos demon,[3] which sent the lovelorn Spike into a long drunken depression. He returned to Sunnydale, where he kidnapped Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris and attempted to force Willow to cast a love spell on Drusilla. While in town he visited Buffy’s mother, Joyce Summers, who listened sympathetically to his heartache, and he recruited Buffy and Angel to help him gather ingredients for the spell. However, Mayor Richard Wilkins, knowing that Spike’s mere presence in Sunnydale posed a threat to his plans, quickly organized a “welcoming committee” consisting of Spike’s own former minions to deal with him. After fighting them off, Spike cheerfully abandoned the idea of enchanting Drusilla, resolving instead to win her back by torturing her until she loved him again and told the Slayer where to find her two missing friends. He also told Buffy and Angel that no matter what happened, they would never be friends because of their eternal love for one another. Buffy later remarked to Angel “I can fool Giles, and I can fool my friends, but I can’t fool myself — or Spike, for some reason.” This final quote foreshadowed the pivotal role Spike would someday come to play in Buffy’s group.[19] The Gem of Amara The following year, Spike once again became estranged from Drusilla who this time left him for a Fungus demon, prompting him to return to Sunnydale alone to search for the Gem of Amara, a talisman that rendered vampires completely immune to all of the conventional vampiric weaknesses. He had an entire crew mine for it; when he acquired it his first action was to do battle with Buffy, now a college freshman, during the day. Buffy, however, took it from him mid-fight, causing him to flee from the sun. Buffy decided to give it to Angel.[20] Spike later followed Scooby Oz to Los Angeles to retrieve it. He faced Angel and his new team, hiring a vampiric torturer who claimed he wasn’t interested in the gem and had him torture Angel for its location. After arranging a trade with Cordelia Chase and Allen Francis Doyle, he was double-crossed by the vampire and driven out of the city without the ring, which Angel subsequently destroyed.[21] By then, he had become involved with Harmony Kendall, a shallow young vampire who had been Cordelia’s best friend at Sunnydale High. Despite her beauty and affection, Spike treated her as little more than a nuisance and sexual plaything. Reluctant ally The Initiative chip Spike’s existence took a pivotal turn when he was captured by the Initiative, a secret demon-fighting government organization, the members of which implanted him with a cerebral microchip that rendered him unable to willingly harm or attempt to harm humans without experiencing crippling pain.[22] This chip became Spike’s surrogate soul, as it forced him to consider the moral consequences of harming others, with the literal punishment of physical pain looming over his head if he ever did so. Unable to hunt for blood, and still pursued by the Initiative, he reluctantly made the decision to turn to the Scooby Gang for help.[23] He was kept in Rupert Giles's apartment, where the Scoobies bound him to a chair with ropes. He bartered his knowledge of the Initiative for shelter and blood; after being held captive both at the homes of Giles and Xander Harris, during which time he sank into a suicidal depression, and came close to staking himself. He later moved to a crypt in Sunnydale Cemetery, which he furnished to his liking throughout his years residing there.[24] In order to support himself, Spike took to mugging people with his vamp face without having to use any physical violence.[25] Spike and Buffy briefly became engaged after Willow accidentally performed an enchantment; although the spell only commanded them to get married, each expressed love for the other, comically foreshadowing the bond they would in the time shared.[26] Spike became ecstatic when Xander warned him of an upcoming apocalypse because he did want the world to end. He nonetheless managed to cheer himself up by viciously tearing down Willow and Xander emotionally, remarking that they were both useless to Buffy, who as a Slayer, would be better off if she didn’t have to constantly watch out for both of them. Willow and Xander were forced to think of his words despite their mutual denial.[27] Spike came to discover that the chip did not prevent him from hurting demons, much to his joy,[27] allowing him to be more independent of the Scoobies and move out to a crypt.[24] He subsequently became a reluctant ally of the Gang and provided them with assistance in exchange for cash or brawls. At this point, Spike was still interested in his own selfish well-being, and reminded the Scoobies of this constantly with one of his many catchphrases: “I’m Evil!” Upon learning that the unstable Slayer Faith was on the loose, he proclaimed that he would find her and tell her the Scoobies’ exact whereabouts, and gleefully watch while she tore them apart.[28] Spike later allied with Adam, a biomechanical Demonoid created by the Initiative as part of their 314 Project, and helped him in his quest to destroy both the Initiative and the Scoobies once and for all. Spike’s price was simple: he wanted the chip removed for good so he could return to his “Big Bad” self. In accordance with Adam’s plan, he managed to turn the Scoobies against each other by manipulating existing tensions within the group. Buffy, however, discovered the scheme and reconciled with the gang when Spike revealed too much information about his plot during an encounter in Adam’s former lair. When Adam discovered that Spike had failed to split up the Scoobies, he made an attempt to kill him, but Spike managed to escape. After Buffy slew Adam, Spike saved Willow, Giles, and Xander from an attacking demon in hope that they wouldn’t kill him for his actions; indeed, they agreed to spare him out of fatigue and gratitude. Spike then helped the Scoobies and Riley Finn battle the rampaging demon hordes within the Initiative’s complex, rescuing most of the soldiers. The Initiative was then shut down by the U.S. government, as it had proved an unsuccessful operation.[29] Falling in love with Buffy Following the fall of the Initiative, Spike began offering more and more assistance to Buffy and the Scoobies. He told Riley about his old rivalry with Dracula,[20] and later punched Tara Maclay to prove that her father’s claims about her being a demon were untrue, as his chip caused him pain when he struck her, thus confirming that she was purely human.[20] Despite this, after a failed attempt to force a former Initiative member to remove his chip, Spike became sick of Buffy’s near-constant presence in his unlife; an erotic dream sequence forced him to reconsider everything he had come to learn in his past hundred years of living. Initially, the dream featured Spike attempting to force Buffy to kill him in the hopes that he wouldn’t have to exist in her world anymore; he even tore off his shirt in order to give her a clear shot with her stake. The dream concluded with them passionately kissing and led Spike to realize, much to his horror and confusion, that he had fallen in love with a Slayer.[30] Unsure how to proceed, he began keeping a nightly vigil outside her home, occasionally breaking in to collect items for his shrine to her beneath his crypt. Spike became a much more active participant in the Scooby Gang, jumping into several fights to give Buffy assistance regardless of whether or not she wanted it. Buffy sometimes took out her anger and frustration on Spike; he went along with it, as it allowed him to spend time with her. His one-sided devotion soon culminated in Buffy confronting him about his past after being severely wounded by a vampire; the experience had caused her to become briefly obsessed with the deaths of past Slayers, and Spike, having been responsible for two of them, had the information she desired. His story revealed his fixation with Slayers to Buffy, who had him replay his battles with the two Slayers in great detail, fights he related to “dances”. Buffy was disgusted by his desire to “dance” with her and pushed him to the ground. Spike was visibly hurt when she told him that he was beneath her, as this was first said to him when he was turned down by Cecily as a human. Equipped with a shotgun, he went to her house with the goal of killing her, but upon finding her on her back porch in tears about her mother’s illness, cast aside his feelings of anger and humiliation and comforted her for the first time.[20] Before his departure, Riley rightfully assessed that Spike had fallen in love with his girlfriend after he caught him sniffing Buffy’s clothes in her room. Spike took great pleasure in informing Riley about Joyce’s illness, which Buffy had intentionally neglected to tell him about. Spike then took Buffy to an abandoned house and exposed Riley’s scandalous activities with a group of vampires who fed on humans — safely and giving them a high in the process — for cash. Riley confronted Spike soon afterward, but Spike only taunted him about his relationship with Buffy. They drank together and discussed their separate situations regarding the Slayer. Riley asked Spike if he really thought he had any chance with Buffy and Spike responded with self-deprecation, stating that he knew he didn’t but that he had to try anyway. Spike believed his situation was better than Riley’s, who was close to Buffy but never had her completely. Riley left Buffy and Sunnydale behind soon after.[20] Later, when Dawn snuck out of the house on Buffy’s birthday in order to go to The Magic Box, Spike, who was standing vigil, decided to go along in order to protect her from any possible threats. He helped her break into the store but ended up partly responsible for Dawn discovering her identity as the Key. Upon learning of Spike’s involvement, Buffy immediately confronted him in his crypt. She attacked him, but Spike turned the tables on her by informing her that he had only accompanied Dawn to keep her safe. He also remarked that they should have just told Dawn earlier because she was bound to find out sooner or later. When Dawn ran away again during her identity crisis, Spike was quick to join the search party. Buffy tearfully admitted to Spike that he had been right; Spike then made an awkward attempt to comfort her, stating that Dawn, being a “fourteen-year-old hormone bomb,” would have eventually snuck out anyway. He assured Buffy that they would indeed find her little sister.[31] Following this adventure, a heavily burned Drusilla arrived in Sunnydale after she and Darla were immolated by Angel, with the aim of rebuilding her relationship with Spike and reuniting their family. She convinced Spike that despite his chip he was still a killer and let him feed on the blood of a woman she killed. Dawn, who had developed a crush on Spike, perceived his feelings for Buffy. She casually mentioned it to Buffy, who confronted Spike but was knocked out by him and Drusilla before Spike then turned against Drusilla. As Spike revealed his feelings to Buffy who was chained up in his crypt, she quickly and harshly rejected his advances, and Spike, not willing to give up without a fight, wanted her to witness him killing Drusilla, his once forever love. His plan failed, however, when a jealous Harmony intervened and a fight ensued between the three vampires and the Slayer. After Harmony and Drusilla left Spike, a furious and disgusted Buffy destroyed his shrine, had Willow revoke Spike’s invitation into her house (something she had not bothered to do in the almost three years since their alliance against Angelus), and alienated him from the Scoobies.[32] Following the sudden death of Joyce Summers, Spike attempted to pay his respects by leaving flowers at Buffy’s house, as he regarded her as the only person in Buffy’s life who had ever treated him decently. Xander immediately suspected he was merely attempting to take advantage of a painful situation to score points with Buffy, and couldn’t be convinced otherwise until Willow discovered that Spike had left the card for Joyce completely anonymous. When Dawn attempted to resurrect Joyce, Spike helped her but assured her that he didn’t want any credit for it, as Buffy would “drive a redwood through his chest” if she found out he was involved. He was badly injured by a Ghora demon when they attempted to steal one of its eggs in order to perform the spell. Their efforts proved worthless when Dawn raised her mother as an assumed zombie, then broke the spell before the results were revealed.[33] Still, in the midst of his obsession, Spike had Warren Mears make the Buffybot, a robot created in Buffy’s likeness that was programmed to love and obey Spike. He briefly used the robot as a substitute for what he couldn’t have with the real Buffy but was soon captured by Glory's minions, who had mistaken him for the Key. Though still thoroughly disgusted, Buffy lost much of her disdain for Spike after learning that he had refused to reveal the true identity of the Key to Glorificus, even under intense torture. She realized that he had laid down his life to protect Dawn, something she wouldn’t have thought possible of him. She was ultimately very moved by his unexpected sacrifice, and as a reward, kissed him and told him that she would never forget what he had done for her.[34] Buffy’s trust in Spike grew immensely from there, a prime example being when she left Dawn with him in his crypt after Glory "brain-sucked" Tara. While there, Dawn tearfully blamed herself for Glory’s attacks on her friends (including Spike’s torture at Glory’s hands) and believed herself a lightning rod for pain. Spike consoled her as best he could, telling her that as a vampire, he knew a thing or two about evil, and she wasn’t it. When Buffy later joined them, believing that she had managed to talk Willow down from taking vengeance on Glory, Spike quickly pointed out that Willow, being a very powerful and angry witch, would not be so easily reasoned with regarding someone she loved being hurt, causing Buffy to immediately rush to her rescue.[35] After Glory discovered that Dawn was the Key, Buffy allowed Spike to accompany the Scoobies when they fled from Sunnydale (much to the chagrin of Giles and Xander). Buffy knew that Spike was the only person besides herself who stood any chance at protecting Dawn against Glory.[36] In the days and hours leading up to the final showdown with Glory, Spike fought bravely by Buffy’s side, earning both her trust and a re-invitation into her home. Spike ultimately accepted that Buffy would never love him, and settled for having her trust; he said that though he knew he was a monster, she treated him like a human being. During the final battle, he tried desperately to save Dawn from Glory’s minion, Doc, who was attempting to draw Dawn’s blood as part of the ritual. Spike was easily outmaneuvered and fell off a thirty-foot tower, where he was unable to assist Dawn further; this would remain one of his deepest regrets after Buffy’s death in the battle. Upon setting eyes on her lifeless body, he collapsed in sorrow and wept openly.[37] Ever faithful, he honored her memory by remaining loyal to her friends and officially joined the Scooby Gang. He fought at their side and served as Dawn’s protector/sitter for months, and even helped Willow and Tara raise her in Buffy’s absence. Deprived of purpose, he kept track of the number of days since her death until her resurrection. Spike remained unaware of the Scoobies’ plan to resurrect Buffy until after the event; he returned to the Summers' residence in search of Dawn, only to discover Buffy alive-and-well 148 days after her death.[4] He, like a few of the others, considered the possible drawbacks of such an extreme act, but later expressed that, had the spell gone wrong, he wouldn’t have let the others destroy the result if it had retained even the slightest part of the real Buffy. Unable to confide in her friends about being torn from Heaven due to guilt, Buffy began to go to Spike for comfort, who willingly accepted both the best and worst of her emotions. Their physical relationship began after the demon Sweet cast a spell that caused them to share their true emotions through song. Buffy had begun to crave the ability to “feel” again, and expressed that she wanted “the fire back.” Meanwhile, Spike accused her of using him in the form of a serenade and reiterated his desire for her to let him “rest in peace, whilst simultaneously begging her to stay by his side. Their mutual desires clashed in the alleyway behind the Bronze, where they kissed.[38] Though Buffy denied the act at first, their tension was finally consummated when Spike discovered that his chip no longer stopped him from harming the resurrected Buffy. He initially thought that it had stopped working, and attempted to feed on a woman, only to be shocked with pain. He then extorted a band of geeks to assess his chip, who told him that it was still completely functional; Spike came to the conclusion that it was Buffy who had changed, rather than the chip. He showed her, claiming Buffy had come back from heaven “wrong”. Fighting back, she pushed Spike into an abandoned house, where they exchanged both insults and blows until they shared their first sexual encounter. Although the already dilapidated house crumbled down around them, they didn’t notice and allowed the moment to unfold.[39] Buffy initiated their relationship partly as a way to punish herself, and partly as a means of connecting to life again. Buffy instituted much of the violence and sex between them which Spike happily took, and threatened to kill Spike if he ever told anyone about their time together. Both members remained unsatisfied with their continued sexual acts; Buffy was very ashamed of her dark desires, while Spike pitifully craved the love, trust, and affection that she refused to give him. When Buffy believed she had killed a human, Katrina Silber, Spike tried to fix the problem by dumping the body into a river before Buffy could confess. When he revealed what he did and attempted to prevent her from alerting the police, a guilt-ridden Buffy took out her frustration on Spike and beat him thoroughly.[40] Shortly after Buffy’s ex-boyfriend, Riley returned to Sunnydale in search of a Suvolte demon egg smuggler, Spike egotistically informed him of his relationship with Buffy after Riley caught them together. Though Riley pretended not to care, he did accuse Spike of being the smuggler under the alias of “the Doctor.” His accusations were somewhat confirmed when he found the Suvolte’s eggs in Spike’s crypt, though Spike claimed to be “holding them for a friend.” Buffy ended things with Spike after Riley left, admitting that she had just been using him and that it was tearing her up inside with guilt.[41] Spike subsequently tried to make her jealous by bringing a date to Xander and Anya Jenkins’ wedding. And after Xander left Anya at the altar, Spike got drunk with the one-again Vengeance Demon at The Magic Box. He and Anya were able to relate easily as each had recently been abandoned by their loved ones and sought brief solace in each others’ arms where they were caught on camera and seen by the Scoobies. Xander tried to kill Spike in a jealous rage but Buffy stopped him in time and her secret relationship with Spike was revealed as a result. After witnessing Buffy’s clear jealous reaction to his sexual liaison with Anya, Spike came to believe that he still had a chance to win her back.[42] His attempts proved worthless, however. After being lectured by Dawn, he lost control of his obsession and cornered an injured Buffy in her bathroom. He made sexual advances towards her, and when she refused him, he grew desperate and tried to rape her. After Buffy fought him off, Spike was shocked at his own behavior and tried to deny he would do anything, but he was violently reminded that the demon portion of his being still existed. In tears, Buffy dared him to ask why she could never love him, but he quickly fled her house. He returned to his crypt in shame, to then left Sunnydale for the first time in nearly three years.[43] He traveled to a remote location in Africa in seek of a legend. There, he underwent the Demon Trials, a series of brutal physical and mental tests, to prove his worth to the demon shaman in exchange for what he asked: to be what he once was, what Buffy deserved. After his completion of the trials, the demon shaman finally restored his desired soul.[44] Becoming a champion With the returning of Spike’s soul came a conscience filled with guilt, both for the sins he had committed throughout his life and his more recent attack on Buffy. He couldn’t bring himself to see her for some time and took shelter in the basement of the newly constructed Sunnydale High School, where he presumably lived on rats. There, he was tormented by both the First Evil and his soul, and appeared to be losing his mind; he forced Buffy to leave when she discovered him, and sadly showed her that he had tried to cut out his own heart in self-contempt. During a moment of clarity, he helped Buffy to track down a Sluggoth Demon created by Anya, during which time Buffy came to realize what had happened to him during his missing weeks. Buffy, touched by his efforts, asked him why he had fought for his soul. Spike replied in partly cohesive mutters: "For her. To be hers. To be the kind of man who would never… to be a kind of man… and she shall look on him with forgiveness and everybody will forgive and love and he will be loved." Spike wanted not only redemption for his past but for Buffy to forgive him for what he had done to her. Buffy agreed in compassion and a little in awe of this development, and after enlisting his assistance for a while, brought him out of the basement and welcomed him back into her circle of close companions.[20] Because Buffy insisted and because he had nowhere else to go, Spike once more became reluctant room-mates with Xander Harris.[45] Though Spike’s mental and physical condition rapidly improved, the arrangement backfired when he, under the control of the First Evil, unwittingly killed innocent humans. Spike initially had no memory of his actions; after discovering what he had done, he begged Buffy to kill him, but Buffy refused to do so, and instead took him home to her house.[5] She told him that he would live on because she had seen him change. In the Summers’ residence, he suffered from human blood withdrawals, and remained vulnerable to the First’s influence, and was willingly confined with ropes.[46] Meanwhile, Buffy guarded and cared for Spike throughout his recovery. She told him that she believed in him, a statement that would sustain him later through his imprisonment and torture at the hands of the First and its minions.[47] After Buffy rescued him from the First, Spike helped her to train Potential Slayers by sparring with them. In the meantime, his chip began to malfunction, causing him intense pain and threatening to end his life. To the dismay of Giles and her friends, Buffy showed her lasting trusted in Spike by ordering the Initiative’s operatives to remove the chip from his head for good, telling him that he had the potential to be a good man.[48] She also took Spike’s side when Robin Wood attempted to kill him in retribution for the murder of his mother, Nikki Wood, the Slayer Spike killed in New York in the late ‘70s. Ironically, by trying to kill Spike while he was under the influence of the First’s programming, Wood freed Spike from the hypnotic trigger (the song “Early One Morning”, that Spike’s mother once sang to him). The song evoked Spike’s traumatic memories of his mother’s abusive behavior after he turned her. Finally able to address these issues, Spike realized that his mother had always loved him, the knowledge that freed him from the First’s control for good. Afterward, he bit and brutally pulverized Wood, but let him live out of respect for Nikki. Spike assured Buffy that he had given Wood his last chance and that he would kill Robin without hesitation if he so much as looked at him the wrong way again. Buffy was more than supportive, stating that she would let him do it; both she and Spike knew that they had no more time for pointless vendettas.[2] Spike remained selflessly loyal to her when the other Scoobies and the Potentials removed her from her position as a leader and criticized them for treating Buffy with so little respect after all she had done for them. He even brawled briefly with Slayer Faith Lehane before leaving to find Buffy. He tracked her down in a house that had been left abandoned when its owner fled Sunnydale, where Spike offered emotional comfort and unconditional love, helping restore Buffy’s battered confidence and will to fight.[49] Buffy had Spike hold her while they fell asleep, a night he would later declare as the best of his life. His words had also restored the depressed Buffy’s self-belief, and allowed her to trust her instincts, follow her hunch about the secret weapon being at the Vineyard, and helped her win back her role as leader of the army after Faith accidentally led the Potentials into a near-fatal trap. Spike returned with her.[50] When Angel returned to Sunnydale to help with the battle against the First, Buffy gave him a "hello" kiss; Spike witnessed this from a distance and overheard Angel tell Buffy about the magical properties of a mystical amulet that was to be worn by a Champion during the final fight. After an argument with Angel, Buffy declared to him that Spike was "in her heart" and that she truly believed he could make a difference. She would then sent a reluctant Angel back to Los Angeles to start a second front in case she failed with the First. Later, Spike was hitting a punching bag with a self-drawn picture of Angel on it. When Buffy came to see him Spike told her what he had seen, and proclaimed that he wanted to wear the amulet, as it was meant for a being who possessed a soul but was more than human. Buffy made it clear that the amulet was meant only to worn by a true "Champion" before handing it to Spike, wordlessly declaring her belief in him. They slept in each others’ arms again during that second night, and unknown to him, Buffy left an encounter with the First inspired by the idea to abolish the entire Slayer line by creating an army of Slayers. The following day, Spike, wearing the amulet, fought alongside Buffy, Faith and the newly awakened Slayers against the First Evil’s army of Turok-Han. In the midst of battle, the amulet suddenly activated and began emitting a channel of mystical sunlight through his body. The sunlight destroyed all of the Turok-Han and collapsed the cavern containing the Hellmouth, sealing it and creating a crater that swallowed up the entire town of Sunnydale. Buffy went to him and pleaded that he accompany her to the surface, telling him that he had done more than enough, but Spike remained true to his desire to die for "love, honor and all the right reasons". He told her that he could feel his soul within him, and Buffy saddened but accepting of his resolve, locked fingers with him in order to feel it too. She told him that she loved him, moving Spike. He, however, did not believe her and said: "No you don’t, but thanks for saying it." He forced Buffy to leave his side then and was slowly incinerated by the sunlight. As he burned and crumbled to dust, Spike reveled in the destruction before him, glad to be able to see the fight to its end. He died closing the Hellmouth and saving the world.[51]
Powers/Abilities		Enhanced vampire abilities: Spike had the standard powers and vulnerabilities of a vampire; he was immortal, regenerated damage, possessed superhuman physical attributes, and had heightened senses, able to track people by scent alone. He was also vulnerable to holy items and sunlight, could be killed by decapitation and a stake to the heart needed to regularly ingest mammal blood to maintain his vitality, and could not enter the residence of a living human without being invited by a resident. Due to his advanced age, however, he was considerably more powerful than an average vampire; he could flip over a car when angered [98], punch through an opponent's torso [99], drain and hide the bodies of two fully grown men in a few seconds without alerting the girl they were walking with, block an oncoming blade from hitting his back by grabbing his foe and swinging her 90 degrees to the path of the blade before it could finish traveling[100], and survive a bomb explosion.[10] He could even regenerate from spinal damage quickly but pretended to be paralyzed to get on Angelus' blind side. Also, he was more resistant to sunlight and holy items than most vampires, once using a large cross as a bludgeoning weapon against Angel and withstanding the pain despite it burning his hands.[6] Advanced combat: Spike was famous for having killed two Slayers. Buffy even once went as far as referring to him as the strongest fighter the Scoobies have during their fight against the First. Spike was a highly skilled and versatile fighter in both armed and unarmed combat. For example, he was able to briefly overcome Illyria during testing of her abilities when she is at the height of her powers; however, he had been training with her for months and had adapted to her abilities so others could have achieved this as well if given the time Spike had. Illyria criticizes his (and others’) ability to adapt, calling it "compromise." Much like Angel, Spike was proficient in various forms of martial arts, and his typical fighting style blends Judo, Karate, Kung-Fu, and others. It’s also likely he would have knowledge of Taekwondo and Brazilian jujitsu, being able to discern them both as the fighting styles that Illyria had proficiency in, as well as Street-fighting and Boxing. Intelligence: Spike often displayed insight and skills in perception and observation, especially with regard to relationships and personalities, so long as the relationship in question doesn’t concern him personally. This ability allows him to wield powerful psychological weapons as easily and effectively as physical ones. For example, when he wants to create disharmony among the Scoobies, Spike divides-and-conquers by exploiting tensions that exist under the surface to turn Buffy and her friends against each other.[101] He explains to Buffy that he was able to defeat two Slayers because he sensed and exploited their secret desires to be free of their burden. Spike’s skills of analysis allowed him to be the first to see through Tara’s abusive and controlling family, forced Buffy and Angel to admit that they were more than "just friends," and to identify when and why some relationships, such as that between Buffy and Riley, are not meant to last, feeding Riley’s insecurities in an effort to sabotage his relationship with Buffy so that Spike can pursue her. His analytical skills also help him in battle from time to time; for example, he identified Illyria’s fighting style as a Tae Kwon Do/Brazilian Ninjitsu hybrid.[102] He is also impatient to fight the Slayer upon his initial arrival in Sunnydale; the attack is supposed to coincide with the Night of Saint Vigeous, but he "couldn’t wait" to go after the Slayer and attacks the night before, which results in the deaths of many vampires of the Order of Aurelius. However, Spike did exercise patience when he was confined to a wheelchair after a brutal battle with the Scoobies left him paraplegic for several months. Feigning weakness, he endured tortuous weeks watching Angelus sexually pursue Drusilla as he waited for the right time to strike against his rival. Much like Angel, Spike, presumably due to his long lifetime, often displays in-depth knowledge of different demon species and other supernatural beings, being aware of Rack and surprised at Willow’s trips to his place[103] and also knowing that Wolfram & Hart represents "the worst evil in the universe."[52] Spike has also proven to be far more intelligent than others give him credit for; for example, he quickly realizes that Angel and Twilight are one and the same. Spike’s vampire constitution provides him with an extremely high tolerance for alcohol (which he regularly consumes in copious quantities). Technical skills: Spike has shown to be significantly more competent and comfortable with modern technology than Angel; his knowledge allowed him to turn an old crypt in a Sunnydale cemetery into a comfortable home with electricity and cable television. Criminal and motorist skills: Due to his experience in criminal activities, he is skilled at picking locks, hotwiring cars, and pick-pocketing. He is also capable of easily operating various vehicles, such as various cars, a Harley Davidson motorcycle,[4][43][104] and a Winnebago.[36] Multilingualism: Spike is also seen speaking Latin, Luganda (a language of Uganda, where he meets the demon shaman), and the language of Fyarl Demons.