buffy ramblings

[supercheesegirl]

in other news. i really need to hit the Garment District, because Manray is getting to be a habit and i need some stuff to wear. i also want to hit the fabric store dylan told me about so i can patch my patchy jeans again.

oh, and i thought of something. okay, 5th season of buffy, at one point she starts doing research and trying to find out how other slayers died, as something to help her, you know, not die. giles tried to help but the watchers diaries he had didn't give many details about how each slayer finally died, so buffy went to spike to find out how he'd killed the two slayers he killed, and we got good spikey back story. nice. however, if i were buffy, i'd start wondering about the slayers who had immediately preceded me. slayers tend to have relatively short lifespans, right, so it's likely that their watchers and loved ones would still be around to answer questions (unless they were killed in some sort of catastrophe along with their slayer, which is possible too). plus, if something killed a slayer in the not-too-distant past then it's likely that that something is still around looking for more slayers to kill. so why isn't buffy curious about the last few slayers? did joss just not think of this?

Comments

[grass-stained.livejournal.com]

Now, you know that I'm not all Buffy-smart, so you can completely ignore this if you want. But I'm thinking it's along the lines of what Giles said, it's just too painful, especially for the more recent Watchers.

Besides, if she hadn't gone to Spike, I would never have Spike's Rebel Yell moment.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

i agree, that's probably true. still, though, at the point in time where buffy starts looking into this, five years had passed since the death of the last slayer and buffy's coming into power--longer, actually, because how much time passed in the buffyverse between the movie and the series? we've got five years of series plus the movie and any time in between, so i'd say around six years. the memories might not be so painful and fresh by then.

also, i would think it might be sort of a comfort to the past Watchers, almost like donating your loved one's organs. you know, that my slayer didn't make it and that's horrible, but maybe i can pass on some knowledge that will help this new slayer not die.

but of course even if she had gotten this other input i'm proposing, she would've gone to spike too. because, you know, he's got a perspective from the other side of the coin, and that's also important. and punk spike was really too good to miss. :)

[theemdash]

five years had passed since the death of the last slayer and buffy's coming into power--longer, actually, because how much time passed in the buffyverse between the movie and the series?

I think it's implied that Buffy was a Slayer for a year before coming to Sunnydale. I know that she's a Slayer for at least 6 months because of the whole school-thing. The comics are actually pretty accurate on the timeline (because Joss had a lot of say in the comics), so I can check when I get home and see if I can figure it out.

[grass-stained.livejournal.com]

also, i would think it might be sort of a comfort to the past Watchers, almost like donating your loved one's organs. you know, that my slayer didn't make it and that's horrible, but maybe i can pass on some knowledge that will help this new slayer not die.

I agree. It's probably up there with the "Angel can smoke but he can't breath...what?" dilemma I had.

Although I could just go all Buffy Revisionist on everyone and say "Fool for Love" only existed so that Spike could be all badass. To hell with Buffy's injury and other slayers.

[theemdash]

why isn't buffy curious about the last few slayers? did joss just not think of this?

The novel The Book of Fours deals with the Slayer just before Buffy. They name her India (I think). I don’t know if that’s cannon, but it exists as Extended Universe material. In the book, Buffy is a bit hesitant to learn about her predecessor because it’s just weird. Someone died so she could fulfill her destiny. ::shudder:: So it’s probably much easier for her to find out about the last battles of Slayers who are more removed from her.

And there’s the whole, usually the only witness to the final battle of a Slayer is the thing that killed her. Buffy is unique in the fact that she had witnesses to her death (both of them), I think.

Also, Buffy more of less watched another Slayer die (Kendra). She may not know exactly what happened, but she knows that Drusilla killed her and it’s pretty obvious that Kendra’s throat was slit. And if they did a little forensic work they could easily figure out that it wasn’t cut by a blade. And probably also that Kendra was just standing there. Also, talking to Spike would probably get her this information, too.

Your Buffy ramblings

[chang-lee-ninja.livejournal.com]

Alli just said India was the last slayer before Buffy. I don't know if it is Cannon, but they had a story of her in "Tales of the Slayer, Volume3" Hers was the last Slayer...I don't know if Tales is supposed to be Cannon though.

As for your question...I think the sense of duty to their Watcher and traditions kept most in line...in keeping diaries and logs to be passed on. Buffy had a sense of duty, but no direction with a journal {Giles making a comment about a handbook being useless in her case when Buff finds out that Kendra knows more she does} to quitting the council and Giles making the fact that most of his sources have dried up in his being fired.

So maybe they didn't have access to them.

Re: Your Buffy ramblings

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

that's a really good point--i keep forgetting that Giles was estranged from the Council at this point. it's possible that the Council had more information than Giles was able to muster up. thanks!

Re: Your Buffy ramblings

[chang-lee-ninja.livejournal.com]

No problem...I like sharing what little I know.

[ladydewinter.livejournal.com]

Hi! You probably don't know me, but I just started a new Jossverse community, my_frikkin_show, and grass_stained told me you might be interested in joining :) If you are - I already invited you, so all you have to do is click here (http://www.livejournal.com/manage/invites.bml)! :)

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

i've seen you around on grass_stained's and padawan_alli's journals, so i know you a little bit. :) invitation accepted--thanks a lot!!