Buffy: Why isn't there a third Slayer?

[Roger Wilco]

I'm still watching Buffy for the first time and right now I'm at 7x11 where there's a big deal about Buffy having disrupted the Slayer bloodline or whatever, which made me think - the first time she died, Faith came along, why didn't a new Slayer get "assigned" or however that happens, the second time she died after season 5? It's especially weird with all the Slayer prospects hanging around her house right now. Am I overthinking this or will there be an explanation for this sometime?

eta: thinking about, the thread title may be spoilerish, dunno if that bothers anyone about a show that hasn't been on air for years. If yes, then I wouldn't be offended at all if a mod edits it.

 

[ATimson]

My assumption was that Buffy already invoked her successor once; now that she's done that, she can't invoke another successor.

 

[Admiral_Young]

The Slayer line goes through Faith now. Buffy= Kendra=Faith.

 

[RoJoHen]

My assumption was that Buffy already invoked her successor once; now that she's done that, she can't invoke another successor.

Pretty much. The Slayer Line now rests with Faith. Only when Faith dies would the next Slayer be called.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Hm, I see. But then I don't understand what the big deal about the "opening" for the First Evil is, but maybe that'll get cleared up soon, eh?

 

[Forbin]

Very little about the First Evil made sense. It wasn't a very well realized villain.

 

[DevilEyes]

I'm still watching Buffy for the first time and right now I'm at 7x11 where there's a big deal about Buffy having disrupted the Slayer bloodline or whatever, which made me think - the first time she died, Faith came along, why didn't a new Slayer get "assigned" or however that happens, the second time she died after season 5? It's especially weird with all the Slayer prospects hanging around her house right now. Am I overthinking this or will there be an explanation for this sometime?

eta: thinking about, the thread title may be spoilerish, dunno if that bothers anyone about a show that hasn't been on air for years. If yes, then I wouldn't be offended at all if a mod edits it.

The first time she died, Kendra was called, not Faith. Faith was called when Kendra was killed. It didn't matter that Buffy died the second time, because the Slayer line doesn't go through her now, as Admiral_Young said. Another Slayer would have been called if Faith had died. Although that's irrelevant now, since Buffy shared the power and all the Potentials became Slayers.

Spoiler: season 8 ending

And now no new Slayers can be called at all, because the magic is gone and the Slayer line has ended... Until Fray's time, 200 years in the future.

Why and how Buffy disrupted the balance when she came back in season 6, I have no idea. Wasn't the balance already "upset" when Kendra was called, despite the fact that Buffy came back to life just minutes later? There had been two Slayers for 4 years before Buffy died in The Gift. Oh well, it was just a plot device to explain the First, anyway.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I'm assuming that Buffy upset the balance by being pulled from Heaven. That was unnatural, but this whole thing wasn't really explained very well and I totally agree about the First. I don't think it was very thought out as completely as Joss would have wanted it but then he had his attention divided pretty well by season seven with "Angel" and developing "Firefly".

 

[DS9Continuing]

The Eye of Beljoxa says that the First is doing what it's doing because "The Slayer lives."

Now, Giles and Anya assume that the eye is talking about "Bargaining." But that's only an assumption. It's entirely possible that the Eye was actually talking about "Prophecy Girl" - to whit, Buffy -> Kendra -> Faith. It wasn't 100% clear either way.

Don't forget, the First doesn't play by natural rules. It waited at least for one season before putting its plan into action. Who's to say it didn't wait five seasons?

Besides which, the Eye didn't blame Buffy for the First being out and about. It said that Buffy's survival, against the rules of the Slayer line, was responsible for the Slayer line becoming revealed and vulnerable. Not for what the First decided to do about that.

Maybe the vulnerability was actually there ever since "Prophecy Girl," and it just took the First this long to get its plan ready for action. Maybe it took that long to find Caleb, apparently the only human capable of physically holding the First's power. Maybe it assumed one of the other Big Bads would take her out, and only when it became clear that Buffy wasn't about to be defeated, did it decide to personally intervene.

It's all speculation either way really.

.

 

[od0_ital]

The Slayer line goes through Faith now. Buffy= Kendra=Faith.

Yep, which makes all Buffy's posturin' in the seventh season all the more whinin' bitchy.

 

[DevilEyes]

The Slayer line goes through Faith now. Buffy= Kendra=Faith.

Yep, which makes all Buffy's posturin' in the seventh season all the more whinin' bitchy.

Eh? What posturing? I think that they may have mentioned once that a Slayer would be called if she died, but I'm not even sure, and that was hardly the theme of the season.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Buffy was posturing in season seven? It was more Buff just playing General. I don't think she was posturing among the Slayers, unless that isn't what was meant by the above comment.

 

[od0_ital]

Been awhile since I watched the final season, but I remember more Buffy tellin' the Potentials that they had to get whipped into shape 'cause if something happened to her, one of them would get the call & have to step up. Then there was all that other crap about how important she was to the Slayer line, even after Faith broke her own ass out of prison & came to Sunnydale with Willow. And then Buffy made sure that Faith felt second class, to where she gave Buffy the responsibility of usin' the uberaxe.

Seriously, no acknowledgement at all that the line ran through Faith? Her episodes on Angel durin' the fourth season made it clear that Wesley was the first to visit her - no one even thought to warn her of the danger she was in?!

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

Well since the destruction of the Seed of Wonder the point is moot. The Slayer line runs through no one now.

 

[DevilEyes]

Then there was all that other crap about how important she was to the Slayer line, even after Faith broke her own ass out of prison & came to Sunnydale with Willow. And then Buffy made sure that Faith felt second class, to where she gave Buffy the responsibility of usin' the uberaxe.

Well it probably had something to do with the fact that she actually was the Slayer, fighting monsters and saving the world for years, while Faith's biggest achievements before season 7 were working as an assassin for helping an evil mayor try to destroy Sunnydale, committing a homicide, torturing her ex-Watcher, trying to steal Buffy's identity, and then giving herself up to the police (the one positive thing she had done) and spending the last 3 years in prison, while Buffy was the one fighting monsters and saving the world.

They should have mentioned that another Potential would get called if Faith got killed in prison. But that would have just meant that she would get Slayer superpowers - not that that girl would actually get to have the Slayer 'job' and duty and responsibility, or have to step up to be a leader. Since that duty and responsibility was, you know, all on Buffy's shoulders, just as it had been for years.

 

[Thestral]

They should have mentioned that another Potential would get called if Faith got killed in prison. But that would have just meant that she would get Slayer superpowers - not that that girl would actually get to have... responsibility...

Considering what happened at least once when an emotionally damaged and unprepared girl got Slayer powers (going psychotic, murdering several humans, and almost killing one of the only two souled vampires in the world), that seems like more than a minor consideration and an illustration that the power itself carries some level of responsibility.

 

[DevilEyes]

They should have mentioned that another Potential would get called if Faith got killed in prison. But that would have just meant that she would get Slayer superpowers - not that that girl would actually get to have... responsibility...

Considering what happened at least once when an emotionally damaged and unprepared girl got Slayer powers (going psychotic, murdering several humans, and almost killing one of the only two souled vampires in the world), that seems like more than a minor consideration and an illustration that the power itself carries some level of responsibility.

I agree. But the point is that getting Slayer powers doesn't make one instantly equally qualified to perform Slayer duty as good as Buffy, who had had years of experience doing it successfully and has dealt with many apocalyptic situations and saved the world several times.

Or that Buffy shouldn't have been regarded as the #1 Slayer just because the Slayer line ran through Faith, like that had any bearing on their Slayer credentials. I love Faith, but there's no way that her Slayer credentials were even comparable to Buffy's in season 7. She was only starting to prove herself since leaving the prison and helping to stop Angelus and then going to Sunnydale to fight with Buffy and the others.

 

[Thestral]

True nuff. I just like to point out the unintended consequences of the "turn every Potential into a Slayer at once" plan which surely could've been avoided with better planning and the massive cock-up it almost made of things in LA. Basically Damage left me with really negative feelings towards the Scoobies.

 

[Ethros]

Mm, the plot of Season 7 never really made much sense.

Whatever happened to the "From beneath you it devours" theme from the first few episodes?

And whatever happened to Dawn's new school friends in the first episode, Kit and Carlos, her version of Willow and Xander. Never seen or heard from again

 

[Ayelbourne]

Whatever happened to the "From beneath you it devours" theme from the first few episodes?

It fell into a plothole. Appreciate the irony.