Slayer (Buffyverse)
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A Slayer in the fictional Buffyverse established by Buffy and Angel, is a young female bestowed with mystical powers that originate from the heart of a pure-demon, which gives her superhuman senses, strength, speed, endurance, agility, and healing in the fight against forces of darkness. She also receives prophetic dreams in the few hours that she sleeps.
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[edit] The Chosen One
Into every generation a Slayer is born. One girl, in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will have the strength and skills to hunt the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the slayer.
– The opening narration in seasons 1 and 2 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
[edit] The First Slayer
In ancient Africa, a group of tribal elders known as the Shadow Men use powerful magic to infuse a captive girl with the heart of a demon, seen in "Get It Done." This process grants the girl with great strength, agility, and endurance: she becomes the First Slayer, Called to fight the vampires and other demons that populate the earth. It is stated in "End of Days" that the Shadow Men's descendants go on to form the Watcher's Council, an organization dedicated to finding, training, and supporting Slayers.
[edit] The Slayer Line
Due to the violent nature of the life of a Slayer, their average lifespan is quite short after being called. Consequently, the Shadow Men's spell also created a large number of Potential Slayers - normal girls around the world who may one day be called. When a Slayer dies, one of the Potentials - seemingly chosen at random - gains the powers and abilities of a Slayer. The Watcher's Council tries to identify and train these "Potentials" before they are called, but are not always able to do so.
This process continues through the generations until 1997's "Prophecy Girl", when one Slayer - Buffy Summers - is killed in battle, only to be revived via CPR. Buffy retains her Slayer powers, but her clinical death is enough for the next Slayer to be called. For the next several years, there are two Slayers in the world. The actual Slayer lineage is carried on through the second Slayer - Kendra Young - as Buffy's subsequent death in "The Gift" fails to call another Slayer, but Kendra's in "Becoming, Part One" does.
The mystical "rules" governing the Calling of Slayers change again in 2003's "End of Days," when a resurrected Buffy discovers a Scythe forged for the Slayer to wield. In "Chosen," Willow Rosenberg uses magic to tap into the Scythe's essence at Buffy's request, and performs a spell that calls every living Potential Slayer at once. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Buffy estimates that there are now at least 1800 Slayers in the world. Exactly how the Slayer line continues after this is currently unclear.
In the comic Fray, it is stated that at some point in the 21st century, a Slayer faces an army of demons. As a result of this battle, all demons and magics are banished from Earth's dimension. At this point, the Slayer line becomes dormant - while Potential Slayers still exist, none are called for two hundred years.
In the far future, demons eventually return to Earth's dimension, and the next Slayer is finally called - a girl named Melaka Fray.
[edit] Powers and abilities
The powers that are bestowed upon the Slayer are mostly physical enhancements.
[edit] Strength
Slayers are endowed with strength greater than that of normal humans. Buffy Summers, for instance, has been shown to lift, with great effort, a metal portcullis which many other teenagers are unable to budge ("Anne"). She also bends a steel rifle barrel with little apparent effort (though it takes her three seconds to accomplish) in "Phases". Buffy has been recorded throwing human-sized subjects sizable distances (Season 4, "Where the Wild Things Are"). Faith Lehane is able to pick up the vampire Angel with one hand and easily throw him short distances, lift him over her head and slam him into the ceiling several times in "Five by Five", and finally to pick up a 200 lb. barbell with one hand and use it as a weapon. She also breaks out of the handcuffs in which she's bound by a single wrist, in "Graduation Day, Part One".
The psychotic Slayer Dana is able to, through several violent shoves, knock down a metal door in Angel Season 5's "Damage". Buffy is unable to kick down a bomb shelter door in Season 2's "Lie to Me" despite multiple attempts. Later however, in Season 6's "Once More, with Feeling" and Season 7's "End of Days", she is shown to casually kick down a metal door.
[edit] Agility and reflexes
Slayers are able to move faster and react quicker than normal human beings. Buffy has been shown snatching a crossbow bolt in mid-flight (Season 7, "Help") and setting off a bear trap, but not getting caught in it (Season 3, "Homecoming"). She has also shown great feats of agility, and has been documented to leap great distances. In "Buffy vs. Dracula" she leaps a height more than double that of her own with the aid of a running start. Buffy has also dodged gunmen by out-maneuvering the shooter's aim, such as in "Homecoming" against the terrorists Frederick and Hans Gruenstahler. She does the same against Adam's built-in, scaled-down mini-gun at point-blank range, managing to dive for cover before he could get a bead on her. Faith is seen to dodge multiple shotgun blasts at close range in the Angel Season 4 episode "Release", in a similar manner. Dana is also seen to dodge a tranquilizer dart fired from an air-pistol at point-blank range immediately after dealing out a blow to Spike.
A Slayer's running speed is also rather extraordinary. Buffy runs fast enough in "Two to Go" to leave Xander commenting on how far behind he is being left. The exact speed is unknown.
[edit] Resilience and healing
A Slayer's body is substantially more durable and resistant to blunt force trauma than an ordinary human's. It is difficult, though not impossible, to bruise them, break their bones or strain their joints. Buffy suffers from a sprained arm in Season 4's "The Freshman" from battling the vampire Sunday. In Season 4's "Pangs", the Native American Vengeance spirit Hus transforms into a Black Bear and takes a swipe at Buffy, sending her backwards, but leaving no visible injury. Future Slayer Melaka Fray is hit with a steel girder thrown at her from a demon and recovers within minutes, and she is able to survive falling face first from an extreme height (partly thanks to her acrobatic skills in slowing the fall). In the end she survives a straight fall of over three stories, and is only dazed by it. An incident similar to that has been shown twice by both Buffy and Faith. In "No Place Like Home" Buffy takes a monk in her arms and leaps out a window, landing on the ground and letting her body take the brunt of the fall. Faith grabs Wesley and falls a few stories with him before landing on a car, using her body to take the impact, resulting in the hood of the car being smashed in. Both incidents show Buffy and Faith getting up and fleeing the scene immediately without any reaction then or later to the fall. Buffy has been hit by a moving truck, got up and run off in "Anne".
Despite this durability to blunt force, a Slayer's skin can be punctured by sharp weapons such as knives or bullets, but they recover from even very severe injuries in remarkably short periods of time. Usually, Buffy (the main point of comparison) completely healed within 24 hours, though more serious injuries have been shown to take at least a few days (Season 5, "Fool for Love" illustrates a gut wound taking more than a day to heal). Buffy has also shown a resistance to electricity, taking a blast from an Initiative tazer rifle without any long term effects aside from the initial shock lifting her off her feet. She also survives contact with a live electrical wire in Season 1's "I, Robot... You, Jane". The normally lethal jolt simply renders her unconscious. However, a long jolt from a Cattle Prod in Season 5's "Crush" knocks her unconscious. Conversely, she has also been knocked out and injured by humans wielding blunt metal objects. In Season 2's "Bad Eggs" the Bezoar-possessed Cordelia knocks out Buffy with a metal pipe to the head, and in the Season 2 episode "The Dark Age", Ethan Rayne knocks Buffy out with a mannequin arm to the back of the head.
[edit] Senses
Slayers possess a heightened awareness of their surroundings. This heightened awareness can, with experience, allow the Slayer to know the position of an attacker and fight them blindfolded or in the dark. This is not a constant ability, however. This skill must be honed through practice and the Slayer usually must focus to achieve the full benefit.
A Slayer also has the limited ability to detect the presence of vampires. This power must be honed as with the heightened awareness, and the Slayer must focus to achieve the full effect. This does not prevent Buffy (and other Slayers) being ambushed by Vampires. Buffy is unusually deficient in this sense: She knows Angel for a considerable time before realizing that he is a vampire. Kendra also displays this ability in inconsistent terms; she knows Angel is a vampire but she does not know that Buffy isn't, and merely assumes she is because Buffy and Angel were kissing.
[edit] Dreams
All Slayers through the ages share a psychic link, manifested in dreams as described in "Damage". A Slayer will frequently dream of herself as a Slayer in another time and place. These dreams are usually vague, but can also be prophetic (as in "Surprise"), occasionally leading to their meaning being lost on the Slayer, leading to a vague uneasiness and worry.
[edit] Other abilities
A Slayer naturally has general fighting skills. Her Watcher trains her to hone these talents, and to teach her specific fighting skills, such as various martial arts. The training helps her to battle the occasional demon whose physical strength outclasses her own. For most situations, however, her strength suffices.
[edit] Weapons and Equipment
Slayers typically use weapons to fight vampires and other demons. Simple wooden stakes, crucifixes, and holy water are commonly implemented due to their effectiveness against vampires. Swords, axes and knives are the most common implements used for dispatching demons, though other melee weapons (generally of medieval European design) are implemented. Ranged weaponry is usually confined to crossbows. On occasion, more sophisticated weaponry is used – in “Innocence,” Buffy Summers uses a military-issue rocket launcher to defeat a particularly tough demon. Guns are generally avoided due to their typical ineffectiveness against vampires.
[edit] Scythe
The Scythe is a weapon resembling a metal axe with a wooden stake built into the handle. When Buffy discovers the weapon in “End of Days,” she tracks its lineage to a mysterious woman who explains its origin. Centuries ago, a group of women known as The Guardians forged the Scythe for the Slayer. The Guardians kept the weapon a secret from the Shadow Men, and later the Watchers. The Scythe was used to kill the last pure demon on Earth in what would later become Sunnydale, CA. It was lost after that, until discovered by Buffy embedded in stone. At some point following the destruction of the Sunnydale Hellmouth, the Scythe is lost once again, to turn up centuries later in the hands of the demon Urkonn, who passes the weapon on to Melaka Fray in the comic series Fray. The Scythe exhibits some mystical properties. A Slayer who picks it up recognizes it as a source of power, and has an instinctive sense of ownership of the weapon. In "Chosen", Willow Rosenberg is able to harness the Scythe's mystical essence and activate every Potential Slayer in the world.
[edit] "Slayer Emergency Kit"
In "Get It Done," Robin Wood informs Buffy that he possesses a bag left behind by his mother, Slayer Nikki Wood. Describing it as an “emergency kit,” Wood claims that it should have been passed on directly through Buffy through the Slayer line, but that he had kept it instead. The bag contains assorted weapons and charms, along with a text written in Sumerian and a locked box containing a set of shadow-casters. Using the shadow-casters in conjunction with the book tells the story of the creation of the first Slayer, and opens a portal which allows the Slayer to speak to the Shadow Men directly, at a cost of unleashing a demon on Earth.
[edit] Known Slayers
See:
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Seasons 1 through 7
- Angel — Seasons 1, 4 and 5
- Fray. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 1-56971-751-6
- Tales of the Vampires. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 1-56971-749-4
- Tales of the Slayers. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 1-56971-605-6
