Possession: nine tenths of the body - Aka Buffy the succubus.
01/07/2001 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 

You know how things are. You suddenly get an idea into your head and with no one around to discuss it with, there is a desire to commit the idea to an article.

Buy Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the USA - or Buy Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the UK

Something like what you’re reading here for instance. In this case, just what exactly is Elizabeth Anne Summers AKA Buffy the Vampire Slayer that gives her super-human abilities?

Despite being given access to Rupert Giles’ demon library, little has been revealed about the Slayers themselves. There is only supposed to be one Slayer per generation and always a female whose main purpose is to kill vampires. Said Slayer isn’t a genetic inheritance and only appears when the previous Slayer is killed.

A variation on the Dalai Lama if you like. There is little evidence to suggest that any Slayer lives to old age. William the Bloody AKA Spike has killed two previous Slayers indicates that although endowed with superhuman strength that they are not totally invulnerable. They do have remarkable regenerative abilities from otherwise near fatal injuries as witnessed by the recovery of both Buffy and Faith on a number of occasions.

They also appear to get by on little sleep if their graveyard shift and daylight duties are anything to go by. There is nothing there to suggest said powers does anything for their intelligence quotient although one can’t compare before and after either.

Speaking of more than one Slayer alive at the same time, we have a break in tradition. This was caused by Buffy Summers’ death for a few moments. First there was Kendra and after her death, Faith.

The chain was broken and restarted but there is no evidence yet to suggest that when Buffy dies another second chain will also start but is possible. It also indicates something about the Council of Watchers knowledge being only observation not necessarily based on solid factual evidence.

If you don’t observe anything different, then logic will insist things will always be that way. The special instance that created the first Slayer could also have been repeated in other people as well although not perhaps by the temporary death and resurrection of a Slayer.

Whereas Buffy has some sort of moral code or at least able to tell the difference between good and evil and not kill every vampire in sight, Kendra and Faith are the antithesis of this. Kendra had a higher dedication to her job that prevented her acquiring allies and thinking beyond her job.

A psychotic with little sense of morals, Faith is likely to use her abilities against human and demon alike. Clearly, there is something going on here and hence the reason for my chain of thought. What exactly is the Slayer?

The reality of Sunnydale and indeed this entire version of Earth presupposes that a variety of demon forms existed before mankind. It shouldn’t be taken for granted that these demon breeds prefer to move around mostly at night although. a fear of light can come from a variety of reasons.

Considering most demon eyes don’t resemble human eyes suggests they are better suited to the twilight hours. It is only vampires whose bodies react violently to light and incinerate. Most of the creatures we’ve seen in both ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ and ‘Angel’ TV series have been mostly malevolent although some would prefer to blend into society and lead an untroubled life as stepping out of line could mean their deaths.

This later predisposition would probably explain how they breed. Only the young and ambitious would want to flex their muscles than produce the next generation. If anything, the demon breeds should be considered as separate species where Darwin’s ‘Survival of the Fittest’ regime is in play and each caste is merely doing what they think is appropriate to avoid extinction.

The main exception to this rule are the vampires who have to sire humans into their breed. As such, they are a danger to both demon breeds and humans alike. From this it would appear that the Slayer’s job is to keep their numbers in check than dominate the world.

Although only Sunnydale and Los Angeles have been shown in any depth, one can only surmise that all these demons and especially vampires are spread throughout the world. A single Slayer could not possibly prevent all their actions.

However, Sunnydale is portrayed as being an epicenter to one of the gates into hell. Placing a Slayer at the entrance to prevent undesirables access to Earth would appear to be a good idea.

These days, odd demons from other dimensional worlds appear to be happier returning where they came from. It also suggests that many demon breeds were originally immigrants to Earth rather than being truly born here.

Unable to return, they made their home here. It was only the evolution of the Earth’s own main sentient species, the humans, that has changed their position.

Vampires and demon breeds alike are attracted to a Hellsmouth because it’s the equivalent of taking Mohammed to the mountain. For the demon breeds, it’s like a call to any portal that could take them to their original home. For vampires, it is the possibility of bringing exiled members of their caste, like the Master, back to Earth.

A side effect of this is that it saves the Slayer chasing the world exterminating these beings. Considering Buffy, Kendra and Faith instinctively went to the same town also indicates they are drawn to such areas in the same way as any demon. Despite leaving on several occasions and despite her other problems, Buffy always returns to Sunnydale.

No doubt when another more dangerous Hellsmouth opens, she or her future successors will be likewise attracted there instead.

I’ve been using the term ‘demon’ under advisement. All these ‘supernatural’ creatures resemble the textbook reality of what we call ‘demon breeds’. Be they vampires, werewolves or simply, well, demons or otherworldly beings, they have been noted and have had some level of prejudice placed against them either by their behavior or appearance.

Oddly enough, they are not all, subjective term, ‘evil’. Many of them can have human shape, bred with humans resulting in a variety of half-breeds suggesting their DNA isn’t totally alien. It’s interesting to note that in the case of Alan Francis Doyle that he is a hybrid demon human in the employ of some god-like beings AKA ‘The Powers That Be’.

Whether this is to redeem his own soul or he was coerced into this position is never revealed. It does lead to an interesting pattern that it isn’t what you look like that is important but where your morals lie. Give a vampire a ‘soul’ and he’s likely to join the ‘good’ side against his own dispossession for blood as in the case of Angel.

It is only their ‘calling’ that determines the side they stay on. There is also a dispossession to be on any winning side that probably indicates why demons choose the ascendant ‘evil’ variety.

Angel hints that there is some almighty showdown likely to occur between the good and evil sides. Whether this is from some higher order or a natural evolution trait is hard to say. All is known for sure is that Angel is one of the warriors involved in such an action. At present, the ‘good’ side have only a handful of warriors and only two or possible three, depending how Faith turns out, beings with real power.

There is also the demon army as shown in the ‘Angel’ episode ‘Hero’ who also have an agenda for killing other demon races irrespective of whether or not they are troublesome or not. Although Buffy’s Scooby Gang have shown some ability in surviving, I doubt if anyone really sees them as anything more than support or advisors.

Even the Council of Watchers don’t go beyond this remit and are there only to advise and witness events. As shown by Rupert Giles and Wesley Wyndham-Pryce’s roles. It must have been quite disparaging for the Watcher organization when Buffy rejected their support by questioning their own lack of understanding in her affairs.

As later evidence has shown, the Watchers can hardly be described as a whiter than white organization but there is little to show how they recruit their staff or do anything significant to change matters. If anything, should all the demon breeds be wiped out, they would be without a job. Rupert Giles’ actions with Buffy went beyond the Watcher remit and his expulsion.

It indicates that some humans can’t stand on the touchline. Wesley Wyndham-Pryce found himself placed in that position when he was fired and took the same course of action. This might well explain why the majority of the Watchers avoid the Slayer in case they are also brought into the fight. No doubt, they are considering more carefully who should be sent to advise any future Slayer generation.

Which brings us back to Buffy and what exactly makes her the way she is. If a vampire with a soul fights for the ‘good’ side then whatever makes a Slayer a Slayer isn’t predispossessed either way. If it was then Faith wouldn’t have turned out bad.

The fact that she surfaced in the ‘Angel’ TV series hell-bent on killing the vampire do-gooder initially but with a secret agenda to be killed by him suggests another soul in torment fighting her personal demons. Killing vampires is only a side-line of whatever it is that makes a Slayer what she is.

There appears to be a singular lack of distribution of abilities by what or whoever is the ‘good’ side. Hardly a fair proposition for a fight against a horde of demons. Probably the closest is that of Doyle’s premonition ability that he passed on to Cordelia Chase moments before he died.

Considering that the passing of the Slayer abilities does not involve such physical contact, one has to suspect something else is happening. More so, when the process can co-exist in two individuals at the same time and have such different effects on each suggests a different form of possession.

My comment that Faith is fighting her individual demon strongly hints that possession might be closer to the truth. In this case, normally the human ‘soul’ is in charge not the demon side. With evolution trying out all possibilities, this variant is bound to have happened.

A woman possessed by a demon is called a succubus. Possession doesn’t mean that the demon is in charge just that its power is at the disposal of the Slayer. After Spike had the chip was placed in his head, he became incapable of harming humans but has no problem with killing other demons.

The Slayer has no problem instinctively targeting any demon’s weak point although the fight is mainly to get at it. The attitude is very similar. A desire to survive leads us back to Darwin. What better kind of succubus to face vampires than one who needs to fight to stay alive?

The difference between Buffy and Faith demonstrates the difference in control of their own personal demon. There is no doubt that Buffy is in charge of herself. Faith succumbs to the power that is in her possession which essentially makes her superhuman It requires a certain amount of humility and training to avoid such temptations and probably explains some of the Council Of Watchers’ role over the generations.

As to why the wearing the crucifix, holy water and other religious paraphernalia doesn’t affect the Slayer? It doesn’t have to. The only demons these really work against is the vampires - the Slayer’s prime targets. It doesn’t appear to have any effect on the other demons the Slayers encounter.

There is also something contradictory in that assuming Christianity holds true in this reality that the ‘good people’ kill their enemies. ‘Evil’ is seen as being amoral and has no ethical code about not killing. Those demons see killing as a means to getting what they desire.

It would make sense to recruit one of the demons than to damage the ‘good’ side’s purity in systematically wiping the opposition out. This tends to suggest redemption - a common belief amongst most religions - is seen as a means to prevent yourself being wiped out could be more evolutionary than obeying some mightier being’s belief systems.

The fact that vampires like Angel can be turned to fight on the ‘good’ side suggests that the original first Slayer was also likely to be a demon re-enforced by whoever is the ‘good’ side.

Having the torch passed on to another host upon death would be seen as a consideration to prevent the Slayer seeking to do more than her job requirement. As seen by having two Slayers alive at the same time, the latter loses her morals and becomes a danger to everybody. The demon side is surfacing.

There is the possibility that whatever makes the Slayer a Slayer is merely an energy endowment but this is loaded with problems. With only one Slayer supposedly alive at a time, one would think that with Buffy’s resurrection, the power would be divided between her and Kendra and later with Faith.

The evidence doesn’t back this up. Even if it was purely energy then it would still be a form of possession placed in the Chosen One.

All the Council of Watchers have to rely on are their texts stating that there is only one Slayer per generation not that nothing else can happen. The fact that Buffy’s non-existent sister, Dawn, suddenly appears without anyone realising she had not been there before also suggests the possibility for Slayers as well. It would certainly answer the question of why Kendra and Faith don’t appear to have surnames.

Although I’m about a season behind on the British terrestrial channel, I can’t recall Joss Whedon ever using a succubus in the series although Giles did mention their existence in the first series. Neither do I know what his plans are for either Slayer.

As such, this can only be regarded as interesting speculation that all that exists on this Earth are demon breeds.