| Slayers | Buffy's slays | Vampires | Killing vampires |

The Vampire Slayer is a teen-aged girl with extraordinary strength, durability, and fighting skills bestowed upon her by an ancient ritual. Her "sacred duty" is to kill vampires and demons. In a world where much can be achieved through magic, the vampire slayer battles evil with her fists, her feet, and her wits. And a lot of sharp, pointy sticks. For security, the slayer must keep her identity a secret, and typically only has her Watcher for guidance and company on her nightly battles.

Slayers we have known:  Buffy  Kendra Faith Spike killed two slayers, one during the Boxer Rebellion (China, c. 1900), the other, Nikki, in New York City in 1977. The First Slayer Fray?

Slayers we have heard about:

• the early 18th century Slayer who forged her own weapons. Gotta love a girl with an anvil.
• the "Korean chick" mentioned by Sid the dummy was a slayer in the 1930's.
• The one before Buffy, who she is prettier than (noted by the Master in Nightmares and Whistler in B1).

Calling slayers

The slayer is a lone soldier in a long, brutal, and terrifying war. For some reason that has never been entirely clear (in the television series, at any rate), there can be just one slayer alive in the world at any given time. A new slayer is only "called" (her dormant abilities made manifest) when the old slayer dies.

Proto-slayers: Girls born with the potential to become the next slayer. They do not have their powers yet, but they do have dreams of the lives of past slayers. Proto-slayers we have known (The Turkish girl, the German girl, Nora, Annabelle, Molly, Kennedy, Vi, Chloe, Rona, Eve, Amanda, Chao-Ahn, etc., etc., etc., etc.)

Slayer callings:

• Buffy was called in 1996 at the age of fifteen by the watcher Merrick (B1, BtVS movie).
• Kendra was called in June of 1997, the time of Buffy's first "death".
• Faith was called in June of 1998 after Kendra's throat was slit by Drusilla.

Once called, a slayer's career goes something like this: "Slayer called... blah, blah... great protector... blah, blah... scary battles... blah, blah... oops! She's dead." --Buffy, Fool For Love

The end of the one-slayer only rule

Multiple Slayers

When Buffy drowned and was revived, the anomalous "second slayer" line began. At that point, there were two living slayers, Buffy and Kendra. When Kendra died, Faith was called. If Faith were to die, there would be another new slayer. It is unclear if Buffy's death would bring about another calling (in which case, there might always be two slayers), but the Mayor seemed to think this will happen in a comment made in Enemies, and Buffy implied it would in Potential.

My pet theory is that the 2 slayer thing will straighten out when Buffy dies. She's the one that's alive who, technically, shouldn't be (MeeB, Mar 23 10:47 1999).

Can Buffy's death call another slayer?

Slayer Powers

• Slayers healing powers: After Buffy is revived from drowning, she is fit and healthy to vanquish the Master. She also recovers quickly from being nearly sucked dry by Angel. After a transfusion and some rest, she's ready to battle the Mayor.
  
  
• Super strength and fighting skills: Buffy can open a crate with her bare hand that her mother can't budge with a crowbar, easily breaks the nose of steroid-laden Cameron when he puts some unwanted moves on her, and can lift a cage door that other teens cannot lift (Anne), but she apparently cannot kick down a steel door, as she explains in WttH. It takes trained soldiers 42 minutes to track her, and when they find her, she neutralizes them in 28 seconds using their own weapons against them. Kendra displays her super strength and fighting skills while slaying vampires in WML and B1. Faith displays them while slaying vampires and fighting Buffy and Angel.
  
  
• Super-durability: Buffy takes punches from vamps, demons, and humans. In Anne, she survives being hit by a truck without a scratch. In Ted, a police detective doubts her claim of being attacked because she has no bruises. Kendra and Faith have also shown evidence of not being hurt by fighting (not to mention Faith's fall from a third story window in 5x5, rivialed only by Buffy's 3-floor fall with a Monk in tow in NPLH). In Revelations, a knock-down, drag-out between Buffy and Faith leaves both only slightly bruised.
  
  
• The ability to "hone" in on the presence of a vampire: This is a skill Buffy is developing with age. She typically identified vampires by noticing their retro fashion sense, e.g., in the Bronze in WttH and FH&T. Buffy also uses conventional methods to pick out other bad guys as well (e.g., Natalie French). However, she was right on figuring out that Kathy was a demon (or was that wishful thinking that [as it happened] turned out to be true?) And was it just love that allowed Buffy to sense the presence of her former boyfriend when he lurked in her vicinity in "Pangs"? Maybe it's just her natural sensitivity to her friends. In A New Man, she looks into a demon's eyes and sees her mentor, Giles.
  
  
• The ability to jump high: Implied in WttH when Buffy perches in wait for stalker-boy Angel, shown in The Harvest when Buffy leaps over the school fence, and in Inca Mummy Girl when Buffy leaps up to the mummy's sarcophagus to save Giles from Ampata, in LTM when she leaps past the other vampires to capture Drusilla, in Earshot when Buffy leaps up to the school clock tower to stop Jonathan, and in BvD when she leaps up to stake Dracula. Presumably, Kendra and Faith can leap high like Buffy does.
  
  
• Predatory instincts: If a slayer accepts them and taps into them, she can be a fierce foe to the forces of evil. As Faith says, "Slaying's what we're built for. If you're not enjoying it, you're doing something wrong."
  
  
• Psychic powers seem to be a gift given to individuals (e.g., Buffy, Drusilla, Doyle), and are generally not given to slayers, vampires, or demons as a group.
  
  
• Proto-slayer powers

Dampening slayer powers: It is not clear that a slayer can lose her powers all together, but they can be temporarily diminished. Helpless is the best example of this. See also Ethan's Halloween spell.

Enhancing slayer powers: Beseeching the power of Sineya

Watcher-Slayer relationships

• The rite of Cruciamentum
• Giles and Buffy
• The ritual of slayer guidance
• Buffy vs. the Watchers (G2, Checkpoint)
• Watchers and rogue slayers
• Faith vs. the Watchers (Consequences, Sanctuary)
• Vox on Slayers, Watchers, and power

Unanswered questions about Slayers

• Why only one girl in all the world at any give time? It seems that, given all the evil in the Buffyverse, even two isn't enough.
• Could there be more than two active slayers if Buffy or Faith were to be killed and revived?
• We don't know how slayers are chosen or made, only that there is a force for good in the Buffyverse that endows certain girls with slayer abilities.
• Why do slayers take orders from the watchers? Have there been many slayers who have rejected their authority (as Faith and Buffy did)?
• Have many slayers been evil?

Giles said that He couldn't imagine anything more dangerous than a rogue slayer' in a manner that makes me believe that it has happened before. He also told Buffy that "accidents" involving slayers killing humans had happened before. Although perhaps he was not being entirely forthcoming (J.S.K., Mar 18 18:57 1999).

I think a better question would be not if it has happened before but how often? How many Slayers have crossed the line over into madness/evil? (Lovely Poet, Feb 18 10:00 1999).

• is there any punishment for an evil slayer other than death?
• Could there be slayer retirement? Joss implies it's not impossible:

There is only one active slayer at a time (except now cuz of the WACKY circumstances). Inactive, I don't know (Joss, Dec 3 00:23 1998).

Philosophies of fighting

Buffy's "Seize the day" philosophy from WttH Buffy vs Kendra in WML Buffy vs. Faith (Bad Girls) Scoobies vs. The Initiative Slayer jurisdiction Angel's evolving philosophies of fighting: getting personally involved, fighting fire with fire, small acts of kindness, the philosophy of the champion. Wesley: the ends justify the means Connor Riley, reluctant superhero

Other bona fide Demon Slayers

• Sid the dummy was responsible for killing off the brotherhood of seven demons.
• Angel not only fights vampires and other demons, he knows a lot about spells and has a library on the supernatural (Lonely Hearts). Glimpses of this library can be seen in the BtVS episode "Angel".
• Giles has slain a few vampires in his day, including vampBlair (Helpless), and vampires in WML, Ted, Bad Girls, and All the Way.
• Operating as a team, the Scooby gang became vampire slayers over the summer of '98, eventually dusting 60 % of the vamps they fought. Members of the gang also do some vampire/demon slayage in other episodes.
• Cordy's kills
• Riley, demon-hunting soldier
• The Initiative kill when it's necessary
• Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, rogue demon hunter
• Spike became a primo demon-killer once he was chipped
• Kate's stakings
• Gunn, street warrior
• Major Ellis and the black ops
• Holtz is a vampire hunter (but not a Slayer)
• Dawn stakes her first vampire in All the Way, then skewers the Earth monsters in TTG/G
• Justine Cooper kills vampires to avenge her sister's death
• Connor Angel/Steven Holtz/Connor Riley, boy slayer
• Robin Wood, principal, Slayer's son, and vampire hunter
• Los Hermanos Numeros
• Drogyn the battlebrand

Things that kill vamps Buffyverse vampires are thwarted (turned to dust) by the "usual" means--crosses, stake through the heart, fire, beheading, sunlight, holy water... Is there a vampire after(un)life?

Stake through the heart

Why stakes work

It has to be the heart:

• "Close, but no heart." Buffy's cross-bow doesn't kill Darla in "Angel".
• No one worries about Faith's lousy aim when she downs Angel in Graduation.
• When Spike gets hit by multiple arrows in Pangs, all that results are ouchies.
• Kate didn't miss when she put a stake through Angel's belly. It got Penn right in the chest. *Poof*
• Buffy got Drac in the heart, twice. But the powerful sorcerer-vamp's heart was too misty, so no penetration.

Strength and staking: Buffy sticks'm in vamps like those blood-suckers were made of butter, fine. But relative wimps like Cordelia (Graduation) can dust vamps without much physical strength. Indications are, that when it comes to wood, vamp flesh is like butter:

• ...the ease at which Xanders stake went through Jesse. He wasn't pushed that hard (DavidTojo, 27 Feb 2000 13:58).
• Candy Gorch was killed with the handle of a wooden spatula
• When Willow mojos the pencil into the back of the vamp guard in Choices. That pencil wasn't going hard enough to get through his jacket, let alone flesh and spinal cord (Vox,18 Mar 2000 01:20).
• Kate's kills--Somnambulist, The Prodigal

Problematic cases:

• In Something Blue, Buffy appears to hit a vamp somewhere below the shoulder, not the heart. This seems to be a special effects blooper.

Sunlight

Direct sunlight kills vampires in a matter of minutes:

• Angelus' "immolation-o-gram" goes up in flame during finals
• Spike's hand (Lover's Walk) and hair (ITD) combust on contact with sunlight
• Angel reacts in pain when Buffy opens his curtains in Earshot and The Prom.
• Angel's hand (City of...) and body (ITD) ignite
• Russell Winters bursts into flames during his fall
• A distracted Angel gets the ouchies when he tries to run errands during the day in Somnambulist.
• Angel's daytime Angelmobile rides: With Wesley driving, he sits in the passenger seat with a blanket over him to keep the sunlight off (Destiny, Feb 8 21:33 2000). Blanketing is also Spike's preferred way to get around Sunnydale.
• Angel uses the sewers to get around, often entering buildings through underground parking garages.
• Darla reveals that she's been returned as human by running from Angel into direct sunlight.
• Spike gets ouchies when Tara opens the blinds in Spiral.

Filtered and indirect sunlight does not:

Angel (and all vamps) can stand in a room in broad daylight with the windows open as long as he doesn't stand in a patch of direct sunlight (-mere-, Oct 6 09:54 1999).

• Angel awaits Buffy in The Harvest and watches her from his blacked-out car in B1.
• Spike has to keep moving his hands on the steering wheel to keep them out of the direct rays of the sun getting through the windshield (B2), but the light filtered through the spray paint doesn't seem to affect him or Dru.
• Angel wanders around the Garden Mansion in daylight, wanders around outside during the "day" in Amends, and can safely join his colleagues in his office when it's sunny out (City Of...).
• Spike doesn't burst into flames as long as he stays in the shade in Afterlife.

Direct light from other suns may not: Pylea, the 'Burb-gatory dimension

"Necro-tempered" tinted glass filters out the constituents of sunlight that are dangerous to vampires while leaving the brightness in tact. Plus it's thirty percent more energy efficient.

Problematic cases: Angel's Lonely Hearts morning stroll, Angel and Marcus' beach-side fight

Crosses and holy water: So far, crosses, holy water, and garlic seem mainly to annoy and deter vamps. The only death we've seen is Zachary Kralik's immolation from drinking holy water in Helpless. These items are sacred objects in the Christian religion. Joss has taken no definitive stand on the nature of the forces of good, which begs the question: why do these particular objects work?

Fire kills vamps. ...It only takes seconds for fire to destroy a vampire. See Graduation Part 2 for the battle scene or When She Was Bad for examples. ...Also, explosions tend to dismember and a vamp with his head blown off is dead (LenS, Nov 14 22:16 2000).

• Buffy sets the vampire Absolom on fire in When she was bad.
• Angel lights up Darla and Drusilla in Redefinition.
• Spike lights up a vampire choking Giles in Bargaining

A mystical potion called "Killer of the Dead". To reverse its effects, a vampire must drain the blood of a slayer.

A Mohra demon's blood regenerates the human body of a vampire, and kills the demon residing there. So unless you're a vampire with a soul, touching this blood is likely to result in an inanimate human corpse.

But they shouldn't die from a broken neck.

Of course, none of the above holds if a vampire:

• can get a hold of the fabled Gem of Amara, which makes its wearer invulnerable to the usual vamp-killers. Good thing this gem has been destroyed (as far as we know).
• has an operation that removes his heart and infuses his body with mystical potions. This operation makes a vamp invinsible for six hours. Then *poof*

Vampire after(un)life:

"You're so amped about hell--go there" --Buffy, Prophecy Girl

After a vampire is killed, its demon spirit has a final resting place--some place in hell. This means they can come back if their body is re-created and a revivification ritual is performed to unite body and spirit.

• The Anointed One wanted to raise the Master from his bones.
• The demon Vocah raised Darla, who was staked by Angel.

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