Buffy's Return From the Dead (the second time)

[LifeIsJustThis]

So, I'm new here. I apologize if this has already been discussed or explained in advance :0 yet I'm curious to know what conclusions people have come up with on this.

So here goes.

When Buffy died (in "The Gift") she died my "mystical" forces. When the slayer dies, the next one is called. Since Faith was alive and well, should'nt she have taken on the duties of the Slayer?
When Buffy was resurrected, it still didn't discount that she is no longer in the slayer line, right? As in, she should no longer have the duty of the Slayer? Shouldn't the First have been focusing on killing Faith, not Buffy? I am confused.
I know no one knew she died (because of the Buffybot decoy) but still, if she came back, couldn't she have persued a normal life?

[Blondie Bear]

It has been discussed. A lot. Here:
New Slayer? - Buffy-Boards (www.buffy-boards.com/showthread.php?t=38160)

There are more, but for some reason the search feature is punking out on me.

Hope that one helps, though.

[Lindsey McDonald]

Yeah, the basic argument for why Faith was expendable to The First was that when Willow brought Buffy back, she had to recreate her body and so she ended up making Buffy as she was, i.e., The Slayer. That was the disruption in the Slayer line that the Beljoxa's eye talks about, and that is the weakness that The First was trying to exploit. Ergo, Faith's death as of Bargaining would not cause a new Slayer to be called whereas Buffy's would.

[Spuffy is true love]

I think the reason why The first didn't go after Faith was we know that if Buffy was killed then a new slayer wouldn't be called. But if Faith was killed then a new one would be. The first wanted to take out all of the potentials before it killed the slayer so that there would be no one to pass it on to.

[hyperballadbrad]

Faith is the 'calling card' in a word. That's what I've always thought.

Faith dies = new slayer

[littlewilly]

did we actually know that if Buffy died, a new slayer wouldnt be called?

[RockManic]

There was a comment made by Joss (I seem to recall at a convention) about Buffy's active slayer status at the end of season five. Someone asked him if a new slayer would be arriving in season six activated by Buffy's death and he explained that, at the time, the slayer line passed through Faith and so therefore no new slayer.

Of course, that fact no longer applies once Buffy was brought back in Bargaining. From that point the dialogue seemed to suggest that Buffy was again the active slayer, although it was never firmly established how they all came to that conclusion.

[white avenger]

The point in the first Evil killing the Potentials and then Faith made sense, since that would destroy the Slayer line completely. Technically, even though Buffy continued to refer to herself as the Slayer, since Kendra was called, she actually wasn't anything but a super powered human performing the duties of a Slayer.

[RockManic]

Chronologically though, the First actually attempted to have Faith murdered in prison long before all the potentials were even gathered, let alone dead. That leads me to believe that it definitely didn't consider her to be the active slayer anymore.

Given the fact that Faith was happy to remain locked away and therefore in no way a danger to it's plans you would imagine that the First would be content to leave her alone until all potentials were gone, thereby avoiding the possibility of a new slayer getting in the way. I'd say that suggests the First had every reason to believe that Buffy was the active slayer again.

[littlewilly]

Even though Buffy died, and the line passed to Faith, i can still understand why Buffy would be called THE slayer, and not A slayer.
Although she died, she was still the legend.

[white avenger]

Chronologically though, the First actually attempted to have Faith murdered in prison long before all the potentials were even gathered, let alone dead. That leads me to believe that it definitely didn't consider her to be the active slayer anymore.

Given the fact that Faith was happy to remain locked away and therefore in no way a danger to it's plans you would imagine that the First would be content to leave her alone until all potentials were gone, thereby avoiding the possibility of a new slayer getting in the way. I'd say that suggests the First had every reason to believe that Buffy was the active slayer again.


I always figured that the attempt on Faith's life while she was in prison was more for the dramatic affect and to begin Faith's tie in with the "Buffy" show and its plot. Also, the First just might have figured that if Faith could be killed while still in prison, where she was in a contained area, unable to get away and unarmed, whoever was Called to replace her would be much less experienced, and therefore easier to track down and kill.

[RockManic]

I always figured that the attempt on Faith's life while she was in prison was more for the dramatic affect and to begin Faith's tie in with the "Buffy" show and its plot. Also, the First just might have figured that if Faith could be killed while still in prison, where she was in a contained area, unable to get away and unarmed, whoever was Called to replace her would be much less experienced, and therefore easier to track down and kill.

The knife used to attack Faith in prison was one of the Bringers knives (details are here if you fancy a quick read (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvage_%28Angel_episode%29#Plot)) so it was definitely an attempt made on behalf of the First.

I'm still convinced that the First knew Faith was no longer able to activate a new slayer though. Otherwise it would simply have left her where she was and remove any risk of activating a new, potentially more dangerous, slayer into the world. For all the First knew the girl activated could even have already been in Buffy's care so why take that risk?

[white avenger]

The knife used to attack Faith in prison was one of the Bringers knives


Yes, it is, and it is far too unique a weapon to be mistaken for a prison made shiv. The woman who used it wasn't a bringer though, and there was no reason whatsoever to have that particular piece of cutlery there other than to serve as a connection between Faith and what was happening in Sunnydale.

But I believe that either the First saw Faith as a direct threat at that moment, or just as likely, one of its agents (I can't picture Caleb doing it, even as much as he hated women) But who's to say that he was the only non-Bringer working for it. Maybe whoever gave the order to kill Faith at that time just jumped the gun.

Or maybe they were trying to make sure that Faith wouldn't be available to help out in Sunnydale, or even in Los Angeles if, as has been postulated, there was actually some connection between Jasmine and the First Evil.

It wouldn't be the first time someone attacked on two fronts more or less simultaneously in order to split up the defenders. With Angel tied up with Jasmine, he couldn't go to Buffy's aid until the last possible moment, and with what was going on in Sunnydale, Buffy and her crew were pretty well too tied up to help in LA.

[RockManic]

I'm not disagreeing with anything you just said but it's sort of missing the point that killing Faith for any reason at all was an act of random stupidity if the First genuinely believed that her death would activate a new slayer. One that may well have proven even more dangerous to it than either Faith or Buffy ever were. As long as Faith was happy to stay locked away then it made no sense to attempt to kill her, unless the First knew for certain that Buffy was one again the girl through who the slayer line would pass.

Made sense to have someone on the inside or watching the prison ready to kill her should Faith ever attempt to escape but until then the only sensible approach was to leave her be.