The First Evil's plan---did it have one?
Aug. 18th, 2003 08:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indriIn a desperate attempt to rationalise the FE's behaviour, especially in Season Seven, I present the following outline of its motivation. Critique please!
"What is it? Why is it doing this to me?" (Spike in Sleeper)
So, from time immemorial, there has been the FE, who gets its kicks from corrupting others. The FE doesn't actually have a vast amount of power but didn't mind this: its job was too much fun. There was a sense of precarious balance that the FE relished.
Then, one day, Buffy dies and Kendra is called. Buffy is revived and for the first time ever there are two slayers. The FE thinks through the implications of this and realises that if there can be two, there can be many, which would upset the balance between good and evil and spoil the FE's fun. Fortunately for the FE, no-one else (except Rowan) seems to realise this. The FE decides to keep an eye on the situation, but doesn't worry too much about it. Buffy's just a better-than-average slayer and besides, to empower all of the slayers would take a witch of improbable power and a major magical artefact.
That doesn't mean the FE won't take shortcuts when they're offered. When it thinks it can manipulate Angel into killing Buffy, it tries to. But when Angel refuses, the FE has no problem with Angel killing himself instead, because souled vampires really piss off the FE. It's used to humans that change sides (that's part of the fun) but godammit, vampires are its playing pieces.
Still, no need to worry, and there's plenty of people out there to defile and corrupt. La, la, la...oh look, Buffy's defeated quite a few beasties now, hasn't she? Master vampires and powerful demons (well, that's her job), power-hungry mayors (well, he was human once, after all), a mad scientist and her creation and, er, a god. But Buffy's dead now, we're back to there being only one slayer and all's right in the FE's world.
Until Buffy's too-powerful-for-her-own-good witchy friend resurrects her.
It's clearly time for the FE to intervene and it may have tried to be subtle at first. Perhaps it manipulated the citizens of Sunnydale for a year to the detriment of the Scoobies. Maybe it spoke to Rack and Giles; surely it had long evening chats with Amy and Warren. And at first it worked: Willow became sick, distracted, unstable. Buffy was demoralised and detached. Warren almost killed Buffy; Willow almost killed Buffy. The FE's plans may have come close to succeeding. But Warren was weak and Buffy was strong and Xander was there to save Willow. So the FE came away empty handed and, to top it all off, another bloody vampire got a soul and it was voluntarily this time, and that just had to be the last straw.
The FE's never been this angry, ever. This is not playing the game! Black knights are dipping themselves in white paint as if that's somehow allowed. The nightmare scenario of All Slayers All the Time is a real possibility. No fun and no fair! Screw you guys, I'm ending the world.
So the FE starts a two-pronged plan. It will destroy the world and end the slayer line. These plans dovetail nicely because it'll be much easier to end the world when the slayers are gone.
The FE probably isn't thinking straight by now and it's trying out blunt instruments that it's never tried to use before. It juices up a promising young serial killer and starts organising the Bringers for real. (It almost brainwashes Spike into killing Buffy just because, well, it would be cool and the FE would feel vindicated that its original plan with Angel could have worked.) Potentials die and the Council is reduced to rubble.
But in the end, the furious, fallible, frightened FE brings about the catastrophe it was trying to avoid. Buffy hasn't really thought much about the Potentials before. Sure, she's had an interest in her slayer origins for a while now but got she sidetracked by small things, like gods and death and depression. But she doesn't wake up to the possibilities until she's had Potentials underfoot for months and the FE accidentally leads her to the Scythe.
Still, the FE thinks desperately, there's always the Turok-Han. But then along comes Angel with his deus ex machina and soon Spike's torching the lot of them.
So---failure. Absolute, bloody failure.
But the FE's still around. It might learn from its mistakes...
"What is it? Why is it doing this to me?" (Spike in Sleeper)
So, from time immemorial, there has been the FE, who gets its kicks from corrupting others. The FE doesn't actually have a vast amount of power but didn't mind this: its job was too much fun. There was a sense of precarious balance that the FE relished.
Then, one day, Buffy dies and Kendra is called. Buffy is revived and for the first time ever there are two slayers. The FE thinks through the implications of this and realises that if there can be two, there can be many, which would upset the balance between good and evil and spoil the FE's fun. Fortunately for the FE, no-one else (except Rowan) seems to realise this. The FE decides to keep an eye on the situation, but doesn't worry too much about it. Buffy's just a better-than-average slayer and besides, to empower all of the slayers would take a witch of improbable power and a major magical artefact.
That doesn't mean the FE won't take shortcuts when they're offered. When it thinks it can manipulate Angel into killing Buffy, it tries to. But when Angel refuses, the FE has no problem with Angel killing himself instead, because souled vampires really piss off the FE. It's used to humans that change sides (that's part of the fun) but godammit, vampires are its playing pieces.
Still, no need to worry, and there's plenty of people out there to defile and corrupt. La, la, la...oh look, Buffy's defeated quite a few beasties now, hasn't she? Master vampires and powerful demons (well, that's her job), power-hungry mayors (well, he was human once, after all), a mad scientist and her creation and, er, a god. But Buffy's dead now, we're back to there being only one slayer and all's right in the FE's world.
Until Buffy's too-powerful-for-her-own-good witchy friend resurrects her.
It's clearly time for the FE to intervene and it may have tried to be subtle at first. Perhaps it manipulated the citizens of Sunnydale for a year to the detriment of the Scoobies. Maybe it spoke to Rack and Giles; surely it had long evening chats with Amy and Warren. And at first it worked: Willow became sick, distracted, unstable. Buffy was demoralised and detached. Warren almost killed Buffy; Willow almost killed Buffy. The FE's plans may have come close to succeeding. But Warren was weak and Buffy was strong and Xander was there to save Willow. So the FE came away empty handed and, to top it all off, another bloody vampire got a soul and it was voluntarily this time, and that just had to be the last straw.
The FE's never been this angry, ever. This is not playing the game! Black knights are dipping themselves in white paint as if that's somehow allowed. The nightmare scenario of All Slayers All the Time is a real possibility. No fun and no fair! Screw you guys, I'm ending the world.
So the FE starts a two-pronged plan. It will destroy the world and end the slayer line. These plans dovetail nicely because it'll be much easier to end the world when the slayers are gone.
The FE probably isn't thinking straight by now and it's trying out blunt instruments that it's never tried to use before. It juices up a promising young serial killer and starts organising the Bringers for real. (It almost brainwashes Spike into killing Buffy just because, well, it would be cool and the FE would feel vindicated that its original plan with Angel could have worked.) Potentials die and the Council is reduced to rubble.
But in the end, the furious, fallible, frightened FE brings about the catastrophe it was trying to avoid. Buffy hasn't really thought much about the Potentials before. Sure, she's had an interest in her slayer origins for a while now but got she sidetracked by small things, like gods and death and depression. But she doesn't wake up to the possibilities until she's had Potentials underfoot for months and the FE accidentally leads her to the Scythe.
Still, the FE thinks desperately, there's always the Turok-Han. But then along comes Angel with his deus ex machina and soon Spike's torching the lot of them.
So---failure. Absolute, bloody failure.
But the FE's still around. It might learn from its mistakes...
no subject
Date: 2003-08-18 07:30 am (UTC)Why thank you! I am always pleased to hear from someone who enjoys my writing.
I wish I can write them, but being a non-native English speaker my Jossverse voice is totally stilted.
That's a pity. Are there no fanfic sites in your language? I do not know if fanfic is largely an English-language phenomenon or not and now I feel foolish for not knowing.
I used to hate S6, but almost two years after that season ended I have changed my mind. I suppose there will come a time when many of us will look at S7 with less vacillation. At least, I know I'm bound to.
Yes, I also feel much more positive about S6 having had more time to think about it. Some of it was both courageous and brilliantly-executed and there was more humour there than I first thought. But some of it (well, Willow's arc) was much more poorly handled.
I hope you do not mind, but after you introduced yourself, I had a look at your blog and your links. If you do not object, I will Friend you, as I am very interested in some of the topics you mention, especially your work concerning women in information and communication technology. I would love to know more about this (I am leafing through the WomensHub and APC Women websites now.) I am very concerned with similar issues of access in computing and science but most of what I know comes from an Anglophone or Eurocentric viewpoint. Another perspective would be most welcome, even if you just pointed me in the direction of some relevant websites.
Sorry to ramble but those websites enthused me!
no subject
Date: 2003-08-18 08:48 am (UTC)As for fanfic writings in my language, there's no such thing. At least in my cultural context, fanfic writing is a totally young people's thing. I got introduced to fanfic by my teen-age daughter who's writing and drawing Japanese anime and Harry Potter fanfics. Actually, it's more like I introduced myself to the medium to find out what's been keeping my daughter busy online. (By the way, is it fan fic or fanfic?)
As for Buffy, I've been a fan since day 1. I even saw the movie when it first came out. After season 3 of X-Files, Buffy was the only television show I watched.
APCWomen is a global network. We do have members from the US and Europe although majority of us are from the global South. Most of the people in my friends' list right now are from the same network. I hope you find something useful and relevant in our Site.
I'll stop here. I do tend to babble on. It's just that you are the first person, outside my Internet comfort zone, with whom I've had a long online exchange in quite a while. I've worked with multicultural groups through the Internet since the mid-1990s. My daily virtual conversations now are mostly with workmates who are from different time zones. I use the Internet quite intensively, but lately I've started feeling constricted by the way my online interaction has been constructed. One of the reasons I joined LJ is so I can have enriching social interactions with people who are not necessarily workmates. Sort of what the Internet was all about during its early years. :-)
no subject
Date: 2003-08-21 09:50 pm (UTC)Thanks. I'm still drafting a fuller response that I hope someday to post.
By the way, is it fan fic or fanfic?
Either or both, I think. It's very colloquial.
Thanks. I'm still drafting a fuller response that I hope someday to post.
<i>By the way, is it fan fic or fanfic?</i>
Either or both, I think. It's very colloquial.
<iI hope you find something useful and relevant in our Site.</i>
Thank you. I'll try to have a more thorough look some evening.
<i>One of the reasons I joined LJ is so I can have enriching social interactions with people who are not necessarily workmates.</i>
Welcome then! I hope we have many more fruitful exchanges.