On Giles and Ethan
Oct. 4th, 2004 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indriDuring the first four seasons of BtVS, Giles was definitely my favourite character. He was charming, well-read and good-looking; he had depth and a fine sense of humour. I thought he was the most attractive man on the show and I'd wait for the final shot in the credits, where he'd be pulling on his tweed jacket with with a determined air.
Last night I watched four episodes, centred on Giles, the ones which also feature Ethan Rayne. I've been trying to work what we know about Giles's lost years. I know this is well-mined territory in fanfic terms, but I want to be able to separate canon from fanon.
All quotes are from the Buffyworld transcripts.
In "Halloween", Giles encounters Ethan for the first time in years. Willow is with him. Giles tells her to go -- not because Ethan could harm her, because she's already a ghost -- but because he doesn't want her to see what he's going to do to Ethan. He doesn't want her to see Ripper.
Ethan: Oh, and we all know that you are the champion of innocence and
all things pure and good, Rupert. It's quite a little act you've got
going here, old man.
Giles: It's no act. It's who I am.
Ethan: Who you are? The Watcher, sniveling, tweed-clad guardian of the
Slayer and her kin? I think not. I know who you are, Rupert, and I know
what you're capable of. (considers) But they don't, do they? They have
no idea where you come from.
Ethan worships Janus. Here he's claiming that Giles has two faces as well, but that one of them is more real than the other.
What Giles is "capable of" certainly includes violence. I think this is the first time on the show that we see Giles act so violently against another human being. He punches Ethan in the gut, kicks Ethan while he's down, and threatens to kill him. And Ethan seems to expect this. Giles has done this before.
What is Ethan trying to imply when he mocks Giles as "the champion of innocence and all things pure and good"? That he once courted corruption and evil?
If so, he wasn't doing it very well. Eyghon, who also presumably knew Giles at his worst, mocks him in "The Dark Age":
Giles: It's not right. I would be taking advantage.
Jenny: (gets off) God, you just don't change, do you? (paces)
Giles: What?
Jenny: It's not right, it wouldn't be proper, people might get hurt.
You're like a woman, Ripper. You cry at every funeral. You never had the
strength for me. You don't deserve me. (whispers) But guess what? You've
got me. (takes his head) (in a deep male voice) Under your skin.
So Giles was both violent and worried that people might get hurt?
In "The Dark Age" we learn when Ethan and Giles knew each other:
Giles: I was twenty-one, studying history at Oxford. And, of course,
the occult by night. I hated it. The tedious grind of study, the...
overwhelming pressure of my destiny. I dropped out, I went to London...
(exhales) I fell in with the worst crowd that would have me. We
practiced magicks. Small stuff for pleasure or gain. And Ethan and I
discovered something... bigger.
We learn the names of some of "the worst crowd" in "The Dark Age": Thomas Sutcliff, Philip Henry, Deidre Page and Ethan Rayne. Philip's a man in a suit with a briefcase and zombie-Deidre's wearing equally staid clothing and pearls. Perhaps they've retreated into conservatism because of their reckless youth, but they look quite upper-middle-class Brit to me. Philip's accent is RPish as well. The "worst crowd" wasn't working class yobbos or London's home-grown gangsters: they were probably like Giles, raised in financial security but going on a giant bender. Maybe there were all university drop-outs.
Note that he and Ethan were the ones to discover Eyghon. Were they the ringleaders of the group?
Giles: Yes. One of us would, um... (nervously pours a drink) go into a
deep sleep, and the others would, uh, summon him. It was an
extraordinary high! (smiles nervously) God, we were fools.
Buffy: You couldn't control it.
Giles: One of us, Randall, he lost control. Eyghon took him whole. We
tried to exorcise the demon from Randall, but it killed him. No. We
killed him.
More than twenty years later, Giles is still traumatised by the death of his friend and what it took to rid them of the demon.
In "Band Candy" we get to see a regressed Giles, but it's hard to know if this is Ripper or not. He behaves like an amateur bovver boy, indulging in petty theft, police baiting, and casual sex. He knocks out the policeman very swiftly.
Here it's worthwhile to consider Giles's Watcher training. Presumably, he was taught some magic and a little hand-to-hand fighting, just as Wesley was. If he already had those skills at 21, and honed them a bit outside of "controlled circumstances", this would have given him something of an edge compared to the other rebel wannabes.
I think the picture that's built up is of Giles impressing a group of fellow middle-class dropouts with his pugilistic skills and training in magic. There's sex, drugs, black magic and the Bay City Rollers. Sometimes they get into enough trouble that Giles has to beat someone up, but there are limits, and even if he does know how to kill, he doesn't do so. It might not be all that much more than a bunch of people getting drunk and scared around a Ouija board, until they discover Eyghon. It's almost "Junior Watchers Go Wild!"
Ethan: (mock hurt) Oh, so crass. We used to be friends, Ripper. When did all that fall apart?
Giles: The same time you started to worship chaos.
I suspect that the death of Randall affected Giles and Ethan in very different ways. Giles finally realised what the stakes were, understood his recklessness and guilt, and ultimately returned to the Council. Ethan, though, may have found himself fascinated by the power he wielded when he helped kill Randall. From thereon, Giles and Ethan began to move in opposite directions.
But Ethan doesn't believe in Giles's rejection of dark magic. He doesn't understand Giles's remorse or mission because he thinks that Giles is just like him. He fundamentally misunderstands Giles and resents the fact that Ripper does not conform to his (Ethan's) expectations.
In "A New Man", Ethan turns Giles into a Fyarl. It's a kind of joke. A Fyarl is strong, violent and stupid. It doesn't have complexity of thought or feeling. It feels no regret. It's a caricature of what Ethan thinks Ripper should be.
Giles can be ruthless. We've seen him kill Ben. But that ruthlessness isn't part of the Ripper persona. It comes from somewhere else.
Last night I watched four episodes, centred on Giles, the ones which also feature Ethan Rayne. I've been trying to work what we know about Giles's lost years. I know this is well-mined territory in fanfic terms, but I want to be able to separate canon from fanon.
All quotes are from the Buffyworld transcripts.
In "Halloween", Giles encounters Ethan for the first time in years. Willow is with him. Giles tells her to go -- not because Ethan could harm her, because she's already a ghost -- but because he doesn't want her to see what he's going to do to Ethan. He doesn't want her to see Ripper.
Ethan: Oh, and we all know that you are the champion of innocence and
all things pure and good, Rupert. It's quite a little act you've got
going here, old man.
Giles: It's no act. It's who I am.
Ethan: Who you are? The Watcher, sniveling, tweed-clad guardian of the
Slayer and her kin? I think not. I know who you are, Rupert, and I know
what you're capable of. (considers) But they don't, do they? They have
no idea where you come from.
Ethan worships Janus. Here he's claiming that Giles has two faces as well, but that one of them is more real than the other.
What Giles is "capable of" certainly includes violence. I think this is the first time on the show that we see Giles act so violently against another human being. He punches Ethan in the gut, kicks Ethan while he's down, and threatens to kill him. And Ethan seems to expect this. Giles has done this before.
What is Ethan trying to imply when he mocks Giles as "the champion of innocence and all things pure and good"? That he once courted corruption and evil?
If so, he wasn't doing it very well. Eyghon, who also presumably knew Giles at his worst, mocks him in "The Dark Age":
Giles: It's not right. I would be taking advantage.
Jenny: (gets off) God, you just don't change, do you? (paces)
Giles: What?
Jenny: It's not right, it wouldn't be proper, people might get hurt.
You're like a woman, Ripper. You cry at every funeral. You never had the
strength for me. You don't deserve me. (whispers) But guess what? You've
got me. (takes his head) (in a deep male voice) Under your skin.
So Giles was both violent and worried that people might get hurt?
In "The Dark Age" we learn when Ethan and Giles knew each other:
Giles: I was twenty-one, studying history at Oxford. And, of course,
the occult by night. I hated it. The tedious grind of study, the...
overwhelming pressure of my destiny. I dropped out, I went to London...
(exhales) I fell in with the worst crowd that would have me. We
practiced magicks. Small stuff for pleasure or gain. And Ethan and I
discovered something... bigger.
We learn the names of some of "the worst crowd" in "The Dark Age": Thomas Sutcliff, Philip Henry, Deidre Page and Ethan Rayne. Philip's a man in a suit with a briefcase and zombie-Deidre's wearing equally staid clothing and pearls. Perhaps they've retreated into conservatism because of their reckless youth, but they look quite upper-middle-class Brit to me. Philip's accent is RPish as well. The "worst crowd" wasn't working class yobbos or London's home-grown gangsters: they were probably like Giles, raised in financial security but going on a giant bender. Maybe there were all university drop-outs.
Note that he and Ethan were the ones to discover Eyghon. Were they the ringleaders of the group?
Giles: Yes. One of us would, um... (nervously pours a drink) go into a
deep sleep, and the others would, uh, summon him. It was an
extraordinary high! (smiles nervously) God, we were fools.
Buffy: You couldn't control it.
Giles: One of us, Randall, he lost control. Eyghon took him whole. We
tried to exorcise the demon from Randall, but it killed him. No. We
killed him.
More than twenty years later, Giles is still traumatised by the death of his friend and what it took to rid them of the demon.
In "Band Candy" we get to see a regressed Giles, but it's hard to know if this is Ripper or not. He behaves like an amateur bovver boy, indulging in petty theft, police baiting, and casual sex. He knocks out the policeman very swiftly.
Here it's worthwhile to consider Giles's Watcher training. Presumably, he was taught some magic and a little hand-to-hand fighting, just as Wesley was. If he already had those skills at 21, and honed them a bit outside of "controlled circumstances", this would have given him something of an edge compared to the other rebel wannabes.
I think the picture that's built up is of Giles impressing a group of fellow middle-class dropouts with his pugilistic skills and training in magic. There's sex, drugs, black magic and the Bay City Rollers. Sometimes they get into enough trouble that Giles has to beat someone up, but there are limits, and even if he does know how to kill, he doesn't do so. It might not be all that much more than a bunch of people getting drunk and scared around a Ouija board, until they discover Eyghon. It's almost "Junior Watchers Go Wild!"
Ethan: (mock hurt) Oh, so crass. We used to be friends, Ripper. When did all that fall apart?
Giles: The same time you started to worship chaos.
I suspect that the death of Randall affected Giles and Ethan in very different ways. Giles finally realised what the stakes were, understood his recklessness and guilt, and ultimately returned to the Council. Ethan, though, may have found himself fascinated by the power he wielded when he helped kill Randall. From thereon, Giles and Ethan began to move in opposite directions.
But Ethan doesn't believe in Giles's rejection of dark magic. He doesn't understand Giles's remorse or mission because he thinks that Giles is just like him. He fundamentally misunderstands Giles and resents the fact that Ripper does not conform to his (Ethan's) expectations.
In "A New Man", Ethan turns Giles into a Fyarl. It's a kind of joke. A Fyarl is strong, violent and stupid. It doesn't have complexity of thought or feeling. It feels no regret. It's a caricature of what Ethan thinks Ripper should be.
Giles can be ruthless. We've seen him kill Ben. But that ruthlessness isn't part of the Ripper persona. It comes from somewhere else.
Bay City Rollers
Date: 2004-10-04 07:28 am (UTC)Re: Bay City Rollers
Date: 2004-10-04 07:36 am (UTC)Re: Bay City Rollers
Date: 2004-10-04 07:41 am (UTC)I'm ashamed. Also I don't recognise a single song title. Perhaps we Scots deliberately blocked them out of our collective memory?
S-A! T-U-R! D-A-Y ! Clap-Clap!
Date: 2004-10-04 07:52 am (UTC)I lived in St. Louis, and only my individual initiative gained me a knowledge of Chuck Berry. If your culture doesn't tell you to value something, you'll have to work to find out about it. To be honest, I find it more worrisome that you have (it seems) no knowledge of Thin Lizzy, a band much more worthy of note. (If anything, you'll know "The Boys Are Back In Town".)
I'm ashamed. Also I don't recognise a single song title. Perhaps we Scots deliberately blocked them out of our collective memory?
That would be the healthy thing. Personally, I've been actively trying to rid my brain of the hook, but like with "for god's sake, don't think about pink giraffes!", any willful attempt to forget only makes me remember.