"You ruined my jacket! Kill him A LOT!"

Those of you who haven't watched the TV show or film are probably wondering what the hell a Slayer is, and maybe what a Watcher is too, and maybe just what the hell I'm on about in general. Well, I'm now gonna try and explain the mythology behind the Slayer that Joss Whedon created.

Basically, for as long as vampires have walked the Earth there has been a Vampire Slayer, a girl in each generation chosen by the forces of good to fight the vampires and other forces of darkness. Each Slayer receives the calling in their teens and are gifted superhuman strength, speed and agility to fight the vampires, who all possess these abilities themselves (and in many cases are even more powerful). The instant a Slayer dies another is activated immediately; due to the dangerousness of the Slayer's calling it is rare for a Slayer to leave her teens - sadly most die before they reach their eighteenth birthday.

The Council of Watchers is a human organisation that has existed for centuries. Possessing enormous wealth and resources, the Watcher's Council monitors the dark forces and the Slayer. They train Watchers, men and women who are assigned to each Slayer with the task of teaching the Slayer about their calling and training them for the fight ahead. The Council uses Seers to identify Potential Slayers, girls with abilities that make them promising candidates to be called as a Slayer, and assign Watchers  to these Potentials also. This way there is a good chance that the Council will immediately know who the new Slayer is. However this does not always work as sometimes none of these Potentials are called, and many times the Council has had to search the world for the newest Slayer, as they had to do in Buffy's case.

Generally the Council does not control the Slayer directly - the Slayer's Watcher reports back to the Council on the progress of the Slayer, but the Council have been known to send direct orders to the Slayer at various times. The Slayer's life is a solitary one - she is normally unable to reveal her identity and relationships and frowned upon; relationships with a Watcher are expressly forbidden. However these rules have been broken many times, particularly by Buffy.

Click here to see my Slayer Timeline, a comprehensive list of every known Slayer that has been revealed so far.

Buffy was activated as a Slayer in 1996 at age 15, after the death of her predecessor India Cohen. Living with her parents Hank and Joyce in LA, Buffy was very much your average blonde bimbo - only concerned with cheerleading and boys. This changed with the arrival of her first Watcher Merrick, who told her of her calling and began her training as a Slayer. After burning down the gym to kill the vampires attacking her senior dance Buffy was expelled from Hemery High and soon after that her parents divorced. Joyce and Buffy moved to Sunnydale, where a changed Buffy hoped to leave her life as the Slayer behind - how wrong she was. Sunnydale is located on top of a Hellmouth, a gateway to the demon dimensions, and the mystical energies that emerge act like a beacon for vampires and other evil creatures. Buffy soon met her new Watcher, Rupert Giles, and made friends with Willow Rosenburg and Xander Harris, and decided to accept her destiny as the Slayer...

In the seven years that Buffy has been in Sunnydale she has endured an incredibly traumatic life. Perhaps the greatest suffering she has endured is her love for Angel, the vampire with a soul. After sleeping with him the act broke the curse giving Angel his soul, so he reverted to his evil alter-ego Angelus. In order to stop Angelus from destroying the world she was forced to send him to Hell, just as Willow managed to restore his soul. When Angel later returned she suffered more heartbreak as Angel ended the relationship, knowing that as an immortal their love could never survive. Aside from this Buffy has had to deal with countless Apocalypses and evil forces trying to destroy the world, including a powerful vampire called The Master, the Mayor of Sunnydale who transformed himself into a pure demon, a bio-demonoid named Adam and no less than a Hell-God named Glory. Buffy has watched her mother die, had to deal with the appearance of a sister, and has herself died twice; the second time saw her ripped from heaven by her friends who feared she was trapped in eternal torment in some demon dimension, and she faced a bitter struggle to come to terms with being alive again in a place that was, by comparison, Hell... her final battle was with the First Evil, the personification of evil itself, in which she had to fight for everything that the Slayer stands for...

"I gotta stop him before he unleashes unholy havoc and it's just another Tuesday night in Sunnydale."

"The guy's really starting to bug me in that special 'I want to shove something wooden through his heart' kind of way."

"This is much better. There is no problem that cannot be solved by chocolate."

"So. Dawn's in trouble. Must be Tuesday."

Alexander LaVelle Harris, to be precise, was one of the first people at Sunnydale to notice when Buffy arrived. Whilst he and best-friend Willow quickly befriended Buffy he also fell in love with her, and spent most of the year pining for her whilst she doted on Angel unawares. He eventually revealed his feelings and was shot down, and whilst his feelings for her were brought up/teased about over the years Xander never let them get in the way of being one of Buffy's most loyal friends and he has proved himself to be a valued member of the Scooby Gang (the affectionate term Willow invented for their group, along with the Slayerettes).

Over the seven years Xander has changed from an teenage loser to, well, an adult loser! Never possessing any of the special skills of the others, Xander was always the most vunerable in a fight but his courage and determination to help never stopped him. Xander is very much the joker and is the first to make fun of any life-threatening situation the gang find themselves in. Over the seven years he too has had remarkable experiences: he's commanded a army of students against the demon Mayor, been captured/used as a sacrifice a few times, lost his virginity to a Slayer (Faith), and even left Anya at the altar! He even managed to save the world too - when the death of Tara sent Willow over the edge and she threatened to destroy the world with her magical power, it was Xander and the love he felt for his best friend that prevented her from doing it. In the final year with their battle against the First, Xander helped to train the Potential Slayers and suffered a horrific injury which cost him the sight in his left eye. Despite this he carried on, proving his loyalty and love for his friends... 

"For I am Xander, king of cretins. Let all lesser cretins bow before me."

"I'm not gonna waste the perfect comeback on you now. But don't think I don't have it. Oh yes, it's time will come!"

"You gave it a girl's name. How very serial killer of you."

"Who's a little fear demon? Come on! Who's a little fear demon!"

Willow was once a shy, geeky computer nerd who spent her days going unnoticed and pining for her best friend Xander, whom she loved dearly. She quickly became one of Buffy's best friends and joined the fight against the evil forces plaguing Sunnydale, and as the years went by she transformed herself into a confident, all-powerful lesbian wicca. As her power grew the gang counted on her more and more to help them fight, but whilst her power grew to enormous levels she remained the affectionate Willow she always had been.

However, Willow is probably the character who has changed the most since the beginning of the show. Seeing the horrors caused by the evil forces in Sunnydale hardened her and gave her the will to fight them. Accepting that Xander would never love her as anything more than a friend, she fell for rocker-werewolf Oz and promptly suffered more heartbreak when he left her and the country, fearful that he couldn't control the wolf inside him and afraid he might hurt her. After Oz went away Willow met Tara, a fellow wiccan with whom she forged a close friendship . . . then she realised her feelings for Tara went deeper than friendship, and Tara returned those feelings. Despite some confusion when Oz returned Willow chose to be with Tara, and their love went untroubled until Willow's growing magickal powers got in the way. Tara's fears that Willow was using magick too often turned out to be true, and after realising Willow had used a spell on her to forget about this concern Tara left. Willow realised she had an addiction to magick and tried to give up, and did well - Tara even returned to her but then the bitterest blow was to come; Tara was shot and killed by wannabe big-bad Warren, and it sent Willow over the edge. She absorbed a huge amount of Dark magicks and went on the rampage, killing Warren, hurting her friends and even attempting to destroy the world itself. It was only the love of her best friend Xander that stopped her from doing it, and Willow found herself saved. With the help and counsel of Giles Willow learned to control the magick that was now a part of her, and in their final battle against the First she was able to use that power to play a key role in the battle... 

"I'm not ashamed - it's the computer age. Nerds are in. They're still in, right? "

"Well, when I'm with a boy I like, it's hard for me to say anything cool, or, or witty, or at all. I can usually make a few vowel sounds, and then I have to go away."

"You're always saving people. Kinda pesky."

"Sore thumbs. Do they stick out? I mean, have you ever seen a thumb and gone, 'Wow! That baby is sore!'"

Although currently a human girl of 16 years of age, Buffy's sister Dawn is technically only 3 years old as she was once The Key, a great source of mystical energy. The Hell-God Glory, banished to our world and trapped in changing bodies of a woman and man, seeked to use The Key to open a dimensional portal back to her own world, not caring that it would destroy all other realities in the process. Desperate to hide The Key it's guardians, an order of monks, used their powers to give The Key physical form. Knowing that they needed The Key to be protected at all costs, they turned it into a young girl and sent it to the Slayer, creating false memories for the Slayer and her friends, and for Dawn herself. Dawn herself had no idea of her true origin, believing she had been alive for 14 years and part of the Summers family.

Dawn really hasn't had the best of times as a human girl. Upon Buffy discovering her sister's true origin and it's subsequent revelation to Dawn, Dawn naturally didn't take the news that she didn't really exist very well. Buffy's convincing that she was part of the family and the deterioration and death of their mother Joyce made Dawn accept what she was, but she suffered even more loss when Buffy sacrificed her life to save Dawn's to stop Glory completing her ritual. When Buffy was returned to life by Willow Dawn thought she had a family again, but Buffy's reclusement as she struggled to deal with returning to life made Dawn feel unwanted, causing her to start stealing and going off the rails at school. Buffy eventually reconciled with her sister and promised a change. In their last year she involved Dawn more in Slaying, giving her training in which Dawn showed some proficiency - at one point it looked like Dawn herself was a Potential Slayer, however this turned out not to be. Dawn played her role in helping to train the other Potentials and was involved in the final battle against the First, completing her journey from naive young girl to a smart and strong young woman.     

"Are you kidding? It was like a meat party in my mouth. Okay, now I'm just a kid, and even I know that came out wrong."

""I'm guessing on how you say it. It's got an apostrophe. I think it's MmmFashnik. Like 'Mmm, cookies'."

"That's probably the sort of thing I'm not supposed to see, right?"

"Yeah, I planned to get killed, come back as a vampire, and bite you."

Giles was sent to act as Buffy's Watcher after the death of Merrick in LA. Seemingly the apotheosis of all things English, Buffy took a while to get used to Giles' ways and methods but they soon developed a bond when it became clear that Giles cared about her and not just about getting the job done. Although Giles has the appearance of a bookish librarian - and indeed he enjoys nothing more than a cup of tea and a good book - he hides his dark past as Ripper, an angry young man who dabbled in the Dark Arts. The smartest of the Scoobies and arguably the most responsible, Giles was still a formidable opponent to the evil forces in Sunnydale despite his tendency to get hit on the head and knocked out - he still possessed some magickal powers and handled himself well against various foes during their battles.

It's impossible to live in Sunnydale and be part of the fight against evil without experiencing an eventful life, and just like the others Giles is no stranger to loss and pain. He fell in love with fellow teacher Jenny Calendar, only for her to be killed by Angelus and then Angelus captured and tortured Giles himself. Giles' greatest task has been training and guiding Buffy, fearful of the day that he might fail and Buffy die. Giles developed a paternal love for Buffy which she returned, and this got him fired by the Watchers Council for becoming too close to his charge. Buffy stopped following the Council's orders in protest and Giles continued help out as best as he could as the Scoobies went to college. Giles bought the magic shop to keep himself busy and Buffy asked him to be her Watcher again, delighting him more than he let on. After Buffy's death Giles returned to England, only to come back upon the news of Buffy's return. He left once again in order to let Buffy stand on her own two feet, but returned again imbued with power of a coven from Devon in order to stop Willow's magickal rampage. Taking Willow back to England he helped her to live with the magick inside her, and then came back to Sunnydale in the final year to help look after and train the Potential Slayers during their battle with the First.

"Buffy, when I said you could slay vampires and have a social life, I didn't mean at the same time!"

"What ever happened to Latin? At least when that made no sense, the church approved."

"Don't taunt the fear demon."

"Do you want me to answer that, or shall I just glare?"

Once a shy and soppy Englishman who wrote awful poetry, William was sired by Drusilla and took the name Spike from his love of torturing victims with railroad spikes, becoming one of the most evil vampires in history next to Angelus. For almost two hundred years he walked the Earth with Angelus, Darla and Drusilla, spreading death wherever they went. Upon hearing about the Slayer, Spike became fascinated with the idea of killing one. He actually killed two, one during the Boxer Rebellion and another in the 1970's from which he acquired his trademark leather coat. He and Drusilla were eventually drawn to Sunnydale by the emanations from the Hellmouth, and upon finding out that there was a Slayer in town Spike decided to go for number three...

Spike found the job harder to accomplish this time, not counting on the Slayer having friends to help her. He also didn't count on the return of Angelus, who began to steal Drusilla away from him. Spike called a truce with Buffy in order to stop Angelus from destroying the world and left Sunnydale with Drusilla. This was too much for Dru, who dumped him. Spike became a drunkard and a broken vampire, but then returned to Sunnydale with a new resolve to kill the Slayer for once and all. Unfortunately he was captured by The Initiative, a secret government organisation, and fitted with a chip in his brain that prevented him from physically harming any human being. Throwing himself on the mercy of the Scoobies, Spike soon began to help them in their battles as it was the only way he could kill anything. However he soon found his desire to kill Buffy changing to something else . . . love. He fell in love with her, and was tortured by the unreturned emotion and Buffy's disgust upon learning of his feelings. After Buffy's resurrection she engaged in a sexual relationship with Spike, which she ended and Spike tried to rape her. Driven over the edge he left Sunnydale to visit a shaman in Africa, who restored Spike's soul. At first almost driven insane by the return of his soul, he recovered and then had his malfunctioning chip removed at Buffy's permission. Still nursing love for her he joined their fight against the First, and proved himself by making the noblest of sacrifices... 

"It's a big rock. I can't wait to tell my friends. They don't have a rock this big."

"Help me out here, Spock, I don't speak loser."

"Well, that was sad. I'm embarrassed for our kind."

"Oh, listen to Mary Poppins. He's got his crust all stiff and upper with that nancy-boy accent. You Englishmen are always so... bloody hell! Sodding, blimey, shagging, knickers, bollocks, oh God! I'm English!"

Over a thousand years ago a Swedish maiden named Aud was wronged by her boyfriend Olaf; she promptly cast a spell on him which made him a troll. So impressed by this was the demon D'Hoffryn he made Aud into a vengeneance demon named Anyanka, who spent the next thousand years performing vengeance on men by granting wishes to scorned women. She didn't reckon on the wish of one Cordelia Chase, who wished that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. Sunnydale was transformed into a vampire-controlled hell where The Master ruled along with vampiric versions of Willow and Xander. The Giles from this reality figured out what had happened and destroyed Anyanka's necklace, her source of power, reverting Sunnydale to normal and trapping Anya in the body of a teenage girl, dooming her to mortal life.

Anya found it very hard to adjust to life as a human being again after a thousand years as a vengeance demon, forgetting things like manners and tact. She found herself drawn to Xander and as their romance blossomed she became part of the Scooby Gang; her knowledge of past events and the evil forces proving invaluable at times. Although she was accepted into part of the group her unique approach to being human meant that she often caused conflict, particularly with Willow who feared Anya would wreak vengeance upon Xander. Anya took a job at Giles' magic shop and showed a proficiency for business, becoming a partner in the shop with Giles. Xander asked Anya to marry him and she accepted, although she was heartbroken when Xander left her at the altar, too afraid to commit to a life together. Anya proved that hell has no fury like a woman scorned and became a vengeance demon once again, although she was physically unable to hurt Xander (despite repeated attempts to try). Her return to being a vengeance demon was troubled and she continued to help the Scoobies in their final year, despite an instance when it looked like Buffy was going to have to kill her, and she took part in the final battle against the First which would see her making a great sacrifice... 

"Don't be ridiculous. Martha Stewart isn't a demon - she's a witch." 

"No, no. Captain Logic is not steering this tugboat. I smell Captain Fear at the wheel!"

"Giles! We're so glad to see you. We missed you. You can't have the store back."

"I'm eleven hundred and twenty years old! Just gimme a friggin' beer!"

Faith, whose last name is unknown, was activated as a Slayer in 1998 after the death of Kendra. Residing in Missouri, Faith showed great proficiency at being a Slayer even performing feats like saving a busload of priests from some vampires whilst naked. Everything changed when Faith took on the vampire Kakistos, so old that his hands and feet were cloven, who killed her Watcher. Faith inflicted a nasty scar on his face and fled to Sunnydale, where Kakistos pursued her, and Faith finally killed him with a little help from Buffy.

At first Faith felt like she'd found a new home - she was welcomed by Buffy's friends, Giles was a decent Watcher and Buffy tried to connect with her, a fellow Slayer. However, Faith's unorthodox methods and tendency to break the rules began to create a divide between them and she often felt left out of Scooby proceedings. Whilst fighting vampires Faith accidentally killed a man and, shocking Buffy by showing no remorse, began her journey to the dark side. After new Watcher Wesley attempted to have Faith captured and sent to England for trial before the Watcher's Council Faith escaped and allied herself with the evil Mayor of Sunnydale, with whom she developed a paternal bond. Needing the blood of a Slayer to cure Angel of a deadly posion inflicted by Faith herself, Buffy set out to kill her but only succeeded in putting her in a coma. Faith awoke a year later, confused and full of hatred for Buffy, and used a "gift" left by the Mayor to switch bodies with Buffy. The spell was reversed though, and Faith fled to LA. Once there she attempted to kill Angel for a bounty but whilst fighting him she broke down and Angel took her to his home where he began her long, slow process of accepting the evil she had caused and attempting to make amends for it. Despite almost giving up on it several times, not helped by the arrival of an angry Buffy, Faith gave herself up to the police and began to serve her time for the murder she committed in Sunnydale. She served almost three years but returned during Buffy's final year, knowing that, as a Slayer, she was invaluable to the fight against the First. Faith was not still not the woman she'd been upon her first arrival in Sunnydale but she wasn't the evil Slayer that had left anymore either - after grudging acceptance from Buffy and the others she took an active role in the training of the Potential Slayers and soon became their favourite; they even voted Faith to be their leader over Buffy. Although Buffy resumed command for the final battle Faith stood beside her and fought bravely to the end, proving herself to be a changed young woman.

By the way, Faith is my favourite character . . .  

"Oh yeah, give me the speech again, please. 'Faith, we're still your friends. We can help you. It's not too late.'"

"Thank God we're hot chicks with super powers."

"Tell me that if you don't get in a good slaying, after a while, you just start itching for some vamp to show up so you can give him a good -- ugh! --"

"You protecting vampires? Are you the bad Slayer now? Am I the good Slayer now?"

Gone but not forgotten . . .

Introduced to us in Season 4, Tara was a very shy young woman whom Willow met at the college wiccan group. Realising that the two of them were the only two real witches there, they became friends but it soon became obvious that their feelings ran deeper and the two became lovers. Willow brought Tara into the Scooby Gang and they accepted her warmly, defending her from the clutches of her family who came looking to bring Tara home, believing her magickal powers to be demonic in nature. After Buffy's death Willow and Tara moved into the Summers house to look after Dawn; Tara at first marveled at how quickly Willow's power grew, as Willow fast overtook her own abilities which she had practiced since a little girl, but then after performing Buffy's resurrection she  became concerned that Willow was becoming addicted. After the revelation that Willow used a spell to alter Tara's memory, to make her forget her concerns, Tara painfully left the relationship, unable to trust Willow anymore. Their separation was tough and Tara still tried to help the Scoobies out whenever she could, but eventually Tara returned to Willow and they rekindled their relationship. Tragically their new-found happiness was short-lived as Tara was shot and killed by Warren, sending Willow over the edge. She was sorely missed.   

"You found the last known Urn of Osiris on eBay?"

Description of Joyce coming soon

Pic of Joyce coming soon

"Joycism"

Description of Angel coming soon

Pic of Angel coming soon

"Angelism"

Description of Oz coming soon

Pic of Oz coming soon

"Ozism"

Description of Cordy coming soon

Pic of Cordy coming soon

"Cordyism"