Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7: Into Every Generation
The moral case for making sure the lessons you learned don't die with you.
“Into every generation, a slayer is born.”
Every generation needs its heroes. Someone who they can look up to in their darker moments. To make them believe that when it comes right down to it, things are going to be okay. They'll make it through and be better off for it. Life is hard enough without all the pain and suffering which goes along with living in this world. So when someone comes along who has faced these things and can still hold their head high, we tend to see that person as a hero. The kind of person worthy of respect and dignity. You might even want to follow them into a potentially deadly situation because you know they can handle it or at the very least they are more likely than not to help you through it.
Previously in this space, we've looked at the importance of taking responsibility for your actions and the world around you, as well as learning to live with the consequences of what you do, including how it will impact your future choices. We've also looked at the need to take on what you learn for yourself and stand up for yourself, and how doing that will make you want to connect with family. More recently we explored the way in which coming to terms with all this will make you feel like the world is nothing but pain and suffering. But that's not the end of the story, because once you do this you will come to realize that this type of thing has to be passed down into the future so that people don't lose hope in the face of everything they're going to deal with.
“So what'd you think? You'd get your soul back and everything'd be Jim Dandy? Soul's slipper than a greased weasel. Why do you think I sold mine? Well, you probably thought you'd be your own man, and I respect that but, you never will. You'll always be mine. You'll always be in the dark with me, singing our little songs. You like our little songs, don't you? You've always liked them, right from the beginning. And that's where we're going, right back to the beginning. Not the Bang... not the Word... the true beginning. The next few months are going to be quite a ride. And I think we're all going to learn something about ourselves in the process. You'll learn you're a pathetic schmuck, if it hasn't sunk in already. Look at you. Trying to do what's right, just like her. You still don't get it. It's not about right, not about wrong... it's about power.”
This is the place Buffy is very much in when season 7 begins. She's been through pretty much the whole process of growing up. Buffy understands her place in the world and accepts it for what it is rather than wishing it could be different. Yet in doing so she's come to understand that there are other people who haven't gone through it or are about to. They don't have the guidance she did when she was younger. As a result, she realizes that someone has to step up and be that person for the next generation. Become the inspirational figure which Giles and her mother Joyce were for her. Obviously the problem is that Buffy has never been the kind of person who believes she should be looked up to. After all, she was thrown into this without much choice in the matter. She never wanted any of this and it seems rather cruel to inflict this responsibility on others. Why should she be the one to do it for them?
Unfortunately, like with most things in Buffy's life, she doesn't really have much of a choice in the matter. The very same forces which required her to take responsibility now must put her in the position of ensuring that where she came from doesn't come to an end. Buffy comes from a long line of people who came before her who did what she did. Those who accepted the responsibility and fought the fights she has, but things don't end with Buffy herself, or at least they aren't supposed to. The process Buffy's gone through has to live on beyond her, even to the point of people who haven't been born yet. However, there are those who don't want it to continue. People and demons and other things who would prefer not to have to face a hero like Buffy.
“I'm beyond tired. I'm beyond scared. I'm standing on the mouth of hell, and it is gonna swallow me whole. And it'll choke on me. We're not ready? They're not ready. They think we're gonna wait for the end to come, like we always do. I'm done waiting. They want an apocalypse? Oh, we'll give ‘em one. Anyone else who wants to run, do it now. ‘Cause we just became an army. We just declared war. From now on, we won't just face our worst fears, we will seek them out. We will find them, and cut out their hearts one by one, until the First shows itself for what it really is. And I'll kill it myself. There is only one thing on this earth more powerful than evil, and that's us. Any questions?”
It's why people like Buffy are necessary in the first place. Because people need to fight back against the kinds of forces who don't accept responsibility for their actions, or care about the consequences of them. All they want is whatever feels right to them and they don't care who they have to hurt in order to get it. While there are some who exist in a way that allows us to literally fight them, what you're really fighting is the idea. You're fighting the thing which makes people want to give up and do the wrong thing because it's easier. The representation of greed and selfishness, anger and hate that is present within all of us and has been since the beginning of humanity itself. Which is what makes The First Evil such a beautiful villain to come up against.
There is no way to destroy the fact that people suffer, or get angry, or die unnecessarily and tragically. It's just never going to happen. You can't make people into happy go lucky people who never worry about where their next meal is going to come from. You can't make people fall in love with the perfect person for them where they never fight and live happily ever after. Even if you could make such a world, there's no guarantee the world would stay that way forever. A perfect solution doesn't exist, the only thing you can really do is learn to live with it, and make sure that whoever comes after you isn't overwhelmed by the tragedy of it all. You don't want them wasting their potential.
“They'll never know how tough it is, Dawnie. To be the one who isn't chosen. To live so near to the spotlight and never step in it. But I know. I see more than anybody realizes because...nobody's watching me. I saw you last night. I see you working here today. You're not special. You're extraordinary.”
Everyone has the potential in them to become something greater than themselves. To become the kind of person others want to look up to if they want to be. Only if you give them the opportunity though. If you give them the courage to try things which are hard. Challenge them to make things better rather than simply coast along. You can't coddle them and tell them whatever they want to hear if it isn't the truth. Buffy certainly wasn't when she was first called. She had to face the reality of her circumstances head on and it cost her dearly. It's what made her the kind of person worthy of being called a hero.
That's why she treats the Potentials the way that she does. While the situation they find themselves in obviously has something to do with how they're treated, it's better than not doing it. Otherwise they can go down a much darker path. Instead of making the world better, they can make it worse. They can be consumed by the horror of it all. But with the right people to guide them, there's nothing they can't accomplish. The world could be a beautiful place. Not perfect and far from the kind of thing we might otherwise want if we could have it, but one worthy of the heroes we can all be.
“Stop. Stop telling stories. Life isn't a story.”
“Sorry... sorry...”
“Shut up, you always do this. You make everything into a story so that no one's responsible for anything because they're just following a script.”
“Please don't kill me. Warren said Jonathan would be okay, I trusted him and I lost my friend.”
“You didn't lose him, you murdered him.”
“I know, but... you don't need to kill me. You said we could all get through this.”
“I made it up, I'm making it all up. So what kind of hero does that make me?”
“No, you're doing great. Kudos.”
“Yeah? Well I don't like having to give a bunch of speeches about how we're all gonna to live, because we won't. This isn't some story about how good triumphs because good triumphs. Good people are going to die, girls, maybe me, probably you, probably right now.”
This seems pretty drastic and not the most motivational thing for Buffy to do. People don't like to hear that life is difficult, something Buffy herself knows all too well. That doesn't make her wrong though, and it's better to come to terms with this rather than hold out hope of something better coming along. A magical solution to all of our problems.
The important thing to remember though is that just because Buffy has made this transition and grown up so much, that doesn't mean she has nothing more to learn. Fighting evil with a small group of friends isn't the same as leading an army into battle. It's not the same as rallying people to a cause and giving them a reason to follow you. Buffy has to become more than what she's been in the past. She can't do everything alone anymore because other people are invested in the outcome in a way they never have, and Buffy has never confronted before. Where it becomes a problem however is in the reality that she's not always going to make the right choice. She's sometimes going to screw up and it's going to get people killed. Even if she might want everyone to survive, she can't be sure she will in fact give them what they need.
“So here's the part where you make a choice: What if you could have that power... now? In every generation, one Slayer is born... because a bunch of men who died thousands of years ago made up that rule. They were powerful men. This woman is more powerful than all of them combined. So I say we change the rule. I say my power... should be our power. Tomorrow, Willow will use the essence of the scythe to change our destiny. From now on, every girl in the world who might be a Slayer... will be a Slayer. Every girl who could have the power... will have the power... can stand up, will stand up. Slayers... every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?”
Her experience all those years has prepared her for it. To face the idea that it might all be over tomorrow and to stand up and say it won't. That it doesn't have to be the end for anyone, no matter how much it might hurt. We can all be the hero we want to be.
All we have to do is try hard enough.
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Holy cow, I have been following your Substack a for a bit but never gotten to reading any post. This was such amazing writing, chock full of gems, and great quotes from Buffy, and others in that show. Thanks so much for writing this and giving me a little inspiration as well!