Buffy Summers

Buffy Summers.

Buffy Summers is a female character who features in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Biography

Buffy Anne Summers (January 1981 - 2001; 2001 - ?) was a female human born in the modern age as the daughter of Joyce Summers and Hank Summers.

She was one of the greatest of the Slayers, Buffy saved the world many times. Buffy Anne Summers was born in Los Angeles, California, to Joyce and Hank Summers. She lived a fairly normal life- unlike many other potential Slayers, she was never found or trained for the possibility of becoming the Slayer. All that changed, however, in 1996. Inheriting the mantle of the Slayer, she was found and trained by the Watcher Merrick, and soon battled the vampire lord Lothos. Although she was victorious with the help of a boy named Pike, Merrick died and the school gymnasium was burned down to destroy Lothos' legions.

Expelled from her high school, Buffy's parents divorced soon afterwards. Given to Joyce's custody, the pair moved to Sunnydale, California, in 1997. Soon, it appeared destiny was at play- Buffy's new high school, Sunnydale High School, was built atop the Hellmouth, and Buffy soon had plenty of vampires and other demons to battle. She found allies in her new Watcher, Rupert Giles, and her new friends and confidants Xander and Willow. She also found a love interest in the mysterious Angel, who was later revealed to be a vampire with a soul. Even so, she struggled with the conflict between her life as a Slayer- secret from even her mother- and her desire to live a normal life.

Buffy at first attempted to reject her Slayer duties in favor of a normal life, but she was forced into action to stop the vampire ritual known as the Harvest by the Order of Aurelius, a vampire cult under the rule of the ancient and powerful vampire Master, who was trapped underground in Sunnydale. Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles formed the Scooby Gang, and together they continued to investigate the various supernatural mysteries that occurred on the Hellmouth. Wishing to have a social life separate from her Slayer duties, Buffy tried out for the cheerleading squad and briefly dated fellow student Owen Thurman, but her attempts at normalcy were quickly thwarted by supernatural activity. Buffy developed an attraction to Angel, only to discover that he was a vampire. Though initially reluctant to slay him, she decided to do so when it appeared that Angel had attacked her mother. Buffy relented upon discovering that he had a soul as a result of being cursed with the Ritual of Restoration by the Kalderash people as punishment for his vicious crimes. Additionally, she found out that Angel had been set up by the vampire Darla of the Order of Aurelius, his sire and Joyce's true attacker. Angel staked Darla in her ensuing confrontation with Buffy, and the two agreed that they could never be together. When people's nightmares began coming true in Sunnydale, Buffy's guilt over her parents' divorce manifested, and she was briefly transformed into a slaypire. Days later, a string of odd occurrences started, signaling the oncoming apocalypse, so Giles warned Buffy that she would eventually be forced to fight the Master as the Hellmouth opened. Upon learning that the infallible Pergamum Codex prophesied her death at the hands of the Master, Buffy declared she quit being the Slayer and contemplated leaving town. However, she accepted her fate after Willow discovered bodies of their classmates slaughtered inside the school. Armed with a crossbow and wearing her prom dress, Buffy descended into the Master's lair to confront the vampire. He overpowered Buffy and bit her neck, declaring it was her that would set him free as her Slayer blood gave him the power to cross his mystical prison. The Master left Buffy to drown in a pool of water, but Xander found her and revived her by performing CPR. Awakening, Buffy felt stronger and confronted the Master once more, managing to defeat him and close the Hellmouth.

Buffy spent the following summer with her father in Los Angeles. During her time there, she didn't slay any vampires, but, after her fatal experience, she remained emotionally distant. Upon her return to Sunnydale in the fall, Buffy's friends noticed her condition when she behaved rudely to them and took out her anger on her slaying targets. Buffy finally recovered when, after preventing the Master's remaining followers from resurrecting him, she smashed his bones with a sledgehammer. In her junior year of high school, Buffy came into conflict with Spike, a vampire renowned for having murdered two Slayers in the past. Spike had come to Sunnydale to restore the strenght of Drusilla, his paramour and a dangerous vampire. While they were Angel's former associates and were intent on wreaking havoc in town, Spike in particular wanted to make Buffy his third Slayer to kill. Buffy once again attempted to attain some level of normalcy in her life when she lied to her Watcher so she could attend a frat-party alongside Cordelia, due to Giles' strictness and Angel's reluctance in dating her. However, Buffy was again forced into action when the fraternity offered both girls as a sacrifice to the demon Machida. After Buffy defeated it, Angel invited Buffy on their first date.

As she was technically dead for a few moments, another Slayer- Kendra- was activated. Buffy's romance with Angel deepened, until on her birthday in 1998, the two consummated their relationship. Unfortunately, that moment of pure happiness resulted in Angel losing his soul, restoring the evil Angelus. Angelus was obsessed with making Buffy's life a misery, frightening her, torturing and killing her friends and allies. Eventually, Angelus tried to use the demon Acathla to destroy the world, forcing Buffy to slay her only love- sending him to a Hell Dimension- just as Willow restored his soul. This, combined with her recent expulsion from Sunnydale High and Joyce learning she was the Slayer, led her to run away from home.

Buffy wandered during the summer of 1998, eventually settling in a town under the alias "Anne." After a battle with demons preying on the derelicts of the town, Buffy found the resolve to return home. Her return was met with a mixture of relief and pain by her family and friends, who felt abandoned by her all summer. Buffy had some difficulties reconnecting with her mother and friends; they organized an impersonal welcome back party and caught her collecting her possessions to run away once more, which culminated in them having a big argument in front of all guests. They were interrupted by a zombie attack, and they eventually reconciled after fighting together during a battle against Ovu Mobani. Buffy was released from the criminal charges against her and, even though Snyder initially prevented her return to Sunnydale High, the principal was overruled by the school board. Buffy also encountered difficulties re-entering Sunnydale High until Giles intervened. Buffy was required to improve her grades by doing several makeup tests, obtain a recommendation from a member of the school staff that wasn't Giles himself, and receive counseling for a short time. She also started a relationship with her schoolmate Scott Hope, who broke up with her in weeks for considering her too distant. Meanwhile, she discovered Angel had been returned from the hell dimension in a feral state. She secretly rehabilitated him at his mansion, helping him heal while still finding herself drawn to him. The Scoobies discovered her secret and were disappointed with her, though they accepted him back into the team when he saved Willow from being killed by Gwendolyn Post, a corrupt ex-Watcher. Meanwhile, a rebellious new Slayer, Faith, arrived in town, immediately winning over Buffy's friends and family and providing Buffy with a new ally. Contrary to Kendra, who was the model slayer, Faith was a fun-loving brawler that rejected responsibility more so than Buffy did. Buffy discovered that under her façade of enthusiasm for the kill was fear, having escaped from Sunnydale after the vampire Kakistos killed her Watcher and threatened to come after her. After averting the problem by slaying the vampire, Buffy and Faith started a complicated sisterly relationship, learning each others' strengths and weaknesses.

Though Buffy and Angel attempted to simply be friends and nothing more, they eventually continued dating, though they took care to keep their relationship celibate. Shortly before her eighteenth birthday, Buffy was de-powered in preparation for her Cruciamentum, a Slayer rite of passage organized by the Watchers Council meant to test the Slayer's practical capabilities. This pitted her against a psychotic vampire which she initially avoided though packed the courage to take him on when he held her mother hostage and she ended victoriously. Giles' reluctance to see Buffy hurt and subsequent interference in the test led to him being fired as her official Watcher and replaced with Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, though Buffy quickly rebelled against Wesley and refused to take him seriously when he turned out to be little more than a bumbling idiot and a coward.

Not long afterward, Angel returned; Buffy hid him for a time, as he was insane from his experiences, but his presence was eventually revealed. Buffy and Angel sort of started their relationship up again, while Buffy found a new ally- and later enemy- in the Slayer Faith. Eventually, on her graduation day in AD 1999, Buffy defeated the Mayor; destroying Sunnydale High in the process. However, Angel left Buffy, believing the relationship was unfair to her, and moved to Los Angeles.

In the fall of 1999, Buffy went to the University of California - Sunnydale, eventually finding a new love- Riley Finn- and becoming involved with the monster-hunting agency known as the Initiative. The Initiative eventually collapsed as a result of the plans of its leader Maggie Walsh, and Buffy tapped into the power of the First Slayer to defeat Walsh's creation, Adam.

From 2000 to 2001, Buffy experienced some the worst parts of her life. A sister, Dawn Summers, suddenly appeared, and she learned she was really the Key, a being given human form and retroactively inserted into Buffy's history. Riley and Buffy's relationship soured, and Riley left town. Joyce developed a brain tumor, seemingly got better after surgery, then suddenly died, leaving Buffy to assume responsibility for herself and Dawn. In the meantime, Buffy and her friends had to face the threat of the Hell God Glorificus. In the final battle with Glory in 2001, Buffy sacrificed herself to save Dawn and seal an interdimensional rift. Buffy went on to her just reward.

However, months later, Willow led Buffy's other allies in resurrecting her, not realizing that they had taken her from a realm of pure happiness in doing so. Traumatized, Buffy clung to Giles for support, prompting him to leave her so she could become independent. Buffy also used Spike for a relationship, breaking it off when she realized it was unhealthy for both of them. Buffy had to endure the initially annoying but eventually dangerous threat of Warren, Jonathan and Andrew. In the end, however, Buffy found herself battling an angry and corrupt Willow, after Warren killed her love Tara.

As 2002 progressed, Buffy returned to the rebuilt Sunnydale High, becoming a school counselor there. She was pitted against the First, a formless being embodying the essence of evil. Unexpectedly, Buffy found herself the teacher, leader and protector of the other potential Slayers after the Council of Watchers was destroyed. In 2003, Buffy also learned the true nature of the Slayers' origins- that they were created by African wizards known as the Shadowmen by infusing a young girl with demonic power. Although the potentials had their doubts about Buffy's style of leadership- temporarily exacerbated by Faith's arrival- they eventually fully followed her.

Buffy also discovered a powerful scythe, an ultimate weapon hidden from the Shadowmen which would enable her to destroy the First. After Willow used the scythe to turn all the potentials into full-fledged Slayers, she led an assault on the Hellmouth, destroying the First's legions, while Spike sacrificed himself to seal the Hellmouth permanently. In the process, the entire city of Sunnydale- evacuated some time earlier- was destroyed.

Buffy remained leader of the Slayers, becoming a world traveler. She also worked with the restored Council of Watchers to find and recruit all of the other, now-activated Slayers. When last heard of, Buffy was in Rome, having struck up a relationship with the Immortal.

Notes

• Buffy Summers was created by Joss Whedon where she was portrayed by actor Sarah Michelle Gellar and featured in the setting of Buffy-Angel.

In other media

Films

• In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the character of Buffy made her first appearance in the 1992 live-action film where she was first portrayed by actor Kristy Swanson.

Appearances

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
• Angel:

External Link

• Buffy Wiki Entry
• Wikipedia Entry