Giles as the Big Bad, Part II

[dragonyphoenix]

And Gabrielle nailed it: You could use Eyghon. Perhaps Giles didn't actually break off his whole "demon possession" fun.

The idea is that Ripper, either because he was more prideful than the rest of the group or because he thought of it first, performed a ritual that made him Eyghon's priest. This opened a permanent connection between them. It was in this ritual that Randall (is that the name of the one who died back then?) died, which sent a shockwave through the group, breaking them up and sending Rupert back to the Council. However because of the connection, Eyghon has been able to influence and corrupt Rupert over the years. Rupert's plan, as he arrives at the Hellmouth and takes over as Buffy's Watcher, is to corrupt the Slayer line by calling Eyghon down into the Scythe. He could replace the First Slayer as the root of the Slayer power-base which would allow Eyghon to possess them as they are called.

However, since I only saw season 7 once and that was about four or five years back, I need some background on the Scythe. Would this plan work?

Edited: Oh, and the original idea for Giles as the Big Bad came from Red Satin Doll's meta post.

More edits: And another question. I'm thinking that Giles will be a corruptor. For example, he'll notice Willow's power and lead her toward dark magics very early on. But I'm not sure what he might do to corrupt Xander. Maybe I'll get some ideas as I'm watching the episodes but maybe not. He's going to want to keep Willow alive so he'll have access to her power. His motivation to keep Xander around will be that he will want to use Xander's death to weaken Buffy if she starts getting out of line (or what he would consider out of line). So, Xander there for that reason but while Xander is there, Rupert will certainly not resist doing something corrupting. I'm just not sure what.

Comments

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

It sounds like it's going to be fan-flippin'-tastic!


Gabrielle

[thenniel.livejournal.com]

Hi there! This post showed up on my LJ homepage, because I visited your journal to read your open_on_sunday drabble. I hope you don't mind me adding my 2 cents:)

Giles could play on Xander's insecurity, and his crush on Buffy. He could point out Xander's weakness relative to Buffy, and lead Xander down a dark path by offering him access to powers available through dark magic and/or making deals with demons.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

OMG you're doing this? GO YOU!

I love what you've sketched out here. It's interesting to me that in the show Giles encourages her to do magic when it's useful to them but then scolds her about the danger of magic, without ever pointing her towards a mentor; it's no wonder her moral compass doesn't always point true north. He knows where this can take her, and yet in S6 he says "You were the one I trusted to respect the forces of nature." SAY WHAT? Her statement to him in SB that he was "blind" is entirely accurate.

So whereas the canon Giles hesitates to encourage her but then does so anyway (and then throws in a scold to soothe his conscience), it makes sense that Big Bad Giles would fully encourage her. And it is canon that Willow had a crush on him at some point, and that she's starved for friendship, praise and positive recognition, so he has all of that to play off of.

Xander definitely had a dark side as thenniel noted, esp in the early seasons: The Pack, The Lie in Becoming (an episode where he also promises that if Willow dies he'll kill Buffy himself), The Wish; etc. Joss had played with the idea of Xander being taken over by the First in S7 and I could see that working; the difference between Xander and Willow is that his darkness is closer to the surface than her's in the early seasons.

So I think the idea of Giles playing off Xander's weakness for Buffy is good, but I can also see him regard Xander much as he does in canon - as an annoyance, someone who can occasionally be useful but is mostly beneath his notice. Canon Giles really seems to have very little regard or respect for Xander in general, while Xander lacks a strong, warm father figure. Whether he sought that from Giles in some way (anything had to be an improvement over Mr Harris, right?) is never really explored much on the show as I recall. But that's another chink in Xander's armor for Giles to play with.

What he's going to do to Buffy - oh my.


I like the idea of bringing the Scythe into this; and I've seen S7 many times and it doesn't make any sense anyway. The Guardians (white european women) had been there "since the beginning of time" and suddenly represented the "good side" of the Slayer while the Shadowmen (african men) represented the "bad side"?

You know what? You can turn the show's half-assed myth about the Scythe completely upside down. (leni_ba did just that in her "Courting Sin" AU Buffy/Angelus fics, where Angelus gives Buffy the Scythe. http://kitteninthedark.livejournal.com/23128.html (The writing is just phenomenal btw.)

The Scythe first appeared in Joss' Frayverse comics and then he basically tossed it into Btvs to link the Buffyverse up to the Frayverse. Ergo, it's just a deus ex machina and as far as I am concerned, you may do with it and it's origins as you like.

[il_mio_capitano]

Can I just say I want to read this very, very, very much!