Slayer (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

A Slayer, in the fictional Buffyverse established by Buffy and Angel, is a young female bestowed with mystical powers that originate from the heart of a pure-demon, which gives her superhuman senses, strength, speed, endurance, agility, and healing in the fight against forces of darkness. She also receives prophetic dreams in the few hours that she sleeps.

The Chosen One

Into every generation there is a chosen one. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.

— The opening narration in seasons 1 and 2 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The First Slayer

In ancient Africa, a group of tribal elders known as the Shadow Men use powerful magic to infuse a captive girl with the heart of a demon. This process grants the girl great strength, agility, and endurance: she becomes the First Slayer, called to fight the vampires and other demons that populate the earth. The Shadow Men's descendants go on to form the Watcher's Council, an organization dedicated to finding, training, and supporting Slayers.

The Slayer line

Due to the violent nature of the life of a Slayer, their average lifespan is quite short after being called. Consequently, the Shadow Men's spell also created a large number of Potential Slayers - normal girls around the world who may one day be called. When a Slayer dies, one of the Potentials - seemingly chosen at random - gains the powers and abilities of a Slayer. The Watcher's Council tries to identify and train these "Potentials" before they are called, but are not always able to do so.

This process continues through the generations until 1997, when one Slayer - Buffy Summers - is killed in battle, only to be revived via CPR. Buffy retains her Slayer powers, but her clinical death is enough for the next Slayer to be called. For the next several years, there are two Slayers in the world. The actual Slayer lineage was carried on through the second Slayer - Kendra Young - as Buffy's subsequent death fails to call another Slayer, but Kendra's does.

The mystical "rules" governing the Calling of Slayers change again in 2003, when a resurrected Buffy discovers a Scythe forged for the Slayer to wield. Willow Rosenberg uses magic to tap into the Scythe's essence at Buffy's request, and performs a spell that calls every living Potential Slayer at once. After taking the time to find and count them, Buffy states that there are at least 1800 Slayers in the world. Exactly how the Slayer line continues after this is currently unclear.

At some point in the 21st century, a Slayer faces an army of demons. As a result of this battle, all demons and magics are banished from Earth's dimension. At this point, the Slayer line becomes dormant - while Potential Slayers still exist, none are called for two hundred years.

In the far future, demons eventually return to Earth's dimension, and the next Slayer is finally called - a girl named Melaka Fray. The continuity of the Slayer line is still unclear since Melaka had a twin brother who was given the dreams and visions typically possessed by the Slayer while Melaka received the physical attributes (strength, reflexes, stamina, accelerated healing). On top of that, Melaka's brother has died and become a vampire.

Powers and abilities

The powers that are bestowed upon the Slayer are mostly physical enhancements.

Strength

Slayers are endowed with strength greater than that of normal humans. Buffy Summers, for instance, has been shown to lift, with great effort, a metal portcullis which many other teenagers are unable to budge. She is also capable of bending a steel rifle barrel with little apparent effort. Buffy has been recorded throwing human-sized subjects sizable distances.

Faith Lehane is able to pick up the vampire Angel with one hand and easily throw him short distances, lift him over her head, and slam him into the ceiling.

The psychotic Slayer Dana is able to, through several violent shoves, knock down a metal door.

Agility and reflexes

Slayers are able to move faster and react quicker than normal human beings. Buffy has been shown snatching a crossbow bolt in mid-flight and setting off a bear trap, but not getting caught in it. She has also shown great feats of agility, and has been documented to leap great distances. She can leap to a height more than double that of her own with the aid of a running start. Buffy has also dodged gunmen by out-maneuvering the shooter's aim. At one point Buffy was fast enough to out run a raiding motor cyclist on his bike shortly after her ressurection.

Resilience and healing

A Slayer's body is substantially more durable and resistant to blunt force trauma than an ordinary human's. It is difficult, though not impossible, to bruise them, break their bones or strain their joints. Buffy has suffered from a sprained arm as a consequence of fighting vampires. Melaka Fray is hit with a steel girder thrown at her from a demon and recovers within minutes, Buffy can leap from a window with a man in her arms, landing on the ground and letting her body take the brunt of the fall. Buffy has been hit by a moving truck, got up and run off.

Despite this durability to blunt force, a Slayer's skin can be punctured by sharp weapons such as knives or bullets, but they recover from even very severe injuries in remarkably short periods of time. Usually, Buffy is completely healed within 24 hours of being injured, though more serious injuries have been shown to take at least a few days. Buffy has survived contact with a live electrical wire; the normally lethal jolt simply renders her unconscious.

Senses

Slayers possess a heightened awareness of their surroundings. This heightened awareness can, with experience, allow the Slayer to know the position of an attacker and fight them blindfolded or in the dark. This is not a constant ability, however. This skill must be honed through practice and the Slayer usually must focus to achieve the full benefit.

A Slayer also has the limited ability to detect the presence of vampires. This power must be honed as with the heightened awareness, and the Slayer must focus to achieve the full effect. This does not prevent Buffy (and other Slayers) being ambushed by Vampires. Buffy is unusually deficient in this sense: Although she initially distrusts Angel when first meeting him and seems to sense that he is following her for a period of time she doesn't realize until he shows her his vampiric face for the first time that he is a vampire. Kendra also displays this ability in inconsistent terms; she knows Angel is a vampire after seeing his vampiric face at the skating rink but she does not know that Buffy isn't, she merely assumes she is because Buffy and Angel were kissing.

Dreams

All Slayers through the ages share a psychic link, manifested in dreams. A Slayer will frequently dream of herself as a Slayer in another time and place. These dreams are usually vague, but can also be prophetic. Dreams exist in their own mystic plane or "dreamscape" where for a Slayer, precognitive sense and the inherited memories of other Slayers can manifest themselves.

Other abilities

A Slayer naturally has general fighting skills. Her Watcher trains her to hone these talents, and to teach her specific fighting skills, such as various martial arts. The training helps her to battle the occasional demon whose physical strength outclasses her own. For most situations, however, her strength suffices.

Weapons and equipment

Slayers typically use weapons to fight vampires and other demons. Simple wooden stakes, crucifixes, and holy water are commonly implemented due to their effectiveness against vampires. Swords, axes and knives are the most common implements used for dispatching demons, though other melee weapons (generally of medieval European design) are implemented. Ranged weaponry is usually confined to crossbows. On occasion, more sophisticated weaponry is used; Buffy Summers has used a military-issue rocket launcher to defeat a particularly tough demon. The Slayer Melaka Fray uses weaponry native to her time period, such as laser guns as well as traditional Slayer weapons.

Scythe

The Scythe is a weapon resembling a metal lochaber axe with a wooden stake built into the handle. When Buffy discovers the weapon, she tracks its lineage to a mysterious woman who explains its origin. Centuries ago, a group of women known as The Guardians forged the Scythe for the Slayer. The Guardians kept the weapon a secret from the Shadow Men, and later the Watchers. The Scythe was used to kill the last pure demon on Earth in what would later become Sunnydale, CA. It was lost after that, until discovered by Buffy embedded in stone. The Scythe is seen two hundred years later in the hands of the demon Urkonn, who passes the weapon on to Melaka Fray. The Scythe exhibits some mystical properties. A Slayer who picks it up recognizes it as a source of power, and has an instinctive sense of ownership of the weapon. Willow Rosenberg is able to harness the Scythe's mystical essence and activate every Potential Slayer in the world.

"Slayer Emergency Kit"

The "emergency kit" is a bag found in the possession of Robin Wood. It had been left to him by his mother Slayer Nikki Wood. Upon giving the kit to Buffy, Wood claims that the kit should have been passed on directly to Buffy through the Slayer line, but that he had kept it instead. The bag contains assorted weapons and charms, along with a text written in Sumerian and a locked box containing a set of shadow-casters. Using the shadow-casters in conjunction with the book tells the story of the creation of the first Slayer, and opens a portal which allows the Slayer to speak to the Shadow Men directly, at a cost of unleashing a demon on Earth.

See also

• Buffyverse Slayer timeline - a list of known Slayers
• History of the Slayer WB advertisements
• Tales of the Slayer
• Tales of the Slayers