Warren Mears

Warren Mears is a fictional character in the U.S. television and comic book series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, played by Adam Busch.

Character history

Introduction

Warren Mears is mentioned to have attended Sunnydale High with the Scooby Gang, before transferring to a tech college in Dutton. As a nerd, he was frequently bullied while growing up (cf. "Seeing Red"). Warren is first introduced in the Season Five episode "I Was Made to Love You" as a lonely young man who builds a robotic girlfriend, April, for companionship and sex. Although April was designed to be the perfect girlfriend, Warren instead falls for a real girl, Katrina Silber and leaves April to run out of batteries in his dorm. April follows him and attempts to kill Katrina out of programmed jealousy. Warren sics her onto Buffy Summers in self-preservation, and during the resulting fight, April's batteries finally run out. Warren later constructs the Buffybot for Spike and gives it to him in the episode "Intervention".

The Trio

In Season Six, Warren becomes the leader of "the Trio," a gang of nerds scheming to take over Sunnydale through technology and magic. Initially cowardly, but relatively harmless, Warren begins to display darker, misogynistic tendencies when he attempts to rape a mystically-entranced Katrina. She resists and dies in the resulting scuffle. (cf. "Dead Things"). Despite beginning as equal partners, Warren soon begins to dominate and manipulate his Trio teammates Andrew Wells and Jonathan Levinson, finally driving Jonathan to betray him.

His plans are eventually thwarted by Buffy, propelling him into a murderous fury which results in him shooting both Buffy and her friend Tara (cf. "Seeing Red") When Tara dies, her girlfriend Willow Rosenberg goes insane with grief, tracks Warren down, and tortures and flays him alive with witchcraft (cf. "Villains"). It appears that Willow also incinerates Warren's body, but in Season Eight's "The Long Way Home, Part Four", it is revealed that this "disappearing trick" is the work of Amy Madison, who uses her magic to keep Warren alive, albeit without skin.

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Warren as seen in "The Long Way Home."

Skinless

In the seventh season, Warren's appearance is frequently assumed by The First Evil, which can only impersonate those who have died, to manipulate Andrew into murdering Jonathan (cf. "Conversations with Dead People"). In "The Killer in Me," Willow begins to take on Warren's appearance and personality after kissing Kennedy. This is later revealed to be a revenge plot by Amy and Warren, although Amy's official reason is that she resented the fact that Willow tried to destroy the world and yet is still accepted by the Scoobies.

In the Season Eight comic book story "The Long Way Home, Part Three," Warren is revealed to be the "boyfriend" that Amy Madison has been living with beneath the Hellmouth. He is still without skin, kept alive by Amy's magic, and bears a considerable grudge against both Willow and Buffy. In Part Four, he reveals the means of his survival as he lobotomizes a captive Willow. When Buffy and Satsu arrive on a rescue mission, Amy teleports away, taking Warren with her. Willow heals instantaneously.

On the letters page of Buffy Season Eight #6, Released September 2007, Whedon responds to a question by Kaylee Pansieri of Montreal, Quebec asking how the First could have impersonated Warren, to trick Andrew, if he'd never died, by saying, "He was legally dead for like a second. Amy didn't tell him 'cause she didn't want to upset him. I forgot, okay?!"

Powers and abilities

Although Warren displays no independent supernatural powers, he does possess a genius-level intellect, especially in the fields of technology and robotics. He is capable of building highly advanced robots which pass for ordinary humans. The Buffybot he built successfully masqueraded as Buffy Summers for several weeks while the real Slayer was dead. Some of his other creations, which fuse magic and technology, include an invisibility ray (cf. "Gone"); a small microchip capable of slowing time; a cerebral dampener, which strips of her will any female within its range, rendering her a slave; and at least two jet packs (cf. "Seeing Red"). In Season Eight, he also displays enough knowledge of biology to perform a lobotomy (cf. "The Long Way Home, Part Four").

In Season Six's "Seeing Red", Warren gains the power of the Orbs of Nezzla'khan, two orbs which grant him superhuman strength and invulnerability, respectively, that exceeded even the Slayer's. In this state, he is more than a physical match for Buffy, until Jonathan betrays him by telling her to destroy his orbs.

Characterization

Actor Adam Busch claims that he doesn't see Warren as simply a villain or purely evil person. He explains that the character has various flaws and positives, and is always given the chance to redeem himself. "He's always given that moment where he can do the right thing that he never ever does," says Busch. "Because he is flawed and he does have a lot of issues and an inability to communicate or talk to anyone or really explain what it is that he wants." Writer Jane Espenson draws comparisons between the characters of Buffy and Warren, claiming, "When Buffy's talking with Warren about his break-up with April, she's actually identifying with him, because she did a lot of the same stuff with Riley that he did with April."

Romantic Interests

• April — Lonely, Warren built the robot April to be the perfect girlfriend, but eventually grows bored of her, abandoning her rather than dumping her face-to-face. Despite her pleasant and cheerfully optimistic nature, April is dangerously loyal to Warren and physically attacks anybody who came between them, including Spike, Buffy, and Katrina. April is designed with the ability to growl and included several fetish programs (as seen in her POV), along with other details, such as an inability to cry.
• Katrina Silber — Warren is found to be in a relationship with Katrina in the Season Five episode "I Was Made to Love You". Although seemingly happy at first, Katrina grows more and more suspicious of her boyfriend throughout the episode, only to discover his robot-girlfriend, April. This discovery repulses her, resulting in their immediate break-up. When Warren later tries to have sex with her while she is under the influence of a mind-control spell, she fights back. Warren then smashes her head in with a glass bottle.
• Amy Madison — In the Season Eight comics, Warren reveals that he had been with Amy since she saved his life offscreen in the Season Six episode, "Villains". Amy refers to him as her boyfriend on several occasions and addresses him as "sweetie."

Appearances

Canonical appearances

Warren has made 18 canonical Buffyverse appearances.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Warren appeared as a guest star in 16 episodes:

• Season 5 (2000, 2001) - "I Was Made to Love You"; "Intervention"
• Season 6 (2001, 2002) - "Flooded"; "Life Serial"; "Smashed"; "Gone"; "Dead Things"; "Normal Again"; "Entropy"; "Seeing Red"; "Villains";
• Season 7 (2002, 2003) - "Lessons"; "Conversations with Dead People"; "Never Leave Me"; "The Killer in Me"; "Storyteller";

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight

Warren appears in two issues so far:

• "The Long Way Home", parts 3 and 4.

See also

• List of Buffyverse villains and supernatural beings