buffy

“Aren't they good guys? I mean, Watchers, that's just like other Gileses, right?”
―Tara Maclay[src]

Watcher was the title given to a member of the Watchers Council, devoted to studying, tracking, and combating malevolent supernatural entities,[1] doing so through a Watcher assigned to train and guide the Slayer.[2] As well as an inherited calling,[3] being a Watcher was also a paid occupation.[1]

Education

“As I recall, I was informed at the age of ten that I would become a Watcher, then summarily packed off to study horror and death alongside Latin and Geometry.”
―Rupert Giles[src]

Watchers received training from a young age and had to attend the Watchers Academy, where Wesley Wyndam-Pryce was head boy at the time he attended. Watchers-in-training were often forced to take part in field tests, which required facing and defeating an enemy. These were often set in a controlled setting, where the student was placed in a situation without any information given to them or a warning beforehand, where they had to fight a vampire or demon by means necessary, similar to a Slayer's Tento di Cruciamentum.[4]

A common testing method that lasted for decades involved locking them in a room with a starving vampire. Other tests weren't organized and were merely preexisting threats, which the students were tasked with dealing with based on their studies. These tests could lead to an oversight on the Council's part if the information were incorrect, as was the case with the Highgate Vampire incident.[5] When it came to theory, Watchers were known to write theses on famous vampires.[1]

Watchers swore sacred oaths that included an oath to protect the innocent. Associations with vampires were shunned and considered a perversion.[6]

According to Wesley, training procedures have changed to some considerable degree since the 1970s, with a greater emphasis on field work rather than books and theory.[7] Watchers tended to be well-versed in ancient, supernatural texts and demonology, along with possessing a reasonable degree of skill in hand-to-hand combat and linguistics.[4][7]

The Slayer's Watcher

“[The Slayer slays. The Watcher...] watches?”
―Buffy Summers[src]

Some Watchers trained Slayers since they were Potentials.[8][9] In some cases, the Potential was never called as the Slayer,[8][10] or the Slayer was someone who had not been previously identified.[11]

Watchers taught Slayers hand-to-hand fighting skills, mostly in the form of martial arts, as well as teaching them to use traditional Slayer weapons, such as crossbows, axes, swords, and quarterstaves.[12]

After Merrick's death,[13] Rupert Giles was the second Watcher of the Slayer Buffy Summers,[2] and he often trained her during and after school hours in the Sunnydale High School library.[12] He later built a training room in the Magic Box filled with gym mats, punching bags, and throwable weapons hung on the walls, such as shuriken and knives.[14] In the first years, he also would sometimes accompany her on patrol to monitor her slaying and review her technique.[3][15]

In addition to physical capability, Watchers also trained the Slayer's mentality and senses. Giles once required Buffy to hit him with a ball while blindfolded to test her awareness of an enemy,[16] and he conducted meditation with stones after Buffy requested he provide her with extra training so that she could become a better Slayer.[17]

The approach to training the Slayer depended on the Watcher; Giles had a lighter manner of treating Buffy, accepting her social life with few conditions. Sam Zabuto employed a stricter attitude toward training his Slayer Kendra Young, barring her from her family and any form of social life while teaching her according to the Slayer Handbook, which required her to study demon mythology. Buffy, on the other hand, was not given the Handbook as Giles didn't feel she needed it after he had met her.[18] Wesley Wyndam-Pryce opted for a more orderly method of planning out strategies and focusing on "three" key concepts: preparation, preparation, and preparation.[7]

Sometime after Giles was fired, Buffy and Faith Lehane had to receive testing from the Watcher Council's shrink, including the Rorschach test, physical examinations, assertive logic, and personality tests that asked if they ever wanted to be a florist (which apparently meant crazy).[19]

Watchers would document their Slayer's actions in what was known as the Watchers Diaries.[7][20] This would include records on demons,[21][5] vampires,[12][22] and other foes the Watcher studied,[23] as well as their Slayer's death.[20]

The Council's destruction

After the destruction of the Watchers Council in 2002[24] and the activation of multiple Potential Slayers in 2003,[25] Slayers were free to join the Slayer Organization, where they were trained alongside each other. Joining Slayers were allocated to a specific area where they would receive their training under a sole Watcher or the leadership of an experienced Slayer.[26] Still, for the first time, Slayers outnumbered their Watchers:[27] 500 Slayers were in the organization from the 1,800 active worldwide.[28]

While retired Watchers survived the attack on the Council,[29][30] Giles was the only traditionally trained Watcher active, recognizing himself as the Council itself "for all intents and purposes."[31] In the Slayer Organization, Alexander Harris,[28] Andrew Wells,[27] and Robin Wood[31] were also de facto Watchers. However, Xander rejected being called a Watcher,[28] while Andrew received training as such from Giles[32] and embraced the title in his Slayer squad.[33]

By the 23rd century, the remaining Watchers had reduced to a few insane zealots,[34] one of whom set himself on fire in front of the new Slayer, Melaka Fray, to inform her of her calling.[35] After briefly traveling to that time period,[36] Giles decided he would rebuild the Watchers Council with Andrew's help to prevent the future he had seen.[37]

Examples

Assigned Watchers

Watchers assigned to Slayers and Potential Slayers.

Watchers Council

Members of the Council performing other tasks.

Watchers-in-training

Students who were unable to complete their Watcher trainings.

Acting

Individuals who acted as Watchers to Slayers outside the Watchers Council.

Behind the scenes

Appearances

Canonical

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel

Other

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 "Checkpoint"
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Welcome to the Hellmouth"
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date"
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Spin the Bottle"
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Daddy Issues, Part One
  6. ↑ "Sanctuary"
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 "Bad Girls"
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "Showtime"
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Bring on the Night"
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Sleeper"
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 The Origin, Part One
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Angel"
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 The Origin, Part Three
  14. ↑ "Out of My Mind"
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Revelations"
  16. ↑ "Band Candy"
  17. ↑ "Real Me"
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "What's My Line? Part Two"
  19. ↑ "Doppelgängland"
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "Fool for Love"
  21. ↑ Live Through This, Part One
  22. ↑ "School Hard"
  23. ↑ "Blood Ties"
  24. ↑ "Never Leave Me"
  25. ↑ "Chosen"
  26. ↑ The Chain
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 The Long Way Home, Part Two
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 The Long Way Home, Part One
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 "Lineage"
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Safe
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 No Future for You, Part One
  32. ↑ "Damage"
  33. ↑ Predators and Prey
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 Ready, Steady...
  35. ↑ Big City Girl
  36. ↑ The Reckoning
  37. ↑ Finale
  38. ↑ "Righteous"
  39. ↑ "The Innocent"
  40. ↑ "Presumption"
  41. ↑ "The Glittering World"
  42. ↑ "Sonnenblume"
  43. ↑ On Your Own, Part One
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 44.2 "Helpless"
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 "Faith, Hope & Trick"
  46. ↑ "Becoming, Part Two"
  47. ↑ "Graduation Day, Part One"
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 "The Wish"
  49. ↑ Tales of the Vampires
  50. ↑ "Home"
  51. ↑ Billy the Vampire Slayer, Part Two
  52. ↑ "orphaned products?" Eden Studios Discussion Boards Forums. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016.
  53. ↑ "Ask Scott Allie - August '08." SlayAlive Forum, August 6, 2008.