The Goddess and Her Gift is an analysis of the fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that covers more territory than most of my rambles. Quite an engrossing read. [MORE]

I originally saw this link over at MeFi but talking Buffy there is off-topic, so I wanted to comment about the following from McDonald's essay in here.

"Dawn is an illusion at the beginning of the season, a metaphysical wild card that brings with her suspicious motives and false memories."

Ironically, she still is a wildcard. We're seeing that even this season. Dawn's not a slayer in training. She's not just a Watcher like Giles or in a more metaphorical sense Xander. What is she? The writers may or may not play with that in the short time we have left, or they may. Dawn's not real. She's a tenuously fabricated energy being designed by the blood of Buffy (and I think Faith also although I can't verify that) through monk magic for the sole purpose of dissing Glory. All that's over, so Dawn's destiny is unwritten. She's like that key on your keychain in your pocket or purse that you still have but you don't remember what it unlocks & you don't know if it'd work now even if you could remember. The only difference in the metaphor is that Dawnie's a key that walks and talks and whines and shines and occasionally does stuff which is sometimes good and sometimes bad. The key in your pocket just takes up space. So Dawnie's quite a wild card. She could just take up space, or she could lose cohesion any second and just turn into a green energy ball, at which point all bets are off.

Remember when they thought Dawnie was a SIT? And the energy from Willow's spell went through Dawnie & hit Amanda behind the door? When it went through Dawnie, we saw this orby glow in Dawnie's chest. I don't think that was done by coincidence. I think the SPX guys were instructed to do that, because that was Dawnie's true form illuminated for a second by the magic passing through her to hit Amanda.

"Some have argued that Buffy should have allowed Dawn to kill herself in The Gift. They have been unable to figure out why she would die for someone who isn't really her sister. It is interesting to note Dawn's progression, especially in relation to Buffy. In the beginning, she largely refuses to allow Dawn a place in her family, and then later discovers she's not real at all. Yet by the end, she sees her as so real she's willing to let the rest of the tangible universe die rather than harm her in any way."

I was enjoying the read until this point. By that point, Buffy identified saving Dawn w/saving everything in her own reality. That's what "Weight of the World" was really all about. Trying to come to terms with the dissonant memories in her head. She realized that Dawn wasn't her sister in the conventional sense, but that she was literally made from Buffy's blood, so she wasn't only Buffy's sister. She was Buffy's daughter, and in a sense an extention of herself.

It's also why there's always been this rift between Dawn & Buffy, moreso in season six than season five. Buffy literally doesn't know what to do with Dawnie. It's kinda like finding out you are your own grandpa. How is one SUPPOSED to cope with such a realization?

But losing Dawn meant losing the last connection Buffy had to herself, and it meant losing the grasp on the reality that she had - so to Buffy's perhaps distorted perspective on reality it meant losing reality completely. Dawn couldn't die at all costs. However, she also didn't have the chutspah to kill Glory, because that meant killing Ben. This is why Giles stepped in and took care of Ben for Buffy, because the only other alternative from Giles' perspective (that being a bit more grounded, logical and objective perspective on reality), would have been to kill Dawn. Destroy the key, destroy Glory's chance of destroying reality in an attempt to get home. OR just destroy Glory. Those were Giles' only two options. They were Buffy's only two options, and Buffy couldn't tolerate losing Dawn, because it meant losing herself.

Again, if you watch "Weight of the World" Buffy's circular logic makes a really distorted sort of anti-logical logic. *shrug*

Aside from that, the linked essay a great read. Thank you for tolerating my indulgence. =)

ZachsMind | BtVS | 22:20 CET | 4 comments total | tags: