Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Headscratchers/Season 3: Difference between revisions
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*** Though now that I think about it, maybe there's a little bit of [[Fridge Brilliance]] in that first part. Cordelia wished that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale, and Anya granted her wish. If the Master's ascension had caused any apocalyptic problems, though, the Watchers Council would have sent Buffy there in a hurry, and that would've gone against the wish. So maybe the wish not only [[Cosmic Retcon|Cosmic Retconed]] Buffy's original arrival in Sunnydale, it also retconned the Master's imprisonment and plans to make sure Buffy ''still'' didn't have any reason to show up even after his release. Still woulda loved to see a full-blown demon post-apocalypse, though... |
*** Though now that I think about it, maybe there's a little bit of [[Fridge Brilliance]] in that first part. Cordelia wished that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale, and Anya granted her wish. If the Master's ascension had caused any apocalyptic problems, though, the Watchers Council would have sent Buffy there in a hurry, and that would've gone against the wish. So maybe the wish not only [[Cosmic Retcon|Cosmic Retconed]] Buffy's original arrival in Sunnydale, it also retconned the Master's imprisonment and plans to make sure Buffy ''still'' didn't have any reason to show up even after his release. Still woulda loved to see a full-blown demon post-apocalypse, though... |
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*** Also, without Buffy, "Prophecy Girl" didn't happen. IIRC, the Harvest was just supposed to free the Master, using people's energy. When that failed, he had to get the energy somewhere else. According to the Prophecy and his own monologue to Buffy, drinking Buffy's blood (or just any Slayer's ?) is that exact boost of energy and it allows him to escape, all on his own, without vampirizing any additional energy. In the Wish universe, since the Harvest succeeded, he may not have gone after a Slayer just for a power-up. YMMV, but without that power boost, he may not have opened the Hellmouth for demons to escape... or he may not have had enough power to "reign" over more than Sunnydale. |
*** Also, without Buffy, "Prophecy Girl" didn't happen. IIRC, the Harvest was just supposed to free the Master, using people's energy. When that failed, he had to get the energy somewhere else. According to the Prophecy and his own monologue to Buffy, drinking Buffy's blood (or just any Slayer's ?) is that exact boost of energy and it allows him to escape, all on his own, without vampirizing any additional energy. In the Wish universe, since the Harvest succeeded, he may not have gone after a Slayer just for a power-up. YMMV, but without that power boost, he may not have opened the Hellmouth for demons to escape... or he may not have had enough power to "reign" over more than Sunnydale. |
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**** You are entirely correct. If Buffy hadn't stopped it, the Harvest would have freed the Master. So in the Wishverse the Master has apparently been running rampant ever since the beginning of season 1. |
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** As to where the army is: Sunnydale still has its Mayor, one assumes. Whatever pact he made to turn Sunnydale into a demon feeding ground is still in effect. |
** As to where the army is: Sunnydale still has its Mayor, one assumes. Whatever pact he made to turn Sunnydale into a demon feeding ground is still in effect. |
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** To the above tropers I submit we simply didn't spend enough time in Wishworld to see the damage. Note that when Buffy does arrive this is clearly a battle hardened Buffy who's been through more trauma, based on her scars and attitude, than our Buffy went through. I think the world is like Sunnydale the Master rules Sunnydale FROM the Bronze, not the Bronze and he probably figured out something. It's probably like Angel After the Fall and the Master has a small relatively unimportant territory. |
** To the above tropers I submit we simply didn't spend enough time in Wishworld to see the damage. Note that when Buffy does arrive this is clearly a battle hardened Buffy who's been through more trauma, based on her scars and attitude, than our Buffy went through. I think the world is like Sunnydale the Master rules Sunnydale FROM the Bronze, not the Bronze and he probably figured out something. It's probably like Angel After the Fall and the Master has a small relatively unimportant territory. |
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*** Ultimately, whether or not the Wishverse ends up a twisted hellscape or not isn't decided as of the end of The Wish. It's come much, much closer than the Buffyverse ever has, because Joss is much less reluctant to have the good guys suffer significant losses in the Wishverse for obvious reasons, but both the Master and Giles are down to the wire, very nearly out of resources and struggling to be the last one standing, because whoever ends up controlling Sunnydale is going to dictate whether vampires seize the world from humans or not. Stopping the Master after he gets some real momentum going is simply not possible. Fortunately, it's very likely that Kendra's watcher will direct her to Sunnydale immediately after her activation, since he's sent her to Sunnydale to investigate far less significant goings on in the Buffyverse and was no more aware that Buffy had come back in the Buffyverse than in the Wishverse (where she actually didn't). Thus, ultimate victory or defeat in the Wishverse comes down to whether Kendra, Giles, and possibly Larry and Oz (if they escaped the plant after staking Willow) can kill the Master. |
*** Ultimately, whether or not the Wishverse ends up a twisted hellscape or not isn't decided as of the end of The Wish. It's come much, much closer than the Buffyverse ever has, because Joss is much less reluctant to have the good guys suffer significant losses in the Wishverse for obvious reasons, but both the Master and Giles are down to the wire, very nearly out of resources and struggling to be the last one standing, because whoever ends up controlling Sunnydale is going to dictate whether vampires seize the world from humans or not. Stopping the Master after he gets some real momentum going is simply not possible. Fortunately, it's very likely that Kendra's watcher will direct her to Sunnydale immediately after her activation, since he's sent her to Sunnydale to investigate far less significant goings on in the Buffyverse and was no more aware that Buffy had come back in the Buffyverse than in the Wishverse (where she actually didn't). Thus, ultimate victory or defeat in the Wishverse comes down to whether Kendra, Giles, and possibly Larry and Oz (if they escaped the plant after staking Willow) can kill the Master. |
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** That makes Buffy's Watcher not believing Giles about Sunnydale being a hellmouth a little odd, but it would lend an extra layer of meaning to Giles saying that the Master is "the local vampire lord around these parts", if there are other vampires and supernatural figures doing the same elsewhere. And it'd explain why Cordelia's family, and other families with the means to just pack up and move away, still live in Sunnydale: maybe Sunnydale's one of the ''better'' places left in the world. As bad as he is, the Master might be the only thing that's keeping the even bigger and meaner demons at bay. |
** That makes Buffy's Watcher not believing Giles about Sunnydale being a hellmouth a little odd, but it would lend an extra layer of meaning to Giles saying that the Master is "the local vampire lord around these parts", if there are other vampires and supernatural figures doing the same elsewhere. And it'd explain why Cordelia's family, and other families with the means to just pack up and move away, still live in Sunnydale: maybe Sunnydale's one of the ''better'' places left in the world. As bad as he is, the Master might be the only thing that's keeping the even bigger and meaner demons at bay. |
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== Losing Faith == |
== Losing Faith == |
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