Daddy, can I kill the Bad Vampire?

[dlgood]

In a world where Vampires can work for corporations and drink bottled pig, what's the role of the slayer?



We've seen a few things. Vampires need to drink blood to survive. Vampires prefer human blood to animal blood, both in terms of taste and nutrition. Most vampires seem to enjoy hunting for humans to eat, many enjoy the violence of the hunt, and quite a few enjoy playing with their food. As a result, Vampires tend to kill a bunch of people, engage in violence, and generally cause a lot of mayhem wherever they go.
By human moral standards, this is considered "evil" and "wrong" - and is largely the justification for why one slays them.

So, what's the deal with Vampires that don't kill people or don't engage in violence and mayhem? Such creatures wouldn't pose a clear and present threat to society. Is it just to slay them? Is it just to slay the newly risen? For me, a lot of the answers to those questions build upon my earlier essay: The Grand Unified Theory - Human, Vampire, Soul, Redemption.

For vampires, the procreative act is murder. And given that it is a primary instinct for the soulless vampire to kill humans and drink their blood, one has to question why a vampire wouldn't do so.

Reason 1: because it's morally wrong to kill and eat humans. To this point, that's been something soulless vampires have been shown to recognize that humans feel, but do not actually feel themselves.

Reason 2: because it's unwise to kill and eat humans: Soulless Spike refrains from killing and eating humans because he has something to gain. He doesn't kill the cop because he wants Buffy to help him fight Angelus. He doesn't feed on disaster victims because Buffy would disapprove, and he seeks her approval.

Harmony doesn't drink human blood because Angel would kill her. And because she prefers the priviliges provided by W&H to the joy of the hunt. (Which she's not entirely competent at.)

In neither cases, are these soulless vampires shown to be trustworthy. Spike has a chip in his head preventing him from violence against humans. Harmony works under the daily threat of death for drinking human blood. If she could retain the benefits of W&H and still drink human blood, there is no reason to believe Harmony wouldn't follow her instincts. Spike, when he thought his chip was failing, tried to drink a human woman. He had to psyche himself up to do so, but at no point did he see doing so as "morally" wrong. Should the slayer spare such a vampire, she would be responsible for some not-unexpected future crimes.

So there's a dilemma. The soulless vampire might not always pose a clear and present threat to humanity. In many cases, they may have interests which are of more value to them than killing and feeding from humans. The soulless vampire might, on occasion, prove a useful contributor to society. So there's less inherent imperative to kill all vampires indiscriminately. But there's also still little ground to trust them implicitly

What is the modern slayer to do? IMHO, the chief mission of the slayer is not to kill demons - it's to protect the public. Sometimes, slaying a demon would not support the mission of protecting the public. Buffy didn't kill Whistler or Clem. Buffy Summers didn't kill Werewolf Oz - but she also didn't let him run wild either. Oz spent his days locked in a cage, and under supervision for first year. The difference between the werewolf and the vampire, is just how much trust the slayer should have.

Will that vampire willingly enter the cage? How much supervision is necessary? How much "tolerance" should the slayer extend? The sad fact is, given the number of vampires and the number of slayers, the slayer's job is very hard and puts a lot of strain on them for judgement. A slayer can't supervise and spare every vampire.

Is it morally acceptable to stake a rising vampire? Probably. Is it morally acceptable to slay a vampire on the spot if it attacks a human? Almost certainly. Is it morally acceptable to slay a vampire on the spot, if like Harmony, she's trying to fit within human law? I don't think it is.

But at the same token, I don't think it's morally acceptable for the slayer to let a Vampire walk unsupervised. Spike had a chip. Harmony has daily tests. From the slayer's perspective, it's still on the soulless Vampire to justify the value of their continued existence, given what is still known about their biological drives. Some of them can do so.

In the beginning, Buffy was taught that vampires and demons were evil monsters, and that she was supposed to slay them all. Angel being the first case - and even then she defended him before she knew of the soul not simply because of her emotional ties, but on of practical grounds as well (he's helping). Clearly, "slay every demon" was an oversimplification. Over time, Buffy (and Kendra and Faith) learned to spare some and slay others. The future of the Vampire Slayer, lies in determining how to make such judgements - ideally cultivating a body of knowledges and best practices for future slayers to learn from. Not every slayer will have perfect judgement, and such a body of intellectual capital could prove invaluable. It seems to me, the future of Slaying is in going away from the old "Vigilante Hero" archetype and moving closer to the "Military-Police" archetype. I don't think that's a bad thing, or a canon destroying thing at all.

But then, I also don't think "In Harm's Way" tells us anything about soulless vampires and demons we didn't already know in "Becoming".

Comments

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

I disagree...not with your assessment of souless vamps, but about what the Slayer's role is. According to Joss (because Buffy herself IS Joss' mouthpiece, whether we like her or agree with her or not) the Slayer is The Law. The Law is NOT the same as Justice, or mercy.

Buffy in S7 would have killed her *sister* for the greater good. I seriously doubt she would make time to supervise unsouled vampires before deciding whether or not to stake them. Do I agree with that moral paradigm? No. But that doesn't matter, because Joss says it's so.

And because in the beginning of BtVS, Buffy was held up as the "one girl in all the world who stood between us and darkness", and now she clearly is NOT, and because in subsequent seasons we were shown no mercy from her to *any* unsouled vampire, even those she interacted with (CwDP springs to mind, what the hell was the shrink vampire's name??) and now we're supposed to buy that Harmony is ok people-

I disagree in a big way that Joss has not turned his entire mythology on its ass. And for no reason other than because he can't be arsed to keep continuity on a show he no longer even watches.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

I disagree in a big way that Joss has not turned his entire mythology on its ass. And for no reason other than because he can't be arsed to keep continuity on a show he no longer even watches.

Dammit, Kita! You weren't supposed to tell the nice people that I'm quite clearly wanking my ass off.

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

It's cool. I'm a slasher. Men wanking makes me happy. Carry on. ;}

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

the Slayer is The Law. The Law is NOT the same as Justice, or mercy.

And the Law exists to benefit society. And there are certain cases, "Becoming" for instance, wherein sparing a vampire can benefit society. It's up to the slayer to act as Judge, Jury and Executioner of the Law - and to know how to make those decisions.

and now we're supposed to buy that Harmony is ok people-

Huh? No. They check Harmony for blood drinking every day. Spike had that chip in his head every day for years. And it still didn't equate to having a soul. I've not said Harmony was a "good" person. Just that, if she can abide by Human Society's ruiles, it's not required to kill her. Doesn't make her "good".

None of this is a long term solution. And it would require a pretty labor intensive-effort on the part of either the slayer, or some other social institution. Like a huge law firm. There are really only two valuable equilibrium points. The Vampire gets a soul. The Vampire gets dusted. And even souled Vampires probably need the slayer as a check.

[bhadrasvapna.livejournal.com]

You can't take what any characters says at the beginning of the season for what *is* in the Buffyverse. Often what a character believes is drastically changed by the end of the season. That is what the arc does. It sets up all these lies (some told to us by our parents) that the characters have to not only learn that they are lies, but how those lies have affected them. Season 5, Buffy doubted her ability to love. Does that mean, as mouthpiece of Joss, that she had actually lost her ability to love? If Buffy would kill her sister, then why does she have Xander try to take her to safety. The only actual mouthpieces of Joss are things like the Spirit Guide, the Oracles and the story itself. When a character says something, you can't take it out of context of the story and say, well Buffy said, so it must be true. If everything that Buffy said was true, then she wouldn't have needed to grow up.

I think what is going on in AtS has been a wonderful expansion of the mythology that is the foundation for the Buffyverse. Caritas has always been crucial to this universe. Harmony really affected Angel when she said that she had to work harder because she didn't have a soul. "Harm's Way" did a good job with this. There is a difference between how Angel deals with demons and how Buffy does. Tends to come from Angel being a demon. Buffy has grown and as she has, she had developed discernment more. She has learned to question the dogma of the watchers council and what the Shadowmen made the Slayer for.

It doesn't matter what the Shadowmen created the Slayer for. She has no obligation to fulfill their agenda. She is a warrior for the PTBs every bit as much as Angel is. The lesson she ultimately learned wasn't about her role as protector, but her role as empowerer. THAT is how she protects others. She empowered Angel. She empowered the Scoobies. She empowered the Potentials. She empowered Spike. Angel also empowers others, though it is referred to as "saving souls." What happens with soulless vampire Harmony completely fits with this.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

The lesson she ultimately learned wasn't about her role as protector, but her role as empowerer. THAT is how she protects others.

It's only part of how she protects others. While "empowerment" is certainly an important part of her work, fundamentally her mission is still first and foremost to protect. Where empowerment serves that role, it is a valuable tool. Sometimes, she just kills monsters. That serves the mission too.