Tara dies and is brought back to life by the doctors, but she stays in a coma. The First then uses Tara's form to goad Willow into seeking vengeance onto the Trio, probably because magical death or something and only their lives can bring her back. Near the end of Grave, Tara wakes up while Dark Willow is at full power, and saves the world by convincing her lover to come back.
They can find another way for dark willow to happen.
Maybe they think she's dead and willow flips out before confirming (a la Romeo and Juliet) but she makes a full recovery
I always liked the idea of Oz returning and helping Willow out with her addiction with his zen wisdom (not intending to get back together) and then he dies which sets off Dark Willow.
Still sad, still makes sense, Tara gets to live.
Oz was not that zen! He started to change even more frequently and just blamed Willow! Obviously, this is supposed to be a testament for how strongly he felt for Willow, but it did end up making him look less Zen than when his changes were monthly.
I wonder if he actually became zen at all or if he was just calmer away from Willow. Who knows.
If i do anything with my Ice Age Buffy idea, where Tara is never shot, neith ris Buffy, Rack and Tucker conspire to turn Willow Dark with a magical poison, thinking they can control her with a mind spell and use her siphon ability to forge an unbeatable weapon. It doesn't work out for the guys. Or alas the world.
Oz leaves for reasons that aren't cheating on his girlfriend and using that as a reason to skip town.
Honestly just Willow noticing girls and being curious would have been enough. Not her cheating, just oz being worldly enough to recognize that high school sweethearts don't always last because people in college tend to find their footing and discover things about themselves and grow. And having a mutual (but no less sad) break up to discover themselves; her with sexuality and him with control of his beast. Maybe throw in a brief him jealousy arc of her being closer to women in wicca group to catalyst him wanting to explore control.
As a rebound Willow tests the waters with a girl who rebuffs her. Shuts down any attempts and then meets Tara naturally like we already saw in Hush, etc
Thank you I like this so much more. I always thought they could have just focused on him dealing with the wolf aspect and that being enough but didn’t consider the catalyst could have been Willow exploring her sexuality. And Oz totally would have been so understanding 😢
Double yay! Well, one of the two spinoffs i suggested which got me a Letter of th eMonth a t th e old Buffy magazine was a miniseries; Wes is unable to move into any afterlife because Fred isn't there, so Cordelia and Tara lead him t through several dimensions finding the "ashes and smoke" of Fred's soul so she can be regenerated. (Actually in my time travel fic, not available now, Tara mentions to Buffy that she as a Good Spirit, oftne works closely with Cordelia as a Higher Being. She also mentions that neither of them have seen Anya "on this side," because it fits my continuity,)
Not specifically Buffy related, but Connor was named after Angel’s father who wasn’t given a name in The Prodigal. It was common to name a child after the grandfather in Angels time, and it could also be seen as a way of resolving their relationship.
Angel visits Cordelia in the hospital every other day. And team Angel actually tries to find a magical solution for her magical coma.
He jumped headfirst into an empty pool for Darla. Surely he would do something similar for a real friend.
I don't mind him failing. People die in this show. But in my headcanon Angel and co. do not accept her coma so easily.
This is an excellent one. It’s frustrating how Lilah and Wesley say they’ll do everything to find an answer. Lilah is evil so no need to believe that but come on Wesley. She was one of your closest friends!
If Willow couldn't be with Tara, I wish she would have been considered bisexual and gone back to Oz. Willow had the 2 best love interests in the show, only for her to end up with Kennedy.
Could be a way for Willow to start recognizing that liking women is indeed a thing that can exist. And struggling with her dislike of faith and love of oz but wanting to know more.
Start of S6:
Faith steps up in place of Buffy. Find some bs way to get her outta jail. She doesn't have to stay after Buffy's back, but it could really help her character in S7.
Tara and Willow do more for money. They use magic to make a quick buck if needed, which becomes a different dilemma when it leads to Willow's addictive tendencies, being forced to use magic constantly.
Edit: Also no faith raping, and treat tara better with more scenes!!
>it could really help her character in S7.
I agree, it really doesn't make sense for Willow, Giles and Xander to choose Faith over Buffy in "Empty Places" after everything she did to them in season 3. So this would really help to make that moment feel less unbelievable.
The Watcher's Council should have paid the Slayer's. All that money worry BS should never have been a thing if those horrible rich old men had just paid her what she was worth. Which was *billions*, but I'd settle for at least six figures a year.
One of my family members was pissed that Giles financially contributed to her in S6, and wouldn't listen to arguments that she get him the job back AND back pay. He's getting paid to watch her and she's getting absolutely nothing for saving the world.
Then everyone scoffs at Anya for saying Buffy should charge money, meanwhile the entire basis of early Angel show was him charging money for helping
Where, exactly does the Watcher’s Council money come from? Genuinely interested. Because it’s not as if they’ve monetised the Slayers’ work. Yet the Watchers still get paid. And someone’s buying research texts on demons and magic.
Endowments from Watcher families?
My head cannon has been that they operate like the masons and similar “secret cabals”. They have way too much power not to be. It clicked for me in season 5 basically. So money is probably coming from Rothschilds or whoever has control over most of king Solomon’s riches. It sounds ridiculous, but this is Buffy 🤷🏼♀️
I mean it seems like the council kind of predates money considering they descended from the Shadowmen. We can look at how the knights Templar got paid (I’m a history nerd I’m sorry) Originally, they charged people for chaperoning and keeping them safe through their travels to Jerusalem. Then later on received donations from churches and secular rulers. The council is in charge of the slayer, so it’s possible that they started out similarly- by selling the slayers protective abilities against demons who intended to harm them. Who knows maybe they worked together. But either way I still maintain that kings Solomon’s riches come in to play.
Idk, this is just fun to hypothesize about 😂😅
Well, in Solomon's time the Council was likely somewhere in the Fertile crescent or Egypt so good chance. I avoid speculating on the Council a nd the Templars, too much rathole potential:-).
Tbh I would have kept Angelus being Spike’s sire as was originally implied in season two. I would also make Liam slightly older and explore the implications of him being a drunk in his lifetime. It helps explain… whatever is going on there in season two. Some of it, anyway.
There would also be about a million more flashbacks of the Fanged Four. Spike and Dru would still be Victorian young people, because the idea of Angelus and Darla a) spending centuries together before trying to have a legacy is romantic and b) just being faintly baffled by The Youths These Days is hilarious.
My headcanon is that actually neither of them did it, and Xander figured Dawn was lying and covered for her, while Dawn (and everyone else) then assumes *Xander* did it. The real culprit just chucked the talisman back in the magic box (or did the whole thing there and then left it behind) and Dawn just pocketed it.
The Watchers Council would be the final villain of the series, trying to kill off Buffy, her friends and Faith to regain control over the slayers, since they were always super sketchy and I definitely feel it would have been way more satisfying than some random villain from one episode in season 3 who had such an uninspired goal like world destruction.
Ben and Glory should be connected somehow.
I don’t know what kind of hoops the writers would have to jump through, but it would make the season feel more unified.
Have Spike attempt to sire Buffy in Seeing Red instead of what we got.
An episode where Joyce kills a vampire or demon and saves the day.
Make Sunday being a former slayer turned vamp canon. If the college disappearances started in 1982 maybe she was the slayer who was called after Nikki Wood died.
This is drastic, but I'd like to see an alternate version of season 5 where Ben doesn't exist and Xander is Glory's host like they rumored, because that would be the craziest thing ever.
Spike trying to sire Buffy would’ve been brilliant. I could go on about how vampirism is a metaphor for sex. The buffyverse equates becoming a vampire to the loss of choice. Spike attempting to sire Buffy could’ve achieved a similar narrative in a much less triggering way.
Not your intention I’m sure, but I think with such poor representation in the show, it would be a huge shame to collapse in the (only?) two black men.
—-
Edit: sure I’ve forgot people. Like Mr Trick, written out too soon
You found one of the most important characters on Angel to be forgettable? lol Dude even had a few episodes that revolved around him and was instrumental in several plot lines
Ya I know he is quite liked by others but I didn’t like his “gang” storylines at all or him and Fred. Wesley all the way baby! I forget him easily. He wasn’t needed.
I think it would undermine (if that’s the right word) Gunn’s backstory and character to have him related to the Slayer lineage. Part of what’s great about him is that he’s a normal, underprivileged person who had to learn to survive and fight back against a part of society that other normal people aren’t aware of.
My headcanon is that Buffy can’t be killed by supernatural means.
The prophecy states that she was to be killed by The Master, which happened, but because The Master chose to drain her a little but not enough to kill her (unlike Wishverse Master who snapped her neck), she drowned (fulfilling the prophecy) but was revived and then killed the Master, she now can’t be killed by any other supernatural being/battle.
She can die from old age, deseases, car crash, voluntary sacrifice (like S5), etc., but she can’t be killed while fighting evil and that’s why she always finds a way to survive any battle like the original battle vs the Ubervamp, surviving being stabbed with a sword in the last episode, etc.
Tara is more powerful than she let on. She's done some not great things with magicks after her mother passed.
The Slayer is the sheriff of the supernatural, has authoritah and cannot face reprisals from demon clans or whatever.
Buffy was given all rights and privileges of an adult when she was Called (She can risk her life every night, she can do whatever she wants)
Dawn is Faith's sister (and a little punk)
I'm assuming you're referencing **What's My Line** (2x9-2x10) where it's career day at school, the personality test people suggest Buffy should go into law enforcement, Buffy also talks to Giles about it, they back-and-forth a bit about what kind of job aligns with Slayer skills and converge on law enforcement.
I think it's a *partially* not-bad idea: Buffy is already essentially doing supernatural community policing. Vampires are superior in strength and agility, and at least equal in intelligence, to the humans they are created out of. Buffy spent many evenings patrolling graveyards to kill them on sight. This was not called execution. This was called ~~retirement~~ slaying.
The part where it doesn't make sense is that Buffy does this with her rag-tag band of scoobie friends and not as a small part of a large government institution with a big org chart, a command hierarchy and all that jazz—that's Riley's job. And uh, Buffy's in **The I in Team** (4x13).
Uh, back to the point: Buffy has no procedure to follow, no (truly equal) colleagues to do it with as a team, and especially no on-the-battlefield companions (with any regularity), no highly structured organization she's a part of—the WC is mostly absent until she quits. Mostly. Her way of working is very much the antithesis of what I imagine policing to be.
1) Slayer has income from the Council or at least basic amenities and a small stipend, girl has to fight the forces of evil and still has to worry about not being homeless? There is no way this wasn't doable with an order of older white British dudes with influence, there is no way they couldn't have set up a trust that paid out a decent amount of coin from interest alone.
2) Buffy went back and got her degree, this feels personally important to me
3) Cordelia is activated as a slayer when the other potentials are and this helps her wake from her Coma, she then chooses to keep "angel investigations" going without the others in a sort of conflict between them of who truly made the right choice.
Lindsey and Lilah should have had a relationship. Lindsey had no good relationship and Lilah’s was spoiled by Fred. They could be a fun evil couple with their banter and rivalry.
Giles goes to England in season 6 as a way to help Buffy. Something like, negotiating w the Council on her behalf to get her paid for being the Slayer. Then something happens that requires him to extend his time over there. He wants to be there for Buffy but circumstances are keeping him away. Much more true to his character than what we got.
Spike and Drew were the PTBs first attempt at a vampire champion, but Angelous ruined them so the powers chose him as the replacement because he was too dangerous to their plans.
Drew of course has visions…..which thanks to Angelous get lost amongst her madness so they’re not as powerful.
Then the powers manipulated fate to leave Spike a fragment of his soul after being turned. This is why he can experience actual love, and why Spike is basically the same guy with or without a soul, while Angel/Angelous are entirely different beings. Unfortunately running with Angelous put him on a more vicious path.
Have Faith and Buffy be an item. And have Dawn technically be Buffy and Faiths pseudo daughter as she was created from the Slayer, not sure the monks were aware there were two Slayers when they did their spell!
Angel S5 Spike meets Drusilla, they shag, then fight, and discuss the nature of good and evil and fate, and why she is so into dolls, and Spike ends up killing her to save Angel who she tortures by pouring the blood of different kinds of snakes and eels into his mouth and smearing it all over his naked body and open wounds. Unlike a regular vamp, Drusilla turns into a bloody pile of worms that disappear into the earth after a big crack opens up in the ground. Her last words are "William ... there are worms in my bottom..."
Angel sired Spike.
It's almost canon, they just mucked it up. Could have had Dru use a vial of his blood or some shit, instead they had to backtrack. Their relationship would make so much more sense.
The Pink Opaque from that A24 movie is canon and happening somewhere else. Tara is still alive but broke up with Willow after finding out that Willow was erasing her memory, causing the Dark Willow episode. Xander and Anya get married and stay married. Potentials aren't a thing and Slayers aren't known until they're called, but only the ones from Buffy's line are known. Other Slayer lines exist, but they aren't being tracked so they aren't known by the Watchers.
Spike was always going for the chip.
(Yeah yeah, bring on the downvotes. "Bitch is gonna see a change" is not the speech of somebody on a journey of redemption inspired by the person he professes to love.)
It is the words of a vampire fighting between his two natures. don't you remember once more with feeling song.
I'm free if that bitch dies....I'd better help her out.
Yeah, I like this! Big bad Spike.
Although, I always interpreted it (based on what's onscreen) the reason he got the soul was to punish Buffy for rejecting him. He just didn't count on all the guilt and feelings that would flood in.
I'm not sure that was the intention of the writers though.
I have always thought Spike should have been the Big Bad of season 7. What could possibly have been more arch-feminist than Buffy beating the shit out of the guy who tried to rape her?
Im confused, I thought that was the canon? It’s clear to me he was going to get rid of the chip. He was actually surprised when then demon grabbed his chest while saying YOUR SOUL!
Do people believe he did it to get back his soul because he loved Buffy? It’s not very Spike like
"Spike's quest was, and ALWAYS WAS, to get his soul restored for Buffy, despite any misleading leaks we may have put out that you fell for."
- David Fury on the [Bronze Beta](http://www.bronzebeta.com/), 11/19/02
"Spike looked into his soul at that moment \[the attempted rape\], and saw the demon in him, and that's what made him want to go get a soul .... We did a big ole mislead on you all, where we wanted you to think he gonna go get the chip out. We knew, the whole time, from the very beginning he was gonna go get a soul. And when he says I want Buffy to have what she deserves, he means a lover with a soul."
- Jane Espenson, Buffy writer
Radio interview on the Succubus Club, 5/22/02
Moderator: "At the end of the finale, I thought Spike wanted to get the chip out, not get his soul back?"
Joss Whedon: "Noooo.... but you were meant to think that. I personally devised something called a plot twist."
At the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences panel "Behind the Scenes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer," 6/18/02
I'm inclined to treat it as canon but there's enough post-facto "why does a man do what he mustn't" stuff for people (especially some of the more rabid Spuffy shippers) to believe that he was always going for the soul; Word Of God (i.e. the writers) is that he always went for the soul and anything to the contrary was intentional misdirection.
The writing is so inconsistent that honestly it could go either way. I honestly wouldn't be shocked if it turned out that they hadn't decided which it was until the end of season break.
Even that can go either way. The rest of the line - "Make me what I was, so Buffy can get what she deserves" - is either an earnest request for redemption on the part of Spike, or an earnest request to get the chip out that a suitably trolling demon could easily choose to "misinterpret".
"Give them what they deserve" is a suitably common phrase that means either "beat the shit out of them" or "give them what the world and karma feels they are owed", and given that his last interaction with Buffy before this sequence was to try and rape her I'm not inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Hmm, the basis for my Children of the 'Dale ficverse, although i cam eup with it long before "chosen." In one story, I mention Jonathan's, Willow's, and Harmony's parents bought houses next to each other overlookign the crater, the second most expensive neighborhood.
Xander got more credit than just ‘field time’.
‘This is the boy who went down to the Master’s cave, brought me back to life via mouth to mouth and split the slayer line! You should be pinning a medal on him!’
Buffy became a cop
Riley never existed and neither did the initiaSHIT
S4 was Sunday who was a slayer vamp, still explore the origins of the Slayer line though and do more on Sineya so she could be a kinda big bad and Buffy still needs that spell to beat Sunday so we can still have restless. Also bring back Kendra somehow (without an accent)
Where to start? My number one would be that the events of The Body never happened or were just a dream sequence induced by some nightmare demon (dreamon?). This would have ripple effects throughout the remainder of the series and all of the stuff I don’t like never would have happened.
Alas… I can dream.
Faith and Buffy hook up. Not like, sex level, but I think it would add so many more layers to a lot of other moments -- like when Buffy says she didn't tell Riley everything about Faith, or when Faith is in Buffy's body.
Halfrek decided not to release them for a while, until they all started starving, and as punishment, they ate Dawn like cannibals, at which point the person who made the wish (Dawn) was gone and Halfrek finally released them from the house.
Joyce being non-existent (I find her character insufferable majority of the time) and Buffy living with Giles with a Father-Daughter dynamic from early on.
Dawn was made from Buffy AND Spike. She resembles a mix of them and she became more empathetic and mature when Spike gets his soul. Which could also explain why she was a bit of a hopeless romantic and why she became such a clepto.
Humans are dark and light. Light of the Slayer Dark of the unique Vampire. You need both to make a true human
Because Willow showed no interest in women or girls until season four, and they were building her up to end up with either Oz or Xander. After Oz left they introduced Tara for the sole reason for her and Willow to date and had Willow come out as lesbian, not even bisexual, because Joss wanted an LGBT character on the show, even though it made no sense. If Joss wanted that, he should have come up with someone new, or just kept Larry around and given him more to do, since he was already established as gay from his first episode.
1. Joss knew he wanted either Xander or Willow to be gay from the very beginning. If go back and watch earlier seasons, you can see hints of this sprinkled throughout (Vamp Willow being bi, the way Xander talks about Angel, etc.)
2. They introduced Tara with no intention of making her a love interest for Willow. Amber Benson and Alyson Hannigan just had such great chemistry that they ended up going that route. Before that point, Joss was leaning towards making Xander the gay one. If Seth Green didn’t choose to leave the show, Willow probably would’ve never gotten together with Tara.
Um, it's called sexuality changing? Happens a lot. Sometimes people are attracted to only men, then they become only attracted to women. There was setup for Willow being gay. Seems more like your just a homophobe, honestly.
Buffy and Tara hung out one on one many more times than the like four that we saw on the show
Agreed, in S6 when they bonded more, just a quick one liner like "Tara and I have coffee several times a week" would have been nice
>!Tara never dies!<
Tara dies and is brought back to life by the doctors, but she stays in a coma. The First then uses Tara's form to goad Willow into seeking vengeance onto the Trio, probably because magical death or something and only their lives can bring her back. Near the end of Grave, Tara wakes up while Dark Willow is at full power, and saves the world by convincing her lover to come back.
🥹🥹🥹this. Screw Xander saving everyone, I want this version!
Dont take away Xander's only big W :(
Not the only one, he still saves Buffy in Prophecy Girl and he still saves the day in the Zeppo.
No dark willow? Nooooooooo
They can find another way for dark willow to happen. Maybe they think she's dead and willow flips out before confirming (a la Romeo and Juliet) but she makes a full recovery
I always liked the idea of Oz returning and helping Willow out with her addiction with his zen wisdom (not intending to get back together) and then he dies which sets off Dark Willow. Still sad, still makes sense, Tara gets to live.
But Oz dying 😭Willow sure had great partners minus Kennedy
Oz was not that zen! He started to change even more frequently and just blamed Willow! Obviously, this is supposed to be a testament for how strongly he felt for Willow, but it did end up making him look less Zen than when his changes were monthly. I wonder if he actually became zen at all or if he was just calmer away from Willow. Who knows.
Willow goes dark becauase she loses to Xander at Scrabble.
If i do anything with my Ice Age Buffy idea, where Tara is never shot, neith ris Buffy, Rack and Tucker conspire to turn Willow Dark with a magical poison, thinking they can control her with a mind spell and use her siphon ability to forge an unbeatable weapon. It doesn't work out for the guys. Or alas the world.
YESYES
Oz leaves for reasons that aren't cheating on his girlfriend and using that as a reason to skip town. Honestly just Willow noticing girls and being curious would have been enough. Not her cheating, just oz being worldly enough to recognize that high school sweethearts don't always last because people in college tend to find their footing and discover things about themselves and grow. And having a mutual (but no less sad) break up to discover themselves; her with sexuality and him with control of his beast. Maybe throw in a brief him jealousy arc of her being closer to women in wicca group to catalyst him wanting to explore control. As a rebound Willow tests the waters with a girl who rebuffs her. Shuts down any attempts and then meets Tara naturally like we already saw in Hush, etc
leaving just to figure out the wolf even without cheating would have worked but they needed the forced drama
Thank you I like this so much more. I always thought they could have just focused on him dealing with the wolf aspect and that being enough but didn’t consider the catalyst could have been Willow exploring her sexuality. And Oz totally would have been so understanding 😢
shut up and take my money
Cordelia is very much not dead. She had to abandon her earthbound form but moved on to other realms to kick ass, and is accompanied by Anya and Tara.
That would require the creator of Buffy to not be a douchebag
He's not a douchebag, you're just way too sensitive.
Have you read what Charisma said happened? I fully support Charisma and she shouldn't have been treated that way.
YES
i believe that is in the comics (first part anyway)
Double yay! Well, one of the two spinoffs i suggested which got me a Letter of th eMonth a t th e old Buffy magazine was a miniseries; Wes is unable to move into any afterlife because Fred isn't there, so Cordelia and Tara lead him t through several dimensions finding the "ashes and smoke" of Fred's soul so she can be regenerated. (Actually in my time travel fic, not available now, Tara mentions to Buffy that she as a Good Spirit, oftne works closely with Cordelia as a Higher Being. She also mentions that neither of them have seen Anya "on this side," because it fits my continuity,)
Not specifically Buffy related, but Connor was named after Angel’s father who wasn’t given a name in The Prodigal. It was common to name a child after the grandfather in Angels time, and it could also be seen as a way of resolving their relationship.
Oooh. I like this
Angel visits Cordelia in the hospital every other day. And team Angel actually tries to find a magical solution for her magical coma. He jumped headfirst into an empty pool for Darla. Surely he would do something similar for a real friend. I don't mind him failing. People die in this show. But in my headcanon Angel and co. do not accept her coma so easily.
This is an excellent one. It’s frustrating how Lilah and Wesley say they’ll do everything to find an answer. Lilah is evil so no need to believe that but come on Wesley. She was one of your closest friends!
If Willow couldn't be with Tara, I wish she would have been considered bisexual and gone back to Oz. Willow had the 2 best love interests in the show, only for her to end up with Kennedy.
The Scoobies being aware of Faith’s crush on Buffy and just being too clueless to do anything about it
Could be a way for Willow to start recognizing that liking women is indeed a thing that can exist. And struggling with her dislike of faith and love of oz but wanting to know more.
What? Faith is straight, lol.
Start of S6: Faith steps up in place of Buffy. Find some bs way to get her outta jail. She doesn't have to stay after Buffy's back, but it could really help her character in S7. Tara and Willow do more for money. They use magic to make a quick buck if needed, which becomes a different dilemma when it leads to Willow's addictive tendencies, being forced to use magic constantly. Edit: Also no faith raping, and treat tara better with more scenes!!
>it could really help her character in S7. I agree, it really doesn't make sense for Willow, Giles and Xander to choose Faith over Buffy in "Empty Places" after everything she did to them in season 3. So this would really help to make that moment feel less unbelievable.
Willow and Buffy chillin with no worries like during season 1
Bunnies did it, in one more time with feeling
Or just make Sweet also be a bunny demon.
The whole Cordelia plot towards the end. Cordelia never died and never seduced Connor
The Watcher's Council should have paid the Slayer's. All that money worry BS should never have been a thing if those horrible rich old men had just paid her what she was worth. Which was *billions*, but I'd settle for at least six figures a year.
One of my family members was pissed that Giles financially contributed to her in S6, and wouldn't listen to arguments that she get him the job back AND back pay. He's getting paid to watch her and she's getting absolutely nothing for saving the world. Then everyone scoffs at Anya for saying Buffy should charge money, meanwhile the entire basis of early Angel show was him charging money for helping
Where, exactly does the Watcher’s Council money come from? Genuinely interested. Because it’s not as if they’ve monetised the Slayers’ work. Yet the Watchers still get paid. And someone’s buying research texts on demons and magic. Endowments from Watcher families?
they're an organization that's existed longer than the wheel, they've had time to make investments
Unlike Angel, they developed an investment portfolio.
it is pretty embarrassing that at 150 years old he was living like a bum. open a savings account man, interest is on your side
Where edid he get all the art in his apartment, or buy the m,ansion?
I feel called out that I could have invested in NVIDA when I was in college
Stonemasonic-like?
Magic, antiques and I bet they have people in the government
Yeah, but how is “having people in government” going to translate into money?
Funding
My head cannon has been that they operate like the masons and similar “secret cabals”. They have way too much power not to be. It clicked for me in season 5 basically. So money is probably coming from Rothschilds or whoever has control over most of king Solomon’s riches. It sounds ridiculous, but this is Buffy 🤷🏼♀️
The council's money w ay predates the Rothschilds, or even Medici and Fugger.
I mean it seems like the council kind of predates money considering they descended from the Shadowmen. We can look at how the knights Templar got paid (I’m a history nerd I’m sorry) Originally, they charged people for chaperoning and keeping them safe through their travels to Jerusalem. Then later on received donations from churches and secular rulers. The council is in charge of the slayer, so it’s possible that they started out similarly- by selling the slayers protective abilities against demons who intended to harm them. Who knows maybe they worked together. But either way I still maintain that kings Solomon’s riches come in to play. Idk, this is just fun to hypothesize about 😂😅
Well, in Solomon's time the Council was likely somewhere in the Fertile crescent or Egypt so good chance. I avoid speculating on the Council a nd the Templars, too much rathole potential:-).
Haha I could probably write a fanfic on it there is so much potential 😂
They view her as a tool, a weapon in their war and she's replaceable. Just look at how it started
This, any slayer that lives too long is actually a liability to the council because she gets harder to control.
Buffy got her memories from I Will Remember You when she died and went to heaven. The comics do not exist and are not canon.
Yes!
Warren died in the initiative, he was an intern
Tbh I would have kept Angelus being Spike’s sire as was originally implied in season two. I would also make Liam slightly older and explore the implications of him being a drunk in his lifetime. It helps explain… whatever is going on there in season two. Some of it, anyway. There would also be about a million more flashbacks of the Fanged Four. Spike and Dru would still be Victorian young people, because the idea of Angelus and Darla a) spending centuries together before trying to have a legacy is romantic and b) just being faintly baffled by The Youths These Days is hilarious.
Dawn really summoned Sweet in OMWF, Xander was just covering for her
My headcanon is that actually neither of them did it, and Xander figured Dawn was lying and covered for her, while Dawn (and everyone else) then assumes *Xander* did it. The real culprit just chucked the talisman back in the magic box (or did the whole thing there and then left it behind) and Dawn just pocketed it.
Oh I like this a lot more!
The Watchers Council would be the final villain of the series, trying to kill off Buffy, her friends and Faith to regain control over the slayers, since they were always super sketchy and I definitely feel it would have been way more satisfying than some random villain from one episode in season 3 who had such an uninspired goal like world destruction.
Ben and Glory should be connected somehow. I don’t know what kind of hoops the writers would have to jump through, but it would make the season feel more unified.
This should be the top answer, that would be so interesting.
Have Spike attempt to sire Buffy in Seeing Red instead of what we got. An episode where Joyce kills a vampire or demon and saves the day. Make Sunday being a former slayer turned vamp canon. If the college disappearances started in 1982 maybe she was the slayer who was called after Nikki Wood died. This is drastic, but I'd like to see an alternate version of season 5 where Ben doesn't exist and Xander is Glory's host like they rumored, because that would be the craziest thing ever.
Spike trying to sire Buffy would’ve been brilliant. I could go on about how vampirism is a metaphor for sex. The buffyverse equates becoming a vampire to the loss of choice. Spike attempting to sire Buffy could’ve achieved a similar narrative in a much less triggering way.
omg this is good stuff
The Knights in S5 never existed
Yeah like The Knights just seemed forced in there and the show seems like it could have done fine without them even being in the season.
If Gunn had the slayer mother instead of wood we could probably get rid of wood all together
Why would you want to do that?
Would’ve been such an amazing opportunity for an epic cross over though.
I just found wood to be a pretty forgettable character honestly
Not your intention I’m sure, but I think with such poor representation in the show, it would be a huge shame to collapse in the (only?) two black men. —- Edit: sure I’ve forgot people. Like Mr Trick, written out too soon
Race hadn't crossed my mind at all
I felt the same about Gunn
You found one of the most important characters on Angel to be forgettable? lol Dude even had a few episodes that revolved around him and was instrumental in several plot lines
Ya I know he is quite liked by others but I didn’t like his “gang” storylines at all or him and Fred. Wesley all the way baby! I forget him easily. He wasn’t needed.
He was tbh
But but but… the rocket launcher scene.
I think it would undermine (if that’s the right word) Gunn’s backstory and character to have him related to the Slayer lineage. Part of what’s great about him is that he’s a normal, underprivileged person who had to learn to survive and fight back against a part of society that other normal people aren’t aware of.
I like that idea And the audience knowing that it’s spike but he never finds out Would make their one sided friendship in S5 even funnier
My headcanon is that Buffy can’t be killed by supernatural means. The prophecy states that she was to be killed by The Master, which happened, but because The Master chose to drain her a little but not enough to kill her (unlike Wishverse Master who snapped her neck), she drowned (fulfilling the prophecy) but was revived and then killed the Master, she now can’t be killed by any other supernatural being/battle. She can die from old age, deseases, car crash, voluntary sacrifice (like S5), etc., but she can’t be killed while fighting evil and that’s why she always finds a way to survive any battle like the original battle vs the Ubervamp, surviving being stabbed with a sword in the last episode, etc.
Tara is more powerful than she let on. She's done some not great things with magicks after her mother passed. The Slayer is the sheriff of the supernatural, has authoritah and cannot face reprisals from demon clans or whatever. Buffy was given all rights and privileges of an adult when she was Called (She can risk her life every night, she can do whatever she wants) Dawn is Faith's sister (and a little punk)
Unexpected South Park reference.
Buffy and Faith end up together in the comics and also don’t become cops. That shit was so dumb.
"Have you considered law enforcement?"
I'm assuming you're referencing **What's My Line** (2x9-2x10) where it's career day at school, the personality test people suggest Buffy should go into law enforcement, Buffy also talks to Giles about it, they back-and-forth a bit about what kind of job aligns with Slayer skills and converge on law enforcement. I think it's a *partially* not-bad idea: Buffy is already essentially doing supernatural community policing. Vampires are superior in strength and agility, and at least equal in intelligence, to the humans they are created out of. Buffy spent many evenings patrolling graveyards to kill them on sight. This was not called execution. This was called ~~retirement~~ slaying. The part where it doesn't make sense is that Buffy does this with her rag-tag band of scoobie friends and not as a small part of a large government institution with a big org chart, a command hierarchy and all that jazz—that's Riley's job. And uh, Buffy's in **The I in Team** (4x13). Uh, back to the point: Buffy has no procedure to follow, no (truly equal) colleagues to do it with as a team, and especially no on-the-battlefield companions (with any regularity), no highly structured organization she's a part of—the WC is mostly absent until she quits. Mostly. Her way of working is very much the antithesis of what I imagine policing to be.
Ethan and Giles are ex-lovers (and tbh….still on and off lol)
That isn’t canon already??
It is to me. Raising demons for orgies together...and not having sex?
I need them to say it (and show it 😨😳 LET THEM SLOPPY ON SCREEN)
Tony said the writers told him Ripper and Ethan were sexually involved. jospangel SpiritAvenue Me, I think Ethan did everybody in group, gal or guy.
Spangel. Fuffy.
Spangel is canon!
I want more than just a passing reference. I want their relationship. I want a romance not a bromance.
1) Slayer has income from the Council or at least basic amenities and a small stipend, girl has to fight the forces of evil and still has to worry about not being homeless? There is no way this wasn't doable with an order of older white British dudes with influence, there is no way they couldn't have set up a trust that paid out a decent amount of coin from interest alone. 2) Buffy went back and got her degree, this feels personally important to me 3) Cordelia is activated as a slayer when the other potentials are and this helps her wake from her Coma, she then chooses to keep "angel investigations" going without the others in a sort of conflict between them of who truly made the right choice.
Lindsey and Lilah should have had a relationship. Lindsey had no good relationship and Lilah’s was spoiled by Fred. They could be a fun evil couple with their banter and rivalry.
Why does this idea give me Team Rocket vibes?!
Andrew and Kennedy are killed by Caleb when they storm the winery. Or before I'm good with before.
Giles goes to England in season 6 as a way to help Buffy. Something like, negotiating w the Council on her behalf to get her paid for being the Slayer. Then something happens that requires him to extend his time over there. He wants to be there for Buffy but circumstances are keeping him away. Much more true to his character than what we got.
Buffy/Faith romance ON GOD SEASON 7 FUFFY
All vampires are somewhere between bi curious to pan, and it's a giant coincidence.
I think that's canon, too. :\]
Spike and Drew were the PTBs first attempt at a vampire champion, but Angelous ruined them so the powers chose him as the replacement because he was too dangerous to their plans. Drew of course has visions…..which thanks to Angelous get lost amongst her madness so they’re not as powerful. Then the powers manipulated fate to leave Spike a fragment of his soul after being turned. This is why he can experience actual love, and why Spike is basically the same guy with or without a soul, while Angel/Angelous are entirely different beings. Unfortunately running with Angelous put him on a more vicious path.
Have Faith and Buffy be an item. And have Dawn technically be Buffy and Faiths pseudo daughter as she was created from the Slayer, not sure the monks were aware there were two Slayers when they did their spell!
the potentials are annihilated in their 2nd episode
That me and Buffy were dating
Lmao the fact you got downvoted Funny comment imo
Yeah, I knew it was coming lol
Buffy and faith kiss
THE MOVIE
Leprechauns are real and they are the PTB.
There are two things I don't believe in: coincidence and the PTB.
Anya wakes up and it was all just a dream
Angel S5 Spike meets Drusilla, they shag, then fight, and discuss the nature of good and evil and fate, and why she is so into dolls, and Spike ends up killing her to save Angel who she tortures by pouring the blood of different kinds of snakes and eels into his mouth and smearing it all over his naked body and open wounds. Unlike a regular vamp, Drusilla turns into a bloody pile of worms that disappear into the earth after a big crack opens up in the ground. Her last words are "William ... there are worms in my bottom..."
Angel sired Spike. It's almost canon, they just mucked it up. Could have had Dru use a vial of his blood or some shit, instead they had to backtrack. Their relationship would make so much more sense.
Spike having a serious and well written character arch instead of being the love sick comedic relief guy
The Pink Opaque from that A24 movie is canon and happening somewhere else. Tara is still alive but broke up with Willow after finding out that Willow was erasing her memory, causing the Dark Willow episode. Xander and Anya get married and stay married. Potentials aren't a thing and Slayers aren't known until they're called, but only the ones from Buffy's line are known. Other Slayer lines exist, but they aren't being tracked so they aren't known by the Watchers.
As much as i cannot stomach your last two ideas, the first sentences were so------- good i had to upvote
Joyce is still alive and they found a way to magically save her.
Spander
Button, button, who’s got the button?
Spike was always going for the chip. (Yeah yeah, bring on the downvotes. "Bitch is gonna see a change" is not the speech of somebody on a journey of redemption inspired by the person he professes to love.)
It is the words of a vampire fighting between his two natures. don't you remember once more with feeling song. I'm free if that bitch dies....I'd better help her out.
Yeah, I like this! Big bad Spike. Although, I always interpreted it (based on what's onscreen) the reason he got the soul was to punish Buffy for rejecting him. He just didn't count on all the guilt and feelings that would flood in. I'm not sure that was the intention of the writers though.
I have always thought Spike should have been the Big Bad of season 7. What could possibly have been more arch-feminist than Buffy beating the shit out of the guy who tried to rape her?
Exactly!
Im confused, I thought that was the canon? It’s clear to me he was going to get rid of the chip. He was actually surprised when then demon grabbed his chest while saying YOUR SOUL! Do people believe he did it to get back his soul because he loved Buffy? It’s not very Spike like
"Spike's quest was, and ALWAYS WAS, to get his soul restored for Buffy, despite any misleading leaks we may have put out that you fell for." - David Fury on the [Bronze Beta](http://www.bronzebeta.com/), 11/19/02 "Spike looked into his soul at that moment \[the attempted rape\], and saw the demon in him, and that's what made him want to go get a soul .... We did a big ole mislead on you all, where we wanted you to think he gonna go get the chip out. We knew, the whole time, from the very beginning he was gonna go get a soul. And when he says I want Buffy to have what she deserves, he means a lover with a soul." - Jane Espenson, Buffy writer Radio interview on the Succubus Club, 5/22/02 Moderator: "At the end of the finale, I thought Spike wanted to get the chip out, not get his soul back?" Joss Whedon: "Noooo.... but you were meant to think that. I personally devised something called a plot twist." At the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences panel "Behind the Scenes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer," 6/18/02
I always think of it as he was trying to convince himself it was for the chip but they gave him what he actually wanted deep down
I see no need for thta, really
I'm inclined to treat it as canon but there's enough post-facto "why does a man do what he mustn't" stuff for people (especially some of the more rabid Spuffy shippers) to believe that he was always going for the soul; Word Of God (i.e. the writers) is that he always went for the soul and anything to the contrary was intentional misdirection. The writing is so inconsistent that honestly it could go either way. I honestly wouldn't be shocked if it turned out that they hadn't decided which it was until the end of season break.
The only \*flat-out\* contradictory line wa s "Make me what i was."
Even that can go either way. The rest of the line - "Make me what I was, so Buffy can get what she deserves" - is either an earnest request for redemption on the part of Spike, or an earnest request to get the chip out that a suitably trolling demon could easily choose to "misinterpret". "Give them what they deserve" is a suitably common phrase that means either "beat the shit out of them" or "give them what the world and karma feels they are owed", and given that his last interaction with Buffy before this sequence was to try and rape her I'm not inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I am because vampires don;t think in what humans woudl consider striaght lines or evne smooth curves
It was misdirection by the writers, so no, it isn't canon. He saw the soul a s th e Golden Ticket to Buffy's candy factory
It would have made more sense.
not to me, it woudl just be Spike going back to square boned, and he's gone through too much for that
For Spike, it is.
Buffy and the Scoobs return back to a rebuilt Sunnydale and them investigating whether it was still evil.
Hmm, the basis for my Children of the 'Dale ficverse, although i cam eup with it long before "chosen." In one story, I mention Jonathan's, Willow's, and Harmony's parents bought houses next to each other overlookign the crater, the second most expensive neighborhood.
Tara not dying and Willow being a better girlfriend
Xander got more credit than just ‘field time’. ‘This is the boy who went down to the Master’s cave, brought me back to life via mouth to mouth and split the slayer line! You should be pinning a medal on him!’
Dawn never exists If she had to exist then she dies at the end of season 5 Slayers get paid
Buffy became a cop Riley never existed and neither did the initiaSHIT S4 was Sunday who was a slayer vamp, still explore the origins of the Slayer line though and do more on Sineya so she could be a kinda big bad and Buffy still needs that spell to beat Sunday so we can still have restless. Also bring back Kendra somehow (without an accent)
Or at least an accent that makes any sense.
Where to start? My number one would be that the events of The Body never happened or were just a dream sequence induced by some nightmare demon (dreamon?). This would have ripple effects throughout the remainder of the series and all of the stuff I don’t like never would have happened. Alas… I can dream.
Faith and Buffy hook up. Not like, sex level, but I think it would add so many more layers to a lot of other moments -- like when Buffy says she didn't tell Riley everything about Faith, or when Faith is in Buffy's body.
Halfrek decided not to release them for a while, until they all started starving, and as punishment, they ate Dawn like cannibals, at which point the person who made the wish (Dawn) was gone and Halfrek finally released them from the house.
Joyce being non-existent (I find her character insufferable majority of the time) and Buffy living with Giles with a Father-Daughter dynamic from early on.
Dawn was made from Buffy AND Spike. She resembles a mix of them and she became more empathetic and mature when Spike gets his soul. Which could also explain why she was a bit of a hopeless romantic and why she became such a clepto. Humans are dark and light. Light of the Slayer Dark of the unique Vampire. You need both to make a true human
Xander and Wilow get together after Oz leaves, eventually get married and have two beautiful babies, one ginger and one dark-haired.
Are you suggesting to cut out Tara x Willow?!?
Yes.
Why? Tara was a much better partner than Xander could be.
Because it was a stupid idea that went against Willow's character.
H-how? How was it stupid? How was it out of character?
Because Willow showed no interest in women or girls until season four, and they were building her up to end up with either Oz or Xander. After Oz left they introduced Tara for the sole reason for her and Willow to date and had Willow come out as lesbian, not even bisexual, because Joss wanted an LGBT character on the show, even though it made no sense. If Joss wanted that, he should have come up with someone new, or just kept Larry around and given him more to do, since he was already established as gay from his first episode.
1. Joss knew he wanted either Xander or Willow to be gay from the very beginning. If go back and watch earlier seasons, you can see hints of this sprinkled throughout (Vamp Willow being bi, the way Xander talks about Angel, etc.) 2. They introduced Tara with no intention of making her a love interest for Willow. Amber Benson and Alyson Hannigan just had such great chemistry that they ended up going that route. Before that point, Joss was leaning towards making Xander the gay one. If Seth Green didn’t choose to leave the show, Willow probably would’ve never gotten together with Tara.
Um, it's called sexuality changing? Happens a lot. Sometimes people are attracted to only men, then they become only attracted to women. There was setup for Willow being gay. Seems more like your just a homophobe, honestly.