On The First Evil

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Hey lastseasons lovers!

 

I had a hectic week and I haven't read yet the essays that have been posted since this community started, but I will...

I don't write fanfic and I don't make artwork, and my English suck...but here' s my first contribution.

This is a long post, so I apologize in advance for boring you to death, but I tried to summarize my thoughts about the First Evil and my reading of season 7 (from various posts I made over the years on the Buffy Cross and Stake Spoiler Board) and I realized I couldn't make my theory clear enough without taking examples...I blame it on English not being my native language!

I have a theory that some of the LJ readers may know or not. According to me, the First Evil was not  a "real character" but a plot device (a bit like the Vice character which is one of the main players in the psychomachia of a typical morality play: the battle for the hero's soul waged by good and evil forces, the little devil on the hero's shoulder, whispering in his ear…) used to show an interior struggle going on inside of the characters (something the writers already used in "Amends" to make Angel realize things about himself and to lead him slowly towards L.A), and projected for us on the screen, hence the fact the FE was not corporeal and was a shapeshifter (a malleable Vice!).
Its name is a typical aptronym and I think that in season 7, we actually got a sort of  sophisticated psychomachia, that is an externalized dramatization of a psychological and spiritual conflict: the battle between the forces of good and evil in the human soul.  In Christian morality plays those forces used to come from either God or the Devil. In the Jossverse, I think they simply come from human nature.
 
The harbingers are humans who stopped fighting their inner evil, who gave in so they embraced darkness (so of course they have to be blind!)...worshipping it. We NEVER saw them talking to the FE or even seeing it. That would have been pointless. They were already a lost cause. So thanks to the FE arc, we witnessed the journey of our beloved characters going towards “salvation” through various obstacles while the new big bad guy, Caleb, went towards his own ruin, sinking into evil and womenphobia (I know this word doesn’t exist!).

Many viewers complained about the supposed inconsistencies and loopholse of season 7, saying that the FE’s plans sucked or were never achieved. My answer, is that there was no plan. The FE wasn’t stupid, nor was it smart. The FE wasn’t a character, but the result, the consequences of human potential to do evil. Its source was in humanity, its voice echoed the little voices going on in the character’s psyches.
Every time the FE was SHOWN on screen, it was to tell something about our main characters struggling against their fears/inner demons or being assaulted, haunted by them. It was a pivotal moment for Angel's journey in “Amends”, hence his famous line about the man, not the vampire, in him that "needs killing".
 
Basically Evil doesn't come from an outer source but lies within the people, devouring them from beneath. When Buffy was resurrected in season 6, that dark part got stronger, many character echoing that darkness Buffy herself was experiencing (btw I’ve always thought that characters were often kinda avatars of Buffy herself, a plot device the writers recalled in “Earshot” about Shakespeare’s Othello, and Iago being actually the representation of Othello’s dark part…): Warren, Andrew and Jonathan chose the bad side, Willow went evil, tortured, killed, tried to destroy the world;  Xander was overwhelmed by his fears and left Anya, Dawn felt ignored and stole, Spike hurt the woman he loved…Buffy was down and her affair with Spike caused a lot of pain to both of them.
In season 7, we saw the aftermaths of what happened in the previous season.
Buffy tried to escape her depression, Willow tried to "be Willow" again, Spike had to deal with his soul and bloody memories, Dawn had to find her place, Anya had to deal with the fact she was a Vengence Demon again, Xander had to deal with the mess he made of his love life ...
 
Xander was the first one to find a certain serenity, after "Selfless". So he never saw the FE. As for Anya, she made her choice when she asked D'Hoffryn to undo what she had done. When she became human again, her storyline was over and her death was foreshadowed. No need to make her face the FE.
But for the others the struggle went on, because they were full of fears/anger: Dawn, Willow, the Potentials, Faith, Wood, Andrew, Buffy and of course, Spike.

 

The screen we got was a kind of mirror reflecting all those inner struggles. For instance when Spike is facing the FE wearing his face or Buffy's face in "Sleeper", he's actually struggling against his own demons/fears, same with Willow facing her fears through her conversation with First!Cassie, likewise with Faith and First!Mayor etc...
The characters won the war not only because Buffy killed Caleb with the Scythe and the amulet destroyed the ubervamps but mostly because they didn't give in the darkness, unlike Caleb who had embraced the evil hence the metaphor of the merging. The FE wasn’t destroyed, it simply vanished from screen in the end.
 
So the only ones who never saw the FE on the show were Giles, Anya and Xander. Giles didn’t have a storyline of his own in season 7, he was only there to serve Buffy’s journey. So making him see the FE was pointless.
 
Spike stopped seeing it after “Showtime” because he didn’t give up, and some viewers wondered why the heck the FE quit being interested in Spike while it was supposed to be a big plan.
 
 
Spike is a good example to study. It’s through him that the FE was re-introduced on the show (last time it was through Angel, the other souled vampire, aka the other character being the epitome of an inner war!). Did the FE triggered him?
 
In “Sleeper” Aimee Mann sang Pavlov’s Bell and the episode portrayed dog Spike. We find out that Spike is feeding and siring away because he’s triggered. The song “Early One Morning” is the bell that turns him into a predator.  Was the FE a new Pavlov?
 
First I must say that the episode is one of my favourite, if not my favourite, episodes from season 7. It reminds me of the movie “M” by Fritz Lang. You probably know that this 1931 film is about a serial killer, a children murderer probably inspired by a real mass murderer who was called the vampire of Düsseldorf.
 
“Sleeper” immediately called that movie to my mind. Especially the scene when Spike goes out after knocking out Xander. The scene was wonderfully directed, showing the  predator among the crowd just like in “M”. 
 
Besides as in “Sleeper” there’s a song tied to the process of  killing in Lang’s film.
 
“M” was one of the very first movies with audio track. Fritz Lang handled the new medium of sound in a very professional manner, employing off-voices and personal music themes. He even decided to link a specific melody (Grieg's “Hall Of The Mountain King” from Peer Gynt ) to the dangerous state of the murderer. In one of the most impressive scenes of the movie, the character tries to suppress his devious instincts and as he struggles to control himself he starts whistling the trademark melody until his transformation into the killer is complete!
 
At the beginning of “Sleeper”, we can see Spike burying his last victim (the blond from CWDP) and humming “Early One Morning”.  Notice that it’s Spike, a corporeal Spike, not FE!Spike. I think it’s significant.  Later we see a harmonica player changing his tune when Spike passes by. Then the tune played with the harmonica becomes “Early One Morning”. Is that a fact? Was the harmonica man in collision with the FE or was it a mere coincidence? Or was it only the music in Spike’s head?
 
IMO, Spike heard a folk music but, because of his condition, because of his new souled status, that music called “Early one Morning” to his mind. I am not saying that it’s his POV that we see on screen, because to me a POV is a conscious view, the way someone sees and thinks the world, or the way we see the world through that person’s eyes (I wish my English were better so I could be clearer). I think that ME showed us metaphorically what is happening in Spike, beneath the surface ( “in” not through Spike’s eyes) which is different. The writers mixed that inner story (mirrored elsewhere by other similar inner struggles that the other characters experiment in season 7) with an actual story (in “Sleeper”, Buffy investigating and confronting him).
 
Spike seems to be unaware of the harmonica man btw. Later in the basement (the basement is a classic metaphor of the subconscious btw) he sees his double and hears him singing the song. Buffy doesn’t hear anything (she is on the plan of the actual story so she can’t hear it!), she only sees Spike being confused and then turning into a killer. Yet in “Never Leave Me” the camera gives us Buffy’s POV this time when she’s about to enter her room. We don’t see anything since she’s behind the closed door but along with her we can hear Spike talking and singing “Early One Morning”.  She could hear the song this time! She enters and this dialogue ensues:
 
BUFFY I heard you through the door. Who were you talking to?
SPIKE Nobody. I was just, uh, keeping myself company

She could hear him because it wasn’t First!Spike but simply evil Spike singing, it was Spike and only Spike since the beginning. Like in “M”, the song is the key of his evil behaviour. It’s like he sings his way into evil.
 
Why? Because it’s precisely what is repressed, what lies “in the basement”, in the subconscious, that triggers disturbed behaviour.
 
If the FE were such a powerful entity, capable to be in many places at the same time (CWDP), capable to stay invisible and inaudible to certain people being in the same room and to appear only to one person (Sleeper, Empty Places when Buffy can’t see First!Buffy talking to Caleb), don’t you think that Buffy would have been unable to hear the singing voice through the door in NLM?
 
Later in LMPTM, we discovered why “Early One Morning” was Spike’s trigger.
Spike is Pavlov and his dog at the same time. The trigger was the song William’s loving mother used to sing for him. But William accepted Dru’s offer (FFL) while Mother was waiting for him, later he chose to sire his mother, and eventually he chose to dust her because she said she didn’t love him (had never loved him even !). And not being loved by THE Woman of his life was Spike’s biggest fear.
 
Getting back his soul activated the trigger, because with a conscience Spike couldn’t live with those unbearable memories and those fears. He keeps saying that he doesn’t remember anything in NLM and in “Sleeper” he admits he seeks oblivion. The more he does evil the more he needs to forget of course. It’s a vicious circle! His fears make him weak and allow the evil to overcome his being. Oblivion by doing evil is the fastest, the easiest path. It’s harder to live with memories, to face one’s fears.
 
Buffy The Vampires Slayer was the hardest road for Spike the vampire, Slayer of Slayers. She was hard to get, hard to satisfy, hard to love….hard to deserve. And he sought his soul for her, a soul that made everything harder.
Buffy was also tied to painful memories (“I hurt the girl”). And when he tasted Buffy’s blood in “Sleeper” (an idea I found wonderful and that reminded me of the dead Ulyss had to feed with blood to make them remember!) he had flash-backs, he remembered his crimes and stopped being under the influence of his evil double, at least for a little while. Repression is the source of Spike’s evil actions. Memories are his salvation.
He asked for Buffy’s help in BY, in “Help” and in “Sleeper” when he called her on her cell. He wanted her to save him but feared that she wouldn’t do it, hence the Buffy!First taunting him. In “Help” we saw Spike punching himself, trying to punish himself for the AR. IMO he never stops doing it. Hence the torture he endured later in the Ubervamp’s lair (the Ubervamp that was made from his own blood !). The inner struggle I see here is between the fears that could lead him to give into evil, and the faith he has in Buffy’s words, and also between his wish to forget and his need to be punished.
 
When Buffy comes to rescue him (and by killing the ubervamp that was made out of his blood, she’s already saved him from his dark side, metaphorically speaking!) at the end of “Show time”, Spike isn’t completely saved yet. He has to save himself by facing his other fears…what he does in LMPTM. Then the trigger becomes ineffective because the one who set it was the only one who could remove it…
 
So Spike stopped being “in touch” with the FE because he won his inner struggle, which became obvious in LMPTM when he became his own man.  Buffy believed in him so he could be strong. It’s only when his insecurities showed up with the return of Angel that he heard that inner voice (First!Buffy) saying “the bitch” while Buffy was kissing Angel.
 
And Buffy was the last character to face the FE. As I said above, she didn’t even see the FE while *we* could see the FE talking to Caleb in front of her…until she really stopped being in denial about a lot of stuff, and faced her fears in “Chosen”, and of course the FE looked like herself. That was the end of a self-analysis started in CWDP with Holden Webster.
 
Dawn is an other interesting example. According to the writers, she saw the FE in CWDP, while the FE was impersonating Joyce.
Dawn was confused then, she ddin’t understand her sister (“Him”), she felt helpless, vulnerable, an outsider, but she'd like to be strong and special (cf Potential later !) and also she missed her mom, so at the same time she needed to be protected and she feared that Buffy might not do it this time (in season 7 they are all dealing with the aftermaths of season 6)...so this is exactly what we/she saw.
 
Joyce on the couch first (the stuff Dawn’s nightmares were made on), attacked by a dark beast, with danger around (the poltergeist)that Dawn managed to chase away, and then a benevolent Joyce trying to communicate with her in order to protect her, and voicing her fears about Buffy not choosing her.

That scene recalled s5 and s6 (The Body, Dawn being always attacked or subdued or threatened) but was actually leading us straight to "Potential" that was essential in Dawn's journey. She became "brave Dawn". For the first time, it wasn't really tuesday, and Dawn in trouble wasn't rescued by The Slayer, she handled the situation herself and also gave up the Slayerness to Amanda. She was no longer s5 or s6 Dawn...Dawn won her inner struggle too.

 

Some night ago while I was thinking of the parallels between BTVS and religious culture, I came up with the idea that the writers actually represented the muslim notion of Jihad through season 7. Or rather it is a way to read it, if you follow my theory about the FE.
We often translate Jihad as Holy War, forgetting what the word Jihad really means. First of all it is an inner struggle, the struggle within the soul of a believer to conform his life to the will of Allah. It is nothing but an idea of cleaning, getting rid of the evil that is inside of everybody.
Of course by extension, the concept of Jihad justified and unfortunately keeps justifying, an outer fight, a war against those who are considered as evil agents (because they gave in the evil) corrupting the world, hence the crusades and holy wars of the History. Looks like it's easier to fight outside than on the inside. Weak human beings always prefer the easiest way...and evil can be so relative.
BTVS season 7 is a perfect example of the representation of the Jihad, a struggle that occured on inside and outside at once with general Buffy and her team fighting back a double Big Bad: themselves as the FE for the inner struggle, Caleb and his minions( harbingers and ubervamps) for the outer war.
The writers may not have realized this, and my theory of the FE may be completely inaccurate but this parallel kept me busy some time....

 

Comments

[elisi]

I am all speechless at your brilliance! Will be back later!

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Heu...oh...well, I guess you gave me flowers after all! ;- )

[elisi]

I've been thinking about your theory a lot, and I might just possibly have to write a whole post on the subject since it'll probably be too short for a comment. *sigh* Sometimes I wish I could switch my brain off.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Very interesting. I think you are right about the parallels between Spike and Peter Lorre in M, I hadn't made the connection before but now as I think about it...

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

M is such a great movie.

[lillianmorgan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for such a broad and though-provoking essay. You make some compelling comparisons - I especially enjoyed how you thought about who the FE didn't contact. That's very telling isn't it? And something I'm not sure I've seen before.
I love how you compared Fritz Lang's 'M' to 'Sleeper' that was wonderful.
In Christian morality plays those forces used to come from either God or the Devil. In the Jossverse, I think they simply come from human nature.
What a very good point! Right from the beginning the demons were used as a metaphor for the demons you face during high school, so we can see that Joss always wanted to make this a real human drama.
Later in the basement (the basement is a classic metaphor of the subconscious btw) he sees his double and hears him singing the song.
Ah brilliant!
Caleb, went towards his own ruin, seeking into evil and womenphobia (I know this word doesn’t exist!).
I'm not sure but the word you might be looking for is misogynist which means woman-hater. Although in some ways, he still 'appreciated' a woman, didn't he? ::shivers::
I came up with the idea that the writers actually represented the muslim notion of Jihad through season 7.
Another interesting parallel.
Thanks for such an interesting essay!

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Actually I didn't use "mysoginist" on purpose, I wanted an expression with the word "phobia" because Caleb is a good example of hatred fed by fear. He's your typical serial killer, but he also represents a patriarchal world (echoed by his priest costume...as Giles said in "Restless", "props" are important!)afraid of the female power, just like the Harbingers (all males of course), Wood, the Shadow Men, Giles and the Council of Watchers.

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

Very intriguing. I didn't realize that neither Giles, nor Xander have never met the First.

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Merci chérie!

Alors toujours aussi froid?

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

On a froid de loup ici a Moscou - -30C. La seule chose qui me tient chaud est la communauté de Jossverse avec ces discussions passionées.

[untitleddemo.livejournal.com]

Entirely fascinating and intelligent. Your theory really adds a depth to the FE, and makes the storyline even more chilling. I especially like how you point out that once a character achieves a sort of self-peace, the first stops haunting them. Your arguments seem well thought out and entirely plausible. Thank you for this thought provoking essay!

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Not many posters agreed with my theory when I posted it on the C&S 2 years ago...especially when they didn't like season 7!

[jamalov29.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this. It was captivating and you made very interesting points.
The first evil as inner demons and deepest fears worked very well for me.I like your analysis of season 6 too.
My favorite lines were about Spike, and why the FE seemed no more interested in him after a while.
at the end of “Show time”, Spike isn’t completely saved yet. He has to save himself by facing his other fears…what he does in LMPTM. Then the trigger becomes ineffective because the one who set it was the only one who could remove it…
Absolutely.And this is serves your theory . Spike won .We saw his struggles against what he feared the most and he succeeded in making those voices silent.

Your comparison between Spike and M was perfectly accurate.

Enjoyed your words on Buffy , Dawn , the others. Joss said it was all about power.
Your thoughts show the same : the inner strength lying in each character , their struggle , and their loss or victory over the evil calling.

Great essay , Laurence! :)

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Merci Caroline!

I guess I have to post my theory about season 6, now that you've mentioned it. LOL

[cal-turner.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this. Very interesting and insightful. :)

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Thank you reading!

[fotada.livejournal.com]

Excellent thoughts! I actually would have loved to see an interaction between Anya and the First Evil, because I think she would have made mincemeat of him/her/it, since she is so blunt. I thought the best use of the FE was when it appeared as the Mayor for Faith.

P.S. Your icon is hot!

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Maybe the Anya/FE confrontation didn't happen because Anya was no longer human at the beginning of season 6...I know one could argue that neither was Spike, but having his soul back, Spike was probably "more human" than VD Anya.

Besides Anya's problem wasn't really about choosing between good or evil (hence her lack of remorse), I think it was something else. Her storyline has always been about "not fitting in". She didn't fit in when she was human, she couldn't fit in when she became human again after "The Wish"...and in season 7 she was more lost than ever because she no longer fit in as a VD either. "Selfless" was a good title.

[cordelianne.livejournal.com]

This is a really fascinating! I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on the First Evil.

I was particularly interested by your points about why Xander and Anya weren't contacted by FE. They made me think that in CWDP it was a deliberate choice to not have Xander and Anya in the episode.

This is very well-stated:

Basically Evil doesn't come from an outer source but lies within the people, devouring them from beneath.

Thanks for sharing this!

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

I think you are right about the First Evilbeing the reflection on characters' own fears and foibles and darkeness. And it really was very effective - when a character would let it - Angel in Amends, Chloe, Annabelle, Spike and Wood and Andrew - to a certain point. Than's why the moment of turning the final battle and the vanquishing FE happens when Buffy gets up and says: "Get out of my face". So cool. ;)

However, I also think that FE is an entity and a character with its own agenda - not only the reflection of other characters.

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

I can't agree with you otherwise I would think like so many viewers that this entity, this character with its own agenda was lame and poorly written, and I don't want to think that Joss screwed up...:- )

My theory about the FE was a way I found to be reconciled with season 7 (and also with "Amends" that is an episode I really disliked).

Also I must confess that the atheist in me doesn't like the idea of a Supreme Evil Entity, as the PTB buisness bothered me in Ats and I liked the fact the PTBs were never part of BTVS.

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

I feel like a weirdo, commenting a month after, but the thing is eating my brain.

I cannot yet find - or create - an explanation of the FE, that would satisfy me 100%. It always seems that something is missing in the picture. Your theory fills - for me- about 90-95% of the FE image and role. But I still see some parts that are the same in whatever disguise FE takes - supreme arrogance for example, that I take as a part of its own identity.

As to it being a Supreme Evil Entity - I don't see it as such, but I do believe that the FE sees itself as such, which makes a difference. Besides, BtVS had gods in it - Glory, and it was just another villain to defeat. FE works as such - not The Supreme Being, but the Another Superpowerful Evil Being, with the bonus that they actually can defeat it by defeating themselves.

it reminds me of an old fable (Chinese? - don't remember) that an evil dragon was terrorizing the town, and brave men went to fight him, but those who defeated it, turned into a dragon themselves...

Hello

[jonesiexxx.livejournal.com]

And why didn't we know each other when Buffy was on? I was writing about psychomachia in Buffy up the wazoo. And mentioned the FE and vice figures in:

http://jonesiexxx.livejournal.com/13136.html (The thesis is that when everyone kicks Buffy out of Revello Drive, they've essentially become the first, internalized the FE - or vice - into themselves)

Ah well, better late than never.

Re: Hello

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Well, I wasn't on LJ then, I was only loose on the Buffy Cross and Stake Spoiler Board!

But nice to meet you! :- )

[ladylavinia.livejournal.com]

At last! At last!

Finally, a truly intelligent and thought-provoking essay about the First Evil in Season 7. I've always felt the same, but I have never been able to express it as clearly as you have done. Good job!