Watcher (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Two Watchers: Wesley, and Giles

In the fictional Buffyverse established by the television series Buffy and Angel, a Watcher is a member of a secret organization, the Watchers' Council, devoted to tracking and combatting malevolent supernatural entities (and particularly vampires), primarily by locating individuals with the talents required to fight such beings and win. More specifically, Watchers are assigned to Vampire Slayers, girls that are part of a succession of mythically powered individuals who are destined to face said foes. Upon a Slayer's demise, her powers are transferred unto a new girl, who is then assigned a Watcher herself. The Watchers' Council trains new Watchers in a private school of some kind.

Notable Watchers include Rupert Giles, Buffy's official Watcher in the beginning of the series and, after being fired by the Council for what was considered an emotional overattachment to the Slayer, her unofficial Watcher for most of the series; and Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, who after Giles' firing became Buffy and Faith's Watcher for a short period of time. Gwendolyn Post was an ex-watcher who was fired from the Council for misuse of dark power.

Powers and Abilities

A standard Watcher has at least some proficiency in the use of magic. They are students of demonology and as such have a wide knowledge of various incarnations of evil, but their expertise is usually the vampire.

Watchers are typically well versed in hand-to-hand combat techniques, though they generally confine themselves to training Slayers or supporting them in battle, as their relative strength limits their effectiveness in directly engaging vampires.

Shadow Men

The Shadow Men

It it said in "End of Days" that the Council was formed by the descendants of the Shadow Men. Thousands of years ago they used their magic to infuse a captive girl with the essence of a demon, thereby creating the First Slayer. They used the Slayer to fight demonic forces.

In "Get It Done," Slayer Buffy Summers uses a strange mystical device to meet with them about the threat she faces from the First Evil. She learns how the Slayers were created and is shown a vision which reveals the First's massive army of Turok-Han Vampires in the Hellmouth.

Watchers' Council

The Watchers' Council of Britain is an organization dedicated to finding, training, and supervising Slayers in the fictional Buffyverse.

The Council eventually bases its headquarters in London, England. It tries to locate potential Slayers and then send Watchers to inform and train them. It is not always successful in doing so, and therefore some Slayers are fully trained when they are called, while others know nothing of the heritage or purpose of their power. Each potential Slayer is assigned her own Watcher - a Council employee who is responsible for training the Slayer in combat techniques as well as researching demons, vampires, and magicks. Watchers also maintain diaries chronicling the lives of the Slayers under their charge.

In "Never Leave Me," the Council learns that the First Evil is systematically eliminating potential Slayers around the world in an effort to end the Slayer line. Unfortunately, before this information can be acted on, the Council headquarters is destroyed by agents of The First. The Council leadership is killed, and the Council is not able to offer assistance in the struggle against The First.

In the aftermath of the battle with the army of The First and the destruction of the Sunnydale Hellmouth, the Watchers' Council begins the process of rebuilding. The work to be done is considerable, especially in light of the creation of hundreds of active Slayers around the world in "Chosen." The structure of this new Council is unknown, but it appears that Rupert Giles is its new head and is training Andrew Wells as a Watcher, seen in "Damage" and "The Girl in Question."

According to the comic Fray, a Slayer in the 21st century Slayer banishes all demons and magicks from the world. When evil returns, a new Slayer - Melaka Fray - is called. The Watchers' Council in this era apparently retains the resources to locate Slayers. Melaka Fray is approached by her assigned Watcher, but rather than assist or train her, he immolates himself in front of her. Melaka is instead trained by a demon who says that the remaining Council consists of fanatics and fools.

Methods

The Watchers' Council has been known to use ethically questionable methods to accomplish its goals. The Council employs a trio of operatives known as the Special Operations Team, as seen in "Who Are You." This team is responsible for some of the more unsavory aspects of the Council's work, such as interrogations, smuggling, and, if necessary, assassinations. When Faith Lehane stakes and kills a human, the Special Ops Team was dispatched to retrieve the rogue Slayer, circumventing local and international authorities.

The Council is also known for placing its principles and perceived goals ahead of the well-being of the Slayer. A test known as the Cruciamentum (Latin for "torment,"), as seen in "Helpless," involves suppressing the Slayer's natural abilities with a drug and pitting her against particularly dangerous vampire on the Slayer's eighteenth birthday. When one particular Watcher, Rupert Giles, defies the rules of the test and interferes in the Cruciamentum of his Slayer - Buffy Summers - he is dismissed from his position immediately.

In "Checkpoint," representatives of the Council visited Sunnydale, California to deliver vital information on the seemingly unstoppable Glory to the Slayer, Buffy Summers. However, the Council refuses to turn over the information until an extensive review of Buffy's abilities is completed. This assessment includes a review of Buffy's combat skills, as well as interviews with many of her closest friends. Eventually, the Slayer turns the tables on the Watchers, declaring that they need her to validate their existence more than she needs their help. She defends the frequent assistance of her friends (Slayers typically operate alone) and demands that Rupert Giles be reinstated as her Watcher, with retroactive pay to the time of his dismissal. The Council agrees to this, changing the nature of the Council/Slayer relationship until the Council's destruction two years later.

Guardians

The Guardians are an organization of long-lived women who developed parallel to the Shadow Men and Watchers. They forge a weapon, the Scythe, for the Slayer to use. They are apparently mistrustful of the Shadow Men and Watchers who followed, as they keep this weapon, along with their very existence, a secret. They allow the Watchers to observe and manage the Slayer for centuries, but all the while the Guardians are watching the Watchers. They remain in hiding until "End of Days," when Buffy Summers discovers the Scythe and tracks its origin to an Egyptian tomb, where the last Guardian waits. Immediately after explaining herself to Buffy, the Guardian is killed by Caleb, putting an end to the organization. It has been said that the Guardians are the spirits of Dead Slayers watching over the current ones.

List of Watchers

Note: Some Slayers have had more than one Watcher in the course of their careers.

Watcher	Slayer(s)	Notable Appearance
Giles, Rupert	Buffy Summers Faith Lehane	"Welcome to the Hellmouth"
Wyndam-Pryce, Wesley	Faith Lehane Buffy Summers	"Bad Girls"
Merrick	Buffy Summers	"Becoming, Part One"
Zabuto, Roger "Sam"	Kendra Young	Mentioned in "What's My Line, Part One"
Crowley, Bernard	Nikki Wood	Mentioned in "First Date"
Travers, Quentin	Unknown	"Helpless"
Post, Gwendolyn	Faith Lehane*	"Revelations"
Sirk, Rutherford	Unknown	"Home"
Wyndam-Pryce, Roger	Unknown	Mentioned in "Lineage"
Wells, Andrew	Unknown	"Damage"

* Watcher fraudulently "assigned" self to Slayer after being expelled from Council.

The following have featured with no significant details known about them. Not all of these are true Watchers, some of them are merely operatives on payroll.

• Blair
• Hobson
• Lydia—Wrote a Thesis on William the Bloody
• Nigel
• Phillip
• Robson
• Faith's first Watcher
• Giles' father
• Giles' paternal grandmother (named Edna in a Tales of the Vampires comic by Joss Whedon)
• Collins, Weatherby and Smith—The Council Special Ops Team
• Faith's nurse
• Wesley's thugs

• The (non-canon) novels and comics, specially those focusing on previous Slayers, show or mention other Watchers including: Michaela Tomassi (The Gatekeeper trilogy), Archibald Lassiter (Giles), Harold and John Travers ( Pretty Maids All in a Row), Yanna Narvik (watched over the Slayer, Sophie Carstensen in Pretty Maids All in a Row), Marie-Christine Fontaine ( watched Slayer, Eleanor Boudreau in Pretty Maids All in a Row), Diana Dormer (the name given to Faith's first Watcher in Go Ask Malice).