"It's
Buffy's World. You're just dying in it."
Episodes: Teachers' Pet, What's My Line, Choices,
Characters: Miss Natalie French, Worm-Man, Box of
Gavrok,
Inspired most probably by 1950s movies, antagonists
that are big bugs usually fall into two categories. Either the Earth would be
invaded by aliens that looked like bugs or the bugs originally came from Earth
but radioactivity or magic or some other force would turn them into
flesh-eating creatures that were human sized or bigger. This is convenient for
the special effects crew cuz then they can just put an actor in a big bug suit.
Combating big bugs usually involves learning what kind of bug they are and then
finding out what that bug's weaknesses are. For example, a human sized slug
could probably be taken down fast by several bags of salt, easily procured from
the local grocery store. Big bugs are always gross and dangerous antagonists,
but sometimes have ways of appearing and even behaving like human beings for
purposes of being even more gross and dangerous when the lead characters find
out who or what they really are.
Technically the Worm-Man of the episode What's My
Line was really a humanoid Drew Carey lookalike who really consisted of many
little tiny worms, and the Box of Gavrok was an artifact housing millions of
killer bugs, so this extends the previous explanation of single human sized
bugs as depicted in Teacher's Pet, but I didn't know where else to put them,
and wanted to fill this section out a bit.
Episodes: Fear Itself, Once More With Feeling,
Characters:
Anyanka has a problem with bunnies. They scare her.
She's a thousand year old vengeance demon and bunnies frighten her? *shrug* I
don't understand it either, but that's an antagonist of hers so I'm throwing it
in here. (see also Frogs)
Episodes: Halloween, Bewitched Bothered &
Bewildered, Gingerbread, The I In Team, Goodbye Iowa,
Characters: Janus, Hecate, Diana, Niesa, Thespia,
Glory/The Beast, Osiris,
Sometimes Sunnydale gets visits from major entities,
or entities that were allegedly major at one time. Before the days of
monotheistic theological rule, any entity that could blow up a human being's
head with the snap of their fingers could claim to be a god (case in point:
Glory). Granted there hasn't been as much call for these guys in recent
millennia, except for a few handfuls of very devoted followers who wear robes
and walk around in secret chambers sacrificing the occasional goat and praying
to BOB the god of treading water or whatever. So since humans have largely
forsaken these polytheistic entities, they're usually a little ticked off when
they get summoned after a long slumber to do "our" bidding.
For example, when Willow called upon Osiris and
ordered him to bring Buffy back to life, he relented reluctantly, but only
after causing a large snake to come slithering out of her throat. Why? Cuz she
pissed him off that's why. There he is, a semi-retired deity, resting on his
laurels and here comes this upstart out of nowhere wielding his urn and telling
him to get back on the job. Human beings call things like snakes appearing in
the digestive tract as "tests." Deities call them
"justice." Oftentimes practitioners (see Witches) call upon various
deities during their spell casting, but it's rare the god or goddess mentioned
actually makes an appearance. It's assumed that the deity mentioned begins
listening in once their name is called. It's not certain. Perhaps each deity
has the equivalent of a psionic answering machine and get back to the witch
later.
Many deities are lesser entities who used to have a
lot of power but don't anymore, and only exist because.. well someone called
them immortal at one time and they're just too stubborn to lay down & die.
So occasionally a coven or cult of human followers gather together, usually for
entirely selfish purposes, and they commit to some ritual intended to send a
portion of their essence to their respected deity. This is a sort of 'wake up
call' for someone who's probably been in immortal hibernation for awhile
getting some Z's. The humans summon them with desires or commands or requests,
and the deity decides whether or not it wants to help. Sometimes it demands
something that it wants or needs or just demands to give the followers
something to do so they'll keep paying attention to the deity - most deities
really just only want attention - and the followers go out and do their deity’s
being. It's a disturbing codependent relationship that often leads in someone
getting sacrificed so that the power of the world gets usurped and given to the
followers of this deity guy, and that always leads to someone like Buffy
showing up and kicking some ass. As Mel Brooks once said, "there's always
someone bigger." And the bigger they are the harder they tend to fall.
Glory fell not from grace but from disgrace to a
place even lower. She was originally one of three gods in a hell-dimension, but
she got too powerful for them and gave the other two gods a hard time, so they
banished her from hell and made her a human being on Earth. She still had some
god-like powers but being in human form limited her greatly. Glory had strength
greater than Buffy, seemed nearly immortal, and could reach into the brains of
human victims and rob their sanity. She had to do this because she was quite
mad herself and siphoning mental energies from sane humans allowed her
temporarily to think coherently herself.
So be fair, some god-like entities turn out to be
nice and kind and sweet, but for some reason these entities are few and far
between. Also the nicer entities either don't have as much offensive power as the
mean entities, or they choose not to get very involved with humans, perhaps
because any involvement with humans tends to cause nice sweet entities to get
upset and frustrated until they turn nasty. It's always hard to be good, but
it's so very easy to go bad.
Episodes: I Robot You Jane, Prophecy Girl, The Dark
Age, Bad Eggs, Surprise, Killed By Death, Anne, Dead Man's Party, Band Candy,
The Wish, Amends, The Zeppo, Bad Girls, Doppelgängland, Enemies, Earshot, The
Prom, Living Conditions, Harsh Light Of Day, Fear Itself, Something Blue,
Doomed, Listening To Fear,
Characters: Anya (reg), Clem, Moloch the Corrupter,
Eyghon, Bezoar, The Judge, der Kindestod, Acathla, Ovu Mobani, Larconis, Lagos,
The First, Sisterhood of Jhe, Balthazar, D'Hoffryn, Hellhounds, Mok'tagar,
Gachnar, Vahrall, Fyarl, Polgara, Toth,
Lei-Ach, Queller,
The following is a description of demons as they're
depicted in the tv series Buffy. Though based loosely on biblical references
and other spiritual based sources, the demons of Buffy's world are not intended
by the writers to be exact manifestations of any specific religion. In fact
some devout believers in Christianity or other religions would find offense in
examining the Buffy View of demonology, predominantly because the series
sometimes depicts demons in a positive light. Most demons in Buffy's World are
just flat mean and despicable and deserve a good swift kick in the midsection.
Precious few do not. The world of Buffy seems to question the very limits and
definitions of good & evil. How many times does any entity get to change
their evil ways? How justified can someone be in deciding whether or not even a
spawn of Satan has no right to live? I also apologize to nonbelievers before
going further. My own convictions & internal monologues are obviously going
to taint this description, because I write and I critique from what I know.
Demons are supposed to be fallen angels. That’s not
exactly enough of a definition for Buffy’s World. It’s a bit more complex than
that. Demons are also sometimes worshipped as if they were dieties (q.v.). In
fact, most humans couldn't tell the difference between a demon or a diety. It
can be argued that a demon is specifically a creature that either once was in
heaven and was removed because he flipped off The Big Kahuna when they thought
He wasn't looking, or someone spawned from a demon. Anyone who doesn't fit that
criteria is technically not a demon but a deity or other kind of entity who
goes to the same tailor. However in Buffy's world, the stipulation of having
been a fallen angel is not necessarily a criteria for demon, so sometimes the
definitions can bleed into each other.
The early seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer saw
demons largely as ready-made bad guys. Once one reared its ugly, vaguely
HPLovecraft inspired head, Buffy & her friends would aim weapons or fists
at that head and beat on it repeatedly until it cried uncle. As the demons that
appeared increased in strength and got tougher to beat, the Scoobies researched
history and cultural information to find new and better ways to stop them. As
the series progresses however, the Scoobies have learned more about demons and
how they behave.
Demons in Buffy the Vampire Slayer are like cutting
through the red tape and getting directly to the source of evil. If you go
around beating up on enough vampires, eventually you're gonna start pissing off
demons, since vampires are somehow fueled by aspects of demonology. However,
they're also not all completely evil. The world of Buffy is rarely ever
completely black & white. It's the job of demons perhaps to make life hell
for humans, but just as a vampire slayer needs vampires in order to have a
purpose, so too do demons need humans in order to feel useful, and whether they
mean to or not, often the actions of demons teach human beings valuable lessons
that forge them into better souls. So there appears to be a curious symbiosis
relationship between humanity and damnedity. Perhaps one with religious
convictions could look at all this with a smile: The Big Kahuna obviously has
some Divine Plan not only for humans but for the lowest of the low too.
Most demons have their own day to day existences,
and the more the Scooby Gang, and us by proxy, get to know them, the more we
realize they're largely misunderstood. They're still evil. They're still the
enemy. However, the series seems to convey that with some effort it is possible
to eventually find coexistence even with the worst elements of the universe.
With the success of 'good guys' like Buffy, some demons realize that it's
better to attempt negotiation and diplomacy and cut back on committing bad
deeds, at least while someone like Buffy's looking. Their powers are as varied
as the demons themselves. Some can teleport. Others can fly. Still others can't
do much of anything at all. Many can shoot some kind of nasty energy out of
their arms or eyes or other orifices, often with staggering results. The demon
D'Hoffryn has the power to turn humans into demons but is polite enough to ask
their permission before he does so. Permission is not a requirement. Giles was
once turned into a Fyarl demon against his will by an old aquaintence who got
him drunk.
Clem, who's one of the most recent additions to the
Buffy universe, is a nondescript demon with flabby skin, floppy ears &
uneven fangs who is otherwise completely unobtrusive. He's kind-hearted,
interested in the most menial and simple things in life that humans take for
granted, and has even proven helpful and trustworthy to Scoobies in the past.
However, he also likes to play poker with kittens because they taste so good.
Good & Evil is simply not cut and dried in the Buffy world.
Another example of a demon who's not entirely the
enemy is Anyanka, who was a vengeance demon for a thousand years until she
crossed paths with Buffy & her friends. After granting Cordelia's wish of
seeing a world without Buffy, Anya was stripped of her demon powers by Giles to
return things to normal, and turned into a young but mortal human female, where
she lived and loved and hated and feared and felt just like any other person.
She even fell in love with Xander and they almost got married. After Xander
left Anya at the altar, her father granted her her powers again. Now Anya is a
vengeance demon but also still human, and has some difficulty balancing these
two very conflicting ideals.
Episodes: Hush, Triangle,
Characters: The Gentlemen,
Though not often used in the Buffyverse, there is an
indication that adjacent to Buffy's world are alternate realities, pocket
dimensions, and places where demons (q.v.) and other extraordinary entities
exist. On occasion entities from these other places can slip into Buffy's
world, and back. One of these alternate planes of existence appears to be one
or more Faerie Realms. The faeries of Buffy's world are not of the Tinkerbell
nature. They're generally much meaner and gross than cutesy little children's
stories told to children to help them go to sleep. They're more like the old
folktales of the middle ages which were used to scare little children into
behaving.
An example of Faerie Tale Monsters are The
Gentlemen, who were the predominant antagonists in the Emmy nominated episode
"Hush." The Gentlemen are monsters mentioned in faerie tales (for
purposes of Whedon's storytelling). They come to a town, steal everyone's
voices so they can't scream in alarm, and then the Gentlemen wander about the
town at their leisure and harvest seven hearts from the town's inhabitants. The
Gentlemen have goons in straight jackets who help do their bidding, preferring
not to actually touch the town themselves. They float around a half foot or so
off the ground with doctor's bags, scalpels, and look for unwilling mute
candidates. Then they take their findings back to their fellow Gentlemen and
quietly golf clap one another's accomplishments. These guys look like Zombies
(q.v.) but there's no indication they were ever dead or undead in the way that
we know it. Bald and having a demeanor akin to Mr. Burns of The Simpsons fame,
it is unclear what would happen after they accumulated all seven hearts. Before
they could accomplish their task, Buffy & Riley managed to get everyone
their voices back, and Buffy's scream caused The Gentlemen's heads to explode.
Technically, Olaf the troll was originally a human
until Anya turned him into a troll many years before because he cheated on her.
However the episode “Triangle” does establish that trolls do exist in a large,
horny, caveman-like capacity in the Buffy universe. Faerie Tale Monsters tend
to not operate in accordance with the natural laws of physics of Buffy's world,
having abilities that set them apart. It's assumed there may also be
changelings, sprites, and other variations of faerie tales in Buffy’s World,
but again they're probably much more disturbing and bloodthirsty than their
modernized fictional children's story counterparts.
Episodes: Nightmares,
Sometimes the only thing we really have to fear is
fear itself, or rather the manifestations of those fears. On more than one
occasion, Buffy and her Scooby Gang have witnessed or faced various entities or
unknown quanities which managed to force our heroes to face their fears in the
forms of bad dreams or hallucinations or wishes that went awry. These are often
the most intriguing forms of antagonism because it's difficult to combat
something that looks like the worst thing you can imagine, really isn't there,
and is fueled by your own sense of dread. The battle stems as much from without
as within.
Episodes: What’s My Line Part One
It’s only mentioned once that I can see, but Willow
mentioned she has a fear of frogs. They give her nightmares. (see also Bunnies)
Episodes: I Only Have Eyes For You, Doppelgängland,
Pangs, Where The Wild Things Are, Restless
Characters: Vamp Willow, Hus the Chumash Guy, The
First Slayer,
Whereas vampires (q.v.) and zombies (q.v.) are
undead bodies without souls, ghosts are undead souls without bodies. They are
disembodied spirits with unpredictable quirkiness and a seemingly random
capacity for affecting property and living things. In theory, usually as soon
as a person dies, their soul immediately gets a one way trip to its respective
after life. However sometimes if the death was particularly traumatic, or if
some kind of mystical influence prevents it, the spirits is trapped on Earth.
Also it's believed at times that the spirit just chooses not to move forward,
because it has unfinished business. This unfinished business usually involves
scaring the living while attempting to leave clues that will lead living beings
to accomplish this unfinished business for the spirit. Either that or run down
the hallways screaming about severed limbs in their locker.
Poltergeists are particularly mischievous ghosts
which have mastered the art of affecting property. To a human witness that
cannot see the ghost, it will appear objects affected by the poltergeist are
moving by themselves, as if they were hung by wires, cgi'd, or moved by
telekinesis. In fact sometimes what appears to be a poltergeist turns out to be
a stressed out person with psionic powers. Confused, yet? Poltergeists are
usually very unstable entities with serious emotional issues and a desperate
need to switch to decaf. Poltergeists are usually not restricted to one
location, but do tend to hang around certain areas or people, and with patience
one can usually deduce patterns of behavior which help to understand or combat
the ghost. Also researching their origins and culture before they died can
help. Poltergeists consisting of native american spirits are sometimes
particularly powerful, mostly cuz they're just really really cool. Haunts are
usually a little more laid back in behavior, but are restricted to a specific
location or object. Like an old house for example. Spirits that are haunts
often relive events that occurred inside the house over and over again, either
because it doesn't know it's dead or because it's wanting a different outcome
that wouldn't have killed it. Haunts can be just as dangerous as poltergeists,
but their effort is usually more suspenseful and utlizes more tact than the
more rambunctious and impatient poltergeist. Another variation is the Doppelgänger,
or duplicate entity or apparition from
an alternate reality or an entity who takes on the visage of its next victim,
intending to take the place of its duplicate. Doppelgängers are sometimes
shades which can pass through walls and at other times harder matter simulating
flesh & blood. The doppelgänger can be manifest thru magical or demonic
means, or even through inordinately powerful psionic energy. Inexplicably, a
doppelgänger's goal & motivation is to remove it's reallife duplicate from
reality and replace it, often having a limited time to accomplish this before
it blinks out of existence.
Sometimes ghosts can literally possess the bodies of
the living for a brief time. When it does this, it's able to experience what
the body experiences, and the original owner of the body will either find their
spirit in a dormant state sensing surroundings but unable to control their
body, or they'll completely black out unable to do anything until the ghost is
done walking around. It is possible to defend against spirit possession but
it's very tricky because in these cases it becomes a battle of willpower, with
the ghost often getting an edge because possession's almost always a suprise
attack. Unless of course you're a two hundred year old vampire named Angel.
Episodes: I Robot You Jane, The Puppet Show, The
Bargaining Pt I, Ted, The I In Team, Goodbye Iowa, The Yoko Factor, I Was Made
To Love You,
Characters: Moloch the Corrupter, Ted, Adam, April,
Buffybot
There are generally two kinds of golems in Buffy the
Vampire Slayer. Old-fashioned and New-fangled.
"Old-Fashioned" - In jewish folklore,
golems are humanoid artifices given supernatural life. The earliest golems were
allegedly stone statues. Gargoyles that come to life magically are a form of
golem. Golems can be made not only out of stone but also wood, metal, and
anything that can be fashioned into something that's at least vaguely humanoid.
Artificial life given to objects that are not remotely human can also sometimes
be classified as a form of golem. A marionette, hand puppet or ventriloquist
dummy which is endowed with demonic or magic influence to mimic life is also a
form of old-fashioned golem. A non-Buffy example of golems can be found in the
movie Fantasia, when Mickey Mouse zapped life into a broomstick to go out and
get water.
Oftentimes the creation of an old-fashioned golem
involves either demon (q.v.) involvement, or the casting of a magic spell by a
practitioner (see Witches). The standard golem rarely has more than a simpleton's
vocabulary. They are usually limited by the orders given them by the entity
that made them and/or gave them life. The golem will be able to move itself
about unassisted, but will be limited in what it can accomplish based on how
much knowledge was endowed within the beast prior to its completion. A golem is
not inherently evil. It is a tool that is used to commit actions that the
golem's creator feels are unsafe or too menial and cumbersome for the creator
to do him/herself. Golems will follow the orders of their master, provided
they're created with that caveat in mind. Otherwise they'll just go around
hitting things randomly, including sometimes the creator. Golems only know what
they're programmed to know at inception, and it's very difficult to get a golem
to change its mind once it has been completed. It will carry out the orders it
was given, or attempt to do so until either destroyed, it runs out of energy,
or accomplishes its goal. Once it has completed the orders it was given,
sometimes the Golem will just return to inanimate matter. However if there is
still sufficient magic energy to keep it going, it may opt to attempt to
accomplish its goal again (this is known as being stuck in a loop or a rut) or
if it was properly programmed, it will simply stand there and await further
orders by its master or creator. If the Golem was ordered to seek out its
master after completing its orders, it will do just that. Golems are almost
always incapable of independent thought, and conflicting commands or orders by
its creator or master will cause the thing to go berserk or break down trying
to resolve the inconsistency.
Golems do not have souls as a rule, although there
are always possible exceptions to any rule. In most cases they do not have sentience.
Even the most successful golems rarely have more than the intelligence or
social functionality of a young child. However, the more magic or other energy
devoted to the golem, the more knowledgable its creator, and the longer the
golem remains consistently functional, the greater a chance the golem will
aquire some resemblance of self-sustaining life beyond its creator's original
intentions. How this happens is perhaps impossible to investigates, but on very
rare occasions a golem becomes so successful at mirroring life that it either
aquires a soul by unknown means, or even successfully fools its creators.
"New-fangled" - A much more modern
variation on the golem theme is the creation of a robot or android. Like more
ancient versions of golem creation, building a robot requires a great effort
(akin to a magic spell) for programming, and requires a humanoid fascimile to
house the energy source & commands of the creature. Again like golems,
robots in and of themselves are not evil, and only make useful antagonists due
to evil influences. Left to their own devices, robots are just very elaborate
appliances like a toaster oven or a vibrator. However, the devil lies in the
details, or should I say software. Like with the old-fashioned variant of golem,
new-fangled golems are only as smart as their programming. The better the
programming the easier it is to control them and also fool others into thinking
it's something more than merely artificial life. For example, when Buffy died,
Willow utilized a Buffybot that was originally made by Warren, and attempted to
convince all of Sunnydale that the Vampire Slayer was still very much alive.
This was moderately successful but only for a short period of time.
Willow once fell in love with a demon (q.v.) named Moloch
over the Internet, and when the demon wanted to meet Willow in person and make
her his demon bride, he had to come up with a physical manifestation of
himself. However, he was unwittingly trapped inside cyberspace, so the demon
possessed people and made them build him a real nifty armored robot chasis
within which to house his cybernetic evilness. The blind date for Willow ended
traumatically. Another Frankenstein-like creature was Adam, built by Professor
Walsh, which appeared in the episodes "I In Team" and "Goodbye
Iowa." Adam was also a cybernetic artificial lifeform, consisting of
human, robotic and demonic parts. It's intended purpose was to be the ultimate
supersoldier fighting machine. It is a sick combination of both zombie (q.v.)
and golem.
Warren, who later became the ringleader of The Trio
(see Normal People), started his life of crime surruptitiously by designing a
robot girlfriend. He had had some difficulty getting women to not think he was
a nerdy pervert (since he was) and decided maybe if he could invent the perfect
woman he wouldn't need to worry about real women. However, ironically after he
invented April, Warren's temporary boost of confidence allowed him to entice a
real woman named Katrina. Seeing no need for April anymore, he abandoned her.
Unfortunately he had programmed April with an undying devotion to him, and she
perpetually sought him out, until Warren sic'd April on Buffy, who consequently
wore out her batteries. Katrina later left Warren once she learned he was a
nerdy pervert.
Episodes: Checkpoint,
Characters: Knights of Byzantium. Duh.
When Glory was seeking the Key, three gentlemen
dressed in full chainmail regalia attacked Buffy but she quickly subdued them.
She learned that they were members of the Knights of Byzantium, which is
allegedly a large order of knights who are the enemy of anyone who protects the
Key. They were not summoned by Glory, but rather sought to destroy the Key
before the forces of evil could use it. They claimed there were “legions” of
knights who would come to finish their job if they were killed. However, Buffy
chose not to kill them since they were human and that’s just not how she
operates. These knights claim to come from an order that dates back to medieval
times. They hailed originally from Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium,
which is now known as Istanbul in Turkey. Historically this order of knights
existed between the seventh century & 1453 when Ottoman turks conquered
them. For centuries they crusaded against Muslims and were a very conservative
Christian empire. The Knights of Byzantium in Buffy’s World have a symbol
tattooed to their foreheads when they join the order, and prefer to use chain
mail armor and quite archaic weapons to dispatch their foes. Historically they
are no longer believed to exist, so this order must be some secret organization
that has existed underground undetected for centuries, only to appear in
Sunnydale to give Buffy a hard time, briefly.
MAGIC (see Witches)
Episodes: Reptile Boy, Graduation Day II, Shadow,
Characters: Machida, The Mayor (after ascenscion),
Nagas are half humanoid, half serpent. The
inspiration for these puppies are mostly middle eastern and far eastern in
origin. They're still worshipped as gods in some parts of the third world, and
usually live underground. Generally, nagas don't wander around the streets of
Sunnydale looking for a little action.
They prefer letting their minions go get them some grub. Nagas like it when
stupid human beings worship them by tying virgins to a spike and leaving them
for the naga to munch on while he watches the second half of the Knicks game.
There was also the deity “Sobek” who was conjured by Glory in the episode
“Shadow” but technically that wasn’t a Naga.
Episodes: Most of them.
Characters: Cordelia, Principal Flutie, Principal
Syder, Joyce Summers, Kendra, Faith, Gwendolyn Post, Shiela Rosenberg, Wesley
Wyndam-Price, Lunch Lady, Parker after Harsh Light Of Day, Professor Maggie
Walsh and The Initiative, Dawn, The Trio, Dark Willow,
Normal people don't usually make good bad guys for
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There are perhaps exceptions, but compared to the
more dangerous baddies of mystical and demonic origins, normal people tend to
just become annoying obstacles. They do however tend to also offer spice to the
storylines, and help create realism for an otherwise very realistic show.
Sometimes a normal person who starts as an antagonist can later befriend the
Scoobies and even become a valuable asset, as was the case with Cordelia, who
began originally as an enemy of sorts for Willow and later for Buffy. On a
social level, she became the conduit between the Scoobies and what went for
popularity within their environment: high school social status. As time went on
however, Cordelia learned that there were more important things in life than
making life miserable for less popular people, and she became a useful member
of the vampire slaying team and even a relatively dependable friend. Sometimes
a normal person starts as a friend or stranger and becomes bitter to one or
more of the Scoobies, creating friction that obstructs or blocks the Scoobies
efforts to save the world while still having a social life. Other times a
person may antagonize our protagonists just by doing what they're supposed to
do. Principal Flutie of the high school was an example of someone who
antagonized the Scoobies, just by doing his job. That is, until his untimely
death. Principal Snyder was even more intent on being an antagonist, because on
top of his job desciption being to keep students from having a good time, he
also had a noticable hatred for young people. Another person who was an
unwitting antagonist occasionally was Buffy's mother Joyce, who would sometimes
ground her or otherwise obstruct her from her night of patrolling. Until near
the end of Joyce's life, she wasn't aware her daughter was a vampire slayer,
and was ignorant of the significance of that.
Then there's other slayers. When Buffy died, Kendra was
endowed with Slayer powers and came from Africa (her Watcher’s name is Mr.
Zambutu) to Sunnydale unaware of the fact that while Buffy died, Xander
performed CPR and she came back. So she was only dead for a minute. Still,
Kendra & Buffy had a few words minced between them and though they made
friends before Kendra's death, she was a bit of an antagonist for awhile. Then
after Kendra passed away Faith showed up as the next Slayer, but she was even
more rebellious than Buffy and caused all kinds of problems. In the end Faith
committed murder, tried to kill Xander (after having sex with him), attempted
to join forces with the evil Mayor, and was thrown in jail. Also Buffy's had
her share of assassins, cult followers and other normal people with slightly
above average skill and prowess to give her a hard time now and then. Perhaps
also worth mentioning is the occasional lunatic normal person who tries to kill
people for reasons that make no sense, like the cafeteria cook in the episode
"Earshot."
Perhaps most notable, for good or for ill, among the
normal people antagonists of Buffy, is The Trio. Consisting of three nogood
losers who had been students with the Scoobies in high school but never
properly belonged, Warren, Andrew & Jonathan started off as little boys
with big aspirations. They wanted to take over Sunnydale, get girls to date
them, steal money, cause amusing selfish mischief, and otherwise be what they
defined as "Supervillians." Of the three of them, Jonathan &
Andrew were technically practitioners of magic (See Witches & Magic), but
never to a point where they were much more than a nuissance. The ringleader of
this modern-day Three Stooges was Warren, whose powers stemmed mostly from his
knowledge of engineering, electronics, robotics, and other 'mad scientist'
ventures. In fact, the best kind of Normal Person antagonist in the genres of
scifi, horror and fantasy are the mad scientists, who use their science for
selfish gains in much the same way powerhungry witches use magic. Professor
Maggie Walsh is a more realistic, and less maniacal, variant on that mad
scientisty theme. However she does get a little melodramatic just before she
dies, when she tries to kill Buffy and invents Adam.
By the way one can also include government
organizations in this category, especially the 'top secret' ones like The
Initiative. I guess you could also include corporate entities, the media, and
law enforcement agencies like the local police. However, like all Normal
People, sometimes these help our Scoobies, and sometimes they're an
antagonizing hindrance. Riley for example, though an agent for The Initiative,
was of assistance to Buffy more than an antagonizing influence. However, his
boss Maggie Walsh was usually the opposite.
Episodes: What’s My Line Part One
Characters: Wormy Guy, Dude at the Ice Rink, Lady
cop on Career Day
The order of Taraka is a society of deadly assassins
dating back to the time of King Solomon, a biblical leader who ruled Israel
from 970-931 BC. They can be identified by their signet ring. Their credo is to
serve discord and kill the unwary. As Giles once said, “They’re a breed
apart… Unlike vampires they have no earthly desires but to collect their
bounty. They find a target and they eliminate it. You can kill as many of them
as you like it won’t make a difference. Where there’s one there will be another
and another. They won’t stop coming until the job is done. Each one of them
works alone: his own way. Some are human. Some are not. You won’t know who they
are until they strike.” I’ve only seen this organization mentioned once in the
series. I guess they stop coming after three.
Episodes: Nightmares, Out of Mind Out of Sight,
Characters: Billy, Marcie Ross,
Psionics was an attempt by some scientists during
the 20th century to explain some paranormal phenomena as unexplored and
unquantifiable powers of the mind. Also known as E.S.P. or Extra Sensory
Perception, psionics is the ability of an individual to tap into that
unexplored 'sixth sense' of the mind and body to produce various effects.
Though these effects are often similar to those produced by practitioners of
magic (see Witches), an individual who utilizes psionics needs only to meditate
or concentrate on accomplishing a given task with the power of their mind. At
times this ability is severely limited, but such things as traumatic
experiences, a freak accident involving natural powers (like a freak lightning
storm) or extraneous intervention of magic or demonic influences have been
known to amplify these mental powers. Psychic phenomena includes but is not
limited to astral projection, telekinesis, telepathy, clairovoyance,
pyrokinesis, hallucinatory thought projection and the probing of other people's
minds. There are some who believe the energies that cause psionics to work are
from the same fount which spawns magic. Still the evocation and execution of
psionics can have dramatically different limitations and effects compared to practicing
magic. Sometimes a user of psionics is completely unaware that he is doing
anything to anybody. The character of Billy had been beaten into a coma, and
while unconscious was projecting himself and his fears into the minds of the
people of Sunnydale. In rare cases, unwitting psyonics by a bunch of people can
cause damage around the Hellmouth. Once a student named Marcie Ross physically
became invisible because the projections of everyone around her saw her as a
nonentity until she literally couldn't be seen.
Episodes: Welcome To The Hellmouth, The Harvest,
Never Kill A Vampire On The First Date, Angel, Prophecy Girl, When She Was Bad,
School Bad, Lie To Me, Bad Eggs, Becoming, Faith Hope and Trick, Homecoming,
Band Candy, Lovers Walk, Amends, Helpless, Bad Girls, Doppelgängland, The
Freshman, Harsh Light Of Day, Buffy vs Dracula, Fool For Love,
Characters: Angel, Spike, Drusilla, The Master, The
Anointed One, Darla, Gorch Brothers, Kakistos, Mr. Trick, The Mayor, Zackary
Kralik, Sunday, Eddie, Dracula, Vamp Willow & Xander from an alternate
reality,
What would a Vampire Slayer be without Vampires? Buffy was first troubled by "The Master" and his teeming minions. Even after she finally managed to dispatch The Master, that didn't stop the flow of fanged, bloodsucking freaks coursing through Sunnydale. In the world of Buffy, vampires have become cannonfodder. When the writers need a readymade baddie for purposes of plot, there's always at least one vampire running around just asking to get slain. Once she even went up against a particularly nasty meanie who claimed to be THE Dracula. Then of course there was Angel, the vampire with a soul, and Spike, the vampire with a violence-inhibiting chip in his head. Most vampires don't deserve to exist in Buffy's estimation, but there have been rare exceptions. The vampires of Buffy's world are based loosely on the myths and tall tales that stemmed from eastern Europe dating back to the middle ages. Notable influences include Bram Stoker's Dracula, the silent film Nosferatu of the 1920s, and the more popular films of the latter half of the 20th century, including "From Dusk Till Dawn," "Lost Boys" and "Fright Night."
Vampires of Buffy's world are not usually restricted
to having to sleep in coffins. They don't generally turn into bats or wolves.
Many of the traditional conventions of the myth are either ignored or used for
humorous purposes. However, some of the traditional conventions are still
consistent. For example, vampires in Buffy's world do not normally cast a
reflection in the mirror. They do not need to breathe or have a pulse. They
only need to drink blood, although some retain a taste for alcohol and seem to
still be capable of achieving a state of intoxication. This is kind of silly,
come to think of it, because vampires don't have a pulse. They don't have a
working circulatory system, so how does the alcohol get from their stomachs to
their brains? Vampires can also exist for centuries, so long as they remain
healthy by regularly consuming human blood.
Vampires of Buffy the Vampire Slayer appear to be
inordinately linked to demons and demon possession. Whereas some other
variations of vampire lore seem to treat vampirism as if it were some kind of
blood disease, in the world of Buffy it's a mild form of demonic influence on
the victim. Exactly how this works is still unclear, but there are some
organizations like "The Initiative" which are still researching the
subject. Since a vampire is an undead creature with a conscience and not a
soul, it is uncertain what in fact is 'driving' the mortal shell that once
housed the soul. It is possible that the soul is replaced by some variant on an
evil spirit or some aspect of a demon, which then shares the body with the now
souless brain. This explains partly why vampires are often more feral and base
in their desires and goals, reverting to almost caveman like behavior at times.
Few aim to aspire to improve themselves, unless such improvements will gain
immediate satisfaction. They hunt to quench immediate hungers & thirsts.
Freud would say they are prisoners of their own Id, with no superego to keep
their ego in check.
Because vampires are somehow linked to demonology,
any faith-based defenses can work against them, but usually only if there is
some resemblance of faith behind them. A jew might be unsuccessful warding back
a vampire with a wooden cross, although Willow Rosenberg (who is of jewish
upbringing) has had some small success in that arena. A star of David would
probably work, but only wielded by someone of that faith. An agnostic or
aetheist wielding religious symbols might have some success, but not as much as
a devout priest. Also the superstitions and other beliefs of the vampire seem
to come into play. Drusilla, who was an obsessively devout believer in
Christianity before she was turned, now has more fear of crosses than Spike,
who occasionally cracks jokes about them. Fear and uncertainty can be weapons
against such defenses for the vampire. Vampires are also not allowed to enter
or visit most private or public buildings unless they are somehow invited. This
invitation, once offered, is usually difficult to reneg.
The way a human is "turned" into a vampire
is specific. Just being bitten by a vampire doesn't turn one into a vampire.
Being sucked dry can kill a human, but they won't necessarily return from the
dead unless before their death their assailant fed their own blood to the
victim. When a human sucks the blood of a vampire while being sucked
themselves, this causes a chain reaction that turns the human into a vampire
within a matter of hours or days. The person who turns the human into a vampire
is called the vampire's Sire, and Sires usually have at least some psychic
influence on their vampire spawn, ordering them to do the Sire's bidding. Once
a human has been turned, it's rarely possible to be turned back into human.
It's assumed the human's soul has been lost to hell, and the only way to
release the spirit of the victim is to kill the vampire that was once a living
person. There are rare ways to retrieve a soul from hell, but it's very
difficult and involves certain peril.
It is still plausible to kill or keep a vampire at
bay using things like crosses, garlic, fire, stakes, beheading, and holy water.
They also have to say out of direct sunlight for fear of catching flame.
However, some vampires in Buffy's world have been known to survive inches away
from direct sunlight so long as they could remain in the shade. Vampires have
incredible strength, stamina, resilience to most things that kill humans, and
the kind of cocky attitude that causes one to want to rip their head off just
to shut them up.
Usually Buffy's vampires look like normal people.
When they choose to turn to 'attack mode' or begin to feel the burning sensation
that compels them to feed on humans, their faces get a little demonic looking
and their fangs appear, like retractable claws. Vampires poof quite
conveniently when killed, leaving little or no evidence of their existence
beyond a cloud of dust. This makes it difficult for any vampire hunter to prove
the existence of vampires, but it also makes it easy to clean up after a
night's slaughter.
Episodes: Phases, Go Fish, Beauty and the Beasts,
Wild At Heart, New Moon Rising,
Characters: Oz, Pete, Veruca,
Tales of lycanthropy (the delusion or condition of a
human morphing into an animal form) may even predate vampirism. There are
indications of a belief that many god-like entities of ancient storytelling had
the power to change from human form to that of animals. The greek god Zeus
tended to do this to trick others and entice women with deviant sexual acts (as
a duck or whatever. Zeus was a real freak). Many gypsy tribes of Europe &
Asia passed tales of werewolves and other "were creatures" of the
night from generation to generation. They spoke of humans who were normal by
day, but under the light of the moon would grow hair and fangs and spend the
night in wanton bloodthirsty feral abandon. Some gypsies spoke of entire bands
of opposing tribes who they believed were cursed with this malady, which gave
just cause to kill opposing tribes.
The werewolf of Buffy's World is a modern reprisal
of these tall tales, strongly influenced by movies like "American Werewolf
In London," "The Wolf Man," and "I Was A Teenage
Werewolf." Fortunately, those humans who suffer lycanthropy only have to
worry about it three nights a month, during the full moon. As Willow says,
"three days out of the month I'm not much fun to be around either."
Otherwise they're completely normal and can live life naturally. However, on
those three nights they're best bet is to lock themselves up in a cage.
Otherwise they black out and wake up the next morning naked in a forest or
trashbin. Though a guy who turns into a wolf isn't aware when he does kill
people while a wolf, he will no doubt feel great guilt and grief over it the
next morning when he reads in the paper that someone was attacked by a big dog.
It is possible for a lycanthrope to learn to control their condition, and even
retain their sentience while in wolf form, but most werewolves have no
recollection of their time in wolf form, and while in wolf form they act no
different from any wild animal. They forget friends and family, except in rare
times when some familiarity seems to flicker. Oz managed to harness the beast
within by traveling to Tibet, but surprises like finding his ex-girlfriend with
another woman still caused him to lose control, so perhaps it is impossible to
ever be fully rehabilitated.
There are many ways in which lycanthropy can be
passed from one person to another. Those who are werewolves pass their
condition on in their genes. Occasionally the condition skips generations or
may opt to show up randomly like hair color or eye color in offspring. Those
who aquire lycanthropy in this manner usually do not show symptoms until
puberty. When a werewolf attacks someone by biting them, and yet by some whim
of fate becomes distracted or otherwise allows the victim to survive the
encounter, the victim will often display symptoms of lycanthropy with 24-72
hours after being bitten.
There's also scientific experiments and other
genetic manipulation. Modern-day science has opened up entirely new arenas for
lycanthropy. In the episode "Go Fish," Buffy & Xander uncover a
plot by the coach of the school's swim team to turn his boys into half men/half
fish so that they could win.
Episodes: The Witch, Bewitched Bothered &
Bewildered, Gingerbread, Doppelgängland, Something Blue, Hush, Who Are You,
Superstar, Replacement,
Characters: Willow Rosenberg (reg), Tara, Catherine
& Amy Madison, Jonathan, The Wanna Blessed Bees in Willow & Tara's
Wicca Group, Toth,
The use of the term "witch" in Buffy the
Vampire Slayer is at times misleading. In fact other names which are sometimes
used synonymously with the word witch just add to the confusion. A magician or
illusionist is usually someone who uses sleight of hand or tricks of the eye to
get people to think they're magic, but they're really just Normal People (q.v.).
The word "warlock" is sometimes used to specify a male witch, but
some witches don't believe males should get their own stuffy word, since pagan
religions are often matriarchal in nature. Someone who is a witch could call
themselves a "wizard" but other witches would probably find that
pretentious and laughable. Some confuse "psychics" with witches, and
at times one who claims to be psychic is really a form of witch but more often
than not they are simply using a variation of psionics (q.v.) or ESP.
Witches are not limited to humans. Many vampires
& demons have been known to delve deep into the dark magicks. Generally
though, the term ‘witch’ in Buffy’s universe refers to human beings. The demon
Toth used a magic incantation to split Xander into two separate but identical
people. Technically that makes Toth a witch, but no one referred to him as a
witch. He was a demon using magic. There's many different kinds of witches, and
each kind is potentially offended to find themselves compared to the other kinds.
A witch of one form may dismiss the other kinds of witches, even claiming there
is no such thing or that they don't deserve the moniker. There's a lot of
infighting and prejudice among witches, which is ironic because historically
they have received so much prejudice and embitterment from the outside world.
This irony is often explored in Buffy's World for purposes of plot device,
humor, drama, or downright mischief. Also played for similar purposes are the
misunderstandings of witches and modern pagan practices among nonpagans, and
how quickly ignorance can grow into mob mentality. In the episode
"Gingerbread" Buffy and her more witchy friends are even almost
burned at the stake.
Witches are generally believers or practitioners of
various Earth-based pagan religions, the modern variation is commonly referred
to as "Wicca." Wicca is a polytheistic based theology, which believes
the powers of all life on Earth stems from the Earth, moon & stars. They
generally believe these celestial bodies are living entities of a sort, and
personify these entities into godlike creatures, so that their minds can grasp
their magnanimous power. The Earth is commonly referred to as Gaia, and
respected as a living thing. Everything from the air we breathe to the
nourishment that enriches one's body stems from Gaia, and they feel being kind
to Gaia will in turn cause kindness to happen in their lives. Often Wiccans
also refer to other gods of history, particularly the greek, roman, egypitan,
and other polytheistic personifications of power that the majority of humanity
had allegedly abandoned during the Dark Ages. Wiccans believe these gods were
not abandoned because people over time theorized they were a bad idea. They
cite endless examples of repression and downright attempts at genocide of their
theology by followers of monotheistic religions. Most notably Catholocism,
which incorrectly connected paganism with satanism, believing anyone who didn't
follow THEIR God was obviously against them. Lumping pagans in with satanists tends
to piss off both pagans and satanists, but nonetheless over two millenia,
Catholocism and Christianity in general managed to singlehandedly scare many
into submission. Things like the spanish inquisition and the salem witch trials
tended to kill any steadfast opposition. Because of all this, the concept of
paganism is a topic that most television shows ignore or abandon. It's plainly
difficult to properly and fairly show modern day witches in a positive light
without offending somebody. So that Buffy The Vampire Slayer attempts to do
this at all is a daring exercise, but that they have largely done it without
upsetting either pagans or Christians (they've upset some of both but not so
badly that they'd be taken off the air) is to their credit.
In general, there are three different kinds of
witches in Buffy's World.
"The Wanna Blessed Bees" The first kind is
the closest to the sort of witches you might actually run into in real life.
Dressed mostly in earth tones, these children of the sun, moon & earth
often have weekly meetings where they share in the blessings of one anothers
bounty and ...oh let's face it they're a glorified Chess Club. They have
bakesales, they light candles because they think it's kewl, and what they call
a bacchanal is actually a fancy way to say party. They're normal people like
you and me, who choose to either rebell from their upbringing or otherwise
embrace paganism because it's the only thing that makes sense to them at the
time. It's a fashion statement for some, a lifestyle choice for others. These
individuals wouldn't know how to serve up a protection spell or stop a zombie
in their tracks with a wave of their hand to save their lives. They don't
really really believe in magic, except in some kind of vague esoteric way that
explains the whole karmic yin yang of life. If a Wanna Blessed Bee saw a 'real'
witch, they'd run for the hills.
"Practioners" Those who actually practice
magic spells for fun & profit take the concepts which wannabes dance around
fashionably and put them to good use. Admittedly, in real life it's rather rare
to see purple sparks of electricity shooting out of a witch's fingertips or
witness someone turning people into rats & toads, but this is television.
In the world of Buffy, to actually learn magic is not an over the night thing.
One doesn't just suddenly become a respectable practitioner overnight. It took
Willow several seasons to get beyond the simplest of spells to the point where
she almost destroyed the world with her massive power. They usually start by
reading from old musty books written in ancient languages and try to decipher
from these texts something that can actually manifest demons or get gorgeous
babes & hunks to follow you around in a daze. More often than not the magic
spell backfires, especially among those practitioners who are inexperienced,
but hey we all gotta learn somehow, right? Once a practitioner has studied
enough and practiced enough, they can theoretically get magic to do pretty much
anything for them. However there are some limitations. Any magic spell that can
be concieved can also in theory have its own counterspell. In fact magic seems
to prefer keeping everything the way it was, but only after about forty minutes
of the world going haywire for the cameras. Also, magic can be used to bring
the dead back to life, but only if they've been dead less than a few minutes,
or were killed by unnatural forces -- say, other magicks for example. Bringing
back someone who is definitely dead dead beyond more conventional means of
restoration is delving into necromancery. Usually once the soul has left the
body it goes to its afterlife without a desire to return, so the very dead dead
body becomes an undead zombie creature with animated fascimiles of life but no
drive of its own. These undead things tend to smell funny, lose limbs easily,
and either want to eat living people or lob their heads off. Why is not
entirely known.
Magic in its purest form appears to be the very
force that makes the universe go. A seemingly endless supply of incredible
force, that if engineered correctly could be used to put the Space Shuttle in
orbit. Though magic is theoretically infinite, there does appear to be finite
limitations to its accumulation and expenditure. Those who practice the art of
witchcraft have to get their magic from somewhere, and then they have to use
their body as the conduit to aquire and release this energy. The human body
appears to be a suitable conductor of this energy, but it also tends to put a
lot of stress and strain both on the physical and psychological presence of the
user. It weakens the body, perverts the mind, and makes people look like they
just came from a gothic rock band concert. A practitioner can collect magic
forces inside them like a battery, but they cannot carry the forces
indefinitely, and once their accumulation of magic energy is expended it takes
them quite awhile to recharge. Each living entity has a small amount of magic
that usually lays dormant inside them. In fact, all living things and some dead
things contain a magic charge.
If a practitioner wants more than what stems from
their own body, they usually have to get various items together and use these
elements in a ritual commonly referred to as a "spell." Spells take
many forms, and each one does something different. Reading about magic is often
akin to reading cookbooks. Each spell is metaphorically equivalent to a recipe.
Only instead of creating an eggplant casserole, you summon a mud elemental, or
improve your mental capacity for the test tomorrow, or any number of other
things. To cast a spell, a practitioner usually needs to collect the
ingredients for a given spell. These items seem to, when used in the right
combination, extract a greater amount of magic than they each do separately.
They also are able to aquire magic from extraneous sources including various
demigods who set aside a part of their magic essence for their followers, or
from the Earth itself, or these spells can increasingly amplify the magic in
the immediate vicinity including the caster his/herself. The more magic that
gets aquired and/or amplified to accomplish a given spell, the greater the
chance everything's gonna go kablooey in the practitioner's face, so there is
always an element of risk involved. Two or more practitioners working together
on the spell or ritual can further amplify the magicks better than one alone.
Actually understanding the use of magic is
convoluted and twisted so that no one ever seems to be successful getting any
magic to do what they want it to do for any consistent length of time. If this
weren't the case, we'd have magic-powered cars in the Buffy Universe. There are
forces of good and evil at work throughout the world which attempt to twist
magic to serve their own purposes, which usually involves destroying the other
team. Further, a person who is inherently good can be turned evil if they use
too much magic that's been tainted. In theory the opposite is also true, but it
appears dangerously easier to be turned bad than to be turned good.
Furthermore, magic itself seems to have its own agenda, to which the Common Man
is completely oblivious.
Practitioners are usually given the benefit of the
doubt. If they're not incredibly powerful, or tend to use their abilities to do
good, they're considered to be just practitioners. However, if they start using
their talents for selfish purposes, they are easily tainted by Dark Magicks,
and eventually turn into the third and worst form of witch.
"Chaos worshipping agents of Satan" Once a
practitioner of magic gets the taste of the nasty, it's rather difficult to
turn off the flow of mean evil bad stuff that spurts out of their fingers. They
go around causing all kinds of havoc and naughty things, usually losing friends
and loved ones, damaging property at an accelerated rate, and pissing off the
local police. They also inevitably turn either nihilistic or mad with a thirst
for power. Or both. These types make some of the best kinds of antagonists
because they are fueled by a powerful force that makes them difficult to
apprehend without a lot of special effects and really snappy amusing comments.
For example, when practitioner Willow got addicted to the use of dark magicks
for selfish purposes, she found herself precariously turning into a choas
worshipping agent of Satan. After her true love Tara was killed by an
assailant's stray bullet, this pushed her over the edge and she turned into
"Dark Willow" wherein she started beating up on everybody and causing
all kinds of carnage and stuff. Amy's mother Catherine Madison was another
example of a dark practitioner.
ZOMBIES
Episodes: Some Assembly Required, Inca Mummy Girl,
Dead Man's Party, The Zeppo, The I In Team, Goobye Iowa, The Yoko Factor,
Characters: Daryl, Ampata, Jack O'Toole, Parker,
Bob, Dickie, Adam,
In brief, zombies are undead creatures that don't
have fangs or suck blood. Sometimes they opt to eat brains, but not as a rule.
I include Mummies in this category, even though mummies often have more
intelligence and power, partially due to time and the willpower of the
returning soul.
A zombie can be a variation on golem (q.v.). Someone
or something takes a dead body or pieces of dead bodies and reanimates them
using usually a large power source, some technobabble and occasionally maniacal
laughter. Sometimes due to the fact that the inhabitants of Sunnydale live over
a Hellmouth, undead bodies just randomly climb out of the Earth and bother
people. Usually this is when the writers need something for Buffy to attack and
they're tired of vampires. It's good for a sense of variety. Sometimes a zombie
or the threat of zombies overtaking Sunnydale makes a good and convenient plot
device.
In the episode "Some Assemby Required" a
kid named Daryl died. His younger brother didn't like that, so he and a friend
pooled their mad science resources and brought him back to artificial life.
Then Daryl wanted a girlfriend. ever the devoted brother, they started getting
female body parts together from both dead and living sources and sewed them together,
a la Frankenstein. When they went after Cordelia's head, the Scoobies thwarted
them. Another Frankenstein-like creature was Adam, built by Professor Walsh,
which appeared in the episodes "I In Team" and "Goodbye
Iowa." Adam was also a cybernetic artificial lifeform, consisting of
(un)dead human, robotic and demonic parts. Its intended purpose was to be the
ultimate supersoldier fighting machine. Adam was a disturbing combination of
both golem (q.v.) and zombie.
Common run of the mill undead types may or may not
have a soul, but they do often retain the memories of what they were when they
still lived. Though they are reanimated, their bodies are broken. They don't
breathe, they don't have a pulse but they can enjoy Saturday morning cartoons.
Being dead, they don't generally have much of a concern for life or much of
anything, and basically just like coming up with new things to do - things they
weren't able to do when they were alive - anything really even if it means
killing people. Because their body has achieved death, it no longer has an
ability to regenerate or subsist in the common ways that the living do.
Respiratory, circulatory and other organs and systems don't work, so nothing is
getting nourishment to the cells of the body in conventional ways. This is why
they continue to stink and their limbs have a tendency of falling off. Eating
fast food doesn't do a thing for most undead except maybe give them heartburn
and cramps. In order to continue existing the zombie needs an external source
of sustenence. Most magic spells that animate the undead don't keep them
animated indefinitely. Once the creature starts moving around, and the brain
starts experiencing life again, it wants to continue doing so, no matter how
against the laws of nature that may be. So the zombie tries to steal its energy
of sustenence from the living. In a living being the lifeforce is regenerative,
but in an undead body the lifeforce stolen from the living has a finite limit
before it is dissipated, so the undead are constantly seeking new resources
from which to feed. Further, often a living victim who's had their lifeforce
stolen by an undead becomes an undead themselves, seeking to replenish that
which was taken away. In this fashion zombies, are able to breed. One zombie can
become a whole town in less than a day, but that's okay cuz zombies really know
how to party.