Paul Gadzikowski

Over at multi_genre_fan the Slayer-calling issue was brought up. Why didn't Buffy's season-five death activate a new Slayer; and, now that Willow activated all the Potentials there were in 2003, what happens next? I replied:

1. Slayer "line" is a major discussion point in BVS fandom. Since Buffy's season five death doesn't appear to have activated another Slayer (though appearances can be deceiving), it seems apparent to me that the line moved on to Kendra, at whose death was called Faith, at whose death the next would be called.

   Then comes Willow's spell to muck everything up.

2. What happens next must depend on a lot of unknown factors, including as you noted whether Willow's spell means all future Slayers will be born activated. Other factors that come to mind:
   • Whether the selection process is predetermined or environmental. Had Faith died before Willow's spell, is there one person among the Willows' activated Potentials who was already designated by the universe as her successor, or would it have depended on some prevailing condition at the moment?
   • After Willow's spell, now that the Potential who would have been called at Faith's death has presumably already been activated, should Faith die will the activation pass on to someone else - or will the activation still go to the Slayer it would have gone to anyway?
     • If the latter, will that Slayer now be doubly-activated or would activation of an already-called Slayer have no effect?
     • If the former, is activation programmed to seek out an unactivated Potential?
       • Are there any? If Willow's spell doesn't activate future Potentials at birth (or earlier), activation would then have to pass on to a Potential who hadn't been born yet when Willow did her spell.
       • Maybe Willow's spell shall activate all future Potentials at birth, or earlier. What if there aren't any unactivated Potentials for activation to pass to at Faith's death?

Fanfiction plot bunnies galore.