Joan the Vampire Slayer
Carpe Spuffy!
Hey Spuffies!
I wrote this in 2011 but thought it was worth another share for the new fans here to read 🙂
I still feel this way! #SpuffyForever
Has anyone else written a "manifesto" about our favorite couple? Post here!
----
This manifesto is a long time coming.
Let me start like this. How would you describe Spike and Buffy’s story to others? It’s hard, isn’t it? There’s so much to explain.
Spike and Buffy - it’s a good story, isn’t it? A vicious killer transformed into a hero through his love of a girl. A girl, with the weight of the world on her shoulders, jaded in love, falls in love again - with all her heart and soul she loves this vampire, and together they save the world.
But that’s not all. We know there’s so much more than that to the story of our girl-slayer and her vampire with a soul.
These two are the work of some gifted storytellers, and some damned talented actors. And yes, they told the story of these two as well and anyone could, they interpreted the words, gave life to a script. But in the end, this couple is what we want them to be. They belong to us - the fans who ‘ship them and believe that in the end, they will end up together. And if they don't? Well, they should have.
Love. It means different things to different people. For me, Spike and Buffy is love in it’s purest and truest form. It was messy but it was real. So, that’s why I attempted to write this; to try to explain why and how I see this in them.
How often is it that you find a man who loves you for you, whom you are passionate about, and who is completely, utterly devoted to you? Not only that, but who respects you, admires you, and calls you his “hero”?
It is beyond me how anyone can not be moved by their impossible story, and even more incomprehensible how anyone can deny the connection these two had. Still have.
The reformed killer and the flawed hero, fighting together for a better world. It’s the stuff good stories are made of.
Let me define love. Love? What is it to me? Acceptance.
Spike has seen Buffy at her worst, crying and beating him in a dark alley, in all her rage and fear and self-hatred, crying and screaming that he’s “nothing” and how she could never be his girl.
Buffy has seen Spike at his worst - crying, kneeling, begging at her feet for her love, “her willing slave”, un-self-consciously giving his whole self to her, exposing his very heart - only for her to stomp on and hurt time and time again.
And yet…incredibly, these two still find a way to bridge the gulf between them, and come to a place of true mutual respect, friendship, and dare I say it? - love. These two were so, so, so in love. It is astounding to me that fans claim otherwise. I would never try to talk anyone out of their chosen ‘ship. But there is a difference between preference and denial. Spike still loves Buffy. He told her so. Buffy's silence proves nothing. I know she loves him. She always has.
Standing side by side, Spike and Buffy can do anything. They are partners. There is no agenda here, no ulterior motive. They are an extension of each other. They are equals in each other’s eyes. Their connection is internal, un-changing, unbreakable. He is perfect for her. She is perfect for him. They fit together. They are perfect partners-lovers-friends-lovers. There is that spark between them. It’s beyond love- it’s camaraderie, an understanding that they’ve lived a lifetime together and still have a lifetime to share. It is full-circle.
But I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? This is a manifesto, perhaps I’m going about this wrong.
After all, how could I explain just how much this fictional couple has gotten under my skin, invaded my mind, sparked my imagination, and given me hope in love? How could I explain it? It’s crazy, really. Fiction is not life...but…I see life in these two. I see myself in them. I see the person I want to be, the person I want to be with.
I didn’t understand it before. My love for them, that is. My attachment. My fierce loyalty and belief in them.
I think I do now.
We relate to what we read and what we see because we see something of ourselves reflected in it. I’m not so sure who I see myself in - Spike or Buffy - but I know I feel for them. So much. I see me - my fear of love, my fear of letting my guard down, my fear of betrayal, and of trusting someone. I see my overwhelming hope that love is out there for me in the unlikeliest of places. I see a wish-fantasy fulfilled. But I also see truth - how unlikely it is to find someone who’s right for you, the overwhelming chance of finding that “perfect” love, and how hard it is to make it work once you‘ve found it, and most of all how easy it is to just let it go then to work at it and risk getting burned. I see how much grace and trust and respect is required. And how much strength and humility. I see all of this in Spike and Buffy. They are my heroes. For Buffy to give up what she did? To allow Spike to burn? You think she wasn’t well aware what of she was giving up? I was so proud of her.
We develop relationships with characters for many reasons, one being that they hold mirrors up to us. We don’t always like what we see, but regardless, we can relate. This is the key.
While initially thinking about this manifesto, I thought about why I am drawn to Spike and Buffy so much. Out of all of the aspects/ships/themes of this incredible show that was truly changed my life, why do Spike and Buffy appeal to me the most? Why am I so fascinated by them? How is it possible that I truly never tire of watching them interact on screen? Or reading fiction featuring them? Why is it that, in the end, they’re what most interests me most about this series?
To me, Spike and Buffy represent great and perfect love in all its flaws and triumphs. They have what everyone wants. It’s only after you’ve been through everything that you can be anything, right? I think the same goes for love. How can someone say that they love you until they’ve seen the best and the worst of you?
With Spike and Buffy, it’s never simple. It never has been and it never will be.
See, I was never a ‘shipper. But from the second Spike and Buffy walked into my screen, I was never the same. Seriously. Sometimes my love for this couple scares me.
Spike is set from his first appearance as a anomaly. He’s vicious, and seemingly without conscience, yet he’s clever, asking “Who do you kill for fun around here”?, even at this stage, he role as the Truth Sayer has begun. Sensing Angel is not his old self, Spike snarls in response to Angel’s blithe comment that “things change”, (meaning he has a soul now). Spike proclaims “Not us! Not demons!” (this is an interesting observation (forshadow?), considering Angel’s prime and constant struggle in the show will be against his alter-ego, Angelus). Spike’s genuine affection for Drusilla is almost disarming, if not confounding, and a stark contrast to his unapologetic viciousness. We know that Spike is not like other vampires from the get-go. He is different, and this will be his defining factor throughout the series. He will change more than any character on the show.
He will come full-circle, and Buffy will be with him all the way. They will change each other. They will love each other, and in the end, they will lose each other. Or maybe, they’ll let each other go.
Isn’t that how the story always goes?
But this is where Buffy and Spike deviate from the established tragic love story. Sure, they loved each other and they lost each other. But the difference here is that they will find each other again. I can feel it in my heart. Their story is not over. It’s just begun.
This is why we love tragic love. And to me, Spike and Buffy are not tragic. Quite the opposite, in fact. Just because they are not together currently does not mean they have failed. When Buffy is dead and gone, she will live on in ones she loves, most of all Spike. She’s the one who taught him to be human again, and it was for her that he fought for his soul and became a hero.
The results of our actions are not always readily apparent. Think about how many lives have been saved in the 'verse because Spike stopped killing for love of Buffy?
Falling for Buffy is bewildering for Spike. He doesn’t understand what he’s feeling. Twice he has gone to kill/watch Buffy die and each time he’s broken down and helped her. Once in “Family” and once in “Fool For Love.” He wants to see her die in theory, but in practice can’t allow it to happen. His feelings towards her in Season 5 are as bewildering to him as hers are for him. They grow together. Make mistakes together. Learn together.
As another, smarter friend of mine said, to go from “what happens on Saturday?”, “I kill you”, to “I love you” is pretty incredible. And why should we be surprised? Spike and Buffy were - are - incredible.
Spike shows up and challenges everything Buffy knows about vampires. Angel already showed her that vampires can be good. Spike shows her something much more incredible - that a vampire without a soul can be capable of love. And that’s what I think love should do; it should be transformative. It should challenge you to change, to adapt your thinking, to learn new ways of viewing the world.
Buffy is a good Slayer in part because she is in tune with the darkness in side of her - she knows how to utilize it. Spike helps her accept that, he is her "dark place" and her sanctuary - she is aware of shades of gray that exist in her world - and she doesn’t reject those. She lights up the dark with her light. After meeting Spike, Buffy's view of the world changed.
Buffy is Spike's world. He knows no girl can ever compare.
As daft as soulful Spike the killer is, it’s nothing compared to the idea that any girl would ever mean anything to me.
-Spike [to Buffy]
And I think that in the end, it all comes down to one thing; acceptance. True love is just another word for acceptance. Spike loves Buffy in all her flaws, and Buffy loves Spike in all of his.
The bad times they had? The hurt they caused each other? None of that matters. They’ve transcended all of it. In all their glory and after everything that has happened, they remain together. Fighters. Friends. And there’s still that spark. And that makes all the difference.
Allow me to bring your attention to a much-quoted quote of Spikes;
Trust is for old marrieds, Buffy. Great love is wild and passionate and dangerous. It burns and consumes.
And our Buffy, so burned and jaded in love, completely misses the point, and replies in the only way she knows how; relating it to Angel;
Until there’s nothing left. Love like that doesn’t last.
But see, she’s wrong, because Spike is not Angel. Spike’s love is different than Angel’s and besides, that’s not what Spike meant.
Buffy was right, too. In a way. Love like that can’t last, because it’s too strong for this plane. It’s forged in fire. When Spike burns in “Chosen”, he proves her right. How ironic that in speaking of Angel, she was really talking about her and Spike. Spike does burn and consume until there’s nothing left.
I get what Spike meant now. He didn’t mean that “great love” was dangerous because of the capacity for it to cause pain to those involved. He meant that love is dangerous because it causes people to do things they wouldn’t normally do. Love gives us strength. It causes people to be brave. Powered by love, we can do the unthinkable. And Spike and Buffy did. In dying for her and her war, Spike did the unthinkable. And in letting him go, Buffy did the same.
True love is selfless. Buffy knew that in order for Spike to redeem himself, he needed to let himself burn. The cleansing nature of fire redeemed him. Can you imagine how hard that must have been for Buffy? When Buffy told Spike she loved him in Chosen, she was well aware what she was giving up.
But see, Buffy’s always known that the world was worth more then her love life. Why? Because she’s a hero.
And she shall look on him with forgiveness, and everybody will forgive and love, and he will be loved.
In a way, I think this thought encapsulates the entire story of their journey together.
And isn’t this exactly what happened? Buffy forgave him and then she said she loved him. In death, Spike found peace.
Buffy jumping for Dawn? That was the “great love” Spike was speaking of. Spike, even without a soul, understood that kind of love. Because he felt it for Buffy.
And Spike was right, wasn’t he? Great love does burn and consume. This means more then a clever continuation of our couple’s fire theme.
It’s the journey - not the destination. And these two have traveled a lifetime together. And their journey isn’t over.
In the end, Spike and Buffy are the most real depiction of great love I have ever seen grace my television screen. They are beyond romance. They are soul mates.
And I can't wait to see where they're taken this season.
I wrote this in 2011 but thought it was worth another share for the new fans here to read 🙂
I still feel this way! #SpuffyForever
Has anyone else written a "manifesto" about our favorite couple? Post here!
----
This manifesto is a long time coming.
Let me start like this. How would you describe Spike and Buffy’s story to others? It’s hard, isn’t it? There’s so much to explain.
Spike and Buffy - it’s a good story, isn’t it? A vicious killer transformed into a hero through his love of a girl. A girl, with the weight of the world on her shoulders, jaded in love, falls in love again - with all her heart and soul she loves this vampire, and together they save the world.
But that’s not all. We know there’s so much more than that to the story of our girl-slayer and her vampire with a soul.
These two are the work of some gifted storytellers, and some damned talented actors. And yes, they told the story of these two as well and anyone could, they interpreted the words, gave life to a script. But in the end, this couple is what we want them to be. They belong to us - the fans who ‘ship them and believe that in the end, they will end up together. And if they don't? Well, they should have.
Love. It means different things to different people. For me, Spike and Buffy is love in it’s purest and truest form. It was messy but it was real. So, that’s why I attempted to write this; to try to explain why and how I see this in them.
How often is it that you find a man who loves you for you, whom you are passionate about, and who is completely, utterly devoted to you? Not only that, but who respects you, admires you, and calls you his “hero”?
It is beyond me how anyone can not be moved by their impossible story, and even more incomprehensible how anyone can deny the connection these two had. Still have.
The reformed killer and the flawed hero, fighting together for a better world. It’s the stuff good stories are made of.
Let me define love. Love? What is it to me? Acceptance.
Spike has seen Buffy at her worst, crying and beating him in a dark alley, in all her rage and fear and self-hatred, crying and screaming that he’s “nothing” and how she could never be his girl.
Buffy has seen Spike at his worst - crying, kneeling, begging at her feet for her love, “her willing slave”, un-self-consciously giving his whole self to her, exposing his very heart - only for her to stomp on and hurt time and time again.
And yet…incredibly, these two still find a way to bridge the gulf between them, and come to a place of true mutual respect, friendship, and dare I say it? - love. These two were so, so, so in love. It is astounding to me that fans claim otherwise. I would never try to talk anyone out of their chosen ‘ship. But there is a difference between preference and denial. Spike still loves Buffy. He told her so. Buffy's silence proves nothing. I know she loves him. She always has.
Standing side by side, Spike and Buffy can do anything. They are partners. There is no agenda here, no ulterior motive. They are an extension of each other. They are equals in each other’s eyes. Their connection is internal, un-changing, unbreakable. He is perfect for her. She is perfect for him. They fit together. They are perfect partners-lovers-friends-lovers. There is that spark between them. It’s beyond love- it’s camaraderie, an understanding that they’ve lived a lifetime together and still have a lifetime to share. It is full-circle.
But I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? This is a manifesto, perhaps I’m going about this wrong.
After all, how could I explain just how much this fictional couple has gotten under my skin, invaded my mind, sparked my imagination, and given me hope in love? How could I explain it? It’s crazy, really. Fiction is not life...but…I see life in these two. I see myself in them. I see the person I want to be, the person I want to be with.
I didn’t understand it before. My love for them, that is. My attachment. My fierce loyalty and belief in them.
I think I do now.
We relate to what we read and what we see because we see something of ourselves reflected in it. I’m not so sure who I see myself in - Spike or Buffy - but I know I feel for them. So much. I see me - my fear of love, my fear of letting my guard down, my fear of betrayal, and of trusting someone. I see my overwhelming hope that love is out there for me in the unlikeliest of places. I see a wish-fantasy fulfilled. But I also see truth - how unlikely it is to find someone who’s right for you, the overwhelming chance of finding that “perfect” love, and how hard it is to make it work once you‘ve found it, and most of all how easy it is to just let it go then to work at it and risk getting burned. I see how much grace and trust and respect is required. And how much strength and humility. I see all of this in Spike and Buffy. They are my heroes. For Buffy to give up what she did? To allow Spike to burn? You think she wasn’t well aware what of she was giving up? I was so proud of her.
We develop relationships with characters for many reasons, one being that they hold mirrors up to us. We don’t always like what we see, but regardless, we can relate. This is the key.
While initially thinking about this manifesto, I thought about why I am drawn to Spike and Buffy so much. Out of all of the aspects/ships/themes of this incredible show that was truly changed my life, why do Spike and Buffy appeal to me the most? Why am I so fascinated by them? How is it possible that I truly never tire of watching them interact on screen? Or reading fiction featuring them? Why is it that, in the end, they’re what most interests me most about this series?
To me, Spike and Buffy represent great and perfect love in all its flaws and triumphs. They have what everyone wants. It’s only after you’ve been through everything that you can be anything, right? I think the same goes for love. How can someone say that they love you until they’ve seen the best and the worst of you?
With Spike and Buffy, it’s never simple. It never has been and it never will be.
See, I was never a ‘shipper. But from the second Spike and Buffy walked into my screen, I was never the same. Seriously. Sometimes my love for this couple scares me.
Spike is set from his first appearance as a anomaly. He’s vicious, and seemingly without conscience, yet he’s clever, asking “Who do you kill for fun around here”?, even at this stage, he role as the Truth Sayer has begun. Sensing Angel is not his old self, Spike snarls in response to Angel’s blithe comment that “things change”, (meaning he has a soul now). Spike proclaims “Not us! Not demons!” (this is an interesting observation (forshadow?), considering Angel’s prime and constant struggle in the show will be against his alter-ego, Angelus). Spike’s genuine affection for Drusilla is almost disarming, if not confounding, and a stark contrast to his unapologetic viciousness. We know that Spike is not like other vampires from the get-go. He is different, and this will be his defining factor throughout the series. He will change more than any character on the show.
He will come full-circle, and Buffy will be with him all the way. They will change each other. They will love each other, and in the end, they will lose each other. Or maybe, they’ll let each other go.
Isn’t that how the story always goes?
But this is where Buffy and Spike deviate from the established tragic love story. Sure, they loved each other and they lost each other. But the difference here is that they will find each other again. I can feel it in my heart. Their story is not over. It’s just begun.
This is why we love tragic love. And to me, Spike and Buffy are not tragic. Quite the opposite, in fact. Just because they are not together currently does not mean they have failed. When Buffy is dead and gone, she will live on in ones she loves, most of all Spike. She’s the one who taught him to be human again, and it was for her that he fought for his soul and became a hero.
The results of our actions are not always readily apparent. Think about how many lives have been saved in the 'verse because Spike stopped killing for love of Buffy?
Falling for Buffy is bewildering for Spike. He doesn’t understand what he’s feeling. Twice he has gone to kill/watch Buffy die and each time he’s broken down and helped her. Once in “Family” and once in “Fool For Love.” He wants to see her die in theory, but in practice can’t allow it to happen. His feelings towards her in Season 5 are as bewildering to him as hers are for him. They grow together. Make mistakes together. Learn together.
As another, smarter friend of mine said, to go from “what happens on Saturday?”, “I kill you”, to “I love you” is pretty incredible. And why should we be surprised? Spike and Buffy were - are - incredible.
Spike shows up and challenges everything Buffy knows about vampires. Angel already showed her that vampires can be good. Spike shows her something much more incredible - that a vampire without a soul can be capable of love. And that’s what I think love should do; it should be transformative. It should challenge you to change, to adapt your thinking, to learn new ways of viewing the world.
Buffy is a good Slayer in part because she is in tune with the darkness in side of her - she knows how to utilize it. Spike helps her accept that, he is her "dark place" and her sanctuary - she is aware of shades of gray that exist in her world - and she doesn’t reject those. She lights up the dark with her light. After meeting Spike, Buffy's view of the world changed.
Buffy is Spike's world. He knows no girl can ever compare.
As daft as soulful Spike the killer is, it’s nothing compared to the idea that any girl would ever mean anything to me.
-Spike [to Buffy]
And I think that in the end, it all comes down to one thing; acceptance. True love is just another word for acceptance. Spike loves Buffy in all her flaws, and Buffy loves Spike in all of his.
The bad times they had? The hurt they caused each other? None of that matters. They’ve transcended all of it. In all their glory and after everything that has happened, they remain together. Fighters. Friends. And there’s still that spark. And that makes all the difference.
Allow me to bring your attention to a much-quoted quote of Spikes;
Trust is for old marrieds, Buffy. Great love is wild and passionate and dangerous. It burns and consumes.
And our Buffy, so burned and jaded in love, completely misses the point, and replies in the only way she knows how; relating it to Angel;
Until there’s nothing left. Love like that doesn’t last.
But see, she’s wrong, because Spike is not Angel. Spike’s love is different than Angel’s and besides, that’s not what Spike meant.
Buffy was right, too. In a way. Love like that can’t last, because it’s too strong for this plane. It’s forged in fire. When Spike burns in “Chosen”, he proves her right. How ironic that in speaking of Angel, she was really talking about her and Spike. Spike does burn and consume until there’s nothing left.
I get what Spike meant now. He didn’t mean that “great love” was dangerous because of the capacity for it to cause pain to those involved. He meant that love is dangerous because it causes people to do things they wouldn’t normally do. Love gives us strength. It causes people to be brave. Powered by love, we can do the unthinkable. And Spike and Buffy did. In dying for her and her war, Spike did the unthinkable. And in letting him go, Buffy did the same.
True love is selfless. Buffy knew that in order for Spike to redeem himself, he needed to let himself burn. The cleansing nature of fire redeemed him. Can you imagine how hard that must have been for Buffy? When Buffy told Spike she loved him in Chosen, she was well aware what she was giving up.
But see, Buffy’s always known that the world was worth more then her love life. Why? Because she’s a hero.
And she shall look on him with forgiveness, and everybody will forgive and love, and he will be loved.
In a way, I think this thought encapsulates the entire story of their journey together.
And isn’t this exactly what happened? Buffy forgave him and then she said she loved him. In death, Spike found peace.
Buffy jumping for Dawn? That was the “great love” Spike was speaking of. Spike, even without a soul, understood that kind of love. Because he felt it for Buffy.
And Spike was right, wasn’t he? Great love does burn and consume. This means more then a clever continuation of our couple’s fire theme.
It’s the journey - not the destination. And these two have traveled a lifetime together. And their journey isn’t over.
In the end, Spike and Buffy are the most real depiction of great love I have ever seen grace my television screen. They are beyond romance. They are soul mates.
And I can't wait to see where they're taken this season.
GoSpuffy
So beautiful
white avenger
Beautiful. And, it's nice to see you back again.
debbicles
Inspiring.
Priceless
Love this!
