Buffy The Vampire Slayer Theories That Change Everything

"Into every generation, a slayer is born," and in March 1997, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" arrived, establishing a new fandom around a world of vampires, demons, and werewolves. Joss Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" centers around Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), a teenage girl who happens to be a vampire and demon slayer. She moves to the idyllic California town of Sunnydale, which just so happens to sit on top of the Hellmouth. Buffy joins forces with her watcher, Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), and her two best friends (aka the original Scooby Gang), Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander (Nicholas Brendon).

Whedon turned a genre on its head to redefine what girl power looked like with a tiny, blonde-haired teenager who could defeat any evil. Part of the show's influence came from its emergence when the internet was becoming a go-to space of information and communication. Initially, the official "Buffy" site hosted a message board, The Bronze, where fans could discuss "Buffy" and develop theories about the different layers of the entire Buffyverse (via CNN). 

Some theories have been accepted as canon, with the fans and creators agreeing that it's part of the universe, while others are a bit more out there. So, whether you've already got a concept that you're curious about (that it must be bunnies) or are just starting to dive into this rabbit hole, read on to discover the "Buffy" theories that change everything. However,  be warned — there are spoilers are ahead.

The Season 5 episode "The Body" is unlike any other in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." In fact, The Atlantic once argued that it's unlike any other on television. Buffy comes home to find her mother, Joyce, lifeless on their couch. Earlier in the season, Joyce discovers that she has a brain tumor, which is removed, but in "The Body," she dies from a brain aneurysm.

Whedon told Metro that he started planning Joyce's death during Season 3, but the fact that the character's death occurs in Season 5 got fans speculating about the true origins of her passing. After all, this season introduces viewers to Dawn, Buffy's younger sister, who literally appears out of nowhere. Dawn is a human form of "the key," which unlocks portals to other dimensions, and a group of monks implanted Buffy, Joyce, and everyone else with memories of Dawn so she can be under Buffy's protection.

Some "Buffy" fans on Reddit link Dawn's arrival with Joyce's departure. The theory supposes that perhaps it isn't coincidental that Joyce gets a brain tumor when she does, as her brain might have been overwhelmed by the influx and implantation of memories of Dawn. Buffy, meanwhile, could have been unaffected because, as the slayer, she isn't just a mere mortal. Additionally, Dawn is created by magic, which is rooted in balance — if you create life, then you must take one as well. 

In Buffy's world, something that sets her apart from previous slayers is her support network. In the past, slayers would walk alone, fighting in the shadows and hiding from others. At the beginning of the series, Willow becomes an essential resource for Buffy because she uses her computer skills to find necessary information and spells. Later, Willow becomes a powerful witch in her own right. 

In the series finale, Willow steps up to help Buffy one more time and cast a spell to turn all the potential slayers into actual slayers so they can join forces to fight the uber vampires. However, she's cagey about the details of this spell, and one interpretation is that Willow infects the potentials with the shadow demon used to create the first slayer in order to activate all of them.

However, Reddit user u/flagnut1 has a different idea because the only way viewers have seen another slayer activated in "Buffy" is when Buffy dies. If there's no way for a slayer to emerge without the death of the previous one, then perhaps Willow "causes a small brain hemorrhage or heart attack in every single slayer, in order, in a chain reaction, killing them ALL, but following it with a quick restorative to bring them back to life." Since the previous season ends with Willow transforming into Dark Willow and she struggles with her addiction to dark magic, it's not implausible that she might perform a spell like this.

In many ways, "Buffy" goes where no other show does (or did, at least in the '90s), and that includes killing its protagonist not once but twice. In Season 1, the Master drowns Buffy and, while she's only dead for a few seconds, it's long enough for a new slayer to be called in the form of Kendra (Bianca Lawson). Kendra's tenure as slayer is short-lived since Drusilla kills her in Season 2, which leads to the calling of Faith (Eliza Dushku) as the new slayer.

Faith is Buffy's foil, as she is impulsive, reckless, and always five-by-five. Where Buffy bears the existential weight of being the chosen one, Faith thrives on it. Once Faith enters the picture, Buffy could retire at any time and live as recklessly as Faith because she isn't actually the chosen one anymore.

When Buffy dies once again at the end of Season 5, there's no new slayer called. That's because Faith is still alive and, due to Buffy's first death at the hands of the Master, Faith is the one continuing the slayer line. So, if Buffy dies again but Faith doesn't, no new slayer would be called. The mechanics of the slayer line have been accepted as canon, and some fans have pointed out discrepancies in Season 7 as Buffy continues to believe that her life and death will change the slayer line as it seems that she may not be so special after all.

While "Buffy" revolves around death, a few have stood out as particularly devastating. Joyce is one, and Tara (Amber Benson), Willow's girlfriend, is another. Tara is killed by a rogue bullet shot by Warren, which triggers Willow's descent into total darkness as she transforms into Dark Willow to avenge her lover's death. While many fans decried Tara's death as avoidable (also as perhaps contributing to the "bury your gays" trope), others have a theory that it was necessary.

Buffy Boards user Josh the Writer proposes the "Osiris Theory," which is that a sacrifice was required after Willow resurrected Buffy at the start of Season 6. When Willow brings Buffy back from the dead, she sacrifices a deer while calling upon Osiris, the Egyptian god of death. However, perhaps that wasn't a big enough offering to the god of the underworld, particularly when trying to bring back a powerful slayer who died by magical means. 

Magic in "Buffy" is founded in the balance of give and take, and one can never perform a spell, particularly a dark one, without paying a price. Tara is a powerful witch, and so perhaps she is the true offering for Buffy's return to life as she's more equal to Buffy than a deer. Whether you subscribe to this theory or not, it doesn't quite alleviate the pain of Tara's death.

While the connections between "Buffy" and the Whedonverse are clear, some fans believe that they extend outside of Whedon's worlds as well. A number of fans have made the case that both "Buffy" and "Doctor Who" exist in the same universe. 

At the end of Season 6, Giles uses magic to combat Dark Willow. However, she retaliates, and Giles is soon on the brink of death. Miraculously, Giles doesn't die, and while it seems to be because Willow stops using black magic to destroy the world, some fans believe it's because he's a Time Lord who's regenerated (while keeping his appearance). Others think it goes beyond Giles and that Buffy too is a time lord (seeing as she, you know, is always dying and coming back to life).

After the series finale of "Buffy," Whedon resurrected the vampire slayer (again) in a new form: a comic book. The Dark Horse "Buffy" comic was overseen by Whedon, per MTV, and picks up after the events of the show's finale, so its events are considered canon. In the "Buffy" comic, the connection with "Doctor Who" seemingly becomes explicit, as fans on Reddit pointed out that the Tenth Doctor and Rose appear in one of the panels. While some think this may have just been a fun easter egg from the comic book artists, others believe it's a sign that there are Time Lords in the world of "Buffy."

Every season of "Buffy" features a new Big Bad that torments the slayer, her friends, and all of humanity, if it's big and bad enough. Season 7 sees Buffy fighting the biggest villain of all, The First, aka the original evil. The First is incorporeal, able to take the body of anyone who has died, human and demon alike, and it harnesses its power in the flesh by releasing the Turok-Han or ubervamps. These are the first vampires, a primordial evil unlike any vampire Buffy has ever faced before.

The First uses Spike's blood to summon a Turok-Han to Earth. When Buffy meets this ubervamp, it nearly kills her in a way viewers have hardly seen before other than when Buffy meets Caleb (Nathan Fillion), a human incarnation of The First. However, at the end of the series, when an army of ubervamps descends upon Buffy and the potentials-turned-slayers, the slayers are all able to fight the vamps in a way that Buffy couldn't when she first met the Turok-Han. 

Some fans have noted that the slayers were at an advantage. Unlike the original Turok-Han, who got to feast on Spike's blood, this army of vampires hasn't fed in centuries. Hungry, weak, and probably a bit hangry, the ubervamps are no match for this army of slayers, or at least, they're a bit more equally matched.

The Master (Mark Metcalf) is the first Big Bad of the series, and he's a pretty significant one as he manages to kill Buffy. When Buffy meets the Master, he's escaped the mystical barrier that has trapped him for decades and has recently broken through the Hellmouth. Season 1 focuses on The Master's growing power as he tries to unleash the apocalypse, but ultimately, he's no match for the Slayer (and friends). Buffy defeats the Master and moves on to bigger and badder evils, like the Mayor in Season 3.

Both the Master and the Mayor have the same goals — to kill a lot of people, become all-powerful, and end the world. But "Buffy" fan Merlin theorizes that there's more to this story than viewers may realize and that the Mayor is the one who originally imprisoned the Master. The Master tries to harness his power in 1936, but his ritual is disrupted by an earthquake, which causes him to be swallowed by the Hellmouth. 

Merlin argues that there's one supernatural being powerful enough to have caused this earthquake and confined the Master, and that's the Mayor. It may seem strange for the Mayor to protect the world from the Master's rise, but perhaps he needed to continue gathering the sacrifices he needed for his own ascension. Merlin goes into elaborate detail about the theory, which helps it seem pretty convincing.