Mʔ

"It is not for thee. It is for her alone to wield."

- Glyphs engraved upon the wall of an old church.

mʔ, often referred to as the Scythe, was an ancient weapon designed for the Slayer, with a wooden stake on the handle. Its name was "mʔ", "ʔ" being the symbol for a glottal stop. It embodied the mystical essence of the Slayer. Slayers who wielded it were capable of sensing its innate power and felt an initial sense of ownership.

Origins
"A weapon. A scythe. We forged it in secrecy for one like you."

- The Last Guardian

The Scythe was forged in secrecy by a group of women—the Guardians—for the Slayer to kill the last Old Ones that walked the earth. It was kept hidden from the Shadow Men, who  watched the Slayers and would  later became the Watchers Council. The Guardians became watchers of sorts to the Watchers, and sought to help and protect the Slayers. These women put the Scythe in a rock, for when the time came and it was needed again, the Slayer would find and use it.

21st Century
"It’s old... It’s strong and it feels like... Like it’s mine."

- Faith Lehane

In 2003, the Scooby Gang were researching ways to defeat the First Evil, and Spike found an inscription carved in stone, in a secret room in an abandoned mission in Gilroy, which translated to "It is not for thee. It is for her alone to wield." Buffy Summers found the Scythe in a Sunnydale vineyard and pulled it out of the rock. With this weapon in her hands, Buffy managed to kill Caleb—who had merged with the First Evil and was extremely powerful. Later, Willow Rosenberg, using the power of the Scythe, performed a spell that activated all Potential Slayers around the world, making them full-fledged Slayers. Buffy and the Slayers then shared the Scythe among them to defeat the numerous Turok-Han in the depths of the Hellmouth.

Several months later, Buffy was still in possession of the Scythe, and used it to rescue her friend Willow from the U.S. military, injuring many soldiers in the process. It was then stolen by the vampire, Toru, who wanted to reverse the spell Willow did to activate the potential Slayers of the world. After Buffy recovered the Scythe, it crossed its own timeline as Buffy was summoned to the future of Haddyn.

In the battle of Sunnydale, Buffy, reeling from the death of Rupert Giles, used the scythe to break the Seed of Wonder, the heart of magic, which in turn, broke the scythe. After moving to San Francisco, Buffy kept the ruined Scythe in a chest. However, the Scythe was soon taken by Willow, who believed it to be the key to restoring magic; using the residual magic in the Scythe as a "battery", she carved various sigils on Connor with the Scythe, performing a ritual that allowed her to access Quor'toth. After succeeding in restoring her magic within Quor'toth, due to Giles holding the Scythe during his death, Willow allowed Angel to absorb the fragments of Giles' soul that still latched onto it so that he could continue his quest to resurrect him via a Tooth of Ammuk.

Later in Willow's journey, the Scythe was restored by the witch Vulcana (an associate of Aluwyn) who referred to it as a counterpart of Excalibur. With the Scythe now at full power, Willow could easily cut rifts between any two worlds with magic.

When Willow returned to Earth, she returned the Scythe to Buffy. During her battle with the newly-vampiric Simone Doffler, Simone easily outmatched Buffy and impaled her through the shoulder with the Scythe. Despite her wounds and Simone's superior abilities, Buffy eventually gained the upper hand and used the Scythe to stake Simone, openly admitting her regret that she ever used the Scythe to make Simone a Slayer in the first place.

23rd Century
"That Scythe is my only connection to the whole Slayer heritage thing. And it kills great."

- Melaka Fray

Sometime in the 23rd century, the Scythe was given to Melaka Fray, the Slayer of that time, by her ally, the demon Urkonn. Melaka used it to defeat dozens of vampires led by her vampire brother Harth Fray, as well as the Old One Neauth, saving the world.

Some time later, during her battle with Fray, a time-displaced Buffy smashed the Scythe clean in half with a backhanded punch.

Appearance and qualities
Despite its name, the Scythe actually resembled a lochaber axe with a red, steel head and a sliver edge on the border of the blade, a steel shaft holding the head with nails stamped along it and reaching down was a brown haft that had a simple wooden stake below it connected via an assembly of metal spikes. Its stake seemed apparently sharper and stronger than basic wood as it could be jammed against a stone wall without any visible damage to it afterwards. Buffy could easily stake several Turok-Han vampires despite their harder sternums. Buffy also used the Scythe's blade to shield herself from D'Hoffryn's energy blasts.

Willow displayed the capacity of the Scythe to be used in magic. The weapon itself is like a "battery" that contained magic even if the Earth itself didn't have any magic left. This fact allowed Willow to use the Scythe's power to tear open a rift in reality to gain access to Quor'toth. She used the power of the Scythe to activate every single Potential Slayer on Earth. The Scythe could also be used to tear open portals to other dimensions and could even be used as a means to cast very powerful spells, such as immense streams of magic power that can match the strength of an Old One.

Wielders
The following Slayers have wielded the Scythe: Others
 * Sineya (she was the first Slayer to wield the scythe- to kill the last pure demon that walked upon the Earth in Sunnydale before it was officially named.)
 * Buffy Summers
 * Faith Lehane
 * Kennedy
 * Rona
 * Satsu
 * Melaka Fray
 * Toru
 * Kumiko Ishihara
 * Willow Rosenberg
 * Caleb

Behind the Scenes

 * The Scythe appeared in object cameo and owned by Rumpelstiltskin in the episode "Skin Deep " in Once Upon A Time which was also written by Buffy writer Jane Espenson.
 * In Willow: Wonderland, it is stated by the witch Vulcana in her ritual to repair it that it is the counterpart to Excalibur.

Appearances

 * Fray
 * "Touched"
 * "End of Days"
 * "Chosen"
 * "Just Rewards" (Footage from "Chosen")
 * The Long Way Home, Part Four
 * A Beautiful Sunset
 * Wolves at the Gate
 * Time of Your Life
 * After These Messages ... We'll Be Right Back!
 * Twilight, Part Three
 * Last Gleaming, Part Three
 * Last Gleaming, Part Four
 * Slayer, Interrupted
 * Family Reunion, Part One
 * Family Reunion, Part Two
 * Family Reunion, Part Three
 * Family Reunion, Part Four
 * Willow: Wonderland
 * The Watcher
 * The Core
 * In Pieces on the Ground, Part One