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 later became the Watchers Council, who watched the Slayers. 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. The repaired Scythe is now entirely red, as it will continue to be into the 23rd century.

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. Given the fate of the Scythe during the 21st century, it may have been restored at some point.

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

Characteristics
Despite it's name, the Scythe actually resembled a battle 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.

Wielders
The following Slayers have wielded the Scythe: Others
 * Buffy Summers
 * Faith Lehane (briefly, during Hellmouth battle in 2003 and again in the Twilight campaign)
 * Kennedy (briefly, during Hellmouth battle in 2003)
 * Rona (briefly, during the Hellmouth battle in 2003)
 * Satsu (briefly, during the battle against the Japanese vampires)
 * Melaka Fray
 * Toru
 * Kumiko Ishihara
 * Willow Rosenberg
 * Rupert Giles (briefly, in "End of Days")
 * Caleb (briefly, in "End of Days'')
 * Last Guardian (briefly, in "End of Days'')