Turok-Han

"As Neanderthals are to human beings, the Turok-Han are to vampires. They're a primordial, ferociously powerful killing machine, as single-minded as animals. They are the vampires that vampires fear. An ancient and entirely different race, and until this morning, I thought they were a myth."

- Rupert Giles

Background
They are a race of ancient powerful vampires stronger and fiercer than the regular vampires, described as the vampire equivalent to Neanderthal man. Judging by Giles' description of them, they are monsters even amongst vampires.

Due to their denser sternums, the Turok-Han are resistant, though not invulnerable, to stakes. They are also vulnerable to beheading and sunlight, though crosses do not affect them at all, and holy water only causes minor, acid-like burns that do not seem to deter them. Additionally, they are able to enter human residences without being invited inside. They are intelligent enough to forge their own weapons, as some are seen doing in Chosen before the new Slayers engage them in battle.

The First Evil, via its Bringers, first used the combined blood of Jonathan Levinson and Spike to open the Seal of Danzalthar, thus releasing the first Turok-Han. Buffy's first encounter with the primordial vampire nearly killed her as she was caught off-guard, tired from two days lack of sleep and worried about the fate of her friends. In between its fights with Buffy, it spent most of its time brutally torturing a captive Spike. Buffy eventually managed to kill it in a staged fight in the next episode "Showtime".

The Shadow Men later show Buffy a vision, wherein it is revealed that there are actually thousands of Turok-Han, all living below the seal. The First Evil apparently plans to open the Hellmouth and release them all, allowing them to conquer the world. It is also mentioned that somehow, the First would be able to take physical form when its "forces" (presumably referring to the Turok-Han) outnumbered humanity in this world.

Eventually, a few more Turok-Han are released, as seen in the episode "End of Days". Still more waited under Sunnydale for the time when the First would be able to free them all.

In "Chosen", Buffy and the other Slayers go into the Hellmouth itself to fight the Turok-Han. In the end, all of them are apparently killed, including thousands by the mystical amulet that entraps Spike. Though the army is destroyed, it is unknown if there are more Turok-Han elsewhere.

Behind the scenes
They were given the nickname of Ubervamp by the Scooby Gang, more specifically Anya. 'Uber' was first commonly used by German philosopher Nietzsche who coined the phrase 'Ubermensch' - which referred to the higher state that man may aspire to, and has come to be used synonymously with "superman". An Ubervamp is therefore a "supervampire".

Trivia
The Turok-Han army's performance in the final battle of the series is noticeably worse than the performance of the first Turok-Han. While the first Turok-Han was able to nearly kill Buffy, forcing her to use every possible resource to defeat it the second time around, the later Turok-Han seem evenly matched against the newly activated Slayers and even normal humans such as Xander and Dawn. In the audio commentary for the episode, creator Joss Whedon explains he is aware of the continuity issue with the Turok-Han's powers. He acknowledges that early in the season the demon was nearly unstoppable, yet in the final episode the slayers can defeat the Turok-Han much more easily. Whedon explains that the story behind the season/episode he wanted to get across to viewers was more important than the continuity.



Appearances

 * Same Time, Same Place (as dots during Anya and Willow's spell)
 * Never Leave Me
 * Bring on the Night
 * Showtime
 * First Date (hand)
 * Get it Done (in visions)
 * End of Days
 * Chosen