Anne Pratt

Anne Pratt
Name	Anne Pratt
Status	Deceased
Died	1880, London
Classif.	Vampire
Relatives	William Pratt (son)
Appearances
Appeared in	"Lies My Parents Told Me"
Portrayed by	Caroline Lagerfelt

“Just sit with me a while, will you?”

―Anne to William

Anne Pratt was the mother of William Pratt, who would become the vampire known as "William the Bloody" and "Spike." Anne was the first vampire he sired.

Biography

Human

“I will always look after you, Mother. This I promise.”

―William to Anne

During her son's childhood years, Anne would often sing the English folk song "Early One Morning" to him. As he grew up into a young man, the two remained very close, spending most of their spare time together. She kept on singing the same song to him. By the time William became a poet, Anne was the only one able to appreciate her son's works.

By 1880, Anne had became sick, apparently with tuberculosis, and not even the treatments of her physician, Dr. Gull, were enough to cure her. By this time, Anne had also began to worry about her son's future, and she hoped he would find a woman to marry soon.

After the vampire Drusilla sired William, he came back home and sired Anne. His intentions were to save his mother from her disease, while allowing them to be together forever, and take his mother with him, Drusilla, and the Whirlwind. However, after rising, the woman he had known was gone forever.

Vampire

“I do feel extraordinary. It's as though I've been given new eyes. I see everything. Understand… Everything.”

―Anne

William and Anne as vampires.

In William's case, his love for his mother followed him into his vampire existence, but, for Anne, the contrary happened. Now a vampire, she found William's devotion smothering, and taunted William with the notion of him having a sexual desire for her. She said this had not only caused his inability to find a woman in life, but had also led him to sire her.

In an attempt to get rid of her son, Anne also attempted to seduce him. His forceful rejection, however, caused Anne to try to stake William with her own cane. In the resulting fight, William broke the cane in two, and used one of the pieces to dust Anne.

Legacy

“When I sired her, I set loose a demon and it tore into me… but that was the demon talking, not her. I realize that now.”

―Spike

During the next decades, William, remained traumatized by the ordeal. By 2003, the First Evil used the trauma in order to brainwash him into a sleeper agent, a killing machine activated by the song his mother used to sing. Only through the use of a Prokaryote stone Spike was able to remember the experiences, but it was during a fight against Robin Wood, the son of the Slayer he killed Nikki Wood, that he finally understood that the demon present in this traumatic experience was not the same as his mother, who did love him.

After this, he appeared more willing to confront the experience and put it behind him, briefly attempting to share the experience with Wesley Wyndam-Pryce after he shot a cyborg posing as his father. Before the fight against the Circle of the Black Thorn, Spike recited "The Wanton Folly of Me Mum" in an open mic poetry slam.

Although, after he moved to San Francisco, he and the Scooby Gang were trapped in a Hamelin demon's dimension, with illusions based on their childhood dreams, where Spike was able to be with his mother and recite his poetry to her forever. When he noticed the demon's controlling behavior, Spike remembered his traumatic event, and aimed his anger into the creature while fighting it. Notably, he accused: "You coddled me. Filled my heart with impossible dreams. Made me weak. Set me up for the world to crush me. I had to be strong to survive! I had to change! It's your fault I'm like this! Y-you're not my mum… You're not my mum."

Behind the scenes

• She was portrayed by Caroline Lagerfelt.
• In the audio commentaries for "Lies My Parents Told Me," writer and director David Fury noted that a major reason Caroline Lagerfelt was cast as Anne was due to her notable physical resemblance to Sarah Michelle Gellar, who portrayed Buffy. Additionally, the name "Anne" had been chosen because of Buffy's middle name.
• Her surname Pratt is revealed through Spike's, mentioned in comic issues Spike: Old Times, Asylum, Part Two, Disempowered, and Finale.

Appearances

Canonical

• "Fool for Love" (Only mentioned)
• "Lies My Parents Told Me" (Only in flashbacks)
• "Hell Bound" (Only mentioned)
• "Lineage" (Only mentioned)
• "Destiny" (Only mentioned)
• "Not Fade Away" (Only mentioned)
• I Wish, Part One (Only in visions)
• The Spread of Their Evil (Only mentioned)

Other

• Remember the Lies (Only mentioned)
• Chosen: The One (Only in flashbacks)
• Auld Lang Syne, Part Two (Only in visions)
• Auld Lang Syne, Part Three (Only mentioned)
• Auld Lang Syne, Part Four (Only in visions)
• The Devil You Know, Part Four (Only mentioned)
• Bloody Fool for Love (Only mentioned)
• The Lost Summer (Only voice in flashbacks)