Glamour

Glamour
Jonathan undoes a glamour.
Name	Glamour
Effect	Creates an illusion.
Performer(s)	Angel Jonathan Levinson Willow Rosenberg Cyborg cell Puppet demons
Appearances
Debut	"Life Serial"
Last seen	Crimes Against Nature

Glamour was a type of spell used to conceal the true form of an object, person, or area under an illusion. Glamours were not only optical, but could be physical and auditory as well. While some of them could remain for an indefinite amount of time, others had a time-based existence and eventually faded. Magic practitioners were capable of performing glamours as it was considered one of the basic steps in witchcraft.

Unlike reality alteration or transmogrification, glamours did not cause actual modifications in reality, but they rather distorted how a subject was perceived. Unlike hypnosis and mind manipulation, the target of a glamour wasn't the onlooker, but the object to be perceived.

History

Willow Rosenberg

When first starting out at magic, Willow, besides using pagan blessings, successfully tried a glamour spell to hide a zit.

Years later, Willow cast a glamour on Xander to disguise him as the Vice President of the United States.

Jonathan Levinson

Jonathan Levinson employed glamours to alter his appearance. In one instance, he assumed the form of a massive demon to deceive Buffy Summers and cover the Trio's plan to study the Slayer's strengths and weaknesses. Despite the demon being several times his size, when Buffy kicked him, Jonathan took the amount of damage proportionate to his actual body.

Months later, Jonathan assumed the form of Katrina Silber as part of Warren's plot to make Buffy believe she had killed Katrina.

In both cases, the glamours remained in effect until the caster undid them. When Jonathan restored his appearance, he wore the same clothes as during the glamour.

Cyborg Cell

A member of a cyborg cell wore a glamour to impersonate Roger Wyndam-Pryce when visiting his son Wesley. After being killed, the glamour faded, revealing the cyborg's true visage.

Smile Time

During the TV show Smile Time, a song its puppets sang acted as a sort of cloaking spell allowing Polo to address his child target without being seen by the rest of his adults viewers. However, the glamour could be discovered on a video recording in pause mode, as well as when the recording was muted to negate the spell.

Angel

Angel performs a glamour spell.

In order to reveal his infiltration in the Circle of the Black Thorn and his plan to wipe them out, Angel performed a temporal, localized glamour to conceal himself and his allies inside his office. For this spell, Angel used a crystal that he activated with the word "involvere." To the outside viewer, Angel and his teammates were just fighting and shouting at each other for the next six minutes, while, in reality, Angel was explaining his plan to attack the Circle, and his allies were deciding whether or not to join him.

Behind the scenes

• In the non-canon novel Avatar, Vishrak demons such as Yunk'sh possessed natural glamour abilities, allowing them to appear human. This glamour could be consciously controlled or left to operate on instinct, at which point it could appear as the true desire of each observer.

Appearances

Canonical

• "Dead Man's Party" (Only mentioned)
• "Fear, Itself" (Only mentioned)
• "Life Serial"
• "Dead Things"
• "Lineage"
• "Seeing Red" (Only mentioned)
• "Smile Time"
• "Power Play"
• Crimes Against Nature

Other

• Avatar
• Deuces Wild
• The Lost Summer