Rupert Giles

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↳ Note: This article is about the Watcher. For the his family, see Giles family. For other uses, see Giles.

Rupert Giles
Name	Rupert Edmund Giles
Aliases	Ripper
Status	Deceased
Classif.	Human
Affiliation	Scooby Gang Slayer Organization Sunnydale High faculty Watchers Council His "bad crowd" The Magic Box Giles family
Relatives	Mr. Giles (father) Edna Giles (grandmother) Lavinia Fairweather (great aunt) Sophronia Fairweather (great aunt)
Appearances
Debut	"Welcome to the Hellmouth"
Portrayed by	Anthony Stewart Head J. Anthony McCarthy

“You have a father's love for the child.”

―Quentin Travers

Rupert Edmund Giles was the Watcher and father figure of Slayer Buffy Summers, the former librarian of Sunnydale High School, and the occult expert of the Scooby Gang. Born into a family who worked for the Watchers Council for three generations, Giles initially rebelled against his family legacy and became a rogue magician, until the death of a close friend led him to return to the Council's fold. Nevertheless, he would retain his rebellious streak, and a fierce, ruthless devotion to his loved ones. As the Watcher of Buffy Summers, Giles developed a father-like bond with his charge, not only training her but also fighting by her side and openly defying the Council in order to save Buffy's life, which ultimately led to his dismissal from the Council.

Fired from the Council, Giles remained as a member of the Scooby Gang for two more years, trying to find his way even after being reinstated in his position as Watcher. He left Sunnydale in 2001 when he came to the realization that he had to leave Buffy so she would embrace the responsibilities of adulthood. He returned to Sunnydale the next year to stop Willow Rosenberg from destroying the world and nearly lost his life in the process. After she was stopped, Giles took her to England to aid her in her rehabilitation and coming to terms with her power.

When the First Evil began its campaign and had the Watchers Council was destroyed, Giles gathered a group of Potential Slayers and returned to Sunnydale to prepare for the coming battle. However, he came into conflict with Buffy regarding the vampire Spike, whom Giles considered a potential threat. When Buffy's leadership was questioned by her friends and allies, Giles sided against Buffy but reconciled with her when Buffy devised a plan that would allow the Scoobies to defeat the First.

When the power of the Slayer was activated in all potential Slayers throughout the world, Giles helped Buffy create the Slayer Organization, though in secret he sent Slayer Faith Lehane to eliminate a rogue Slayer. After Buffy discovered Giles had gone behind her back, they were not on speaking terms for a while, and Giles joined Faith as the two sought troubled new Slayers to help them come to terms with their powers and prevent them from falling into the path Faith had fallen to in the past. A short time later however, as the Twilight crisis came to the near destruction of the world, Giles was murdered by Angel, who was possessed by the sentience of a newly created universe.

Biography

Early Life

“Giles at sixteen? Less 'Together Guy', more 'Bad-Magic-Hates-the-World-Ticking-Time-Bomb Guy.'”

―Buffy, summarizing Giles' rebellious youth

Rupert was born in 1954 into an upper-class family in London, England. His family had worked within the Council of Watchers for at least three generations; both his father and grandmother, Edna Giles, were also Watchers. Although as a child Giles dreamed of being either "a fighter pilot or perhaps a green-grocer," being a Watcher was a calling, much as being a Slayer was, and Rupert's father explained his destiny to him when he was ten years old.However, any chance of Rupert having a normal life ended when, as a child, he used the Shard of Stronnos to turn a light demon that was attacking his aunts into a solid form that they could kill, his use of such powerful magic at such a young age confirming his potential, prompting his father to send him immediately to the Watcher's Academy where his aunts would have preferred him to have more time as a child before taking on such a responsibility.

In 1972, as part of his Watcher training, Rupert, along with four other Watchers-in-training, was dispatched to the Highgate Cemetery to deal with the mysterious "Highgate Vampire." However, the Council's intelligence was faulty and the "vampire" turned out to be a Lorophage Demon, a powerful and deadly insectoid demon that fed on the traumatic memories and experiences of humans, driving them insane and killing them in the process. The Lorophage killed the other four Watchers-in-training and began to feed on Rupert, but two elder Watchers, one of them Rupert's own father, arrived and fought the Lorophage off before it could complete the process. Giles lost his innocence that day and his already-tense relationship with his father only worsened. Because of the incident with the Lorophage, Giles chose to turn his back on his destiny and follow his own path.

A photograph of Giles in his 20s

In 1975, Rupert was a rebellious youth, rejecting his responsibility as a Watcher and dropping out of his attempt at a history degree at Oxford University when he was twenty-one. He delved into dark magics and befriended a group of young people who delved into the dark arts for fun or money: Ethan Rayne, Philip Henry, Dierdre Page, Thomas Sutcliffe, and Randall. Rupert gained the nickname "Ripper" during this time. Together, they summoned a particularly grotesque demon called Eyghon, who eventually murdered Randall and hunted down and killed Dierdre, Philip, and Thomas and eventually hunted down Ethan and Giles as well.

During this time, Ripper employed tales of demons and dark magics and also claimed to be a founding member of Pink Floyd in order to impress girls, although he later admitted this was untrue. He delved into minor criminal activity, primarily stealing cars, but most likely for joyriding. Following the death of Randall, Ethan and the others failed to exorcise Eyghon, and Rupert accepted his destiny of becoming a Watcher in 1980. His mentor in the Watcher's Council was Archie Lassiter.

Watcher to Buffy Summers

Giles meets his Slayer, Buffy Summers, for the first time

At the behest of the Watchers Council, Giles traveled to Sunnydale, California, and took up the post of librarian at the local high school. There, he met the Slayer, Buffy Summers, whom he began to train. The library, a sort of command center for Buffy and her friends who became known as the Scooby Gang, sat right above the Hellmouth. He was a father figure to Buffy and an adviser to her friends Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, together forming the "core four" of the Scooby Gang. He also shared an attraction with computer science teacher, Jenny Calendar, and developed a friendship with Angel, a vampire with a soul sent to aid Buffy, who shared a mutual attraction with him. While researching the Master, Giles and Angel discovered a prophecy in the Pergamum Codex that stated that Buffy would face the Master and be killed by him. When Buffy learned of this, she decided to quit being the Slayer altogether; thus, Giles, realizing that he has spent too much time in his books, decided to fight the Master in her place. However, Buffy ultimately accepted her fate, and knocked Giles out with a single punch when he attempted to intervene. Subsequently, a demon known as the Hellmouth Spawn emerged from the floor and attacked Giles, Willow, Cordelia Chase, and Jenny, but they were saved when Buffy killed the Master.

Giles and Jenny fall in love

When Buffy returned from Summer vacation, Giles' constant pressuring of her to hold to her Slayer duties led to her directly disobeying him and attending a party at the Delta Zeta Kappa fraternity, where she and Cordelia were nearly sacrificed to the demon Machida. After being scolded by Willow, Giles assisted in saving Buffy and decided to stop pushing Buffy so hard. When Ethan Rayne came to Sunnydale to flee the demon Ehygon, Giles shamefully admitted to Buffy that he was responsible for summoning the demon in his youth and was horrified when Jenny became possessed by Ehygon. Although Ehygon was defeated, Jenny took time to cope with her ordeal, retaining distance from Giles in the process. Eventually, Jenny revealed she was actually a member of the Kalderash gypsy clan, sent to keep an eye on Buffy's relationship with the vampire, Angel, whom they cursed with a soul. Giles felt betrayal when he learned that Jenny knew that if Buffy gave Angel a moment of pure happiness, he would lose his soul. When Angel lost his soul and murdered Jenny, leaving her corpse for Giles to find in his apartment, Giles sought revenge by burning down Angel's home, and suicidally taking the vampire on, only being saved when Buffy arrived, punching Giles out for doing so, telling him that he could not leave her alone. Later, Angel kidnapped and tortured Giles in order to get information on how to awaken the demon Acathla. As Giles refused to reveal anything, the vampire Drusilla hypnotized him into seeing her as Jenny, convincing him to tell what he knew. Buffy was forced to kill Angel, and subsequently left Sunnydale an emotional wreck.

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Because of bewitched chocolates, Giles was reverted to his teenage persona, and romanced Joyce Summers

Giles spent the summer desperately following up any clues of Buffy's whereabouts and was overjoyed when she finally returned months later. Giles briefly served as Watcher for new Slayer, Faith Lehane. The Scoobies were given another disturbing glimpse in Giles' past when, along with every other adult in Sunnydale, he was reverted to his teenage self by enchanted candy supplied by Ethan Rayne. During this time, he indulged in theft and vandalism and had a romantic and sexual fling with Buffy's mother, Joyce Summers. Despite that, he aided Buffy in rescuing babies from the demon Lurconis, remembering a snippet of information his older self knew about the demon. When Buffy kept Angel's return from hell a secret from the other Scoobies, Giles felt betrayed by her affection for the man who tortured him and murdered Jenny, but later agreed to help Angel.

As Buffy's Cruciamentum, a brutal tradition of the Watchers Council in which a depowered Slayer was forced to battle a vampire, approached, Giles struggled to cope with the guilt of betraying Buffy's trust. Despite describing the test as "an archaic exercise in cruelty," he secretly injected Buffy with numerous adrenal suppressors and muscle relaxants, which weakened her significantly, before eventually coming clean when the vampire she was meant to fight, Zachary Kralik, escaped. Buffy was disgusted and heartbroken, but was later moved when Giles interfered in her Cruciamentum to save her life, staking her foe's minion, Blair, after Buffy managed to best Kralik through a trick involving Holy Water. Because of this, and having a father's love for Buffy which Head Watcher Quentin Travers described as "useless to the cause," Giles was fired and replaced with Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, but continued to act as Buffy's adviser, especially since Wesley turned out to be extremely cowardly and incompetent. When Buffy briefly found herself endowed with telepathic powers, she discovered that her mother believed Giles to be "like a stevedore in bed." In a battle with the demonic Mayor of Sunnydale, Giles pressed the trigger which destroyed him and Sunnydale High, putting himself out of a job.

Unemployment

As Giles learned to cope with being unemployed and the growing belief that Buffy no longer needed him, he resumed a sexual relationship with his old friend, Olivia, who Anya Jenkins tactlessly labeled his "orgasm friend." Lacking a sense of purpose, he spent most of his time lounging around his apartment, watching Passions with the vampire Spike who had become a hostage.

He began to suffer from depression, especially when the Scoobies failed to keep him in the loop regarding Buffy's new boyfriend Riley Finn and his affiliation to The Initiative. When Ethan Rayne cast a spell on Giles which turned him into a Fyarl demon, he enlisted Spike's help to escape the Initiative and Buffy, who believed him to be the demon who murdered Giles. However, Buffy later realized from his eyes and "annoyed" expression that he was in fact Giles and Ethan was taken into custody by the Initiative. In order to defeat the cyber-demonoid, Adam, the four Scoobies cast a spell to combine their strength. Giles provided the "mind," granting Buffy access to his superior knowledge, enabling Buffy to defeat Adam.

Giles, no longer seeing his place in Sunnydale, decided to return to England, telling no one except Willow, whom he needed to organize the research documents for the Scoobies. However, after an encounter with the legendary Count Dracula, Buffy confessed to Giles that she still needed him, both emotionally and in order to find out more about what being the Slayer means and asked him to be her Watcher again. Clearly pleased by this turn of events, Giles decided that he still had a place in Sunnydale after all.

Owner of the Magic Box

Giles as he watches Buffy's dead body.

When the owner of the Magic Box was killed by vampires, Giles was convinced by the shop's high profit margins to buy it, hiring Anya as his overtly enthusiastic assistant. Buffy discovered that her sister, Dawn Summers, was actually the Key: a mystical energy in human form in need of protection from the hell-god Glory. Buffy initially confided only in Giles about Dawn's true nature and he decided to contact the Watchers Council for more information about Glory. Quentin Travers blackmailed Buffy into obeying the Council's demands, threatening to have Giles deported if she did not comply. Buffy stood up to the Council, informing them that they would release all information concerning Glory to them and would re-instate Giles as her official Watcher, to be paid retroactively from the month he was fired. Travers reluctantly agreed, and revealed Glory's true nature as a hell-god before leaving. As the Scoobies labored to find a way to defeat Glory, Giles brought up the difficult idea of killing Dawn to end her plans which involved using Dawn's blood to break down the barriers to other dimensions, causing Armageddon. Giles admitted that he loved Dawn, but that sacrifices had to be made. Buffy refused to listen, and vowed to protect Dawn at all costs, much to Giles' consternation. Glory shared her body with an innocent human male called Ben Wilkinson and could be killed if Ben died. In the final battle against Glory, Buffy decided to spare Ben's life, but Giles was less merciful. Explaining that Buffy was a hero and therefore different from them, he suffocated Ben with his bare hands. Buffy later sacrificed her own life to save Dawn's, saving the world in the process.

Return to England

Several months after Buffy's death, Giles decides to return to England. On the very day he leaves, Willow, Xander, Anya and Tara resurrect Buffy, and he comes back as soon as he hears of this. Despite being overjoyed to have Buffy back, Giles was furious at Willow for invoking such dark magic, and angrily dismisses her as "a rank, arrogant amateur;" while the other Scoobies believe that Buffy may have been in hell, Giles is unconvinced, which later proves to be correct when a demon's musical spell forces her to reveal that she was indeed in Heaven. Buffy begins to over-rely on Giles for financial and emotional support; at one point, when Dawn sneaks out to hang out with a teenager who was in fact a vampire, Buffy refuses to scold her herself and leaves the job to Giles. This eventually causes Giles to decide that his presence is preventing her assuming responsibility for her own life. He leaves again for his native England, moving to a place near Bath, where he worked with a powerful local coven.

Willow draining the magics from Giles

A few months later, Tara was killed by a stray bullet as Warren Mears attacked Buffy. Willow, still recovering from an addiction to dark magic, vengefully gave into the magics, killed Warren, and attempted to kill his former partners in crime, threatening the lives of her friends as well.. Hearing about a dark power rising in Sunnydale, Giles teleported back, wielding great magical power borrowed from the Devon Coven. As "Dark Willow" boasted of her indestructibility, Giles knocked her to the floor with a blast of magic energy, stating "I'd like to test that theory." Upon discovering all that had gone wrong in his absence, Giles apologized to Buffy, insisting that he never should have abandoned them, but Buffy reassured him that he did the right thing. Knowing that Willow was too strong, he tricked her into draining him of his magics, which brought him near death. Willow stealing his borrowed power allowed her to feel all of the pain of humanity, convincing her to end the world. However, Xander was able to reach the last spark of humanity in Willow that was brought out thanks to stealing Giles' power, by telling her that he loved her no matter what, causing Willow to break down and give up her attempt at causing the apocalypse.

Giles draws pictures to show the Potentials what they're up against

Giles returned to England with Willow to rehabilitate her. A few months later, he began bringing Potential Slayers to Sunnydale to protect them from The First Evil and its Bringers who were attempting to wipe out the Slayer line. Giles became one of the only Watchers left when The First's lieutenant, Caleb, blew up the Council's headquarters, though Giles was able to extract a few integral volumes of text and certain files beforehand. An injured Watcher named Robson witnessed Giles about to be decapitated by a Bringer, before blacking out. When the Scoobies hear about this, they worried that Giles may have been killed, and that the First was merely impersonating him. They are relieved, however, when they manage to tackle him to the ground, proving he is corporeal and therefore not the First; it turns out that Giles heard the Bringer approaching and decapitated it before it could kill him. Giles later loses Buffy's trust somewhat when he takes part in a scheme with Robin Wood to kill Spike, who had recently regained his soul, though Giles believed the vampire was too dangerous to be kept alive. After the ordeal, Buffy told him, "I've think you've taught me everything I need to know." Ironically, Giles proves to be correct in his beliefs that Buffy kept Spike around for personal reasons rather than tactical ones though it is Spike that ends up saving the world in the end. Giles participated in the final battle at the Hellmouth, and survived.

Post-Sunnydale

It is established that after the destruction of the Hellmouth and Sunnydale, Giles and the other Scoobies became a global organization upon the activation of all of the Potential Slayers around the world. As a side note, he took Andrew Wells under his wing, training him to be a Watcher; Andrew claimed to be "faster, stronger and 82% more manly" as a result of Giles' mentoring, and was sent by him to retrieve the psychotic Slayer Dana from Los Angeles and to make sure that Angel and his teammates didn't keep her as they had recently taken over the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart and the Scoobies no longer trusted him. Later, after Fred Burkle was killed by the Old One, Illyria, Angel phoned Giles, desperate to get in contact with Willow, who could not be reached as she was on a different plane. After confirming that Angel still worked for Wolfram & Hart, Giles coldly refused to help him, much to Angel's frustration.

Following Sunnydale's destruction, the Scooby Gang had expanded into a global organization, training approximately five hundred Slayers spread over ten squads. Giles was one of the heads of the Slayer Organization and and watched a squad of slayers in England and St. Petersburg, Russia, parallel with Andrew's operations in Italy and Buffy and Xander's in Scotland.

Giles molds Faith into a British noble so that she could infiltrate Savidge's home

About a year and a half after the destruction of Sunyndale, Giles came to Faith to ask her to assassinate another Slayer, Genevieve Savidge, who would bring around the Apocalypse if left unchecked, though her initial plan was to assassinate Buffy. After killing "Gigi" and her mentor Roden, they break away from the Slayer Organization and decide to work together as partners, keeping Slayers from turning down the dark path both Faith and Gigi walked. Because of his secret partnership with Faith, Buffy and Giles fell out of speaking terms.

Giles and Faith heard of a "Slayer Sanctuary" in a town called Hanselstadt from a young Slayer named Courtney. There, Giles encountered Duncan Fillworthe, a former Watcher, who claimed vampires did not dare to enter the town because they know the town contains an army of Slayers. Later, as Giles argued that a stalemate was not a solution to the vampire problem, Duncan revealed that the town was actually feeding the Slayers who come seeking sanctuary to an ancient demon. The fear of the demon is what really keeps the vampires from entering. Giles went to warn Faith as Duncan stated that this was the fate that Slayers deserve for rejecting the Watchers Council, especially Buffy, reminding Giles that Buffy's relationship with Angel resulted in Jenny Calendar's death. Giles found Faith already in combat with the demon, which feeds on beings who feel regret and fear. While trying to free Courtney from the demon, Duncan intercepted Giles. During their skirmish, the demon devoured Duncan and Giles saved Courtney while Faith killed the demon. The stalemate ended, Giles and Faith rallied the reluctant townspeople against the coming vampires, telling them if they want to live, they'll have to fight.

After Harmony Kendall's reality show established a new pro-vampire, anti-Slayer world order, Faith and Giles were in hiding in the Führerbunker. Once their underground hideout was compromised by demons, they retreated to Scotland to reunite with Buffy. Giles and Buffy are driven to reconcile by Twilight's attacks. The entire group are later transported to Tibet to learn how to suppress their magic to stop Twilight from tracking them.

It was later revealed that Giles had been searching for something; one of the reasons he had been traveling around the world was to search for the Slayer who would be given enormous power and would create a new reality. Believing it to be a Watcher myth, Giles knew all along that Buffy was the Slayer in question, and had in fact been searching for the only weapon that could kill Buffy should she have reached this godhood.

Death and Legacy

Giles dies at the hands of Angel

When the battle was brought to Sunnydale, Giles attempted to bring the Slayer Scythe to Buffy but Angel - possessed by Twilight - snapped his neck, killing him instantly. Buffy managed to destroy the Seed of Wonder, cutting magic off from this dimension in the process. Though the thousands of Slayers kept their strength, no new Slayer would be called.

In his will, Giles left all of his belongings, property, and savings to Faith so that she could retire and be free of the constant violence and danger that had plagued her life as well as have the resources to do what she felt needed to be done. To Buffy, he left her the Vampyr tome he had shown her when the two had first met, a clear statement that he considered Buffy the one true Slayer.

After Angel regained consciousness from his Twilight-induced catatonia, he and Faith took it upon themselves to complete Giles' unfinished business, such as defeating a demon that was possessing a child. In the past, Giles was only able to bind the demon using a spell that required him to sacrifice his memory of a valued day. When Angel drove the demon out, he learned that the memory was of the day that Giles fell in love with Jenny. Feeling guilty over his role in Giles' death, Angel expressed his desperate desire to try to bring Giles back to life, although he is willing to listen to Faith's objections to his plans to ensure that he doesn't repeat his mistakes as Twilight and cross a line out of his desire to make up for his past mistakes.

It was later revealed that Angel was using a Tooth of Ammuk, the Egyptian devourer of souls, to absorb fragments of Giles' soul from locations that had a particular meaning to Giles in the hope of essentially reconstructing his soul, such as the graveyard where Giles faced the Loorphage demon representing the beginning of his rebellious phase while the Shard of Stronnos- given to Angel by Giles's aunts- represents the last of Giles's childish innocence. As a result, Angel began taking on aspects of Giles' personality and mannerisms.

Personality

As the Watcher, librarian, and general authority/father figure, Giles often delivers exposition. Giles is often portrayed as somewhat of a "straight man" and his "stuffy" Oxford sensibility serves as counterpoint to the stereotypical Southern Californian characters and setting. According to Willow, he makes a "weird cluck-cluck sound with his tongue" when he is angry but is "too English to say anything." Giles is well-known for wearing tweed clothes, so much so that the Scoobies joke that even his diapers were made from the material. However, he wears non-tweed suits and even casual clothes more often after his retirement from the library. A good deal of the show's humor, especially in the middle seasons, comes from Giles contradicting his established prim and proper image. Giles (like Head in real life) is also a talented singer and guitar player, which the gang discovered in the episode "Where the Wild Things Are." He also loves Halloween, which Buffy was surprised to learn in "Fear Itself."

He was not what one would call technology-savvy, and was even somewhat technophobic by his own admission, a fact which often brought him into conflict with technopagan and computer science teacher, Jenny Calendar. However, after Jenny aided him in casting the demon Moloch out of the Internet, the pair reached an understanding and began a romantic relationship. However, he never overcame his aversion to technology and, in Season 7, was horrified to see that the new Sunnydale High School library has only computers.

Very few people called Giles by his first name, Rupert, including the Scoobies. Willow calls him "Rupert" while she was evil, and Spike does so often in disdain or just to be annoying. He's called by his nickname, Ripper, by Ethan Rayne and by Joyce Summers, when they were both under a spell that made them like teenagers.

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Giles had always been a father figure to Buffy

Although seen early on as purely present to be her adviser and trainer, Giles developed a very close almost father-daughter relationship with Buffy, who lacked a father figure because of her own father never being around for her. One thing that definitely separated Giles from most Watchers was his compassion. While most Watchers were completely ruthless and fanatically devoted to their mission to the extent that they were perfectly willing to sacrifice people and perform unethical deeds, Giles truly did care for Buffy and her friends to the extent that he defied the rules of the Cruciamentum to save Buffy's life, although he has shown a willingness to commit more questionable actions such as killing the innocent Ben in order to prevent Glory from returning.

His personality also becomes darker over the years with insights into his past actions. The episode "Band Candy" shows him reverting to his teenage personality of "Ripper," a violent criminal. He was also shown to have meddled in dark magics which got a friend of his killed. He was not above using violence to solve problems, such as coercing Principal Snyder to get Buffy readmitted to school and even murdering Ben to prevent Glory from returning.

Powers and Abilities

Giles had immense knowledge of demonology and Slayer combat (including at least a theoretical knowledge of jujutsu and aikido, but excelling at the art of fencing), mainly due to his training as a Watcher. While he had no true supernatural powers of his own, his extensive experience in dealing with vampires, demons, and other creatures made him capable of handling them effectively. His youthful interest in witchcraft and sorcery had endured into his adult life, granting him knowledge of a wide variety of spells, though his natural aptitude for it was only moderate (much less than that of Willow or Amy). Giles was proficient in several languages, including Latin, ancient Greek, Sumerian, Japanese, and possibly Gaelic, but weak in German, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

Giles had moderate skill in hand-to-hand combat, as well as various melee weapons. He also implied that he was a skilled marksman. While his demeanor was typically mild and polite, Giles was not above using raw violence to solve a problem, such as physically threatening Principal Snyder into readmitting Buffy to school after her expulsion, pummeling Angelus senseless with a flaming baseball bat and burning down his hideout upon discovering that he had killed Jenny Calendar, smothering Ben to death with his bare hands to prevent Glory's return when Buffy chooses to spare him, brutally beating Ethan Rayne for information or simply to improve his mood, manhandling Spike while ordering him to get over his obsession with Buffy, and forcing Glory's minion, Slook, to talk by inflicting a painful-sounding injury. Typically however, Giles' calm demeanor and professionalism offered him a detached state of authority even in the face of fearsome monsters, as demonstrated during his confrontation with a violent demon. He was also shown to be able to quickly hot-wire a car.

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Giles using magic against Willow

Giles was granted the powers of the Devon Coven in an attempt to stop Willow. During this time, he demonstrated powers such as teleportation, telekinesis, and energy projection. He lost all of these powers when Willow drained him and left him on the brink of death, but he recovered immediately after Xander calmed her down from her rampage. His moderate proficiency in magic combined with his natural acumen and intelligence made him quite formidable; he killed Roden, a skillfull warlock, through using a spell inventively.

Relationships

Romantic

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Giles and Jenny

• Jenny Calendar — A computer science teacher at Sunnydale High, Jenny was a techno-pagan. Giles saw her at first as a symbol of the encroachment of sterile technology into the organic world of books, but they grew closer after cooperating to defeat the demon Moloch. When Angel lost his soul in the second season, Jenny was found to be part of the Gypsy clan who had cursed him with a human soul in 1898. She had been sent to Sunnydale to keep an eye on him, not knowing about the loophole in the curse that cost Angel his soul. Angry at not being told the truth, Giles initially joined Buffy in ostracizing Jenny. They eventually reconciled, but Jenny was soon murdered by Angelus, devastating Giles. He admitted to Buffy that Jenny was the first person he ever had to bury that he loved. Her death caused Giles and the rest of the Scoobies to distrust Angel when he is re-ensouled. Years later, Giles had to sacrifice a beloved memory in his life in order to anchor a spell that would bind a demon possessing a little girl, the memory being the day he fell in love with Jenny.

• Joyce Summers — As Sunnydale's adult population came under the influence of magical chocolate, Giles reverted to his rebellious teenage persona, Ripper. He romanced Buffy's mother Joyce Summers and got intimate with her twice, including once on the hood of a police car. They were too embarrassed afterward to be romantically involved again. Once, Buffy, who had gained telepathic abilities, read in her mother's mind that she thought Giles was like a stevedore during sex.

• Olivia — Whilst unemployed during Season Four, Giles began seeing this "old friend," a black English woman with whom he seemed to share a casual, albeit sexual, on-again off-again relationship. Olivia seemingly met him during his Ripper era, the 1970s, as he had once claimed to her that he had been a founding member of Pink Floyd, as well as being into the occult. Olivia was seen one last time in a dream state, in which she appears pregnant as she and Giles take Buffy to the "demon carnival."

• Anya Jenkins — When the gang lost their memories because of a spell Willow performed, evidence led Giles and Anya to believe that they were engaged. They shared a kiss while amnesiac, ironically seconds before the spell wore off; they were so embarrassed afterward that they never mentioned it again.

Paternal

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Giles with the other core Scoobies

Giles takes a parental role in the lives of Buffy, Willow, and Anya. After Giles comes to stop the havoc Dark Willow is wreaking and Buffy and Anya call his name in surprise, Willow snidely remarks "Uh-oh, daddy's home! I'm in wicked trouble now."

• Buffy Summers — Buffy and Giles formed a close bond over the years. Giles had become the father figure Buffy always wanted (since her real father was never there for her), and Buffy became the daughter Giles never had. Buffy tried to convince Giles to take her to an ice show in the place of her father, who was busy with work. Quentin Travers fired Giles from his job as Watcher because he had developed a "father's love" for Buffy. Giles dreamed about himself, Olivia, and Buffy in a sort of family unit. In a rare explicit reference to this aspect of their relationship, Giles sings, "Wish I could play the father, and take you by the hand," in reference to Buffy.

• Willow Rosenberg — Since she first asked Giles, "What can I do?" and he responded, "You can help me," Willow has proven to be an invaluable assistant in the fight against evil for both Giles and Buffy. The most recent indication of their relationship featured Giles' assisting Willow after her brief time as Dark Willow, helping her overcome her dark side so she could again assist her friends. Willow once mentioned that she had had a crush on him early on, but obviously nothing came of that. Normally, Giles treats Willow like a little sister, more than a daughter, like Buffy and Anya. Giles considered Willow "the best of them all."

• Xander Harris — Giles was often annoyed with Xander's behavior while Xander often joked about his doddering; winning a bet with Willow when he predicted that Giles would mention consulting his books in the first 10 minutes of school, claiming Giles' underwear was also tweed and showing surprise at his possession of a television, remarking that "he's [Giles] shallow, like the rest if us". Giles tended to overlook Xander's approach to things, noting that Xander always manages "to boil a complex thought down to its simplest possible form", though, at rare times Giles did react grimly to Xander's triviality such as when Xander fell asleep while watching werewolf Oz, leading him to escape and when Xander made jokes about 'turning' gay after an unsuccessful date with a demonic woman that then tried to kill him.

• Anya Jenkins — Anya looked up to him as a keen business man and as her boss, and he treated her like a daughter, albeit a strange one.

Other

• Angel — At first, Giles regards Angel with an even temper (even commenting that his relationship with Buffy was "rather poetic...in a maudlin sort of way"), regarding Angel almost as a peer, sharing books and prophecies with him. But when Angel lost his soul and murdered Jenny Calendar, Giles, devastated to the point of irrationality, set fire to the vampire's warehouse lair and attacked him with a flaming baseball bat, severely beating him before being disarmed by Angelus and rescued by Buffy. When he later needed information, Angelus kidnapped and tortured Giles for hours. After Angel returned from Hell, Giles was upset and wary. He kept a loaded crossbow in hand when talking to Angel, yet he also attempted to help Angel with his hallucinations. Giles and Angel come together again, by which time he seems to have lost some of his anger towards Angel, even suggesting that it would be less cruel if Buffy were allowed to see him. When he starts to work for Wolfram & Hart, Angel calls on Giles for help twice. The first time, when the insane Slayer Dana is on the loose, Giles sends Andrew Wells. The second time, when Angel and his crew need help to cure Fred of the infection that becomes Illyria, Giles tells them Willow is unavailable. Both times there are indications that because of Angel's association with the evil law firm, Giles, like the other Scoobies, no longer trusted Angel. After Angel killed Giles while possessed by Twilight, he expressed a desperate desire to bring Giles back to life. Though usage of Mohra Demon blood became out of the question, it was later revealed that Angel was using a Tooth of Ammuk to absorb fragments of Giles' soul into his body from various locations that were meaningful to the Watcher during his life, in an effort to restore him. As a result, Angel began taking on characteristics and mannerisms of Giles'.

• Ethan Rayne — Giles and Ethan used to be best friends, but by the time the series begins, they were mortal enemies, since Giles beat Ethan up for information and later just to improve his mood. Yet they also end up getting drunk and reminiscing together, though Ethan put a spell on him to make him appear to be a demon.

• Faith Lehane — For the majority of the eighth season, Giles and Faith traveled together, defeating or counseling rogue Slayers. It would appear that they had more of a partnership than a parental/child relationship, though upon his death, Faith tells Buffy that she [Buffy] was "number one son." Since then, Faith joined Angel in attempting to complete Giles' unfinished work and find a way to bring him back to life, although she was only going along with Angel's plan so as to be there for his breakdown as he was there for hers as well as to make sure he didn't go too far, as she and Giles had previously discussed the consequences of bringing someone back to life.

Behind the Scenes

• He was portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head.

• Giles was a fan of 60s rock band Cream. He owns their LP Disraeli Gears, and plays it for Joyce in "Band Candy" (specifically, the song "Tales of Brave Ulysses"). He later listens to the song again in "Forever" after Joyce's funeral.

• Giles also appeared to be a fan of The Who and Lynyrd Skynyrd. In "Where the Wild Things Are," he performs an acoustic version of The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes" at a coffee shop, and in "The Yoko Factor," he performs an acoustic version of Skynyrd's "Free Bird" at his house. He was also a fan of The Velvet Underground and The Bay City Rollers. Oz commented on his impressive record collection.

• In "Band Candy" when Giles is magically transformed to his teenage personality, the accent he uses is Anthony Head's natural accent.

• Giles plays a prominent role in the novel quadrilogy "The Lost Slayer", where Buffy is transferred into her body five years in the future by a powerful demonic spirit. In this future, Giles was turned into a vampire by minions of an ancient bat god, his human intellect and greater patience allowing him to become a vampire King, leading the vampires on a mass spree that results in the deaths of most of Sunnydale- including Anya and Joyce-, trapping Angel in a mystical sphere with a stake in his heart- with the result that, while Angel is able to talk and think, the second he is removed from the sphere the stake will kill him- while keeping Buffy imprisoned in order to try and cut off the Slayer line. When Buffy escapes, Giles contemplates turning her, but despite his knowledge of her combat strategies, her greater speed from five years of training, coupled with Angel's sacrifice providing her with an extra weapon, allows Buffy to catch Giles off-guard and stake him. Buffy is later sent back in time and undoes Giles' capture and siring.

• Shortly after Buffy ended its seven year televised run, there was talk of a Giles-based spin-off series for the BBC entitled Ripper. As of Comicon 2007, Joss Whedon confirmed that Ripper was still planned and in the pipeline.

• Originally, Giles was set to appear in "A Hole in the World" as the one whom Angel and Spike approached in an attempt to save Fred, because Whedon needed a character who would be instantly believed both by the characters and by the audience when he said that there was no way to save Fred. As it was too expensive for Anthony Stewart Head to fly out to Los Angeles to guest-star, Whedon created Drogyn the Battlebrand, who was mystically compelled to tell the truth no matter what.

• Writer of Ethan/Giles episode "A New Man", Jane Espenson opined that Giles and Ethan may have had some sexual history in their younger days.

• Along with Buffy, Willow, Xander and Angel, he is one of only five characters to appear in both the premiere and series finale of Buffy: "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and "Chosen".

• Giles appears in a total of 121 episodes of the Buffyverse, all of which also featured Buffy, Willow and Xander. The only characters to appear in more episodes are Angel (167), Willow (147), Buffy (146), Xander (143) and Cordelia (140).

• Giles' manner of death (having his neck snapped by Angel) is an homage to Angelus' murder of Jenny Calendar. However, while Angelus killed Jenny in vampiric face — a result of Joss not wanting the audience to truly hate Angel's face — Giles is murdered while Angel's face is in human form.

• In a 2011 interview, Whedon stated that his decision to kill off Giles could not be discussed in detail "because ripples from that event" will also be a large part of both Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine and Angel and Faith. However, he was able to explain other motivations; he felt that from a writing perspective, Giles did not work in the comic book medium where he had flourished on the television show. His primary roles — provider of narrative exposition and paternal figure — didn't make place well in the comic book format. Whedon killed off Giles where he did so that it might have a greater effect on the coming season, "because [he] wanted to make all this matter".

Appearances

Giles was a series regular on Buffy for the first five seasons (1997-2001). He disappeared from the opening credits but made guest appearances in Season Six and Seven. He appeared in 121 episodes in all.

Buffy Season 1 "Welcome to the Hellmouth" "The Harvest" "Witch" "Teacher's Pet" "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" "The Pack" "Angel" "I Robot, You Jane" "The Puppet Show" "Nightmares" "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" "Prophecy Girl" Buffy Season 2 "When She Was Bad" "Some Assembly Required" "School Hard" "Inca Mummy Girl" "Reptile Boy" "Halloween" "Lie to Me" "The Dark Age" "What's My Line, Part One" "What's My Line, Part Two" "Ted" "Bad Eggs" "Surprise" "Innocence" "Phases" "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" "Passion" "Killed by Death" "I Only Have Eyes for You" "Go Fish" "Becoming, Part One" "Becoming, Part Two" Buffy Season 3 "Anne" "Dead Man's Party" "Faith, Hope & Trick" "Beauty and the Beasts" "Homecoming" "Band Candy" "Revelations" "Lovers Walk" "The Wish" "Amends" "Gingerbread" "Helpless" "The Zeppo" "Bad Girls" "Consequences" "Doppelgängland" "Enemies" "Earshot" "Choices" "The Prom" "Graduation Day, Part One" "Graduation Day, Part Two" Buffy Season 4 "The Freshman" "Living Conditions" "The Harsh Light of Day" "Fear, Itself" "Beer Bad" "Wild at Heart" "The Initiative" "Pangs" "Something Blue" "Hush" "Doomed" "A New Man" "The I in Team" "Goodbye Iowa" "This Year's Girl" "Who Are You" "Superstar" "Where the Wild Things Are" "New Moon Rising" "The Yoko Factor" "Primeval" "Restless" Buffy Season 5 "Buffy vs. Dracula" "Real Me" "The Replacement" "Out of My Mind" "No Place Like Home" "Family" "Fool for Love" "Shadow" "Listening to Fear" "Into the Woods" "Triangle" "Checkpoint" "Blood Ties" "Crush" "I Was Made to Love You" "The Body" "Forever" "Intervention" "Tough Love" "Spiral" "The Weight of the World" "The Gift" Buffy Season 6 "Bargaining, Part One" "Flooded" "Life Serial" "All the Way" "Once More, With Feeling" "Tabula Rasa" "Two to Go" "Grave" Buffy Season 7 "Lessons" "Beneath You" "Sleeper" "Bring on the Night" "Showtime" "The Killer in Me" "First Date" "Lies My Parents Told Me" "Dirty Girls" "Empty Places" "Touched" "End of Days" "Chosen" Buffy Season 8 The Long Way Home The Chain No Future For You Safe Retreat Turbulence Twilight Last Gleaming Angel & Faith Live Through This (Only in flashbacks) Daddy Issues (Only in flashbacks)

Other Appearances

Giles also appears in the Buffy expanded Universe. He appears in many Buffy comics/novels. Giles appears notably in Ring of Fire and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Giles.

Gallery

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An adult Giles, having been mystically reverted to his teenage "Ripper" persona

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Giles

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Giles and Buffy

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Giles meets his past, Ripper

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Giles worked several missions with Faith

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Giles' funeral

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Giles

See Also

• Rupert Giles (Wishverse)