Rupert Edmund Giles was the Watcher and father figure of SlayerBuffy 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 at least 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 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 vampireSpike, 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.
Angel and Faith worked tirelessly the next year to resurrect and bring back Giles despite it being a near-impossible task in a world without magic. Angel figured out a way through the Tooth of Ammuk, a magical artifact that would gather pieces of his soul through magical artifacts. Giles' soul was snatched away for eternal torment by Eyghon the Sleepwalker and briefly inhabited in Angel's own body. After finding a proper incantation, Giles' was successfully brought back to life. However, the spell had backfired through his aunts' involvement in the ritual, and Giles was forced to deal with the stressful return to his twelve-year-old body, but with his memories, intellect, and experience still intact. Feeling purposeless and disconnected, Giles nevertheless chose to aide Angel and Faith from stopping Whistler's release of deadly magical all over the world. After the battle was won, Giles briefly helped them with the changed people of London but nonetheless chose to part from Angel with Faith, seeing that the place he was at his best was with Buffy.
Giles: “I was ten years old when my father told me I was destined to be a Watcher. He was one, and his, uh, mother before him, and I was to be next.”
Buffy: “Were you thrilled beyond all measure?”
Giles: “No, I had very definite plans about my future. I was going to be a fighter pilot. Or possibly a grocer. Well, uh… My father gave me a very tiresome speech about, uh, responsibility and sacrifice.”
Rupert was born in 1954 into an upper-class family in London, England. His family had worked within the Watchers Council for at least three generations; both his father and grandmother, Edna Giles, were also Watchers, though his great-aunts Lavinia and Sophronia Fairweather, instead used their magical prowess to remain forever young and pursue carefree lives as hedonists.
Rupert as a child.
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.[4] 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 Watchers Academy where his aunts would have preferred him to have more time as a child before taking on such a responsibility.[5]
Giles witnesses the slaughter of his classmates.
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." As it turned out, the Council had sent them out to deal with the threat on faulty intelligence, and the "vampire" turned out to be a Lorophage demon, a powerful and deadly insectoid demon that fed on the traumatic memories and experiences, driving the victim 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 being 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.[6]
Ripper
“Giles at sixteen? Less 'Together Guy', more 'Bad-Magic-Hates-the-World-Ticking-Time-Bomb Guy'.”
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, Diedre Page, Thomas Sutcliffe, and Randall. Rupert gained the nickname "Ripper" during this time. Together, they summoned the demon Eyghon and continued to explore dark magics. 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.[7]
Following the death of Randall, Ethan and the others failed to exorcise Eyghon, Rupert halted his dark magic dabbling and started his own Punk band Wretched. He ran into Edna after many years who expressed to him her worry for Giles and encouraged him to become a watcher. Giles rejected it at first, showing her his Mark of Eyghon and how unworthy he felt over mentoring a Slayer.[8] Edna was angry and remarked his mistakes in his youth made him perfect to be a watcher so he could have insight over them not making the same decisions. He showed his guilt over the deaths of his friends because of his recklessness, causing his grandmother to say he could accept his destiny to redeem himself.[9] Rupert accepted his destiny of becoming a Watcher in 1980.[10]
At some point, Giles acquired homes around the south of England, including properties in Bath, Devon, and Westbury, in addition to his family home in London.
Watcher to Buffy Summers
“You were a young fool who felt immortal, did remarkably ill-advised things, and it cost people their lives, eh? You bloody idiot. This doesn't disqualify you from being a watcher. It makes you perfectly suited to mentor a Slayer. They're young girls granted tremendous power. Who can relate to them better? A man like your father, who's done the right and proper thing his entire life? Or you?”
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 Alexander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, who aided Buffy in her Slayer activities. He also shared a mutual attraction with the computer science teacher Jennifer Calendar.
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 Hellmouth Spawn emerged from the floor and attacked Giles, Willow, Cordelia Chase, and Jenny, but they were saved when Buffy killed the Master.[11]
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.[12]
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 Clan Kalderash, 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 attempted to the vampire on, only being saved when Buffy arrived, punching Giles out for doing so, telling him that he could not leave her alone.[13]
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.[14]
Giles, reverted to his teenage persona, romances Joyce Summers.
Giles spent the summer desperately following up any clues of Buffy's whereabouts and was overjoyed when she finally returned months later.[15] Giles briefly served as Watcher for new Slayer Faith Lehane.[16] 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.[17]
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.[18]
As Buffy's Tento di Cruciamentum approached — a brutal tradition of the Watchers Council in which a de-powered Slayer was forced to battle a vampire —, 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[19] and replaced with Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, but continued to act as Buffy's adviser, especially since Wesley turned out to be coward and incompetent.
In a battle with the demonic Mayor of Sunnydale, Richard Wilkins, Giles pressed the trigger which destroyed him and Sunnydale High, putting himself out of a job.[20]
Unemployment
Giles in demon form.
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 Williams, who Anya Jenkins tactlessly labeled his "orgasm friend".[21]
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.[2]
In order to defeat Adam, the bio-mechanical Demonoid, 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.[22]
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 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.[23]
Owner of the Magic Box
Giles becomes the owner of the Magic Box.
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: mystical energy in human form in need of protection from the hell-goddess 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.[24] 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 god before leaving.[25]
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 an Apocalypse. 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 the human 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 then sacrificed her own life to save Dawn's, saving the world in the process.[26]
Return to England
Several months after Buffy's second death, Giles decided to return to England.[27] On the very day he left, Willow, Xander, Anya, and Tara resurrected Buffy, and he came back as soon as he heard of this. Despite being overjoyed to have Buffy back, Giles was furious at Willow for invoking such dark magic and angrily dismissed her as "a rank, arrogant amateur". While the other Scoobies believed Buffy had been in hell, Giles was unconvinced, which proved to be correct when the demon Sweet's musical spell forced her to reveal that she was indeed in Heaven.[28]
Back to life, Buffy began to over-rely on Giles for financial and emotional support; at one point, when Dawn had sneaked out to hang out with a teenager who was, in fact, a vampire, Buffy avoided to scold her herself leaving the job to Giles.[29] This eventually caused Giles to decide that his presence was preventing her to assume responsibility for her own life. He left 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."[30] 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 magic, 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.[31]
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 Harbingers of Death, who was 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. The Watcher Robson, while injured, 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.[32] After the ordeal, Buffy told him, "I've think you've taught me everything I need to know." Giles participated in the final battle at the Hellmouth, surviving it.
Prophecies and conspiracies
Following Sunnydale's destruction, the Scooby Gang had expanded into a global organization, training approximately five hundred Slayers spread over ten squads.[33] Giles was one of the heads of the Slayer Organization and watched a squad of Slayers in St. Petersburg, Russia.[34] 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 them.[35] 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 in the Himalayas on an astral plane. After confirming that Angel still worked for Wolfram & Hart, Giles simply refused to help him, much to Angel's frustration.[36]
Giles and Faith team up.
About a year and a half after the destruction of Sunnydale, Giles came to Faith with a mission for her to assassinate another Slayer, Genevieve Savidge, who would bring around the apocalypse if left unchecked,[37] 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.[38] His secret partnership with Faith strained Buffy and Giles' relationship even more.
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.[39]
After Harmony Kendall's reality show Harmony Bites 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 is later transported to Tibet to learn how to suppress their magic to stop Twilight from tracking them.[40]
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 Slayer Handbook tome he had shown her when the two had first met, a clear statement that he considered Buffy the one true Slayer.[41]
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.[42]
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' aunts — represents the last of Giles' childish innocence. As a result, Angel began taking on aspects of Giles' personality and mannerisms.[43]
When Angel attempted to acquire the last fragment of Giles' soul from his body — also planning to restore to Giles' body to vitality magically — he discovered that Giles's coffin was empty, with the lack of disturbance around the grave suggesting that it had been buried that way. Later, the slayer Nadira went to Guildford to consult an expert about resurrecting one of her fallen comrades; this man appeared to be Giles,[44] but it was later revealed to be a Giles possessed and reanimated by Eyghon, who used Giles to resurrect others to act as his agents after the Eyghon-possessed Ethan Rayne stole his body.
Discovering this, Angel recruited Spike to his team to take on Eyghon. As the majority of Giles' soul now existed within Angel, it provided him added protection from Eyghon's increased ability to possess the dead. Recovering the last fragment of Giles' soul, Angel's body contained three entities: his own soul, Giles', and that of the demon within. He reverted to a near-catatonic state, speaking in a British accent and as if he were reliving events in Giles' youth.
Later, Spike and Faith were successful in extracting Giles' soul from Angel using the Essuary, and Angel and Faith restored Giles' corpse to perfect condition using the Crown of Coils. Assembling Giles' aunts Lavinia and Sophronia Fairweather (de-powered witches), his friend Alasdair Coames (a de-powered warlock) and using Coames' collection of magical items as fuel for a spell, they attempted to reunite body and soul in a resurrection ritual. However, the ceremony was partly interrupted by an attack by Whistler, Pearl, and Nash, seeking Coames' remaining magical items, putting the success of the ritual to resurrect Giles in question.
Resurrection
Giles: “Do you know I finally managed to figure out quite a bit? About myself, the world, my place in it. Now all that’s gone. I find myself stumbling into an uncertain future, groping in the dark, surrounded by a world that makes no sense.”
Faith: “Welcome to the club.”
Giles: “I said I’d come back as the opposite of what you need. I should amend that statement. In sharing Angel’s body, his mind, I have seen all you’ve been through since my passing. All you’ve done. And I know this. You may have wanted the old me back. But you don’t need him anymore, Faith. None of you do.”
Against all odds and better judgment, Giles was successfully returned to the living. However, it quickly became clear that the spell was not without side effects. Instead of adult Giles, they were instead faced with the very same man trapped in his young twelve-year-old body. Giles reacted with horror and fury at this. Struggling to be comfortable in new younger form, the former Watcher furiously criticized Angel's obsession with bringing him back, and accused Lavinia and Sophronia of ruining his life once more when it became clear they were responsible for his resurrection as a child (they had both focused on ten-year-old Giles, the one whose life they had ruined instead of the adult one). Calming down and trying to reign in his abhorrence of the situation, he decided to help Angel and Faith against Whistler.
Nevertheless, Giles was irrevocably depressed and directionless. He felt nothing but disconnection from the world he had returned to. Despite Faith's attempts to convince him he was needed, Giles disagreed, believing — based on what he had seen while his soul was trapped in Angel — that everyone around him had moved on with their lives during his death and that none of them, not even Faith or Buffy, really had necessity for him as a guide or authority figure. After successfully pinpointing Whistler's location in London, Giles and the rest of the group had a moment of reflection. Giles was grateful for Angel's resurrection of him and freeing him from Eyghon's hold of torment, but admitted that if he was to die again in this battle, he would be able to accept his death peacefully. All of the others agreed that they also didn't mind sacrificing their lives against Whistler, Pearl, and Nash if it came down to it in the end.[45]
While Angel and Faith engaged in the heavy fighting, Giles had, for the most part, remained on the sidelines with his aunts and his old friend Alasdair Coames. Giles and Alasdair had agreed to form magic together as some form of spell against their enemies. When Nash prepared to release the magic plague ball throughout London, Giles had managed to conjure up a fireball to injure him. He successfully hit him in the back, causing Nash to drop the unstable ball of pure magic. Giles and the group attempted to stop it from landing but were ultimately too late as the citizens below began mutating into monsters as soon as the plague ball touched them.[46]
Faith and Angel still fighting, Giles and Alasdair manage to get the orb of pure magic while the others were too distracted fighting. Along with his aunts, who had decided to calm down the townspeople as they began shifting into monsters, Giles and Alasdair form a plan. They attempt to detonate the orb and absorb it given their history with magic, but it was dangerous since the consequence could be death or restoring Alasdair's magic and Giles' true age. Coming to terms with their decision, they are both stopped when Pearl and Nash realize their intentions. After Faith killed Nash and knelt over a severely injured Nadira with the intention of healing her through the magical orb, Giles consoled her and regretfully informed her it was unlikely for it to heal her. She sadly accepted this and tried to give it back to them, only for Whistler to take it and prepare to unleash the plague himself.[47]
After Angel managed to get through to Whistler and stop the magic plague from spreading globally, Giles briefly stayed to help tend to the mutated people of London. However, he felt no desire to be there permanently with his aunts, believing the place he was at his best was with Buffy and the others. Giles parted from Angel on friendly terms before traveling to San Francisco with Faith.[48]
San Francisco
Giles reunites with the Scoobies.
Giles reunited Buffy and the Scoobies midst fighting zompires in Santa Rosita and traveled with them to live in San Francisco. Being in a young body restored Giles' proficiency in casting powerful spells, which greatly helped the Scoobies in their battles. However, Giles encountered some mood issues due to him going through early puberty again.
Willow devised a spell to restore Giles to his true age. It worked by rapidly aging him, however; it must be removed within 48 hours or Giles will die of old age and once the spell is complete, his age cannot be altered once more. Giles agreed to have the spell cast on him when he found out Olivia was free that morning and the two met up and had sex in his 20-year-old body (Olivia originally rejected intimacy with him before due to his prepubescence). He also contacted Lavinia and Sophronia regarding the spell, and the two of them were opposed to the idea of growing old. Giles' luck then started to change over the course of the day. Willow and Buffy declined Giles' fatherly wisdom, he couldn't play video games as well as he could as a child because his hand-eye coordination had diminished, and he lost the great magical power he possessed in his youth. After being attacked by a demon sent by enemies of the Slayer, Giles had Willow reverse the spell so that he maintains his magic to protect Olivia. With two hours left before the spell's reversal, a middle-aged Giles had a heart-to-heart talk with Buffy who he claimed was proud of how she turned out.[49]
After the death of the second Magic Council, Giles was made the vice-president under Buffy in the new council.[50]
Personality
“I imagine you hate me right now. […] But I have sworn to protect this sorry world and sometimes that means saying and doing things that… other people can't. What they shouldn't have to.”
―Giles to Buffy[src]As the Watcher, librarian, and general authority/father figure, Giles frequently delivered exposition. Giles was often portrayed as somewhat of a "straight man" and his "stuffy" Oxford sensibility served as a counterpoint to the stereotypical Southern Californian characters and setting. According to Willow, he made a "weird cluck-cluck sound with his tongue" when he was angry but was "too English to say anything."[16] Giles was well-known for wearing tweed clothes, so much so that the Scoobies joked that even his diapers were made from the material.
However, he wore non-tweed suits and even casual clothes more often after his retirement from the library. A good deal of humor came from Giles contradicting his established prim and proper image. Giles was also a talented singer and guitar player.[51] Giles was a fan of 60's rock band Cream,[17]The Who,[51]Lynyrd Skynyrd,[52]David Bowie,[53]The Velvet Underground,[54] and The Bay City Rollers.[55] He also enjoys celebrating Halloween, which Buffy was surprised to learn.[56] At times, he also proved to be arrogant and somewhat of a liar: when explaining how he survived being attacked by a Bringer in Robson's flat, he initially stated that it was the instinct that saved him, but later admitted that he simply heard the Bringer's shoes squeaking.[57]
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 the Corruptor out of the Internet, the pair reached an understanding and began a romantic relationship. Despite this, he never overcame his aversion to technology and was horrified to see that the new Sunnydale High School library had only computers.[32]
Giles had a tendency to take off his glasses and wipe them during situations. It was eventually figured out by Buffy that this was his way of avoiding having to see the activities of the other Scoobies when he did so as Xander and Anya passionately kissed after announcing their engagement.[29] At one point, Giles wiped his glasses so hard they broke when the Watchers Council came to Sunnydale.[25]
Very few people called Giles by his first name, Rupert, including the Scoobies. Willow called him "Rupert" while she was evil, and Spike did so often in disdain or just to be annoying. He was called by his nickname, Ripper, by Ethan Rayne and by Joyce Summers, when she and Giles were both under a spell that made them like teenagers.
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 — as well as being willing to at least tolerate Angel and Spike, even after witnessing their crimes as soulless demons, although he never fully trusted them — he has shown a willingness to commit more questionable actions than the rest of the Scoobies could condone, such as killing the innocent Ben in order to prevent Glory from returning. This darkness in him was evident to the addled Tara ahead of the conflict.
His personality also became darker over the years with insights into his past actions. He once reverted to his teenage personality of "Ripper", a violent criminal.[17] 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. Ironically, this event proved that Giles was not against the end justifying the means method, a similarity to Quentin Travers, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, and Angel.
Powers and abilities
Knowledge
“He’ll be alright. He’s like ‘Super Librarian’. Everyone forgets, Willow. Knowledge is the ultimate weapon.”
―Xander describes Giles[src]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,[22] Japanese,[25] and possibly Gaelic,[58] but weak in German,[59] Mandarin, and Cantonese.[57]
Fighting skill
Giles had moderate skill in hand-to-hand combat, as well as various melee weapons. He also implied that he was a skilled marksman.[60] While his demeanor was typically mild and polite, Giles was not above using raw violence to solve a problem (his nickname "Ripper" should suggest something), such as physically threatening Principal Snyder into readmitting Buffy to school after her expulsion,[7] pummeling Angelus senseless with a flaming baseball bat and burning down his hideout upon discovering that he had killed Jenny Calendar,[13] smothering Ben to death with his bare hands to prevent Glory's return when Buffy chooses to spare him,[26] brutally beating Ethan Rayne for information[61] or simply to improve his mood,[2] manhandling Spike while ordering him to get over his obsession with Buffy,[62] and forcing Glory's minion, Slook, to talk by inflicting a painful-sounding injury.[63] 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.[64] He was also shown to be able to quickly hot-wire a car.[7]
Magical powers
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.[31] His moderate proficiency in magic combined with his natural acumen and intelligence made him quite formidable; he killed Roden, a skillful warlock, through using a spell inventively.[60]
When Giles was resurrected as a child, he possessed magical abilities surpassing that of his older self. This was due to him being born with a natural talent for magic which he repressed in his previous life.[65] Magical feats include energy blasts that could vaporize vampires, force fields and sleeping spells.
Relationships
Romantic
Giles: “I'm not supposed to have a private life?”
Buffy: “No! Because you're very, very old and it's gross.”
Charlotte — An early crush of Giles' during his time in training to be a Watcher, describing her as "whip-smart" and "beautiful". However, he had never found the courage to act on his interest in her or even ask her out for tea. He would eventually be forced to witness her death at the hands of a Lorophage demon during a supposed test to prove themselves to their calling in the Watchers Council.[66]
Hazel — Giles has mentioned kissing her at one point; she eventually becomes the wife of his old friend Lloyd Addison.[67]
Giles and Jenny.
Jennifer 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.[68] Giles and Jenny began to date each other, Jenny even taking him to a monster truck race, much to Giles's horror. They went through a few falling outs, only to always forgive each other. When Angel lost his soul, Jenny was found to be part of the Romani 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. Furious at this believed betrayal, Giles initially joined Buffy in ostracizing Jenny.[69] Buffy would later tell her that Giles missed her and Jenny confesses to Giles that she fell in love with him, only for him to find her dead and killed by Angelus. Devastated by this event, he had attempted to kill Angelus only to be stopped by Buffy. He admitted that in all his years as Watcher he had buried many but Jenny was the first that he loved.[13] Driven by grief, he had insisted soon after her death that she was haunting the school despite the clear evidence that she wasn't.[70] When Drusilla had manipulated his mind by seeing "with his heart", it was Jenny who had appeared which enabled Angelus to find out how Acathla would be unleashed.[14] Her death caused Giles and the rest of the Scoobies (excluding Buffy) to distrust Angel when he was re-ensouled. Many 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.[42]
Joyce Summers — Often, Joyce and Giles confided in each other about Buffy as both of them represented parental figures in her life. Though when Buffy briefly exiled herself from Sunnydale to Los Angeles, Joyce angrily told Giles she blamed him and that he had this relationship with her behind her back, much to his guilt.[15] However, as Sunnydale's adult population came under the influence of magical chocolate, Giles reverted to his rebellious teenage persona, Ripper. He romanced Joyce and got intimate with her twice, including once on the hood of a police car.[17] They were too embarrassed afterward to be romantically involved again. Buffy realized to her great horror, that her mother had slept with Giles twice[71] and she would later mention to him (in Faith's body) that her mother thought that he was like a stevedore during sex, a moment which was truly awkward for Giles.[72]
Olivia Williams — During his period of unemployment, Giles began seeing this "old friend", an 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 visited him from England around the time the Gentlemen came to Sunnydale. Bothered by the demon-fighting life Giles lived, Olivia presumably broke up with Giles then after.[73] Olivia was seen one last time in a dream state,[74] in which she was pregnant and had bonded him over Buffy when they took her in a "demon carnival".[74] Many years later, Olivia was apparently told of Giles' death at Angel's hands. She was, according to Lavinia, very upset and distraught by it.[8] Olivia reunited with Giles following his resurrection, when he attempted to reignite their relationship; however, she rejected him due to his prepubescent body.[75] When Giles was able to return for a limited time to his adult body, he immediately contacted Olivia, so the two were able to finally spend the night together.[49]
Roux — The vampire was a fellow student at Living Legend Academy Charter High School, where Giles was in an undercover investigation. Both with an older experienced mind trapped within a 16-years-old body, Giles maintained attracted to Roux even after he discovered her demonic identity.[67]
Paternal
“From time to time, I am asked — by people with an alarming lack of tact — why a man like myself, who has demonstrated an affinity for working with children, has none of his own. Other people's children are quite enough, thank you.”
Buffy Summers — Giles initially held an overall bad impression of Buffy, due to her original reluctance to accept her calling and many of her odd personality quirks that did nothing but confuse him, describing her as "willful and insolent" in his early Watcher notes.[76] However, Giles became immensely fond of her and took on the role of the father figure in her life, as her own father Hank Summers was never around. Their close bond became such that Buffy even went to him to take her ice skating when her father had bailed on her and he was even willing to confront the Master, knowing that he would likely die, just to ensure that Buffy didn't have to, though their relationship hit a strain when Giles had dosed her for her Cruciamentum on order of the Watchers Council on her 18th birthday. While Buffy was put in great danger against a powerful vampire, Giles confronted the council over such cruel treatment. Buffy was initially furious that he had taken advantage of her trust, but was touched that he had stood up against them. However, Giles was promptly fired from the Watchers Council as he had developed a father's love for Buffy, which only caused him to be a liability.[19] Following Wesley's migration into the Scooby Gang and position as the new Watcher, Buffy still valued Giles' opinions much more and went to him directly instead of her actual watcher, mostly because of her contempt for Wesley and respect for Giles. Following Buffy's enter into college, she became less dependent on Giles which often caused him to feel unappreciated and left out. Buffy had forgotten to tell Giles that Riley was one of the commandos in a military operation and was deeply annoyed and hurt when everyone (even Spike and Anya) were aware of it. When Maggie Walsh had criticized Buffy of having an absent father figure, Giles was very offended by this claim and developed a dislike of the woman because of it. After his time as a Fyarl demon was reversed, Giles expressed concern over Buffy's relationship with Riley given his affiliation with the Initiative. Buffy brushed off his worries and saw Riley and The Initiative as two separate things.[2] Spike would later take note of Giles' feeling of uselessness as he attempted to turn him against Buffy under orders of Adam. After Spike mentioned how Buffy did not need him anymore and treated him with no respect by constantly disobeying him, Giles had taken this to heart and began excessively drinking. He had shown abrupt rudeness towards Buffy and claimed Adam would easily destroy her since she no longer trained with him, clearly intoxicated with alcohol. Buffy showed great annoyance with this and described Giles as "funny drunk drooling on my shoes" when arguing that none of them would be able to help her,[52] but reconciled soon after.[22] In a dream created by Sineya, Buffy was portrayed as acting as a young girl instead of her true age, and pulling Giles around like he was her father. Giles had shown protectiveness and his watcher-like habits over Buffy but also started displaying a vague undertone of "tough love", foreshadowing his later departure of Sunnydale when Buffy refused to grow up after her resurrection. It also demonstrated how he was truly beginning to feel that she did not need him anymore as an adult.[74] Nevertheless, Giles' sense of Buffy not needing to learn anything from him anymore returned and though immensely proud of the girl he saw as a daughter, he had resolved to return to England. Before he could actually leave, Buffy confronted him and requested Giles to began her Slayer training again as she felt the desire to understand her true nature; Giles, pleased, agreed immediately.[23] After the Watchers Council threatened to deport Giles back to England if Buffy didn't allow them to test her Slayer abilities, Giles expressed disgust at how low they would go, and the two shared a moment together.[25] When Spike's feelings for Buffy were exposed to the Scooby Gang, Giles was extremely protective of her and ordered Spike to leave them and move on with his life out of concern for Buffy.[62] When she was forced to be the legal guardian of Dawn, Buffy doubted she was mature enough to be suitable and begged Giles to take care of Dawn instead as an authority figure. He firmly declined, reminding Buffy that it was her job since she was Dawn's only family.[63] After getting severely wounded by a Knight of Byzantium, Giles confessed to Buffy his overwhelming pride over her and that he had always admired her ability to follow her heart above all else.[77] Buffy and Giles briefly argued with each other while on the run from Glory as he had suggested killing Dawn to save the world which Buffy refused. Upon seeing Buffy's lifeless body after she sacrificed herself, Giles was stunned and numb.[77] Following Buffy's death, Giles was grief-stricken, feeling a great sense of failure for not keeping her from dying. Because of this, he remained in Sunnydale as well as the Magic Box despite Anya's frequent protests. Eventually, he departed to England[27] only to return immediately following Buffy's resurrection. Giles hugged Buffy upon seeing her and lovingly told her he had always seen her as a miracle. The two caught up, Giles expressing his worry over where she had been and how she was dealing with being back. Despite this, he argued with Willow over her reckless resurrection and that while he was glad she was alive again, he would've stopped it if he had been there, pointing out the consequences were far too risky.[78] As Buffy began to shirk off her adult duties to Giles such as paying bills,[79] Giles realized that he was standing in the way of her embracing adulthood, resolving to leave to England as he would always take the burden for her due to his hatred of watching her suffer. Buffy reacted with anger, believing him to be abandoning her in her time of need, and his departure became one of the many factors that caused her to embark on a highly destructive sexual relationship with Spike.[80] Giles returned later to help fight against Dark Willow and Buffy and Giles returned to good terms.[31] Giles aided Buffy against the First Evil, as well as the Potential Slayers but their relationship once again became strained. He had conspired with Robin Wood to take out Spike against Buffy's wishes, feeling him as being too much of a threat to be allowed to live and that her feelings for him were clouding her judgment. Furious at this, Buffy had roughly slammed the door in his face afterward.[32] Giles and Buffy also had another heated argument about her decision to face Caleb at where she thought he was and wanted everyone to accept it, being one of the many that forced her out of her own house.[81] They seemed to reconcile their bond, but it again went through another falling out due to Giles's partnership with Faith,[82] falling out of speaking terms until forced into Tibet to hide from Twilight.[83] They finally seemed to make peace, only for Giles to have his neck broken by a Twilight-possessed Angel. Furious, stunned, and grief-stricken, Buffy smashed the Seed of Wonder, ending magic on Earth as a result. In his will, Giles had left Buffy the Slayer Handbook he had given to her long ago, Faith interpreting it as Buffy being the "true Slayer" and that she was still "number one son".[41] When he was brought back to life by Faith and Angel, Buffy was decided to remain in the dark of the development. While Angel was excited over telling her, Giles had felt differently. He reasoned that Buffy would not be there quick enough to help them defeat Whistler since he was an immediate threat, but also it was far too early to say such that when had just been resurrected in a matter of hours.[45] After the battle with Whistler, Giles decided to go to San Francisco, stating to Faith that the time he was at his best was when he was with Buffy.[48]
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. Giles and Willow developed a very close and tight bond, having mutual respect for each other's talents, Giles once claiming her as "truly the finest of all of them."[84] However, their relationship eventually became briefly conflicted as Giles had shown anger at Willow's abuse of magic, insulting her to be a "rank, arrogant amateur" and that by resurrecting Buffy, she could've unleashed hell on earth.[78] When Willow turned dark, he had fought against her with powerful magic he borrowed from the council but in the end lost as she absorbed his magic, causing him to be on the verge of dying.[31] Despite his near-death at the hands of Dark Willow, Giles forgave her immediately and took to his estate in England, aiding her in learning to recover from her addiction to magic and face her friends for her misdeeds, showing a new depth to their relationship.[85] After Buffy and Giles' fallout because of Faith,[82] while discussing Dracula-type vampires, Willow had noted to Buffy "If Giles were here, he'd say "Precisely! and then rub his glasses on his shirt.".[86] Following Giles' death, Willow grieved like the rest of the Scooby Gang. Despite her great respect and familial love for Giles, she originally disapproved of Angel's efforts to resurrect him, seeing it as ending in nothing but disaster.[87]
Alexander 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 "[Giles is] shallow, like the rest of us". Giles tended to overlook Xander's approach to things, noting that Xander always managed "to boil a complex thought down to its simplest possible form".[13] Though, at rare times Giles did react grimly to Xander's triviality such as when Xander fell asleep while watching werewolfOz,[88] leading him to escape and when Xander got split into his best and worst qualities, Giles had bluntly deduced that Xander was being a bad influence on himself as they began to act childish in the same way.[89] Another example was when Giles expressed extreme annoyance at Xander's quips of 'turning gay' after an unsuccessful date with Lissa, a demonic woman who had tried to kill him.[57] Nevertheless, they seemed to have some odd type of father/son bond for the most part. Xander and Giles are a lot alike. Xander may not have Giles' intelligence, but he has heart and his detective skills. Giles is proud of his decision to become a watcher.
Cordelia Chase — Giles and Cordelia's relationship early on mirrored that of his bonds with Anya and Xander. Like most of the Scooby Gang, Giles was thoroughly annoyed by her trademark lack of tact, shallowness, and self-absorbed personality. He originally had a mild distaste of her and on one occasion had feigned her hair being messed up somehow, noting with satisfaction that Xander was right in it would cause her to leave.[90] While he eventually tried to ignore Cordelia's quirks, there were many occasions when he had failed. Such examples include when had had exasperatedly questioned if she had ever heard of tact when she had mentioned Buffy's dead cousin[91] and he had snapped at her for asking incessant questions about demons while he was trying to focus. Cordelia looked down on his stuffy, uptight attitude but did respect his knowledge of the supernatural and looked to him as the parental figure of the Scooby Gang like the rest of them. She had once distrusted Giles during Buffy's welcome back party, worried that he was a zombie but immediately recognized it was him when Giles had insulted her as being tiresome.[7] She had also, on one occasion, told him she hated him when he had caused her to carry droppings of a toad for a spell without telling her what it is first but was clearly exaggerating her words.[59] They lost contact with one another when she departed Sunnydale and moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of being an actress.[92]
Anya Jenkins — Initially, Giles was struck by Anya's abrupt rudeness, the first time when she told him to go away in his own home, because she wanted to talk to Xander alone and the second time when she referred to his girlfriend Olivia as his "orgasm friend".[21] Giles was also immensely annoyed and uncomfortable when Anya asked to have a threesome with Xander after he was split in two, requesting the group to ignore "the disturbing sex talk."[89] Given how overwhelming running the Magic Box had proven for him, Giles recognized Anya's efficiency behind the counter and offered her a job.[93] Through this, Anya looked up to him as a keen businessman and as her boss, and he treated her like a daughter, albeit a strange one. They did have their argument when Giles unknowing sold Glory key ingredients to a dangerous ritual, Anya noticed the potency of the ingredients and called Giles stupid whereon he replied: "Allow me to answer that question with a firing".[94] After Buffy's death, Anya became impatient with Giles as she wanted ownership over the Magic Box, which Giles eventually gave to her.[27] When Giles returned after Buffy's resurrection, Anya hugged him, though immediately informed him also that he could not have the shop again and that he signed papers.[78] When Willow had performed a spell that backfired and caused everyone to lose their memories, Anya and Giles believed they were engaged due to the ring she was wearing and that they owned a magic shop together. However, they erupted into arguments easily when Anya kept creating bunnies from the wrong spell book and she had angrily claimed that she never understood all the British words he used around her. Giles had come to the conclusion that he was leaving her (due to the passport to England) and had understood why after Anya had hit him over the head with a book, as she felt a desire to seek vengeance on him. They had forgiven each other and shared a kiss, only for their memories to be restored right after. Neither of them ever brought it up again afterward, too embarrassed to do so and their relationship returned to its platonic nature.[80] When Giles returned a second time during Willow's reign of evil, he briefly dispatched Willow and Anya informed him that she dyed her hair blond, just when he noticed that Buffy had cut hers. When Giles' magically energy was drained, Anya stayed with him, thinking the world would end and they would die.[31]
Dawn Summers — As he did with Buffy, Giles represented a strong father figure role in Dawn's life. However, on one occasion, he was asked to babysit Dawn while Buffy was at a party and had been forced to endure teenage pop music, eat cookie dough, and gossip about boys, much to Giles' horror. After the experience, Giles suggested a fourteen-year-old was too old to be babysat.[62] He also rejected taking up the role of Dawn's paternal guardian, believing that Buffy was the suitable option since she was her family.[63] On the eve of the final battle with Glory, Giles had suggested that Dawn would have to be killed if they could not stop her in time, angering Buffy. He admitted he loved Dawn, but sometimes they would have to do things that others couldn't.[26] Despite this, Giles held fatherly affection for Dawn and was genuinely regretful after he decided to leave to England, reassuring an upset Dawn that he was only a phone call away.[27] When he returned, they had apparently been about to experiment with different cereals and mix them together, only to be attacked by a demon.[78] Giles gradually became the sole guardian of Dawn,[29] forced to scold her for her immature actions which were absently avoided by Buffy in Season Six. Later, Giles had comforted a guilty, upset Dawn after forcing Buffy out of her own house.[81] Because of their close bond, it's likely Dawn grieved for his passing.
Faith Lehane — After the destruction of Sunnydale Giles and Faith traveled together, defeating or counseling rogue Slayers.[95] During their brief partnership, Giles and Faith seemed to develop a close bond due to both of them having a strained relationship with Buffy at the time.[82] Faith later admitted to Angel that he was important to her and she missed him. It was shown that at one point she had shared with him her guilt over murdering Lester Worth and Giles had displayed great understanding, gently saying that he could make excuses about her being mentally unstable at the time but she still killed someone and the best option was to outweigh the bad with a lifetime of good.[42] It would appear that they had a combination of a partnership and a parental/child relationship, though, upon his death, Faith stated to Buffy that she [Buffy] was "number one son" and that Giles only gave her his estate in London as well as other things because he thought she needed it more than Buffy did.[41] Since then, Faith joined Angel in attempting to complete Giles' finished work and find a way to bring him back to life, although she was only going along with the plan so as to be there for him and stop him from going too far. Eventually, however, Faith began to be more emotionally immersed in resurrecting Giles. She realized that she desperately needed him back, Giles having become like a father to her during their travels together.[96] When Giles was resurrected, Faith reacted with shock and disbelief at the form he had taken. Overcoming this and Giles' "raging pre-teen hormones", Faith and Giles quickly rekindled their bond. Giles had expressed to Faith his disconnection from the world and how felt he no longer had a place in it, struggling to find his purpose. Faith had tried to comfort him by comparing it to herself, but Giles denied her words. He dejectedly explained that he was sorry he did not come back as the authority figure she wanted but then claimed she did not need the old him anyone. In fact, as far he was concerned, no one truly needed him.[45] After Whistler's death, Giles and Faith argued over who would own his house in London. Giles insisted she should keep it so she'd have a place to rest while Faith believed he deserved it back since he wasn't dead anymore. However, the argument was briefly forgotten about when he asked if he could travel with Faith to San Francisco. While she initially believed he wanted to spend time with her, it turned out Giles' intention was to return to Buffy, much to Faith's visible disappointment.[48]
Mr. Giles — Giles' father was a Watcher and held firm notions of responsibility and destiny. When Giles was still a child, his father had not allowed him to be a fighter pilot when he grew up and forced the duty as a future watcher on him, believing it to be his destiny and nothing else.[97] From the beginning, Giles had a tense relationship with his father but after a failed test against a supposed vampire (who turned out to be Lorophage demon) and the resulted deaths of Phillip and Charlotte, it worsened.[43] Giles angrily blamed him for testing them when none of them were ready, calling it murder. While his father pushed his notions of loyalty to the Watchers Council, Giles rebelled. Tired of being "chosen" to take part in a life he never wanted, he called his father and this way of life an obscenity, deciding to make his own choices that had nothing to do with being a watcher.[6]
Edna Giles — As a young boy, Giles was revealed to be very close to his grandmother. According to Lavinia, this was partly because he had inherited her sense of honor and accordance with duty. Sophie claimed it was also because he thought she was so "bloody superior" because she had aged gracefully. When he had accidentally killed a light demon, Edna had agreed with her son to have him train to become a future Watcher because of his latent talents towards magics.[98]
Lavinia Fairweather — Giles' great aunt that had been using magics for years to keep her appearance youthful. His relationship with her was apparently strained and estranged, due to his beliefs and contempt of his family using magic for such frivolous means. He had later in life rarely mentioned them but seemed to care for her as he kept a family portrait of them up in his estate. [98] Following Giles' resurrection, his strained relationship with his aunts was immediately seen. Lavinia and Sophie were in accidentally responsible for his reversion to a 12-year old boy, due to their thoughts having been solely focused on the young child whose life they had ruined. Once aware of this, Giles proceeded to call them idiots and that had ruined his life once again in a fit of anger. Lavinia and her sister remained flippant of his attitude and instead teased him as being cute as a little boy, much to Giles' immense irritation.[45] Once the world was safe from the magical plague, Giles wanted to leave London, at least partially because of his distaste of being around his shallow aunts.[48]
Sophronia Fairweather — His other aunt, Giles' relationship with Sophie mirrored his bond with Lavinia. Giles believed using magic for beauty care techniques were shallow and unethical. Rarely mentioning Sophie, he had kept one of their family portraits. [98] Being equally as responsible for Giles' resurrection as a twelve-year-old boy as her a sister, he had angrily pinned the blame on them and that claimed they had ruined his life once again. This earned him some lighthearted teasing of his "cute" form, not amusing Giles in the least.[99] He would eventually leave London, partially because he did not want to be around her or Lavinia.[48]
Antagonistic
Ethan Rayne — During Giles' youth and rebellious years, he met Ethan and together they delved deeper together in the dark magics with a group. They consequently became best friends for some time until they went too far with their magics and summoned up a demon in the process. It had possessed their friend Randall and they had attempted to exorcise it, only to cause his death. Giles was guilt-stricken by this and distanced himself from dark magic, deciding to embrace his career as a Watcher. After this, Giles and Ethan became mortal enemies due to Ethan's continued fascination with dark magic and chaos.[55] Ethan later appeared in Sunnydale to wreak havoc on Halloween, which infuriated Giles with how little he changed.[61] When Giles reverted to his teenage, rebellious persona due to the magical candy, he had immediately been hostilely aggressive toward Ethan. He had attempted to beat him up several times, requesting Buffy to "knock his teeth down his throat." However, Buffy had prevented him from killing him as she needed information. Giles did, however, show great elation when she finally punched Ethan in the face.[17] The following year, Giles once again reunited with him but upon seeing him, he told Ethan bluntly that beating him up would improve his mood by quite a bit. However, he is persuaded by him to not fight him and instead, decided to drink together and reminisce about the old days. Unfortunately, this backfired for Giles as Ethan ended up transforming him into a Fyarl demon. Giles desperately tried to find him and once he did, proceeded to furiously beat him up the point he would've killed him. However, Buffy and Riley prevented it and Ethan was able to reverse the spell.[2]
Snyder — During his job as a librarian in Sunnydale High, Giles was forced to work under Principal Snyder. He was tolerant of him most of the time but only because he had to be. Giles harbored a distaste of the principal throughout all his years he worked under him and Snyder had looked down upon him as well, finding him incompetent. He had mostly disliked Giles, due to his failure to understand why he was so close to Buffy and so much potential in her; all he ever saw was an irresponsible delinquent. However, Giles had at one point threatened Snyder with violence when he didn't allow Buffy to be accepted back into his school.[7] When Snyder was eaten by the Mayor, along with the rest of the Scooby Gang, they did not miss him.[20]
Gwendolyn Post — Post had appeared to the Scooby Gang under the guise of being Faith's new Watcher by orders of the council. Giles had been shown to be slightly offended and disappointed by this perceived development, likely because he had enjoyed training them both. Post had continually expressed a superior and pompous attitude to him, criticizing him for his lack of organization in his books and unorthodox methods of allowing Buffy and Faith so much freedom and lack of restrictions. She had even pushed it further by claiming the council believed he was becoming "too American", much to Giles' dismay and Buffy's shock. Giles had attempted to prove her wrong but was frustrated to realize it had taken him very long to find the proper book she had mentioned. Greatly annoyed with this and Post herself, Buffy had suggested somewhat jokingly if they could kill her and his response was " I think the council might frown upon that. " Despite his antagonism, they did have tea together only for Gwen to hit him severely over the head and knock him out.[100]
Quentin Travers — After Buffy's Cruciamentum, Giles had spoken out harshly against Quentin, developing a great amount of disgust at his uncaring exterior and harsh ways. Quentin remained indifferent to this and instead took it upon himself to fire Giles from the Watchers Council, his reasoning being that he had betrayed the teachings of the council by aiding the Slayer, telling her the truth, and had developed an attachment to Buffy akin to that of a father's love. Therefore, he had declared him entirely useless to the council.[19] Giles would later reunite with him over a year later when he came to possibly give a job back to the Watchers Council if he had trained Buffy well enough through the traditional methods. Giles was shown to still be bitter over his last firing and was revolted when the Council threatened to deport him to England indefinitely if he did not comply to their orders. After Buffy turned the tables on the Council and Quentin, the two then ironically shared a drink together.[25] In the beginning, Quentin and Giles were depicted at being very different people. However, later in the following years, he ironically adopted some of Quentin's ruthlessness and "ends justify the means" beliefs.[26][32]
Wesley Wyndam-Pryce — From the beginning, Wesley and Giles had a bad relationship. This was because of Wesley's original high superiority complex to mostly everyone, especially Giles who was his senior. Giles, on the other hand, had very little respect for his fellow Watcher]] and rarely ever took him seriously. Wesley was so incompetent during his time in Sunnydale that Buffy had continued going to Giles for advice instead of her new watcher, much to Wesley's great annoyance. He had also declared arrogantly that Giles had an emotional problem and that was his unusual attachment to the Slayer which exasperated the older man. They did, however, ironically clean their glasses once at exactly the same time without looking at each other.[76] Oddly enough, they seemed to have a slight bond of camaraderie as they often worked together as watchers for Faith and Buffy (Giles unofficially), even able to relate to each other somewhat due to their preferred resource of books. Giles and Wesley had even once participated in a fencing match, sparring each other. During the prom at Sunnydale High, Wesley had asked for advice from Giles and if he could dance with Cordelia despite being much older than her. Extremely annoyed by his, he had rudely told him she was eighteen years and bluntly insulted him by claiming that he had the "emotional maturity of a blueberry scone". Nevertheless, he told him to stop hesitating and do so already, fed up with Wesley and leaving him soon afterward. Despite this, Wesley had expressed gratitude even though he was still extremely offended by his remark.[101] After Sunnydale High was blown up upon defeating the Mayor, he had decided to check up on a whimpering Wesley, nevertheless seeming greatly amused by his incompetence once again.[20] They never saw each other again after Wesley left Sunnydale though Giles did mention him much, much later to Andrew. He had apparently had a very negative opinion of him still and found him pathetic, completely unaware of the drastic changes Wesley had undergone during his time in Angel Investigations.[35]
Spike — Spike and Giles have always shared an intense dislike for each other. Because Spike was at first an evil, soulless vampire, Giles, like the rest of the Scooby Gang viewed him solely as a mortal enemy. When he was implanted with his chip by the Initiative and was left completely unable to harm humans, Giles tolerated Buffy's decision to let him live in his state of defenselessness, despite Spike's still-cruel ambitions. He even allowed Spike to live in his apartment for a while, though he did not try to hide his intense annoyance towards Spike during his time there. When Spike and Buffy were influenced to be engaged under magic, Giles was utterly disgusted by it. The idea of having Spike as a son-in-law horrified him, and he began drinking excessive amounts of Scotch (something he only did when in a bad mood).[102] He was quite happy to see Spike move to Xander's basement when the time came.[103] Later, when Giles was transformed into a Fyarl demon, he was forced to go to Spike to help as he spoke the Fyarl's language. Spike helped Giles, but still made him pay several hundred dollars for his services.[104] Afterward, Giles reluctantly thanked Spike for helping him when he needed it, only for him to be rude and annoyed with his presence. Giles did not forget this, and when Spike subsequently came to him for help, he refused until Spike paid back some of the money. Despite his immense dislike of him, Giles suggested that Spike leaves Sunnydale for his own safety from the Initiative, only for Spike to refuse.[105] Giles had agreed to Spike's terms of never having him slain if he gave them information on the Initiative. However, Spike had manipulated him under the order of Adam and subtly taunted him over how Buffy rarely ever followed his orders and did not need him in her life anymore. Successfully hitting a weak point, Giles was depressed and began drinking large amounts of scotch.[52] Ironically, during a dream of Xander's, Giles had a close bond with Spike and decided to train him to be a watcher, claiming that "Spike was like a son to him." In his actual dream, however, Spike was displayed as attention-obsessed, willingly selling himself for others to take never-ending pictures of him. When he had snarkily made insinuations of Giles being unnecessary, he was irritated by the insensitivity, remarking that he still believed Buffy should've killed him.[74] Apparently, however, Giles had watched several episodes of Passions with Spike during his period of unemployment. Looking back on it, Giles was deeply ashamed and horrified at how low he had sunk in his directionless life, preferring to never speak of it.[106] When Spike's infatuation with Buffy was revealed to the Scoobies, Giles reacted most angrily out of all of them because of his fatherly love for Buffy. He shoved Spike in the chest and insisted to him that they (Giles and the Scoobies) weren't his way to Buffy, ordering Spike to move on with his life.[62] When Buffy decided to use Spike to help her protect Dawn, Giles was against it and wanted him to leave, clearly distrusting. However, his protests were silenced and he reluctantly let it go.[77] The following year, Giles seemed to have allowed Spike to help take care of Dawn after Buffy's death. When Dawn was kidnapped by Sweet, Giles insisted that Buffy rescue her alone. Spike vehemently disagreed with him and yelled at him for putting both Buffy and Dawn in danger, but Giles refused to listen and stated that he never wanted to hear his input. Later, when Willow botched a spell and caused the Scoobies to lose their memories, Giles and Spike thought they were father and son because of their British accents. Ironically, Giles stated that Spike gave off an air of familiarity and disappointment to him. The two shared an awkward hug and continued to believe they were related until the spell was broken. Giles returned to England shortly before Buffy began her sexual relationship with Spike, and returned after it had already ended, when there was a more problematic situation at hand. He expressed his worry to Buffy after Spike returned the following year, believing him dangerous despite the fact that he had regained his soul. He thought Spike was a distraction to Buffy, and that her feelings for him were clouding her judgment. After Spike's chip was removed, Giles reacted with anger and conspired with Robin Wood to kill Spike. When Buffy found out, she quickly went to stop the plan. Giles' decision caused Buffy to distance herself from him for quite some time. Before the battle against Twilight, Giles mentioned Spike, signifying that although he didn't particularly like him, he did acknowledge him as one of Buffy's "truest loves." Spike and Giles fought side-by-side again during the battle with Twilight. Recently, the fact that Spike helps Angel and Faith to eliminate Eyghon and allow his resurrection had changed his opinion. The two developed a good friendship relation. Giles, like the others Scoobies, accepts also the love relation with Buffy.
Maggie Walsh — Giles had met Professor Walsh when he had decided to talk with her over Buffy. Their methods when it came to children greatly differed. Giles believed that it would be best to let them forge their own path in life while Walsh saw it as young people needing to be guided and controlled. She claimed Buffy's extreme independence and defiance was a product of an absent father figure. Being long established as a father figure to her, Giles was deeply offended by her remark. Naturally, he developed a dislike of the woman, insulting her as a "fishwife" later. In his Fyarl demon form, Giles had paid Spike another hundred dollars to purposely scare and torment her as revenge. He would later tell Buffy "he hated her quite a bit."[2]
Other
Angel — Giles was understandably suspicious of Angel when he learned from Buffy that he was, in fact, a vampire. He had trouble believing that a vampire could want to help a Slayer, considering their generally soulless natures. Upon learning about Angel's curse, he regarded him with an even temper, and even commented that his love for Buffy was "rather poetic, in a maudlin sort of way." He treated Angel as a peer, and shared research material and prophecies with him, and allowed him to help the Scoobies.[11] Halfway through Buffy's Junior year, Angel's curse was broken and Angelus was left to terrorize Sunnydale.[69] During his torment of Buffy and her friends, he murdered Jenny, a teacher with whom Giles had fallen in love with. Giles was devastated to the point of irrationality, and set Angelus's warehouse lair on fire and attacked him with a flaming baseball bat before being disarmed by Angelus and rescued by Buffy.[13] When Angelus needed information, he was quick to capture Giles, at which time he was tortured for hours by both Angelus and Drusilla. After aligning herself with Spike, Buffy rescued him again and sent Angel to Acathla's dimension to save the world.[14] When he returned unexpectedly, Giles was understandably upset and wary. He kept a loaded crossbow on hand when talking to Angel, but still attempted to help him with his hallucinations. Once Giles accepted that Angel was no longer a danger, the two were able to reconcile to a certain extent.[18] When Angel visited Sunnydale to help Buffy during Thanksgiving, he seemed to have lost much of his animosity toward him, suggesting that it would be less cruel to Buffy if he allowed her to see him. While Giles did criticize him of his belief that it was his job to protect Buffy, he seemed to understand why as Angel had rightly pointed out both of them knew she was not helpless, but we're still protective of her all the same.[107] When Angel had called Giles for information on Faith, Giles had obliged and told him she had she left Sunnydale a week ago. However, Giles had withheld any specifics over what Faith had done to Buffy during her time there, and simply told Angel it was 'rough'.[108] Giles helped Angel twice during his time working at Wolfram & Hart; the first time, when the insane Slayer Dana was on the loose, Giles sent Andrew Wells to assist him,[35] while the second time, when Angel needed magical help to cure Fred that transformed her into Illyria, Giles insisted to them that Willow was unavailable.[109] On both occasions, it was suggested that Giles, like the other Scoobies, no longer trusted Angel due to his affiliation with Wolfram & Hart. During the battle against Twilight, Giles delved into the crater of Sunnydale to search for the Seed of Wonder, where they were met in combat by a Twilight-possessed Angel. While Buffy and Angel fought, Xander expressed to Giles that he shouldn't get between them. Giles responded: "That's exactly where she needs me." He then took the scythe but was stopped from approaching the seed by Twilight, who violently snapped his neck.[110] Afterward, Angel expressed an intense desire to bring Giles back to life. Though the use of Mohra demon was out the question, it was later revealed that Angel could use a Tooth of Ammuk to absorb fragments of Giles's soul into his body from various locations that were meaningful to the Watcher during his lifetime. As a result, Angel began taking on the characteristics and mannerisms of Giles.[8][111] After a grueling effort of gathering pieces of Giles' soul, Angel and Faith successfully resurrect him. Although, due to his aunt's envisioning of him as a child, Giles had taken the form of his 12-year-old persona with all of his memories and experience of his true age intact. Shocked and extremely stressed with this development, he proceeded to criticize Angel for bringing him back like this. However, as he started to adjust, Giles agreed to help form a plan against Whistler and his followers. Eventually, he expressed sincere gratitude towards Angel for saving his soul from torment by Eyghon despite his disconnection from a world he felt no longer needed him. Giles made it clear to him and everyone that if he did die in this battle, he would accept it peacefully.[45] Once stopping Whistler and his global plague, Giles and Angel are on friendly terms and have mutual respect for each other. Before leaving, the two had a discussion about "helping the helpless" and Giles promised Angel he would let him know when or if there was ever a right time for him to see Buffy again.[48]
Riley Finn — On Buffy's 19th birthday party, Giles was acquainted with her new boyfriend Riley. Giles was slightly surprised and wary of this given his protectiveness over Buffy but was polite and cordial nonetheless. However, Riley had inadvertently depressed Giles when he asked him if he had a job, reminding him again of his lack of direction and unemployment. Upon realizing that he was a part of the Initiative, Giles was cautious over his relationship with Buffy and warned her to be careful since the military facility was something neither of them truly understood.[2] When Riley's allegiances lay with Buffy and he separated himself from the Initiative due to the threat of Adam and the work they did, Giles' suspicions died down. He remained to have a polite and respectful relationship with each other, but Giles and Riley for the most part never shared an extremely close relationship. Riley had, however, "saved" him from Dracula's three brides and proceeded to tease him over how much control they had over him.[23] Following Riley's break-up with Buffy, Giles was sympathetic towards Buffy, but Giles really missed him. Riley and Giles left in good terms.
Andrew Wells — Giles and Andrew have the same relationship with Xander and Andrew. Giles at first didn't trust Andrew since working with Warren Mears. But they grew to trust each other. Just like Xander and Riley, Giles is like the father they always wanted and our good friend. He also trained Andrew to be a watcher like him after the war on the first.
Anthony Stewart Head was the very first actor to be cast in the series.[citation needed]
In the episode "Band Candy", when Giles is magically transformed to his teenage personality, the accent he uses is Anthony Head's natural accent.
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.[112]
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 was a regular character in the first five seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then appeared as a recurring character in following seasons, credited as "Special Guest Star". He appeared in 8 episodes of the sixth season and 13 episodes of the seventh. He overall appeared 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 (166), Willow (147), Buffy (146), Xander (143), Cordelia (140), Spike (120) and Wesley (109).
Additionally, during his regular seasons, Anthony Stewart Head was lastly credited in the opening as "And Anthony Stewart Head as Giles". For the sixth and seventh season, he was replaced by Alyson Hannigan.
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.
Shortly after Buffy ended its seven-year televised run, there was the talk of a Giles-based spin-off series for the BBC entitled Ripper. As of San Diego Comic-Con 2007, Joss Whedon confirmed that Ripper was still planned and in the pipeline.
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 & 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—the provider of narrative exposition and paternal figure—didn't work 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. Also, because I'm kind of a prick.".[113]
Giles plays a prominent role in the novel quadrilogy "The Lost Slayer", in which 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.
As one of the main characters in the franchise, Giles has also appeared in the majority of Buffy expanded universe material of unknown canonicity, including comic books, novels, and video games.
