Seed of Wonder

Seed of Wonder
Alternative names	Seed Seed of Magic

“The Seed is soul and life. And it's amazing. It's tied to the heart of the Earth.”

―Willow Rosenberg

The Seed of Wonder was the source of all magic on the Earth dimension.

History

Origin

“Think “cork”. As long as it’s in its place […], things stay more or less where they should.”

―Spike

According to Spike, the Seed of Wonder predated humans and even the First Evil, the Earth itself created from the Seed. In the beginning, the world was inhabited by demons — Old Ones —, who were probably spilled over from “far more horrific” dimensions. The Seed had brought them to Earth, and the Seed that kept them there, the only thing strong enough to prevent the warring creatures and magical energies to bleed back into the unknown older dimension.

As long as the Seed was in its place — on the Hellmouth —, this order would continue. And the Seed was safe underground, buried under Sunnydale, along its protector: the Master. It was said that, in the 12th century, the Seed of Wonder enslaved a powerful vampire as its protector.; The Master also believed the Seed that called him from across the sea into Sunnydale. After an earthquake, he was imprisoned inside a church through a magical barrier, and died in the hands of the Slayer in the same night he escaped.

The Twilight crisis

“The Earth demons won’t want the new-universe demons to get [the Seed]. ‘Cause if they do... [uncorks a wine bottle] Well, imagine this bottle is upside down.”

―Spike

A vision of the Seed

With the threat of the masked “Twilight” — Angel —, Buffy and Willow went to Sephrilian to seek help against him. The Tichajt made Buffy, Willow, and the minder Robin walk among visions of betrayal, which included a scene of the cracked Seed on a podium in a circular stone room, while another Buffy cried beaten on the floor. It was revealed by the minder it was a vision from the future. The same room appeared in one of Buffy’s dreams, foreshadowing to the Slayer the upcoming decisive event that would happen at the place.

Meanwhile, Rupert Giles, suspecting the upcoming fulfillment of the Twilight prophecy, traveled through the world in search of the Seed of Wonder. As Buffy and Angel would eventually attest, the artifact had weakening proprieties to those empowered by Twilight when in close proximity.

When Angel became imbued with the power of Twilight, the Seed resurrected the Master to return to his position as protector, inside the ruins of the same church where he used to be imprisoned. As the world’s soul and the source of all its magic, Twilight needed to capture it so that it would become the new universe’s soul, destroying the old one. The Seed was safe until the universe selected Angel and Buffy to conceive a new universe with each other. Anticipating its removal, the interdimensional placenturians poured from countless portals to reclaim the obsolete Earth, while its inhabitants — both demons and humans — battled to defend it.

As Aluwyn elaborated to Willow, removing the Seed to the Twilight dimension would cause the world to be swallowed up, allowing Twilight to fully come into its own. However, breaking the Seed would sever all magical ties with other worlds and Earth’s connection to other dimensions; the analogy being the difference between removing a cork from a bottle and breaking it so that it remains stuck at the top of the bottle. To defend it, Willow performed a ritual to connect to the Seed of Wonder, and used the powers it gave to her to fight against the invading demons.

Destruction

“Have you ever broken a cork inside the bottle? You'll never get this one out, and the wine will be forever trapped. Destroy the Seed, the gate and the path are gone. Hell has no avenue to your world. And you have a world without magic.”

―Aluwyn

The Seed is destroyed

While Buffy and Angel (possessed by Twilight) battled in the ruins where the Seed was being held, Giles brought Buffy the Mʔ, the mystical Slayer weapon. It began to glow red as its power grew in the presence of the Seed. Although, Angel killed Giles before the weapon could be used against him, and Buffy, in a fit of devastation, used it instead to destroy the Seed, and cause the end of magic on Earth. The impact made so the scythe to be broken in turn.

With the destruction of the Seed, placenturians were sucked back to their original dimensions, and the battle ended. Although, without the source for magic on Earth, witches throughout the world were immediately depowered, while active spells were severely weakened or simply broken. Creatures with inherent powers, such as vampires and Slayers, retained them; however, no more Slayers could be called, and no more demons could enter the Earth dimension, resulting in all new vampire sirings only resulting in zompires. The effects of Mohra demon’s Blood of Eternity was also altered, so that instead of simply being regenerated to health, many recipients would develop painful cancerous growths all over their body.

Apparently, the Seed’s destruction also affected the natural world and humanity as well. According to Willow, there hadn’t been a decent song, movie, or book released since the Seed was destroyed, suicide rates were spiking all over the world, and people were losing hope, with things expected to get even worse from there.

However, the shards of the Seed remained, and were collected by the Courtesan demon Morgan with the intent of using them to reopen the Hellmouth on Easter Island and returning home.

Restoration

The new Seed in development

After months with no magic, Buffy, Willow, and Xander made their way to the Deeper Well when Dawn began to fade out of existence due to the loss of magic. As they went deeper into the Well, a new Seed was spawned directly from Willow’s body, rendering her powerless in the process. Willow proceeded to find a spot in the Deeper Well to plant the Seed; while it would save the world and eventually restore Earth’s magic, it would not fully mature for a thousand years.

However, Severin, who had absorbed many demon’s powers, including those in the Deeper Well, with the intent on using that power to go back in time and revert the Twilight apocalypse, was persuaded to instead redirect all of his powers into the Seed. The new Seed was aged to completion and restored Earth’s magic, but caused a magical blast that completely vaporized Severin and Illyria in the process.

With the sudden return of magic, the pages of the Slayer Handbook pages turned completely blank. The rules of magic were being gradually rewritten, such as the Slayer prophecy and new vampires with new abilities. The formation of a new Seed also allowed Dawn to be made into existence again, albeit in a reset of emotions. Illyria, the Old One who sacrificed herself for the Seed, also returned to life with the new magic — within a resurrected Winifred Burkle.

Behind the scenes

• According to artist Georges Jeanty, the Seed of Wonder was initially designed as a prismatic crystal halfway buried on earth, only later changed into its final oval shape.

Appearances

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8
The Long Way Home, Part 1 Absent	The Long Way Home, Part 2 Absent	The Long Way Home, Part 3 Absent	The Long Way Home, Part 4 Absent	The Chain Absent	No Future for You, Part 1 Absent	No Future for You, Part 2 Absent	No Future for You, Part 3 Absent	No Future for You, Part 4 Absent	Anywhere but Here Vision
A Beautiful Sunset Absent	Wolves at the Gate, Part 1 Absent	Wolves at the Gate, Part 2 Absent	Wolves at the Gate, Part 3 Absent	Wolves at the Gate, Part 4 Absent	Time of Your Life, Part 1 Absent	Time of Your Life, Part 2 Absent	Time of Your Life, Part 3 Absent	Time of Your Life, Part 4 Absent	After These Messages... We'll Be Right Back! Absent
Harmonic Divergence Absent	Swell Absent	Predators and Prey Absent	Safe Absent	Living Doll Absent	Retreat, Part 1 Absent	Retreat, Part 2 Absent	Retreat, Part 3 Absent	Retreat, Part 4 Absent	Retreat, Part 5 Absent
Turbulence Absent	Twilight, Part 1 Absent	Twilight, Part 2 Absent	Twilight, Part 3 Mention	Twilight, Part 4 Absent	Last Gleaming, Part 1 Appears	Last Gleaming, Part 2 Appears	Last Gleaming, Part 3 Appears	Last Gleaming, Part 4 Appears	Last Gleaming, Part 5 Vision
"HARM" Absent	"Harmony Bites" Absent	"Vampy Cat Play Friend" Absent	"Always Darkest" Absent	"Harmony Comes to the Nation" Absent		Willow: Goddesses and Monsters Absent		Riley: Commitment Through Distance, Virtue Through Sin Absent

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 9
"Magical Mystery Tour, Featuring the Beetles" Absent	Freefall, Part 1 Mention	Freefall, Part 2 Mention	Freefall, Part 3 Mention	Freefall, Part 4 Mention	Slayer, Interrupted Mention	On Your Own, Part 1 Mention	On Your Own, Part 2 Absent	Apart (of Me), Part 1 Absent	Apart (of Me), Part 2 Absent	Apart (of Me), Part 3 Absent
"In Space No One Can Hear You Slay" Absent	Guarded, Part 1 Mention	Guarded, Part 2 Mention	Guarded, Part 3 Mention	Billy the Vampire Slayer, Part 1 Absent	Billy the Vampire Slayer, Part 2 Absent	Wonderland, Part 1 Absent	Wonderland, Part 2 Absent	Wonderland, Part 3 Absent	Wonderland, Part 4 Vision	Wonderland, Part 5 Absent
Welcome to the Team, Part 1 Mention	Welcome to the Team, Part 2 Absent	Welcome to the Team, Part 3 Absent	Welcome to the Team, Part 4 Absent	The Watcher Flashback	The Core, Part 1 Mention	The Core, Part 2 Mention	The Core, Part 3 Mention	The Core, Part 4 Appears	The Core, Part 5 Appears	Love vs. Life Absent

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 10
New Rules, Part 1 Absent	New Rules, Part 2 Mention	New Rules, Part 3 Absent	New Rules, Part 4 Absent	New Rules, Part 5 Absent	I Wish, Part 1 Absent	I Wish, Part 2 Absent	Return to Sunnydale, Part 1 Absent	Return to Sunnydale, Part 2 Absent	Day Off (or Harmony in My Head) Absent
Love Dares You, Part 1 Absent	Love Dares You, Part 2 Absent	Love Dares You, Part 3 Absent	Relationship Status: Complicated, Part 1 Absent	Relationship Status: Complicated, Part 2 Absent	Old Demons, Part 1 Absent	Old Demons, Part 2 Absent	Old Demons, Part 3 Absent	Freaky Giles Day Absent	Triggers Absent
In Pieces on the Ground, Part 1 Mention	In Pieces on the Ground, Part 2 Absent	In Pieces on the Ground, Part 3 Absent	In Pieces on the Ground, Part 4 Absent	In Pieces on the Ground, Part 5 Absent	Own It, Part 1 Mention	Own It, Part 2 Absent	Own It, Part 3 Absent	Own It, Part 4 Absent	Own It, Part 5 Absent
"Where Are They Now?" Absent