Changes: Spirit

Revision as of 21:51, 31 August 2019

Giles: “Ooh! Sounds like paranormal phenomena.”

Willow: “A ghost? Cool!”

Spirits were disembodied essences of deceased beings.

Types

Ghosts

Willow: “But why is it here? Does it just want to scare people?”

Giles: “It doesn't know exactly what it wants. That's the problem. Many times the spirit is plagued by all manner of worldly troubles. But, being dead, it has no way to make its peace. So it lashes out. Growing ever more confused, ever more angry.”

— Willow and Giles

A ghost is the spirit of a dead person, who can't find eternal peace and have to walk the earth, trying to find it. It has unresolved issues and one of the only way to get rid of a ghost is to solve the problems. One other way is Exorcism. They are recognized by their inability to physically touch living beings.

Poltergeists

Xander: “Oh, no, not cool. This was no wimpy chain-rattler. This was more like - 'I'm dead as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore”

Giles: “Exactly. Despite the Xander-speak, that's an accurate definition of a poltergeist.”

Xander: “I defined something? Accurately? Check me out. Guess I'm done with the book learning!”

— Xander and Giles^[src]

A variant of the standard ghost is the poltergeist or "noisy ghost". A poltergeist is a very violent ghost, who not only can wreak havoc, but also possess individuals and force them to repeat the act, which doomed it in the first place. They can either be ghosts of people that have passed or mere apparitions.

Vengeance Spirits

Spirits of the dead that come to be in order to seek bloody vengeance on their oppressors (or their decendents) after years of unrest. They can take corporeal form and can only be killed by their own weapons. An example of a Vengeance Spirit is Hus.

Apparitions

Beings that are born out of raw emotion and pent-up energy instead of ghosts of deceased people. These apparitions manifest as poltergeists that feed on physical energy and draw it from the living world. When that battery is drained, the living participants die. An example include the Lowell House poltergeists which are in the form of the orphans' raw emotions.

Manifested Spirits

Corporeal beings resembling deceased humans at the point of death that were summoned and controlled by a talisman. Destroying the talisman destroys the spirits.

Physiology and powers

Giles: “From what I've read, having a ghost pass through you is a singular experience. It's cold, amorphous feeling, makes your hair stand on end.”

Buffy: “Okay, this is my problem. I touched the thing. It didn't go through me, it bumped into me. And it wasn't cold.”

— Giles and Buffy^[src]

A ghost can only be visible to the human eye with ectoplasm. When Spike was rendered incorporeal following the Battle at the Hellmouth, Fred's scans indicated that Spike is technically not a ghost: he lacked ectoplasm, which would make him invisible to human eyes, radiated body heat, whereas ghosts absorb heat and make the area around them a few degrees colder, and had detectable brainwaves, so there seem to be different kinds of disembodied spirits other than ghosts.

Different cultures have adopted different "takes" on ghosts. An example is the Japanese ghosts have no feet and are drawn to water.

Though incorporeal, ghosts and other such non-corporeal beings (with the apparent exception of the First Evil) are capable of limited interaction with the physical world through intense concentration.

Known Spirits

Grace Newman and James Stanley
Maude Pearson and Dennis Pearson
Katrina Silber (though it could have been an illusion)
Darla
Willow Rosenberg (temporarily)
The Lowell House Orphans' Raw Emotions
Rupert Giles had mentioned seeing the ghost of a murdered countess in Dartmoor who used to float along the foothills, prior to his Watchers functions.
Anya was initially identified as the ghost of Anya Jenkins, but actually was a spirit with her memories and appearance, made by D'Hoffryn.
The First Evil is spiritual entity that can take on the form of deceased people.
The Child of Words demon has an incorporeal form.
Sineya the First Vampire Slayer after she died, has the power to come to Slayers in their dreams as a spirit guide.
Wesley Wyndam-Pryce after the Fall of Los Angeles.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Dialogue a-b|Giles|Ooh! Sounds like paranormal phenomena.|Willow|A ghost? Cool!|[[Giles]] and [[Willow]]|I Only Have Eyes for You}}
+{{Dialogue a-b|Giles|Ooh! Sounds like paranormal phenomena.|Willow|A ghost? Cool!|[[Rupert Giles|Giles]] and [[Willow Rosenberg|Willow]]|I Only Have Eyes for You}}
-'''Ghost''' was a term employed to refer to the disembodied spirits of deceased humans.
-== Origins ==
-The words ''ghost'' and ''guest'' come from the German word ''Geist''. In most early belief systems, ghosts were the spirit of ancestors, who were invited to events, ceremonies such as Samhain - or Halloween.
-In Europe the head or the skull were decorated and preserved and the spirits were considered as presents. After being given an offering the spirits were consulted as oracles.
-===Influences from major belief systems===
-When Christianity came to Europe these customs were forbidden, because of the church's doctrine of the resurrection of the body insisted that a buried body should be kept as whole as possible. The hanging of the heads of executed traitors on pikes and gates represented a threat to a kind life. Even when the church had forbidden this the preserving of heads continued. Still in the days of Henry VIII of England, the daughter of Sir Thomas More retrieved the head of her father and instead of burying it, she kept it to the day she died - this is no doubt the source of many ghost stories such as "The Headless Horseman".
-Other belief systems says that ghosts are the restless spirits of people, who died violently, committed suicide, were buried in unconsecrated ground or was possessed by evil spirits.
-There seems to be universal agreement that a ghost is a spirit of someone, or something, who has died.
-== Different types ==
+{{species
+|Image           = Anyaghost.png
+|First           = "[[I Only Have Eyes for You]]"
+|Last            =
+|Appear          =
+|Name            = Ghost
+|Alternative Names     = Spirit
+|Status          = Extant
+|Type            = Disembodied spirits of deceased [[human]]s
+|Affiliation     =
+|Related Species = [[Poltergeist]]
+|Powers          =<br />
+* [[Invisibility]] and [[Intangibility|intangibility]]
+* [[Possession]]
+* [[Telekinesis]]
+|Actor           =
+}} '''Spirits''' were disembodied essences of deceased beings.
+==Types==
 ===Ghosts===
-{{Dialogue a-b|Willow|But why is it here? Does it just want to scare people?|Giles|It doesn't know exactly what it wants. That's the problem. Many times the spirit is plagued by all manner of worldly troubles. But, being dead, it has no way to make its peace. So it lashes out. Growing ever more confused, ever more angry.|[[Willow]] and [[Giles]]|I Only Have Eyes for You}}
+{{Dialogue a-b|Willow|But why is it here? Does it just want to scare people?|Giles|It doesn't know exactly what it wants. That's the problem. Many times the spirit is plagued by all manner of worldly troubles. But, being dead, it has no way to make its peace. So it lashes out. Growing ever more confused, ever more angry.|[[Willow Rosenberg|Willow]] and [[Rupert Giles|Giles]]}}
+A ghost is the spirit of a dead person, who can't find eternal peace and have to walk the earth, trying to find it. It has unresolved issues and one of the only way to get rid of a ghost is to solve the problems. One other way is [[Exorcism]]. They are recognized by their inability to physically touch living beings.
-A ghost is the spirit of a dead person, who can't find eternal peace and have to walk the earth, trying to find it.
 ===Poltergeists===
-{{Dialogue a-b-a|Xander|Oh, no, not cool. This was no wimpy chain-rattler. This was more like - 'I'm dead as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore|Giles|Exactly. Despite the Xander-speak, that's an accurate definition of a poltergeist.|I defined something? Accurately? Check me out. Guess I'm done with the book learning!|[[Xander]] and [[Giles]]|I Only Have Eyes for You}}
+{{Dialogue a-b-a|Xander|Oh, no, not cool. This was no wimpy chain-rattler. This was more like - 'I'm dead as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore|Giles|Exactly. Despite the Xander-speak, that's an accurate definition of a poltergeist.|I defined something? Accurately? Check me out. Guess I'm done with the book learning!|[[Alexander Harris|Xander]] and [[Rupert Giles|Giles]]|I Only Have Eyes for You}}
+A variant of the standard ghost is the [[poltergeist]] or "''noisy ghost''". A poltergeist is a very violent ghost, who not only can wreak havoc, but also possess individuals and force them to repeat the act, which doomed it in the first place. They can either be ghosts of people that have passed or mere apparitions.
+===Vengeance Spirits===
-A variant of the standard ghost is the '''poltergeist''' or "''noisy ghost''". A poltergeist is a very violent ghost, who not only can wreak havoc, but also possess individuals and force them to repeat the act, which doomed it in the first place.
+Spirits of the dead that come to be in order to seek bloody vengeance on their oppressors (or their decendents) after years of unrest. They can take corporeal form and can only be killed by their own weapons. An example of a Vengeance Spirit is [[Hus]].
+===Apparitions===
-== Physical appearance ==
+Beings that are born out of raw emotion and pent-up energy instead of ghosts of deceased people. These apparitions manifest as poltergeists that feed on physical energy and draw it from the living world. When that battery is drained, the living participants die. An example include the [[Lowell House]] poltergeists which are in the form of the orphans' raw emotions.
-{{Dialogue a-b|Giles|From what I've read, having a ghost pass through you is a singular experience. It's cold, amorphous feeling, makes your hair stand on end.|Buffy|Okay, this is my problem. I touched the thing. It didn't go through me, it bumped into me. And it wasn't cold.|[[Giles]] and [[Buffy]]|Out of Mind, Out of Sight}}
-A ghost can only be visible to the human eye with ectoplasm. When [[Spike]] was rendered incorporeal following the [[Battle at the Hellmouth]], [[Winifred Burkle|Fred]]'s scans indicate that Spike is technically not a ghost: he lacked ectoplasm, which would make him invisible to human eyes, radiated body heat, whereas ghosts absorb heat and make the area around them a few degrees colder, and had detectable brainwaves ("[[Just Rewards]]"), so there seem to be different kinds of disembodied spirits other than ghosts.
+===Manifested Spirits===
-Different cultures have adopted different "takes" on ghosts. An example is the Japanese ghosts have no feet and are drawn to water.
+Corporeal beings resembling deceased humans at the point of death that were summoned and controlled by a talisman. Destroying the talisman destroys the spirits.
-== Known ghosts ==
+== Physiology and powers ==
+{{Dialogue a-b|Giles|From what I've read, having a ghost pass through you is a singular experience. It's cold, amorphous feeling, makes your hair stand on end.|Buffy|Okay, this is my problem. I touched the thing. It didn't go through me, it bumped into me. And it wasn't cold.|[[Rupert Giles|Giles]] and [[Buffy Summers|Buffy]]|Out of Mind, Out of Sight}}
-[[Grace Newman]] and [[James Stanley]] in [[I Only Have Eyes for You]].
+A ghost can only be visible to the human eye with ectoplasm. When [[Spike]] was rendered incorporeal following the [[Battle at the Hellmouth]], [[Winifred Burkle|Fred]]'s scans indicated that Spike is technically not a ghost: he lacked ectoplasm, which would make him invisible to human eyes, radiated body heat, whereas ghosts absorb heat and make the area around them a few degrees colder, and had detectable brainwaves, so there seem to be different kinds of disembodied spirits other than ghosts.
+Different cultures have adopted different "takes" on ghosts. An example is the Japanese ghosts have no feet and are drawn to water.
-[[Maude Pearson]] and [[Dennis Pearson]] in [[Rm w/a Vu]].
-In [[Where the Wild Things Are]] the house is haunted by children.
-[[Darla]] visits [[Connor]] as a ghost in [[Inside Out]].
+Though incorporeal, ghosts and other such non-corporeal beings (with the apparent exception of the [[First Evil]]) are capable of limited interaction with the physical world through intense concentration.
-==="Ghosts"===
-In [[Amends]] [[Angel]] sees "ghosts" of people he have killed, though it is [[First Evil]].
+== Known Spirits ==
-It is the same thing in [[Gingerbread]] with the two children, whom we first think are ghosts.
+*[[Grace Newman]] and [[James Stanley]]
+*[[Maude Pearson]] and [[Dennis Pearson]]
+*[[Katrina Silber]] <small>(though it could have been an illusion)</small>
+*[[Darla]]
+*[[Willow Rosenberg]] <small>(temporarily)</small>
+*The [[Lowell House]] Orphans' Raw Emotions
+*[[Rupert Giles]] had mentioned seeing the ghost of a murdered countess in Dartmoor who used to float along the foothills, prior to his [[Watchers]] functions.
+*[[Anya (ghost)|Anya]] was initially identified as the ghost of [[Anya Jenkins]], but actually was a spirit with her memories and appearance, made by [[D'Hoffryn]].
+*The [[First Evil]] is spiritual entity that can take on the form of deceased people.
+*The [[Child of Words]] demon has an incorporeal form.
+*[[Sineya]] the First Vampire Slayer after she died, has the power to come to [[Slayers]] in their dreams as a spirit guide.
+*[[Wesley Wyndam-Pryce]] after the [[Fall of Los Angeles]].
 [[Category:Terminology]]
+[[Category:Undead beings]]
+[[Category:Ghosts and spirits]]