Vengeance Demons for Scorned Men
I like the vengeance demons, such as Anya and Halfrek, who are patron saints for scorned women and abused children. But I also wonder what would happen if there were vengeance demons for scorned men. After all, as Halfrek said to Anya in the Season 6 episode Entrophy, men need a little vengeance now and then, too. (It would be kind of like a twist on the saying “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”, because nowadays we change “women” to “spouse” or “troubled ex-boyfriend”.) --Degrassigirl07 04:50, February 8, 2011 (UTC)
Theory concerning "telekinesis" + pendants:
I don't think vengeance demons have telekinetic powers, first off. I say this because there is nothing other than Halfrek's brief display to suggest that they do and if they did, it would make them a lot more powerful than they already are. That said, I'm not denying the fact that they very well may have some minor telekinetic ability, however, from what's been presented in the show, it really doesn't seem likely. Anyanka could've used it to attack Giles and Buffy or in defense against dark Willow. My theory here therefore concerns the pendants, as I believe the power displayed by Halfrek was not telekinesis, but some other ability that allows her to protect her pendant, which all vengeance demons have.
My reasons for thinking this are:
-there is nothing else to suggest vengeance demons have telekinesis and when Halfrek used the power on Anya, it seemed more like it was just repelling her, as oppossed to Hallie actually moving her with her mind.
-a vengeance demon's power centre is in their pendants. It seems mad to me that they would have no better way to protect them. Furthermore, Anya didn't break her first pendant for over 1000 years. They must be able to protect the source of their powers to some degree.
-in Anyanka's first appearance there were two occassions where something weird happened with her pendant and I believe (although most likely not the creator's intentions) they are linked.
My theory is: vengeance demons are able to magically protect the pendants they wear as one of their powers. This power can manifest in a number of ways. The first way is to repell anyone who tries to cause harm to the power centre. The nature of Hallie's attack on Anya seemed more a defensive power than anything. Anya tried to destroy her power centre and Hallie utilized her warding powers to protect it. It makes sense that if someone tries to grab a vengeance demon's pendant, they are able to repell them a little bit, to give them time to escape. This satisfies why vengeance demons are not otherwise known to use telekinetic powers and why Halfrek was able to throw Anya back when she went for the pendant.
The second way the power manifests, I believe, is the ability to summon the pendant at will, no matter where it is. In what appears to be a continuity error, when Anyanka is summoned by Giles, she is wearing the pendant that only a moment ago was sitting on his desk (The Wish). It seems logical that vengeance demons would be able to summon their pendants to themselves in case they lost them (which after 1000 years, I'd imagine is pretty hard not to do). In a flashback scene from Selfless, we see Anyanka and Halfrek in pre-revolutionary Russia, in which Anya is not seen wearing her pendant. However, she is wearing many jewels and necklaces and it is therefore impossible to tell whether or not she is indeed wearing it, but if she isn't, it would make sense that she has perhaps left it someplace safe, from which she can summon it if she fears she is under threat (e.g. if someone performs the spell to summon her). Although, I believe they had sold the prop at this point, explaining it's absence from the scene. Nonetheless, this would also explain why Anya was not concerned when giving her power centre to Cordelia, as she would be able to retrieve it whenever she wanted. The best way to protect such a power centre, after all, is to know it's safe no matter where it is. For example, if someone threatens to harm their power centre, a vengeance demon could throw her pendant into a river and not need to know where it is because she can summon it at a later time. This would clear up that minor continuity error, as well as make a link between that and Halfrek's power and explain how vengeance demons never lose their pendants affter multiple centuries.
The third way I think this power manifests is as a warning from the pendant. When Anyanka confronts Giles, her pendant glows randomly, allowing him to recognise it as her power centre. Outside the context of the episode, this seems strange, as we now know that vengeance demon pendants don't just randomly glow, nor do they glow when a wish is performed. It could be said, therefore, that with Anyanka's close proximity to Giles at that moment, the pendant started glowing as a warning to Anyanka; informing her that her power centre is in danger. This would make sense, since if vengeance demons are able to ward off others in order to stop them getting too close to their pendants, then the pendant might react when someone has gotten too close, urging Anyanka to repell Giles, or get away.
Therefore, if the continuity error and possible chance that Anyanka was seen without her pendant in the past is actually because vengeance demons have the power to summon their pendants at will and an extension of this ability is to ward off potential threats to the pendant while they're wearing them, with a further, unconscious ability being that the pendant glows as a reaction to potentially threatening close proximity, or when someone has gotten close enough to get it without the demon warding them off, then this would explain why after so many centuries neither Anya nor Halfrek ever lost or broke their pendants, why Anya was not at all concerned about giving her pendant to an unsuspecting Cordelia, how Halfrek was able to ward off Anya when she tried to grab her pendant, despite vengeance demons not usually displaying telekinesis or any other similar powers and why Anyanka's pendant glowed just before Giles grabbed it and destroyed it.
So, Although possibly far-fetched and stringing a lot of seemingly unrelated things together, I think my theory's sound. It would explain these three odd occurrences comfortably and explain the issue of why Halfrek appears to have some telekinetic power. I think a pendant-protecting power is not only quite likely, but makes sense given the context of what we already know about vengeance demons. I think it might be worth mentioning that Halfrek's feat of "telekinesis" is possibly (/more likely) some form of ability designed to protect her power centre, with some suggestive evidence from other episodes implying that Anya also had some pendant-protecting powers.
Barneytisch (talk) 12:07, June 2, 2013 (UTC)
Those are some interesting ideas. I do agree that it seems a bit off to deduce that all vengeance demons have telekinesis based on that one time Halfrek used it but her being demon seems to be the most reasonable conclusion to why she has it. However, what you brought up is only speculation at the end of the day. I suppose that vengeance demons may have some connection to their respective pendant and could summon it at will as one might draw from The Wish, which may have a place on this article. When it comes to the continuity errors that's just the many different writers failing to maintain consistency in favor of what suits the current storyline (Drew Z. Greenberg probably just thought "vengeance demons can move things with their minds, why not?" while Drew Goddard likely focused Anya and Buffy having a good fight scene). Honesty, I don't really think these error need to addressed with theories.OwnerMan (talk) 13:09, June 2, 2013 (UTC)