Der Kindestod
Encyclopedia : D : DE : DER : Der Kindestod
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Der Kindestod is the demonic villain seen in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, "Killed by Death". He was portrayed by James Jude Courtney
Name origin
"Der Kindestod" is German, and it is a name comprising of the words das Kind ("the child") and der Tod ("the death"). The "Kindes" part actually refers to the genetive of "Kind" - des Kindes ("of the child"). Therefore, "der Kindestod" means literally "the child's death" or "the death of the child". (On a side note, the alternative spelling of "Der Kinderstod" is wrong.)Character
Der Kindestod is an immediately threatening character - dressed smartly in attire that would suit a rabbi (or, as Buffy mentions, an "eighteenth-century undertaker"), this Teutonically-based demon is absolutely silent. He is invisible to all adults and can only be seen by children, madmen and the feverishly ill (such as flu victims). With flesh like white clay and rows of needle-sharp teeth, this horrendous monster mercilessly stalked the corridors of the hospital, attacking children. Der Kindestod killed by hovering over his victims, usually pinning them to their beds, and protruding his eyes from their sockets; his eyes elongating and becoming probicises through which he sucked the lifeforce out of his victims. When Buffy was a small child, der Kindestod killed her cousin Celia while Buffy watched, helpless. Celia screamed for help but only she could see her killer - Buffy saw nothing but her cousin dying hysterically and violently, an event that has fuelled her lifelong fear of hospitals.
After Buffy was hospitalised (due to a severe case of the flu, escalated by a battle with the evil Angelus) she finds that an invisible threat is stalking the paediatrics ward. Even after a child has died, and Buffy claims that she has seen this predator, her claims are initially put down as a flu-initiated hallucinatory state. At great personal risk, Buffy ingested a virus to regain the fever she was just losing. Thanks to this fever, she could see der Kindestod once more. Following a climax in which Buffy and Xander took all of the children in the ward down to the basement for their safety, Buffy broke the neck of der Kindestod; effectively ending his threat forever.
See also
References
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Monster Book" - Golden, C.; Bissette, S. R.; Sniegoski, T. E.
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