Faith Lehane
Encyclopedia : F : FA : FAI : Faith Lehane
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Faith Lehane (known in the series only as "Faith") is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, portrayed in both by Eliza Dushku. Born December 14, 1982 in Boston, Massachusetts, Faith is an antihero in the series' narratives.
Character history
Faith Lehane (see Trivia below or Buffy RPG about her surname) is the third Slayer to appear on Buffy. Most often described as "a rogue Slayer," Faith fulfilled the archetype of a nemesis in the classical sense, serving as the dark mirror to Buffy: similar but opposite to the hero. Series writer/producer Marti Noxon described Faith in terms of "the road not taken," a vision of what Buffy might have become if her life's circumstances were different. Faith was introduced in the third season, and played a major role in that season's overarching plot. She returned for shorter story arcs on Buffy and Angel, and played a moderate role in final story arc of season 7. Like many characters in the Buffy gallery, Faith was one of substantial moral ambiguity, taking on roles ranging from violent sociopath to self-sacrificing champion.
Little is known about Faith's earlier life. Her dialect and early exposition suggests she grew up in the notably rough neighborhoods of South Boston. Her father is never mentioned. She makes several references to her mother's alcoholism and possible allusions to childhood abuse. ("My dead mother hits harder than that!" — "Faith, Hope and Trick"; she mentions her mother in a torture scene in "Five By Five"). She also clearly suffers from trauma and abandonment complexes resulting from the murder of her Watcher by a powerful ancient vampire. Early on, Faith harbored jealousy toward Buffy ("Enemies") for leading the life she wanted. Jealousy later changed into self-hatred as she realized the power and accountability she has over her own life. By Season 7, self-hatred had faded into self-acceptance; she had learned to accept the consequences of her past actions.
Faith often suggests that killing gives her a drug-like euphoria, and even suffers from addictive withdrawal symptoms when she is not able to inflict pain. In the Angel episode "Sanctuary", quitting violence is equated with quitting drugs (Faith: "I gotta be the only Slayer in history to be sponsored by a vampire.") She is seen smoking in Buffy's season 7.
Faith also displays signs of promiscuity and an inability to share trust and intimacy with a man, describing herself as "a loser magnet" who attracts men like a kleptomaniac and "slackers". Faith was later responsible for the rather callous deflowering of Xander Harris (though in her defense, he could've just as easily said no) and sleeps with Buffy's boyfriend Riley Finn in a later season, after switching bodies with Buffy herself.
It is unknown when Faith was contacted and began training with her Watcher, though she appears to have been recruited as a teenager like Buffy (rather than as a child, which is considered ideal for a Slayer.) It is also unclear how long Faith had lived on her own before coming to Sunnydale.
Sunnydale
When Faith first arrived in Sunnydale ("Faith, Hope and Trick"), she had been traumatized by helplessly watching the vampire Kakistos gruesomely murder her Watcher, explaining to Buffy that "there isn't a word for what [Kakistos] did to [Faith's Watcher]." She had run away from trouble since childhood, but began dealing with those issues after staking Kakistos.
Faith's isolation heightened when her new Watcher, Gwendolyn Post, abused her trust to plot an evil scheme. She then accidentally killed the Deputy Mayor, Allan Finch ("Bad Girls") and went into denial. When it became clear that Buffy would confess, she told Giles that Buffy had killed Finch. Giles played along to avoid pushing her too far. The Scooby Gang decided to help Faith. Xander went to Faith's motel room to reason with her, but she nearly strangled him instead. Angel arrived in time and took her to his mansion and tried to reason with her.
Buffy's new watcher, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, heard her crime and tried to arrest Faith with the help of a group of Council Operatives. Faith attacked them in the armored car and escaped ("Consequences"). Isolated and bitter, she turned to Mayor Wilkins, the Big Bad of Season 3.
For the first time in her life, Faith found a father-figure who lavished her with attention and affection. While serving the Mayor undercover, she killed a smuggler and a bookseller demon. Her duplicity was exposed when she tried to rob Angel of his soul ("Enemies"). She even kidnapped Willow Rosenberg at knife-point and wanted to kill her ("Choices"). She also killed a professor without question.
Faith then shot Angel with a poisoned arrow, deliberately missing his heart. The only antidote is draining the blood of a Slayer. Buffy went to Faith's apartment to kill her but only managed to stab Faith in the gut with her own knife, a gift from the Mayor. Faith jumped from the apartment building roof onto a moving truck and escaped ("Graduation Day, Part One").
Faith was brought to Sunnydale hospital in a coma. While Buffy lay unconscious nearby (having been drained by Angel), they shared a psychic dream where a pleasant Faith told Buffy that the Mayor's human weakness would never go away ("Graduation Day, Part Two").
After the coma
Faith awoke in the middle of Season 4 ("This Year's Girl"). She learned what had happened while she was gone, gravely injured the girl who told her, then surprised Buffy on the college campus. Faith was angry at Buffy's attempt to kill her for Angel ("You tried to gut me, Blondie"). After a high-octane fight, Faith escaped from the approaching police. She later attacked Joyce at her house. As Buffy was about to win the ensuing battle, Faith used a magical device, a gift from the Mayor whose messenger Faith had killed, to swap bodies with Buffy. Buffy, in Faith's body, was kidnapped by the Watchers' Council's Special Ops team to be taken to England, while Faith (as Buffy) planned to flee the country. She was rude to Tara Maclay, who realized something was wrong. Faith slept with Buffy's new boyfriend, Riley, too ("Who Are You?"). She began to understand Buffy, however, and savagely beat herself in self-hatred. Buffy managed to undo the body switch, but Faith left Sunnydale as a fugitive on a freight train.
In Los Angeles, she rampaged through the underworld, stealing and squatting in her victims' apartments. She was approached by Wolfram & Hart, who had learned that a "rogue Slayer" was in town, to kill Angel. She then showed Angel her "evil" by kidnapping Wesley and brutally torturing him, but in a fight with Angel, she begged Angel to kill her. Angel refused and began the task of saving Faith's soul. Just as Faith began to feel remorse for her crimes, Buffy showed up looking for revenge, insisting that Faith must go to jail. The Watchers' Council tried to kill her. Faith decided to surrender to the police. She went to a women's prison, where Angel checked up on her regularly.
In Season 4 of Angel, Faith was attacked by a Bringer's knife in prison. Soon after, she was recruited by Wesley to help find a soulless Angelus and assist in restoring his soul yet again. She immediately broke out of prison, battled Angelus and used a mystical drug to infiltrate his mind while Willow used a spell to restore his soul.
Faith travelled with Willow to Sunnydale to battle the First Evil. She followed Buffy's command ("Dirty Girls"). However, when Buffy lost the confidence of the group, Faith challenged her judgement and when Dawn kicked Buffy out of the house, became a reluctant leader ("Empty Places"). Her first attack led the potential Slayers into a trap ("Touched"). Faith was badly wounded but was saved by the others. She and Buffy finally made peace ("End of Days"). The two noted that the friction in their relationship was perhaps due to the fact that under normal circumstances, two Slayers were never supposed to live at the same time.
Back in good graces, Faith played a pivotal role in the final battle with the First Evil's army ("Chosen") and could look forward to learning more about Robin Wood
Faith and Buffy
Faith and Buffy fought as allies at first, but there was always tension. Faith was a South Boston girl without much care for etiquette. Buffy was more proper and had everything Faith wanted: family, friends and a home. Even when allied, Faith felt like an outsider in Buffy's world. This was only reinforced when Buffy withheld Angel's return from her ("Revelations"). However, Buffy still trusted Faith enough to leave her to protect her mother at Christmas ("Amends") and even showed hints of being attracted by Faith's wilder way of slaying ("Bad Girls").
It is possible that Faith had a wish to return to the Scooby Gang and the good side. When Willow told Faith that she was beyond help ("Choices"), Faith looked surprised. While still in a coma ("This Year's Girl"), she had the knife in her abdomen and asked Buffy if she was ever going to remove it. Another dream likely indicated how she was still unsure about Buffy's feelings, when Buffy killed Mayor Wilkins with Faith's knife and then went after Faith.
When Faith returns to the fold in Season 7, Buffy is less than enthusiastic about her return. She softens towards the dark Slayer though, even sticking up for her against the Potentials. After Faith is injured after the bomb explosion, she and Buffy have a heart to heart and realize that the possible reason they can't get along well is because they aren't supposed to exist as Slayers together, there was only ever meant to be one Slayer.
Buffy shows that she trusts Faith with leadership when, after she is stabbed by one of the Turokhan's in (Chosen), hands Faith their Scythe and tells her to "hold the line."
Powers and abilities
- Normal powers. Faith is a Slayer and thus has the usual powers of one, including superhuman strength, healing, speed and reflexes.
Go Ask Malice
Go Ask Malice is an original novel written by Robert Joseph Levy, and released in 2006. The novel is made up of Faith's diary entries from December 1997 until June 1998. The story also fleshes out much of Faith's past. For example it reveals:
- How Faith got her tattoo.
- Why she uses the phrase 'five by five'.
- Who the kleptomaniac she dated was.
Story
Faith was brought up in South Boston. She saw her father but only at a young age. She was looked after by her mother, who was an alcoholic, and her grandfather. As a child she was told by her mother that her father had died. In fact he had gone to prison.
Her Watcher was Diana Dormer, a professor of folklore and mythology at Harvard University. Dormer informed Faith that there was a second slayer in Sunnydale, California. After Kakistos kills Dormer, Faith runs away, unable to afford a ticket to Sunnydale she goes to New York instead. She must have spent the summer running from place to place with the ultimate goal of arriving in Sunnydale, which she does in "Faith, Hope and Trick".
Appearances
Faith has appeared in:
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Faith appeared as a guest in 20 episodes:
- * Season 3 (1998, 1999) — "Faith, Hope, & Trick"; "Beauty and the Beasts"; "Homecoming"; "Revelations"; "Amends"; "The Zeppo"; "Bad Girls"; "Consequences"; "Doppelgängland"; "Choices"; "Enemies"; "Graduation Day, Part One" and "Part Two".
- * Season 4 (1999, 2000) — "This Year's Girl"; "Who Are You?".
- * Season 7 (2002, 2003) — "Dirty Girls"; "Empty Places"; "Touched"; "End of Days"; "Chosen".
- Angel: Faith appeared as a guest in six episodes:
- * Season 1 (1999, 2000) — "Five By Five"; "Sanctuary".
- * Season 2 (2000, 2001) — "Judgment".
- * Season 4 (2002, 2003) — "Salvage"; "Release"; "Orpheus".
- Books & comics : Faith has appeared in numerous extensions of the Buffyverse. Her biggest appearances include: The Book of Fours, Wisdom of War, Haunted, Note from the Underground, Endangered Species (Angel Novel), and the novel, .
Trivia
- In season four of Buffy episodes "This Year's Girl" and "Who Are You?" Faith swapped bodies with Buffy. During this time she was portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar.
- Like most characters with supernatural powers, Faith was never given a surname on either Buffy or Angel. It was announced in January 2005, however, that the surname Lehane would be used in all future products, starting with Eden Studios's Buffy the Vampire Slayer role-playing game. The name appears in Eden's books and is considered to be canonical. Whedon explained at the time:
- There was this role playing game or something. They said she hadda have a last name for her so I chose Lehane 'cause I wanted something southie, just as you thought. — [Joss Whedon at whedonesque.com]
- Faith largely popularized the term "five by five" to mean everything is well. In voice procedure — the technique used to facilitate spoken communication over two-way radios — the term means the highest quality and strength of a broadcast, i.e., "loud and clear".
- The first time they met, Faith conveniently borrowed a stake from Buffy to kill a vampire. This became a running gag throughout the show.
- Another trademark of Faith's is her grunting, which made Buffy uncomfortable more than once.
- Faith's signature knife, given to her by the Mayor, is a Gil Hibben 1999 Jackal — the same knife used by Praetor Shinzon in . [link]
External links
- ["Faith's Solace"]
- [Faith Online, long running Faith Lehane content-driven fansite.]
- [Largest and Oldest Spike and Faith Lehane Fansite]
- ["Faith The Virtual Series" an online fan based effort for a virtual television series.]
- ["More or Less The Vitual Series" an online fan based novel style series focusing mostly on Faith Lehane, Spike, and Connor that has been going on since 2003 and continues in 2006]
- ["Slayer" a virtual series focussing on Faith and Spike]
- ["Slayage" the on-line journal of academic Buffy Studies].
- [Archived articles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer]
- ["The Joss Whedon Weblog"]
- [Where Do We Go From Here? The Virtual Series]
- ["The Chosen": virtual series continuation]
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