Fyarl demon
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The Fyarl Demons are a minor race on the show Buffy The Vampire Slayer. A natural one never truly appears on camera.
In the episode "A New Man" in Season 4, Rupert Giles is turned into a Fyarl demon, probably by his long time friend turned enemy Ethan Rayne. They'd gone out drinking together and Ethan joked about having slipped poison in Giles' drink, plus he has a history of transformative magic. The next day Giles awakes in the body of a demon. Initially he still thinks like Giles. He is unable to speak English, even though he hears what he says in that language. Others hear only the language of the demon. He realises this only when he meets Spike, who had previously employed Fyarl Demons and speaks their language. Spike agrees to help him cure himself (persuaded by offers of money), so helps Giles track down Ethan.
Meanwhile Buffy has been hunting the new demon, who she believes has killed Giles. When she catches up with him he is attacking Ethan. Rayne tells her the demon killed Ripper and is now after Ethan, something entirely plausible since it happened before. Buffy therefore stabs the demon in the heart... and only then recognises Giles (by his eyes, which had not changed).
Ethan then turned Giles back into a human again.
We do not know much about Fyarl demons, other than what we learn from Giles' experience. They are tall humanoid shaped creatures, with bumpy orange-pink tinted flesh, curved horns just above the ears and ridges along their shoulders and spine. They are very strong. Usually used as hired muscle. They also might have paralysing mucus, sprayed out their nose. Though several characters mention 'the mucus thing', we never see it.
While Giles is transformed into one, he has difficulty controlling the new strength, so leaves an accidental trail of destruction. He also experiences a "mindless need to destroy", which is apparently the effect of the demon on his mind. The drive appears to torture him but he resists the temptation. Mostly. Except for the thing with Maggie Walsh, who he terrorised a little bit. It appeared to make him feel better.
In a later interview Joss Whedon lists Fyarl, pronounced with two syllables somewhat like Fyar-əl, as a name he is particularly proud of in his quest to create creature names that sound as if they come from other languages and cultures with the influence of the English language.
In Fray, Mel's mentor (in place of a Watcher), is a Fyarl demon called Urkonn.
See also
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