Rupert Giles
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Rupert Giles is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television program, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head.
Biography
Character history
Rupert Giles was born in 1954 into an upper-class family in London, England. They had worked within the Council of Watchers for at least three generations; both Rupert's father and grandmother, Edna Giles, were also Watchers. Being a Watcher is a , much as being a slayer is, and Rupert's father told him his destiny. A rebellious youth, Rupert dropped out of his history degree at Oxford University when he was 21. He delved into dark magics and befriended a group of young people that delved into the dark arts for fun or money: Ethan Rayne, Philip Henry, Diedre Page, Thomas Sutcliff and Randall. Together, they summoned a particularly grostesque demon called Eyghon, who would eventually murder Randall. Rupert gained the nickname "Ripper" during this time. The past would later come back to haunt him in the second season episode, "The Dark Age". During this time, Ripper employed tales of demons and dark magics, and also claimed to be a founding member of Pink Floyd in order to impress girls, although he later admitted this was untrue.Following the death of Randall after Ripper, Ethan and the others failed to exorcise Eyghon, Rupert accepted his destiny of becoming a Watcher. According to the comic "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Giles", his mentor was Archibald Lassiter. He also became "the curator of a British museum, maybe the British Museum" as Willow says ("Welcome to the Hellmouth").
Sunnydale
At the behest of the Watchers' Council, he traveled to Sunnydale, California and worked as the librarian at the local high school. There he met the current slayer, Buffy Summers, whom he began training. The library, a sort of command center for the gang, sat right above the Hellmouth.As the Watcher, librarian and general authority figure, Giles often delivered exposition. He was a father figure to Buffy and an advisor to her friends Xander and Willow. His character was often portrayed as somewhat of a "straight man" and his "stuffy" Oxford sensibility served as counterpoint to the stereotypical Southern Californian characters and setting. He would make a "weird cluck-cluck sound with his tongue" when he is angry but "too English to say anything" ("Faith, Hope, & Trick").
Giles shared with Kendra (season two) an appreciation for the obscure text and served as Faith's watcher for a few weeks (season three). After pressing the trigger that destroyed Sunnydale High and put him out of his job, Giles spent months unemployed before buying the local magic shop, The Magic Box, after its last owner was murdered. He brought up the difficult idea of killing Dawn when the group labored to find a way to defeat Glory, and when Buffy spared Ben's life, Giles decided he could not give Glory the chance to return. Telling Ben that Buffy was different from them, he suffocated Ben with his bare hands.
After Buffy sacrificed herself to save the world, Giles decided to return to England. On the very day he left, her friends resurrected Buffy. When he learned of this, Giles returned, but soon decided that his presence was preventing Buffy from assuming responsibility for her own life. He left again for his native England, moving to a place near Bath, where he worked with a powerful local coven.
A few months later, Willow's girlfriend Tara was killed by a stray bullet as Warren Mears attacked the Slayer. Willow, still recovering from an addiction to dark magic, suffered a relapse, killed Warren and attempted to kill his former partners in crime, before resolving to end humanity's pain by destroying the Earth. Giles teleported back to Sunnydale, wielding great magical power borrowed from the Coven. Knowing that Willow was too strong, Giles tricked her into draining him of his magics, which brought him near death. It also allowed Xander to reason with her as the good magic brought out her natural love and compassion, eating away at the evil within her.
Giles returned to England with Willow for her rehabilitation. A few months later, he brought potential slayers to Sunnydale to protect them from The First Evil and its Bringers. He had removed a few volumes from the headquarters of the Watchers' Council, which was soon afterward destroyed by an agent of the First Evil. After the First's plan was foiled by the destruction of the Hellmouth and of Sunnydale, Giles traveled to Europe with Buffy and presumably began rebuilding the Watcher's Council.
Shortly after Anthony Stewart Head's departure from the series, there was talk of a spinoff series from Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the BBC entitled Ripper. As of 2004 the project was dead, however in 2005 Joss Whedon said he was still trying to get it off the ground, "but the ground is kinda sticky."
Powers & Abilities
Giles has immense knowledge of demonology and slayer combat (including at least a theoretical knowledge of jujitsu and aikido), mainly due to his training as a Watcher. He dabbled in dark magics as a youth, and his interest in witchcraft and sorcery has endured into his adult life, though his natural aptitude for it is only moderate (much less than that of Willow or Amy). He is fluent in several languages, including Latin, ancient Greek, German ("Gingerbread"), Sumerian and possibly Gaelic ("Fear Itself"), but weak in Mandarin and Cantonese ("First Date").Rupert was briefly transformed into a Fyarl demon ("A New Man"). In that form he had superhuman strength and resistance to injury, and could shoot a powerful binding mucus from his nose. He could also only speak the language of Fyarl demons (which Spike luckily understood) and had a powerful rage which he suppressed with difficulty.
Giles was briefly granted the awesome, combined powers of a coven, which he used to bind the powers of Willow when she had gone mad from grief and rage.
Romantic Relationships
- Jenny Calendar - A computer teacher at Sunnydale High, Jenny was a techno-pagan. Giles saw her at first as a symbol of the encroachment of sterile technology into the organic world of books, but they grew closer after cooperating to defeat the demon Moloch ("I, Robot... You, Jane"). When Angel lost his soul in the second season, Jenny was found to be part of the gypsy clan who had cursed him with a human soul in 1898. She had been sent to Sunnydale to keep an eye on him, not knowing about the loophole in the curse that cost Angel his soul. Angry at not being told the truth, Giles initially joined Buffy in ostracizing Jenny. They eventually reconciled, but Jenny was soon murdered by Angelus ("Passion"), devastating Rupert.
- Drusilla - In the season two finale, the vampiric seer tricked a kidnapped Giles with an illusion of Ms. Calendar. There was a prolonged kiss, used to persuade him to reveal information that would open a demonic portal vortex. Giles was distressed when he realised what had really been kissing him.
- Joyce Summers - As Sunnydale came under the influence of charmed chocolate ("Band Candy"), Giles reverted to his rebellious teenage persona, Ripper. He copulated twice with Joyce Summers, including once on the hood of a police car. They were too embarrassed afterwards to be romantically involved again.
- Olivia - Whilst unemployed during the fourth season, Giles saw this "old friend," a black English woman with whom he seemed to share a sex-based relationship. She seemingly met him during his Ripper era, the 70s, as he had once claimed to her he had been a founding member of Pink Floyd, as well as being into the occult. She was last seen in reality in 'Hush'. Apparently, she broke her romance with Giles because she couldn't deal with the knowledge of demons and monsters being real. She is seen once more in a dream state in the season four finale 'Restless', in which she appears pregnant as she and Giles take Buffy to the 'demon carnival'.
- Anya Jenkins - Giles hired the ex-demon as a clerk in his magic shop. He became a silent partner after deciding to return to England. When the gang lost their memories to a spell ("Tabula Rasa"), Anya and Giles believed that they were engaged. They shared a kiss while being amnesic.
Other Relationships
- Angel: At first Giles regards Angel with an even temper (even commenting that his relationship with Buffy was "rather poetic... in a maudlin sort of way."), regarding Angel almost as a peer, sharing books and prophecies with him. Then Angel became Angelus, and Angelus killed Jenny. Giles, in a vengeful rage, set fire to his warehouse and attacked him with a flaming baseball bat. He did not succeed in killing him at that time. When Angelus later needed information, he kidnapped and tortured Giles. After Angel returned from hell, Giles was understandably upset and wary. He kept a loaded crossbow in hand when talking to Angel in "Amends". Yet he also attempted to help Angel with his hallucinations. Giles and Angel come together again in "Pangs", by which time he seems to have lost some of his anger for Angel, even suggesting that it would be less cruel if Buffy were allowed to see him. When Angel starts to work for Wolfram & Hart he calls on Giles for help twice. The first time, when the insane slayer Dana is on the loose, Giles sends his best man, Andrew Wells. The second time, when they need help to cure Fred of the infection that becomes Illyria, he tells them Willow is unavailable. Both times there are indications that because of his association with the evil law firm he, like the other Scoobies, no longer trusts Angel.
- Ethan Rayne: Giles and Ethan used to be mates. By the time the series starts they look more like mortal enemies, since Giles beats up Ethan for information and later just to improve his mood. Yet they also end up getting drunk and reminiscing together.
Appearances
Rupert Giles has appeared in:
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Giles was a series regular in the show's first five seasons. Following the events in "The Gift", he disappeared from the opening credits. He appeared in 121 episodes overall, including guest appearances in the following
- * Season 6 (2001–2): "Bargaining, Part One"; "Flooded"; "Life Serial"; "All the Way"; "Once More, With Feeling"; "Tabula Rasa"; "Two to Go"; "Grave".
- * Season 7 (2002–3): "Lessons"; "Beneath You"; "Sleeper"; "Bring on the Night"; "Showtime"; "The Killer in Me"; "First Date"; "Lies My Parents Told Me"; "Dirty Girls"; "Empty Places"; "Touched"; "End of Days", "Chosen".
See also
| Buffyverse | ||
| Main | Canon | Index Chronology: Ancient | Modern | BS1 | BS2 | BS3 | BS4/AS1 | BS5/AS2 | BS6/AS3 | BS7/AS4 | AS5 | Future | Flashbacks | |
| Buffy | Characters (main) | Characters (minor) | Episodes | Plot | Comics | Film | Pilot (unaired) | Promo: History.. | Novels | Promos: Pre-"Bargaining" | |
| Angel | Characters (main) | Characters (minor) | Episodes | Plot | | |
| Spin-offs | Comics | Fan made productions | Fray | Novels | Spike movie | Undeveloped productions Buffy Animated | Card Game | RPGs | Tales of Slayer (prose) | Tales of Slayers | Tales of Vampires | Toys | Video Games Upcoming: Blackout | | | | | | Portal Through Time | Spike vs Dracula | | |
| Powers | Angel Investigations | Circle of the Black Thorn | Order of Aurelius | The First Evil | The Initiative | Monsters | Old Ones | The Powers That Be | Ra-Tet | Scooby Gang | Senior Partners | Watchers' Council | Wolfram & Hart | |
| People | Adam | Amy | Andrew | Angel | Anya | Buffy | Caleb | Connor | Cordelia | Dawn | Darla | Doyle | Dru | Eve | Faith | Fred | Giles | Glory | Gunn | Harmony | Holtz | Illyria | Jasmine | Jenny | Joyce | Jonathan | Kate | Kennedy | Lilah | Lindsey | Lorne | The Master | Mayor Wilkins | Oz | Professor Walsh | Riley | Spike | Tara | Warren | Wesley | Willow | Xander | |
| Places | L.A. | Sunnydale Bronze | Caritas | Hellmouth | Hyperion | Library | Magic Box | Pylea | Sunnydale High | |
| Music | Complete Tracklist | Use of Music in Buffy & Angel | Dingoes Ate My Baby | Film | | | Once More, With Feeling | |
| Key Terminology | "Demon" | "Slayer" | "Vampire" | "Watcher" | "Werewolf" | "Witch" "Child of Senior Partners" | Shanshu | Sunnydale Syndrome | Tro-Clon | |
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