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.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Character history
Rupert Giles was born in 1954 into an upper-class family in London. 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 calling, 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. It is also possible that he delved into criminal activity, primarily stealing cars, but most likely for joyriding ("Like riding a bloody bicycle" he says as he hot wires his car in "Dead Man's Party").
Following the death of Randall, 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").
[edit] Sunnydale
At the behest of the Watchers' Council, he travels to Sunnydale, California and works as the librarian at the local high school. There he meets the current Slayer, Buffy Summers, whom he begins training. The library, a sort of command center for the gang, sits right above the Hellmouth.
As the Watcher, librarian and general authority figure, Giles often delivers exposition. He is a father figure to Buffy and an advisor to her friends Xander and Willow. His character is often portrayed as somewhat of a "straight man" and his "stuffy" Oxford sensibility serves as counterpoint to the stereotypical Southern Californian characters and setting. He makes a "weird cluck-cluck sound with his tongue" when he is angry but "too English to say anything" ("Faith, Hope & Trick").
Giles shares with Kendra (Season 2) an appreciation for the obscure texts and serves as Faith's Watcher for a few weeks (Season 3). After pressing the trigger that destroys Sunnydale High and put him out of his job, Giles spends months unemployed before buying the local magic shop, The Magic Box, after its last owner is murdered. He brings up the difficult idea of killing Dawn when the group labors to find a way to defeat Glory, and when Buffy spares Ben's life, Giles decides he cannot give Glory the chance to return. Telling Ben that Buffy is different from them, he suffocates Ben with his bare hands.
After Buffy sacrifices herself to save the world, Giles decides to return to England. On the very day he leaves, her friends resurrect Buffy. When he learns of this, Giles returns, but soon decides that his presence is preventing Buffy from assuming responsibility for her own life. He leaves again for his native England, moving to a place near Bath, where he works with a powerful local coven.
A few months later, Willow's girlfriend Tara is killed by a stray bullet as Warren Mears attacked the Slayer. Willow, still recovering from an addiction to dark magic, suffers a relapse, kills Warren and attempts to kill his former partners in crime, before resolving to end humanity's pain by destroying the Earth. Giles teleports back to Sunnydale, wielding great magical power borrowed from the Coven. Knowing that Willow is too strong, Giles tricks her into draining him of his magics, which bring him near death. It also allows Xander to reason with her as the good magic brings out her natural love and compassion, eating away at the evil within her.
Giles returns to England with Willow for her rehabilitation. A few months later, he brings 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 is soon afterward destroyed by an agent of the First Evil. After the First's plan is foiled by the destruction of the Hellmouth and of Sunnydale, Giles travels to Europe with Buffy to train new Slayers.
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."
[edit] 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 ("Primeval"), Japanese ("Checkpoint") 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.
[edit] 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 2 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 realized 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 Season 4, 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". 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.
[edit] Other Relationships
- Willow Rosenberg : Since Willow first asked Rupert Giles, "What can I do?" and he responded, "You can help me", Willow Rosenberg has proven to be an invaluble assistant in the fight against evil for Rupert Giles and Buffy Summmers. The most recent indication of their relationship (on TV) featured Rupert's assisting Willow after her brief time as Dark Willow, helping her overcome her dark side so she could again assist her Sunnydale friends.
- 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 murdered Jenny Calendar, leaving her corpse on Giles' bed. Giles, devastated to the point of irrationality, set fire to the vampire's warehouse lair and attacked him with a flaming baseball bat, severely beating him before being disarmed by Angelus and rescued by Buffy. When Angelus later needed information, he kidnapped and tortured Giles. After Angel returned from hell, Giles was 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 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 Angel's association with the evil law firm, Giles, like the other Scoobies, no longer trusts him.
- Ethan Rayne: Giles and Ethan used to be best friends. By the time the series begins, they are 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.
[edit] 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"
