Ethan Rayne
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 Robin Sachs as Ethan Rayne |
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Ethan Rayne (born in England) is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the cult television program, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Robin Sachs.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Character history
Little is known about Ethan's early years. By his accent he is English. The first we know about him for sure is from the early 70s, when he met Rupert Giles, then known as Ripper. Giles had dropped out of Oxford and travelled to London to seek out the worst crowd that would have him. He was in a phase later described as an "electric Kool-Aid funky Satan groove". He and Ethan met and became "mates". They practiced small magics for pleasure and gain. And then Ethan and Ripper discovered something bigger - the demon Eyghon, the Sleepwalker. Along with Philip Henry, Diedre Page, Thomas Sutcliffe, and someone only known as Randall, Ripper and Ethan tattooed the Mark of Eyghon on their inner forearm (the left arm, in Ethan and Giles's cases). They would take turns falling asleep, and the rest of the group would summon the demon into the sleeper. It was an extraordinary high, a euphoric feeling of power. It was also incredibly risky. There were rites to exorcise the demon from the sleeper, but when Eyghon was in Randall the rites didn't work. The demon took control, and started to be born from within the host, which led to Randall's death.
Ripper was changed by the event, leaving London and returning to the Watchers' Council. When Ethan asked, years later, when things had changed, when had they stopped being mates, Giles replied "When you started to worship chaos."
Ethan decided to hire out his talents. He became a magical subcontractor. Dealing with demons, vampires, and humans alike in his varied jobs, he gained a reputation for getting the job done. He has done magic without apparent financial reward.
20 years after the Eyghon incident, Ethan and Rupert meet again, this time in Sunnydale while Giles is working with the Slayer.
He opens a small costume shop in Sunnydale's business district around October of 1997. Ethan curses his costumes in the name of the Roman god Janus, telling the god (in Latin) to seize the night for the deity's own purpose. Anyone who wears a costume involving an item bought from Ethan's shop temporarily assumes the personality, knowledge, and powers of whatever their costume identity is, and lose their own. For example, once the spell is cast Xander Harris becomes a military officer, Buffy Summers becomes an 18th century damsel, and Willow Rosenberg becomes a ghost. Giles, with Willow's help, finds Ethan in his shop. He says he should have guessed that Ethan was behind the spell - "It's sick, brutal, and it harms the innocent." He then does violence to Ethan until he tells him how to break the spell (by breaking the statue of Janus). Ethan leaves the shop while Giles is distracted, but he stays in Sunnydale. The lease is paid up through the end of November.
Later that month, Ethan goes looking for Giles in the school library. He has been having dreams of Eyghon, and the fate of the others that wear the Mark. He knows that somehow the demon has returned again and is roaming free upon the world. (The Monster Book suggests that it happened when one of the group died of other causes and Eyghon possessed the corpse.) The Mark of Eyghon on the original group members acts as a beacon for the demon to locate them. It then kills them, and possesses each corpse in turn to hunt the next with.
Ethan's plan seems to be 'hide behind the Slayer', which works. The Slayer wants to protect Giles, and to do that she has to protect Ethan. That involves turning her back on him, which is when he knocks her out and ties her up. He waits for her to wake up and tattooes the Mark of Eyghon on the back of her neck. He removes his own Mark with acid. The substitution works, and the demon loses interest in him, instead going after Buffy. But Giles arrives, and then her friends, who stop Eyghon from killing both of them.
One of Buffy's enemies, the vampire Mr. Trick, in the employ of the Mayor of Sunnydale, later calls on Ethan's services when he needs Sunnydale's adult population distracted during a tribute ceremony for the demon Lurconis. Ethan curses candy bars that are distributed to adults through Sunnydale High School students. The curse on the chocolate makes adults act as if they are teenagers. This leaves many areas of the city unprotected, including the hospital where the tribute of small babies need to be taken from. Buffy and Giles uncover the plot and stop Mr. Trick and Ethan (who claims ignorance of the nature of the tribute), but they both escape.
A year later, Ethan returns to Sunnydale yet again. He is first found in a crypt that Giles believes should be where the demon prince Barvain would rise. Barvain never puts in an appearance.
After Giles leaves the crypt Ethan steps out of the shadows to say something rather interesting is about to happen... Which is when Giles returns and decides to beat up Ethan, mostly for recreational purposes (to improve Giles' day). Ethan hurriedly informs him that "Something bad is happening. Bad for both of us." He talks Giles out of the beating, and instead they go for a drink together.
Ethan warns Giles that the Initiative is throwing the worlds out of balance, which goes "way beyond chaos", into "one hell of a fight". Giles doesn't seem to take the warning seriously. He in fact seems envious of the Initiative. He and Ethan spend the night reminiscing and drinking, and after a whole lot of pints, Ethan tells Giles "I slipped a small pellet of poison in your drink. You'll be dead in an hour." Shocked pause. "Just kidding!" And the pair of them start laughing together.
The next morning Giles wakes up in rather worse shape than he expected - that of a Fyarl Demon. He is the victim of a transmogrification spell, Ethan's specialty, so of course Giles knows who to blame. Giles initially attempts to resolve the situation without telling Buffy about it, but she and Riley catch up with Ethan Rayne through their own investigation just as Giles breaks in and tries to kill him. Ethan tells her the demon has killed Ripper and is trying to kill him. She stabs Giles, then realises who it is. Riley stops Ethan from running away. Ethan then restores Giles to his human form.
After that situation is resolved Ethan attempts to leave, since the Slayer has no authority over humans and will not kill them. The Initiative soldier Riley Finn arrests Ethan and places him in military custody pending determination of his status, saying Ethan will be sent to a rehabilitation facility in Nevada.
Riley surmised that Ethan will probably be rehabilitated in a few months, but after his arrest Ethan is never seen again.
[edit] Powers & Abilities
Ethan's years of experience in the world of the supernatural made him a skilled sorcerer and chaos magician, adept at performing curses. He also had great knowledge of demonology and black magic as well as possessing fluency in Latin. The Mark of Eyghon granted him a psychic link of sorts to the demon and gave him visions when the demon was in close proximity.
[edit] Romantic Relationships
Attempted unsuccessfully to chat up barmaid in "A New Man".
Writer of that episode has suggested he had rather more success with Giles, at least back in the day[citation needed].
[edit] Buffyverse Appearances
In order of Buffyverse chronology, Buffyverse canon appears in bold.
