Spike (Buffyverse)
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Spike (aka William "The Bloody") is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the cult television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. The character is portrayed by James Marsters. He is considered a breakout character.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early history
William was born circa 1853 in London, England to Anne and an (as yet) unnamed husband. In 1880, when William was about 25 to 30 years old, he was a brown-haired, ineffectual gentleman who lived with his mother and wrote poetry. He was called "William the Bloody" behind his back by his peers because his poetry was so "bloody awful." This nickname (with more deadly connotations) would follow him in his future as a vampire. While he traveled in society circles, William found little in common with his peers; he preferred to create things of beauty rather than dwelling on the scandalous and seedy elements of existence. He showed a strong capacity for loyalty and devoted love, which would follow him after his siring. After his romantic overtures were rejected by the aristocratic Cecily, a despondent William, while wandering the streets, bumped into Drusilla. She followed William and seemed to understand him, and William accepted comfort in her arms, only to be bitten and transformed into a vampire (as seen in the episode "Fool for Love").
While new vampires in the Buffyverse often delight in killing their families once they become evil, William was a notable exception. He had always been very close to his mother, and turned her into a vampire to prevent her from dying from tuberculosis. Unfortunately, his mother, as a soulless vampire, proved to be a truly evil creature, taunting William that she had despised him all along, and insinuating that William had always had a sexual fascination with her. He ended up reluctantly staking her because he could not bear to see his mother in such a twisted, unnatural, abusive form. The entire matricidal experience was a terrible trauma for William; he would later write a poem about the experience entitled "The Wanton Folly of Me Mum," the text of which was never presented on-screen. This experience also comes to haunt him later on in the series when The First Evil uses it to manipulate Spike.
After staking his mother, William began a new life with Drusilla. Euphoric with his newfound vampiric abilities and hungry for revenge on his peers, he abandoned the genteel hypocrisy of Victorian life. He became a rebel, adopting a working class North London accent and embracing impulsiveness and violence. He adopted the nom de guerre "Spike" because of a habit of torturing people with railroad spikes, inspired by a detractor from his human days who had exclaimed that he would rather "have a railroad spike driven through [his] head" than listen to William's poetry. In the company of Drusilla, her sire Angelus and Angelus' sire Darla, Spike terrorized Europe and Asia for almost two decades. Utterly devoted to Drusilla, he had a strained relationship with Angelus, rather like two rival brothers. Although Angelus did enjoy the company of another male vampire in their travels, he found Spike's eagerness for battle to be an unnecessary risk. Angelus regarded killing as an art, not a sport, and killed for the sheer act of evil; Spike did it for amusement and the rush. Tensions also arose surrounding Angelus' ongoing sexual relationship with Drusilla, which continued despite Spike's strong disapproval. Spike at one point referred to Angel as both his "sire" and his "Yoda." Spike later notes that Drusilla made him a vampire, but Angelus made him a monster. (Joss Whedon explained in an interview that a vampire's sire refers to anyone prior to them in their "line.")
In 1900, in one of his proudest moments, Spike killed a Slayer during the Boxer Rebellion; it was her sword that gave him the scar on his left eyebrow, which remains a century later. Shortly afterward, he and Drusilla lost touch with Darla and Angelus (who, unknown to Spike or Drusilla, had recently been cursed with a soul), and the couple wandered the world seeking amusement and mayhem, occasionally separating to pursue separate interests but always reuniting. During World War II, Spike was captured by Nazis for experimentation and transported aboard a submarine which was in turn seized by Americans. After Spike and two other vampires killed most of the crew, Angel made Spike and another vampire Angel had just sired leave the submarine, forcing them to swim to shore before the submarine reached the United States. While leaving the submarine, Spike looked to Angel and proclaimed, "You're still a dick." By the 1950s, Spike had reunited with Drusilla and they traveled to Italy. At some point, Spike spent time in prison for tax evasion.
At some point in a century or so of being his own boss, Spike employed a pair of Fyarl Demons as muscle, which is unusual because Buffyverse vampires and demons rarely get along; he continues this diversity in friendships and relationships throughout his un-life. Spike attended Woodstock, where he drank blood from a flower child and spent the next several hours watching his own hand move, a side effect from the psychoactive drugs in her bloodstream. In the 1970s, He fought and killed Nikki Wood, a Slayer in New York City.
Spike's story before he appears in Sunnydale unfolds in flashbacks scattered among numerous episodes of both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. They are not presented in chronological order. A guide to finding the flashback(s) to a particular event is "List of Buffyverse historical flashbacks".
[edit] Sunnydale
Spike first appears in Sunnydale in the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in the episode "School Hard," accompanied by his longtime love Drusilla, who has been seriously weakened by an angry mob in Prague. He is a devoted caretaker to Drusilla in her weakened condition, and initially hopes that the Hellmouth's energy can help restore her strength. The presence of a Slayer to fight makes the town even more attractive to Spike. Upon discovering that Angel(us) is also in Sunnydale, he initially greets the older vampire as a friend (not realizing that Angel now has a soul); however, Angel's loyalty to Buffy soon ends their camaraderie. When Spike later learns that Drusilla can only be cured by the blood of the vampire who had sired her (Angel), he is more than willing to kill Angel in order to restore Dru.
Spike and Drusilla are major enemies of Buffy for much of the second season. He is severely injured in a fight with Buffy and Kendra (in the episode "What's My Line, Part Two") when a church organ collapses on him and spends several months unable to walk, using a wheelchair instead. (Joss Whedon had originally intended to kill Spike, but the character had grown popular with fans and it was decided to injure him instead.)[citation needed]
When Angel reverts to Angelus after making love with Buffy, he joins Spike and Drusilla, and eventually plots with Dru to destroy all of humanity. Spike initially celebrates their reunion with Angelus and demonstrates affection, but their longtime rivalry is renewed when Angelus taunts the (temporarily) helpless Spike by pursuing Dru as a lover. Spike continues to use his wheelchair after he recovers, feigning weakness to avoid suspicion while he plots against Angelus. Spike decides to ally himself with Buffy in his efforts; he explains to Buffy that, in addition to wanting Drusilla back, he also wants to "save the world":
| “ | We like to talk big, vampires do. I'm going to destroy the world. That's just tough guy talk. Strutting around with your friends over a pint of blood. The truth is, I like this world. You've got – the dog racing, Manchester United, and you've got people: billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It's all right here. But then someone comes along with a vision, with a real passion for destruction. Angel could pull it off. Goodbye Piccadilly, farewell Leicester bloody Square. | ” |
When Buffy makes her attack, Spike knocks out Drusilla, removing her from the fight. He and an unconscious Dru leave Sunnydale and travel to Brazil.
Spike appears in only one episode of Season Three, "Lovers Walk." In Brazil, Drusilla is horrified by his alliance with the Slayer and senses that Spike will develop feelings for Buffy; she rejects and cheats on him, which sends him into an extended drunken depression. Spike returns to Sunnydale and attempts to force Willow Rosenberg to cast a love spell on Drusilla. He visits Joyce Summers, who listens sympathetically to his heartache, and recruits Buffy and Angel to help him gather spell ingredients. After reveling in the rush of an intense fight, Spike cheerfully abandons the love spell idea, resolving to win Drusilla back by torturing her until she likes him again. He also tells Buffy and Angel that no matter what happens, they will never be friends because of their love for one another. Buffy remarks to Angel that "I can fool Giles, and I can fool my friends, but I can't fool myself – or Spike, for some reason," foreshadowing Spike's role as the "truth-seer" of the group.
Spike returns to Sunnydale alone in Season Four, in the episode "The Harsh Light of Day," to search for the Gem of Amarra, a talisman that allows a vampire to endure sunlight and even a stake to the heart without ill effect; he later travels to Los Angeles to retrieve it, torturing Angel in an attempt to discover its location before he is thwarted and driven from the city (cf. Angel, Season 1, "In the Dark"). He becomes involved with Harmony Kendall, a shallow young vampire who used to be Cordelia's best friend before being turned at graduation. Despite her beauty and affection, Spike treats her as little more than a nuisance and sexual plaything. His un-life takes a pivotal turn when The Initiative, a secret government demon-fighting army, captures him and implants a microchip in his head, which causes crippling pain whenever he harms or attempts to harm a human being. Unable to hunt for blood, Spike turns to the Scooby Gang for protection, bartering his knowledge of the Initiative; he quickly becomes their reluctant captive. In the episode "A New Man," he helps Giles out of a tight spot in exchange for money. In the episode "Something Blue," Spike and Buffy briefly become engaged through an accidental enchantment by Willow; although the spell only commands them to get married, each mentions being in love, foreshadowing their later bond. He discovers that the chip does not prevent him from fighting demons; since he thrives on violence, Spike fights alongside the Scoobies on occasion. At this point, Spike is still looking out for himself first and foremost, and does not shy away from letting the Scoobies know it. For example, upon learning that Faith is on the loose after coming out of her coma, he proclaims that he will find her and tell her exactly where the Scoobies are, and watch while she tears them all apart. Later in the season, Spike allies with Adam, a demon/human/cyborg chimera created by the Initiative, and helps the creature in its quest to destroy the Initiative and the Scoobies. Spike's price is simple: he wants the Initiative's chip out of his head for good. He briefly manages to turn the Scoobies against each other by manipulating existing tensions within the group (cf. "The Yoko Factor"), but he changes sides again when he realizes that Adam is double-crossing him and helps to save the Scoobies from rampaging demons in the middle of a battle.
In Season Five, Spike becomes aware after some erotic dreams that, to his horror, he has fallen in love with Buffy. Unsure how to proceed, he keeps a nightly vigil outside her home, occasionally even breaking in (most notably to sniff and steal Buffy's clothing, and to steal photographs for his secret shrine to her). Spike also becomes a more active participant in the Scooby Gang, jumping into several of Buffy's fights to provide assistance whether she wants it or not. At Buffy's request, he reveals to her how he killed the two Slayers he had fought, offering survival advice, and later comforts her when her mother has to go into the hospital. Buffy's younger sister Dawn, who has a crush on Spike, perceives his feelings for Buffy, and casually mentions it to Buffy. When Buffy rejects his advances, Spike has Warren Mears make a sex-bot made in Buffy's likeness that is programmed to love and obey him. Disgusted, particularly after witnessing the full extent of Spike's obsession, Buffy rejects Spike, going as far as to uninvite him from her home (something she had not bothered to do in the two years since their alliance against Angelus). They reconcile after Spike refuses to reveal the location of the Key to Glory under intense torture, nearly laying down his life to protect Dawn. Buffy is moved by his unexpected sacrifice and kisses him. In the days and hours leading up to the final showdown with Glory, Spike fights by Buffy's side, earning her trust (as well as a re-invite to her home). After Buffy dies in the showdown with Glory, Spike honors her memory by remaining loyal to the Scoobies, fighting at their side and serving the role of baby-sitter/father figure/protector to Dawn. Blaming himself for Buffy's death, he keeps track of the number of days since she died until she is resurrected in Season Six.
During the sixth season, Spike and Buffy became lovers. Unable to confide in her friends, Buffy is increasingly drawn to Spike. Their physical relationship starts after a demon's spell makes them share their emotions and Buffy expresses that she "want[s] the fire back," but it is not consummated until Spike finds out that his chip no longer stops him from hurting the resurrected Buffy. Buffy most often initiates both the violence and the sex between them, and threatens to kill Spike if he ever tells anyone about their relationship. During their first sexual encounter, they fought and the house around them shook and fell, foreshadowing the volatile nature of their relationship. Both are unsatisfied with the relationship; Buffy is ashamed of her dark desires, while Spike obsessively craves the love, trust, and affection that she is unwilling to give. Shortly after Buffy's ex-boyfriend Riley Finn finds Spike in possession of smuggled demon eggs and accuses him of being "The Doctor" (cf. "As You Were"), Buffy ends their relationship. Spike at first tries to make her jealous by bringing a date to Xander and Anya's wedding. Later, after Xander leaves Anya at the altar, Spike and Anya get drunk together and seek solace in each other's arms. Buffy and Xander catch them, and her jealousy at seeing Spike with Anya leads him to believe he still had a chance at winning Buffy back.
After a lecture from Dawn, Spike, his obsession out of control, corners an injured Buffy in her bathroom, making aggressive sexual advances. When Buffy refuses him, he attacks her in desperation, apparently intending to rape her; although their sexual history is highly violent, Buffy clearly says no to this encounter. Horrified by his own actions and intentions, Spike leaves town and heads to a remote area of Africa. He seeks out a legendary demon shaman and undergoes the Demon Trials, a series of grueling physical challenges, to prove his worthiness. Spike survives the trials, earning back his soul (cf. "Grave").
With the returning of his soul comes a conscience filled with guilt. In the early episodes of Season Seven, Spike resides in the basement of the recently reconstructed Sunnydale High School, close to the Hellmouth's opening. Tormented by The First Evil as well as by his newfound conscience, he appears to be going insane (he notes at one point that he is "bug-shagging crazy"). When Buffy asks him why he had fought for his soul, Spike explains: "For her. To be hers. To be the kind of man who would nev-...To be a kind of man." After Buffy learns that Spike is in the basement, she enlists his assistance in several situations, although it is not until well after she learns that he is ensouled that she decides to bring him out of the basement. Spike becomes reluctant roommates with Xander, because he has nowhere else to go. However, this arrangement backfires as Spike, under influence of the First Evil's hypnotic trigger, unknowingly kills innocent people. Spike initially has no memory of his actions; after he discovers what he has done, he begs Buffy to stake him. Buffy refuses and takes him into her house, telling him she has seen him change. He suffers severe withdrawals after his extended feeding on human blood, and is still vulnerable to the (as yet unidentified) hypnotic trigger, so he is willingly confined with ropes or chains. Buffy guards and cares for Spike throughout his recovery, telling Spike that she believes in him, a statement which later sustains him throughout his imprisonment and torture at the hands of the First Evil.
Spike assists Buffy in her efforts to train the Potentials that are gathering in Sunnydale. In the meantime, his chip begins to malfunction, causing him intense pain and threatening to end his un-life. To the dismay of Giles and her friends, Buffy trusts Spike enough to order Initiative operatives to remove it from his head. She also takes Spike's side when Robin Wood attempts to kill him in retribution for the murder of his mother, Nikki Wood, the Slayer Spike killed in 1977. Ironically, by attempting to kill Spike when he is under the First's influence, Wood frees Spike from his hypnotic trigger: a song called "Early One Morning" that Spike's mother often sang to him before he became a vampire. The song evokes Spike's traumatic memories of his mother's abusive behavior toward him after she turned; after Spike is able to address these issues, he realizes that his mother had always loved him, knowledge which frees him from the First's control. Later in the season, Spike and Buffy achieve an emotional closeness; he, alone, remains selflessly loyal to her when the other Scoobies, Giles, and the Potentials abandon her (noting, with contempt: "You sad, sad, ungrateful traitors. Who do you think you are? ... She has saved your lives again and again. She's died for you. And this is how you thank her?"). After Spike tracks Buffy to an abandoned house, they spend two nights together; after the first night, Spike tells Buffy that it was the best night of his life, just holding her. It is unclear whether they resume their sexual intimacy the second night; creator Joss Whedon said on the DVD commentary for "Chosen" that he intentionally left it to the viewers to decide how they felt the relationship progressed, though Whedon had earlier stated on the commentary that he personally felt having them resume a sexual relationship would send the wrong message.
In the final battle inside the Hellmouth, Spike, wearing a mystical amulet, fights alongside Buffy, Faith and the newly awakened Slayers against the First Evil's army of Turok-Han. The amulet mystically channels sunlight that turns the Turok-Han to dust and collapses the cavern containing the Hellmouth, sealing it and creating a crater which swallows up the entire town of Sunnydale. Despite Buffy's pleas, Spike sacrifices himself to destroy the Turok-Han and close the Hellmouth. Spike is slowly incinerated in the process, but not before Buffy tells him "I love you." He replies, "No, you don't — but thanks for saying it." Even as he burns and crumbles to dust, Spike chuckles and revels in the destruction before him, glad to be able to see the fight to its end. He finally dies at the Hellmouth and saves the world in the process, becoming a Champion.
[edit] Los Angeles
Despite his apparent death at the end of Buffy's final season, Spike returns in the fifth and final season of Angel. The amulet he wore at the Hellmouth mysteriously returns to Wolfram & Hart by mail; Spike materializes from a whirlwind after Angel opens the envelope. Spike initially intends to leave Wolfram & Hart and find Buffy, who is now in Europe; however, he discovers that he is mystically bound to Los Angeles and unable to leave.
For the first seven episodes of the season, Spike is an incorporeal being akin to a ghost with a connection to the human world that is unstable, causing him to disappear at random (but increasingly frequent) intervals. As his disappearances become more frequent and intense, Spike, terrified, confides only to Fred that every time he disappears, he is being transported to Hell. He asks her to help save him, and she promises to find a way to make him corporeal again. Later, in the episode "Hell Bound," it is discovered that Spike's disappearances are being caused by another ghost, Matthias Pavayne aka The Reaper, who toys with the many souls trapped at Wolfram & Hart in order to delay his own sentence to Hell. Fred successfully creates a machine to recorporealize Spike, but when Pavayne threatens Fred's life, Spike chooses to use the machine to save her, throwing away his opportunity to become corporeal but successfully stopping Pavayne; Spike's heroic actions reinforce Fred's belief that he is "worth saving." Spike finds himself able to affect the world around him if he wants to badly enough, so he is able to assist in fighting before he is actually recorporealized.
Later, Spike receives a mysterious package in the mail; when he opens it, he sees a flash of light and discovers that he has become corporeal again. Chaos concurrently erupts in Wolfram & Hart, and Eve arrives with information that the existence of two corporeal ensouled vampire Champions is complicating the Shanshu Prophecy and destroying the fabric of reality (although it was later implied that Angel's old foe Lindsey McDonald made the situation worse than it would have been). She tells them that a new translation of the Prophecy reveals that, in order to restore the balance, Spike and Angel must compete to drink from the Cup of Perpetual Torment, which will bestow upon the winner great responsibilities and pain before ultimately washing his past clean and allowing him to live as human again. In their extended physical and verbal battle, each tries to assert himself as the better man. Although Angel tells Spike that Spike is a monster just like him, Spike denies any similarities: "You had a soul forced on you. As a curse. Make you suffer for all the horrible things you've done. Me, I fought for my soul, went through the demon trials, almost did me in a dozen times over, but I kept fighting. Because I knew it was the right thing to do. It's my destiny." Their battle culminates with Angel unable to touch a giant cross, which Spike, contemptuously ignoring the pain, holds and wields with ease. During the fight, he also reveals his hate and resentment toward Angel for making him into the monster he became. Spike defeats Angel for the first time in their long history and drinks from the Cup, but the prophecy turns out to be a sham (the liquid in the Cup was merely Mountain Dew).
Even though he is now corporeal (and therefore no longer bound to Los Angeles), Spike decides not to go to Europe in search of Buffy; he wants her to remember him as the hero who died to save the world. Beginning in the episode "Soul Purpose," Lindsey McDonald, using the name of the late half-demon Doyle with a connection to The Powers That Be, persuades Spike that he is destined to "help the helpless," in much the same way as the real Doyle persuaded Angel of the same thing at the start of Angel. Alienated by Angel's corporate, bureaucratic approach to fighting evil, Spike steps into his role as hero. He takes on Dana, a psychotic Slayer who had, until recently, been locked in a mental institution, but Dana captures him, drugs him, and cuts off his hands. This experience causes Spike to more deeply examine the nature of the evil inside him, and he tells Angel that Dana thought that he had killed her whole family, and says: "And I'm supposed to, what, complain, because hers wasn't one of the hundreds of families I did kill?" Spike believes that Dana has become a monster like them, but Angel responds that the girl is an innocent victim, and Spike points out that he and Angel were innocent victims at one point. Spike's hands are reattached at Wolfram & Hart, and he is instructed to play video games for physical therapy, including Donkey Kong and Crash Bandicoot.
Eventually, Spike learns that "Doyle" is actually Lindsey, who has been manipulating him the whole time. His relationship with Angel becomes increasingly acrimonious, and they contemplate the possibility of Spike leaving L.A. after a particularly bitter argument over whether cavemen or astronauts would win in a fight (cf. "A Hole in the World"). When Fred becomes infected with the essence of the Old One known as Illyria, Spike works alongside Angel and the rest of the crew to find a cure, and mourns for Fred when they fail. He abandons the idea of leaving L.A. after Fred's death, deciding to stay because that is what Fred would have wanted. Spike is put in charge of "testing" the newly-awakened Illyria's abilities, which generally involves fighting with her and recording details on his clipboard, and the two develop a bond. By the end of the season, Spike is a trusted member of the group. Although Spike and Angel remain antagonistic, they are a lethally effective fighting team thanks to their decades or so of experience with each other.
When the final episodes of Angel air, Spike is the first to vote for Angel's plan to wound the Senior Partners by taking out the Circle of the Black Thorn. Before Angel's team enters what may be their final battle, Angel gives them the day off, to spend as though it was going to be their last day. Spike, returning to his mortal roots as a frustrated poet, triumphantly knocks them dead (figuratively) in an open mic poetry slam at a bar after having some drinks to gather 'Dutch courage,' reciting his completed version of a poem he had begun over a century earlier before being sired by Drusilla (cf. "Not Fade Away").
After single-handedly rescuing an infant and destroying the Fell Brethren, Spike joins Angel, Illyria, and a badly-wounded Charles Gunn in the alley behind the Hyperion as the series draws to an end, preparing to incur the apocalyptic wrath of the Senior Partners, as a way of going out in a blaze of glory. The question of whether Spike survived this battle was left unanswered, although he does appear in (non-canon) material set after it.
[edit] Appearance and personality
William's natural hair color was medium brown; in 1943, he was seen with it dyed black and slicked down, and by 1977, he had begun to bleach it, keeping that look at least until he was last seen in May of 2004. Spike has claimed that Billy Idol stole his look from him. He received an V/Y-shaped scar on his left eyebrow from the sword of the first Slayer he killed, in 1900; on his first appearance in the series, the wound still looks fresh, but gradually blends in over the course of the series. James Marsters received the scar in real life during a mugging[1].
Spike usually wears long black leather coats, including one that he took from a Nazi officer and another that he later took as a trophy from Nikki Wood, the second Slayer he killed; this was the black duster he wore for over twenty-five years. It was incinerated along with Spike when the Hellmouth collapsed and rematerialized at Wolfram & Hart when Spike did. When the coat was destroyed by a bomb from the Immortal in Italy, Spike heartbrokenly declared it to be irreplaceable; however, the Italy branch of Wolfram & Hart quickly supplied him with a whole wardrobe of new, nearly identical ones. He seemed to quickly forget his distress. His trademark look includes the leather duster, a black t-shirt or v-neck shirt and black denim pants, usually with heavy boots; he also wore a red long-sleeve shirt fairly often, particularly during the earlier seasons of Buffy. In the episode "Doomed," Spike is forced to wear one of Xander's Hawaiian shirts and a pair of knee-length shorts because his clothes were shrunk due to his not knowing how to set the water temperature on the washing machine, while in the episode "Tabula Rasa" he wears a deerstalker and tweed suit as a disguise to escape demonic loan sharks.
Spike's personality is driven by his incredible lust for violence, which is immense even by the standards of demonic society. He has noted that he finds the very act of violence therapeutic: in the episode "School Hard," he responds to a lackey's incompetence by snapping the neck of a hostage he considers to be 'too old to eat'; he notes that he felt a lot better afterwards. Similarly, during his drunken pining for Drusilla in the episode "Lovers Walk," he notes that getting pent-up aggression out of his system by staking and driving off several vampires 'put(s) things in perspective' for him. After a prolonged period of being unable to bite or hurt humans, Spike is delighted to discover that he is able to fight demons and gladly accompanies the Scooby Gang on patrol, proving that it did not much matter to him what he was fighting for so long as he could fight.
Aside from his appetite for destruction, one of Spike's most prominent characteristics is his dry, sarcastic sense of humor. A polar opposite to his callow and simpering human nature, Spike quickly adopted a swaggering posture and enjoyed living by nobody's rules save his own. Fitting in with this was his habit of making pithy remarks and glib insults, even towards the few he did not view as antagonists. Among his favorite targets was his grandsire and rival, Angel (often making fun of his large forehead, constantly groomed appearance, and his attempts to be a 'big, strapping hero'); others include Xander Harris, Rupert Giles, and, to a lesser degree, Buffy Summers. However, Spike also retained something of his literary intellect from his human side, routinely referencing poetry, songs, and literature; he would, on occasion, also wax poetical on the nature of love and life (and unlife) as being driven by blood, reasoning that blood is more powerful than any supernatural force because it is what separates the living from the dead (cf. "Lovers Walk" and "The Gift").
Spike frequently challenges vampire conventions and limitations. For example, he often treats his vulnerability to the sun as an inconvenience, rather than a limitation; he drives in broad daylight in vehicles with blacked-out windows, and he regularly travels outside during the day, using a blanket for cover. However, he does seem more resistant to sunlight effects than other vampires (who usually combust instantly and completely in sunlight. Spike also embraces certain elements of humanity, such as love and loyalty, that would be considered too human (and therefore offensive or impure) by other vampires. He has a taste for beer, whiskey, Weetabix (which he mixes into blood for texture), and spices and burba weed (which he mixes into blood for flavor). Spike is also seen eating a box of chocolates (a present originally intended for Buffy), Buffalo wings, and onion blossoms, constituting the most varied diet of any vampire on the show (another example of Spike defying vampire conventions). He also smokes cigarettes (as do many vampires); his preferred brand is Morley cigarettes, which he lights with a trademark silver Zippo lighter.
With or without a soul, Spike displays a strong sense of honor and loyalty. At the end of Season Two, when Spike allies himself with Buffy to defeat Angelus, he keeps his promise to remove Drusilla from the fight and leave town (even though he and Buffy had been bitter enemies up to that point). He treats Joyce Summers with continuing (and uncharacteristic) affection, honoring her kindness to him even after she dies. After Buffy dies, Spike continues to protect her sister and friends.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Spike has the standard powers and vulnerabilities of a vampire, although age, experience, and enthusiasm have increased his strength and armed him with skills that even most of his peers do not possess. His senses make him a useful tracker; he can track by scent in the air, or by blood, and at one point, he was able to sense Buffy from the other side of a door. Spike loves combat for the sheer joy and adrenaline rush, even after his re-ensoulment. He particularly appreciates fights that pose a challenge, which has resulted in him taking on angry mobs and multiple Slayers (he has a special place in vampire lore for the rare feat of killing two Slayers in single combat). Although it requires substantial concentration, Spike is even able to join in fights while he is in incorporeal form in the fifth season of Angel.
Spike is highly skilled and adaptable in both armed and unarmed combat; for example, he is able to briefly overcome Illyria during a testing of her abilities when she is at the height of her powers. Illyria criticizes his (and others') ability to adapt, calling it "compromising"; however, for a creature with somewhat limited power (unlike the original Illyria), it is one of his greatest strengths as a fighter. Spike has been shown on occasion using firearms and modern weaponry as well as the bladed weapons more often seen in the Buffyverse. He is skilled at using many varieties of weapons, such as a rifle, knife, sword, axe, crossbow, stake, and a staff. Spike can also withstand excessive amounts of pain for extended periods of time, particularly when properly motivated. He withstands terrible torture at the hands of Glory, refusing to tell her that Dawn was the Key she sought, sustained only by his unrequited love for Buffy. Spike later withstands extensive torture while imprisoned by the First Evil; he refuses to give in to despair, taking strength from Buffy's declaration that she believes in him. While not as skilled or as cruel in torture as Angelus, Spike also proves himself to be effective at it when he tortures Doctor Sparrow, noting that the torture session had resulted in "screams, various fluids, and a name."
What gives Spike an added edge in both combat and personal matters are his insights and skills in perception and observation, especially with regard to relationships and personalities. This ability allows him to wield powerful psychological weapons as easily and effectively as physical ones. For example, when he wants to create disharmony among the Scoobies, Spike divides-and-conquers with the "Yoko Factor," exploiting tensions that exist under the surface to alienate Buffy and her friends against each other. When he and Angel compete for the Cup of Perpetual Torment, Spike's verbal taunts, insights, and insults are as crucial (in that they further demoralized an already insecure Angel) to his success as his physical blows. He explains to Buffy that he was able to defeat two Slayers because he sensed and exploited their secret desires to be free of their burden. He has a solid sense of the state of relationships, accurately identifying when and why some relationships, such as that between Buffy and Riley, are not meant to last. His skills of analysis also have many positive effects. For example, Spike's perception and insight make him a natural father figure for Dawn, who needed protection, attention, discipline, and guidance. He is the first to see through Tara's abusive and controlling family, and reveals their sinister intentions before any of the Scoobies suspect it. Spike also clearly identifies Buffy and Angel's continuing love at a time when both of them are trying to say that they are "just friends," forcing the two of them to finally face the truth to each other. In addition to his ability to sense weaknesses in others, Spike's overwhelming belief in himself gives him an added edge. Unlike Angel, who is given to moments of self-doubt, Spike never doubts himself. This belief on Spike's part that he was simply better than Angel was as crucial to his victory as his ability to demoralize the already insecure Angel. Spike simply believed his time had come, and that no matter what Angel did, or did not, do, that he, Spike, was the better man.
Although capable of developing sound battle strategies, Spike (particularly in the days before receiving his chip and being ensouled) often loses patience with anything more complicated than outright attack:
- Spike: I had a plan.
- Angel: You, a plan?
- Spike: Yeah, a good plan. Smart. Carefully laid out. But I got bored.
He also is impatient to fight the Slayer upon his initial arrival in Sunnydale; the attack is supposed to coincide with the Night of St. Vigeous (when a vampire's natural abilities are enhanced), but he "couldn't wait" to go after the Slayer and attacks the night before. However, Spike is somewhat masterful with strategy, and has exercised patience in many ways. For example, in Sunnydale, when Angelus joins Spike and Dru after Spike's injury leaves him in a wheelchair, Spike patiently builds up his strength and, even after regaining his ability to walk, hides this from the others. Instead, he listens, learns, and endures tortuous weeks watching Angelus sexually pursue Dru as he waits for the right time to strike.
Spike's "vampire constitution" provides him with an extremely high tolerance for alcohol (which he regularly consumes in copious quantities). He is also seen picking locks; driving a car, a motorcycle, and a motor home; using video game systems and a computer; treating injuries; pick-pocketing; and playing poker and pool. Spike is also seen speaking Latin, Luganda (a language of Uganda, where he meets the demon shaman), and the language of Fyarl Demons. It is implied that he has some minimal familiarity with Italian (he can at least say "ciao" and "strada").
[edit] Romantic interests
In his romantic liaisons, Spike is generally a heterosexual who tends to obsess over his love interests. However, a line in the episode "Power Play" reveals that he has had at least one sexual encounter with Angelus, a male vampire.
- Cecily Addams/Cecily Underwood — Cecily is the object of William's affections and poetic efforts in life; her rejection makes him open to Drusilla's seduction and subsequent siring. Spike is surprised to discover that Cecily is actually Halfrek, a vengeance demon, when they meet over a century later in the episode "Older and Far Away."
- Drusilla — While vampires do not usually indulge in "love" (which reeks of humanity), Spike and Dru are a devoted couple for over a century. They spend their time traveling, feeding, and enjoying themselves. While Spike is single-mindedly devoted to her, Dru is never consistently faithful (maintaining a sexual relationship with Angelus despite Spike's obvious jealousy and discomfort, and, along with Darla, fornicating with The Immortal). She becomes disillusioned with Spike after his betrayal of Angelus, and she perceives his growing feelings for Buffy, and cheats on him with a Chaos Demon ("All slime and antlers!") in South America before breaking up with him, which sends him into a deep depression. By the time Drusilla returns to Sunnydale to reclaim her former love, Spike has developed an obsessive love for Buffy.
- Angel — Spike mentions in the episode "Power Play" that "Angel and me have never been intimate. Except that one--" Joss Whedon has confirmed in numerous interviews and forum posts the possibility of at least a one-night stand between the pair. In the DVD commentary to the episode "A Hole in the World," Whedon explicitly says: "You know, um, I just wanna say Angel and Spike, they were hanging out, uh, for years and years and years, they were in, you know, all kinds of deviant, they were vampires... Are we thinking they never...? Come on, people! I'm just sayin'. I'm just sayin'. You know, they're open-minded guys. They may be evil but, you know, they're not bigoted or closed-minded."
- Harmony Kendall — Spike and Harmony are involved from Season 4 of Buffy through early Season 5. His mistreatment of her, his endless broken promises, and his growing obsession with Buffy bring about their break-up. They briefly reunite for a sexual encounter after he is re-corporealized in Los Angeles, but she becomes possessed and attacks him (this was apparently caused by reality being unable to support two vampires with souls, but was later revealed to have been at least partly manipulated by Lindsey McDonald).
- Buffy Summers — Spike reluctantly becomes Buffy's ally during Seasons 2 and 4, and falls in love with her reluctantly in Season 5. During Season 6, they start a sexual relationship which ends badly, largely because Spike seeks love and intimacy while Buffy merely wants physical comfort. After they break up, Spike tries to rape an injured and weakened Buffy and she has to fight him off, an event that inspires Spike to leave Sunnydale to seek his soul. During Season 7, Buffy and Spike become closer emotionally. His support of her, when all others abandon her, shows his absolute loyalty to Buffy. Buffy eventually tells Spike she loves him, which Spike states that he does not believe. In the fifth and final season of Angel, Spike decides not to let Buffy know he has been resurrected because he wants her to remember him as a hero who died to save the world. He intends to meet up with her in Rome, where he and Angel are attempting to prevent a demon war, but their paths never quite cross.
- Buffybot — After being rejected by Buffy, Spike commissions Warren Mears to build him a robotic replica of Buffy to be single-mindedly devoted to him. Although he initially enjoys the toy, it is damaged in a fight with Glory. After Buffy's death, Willow reprograms the robot, and it becomes a useful and important tool in the fight against evil until Buffy's resurrection, although bits of the original programming occasionally resurface, causing Spike, who is deep in mourning for Buffy, significant pain.
- Anya Jenkins — Spike and Anya bond over their mutual loss of demonic powers in the episode "Where the Wild Things Are." Later, in Season Six, after Xander leaves Anya at the altar and Buffy discontinues her relationship with Spike, they seek solace in one another in a brief sexual encounter at the Magic Box in the episode "Entropy." They flirted too in several occasions before and after then.
[edit] Other
- Willow Rosenberg - Spike confesses his attraction to Willow in episode "The Initiative", saying that, if he could, he would bite her and eventually sire her ("I can let you stay dead... or... bring you back, to be like me!"). Though not pleased at all (she smashes a lamp over Spike's head), Willow looks a bit flattered. After then, and after the acknowledgment that Willow is homosexual (that Spike acquires by himself, with no need of any "outing") and a powerful witch, their relationship remains more or less friendly. Willow often defends Spike against angry prejudices of other Scoobies (mostly Xander's and Buffy's). Spike, on his side, shows a sincere preoccupation about her ever-growing addiction to magic. Spike calls Willow "Red" (like Faith), usually in a fond way.
- Winifred Burkle — Technically not a romantic relationship per se. Spike initially flirts with Fred, and his feelings later evolve into affection and esteem. Fred is the first person in Los Angeles who believes that he is "worth saving" and she works tirelessly to find a way to recorporealize him (while denying being taken in by his charm). Spike sacrifices a chance at becoming corporeal to save Fred's life, and he later chooses to remain at Wolfram & Hart in tribute to her sacrifice. Spike says in the episode "A Hole in the World" that he loves her, albeit in a platonic way.
- Illyria — Though not a romantic relationship per se, Illyria and Spike share an emerging bond; each is on a path from demon to hero, and they share a love of violence. Their sparring sessions are mutually satisfactory; Spike hones his fighting techniques and Illyria is able to regularly inflict pain and dominate in combat. She, at one point, expresses a desire to keep Spike as a pet. After Illyria's powers are diminished, Spike helps her regain confidence and venture into the world again, the two teaming up to defeat a demon that is after Drogyn. Their relationship remains non-romantic, but develops into mutual respect.
[edit] Appearances
Spike has appeared in:
[edit] Buffy
Buffy the Vampire Slayer : Spike was a series regular from Season Four (starting with the episode "The Initiative"), through to the end of Season Seven, although he did not appear in the episode "The Body". He appeared in 96 episodes, including guest appearances in:
- Season 2 (1997, 1998) - "School Hard"; "Halloween"; "Lie To Me"; "What's My Line, Part One" and "Part Two"; "Surprise"; "Innocence"; "Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered"; "Passion"; "I Only Have Eyes For You"; "Becoming, Part One" and "Part Two"
- Season 3 (1998, 1999) - "Lovers Walk"
- Season 4 (1999, 2000) - "The Harsh Light Of Day" and "Wild At Heart"
[edit] Angel
- Angel
- Spike was a series regular in the show's fifth and final season. He appeared in 24 episodes, including guest appearances in:
[edit] Books and comics
- Books & comics
- Spike has appeared in numerous (non-canon) extensions of the Buffyverse, his major appearances are in the following stories:
- Published - Tales of the Vampires, Spike & Dru, Pretty Maids All in a Row, These Our Actors, Spark and Burn, Old Times, Spike vs Dracula, Old Wounds, Lost and Found, The Lost Slayer, Asylum, Blackout
[edit] References
- ^ The Official James Marsters Site FAQ. Retrieved on 2006-11-24.
[edit] See also
| Preceded by Riley Finn |
Buffy Summers' love interest Season Six, Seven |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Preceded by The Master |
Buffy Big Bad Season Two (Accompanied by Drusilla) |
Succeeded by Angelus |
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