Poor Buffy. There seems to be a prophecy for practically everything in her life, as there has been for all the Slayers. This in itself is bad enough, but what's worse is that although there are a lot of prophecies about the various Slayers out there, many of the books containing them have been lost. Those include the Tiberius Manifesto and the Pergamum Codex. The Codex was thought to have been lost in the 15th century, but was returned to Giles (and thus to the Watchers' Council at large) by Angel in "Out of Mind, Out of Sight, aka. Invisible Girl".Buffy: Oh, why can't you people just leave me alone?Giles: Because you are the Slayer. (comes down the stairs) Into each generation a Slayer is born, one girl in all the world, a Chosen One, one born with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires...
Buffy: (interrupts and joins in) ...with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil blah, blah, blah... I've heard it, okay?
- "Wellcome to the Hellmouth", Buffy and Giles.
Of course, many prophecies are not about the Slayer but about many evils coming to walk the earth. Have a look at this lot:
- The rising of the Master in "Welcome to the Hellmouth" / "The Harvest".
Luke: The sleeper will wake. The sleeper will wake. The sleeper will wake. The sleeper will wake, and the world will bleed. Amen!
Luke: 'And like a plague of boils, the race of man covered the Earth.' (...) 'But on the third day of the newest light would come the Harvest. And the blood of men will flow as wine.' (...) 'When the Master will walk among them once more!' (...) 'The Earth will belong to the old ones.' (...) 'And Hell itself will come to town.' (...) 'Amen!'
Giles: Well, then help me. I've been researching this Harvest affair. It seems to be some sort of preordained massacre. Rivers of blood, Hell on Earth, quite charmless. I'm a bit fuzzy, however, on the details. It may be that you can wrest some information from that dread machine.
Giles: 'For they will gather and be gathered. From the Vessel pours life.' P... Pours life... [ He turns the page back to the picture of Satan feeding power to a man. ] 'On the night of the crescent moon, the first past the solstice it will come...' Of course. That's tonight!
- Buffy moving to Sunnydale in "Welcome to the Hellmouth" / The Harvest".
Giles: The influx of the undead, the... supernatural occurrences, it's been building for years. There's a reason why you're here and a reason why it's now!
- The rising of The Annointed One (or the Annoying one, as he's charmingly referred to by Spike) in "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date".
Master: 'And there will be a time of crisis, of worlds hanging in the balance. And in this time shall come the Anointed, the Master's great warrior. And the Slayer will not know him, will not stop him, and he will lead her into Hell.' As it is written, so shall it be. (picks up the book and walks) 'Five will die, and from their ashes the Anointed shall rise. The Brethren of Aurelius shall greet him and usher him to his immortal destiny.' (stops by one of the brethren) As it is written, so shall it be. 'And one of the brethren shall go out hunting the night before and get himself killed, because he couldn't wait to finish his job before he ate.' Oh, wait. (grabs one of the brethren by the throat) That's not written anywhere. (lifts the vampire from his feet) The Anointed will be my greatest weapon against the Slayer! If you fail to bring him to me, if you allow that girl to stop you... (throws the vampire into a coffin) Here endeth the lesson.
Giles: You were spot-on about the connection. (walks over to the table) I've looked at the writings of Aurelius himself, and he, he prophesied that the brethren of his order would come to the Master and bring him the Anointed. (...) Well, I-I don't know exactly, a-a-a-a warrior, but, but it says he will rise from the ashes of the Five on the evening of the thousandth day after the Advent of Septus. (...) Which is tonight.
This means several things: Aurelius was a vampire who wrote a book. The Watchers' Council has a copy of this, as well as possibly Giles himself. Angel, being a vital member of the Order of Aurelius is probably featured in the book.... Spike, having dusted the Annointed One, would probably feature in it as well, being one of Angel's most important childe. It is possible that much of Giles' knowledge about vampire prophecies and suchlike come from this book, because I don't recall a mention of any other vampire's book being in the Council's possession.
Master: (quotes scripture) 'And in this time will come the Anointed. And the Slayer will not know him. She will not stop him, and he will lead her into hell.' (kneels down next to Colin) Welcome, my friend.
Unfortunately, Aurelius obviously hadn't counted on Spike getting bored. Oh, well. Maybe next time...
- And, of course, Buffy's prophecised death, as found by Giles in the Pergamum Codex in "Prophecy Girl." Although technically accurate, Buffy seems to have found a way around this particular prophecy.... but surely the other propecies about her would have warned Giles that perhaps this wasn't a textbook case?
Giles: Ho korias phanaytie toutay... tay nuktee. 'The Master shall rise...' Yes, yes, this is it! 'The Master shall rise, and the Slayer...' (looks up in disbelief) My God!
Angel: It can't be. You've gotta be wrong.
Giles: I've checked it against all my other volumes. It's very real.
Giles: I wish to God I were! But it's very plain! Tomorrow night Buffy will face the Master, and she will die.
Master: You tried. It was noble of you. You heard the prophecy that I was about to break free and you came to stop me. But prophecies are tricky creatures. They don't tell you everything. (whispers) You're the one that sets me free! (gloats) If you hadn't come, I couldn't go. (whispers) Think about that!
What does this mean for the end of the prophecy? If Xander had never been born Buffy would have stayed dead and the rest of the prophecies would have been invalidated. Hmmm.....
Master: You were destined to die! It was written!
Buffy: What can I say? I flunked the written.
SEASON 2:
- Not strictly speaking a prophecy, but Absalom and Colin's attempted raising of the Master in "When She Was Bad".
Absalom: We have been put down, kinsmen. We have lost our way. We have lost the night. But despair is for the living. Where they are weak, we will be strong. Where they weep, we rejoice. Where they bleed, (laughs) we drink! Within three days a New Hope will arise. We will put our faith in him. (looks over at Collin) He will show us the way.
Giles: Alright, alright, I-I-I've got something. It's Latin, so bear with me. Uh, to revive the vampire they need his bones, uh... w-which they have, and, um, the blood... this is very unclear, of the closest person... uh, someone connected to the vampire.
Of course, Latin's open to interpretations - it means physical closeness, not spiritual. So... prophecies - and spells - can have several interpretations. That was a spelling out for those not paying attention. ;-)
Absalom: Witnesses to our Master's wretched demise. They will breathe their last this night. The blood that pours from their throats will bring NEW LIFE to the old one. We gather for his resurrection. For the dawn of this new hell.
- The supposed massacre on the Feast of St. Vigeous in "School Hard" makes a reference to the Order of Aurelius again:
Giles: (to Jenny) There is nothing in the chronicles about a-an extraneous lunar cycle.
Jenny: The Order never accurately calculated the Mesopotamian Calendar. Rupert, you have *got* to read something that was published after 1066.
- More a legend than anything else, but still applicable - the Judge in "Surprise":
Angel: It-it's a legend... (Giles looks at the box) way before my time... of a demon brought forth to rid the Earth of the plague of humanity... separate the righteous from the wicked... and to burn the righteous down. They call him the Judge.- The return of Acathla to bring forth Armageddon in "Becoming, Pts 1 + 2":[ ... ]
Giles: Um... He, he, he couldn't be killed, yes? Um, a-an army was sent against him. Most of them died... but, uh, finally they were able to dismember him, but, uh... not kill him.
Angel: The pieces were scattered... buried in every corner of the Earth.
Angelus: Acathla the demon came forth to swallow the world. (strolls to the obelisk) He was killed by a virtuous knight who pierced the demon's heart before he could draw a breath to perform the act. Acathla turned to stone, as demons sometimes do, and was buried (turns to face Spike) where neither man nor demon would want to look. [ ... ]Kendra's Watcher seemed to learn about Angelus' plans, and sent her to help Buffy. Meanwhile, Giles also realised what Angelus must be up to:Spike: Let me guess. Someone pulls out the sword...
Angelus: Someone worthy...
Spike: Mm. The demon wakes up, and wackiness ensues.
Drusilla: (opens her eyes, lowers her arms) He will swallow the world.
Angelus: And every creature living on this planet will go to Hell.
Giles: Well, the, uh, (puts on his glasses) the Demon Universe exists in a dimension separate from our own. (sits on the table) With one breath, Acathla will create a vortex, a-a kind of, um... whirlpool that will pull everything on Earth into that dimension, where any non-demon life will suffer horrible and... eternal torment.Apart from preventing the opening of Acathla to begin with, there was also a hope of closing the vortex after it has been opened:
Willow: (taken aback) I don't *wanna* be our only hope! Uh, I crumble under pressure! Let's have another hope.Meanwhile, Angelus was trying to find out how to become worthy of opening the vortex:Kendra: We have. (pulls a sword from her bag) Blessed by the knight who first slew the demon. (Giles looks at the sword, intrigued) If all else fails, this might stop it. I tink.
Angelus: (comes toward the young man) I will drink... the blood will wash in me, over me, and I will be cleansed. I will be worthy to free Acathla. (looks at Spike) Bear witness... (looks at Drusilla) as I ascend... (looks ahead and morphs into his game face) as I become.It does not work. But it will - soon. Whistler tells Buffy that Angel is important in the whole 'Acathla will wake' prophecy:
Whistler: Hello to the imagery! Very nice. (seriously) It wasn't supposed to go down like this. (moves away from the wall) Nobody saw you coming. I figured this for Angel's big day. But I thought he was here to *stop* Acathla, not to bring him forth. Then you two made with the smoochies... now he's a creep again. Now, what are you gonna do? W-what are you prepared to do?Drusilla finds out how to open Acathla - using Angel's blood. But if he was destined to *stop* Acathla, why would it be his blood that's the key?
Angelus: Blood. Of course. The blood on my hands must be my own. I am the key that will open up the door. My blood. My life. (considers) Okay. Kill him. (turns to go) [ ... ]Angelus performs the ritual and opens Acathla:Whistler: (takes a swig and looks back at Buffy) Angel's the key. (closes the fridge) His blood will open the door to Hell. Acathla opens his big mouth, creates a vortex. Then only Angel's blood will close it. One blow will send 'em both back to Hell. But I strongly suggest that you get there before that happens, 'cause the faster you kill Angel, the easier it's gonna be on you.
Angelus: Acathla... Mundatus sum... pro te necavi. Sanguinem meum... pro te effundam... (steps slowly toward Acathla) quo me dignum... esse demonstrem.SEASON 3:Translation: Acathla... I am cleansed... here before you. My blood... flowing before you... (steps slowly toward Acathla) makes me worthy... as I demonstrate. [ ... ]
Angelus: Now, Acathla...
Cut to Angelus. Drusilla hands him a knife.
Angelus: You will be free.
He draws the blade across the palm of his hand and winces in pain, but doesn't take his stare off of the demon. He drops the knife.
Angelus: And so will we all.
- UNNAMED by Aurelius ("Never Kill A Boy On The First Date") - Written by a vampire and talking about his Order and their progress.
- The Pergamum Codex by UNKNOWN ("Out of Mind, Out of Sight, aka. Invisible Girl") - Lost in the 15th century, and returned to Giles by Angel. Has the most complete prophecies concerning the Slayer
- The Tiberius Manifesto by UNKNOWN ("Out of Mind, Out of Sight, aka. Invisible Girl") - Nothing known, although presumably written by Tiberius.
- The Black Chronicles by UNKNOWN ("Prophecy Girl") - Nothing known.
SEASON 2:
- UNKNOWN by Josephus Du Lac ("What's My Line Pt. 1") - Du Lac was both a mathematician and a theologian, and was exiled from the Vatican - presumably for not keeping with doctrine. He was buried in Sunnydale. His book is said to contain rituals and spells that reap unspeakable evils - one of which restores a sick and weak vampire to full strength. However, it was written in archaic Latin so nobody but the sect members could understand it. The Du La Cross was used to understand certain mystical texts, to decipher hidden meanings and so on - a decoder ring. All but one cross were destroyed by Du Lac because he feared the work might get into the wrong hands. The one remainign cross was buried with him. Both the book and the cross were in the possession of Spike at the time of "What's My Line Pt 2." The book was presumably destroyed in the fire that nearly killed Spike.
- THE RITUALS OF THE UNDEAD by UNKOWN ("Passion") - I *assume* that this is what the book is called: "By the way, you do know that the transliteration annals for the ritual of the undead were lost. Without the annals, the surviving text is gibberish. " The spells performed by the Romana gypsies were evidently recorded in various texts - which cannot be deciphered without a code book of some kind. This book was lost - but Janna translated the Romanian liturgy into English using a computer program, by sampling the text randomly. The result was a translated "Ritual of Restoration". This is mentioned in this section, because of Angel's importance in many of the prophecies concerning Buffy - and also because the gypsies may well have recorded some prophecies in these lost annals.
Some of the text from the book: "Nici mort, nici de-al fiintei, Te invoc, spirit al trecerii. Reda trupului ce separa omul de animal!" ("Neither dead, nor of the living, I invoke you, spirit of the passing. Return to the body what distinguishes Man from the beast!") "Asa sa fie." ("So it shall be.") "Utrespur aceastui." ("Restore this one.")
And some of Willow's attempts: "Quod perditum est, invenietur." ("What is lost, return".) ("Not dead nor not of the living. Spirits of the interregnum I call..."). ("Let him know the pain of humanity, gods. Reach your wizened hands to me. Give me the sword...") [ ...]
Willow: Te implor, Doamne, nu ignora aceasta rugaminte.SEASON 3:
Translation: I implore you, Lord, do not ignore this request.Willow: Nici mort, nici al fiintei...
Translation: Neither dead, nor of the living...Willow: Lasa orbita sa fie vasul care-i va transporta, sufletul la el.
Translation: Let this Orb be the vessel that will carry his soul to him.Willow: Asa sa fie! Asa sa fie! Acum!
Translation: So it shall be! So it shall be! Now!Willow: Acum!
Translation: Now!
