Rupert Giles
Rupert Giles is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television
series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head.
CHARACTER HISTORY
Rupert Giles was born in 1954 in London, England. His family has worked within the Council of Watchers for at least three generations; both his father and grandmother, Edna Giles, were also Watchers. Although as a child Giles dreamed of being either "a fighter pilot or a greengrocer", being a Watcher is a calling, much as being a Slayer is, and Rupert's father explained his destiny to him when he was ten-years-old (revealed in "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date"). Although the Scooby Gang later joked that he wore tweed diapers as a child, Rupert was in fact a rebellious youth, rejecting his responsibility as a Watcher and dropping out of his history degree at Oxford University when he was twenty-one. He delved into dark magics and befriended a group of young people who delved into the dark arts for fun or money: Ethan Rayne, Philip Henry, Dierdre Page, Thomas Sutcliff, and Randall. Together, they summoned a particularly grotesque demon called Eyghon, who would eventually murder Randall. Rupert gained the nickname "Ripper" during this time.
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 the episode "Dead Man's Party"). Following the death of Randall, Ethan and the others failed to exorcise Eyghon, and Rupert accepted his destiny of becoming a Watcher. Before becoming a fully-fledged Watcher, Rupert also worked as "the curator of a British museum, maybe the British Museum" as Willow says (cf. "Welcome to the Hellmouth"). According to the noncanon comic Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Giles, his mentor in the Watcher's Council was Archibald "Archie" Lassiter.
SUNNYDALE
At the behest of the Watchers' Council, Giles 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 Harris and Willow Rosenberg, together forming the "core four" of the Scooby Gang. Giles 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" (cf. "Faith, Hope & Trick"). He admits to being technophobic, a fact which often brings him into conflict with technopagan and computer science teacher, Jenny Calendar. However, after Jenny aids him in casting the demon Moloch out of the Internet, the pair reach an understanding and begin a romantic relationship.
In Season Two, Giles' dark side is revealed and his relationship with Jenny deepens. In "The Dark Age", Ethan Rayne comes to Sunnydale to flee the demon Ehygon. Giles shamefully admits to Buffy that he was responsible for summoning the demon in his youth, and is horrified when Jenny becomes possessed by Ehygon. Although Ehygon is defeated, Jenny takes time to cope with her ordeal, retaining distance from Giles in the process. When new Slayer Kendra Young arrives in Sunnydale, Giles shares with her an appreciation for obscure texts, resulting in Buffy nicknaming her the "She-Giles." Giles feels betrayed when Jenny reveals she is actually a member of the Kalderash gypsy clan, sent to keep an eye on Buffy's relationship with the vampire Angel. When Angel loses his soul and murders Jenny, leaving her corpse for Giles to find in his apartment (cf. "Passion"), Giles seeks revenge by burning down Angelus' home. Angelus later kidnaps and tortures him, and Drusilla hypnotises him into thinking she is Jenny, so he will reveal how to awake Acathla. Buffy is forced to kill the evil Angel, and subsequently leaves Sunnydale.
In Season Three, the paternal relationship which Giles feels for Buffy is strengthened significantly. He spends the summer desperately following up any clues of Buffy's whereabouts, and is overjoyed when she finally returns months later. Giles briefly serves as Watcher for Kendra's replacement Slayer, Faith Lehane. The Scoobies are given another disturbing glimpse in Giles' past when, along with every other adult in Sunnydale, he is reverted to a teenager by enchanted band candy supplied by Ethan Rayne. During this time, he indulges in theft and vandalism, and has sex with Buffy's mother Joyce Summers. When Buffy keeps Angel's return from hell a secret from the other Scoobies, Giles feels betrayed by her affection for the man who tortured him and murdered Jenny, but later agrees to help Angel in "Amends."
As Buffy's Cruciamentum approaches, a brutal tradition of the Watchers' Council in which a depowered Slayer is forced to battle a vampire, Giles struggles to cope with the guilt of betraying Buffy's trust. Despite describing the test as "an archaic exercise in cruelty", he secretly strips Buffy of her powers, before eventually coming clean when the vampire she is meant to fight escapes. Buffy is disgusted, but is later moved when Head Watcher Quentin Travers dismisses Giles for having a father's love for her. Giles is fired, and replaced with Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, but continues to act as Buffy's unofficial Watcher. When Buffy briefly finds herself endowed with telepathic powers, she discovers that her mother believes Giles to be "like a stevedore in bed." In a battle with the demonic Mayor of Sunnydale, Giles presses the trigger which destroys Sunnydale High, putting himself out of a job.
In Season Four, Giles must cope with being unemployed, and the growing knowledge that Buffy no longer needs him. He continues a sexual relationship with his old friend Olivia, who Anya tactlessly labels his "orgasm friend." Lacking a sense of purpose, he spends most of his time lounging around his apartment, watching Passions with Spike. He begins to suffer from depression, especially when the Scoobies fail to keep him in the loop regarding Buffy's new boyfriend Riley Finn and his affiliation to the Initiative. When Ethan Rayne casts a spell on Giles which turns him into a Fyarl demon (cf. "A New Man"), he must enlist Spike's help to escape the Initiative and Buffy, who believe him to be demon who murdered Giles. However, Buffy later realises from his eyes and "annoyed" expression that he is in fact Giles, and Ethan is taken into custody by the Initiative. In order to defeat the cyber-demonoid Adam, the four Scoobies cast a spell to combine their strength. Giles provides the "mind", and Buffy is able to defeat Adam.
In Season Five, Giles finds a new purpose as Buffy embraces her destiny as the Slayer. When the owner of The Magic Box is killed by vampires, Giles is convinced by the shop's high profit margins to buy it, hiring Anya as his overtly enthusiastic assistant. Buffy discovers that her sister, Dawn Summers, is actually the Key; mystical energy in human form to protect it from the hell-god Glory. Buffy initially confides only in Giles about Dawn's true nature, and he decides to contact the Watchers' Council for more information about Glory. In "Checkpoint", Quentin Travers blackmails Buffy into obeying the Council's demands, threatening to have Giles deported if she does not comply. Buffy stands up to the Council, informing them that they will release all information concerning Glory to them, and will re-instate Giles as her official Watcher, to be paid retroactively from the month he was fired. Travers reluctantly agrees, and leaves.
As the Scoobies labor to find a way to defeat Glory, Giles brings up the difficult idea of killing Dawn to end her plans. Buffy refuses to listen, and vows to protect Dawn at all costs, much to Giles' anger. Giles admits that he loves Dawn, but that sacrifices have to be made. It is revealed that Glory shares her body with an innocent human male called Ben, and can be killed if Ben dies. In the final battle against Glory, Buffy decides to spare Ben's life, but Giles is less merciful. Explaining that Buffy is a hero and therefore different from them, he suffocates Ben with his bare hands (cf. "The Gift".) Buffy later sacrifices her own life to save Dawn's, saving the world in the process.
Season Six sees Giles reluctantly stepping back to allow Buffy to gain independence. Several months after her death, Giles decides to return to England. On the very day he leaves, Willow, Xander, Anya and Tara resurrect Buffy, and he comes back as soon as he hears of this. Despite being overjoyed to have Buffy back, he is furious at Willow for invoking such dark magic, and angrily dismisses her as "a rank, arrogant amateur." As Buffy begins to over-rely on Giles for financial and emotional support, he decides that his presence is preventing her 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, Tara is killed by a stray bullet as Warren Mears attacks Buffy. 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 (and her own) by destroying the world. Hearing about a dark power rising in Sunnydale, Giles teleports back there, wielding great magical power borrowed from the Devon Coven. As Dark Willow boasts of her indestructability, Giles knocks to the floor with a blast of magic energy, stating "I'd like to test that theory" (cf. "Two to Go"). Knowing that Willow is too strong, he tricks her into draining him of his magics, which bring him near death. It also allows Xander to reason with Willow 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. Giles had removed a few volumes from the headquarters of the Watchers' Council, which is soon afterward destroyed by Caleb, an agent of the First. An injured Watcher named Robson witnessed Giles about to be decapitated by a Bringer, before blacking out. When the Scoobies hear about this, they worry that Giles may have been killed, and that the First is merely impersonating him. They are relieved, however, when they manage to tackle him to the ground, proving he is corporeal and therefore not the First. Giles later loses Buffy's trust somewhat when he takes part in a scheme with Robin Wood to kill Spike (cf. "Lies My Parents Told Me"), with Buffy telling him, "I've think you've taught me everything I need to know."
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. He also takes Andrew Wells under his wing, training him to be a Watcher. In "Damage", Andrew claims to be "faster, stronger and 82% more manly" as a result of Giles' mentoring.
POST SUNNYDALE
In Season Eight, the Scooby Gang has expanded into a global organisation, training approximately five hundred Slayers spread over ten squads. Giles is head of the Slayer operations in England, parallel with Andrew's operations in Italy and Buffy and Xander's in Scotland, and keeps close contact with Xander, and Andrew discussing issues. He is set to appear in the next season 8 arc: No Future For You.
Shortly after Anthony Stewart Head's departure from the series, there was talk of a spin-off series 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."
According to Joss Whedon's commentary for the Angel episode "A Hole in the World", Giles was originally supposed to appear in that episode. Whedon needed a character who Spike and Angel (and the audience) would absolutely believe was telling the truth when he explained that there was no way to save Fred. When it proved too expensive to fly Anthony Stewart Head over to Los Angeles, Whedon created the character of Drogyn instead, who was physically unable to lie.
Powers and abilities
Giles has immense knowledge of demonology and Slayer combat (including at least a theoretical knowledge of jujutsu and aikido, but excelling at the art of fencing), 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 Rosenberg or Amy Madison). Giles is fluent in several languages, including Latin, ancient Greek, German (as seen in the episode "Gingerbread"), Sumerian (see the episode "Primeval"), Japanese (cf. "Checkpoint"), and possibly Gaelic (cf. "Fear, Itself"), but weak in Mandarin and Cantonese (cf. "First Date").
Giles was briefly transformed into a Fyarl demon in the episode "A New Man." In that form, he had superhuman strength and resistance to injury, and could shoot a powerful binding mucus from his nose. Giles 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. He has also shown moderate skill in hand-to-hand combat, as well as various melee weapons.
While his demeanor is typically mild and polite, Giles is not above using raw violence to solve a problem, physically threatening Principal Snyder into readmitting Buffy to school after her expulsion, pummeling Angelus senseless with a baseball bat and then attempting to set him on fire upon discovering that he had killed Jenny Calendar, and suffocating Ben, Glory's human host, with his bare hands. Typically however, Giles' calm demeanor and professionalism offer him a detached state of authority even in the face of violent demons, as demonstrated in his confrontation with a violent demon in "The Long Way Home".
Relationships
ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS
PATERNAL RELATIONSHIPS
The episode "Grave" makes reference to Giles' parental role in the lives of Buffy, Willow and Anya. After Giles comes to stop the havoc Dark Willow is wreaking and Buffy and Anya call his name in surprise, Willow snidely remarks "Uh-oh, daddy's home! I'm in wicked trouble now."
OTHER RELATIONSHIPS