I don't think it would have worked for Dawn to die, that sort of went against the thematic arc of the story, not to mention the story the writer was trying to convey. All the metaphors went against that.
I mean, the whole point of being the slayer is not to just "save the world" no matter the cost (which is the Watcher's world-view and clearly Pop Matters), but to save "innocent life" from demonic hordes. They repeat this constantly. That Buffy must not take a human life, and must save innocent life. And it is made clear that of everyone gathered in the group, Dawn is the most innocent. She's the human life that Buffy has been charged to protect.
It's not the same as Angel in S2 or Faith in S3 -- and even in those instances, Buffy goes out of her way to find other options. In fact, she doesn't kill Faith in S3, she feeds her own blood to Angel. And in S2, she sends Angelus to hell after he opened the portal, but tries frantically to stop him from opening it and prevent it. Also in both instances, they are directly responsible for bringing about the chaos. Neither are innocents. Both are actually sadistic killers.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2016-08-14 12:56 pm (UTC)I don't think it would have worked for Dawn to die, that sort of went against the thematic arc of the story, not to mention the story the writer was trying to convey. All the metaphors went against that.
I mean, the whole point of being the slayer is not to just "save the world" no matter the cost (which is the Watcher's world-view and clearly Pop Matters), but to save "innocent life" from demonic hordes. They repeat this constantly. That Buffy must not take a human life, and must save innocent life. And it is made clear that of everyone gathered in the group, Dawn is the most innocent. She's the human life that Buffy has been charged to protect.
It's not the same as Angel in S2 or Faith in S3 -- and even in those instances, Buffy goes out of her way to find other options. In fact, she doesn't kill Faith in S3, she feeds her own blood to Angel. And in S2, she sends Angelus to hell after he opened the portal, but tries frantically to stop him from opening it and prevent it. Also in both instances, they are directly responsible for bringing about the chaos. Neither are innocents. Both are actually sadistic killers.