Musings on Twilight (no...not the vampire-lit!)

The Big Bad of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's eighth season made his first appearance in the debut issue of the series. Those ominous floating boots. From that moment my mind was filled with ideas, possibilities, even hopes of who that was. In the issues to follow we were given small clues, wisps of information on this new menace, a symbol of a setting sun, it's followers bearing that same mark. Even a spell book, engraved with insignia of Twilight. It was not until Issue 9, the conclusion of Faith's arc No Future For You that we see the 'ominous boots' make another appearance.Continue Reading...

A meeting between Lt. Molter, and Twilight (it is then confirmed that is his name) takes place atop a strange plateau not unlike the one from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. From this meeting we can decipher many things, actually. The first being that the military is going with any means necessary to eliminate Buffy Summers and all that follow her. They want to rid the world of Slayers. The second is that Twilight aims to end the 'age of magic'. But he does not want to simply fight, he wants to manipulate the players on the chess-board to fight one another. To wage the war for him. Finally, the most important aspect of this meeting was that we got to get a good look at the guy. I feel that it is important to note that he is fully clothed, with not an inch of skin exposed. Does this sound of any 'vampire-alerts'? Or is it just a device to throw us off? Also worth noting, is that he wears a mask that covers his entire head. This suggests that it is a character we know, but that could also be a throw off.


The next meeting is between the man himself, Twilight, and Buffy. After quickly dispatching fellow Slayer Satsu, Twilight takes Buffy for a ride. And ass-kicking ride. All the while giving a few more clues as to who he might be underneath the mask. The first of which being his opening statement, "The Chosen One. Always in pain...and always complaining. Just like a girl." (does he know her?) and, "I know that move Slayer." Referring to Buffy's attempt to slice him up the middle like she did to Season 7's mysoginistic menace, Caleb. Okay okay, hold on right here! There were only a limited number of people present during Buffy's brawl with Caleb in the Egyptian tomb! Angel, Spike, Caleb and Buffy herself. Judging by that alone, we have three suspects to who Twilight might be. And his outfit and mask would make sense if it were Angel/Angelus or Spike, as vampires need protection from the sunlight. We know Caleb is dead, as The First Evil even mentioned to Buffy in Chosen. So I doubt it would be him, it just wouldn't be "big" enough to justify hiding his identity. Moving on, we then learn that he has been monitoring Buffy for some time, "...I watched you and the witch; it seemed that you didn't like flying." After catapulting Buffy through a steeple, and onto a roof he says, "I just hate to see you cry." Yet another thing that alludes to him knowing her. It also sounds like something Angelus would say with his aloof yet menical demeanor. The next except is important:

"One Slayer was all right. But all these girls...the world can't contain them. And they will suffer for that. I'll not kill you now. My first gift is my last. I know that you meant well.
But you have brought about disaster. And it falls to me to avert it. Have you made a difference? Have your Slayers helped change anything in this world? Have they helped you?"

This is what will be an on-going theme for Buffy. Did she do the right thing in sharing her power? The best villains are those that are partly correct. Twilight isn't wrong in thinking this way. He aims to strip her of her moral certainty. Her belief that she is doing the right thing...saving the world. As he does say, Buffy has always believed she is on the right side. But is she? Slayers worldwide are going rogue and joining the ranks of Simone, a slayer gone bad. So it goes both ways, and I think we will see this develop further. Future Slayer Fray even remarks that it was better "when there was only one".

Over the course of the most recent arc, we saw Twilight along with his cohorts Warren (skinless!) and Amy the witch fire a magically embued missile at the Scotland base. Effectively leaving the place in shambles and forcing Xander and Dawn to seek refuge in a nearby forest, later to be rescued, foiling Warren and Amy's plan. Twilight though, seemed unphased by their utter failure to take out Xander and his squad. The last development we have for this plot is the reveal that our own Riley Finn has aligned himself with Twilight! He is their "mole", the "inside man". To me personally, it feels like a retcon. Out of place and out of character for Riley. He is too sweet and too good to ever want to see Buffy killed. Part of Twilight's agenda previously was to have Buffy murdered at the hand of Genevieve Savidge and Roden. We now know that it was Riley who confirmed that Buffy lived to the Big Bad as well as to the military. Could Riley be playing both sides, and really be on Buffy's? Is he also her "legitimate funding" as well? All of this remains to be seen, but either way this ups the ante and adds another layer to this story. If it's true that he has gone to the other side, then Twilight is a mastermind. Funding Buffy, but also trying to manipulate her position in the world so she is targeted by the US Government. I'm very curious to see how this all plays out. Either way, my theory that Riley was Twilight has been staked.