Spikeian musings
Aug. 10th, 2010 03:16 pmThe other day I was chatting about Spike (as one does) with
diamondtook862. Who is, incidentally, writing an S6 Spuffy AU, Best Intentions, in which some changes are made and they, ah, don't actually help all that much. It's an antidote to the sappier S6 fix-it fics, and DT has some very specific and very interesting places she's planning to go with it. I recommend!
Anyway. In the course of the chat I found I'd summed up my ideas about Spike's soul quest:
The AR triggers Spike's soul quest because he disappoints and shocks himself by breaking his own ironclad rule, which says that he never hurts Buffy, not really. We may see his verbal jabs and his nagging for sex as harmful, but he doesn't. It's not until the AR that he so shocks himself with the results of his own behavior that he's willing to get a soul to make it right.
I think that epiphany is key to his journey: the realization that even he is dissatisfied with his evil nature. I'm a really hard sell on fic that tries to send him questing for any lesser reason.
Anyway. In the course of the chat I found I'd summed up my ideas about Spike's soul quest:
The AR triggers Spike's soul quest because he disappoints and shocks himself by breaking his own ironclad rule, which says that he never hurts Buffy, not really. We may see his verbal jabs and his nagging for sex as harmful, but he doesn't. It's not until the AR that he so shocks himself with the results of his own behavior that he's willing to get a soul to make it right.
I think that epiphany is key to his journey: the realization that even he is dissatisfied with his evil nature. I'm a really hard sell on fic that tries to send him questing for any lesser reason.