Talk:First Evil

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Something else which suggests that Joyce during "Conversations with Dead People" was *not* the first is also the radically different m.o. Every other time, the First appears rather effortlessly. But in this episode, Joyce didn't appear until Dawn performed that "exorcism". There was that whole other malevolent entity who was apparently trying to prevent Joyce from appearing. It is much more likely that *that* being was somehow acting on behalf of the first in order to stop Joyce.

The other appearances of Joyce that season are more in line with the First's m.o., especially when Joyce was saying that "evil isn't coming. evil is always here." etc. But those appearances are also different in that Buffy was dreaming. 70.88.100.58 12:49, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

There is absolutely no evidence that the First appeared as Joyce Summers during "Conversations with Dead People". For one thing, how can The First be in two places at once? How can The First be talking to Willow and Dawn at the same time? "Joyce" might have really been herself, or some rep of The Powers That Be.

The First can be anywhere it wants. The First is like an omnipresent being it is everywhere. So it can appear in two places at once.--NeilEvans 00:05, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

"The First is the only "Big Bad" that is not killed off in the series (Besides Spike and Drusilla, who escaped Sunnydale because of an unlikely teamup with Buffy) because, as the essence of evil, it is an incorporeal being that cannot be physically harmed or destroyed."

Not true. Dark Willow is easily the big bad of Season 6 and she's still alive and kicking (or at least her true self) Chanlord 00:05, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

My edit summary meant to say: The First Evil is the official name. I have never watched an episode where any character referred to The First without the The. Steri 04:48, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

What's the source for the First's true form having to heads?.--Gonzalo84 19:00, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

So... if the First took Lilah's form so Wesley would get Faith out so they would oppose the Beast and JasDelia, then why make Caleb hire Debbie (the female convict) to kill Faith?--Gonzalo84 22:48, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

The could always change its mind, it was never psychic. E.g. when it tried to get Angel to give into killing Buffy, but ehrn that failed just made him kill himself.

Although it's completely unclear if Lilah was Wesley's imagination or if she was The First, I'm guessing the writers had the former in mind. On a side note, I believe The First was not telling the truth when it claims that it brought Angel back Hell, if the First could bring back people from Hell, it would do so more often I believe that both his coming back and the snow was a result of the TPTB (and more specifically, Jasmine). -- Paxomen 17:57, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, we can't know the writer's intentions on the Lilah/Darla thing, but we can make our own assumptions based on the First's typical Modus Operandi (and there are similarities between the Angel appearances and the First's appearance in Amends). What I'm wondering about is this: why do people think that the season 7 appearance by Joyce is the First? The First doesn't typically do any of the things that Joyce does upon this appearance (e.g. smash things up, come up with cryptic messages like 'She won't choose you'). -- Jayunderscorezero

That was damn scary! Yeah, I'm always a bit puzzled by that? What the Hell was going on what was that demony-monster thing? -- Paxomen 11:15, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

BTW, shouldn't this article maybe be called First_Evil_(Buffyverse)? I'm not sure of it, but I'd guess there are a lot of religious and philosophical "first evils" that could be mixed up with this one. It would certainly avoid unnecessary confusion and be more homogenous. --TheOtherStephan 22:57, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

OtherStephan, you must decide what is right :) Over at Wikipedia there was recently a discussion about naming conventions and conveniance vs uniformity. Final consensus was that all episodes keep their suffixes (Buffy episode)/(Angel episode), but that other articles only receive their suffix (Buffyverse) when it is neccessary to distinguish them from non-Buffyverse-related topics.--Paxomen 01:07, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

In the Character History section reads the following, "Buffy's death and subsequent resurrection at the beginning of season 6 caused an irregularity, or glitch, in the Slayer line [causing two Slayers to exist at the same time] that the First realizes and uses to eliminate the Slayer line forever. The purpose of this effort is to set up a situation where the First's army outnumbers the humans on Earth and over runs it so that it can gain a corporeal form. This is the premise of season 7."

That is actually incorrect and this passage should be corrected. In the episode "Showtime," Giles and Anya learn that it's not the existence of 2 Slayers (that has been the case since Faith arrived in Season 3,) but the fact that Buffy had been resurrected by Willow, Xander, and Anya that there is a "glitch" that the First Evil seizes upon. Anya and Giles actually have a discussion about this, and once Anya realizes her blame, she states that perhaps it would have been better had Buffy remained dead.68.41.153.198 (talk) 22:15, 26 June 2010 (UTC)

The First on Angel?

I removed the Angel episodes from the "Appearances" list, and the names of Julie Benz and Stephanie Romanov from the names of the actors who played the First Evil. The idea of Lilah/Darla being the First in "Salvage" and "Inside Out" is complete fan speculation, and not supported anywhere in the show. Sure, it's possible that Lilah was actually the First and planted the idea of breaking out Faith into Wesley's mind, but the logic is somewhat tortured considering the attack in the prison yard, the fact that there was now one more slayer out there to help Buffy in Sunnydale, etc. It's much more likely that "Lilah" was Wesley's hallucination and that he came up with the idea to break out Faith himself.

At no point does Jasmine ever mention that the First had tried to foil her plans. Steve DeKnight never says anything about the First in his "Inside Out" commentary, and so, until one of the writers mentions that there was a connection, this will always be an unsupported fan theory. --SHODAN 14:07, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Besides, if Lilah was the First and wanted to stop Jasmine, why bring in Faith at all? Why not just say, "Cordelia isn't really herself, watch out for her"? --SHODAN 15:26, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Okay, good call on removing those from the official list of appearances. I personally believe that the Darla appearance at least was a genuine appearance by the First, however it is indeed not right to put what is ultimately speculation on the list of appearances. I do hope that no-one decides to remove the section on the speculation though. Jayunderscorezero 14:13, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I think the speculation should stay there, too. I personally think that neither of those appearances were the First, but enough fans hold the opposing view that it's worthy of being mentioned within the text. -- SHODAN 15:47, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

The problem remains that in "Salvage" (4x13) before Lilah appears to Wesley in the basement, Faith gets attacked in prison with the same type of ritualistic knife used by the Harbingers of the First Evil. Although the logic of why the First would want Faith released can be debated, there's no doubt that the knife was used on purpose. Everything on screen is the responsibility of the director, so it's extremely unlikely that the same type of prop knife used frequently on a different show would appear in a prison hit, which would normally be accomplised with a shiv or some makeshift weapon. Furthermore the camera gets a good shot at the knife, so viewers of both series would connect the Potential killings with Faith's attempted assassination. As for why the producers didn't take credit for tying the shows together in this episode, it's pretty sloppily done, and producers rarely take credit for failure.--hypercritic 20:37, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

As for Darla's appearance in "Inside Out" (4x17), after Cordelia slices the girl's throat, Conner sees his mother's corpse. The First Evil has never shown the ability to alter someone's perception this way--it makes dead people appear, it doesn't make people seem to be other people.--hypercritic 20:23, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

What are you talking about? It made Jonathan look all dead and corpsey. The CAN make the dead person look however it wants. The person just has to be dead. SO I don't get what you mean. --69.110.176.161

In "Inside Out", there was an actual corpse there before Connor saw Darla. In no other instance does the First change the appearance of a real, physical corpse. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.135.40.235 (talk) 23:18, 8 May 2012 (UTC)

And it was able to look like Joyce Summers in Conversations with Dead People to scare Dawn --12.201.200.18

I think that Hypercritic meant that the First has never changed the appearance of other people's bodies. The dead girl's corpse appeared to Connor to be Darla's corpse for a moment. -- Noneofyourbusiness 22:27, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

I don't think the section on Lilah and Darla can be salvaged. As the sign says, it violates Wikipedia policy on original research and verifiablity, and also that on Weasel Words to boot. It's an unsourced paragraph about what a vaguely-defined set of unnamed fans have apparently subjectively speculated on. It's no more notable than any of the thousands of other interpretations "some fans" might have. Not appropriate for an encyclopaedia.--Nalvage 18:25, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

I've removed the paragraph about the First appearing in Angel. It's pure speculation, which doesn't belong here. CPitt76 03:55, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

This is a tough one, in one side we have Faith attacked by a bringers knife, we never understand why the bringers use that type of knife, then we have Wesley haunted by Lilah, just like the first evil style, then Wesley got out Faith from jail, see how this is a big mess, clearly we can think the first evil tries to delay Wesley turned him crazy, just like the first evil did with Willow, Dawn and Chloe, then Darla appears to Connor, first time in a dead way, then in a glory angelic style just like Joyce(interesting note, Dawn and Connor were always outcasters of the gang, mystical beings, and both were visit by their mothers) now the question is, was Darla the first? why the weird reaction of Cordelia/Jasmine after saw her, like she tries to say she isnt your mother, its the first evil (speculation and open to theories) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.191.195.44 (talk) 20:46, 16 September 2013 (UTC)

Picture

Could we have a picture somewhere down the page of the First's corporeal form, the one it took in the last episode of a giant serpent thing?

What? I don't remember The First ever taking corporeal form, and especially not a giant serpent thing.--NeilEvans 16:45, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

Oh you know. In the last episode after he was disguised as the obnoxious principal.

Anon

The First was never the principal.--NeilEvans 16:10, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Really, are you sure? Because in the last episode he definately disguised himself as someone who did a big speech at this event at the school (I can't actually remember what as it's some years since I watched it) and then the sun set and he turned into a giant serpent and there was a big battle between the vampires and the Slayers. There actually used to be a picture of him in that form in the article.

Anon

Ok you mean The Mayor from season three and the episode you are refering to is Graduation Day, Part Two.--NeilEvans 16:55, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

YES, that's the one. Cheers.

Anon

Upon observing the two articles I realise my mistake. The Mayor was in fact the demon Olvikan, not the First and Graduation Day wasn't actually the last episode. Oh, well I do look a pillock, don't I?/! Anyway, on the subject of pictures, don't you think we should have a picture of the First in the demonic form it mentions in the article?

Anon

I've looked a the article and the demonic form the article refers to is already in the infobox on the right of the article at the top of the page.--NeilEvans 19:04, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Are you sure? The one the article describes as having long, talon-like fingers and large horns? The one in the infobox at the top of the page just looks like pure energy to me.

Anon

yes that's definately the only form The First took apart from when is was assuming the forms of dead people.--NeilEvans 01:03, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Very well then. I'm sure you know what you're talking about more than I do.

The First's claims

"The First Evil is the source and embodiment of all that is evil."

Should that be changed to 'The First Evil claims itself to be the source and embodiment of all that is evil." After all, it was the First that made that claim to begin with. Buffy, Giles and the rest never actually verified that via independent sources.

I'm a little reluctant to take anything said by an evil being at face value. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.180.35.75 (talk) 13:32, 28 December 2006 (UTC).

Conversations with Dead People

There's already debate about who actually appears to Dawn in Conversations with Dead People. This always confused me, but personally I believe it was the spirit of Joyce Summers. One reason is a demon/evil spirit was able to overpower her until Dawn performed the exorcism. The spirit was surrounded by a white light and dressed in a white gown(if I remember right), something usually associated with good spirits. There a later episode where she visits Buffy in a dream and gives the cryptic message "You won't win." or "You can't defeat evil." Plus, I just get the feeling that each dead person was supposed to be different. Also I think alot of people are trying to write every appearence of a deceased character off as the First. I don't believe in anyway that Darlas spirit was the first. I think it was the spirit of Darla trying to prevent her son from becoming evil like her. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.63.203.148 (talk) 10:04, 8 March 2007 (UTC).

I suppose that there is plenty of room for interpretation when it comes to that scene. However, I think that it is likely that the first is strongly involved in this situation. I don't believe it was the first specificially though. We know that the first cannot manipulate matter. However in this episode, the first writes on walls and moves furniture and cuts dawn. I think that it is far more likely that there are other spirits or forces that are being used by the first to torture dawn.

The spirit of joyce that appears to Dawn is likely the first. It seems that way because at the same time that this scene is happening, the first is also trying to shake buffy/spike/willow up. The timing is too convenient. Also, in the bible and other literature, we are told that the devil or demons often appear as 'angels of light'. Undoubtedly the writers know about this concept and are repeating it here. Jpittman 15:00, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm beginning to believe that this scene was just poor writing. The "Buffy will not choose you" thing is mentioned in the next few episodes and then disappears. I think it was subplot that became harder to work into the show, so they left fans to assume it was the First playing more mind games. It says that the woman who wrote the Dawn sequence reveals it's the First on DVD Commentary, but they also said Amebr Benson was unavailable. Amber Benson revealed in an interview she thought having the First appear as Tara was too cruel. Or something to that extent.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.63.201.84 (talk • contribs)

There's some ambiguity in the episode, but both Joss and Jane Espenson have since commented that it was meant to be the First. --Nalvage 11:33, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm inclined to agree that it was a case of bad and inconsistent writing. The apparition of Joyce that appears in Conversations With Dead People is completely different from the other manifestations of The First Evil. For one, it displays telekinetic poltergeist-esque abilities that The First is never demonstrated to have. The images and manifestations occurring throughout the house also seem inconsistent with the appearances of The First. There's also no indication that The First is in any way capable of predicting the future, which is what "Joyce" seems to do (Buffy does in fact not choose Dawn). I chalk it up to the writers canning a plot at the last minute and electing to explain away "Joyce" as The First, when she wasn't originally meant to be.Proserpine 23:13, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

When does Buffy choose/not choose Dawn? I don't get what that line is referring to.

Buffy wont choose you, she will be against you, this situation appears in different episodes, in "Potential", Dawn believed she was a potential slayer, but she wont, in "Empty places" Buffy was kicked out of her house by the potentials, Faith, Xander, Willow, Giles and even Dawn, in "End of days" Xander took Dawn out of town by the orders of Buffy, in the whole perspective Buffy was againtst everyone in the whole season, because she had to become a leader, a general of the army, she was to be tough and strong and with the right to take hard choices.

Folks said that the first evil wasnt Joyce, when cleary she was, to a lot of people the words of a mother, are the most powerful words in the world and the most trust worthy, then why not the first evil cant take the form of Joyce and Darla, this being is about manipulation and hurt people in the most effective way, which is the mind, in that way Dawn believed in the words of her mother, the First wanted to break the bond of trust between Buffy and Dawn, now another theory that came to mind is that in the original script of season seven, probably Dawn was cast as a potential slayer, in that way Buffy will be against Dawn, because her life might be full of pain and dead. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.191.195.231 (talk) 00:32, 17 September 2013 (UTC)

Bring on the Night

The list of appearances currently states that the First took the form of Joyce Summers in Bring on the Night. Is there any confirmation of the First having been "Joyce" in Buffy's dream. I tend to doubt it. If there is some official reason to believe it was the First, could someone please give it? -- Noneofyourbusiness 18:18, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm of the school that doesn't think -any- of the appearances of "Joyce" are The First, but if any of them are I think it's the one in CWDP. No evidence I can think of suggests it was The First in BOTN.Proserpine 23:13, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

Intro

Do we really need to list every single person that The First appeared as? Here's my idea for a revised intro:

"The First Evil is an incorporeal entity that can assume the form of any dead person, including vampires and dead persons who have been resurrected. Because of this it appears in various forms over the course of the series depending on who it is appearing to, but among its more common forms are Buffy Summers, Warren Mears and Spike. The First Evil also appears on limited occasions as its "true" form of a large, bestial demon."

Just a thought, because the current intro is kinda ugly. The Clawed One (talk) 15:41, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

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Reasoning

Why should it be noted that this exchange takes place? Maybe an explanation of the reason should be put in the article. As it stands I see no relevance.

Willow: (to Buffy) Are you sure this thing called itself the First?

Buffy: Pretty sure. It claimed to be the original evil, the one that came before anything else.

Anya: (looking up over her reading glasses) Please, how many times have I heard that line in my demon days? "I'm so rotten, they don't even have a word for it. I'm bad. Baddy bad bad bad. Does it make you horny?" (everyone stares at her) "Or terrified. Whatever."

And thanks to that words, The first evil sliced Anya at the end, remember the first evil is always there, it even use the voice of Buffy in the body of Chloe, it even show a death woman to Caleb, the first evil cant be corporeal, but it can enter in everyone, like it claims in touched and end of days, in some way Caleb merge with the first evil was Caleb/the first evil. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.191.195.44 (talk) 20:37, 16 September 2013 (UTC)