Last Gleaming
Encyclopedia
"Last Gleaming" is the eighth and final storyarc of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight is a comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics. The series serves as a canonical continuation of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and follows the events of that show's final televised season. It is produced by Joss Whedon, who wrote the...

series of comic books, based upon the television series of the same name, and is written by franchise creator Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...

 and Season Eight editor Scott Allie
Scott Allie
Scott Allie is an American comics writer and editor, currently the Senior Managing Editor for Dark Horse Comics.-Career:Scott Allie is the author of The Devil's Footprints and the editor of the Hellboy, Conan, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Serenity comics, as well as the founding editor of Dark...

. The story follows Buffy
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...

's attempt to destroy the source of all magic in order to defeat the apocalypse waged by Twilight.

Plot

Following the events of Twilight
Twilight (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
"Twilight" is the seventh story arc of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight series of comic books, based upon the television series of the same name, and is written by novelist and comic book writer Brad Meltzer...

, Spike arrives with his crew to assist Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...

' battle against Angel. He explains to her that the Twilight realm, created from Buffy and Angel's lovemaking, demands the Seed, the source of all magic found deep in the Hellmouth below the fallen Sunnydale
Sunnydale
Sunnydale, California is the fictional setting for the U.S. television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California city, as well as a narrative parody of the all-too-serene towns typical in traditional horror...

. Angel is possessed by Twilight and tries to retrieve the Seed, while Earth is invaded by demons from other dimensions. The Scooby Gang believe the best course of action is to protect the Seed, as destroying the Seed or handing it over would return the demons to their respective dimensions but also rid the world of all magic. As Slayers from all over the world engage in a mass battle against the demon armies, Buffy and a select few reach down into the Hellmouth and encounter the Master who is guarding the Seed: a red, egg-shaped ball of energy. Willow confiscates the Seed from the Master and feels more powerful and more connected to the universe than ever; now able to destroy hordes of extra-dimensional demons above ground with ease.

Underground, Angel arrives and exchanges blows with Buffy. Observing the couple's fight from afar, Giles
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. He serves as Buffy Summers' mentor and surrogate father figure...

, realising that Buffy would never kill Angel and is allowing herself to get distracted from destroying the Seed, takes the Scythe from Faith and charges toward the Seed. Angel, seeing what Giles intends to do, snaps his neck. Horrified by the death of her mentor, Buffy grabs the Scythe and uses it to smash the Seed before collapsing to the ground in tears beside Giles, causing all magic on Earth to vanish. All of the world's witches, such as Willow, find themselves completely powerless. Warren Mears
Warren Mears
Warren Mears is a fictional character portrayed by Adam Busch in the American television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as its canonical comic book series continuation.-Television:...

, who had been kept alive by Amy
Amy Madison
Amy Madison is a fictional character, a witch played by Elizabeth Anne Allen in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and by Shay Astar in the Season 8 motion comics. She made appearances in every season of Buffy except Seasons Five .Amy is a witch...

's spell, dies once again. The invading demons are returned to their own dimensions and the Twilight realm is vanquished. Angel is freed from his possession and, suddenly conscious of what he has done, turns catatonic with grief.

Four months after the battle, Buffy is living a quiet and modest lifestyle in San Francisco and is staying at Dawn
Dawn Summers
Dawn Summers is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon and introduced by Marti Noxon and David Fury on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, portrayed by Michelle Trachtenberg. She made her debut in the premiere episode of the show's fifth season, and subsequently appeared in every...

 and Xander
Xander Harris
Alexander LaVelle "Xander" Harris is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as in numerous items in the series Expanded Universe, such as comic books, tie-in novels and video games...

's apartment while waitressing by day and vampire slaying by night. The Slayers are viewed as social pariahs, for which they blame Buffy. Simone, in particular, wishes to kill her. Like other former witches, Willow is struggling with the loss of magic, and feeling powerless, ends her relationship with Kennedy. Finally, after inheriting Giles' estate, Faith takes Angel with her to bring him back on to the righteous path.

Writing

In this arc, Whedon sets up up a number of new paradigms in the Buffy universe for the forthcoming Season Nine comic book series, the ongoing Angel and Faith spin-off series, and the Willow mini-series. Buffy destroying the seed effectively means "No more magic in the sense of not so much entirely convenient magic". According to Whedon, it was his choice to "dim" the world of the show "a little bit. Possibly because that’s how I feel about it, or at least this country in the last 10 years. And I wanted to do a little bit of a reset, where things seem more back down to earth." When Season Eight began, Whedon wanted to make full use of the comic book medium's potentials. For example, he introduced Giant Dawn, which he felt fit the universe's tone and "was the right kind of problem for Dawn to have". Ultimately however, Whedon felt that Buffy was less about the scope of its stories; he describes the show's "mission statement" as “What does this feel like?”, and therefore ultimately decided to take the series back to the "real world". Season Nine will closer resemble the television series, and dwell as it did more on Buffy's interiority and less on the "cavalcade of mythology", as Season Eight did. The change also makes Buffy an underdog again, and no longer an overlord; Whedon comments that fans typically prefer Buffy in that role. Willow's mini-series will further explore Willow's destiny — first pondered in the Fray
Fray
Fray is an eight-issue comic book limited series, a futuristic spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Written by Buffy creator Joss Whedon, the series follows a Slayer named Melaka Fray, a chosen one in a time where vampires are returning to the slums of New York City, and the...

crossover arc "Time of Your Life
Time of Your Life (Buffy comic)
"Time of Your Life" is the fourth story arc that spreads from the sixteenth to the nineteenth issue of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight series of comic books, a continuation of the television series of the same name...

" — amid her sole-minded crusade to retrieve her powers.

In a 2011 interview, Whedon stated that his decision to kill off
Kill off
The killing off of a character is a device in fiction, whereby a major character dies but the story continues. The term, frequently applied to television, film and chronological series, often denotes an untimely or unexpected death motivated by factors beyond the storyline...

 Giles could not be discussed in detail "because ripples from that event" will also be a large part of both Season Nine and Angel and Faith. However, he was able to explain other motivations; he felt that from a writing perspective, Giles' did not work in the comic book medium where he had flourished on the television show. His primary roles — provider of narrative exposition
Exposition (literary technique)
At the beginning of a narrative, the exposition is the author's providing of some background information to the audience about the plot, characters' histories, setting, and theme. Exposition is considered one of four rhetorical modes of discourse, along with argumentation, description, and narration...

, and paternal figure — didn't place well in the comic book format. Whedon killed off Giles where he did so that it might have a greater effect on the coming season, "because [he] wanted to make all this matter".

On the penultimate page of issue forty, a panel shows the face of "a guy in John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

 glasses who looks fairy evil". Whedon has stated that this is a character to be explored in Season Nine. The final line, "Let's go to work", narrated by Buffy, mirrors the last line uttered in the Angel
Angel (TV series)
Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...

series finale. Co-writer Scott Allie
Scott Allie
Scott Allie is an American comics writer and editor, currently the Senior Managing Editor for Dark Horse Comics.-Career:Scott Allie is the author of The Devil's Footprints and the editor of the Hellboy, Conan, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Serenity comics, as well as the founding editor of Dark...

 explained in an interview that the line is the mission statement of both characters. However, he adds that Buffy's use of the line "also means something real different from when Angel said it."

Artwork

When pencilling Giles' demise in Issue #39, Georges Jeanty first had the intention of making the panels show extreme close ups of Angel twisting Giles' neck. However, he opted to parallel Jenny
Jenny Calendar
Jenny Calendar is a fictional character in the fantasy television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . Played by Robia LaMorte, Jenny is the computer teacher at Sunnydale High School...

's death from season two's "Passion." He explains, "I really wanted the impact to come across and for the reader to understand that Giles was being killed here. Drawing such a quick action was tough because, of course, comics don't move, so I had to capture the act as it happens)." He also confirms that the last panel of Buffy, curled on the floor in tears, was foreshadowed in issue #10 "Anywhere but Here
Anywhere but Here (Buffy comic)
"Anywhere but Here" is the tenth issue of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight series of comic books, a continuation from the television series of the same name. It is written by Joss Whedon.-Plot:...

" when Robin presented Buffy and Willow with visions of the past, present, and future.
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