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Open Since: 05/13/02

"In Torture, Death And Chaos Does My Power Lie."

(Glory A.K.A. The Beast)

Profile provided by All Things Philosophical on BTVS & ATS

 

When she first teetered in on her high heels, Glory seemed more of a bignuisance than a bigbad. Who could take a shallow, whiney Cordeliaeque brat like her seriously? And Glory pretty much assumed the same thing about Buffy.

I'm not sure how I feel about the biggest evil of all ...manifesting itself as a young woman clad in a tight red dress wearing spike heels, ranting and raving about "me me me I want I want I want." Is it a clever twist on convention, along the lines of Buffy, the small blonde valley girl who nonetheless has super strength, slays vampires, and fights all sorts of evil ...or does it say something about how women are viewed in this society? After all, what could be more vile and worthy of contempt than a prima donna? (Jess M. 8:01 am Oct 25, 2000)

...she's meant to be a dark version of Buffy - attractive blonde in sexy clothes, self centered, super powers, etc. It seems fitting that the big bad would resemble Buffy, since this season is supposed to be about Buffy learning more about herself and her role as a slayer. It reminds me of the way that Darla was used as a mirror image of Buffy in the first part of season one (M. G. Lipscomb, 8:06 am Oct 25, 2000).

But each has found the other rather hard to defeat. Glory--a goddess--is stronger than Buffy, and could kill her if she wanted, but Buffy has the key (or at least Glory correctly assumes this, based on the Slayer's saving the monk who was hiding it). The Key is the method Glory has chosen to escape our physical plane, where she has been exiled. Using the key would throw the universe into chaos and destruction. Is there another way home for Glory? Does she even care? Emotions like guilt, love, and empathy are something humans have, not gods.

Glory is ...not evil as we've seen it before. There's no indication she is out to "get" humankind. She treats us like insects, insignificant. To be swatted if we buzz around her but otherwise not worthy of the time it would take to destroy us. She doesn't want to wipe us out and rule here, she wants out of here altogether. What that means for us is irrelevant to her. Will getting the Key be a good thing for the rest of us? I doubt it. But she really doesn't care one way or the other (Narrator, Jan 24 8:31 2001).

"I am great and I am beautiful, and when I walk into a room all eyes turn to me, because my name is a holy name..."

"The god of what? Bad home perms? ...I just had no idea gods were such prancing lightweights. Mark my words, the Slayer is going to kick your skanky lop-sided ass back to whatever place would take a cheap, whorish, fashion victim ex-god like you." --Spike, Intervention

In the meantime, Glory is making the most of Earth's retail outlets, and her demonic minions (Xander calls them "hobbits with leprosy") do her bidding and offer syncophantic terms of deference at the drop of a hat. But she is trapped in the body of a human man, Ben, and her powers are limited. She uses the tricks of the relatively powerless to get what she wants--deception, sexual manipulation, and threats of violence.

More deeds of the magnificently-scented Glorificus:

• Well, there's the brain-sucking thing.
• sends Lei Ach demons to kill the slayer
• tortures a monk and later skewers a knight's hands above his head with his own sword to get them to revealing the location of the key.
• aggravates minion Jinx's knife wound and then complains about her own pain at Ben's betrayal for stabbing Jinx in the first place.
• tortures Spike for information about the key.
• brain sucks Tara, driving her into insanity
• slaughters the Knights of Byzantium and claims the Key
• offers Ben a bribe so he will allow her to use the Key

Self-important arrogance proved to be Glory's undoing. She should have gotten rid of that pesky slayer and her friends a lot sooner. But she didn't consider them a real threat. Or maybe it was that nagging pinch of humanity that stopped her. Maybe not. But Ben's human mortality and wavering conscience never did her much good.

Profile provided by Masquerade of