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buffyversetop5The First Slayer was always a point of fascination for me on the series because of her established link to the past. The show gave us so little information about the girls that came before Buffy or even what slayers were by nature until the Primtive's introduction in "Restless." Each of these fics offer different interpretations of who she might have been, how she was created, and what role her creator(s) had in her existance.
1. Hiywan's Story by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
stormwreath
First Slayer & OCs, PG-13, pre-series
Summary: "I have no speech. No name. I live in the action of death. The blood-cry, the penetrating wound. I am destruction. Absolute. Alone."
Hiywan's Story gives the First Slayer back her voice, and allows us to hear her story in her own words for the first time.
Review: What's so incredible about this fic is stormwreath's dedication to its internal continuity. This carefully researched story set during the Stone Age is a lesson in how compelling world building and OCs can be in skilled hands. Hiywan's struggle to find her place in society, navigate it's rigid social structure, and make difficult moral choices beautifully fleshes out a character that was treated as more of a symbol on the show than a living, breathing woman with struggles and obstacles.
2. Desert Dwellers bywisdomeagle
First Slayer/Illyria, PG-13, pre-series
Summary: Always arising, and falling forever, You I worship.
Review: Whoa. Beautiful, lyrical, original. This ficlet blew my mind with the implications it presents - that Illyria had a hand in the Slayer line. wisdomeagle takes an outlandish concepts and writes it so tightly and convincingly that it's hard not to accept this interpretation as canon. She was the Shaper of Things. Why not shape the Slayer?
3. Thusia: The First Slayer byantennapedia
First Slayer, Watchers, Apollo and Artemis
Summary: The origin of the Watchers, according to Watchers of the 20th century.
Review: This fic has a wonderful premise. antennapedia takes the Slayer mythos out of the Buffyverse and places it into a different, but very familiar canon - the Greek pantheon. This reframing of the origins made a lot of sense to me given the Council's British ties. The whitewashing of the Slayer's start in Africa (or mezolithic California?) for ancient Greece speaks much to the imperialist attitudes that we only see glimpses of through Travers and other Council cronies.
4. Chosen One by S.A.
First Slayer & mages, PG-13, pre-series
Summary: She was pulled from the aether, given form, and named Slayer.
Review: What I love so much about this piece is the Slayer's search for identity. She doesn't know who she is or where she came from, only that she has a purpose, which she singe-handedly carries out. Her struggle to understand parallels Buffy's questions in S5 (particularly "Intervention") and drives home the uncertainty of a slayer's life. The ending of this fic is also simply magnificent.
5. The Nature of Things by Nostalgia
First Slayer, PG-13, pre-series
Summary: The origin of the species - a Slayer made of woman.
Review: Up until S7 when the idea of female guardians were introduced, the Slayer was always portrayed as being the handmaiden and creation of men, but this story turns that notion on its head. The wonderfully characterized medicine woman of this story reveals the pains of not just her charge, but what it is to create and... to Watch.
1. Hiywan's Story by
stormwreathFirst Slayer & OCs, PG-13, pre-series
Summary: "I have no speech. No name. I live in the action of death. The blood-cry, the penetrating wound. I am destruction. Absolute. Alone."
Hiywan's Story gives the First Slayer back her voice, and allows us to hear her story in her own words for the first time.
Review: What's so incredible about this fic is stormwreath's dedication to its internal continuity. This carefully researched story set during the Stone Age is a lesson in how compelling world building and OCs can be in skilled hands. Hiywan's struggle to find her place in society, navigate it's rigid social structure, and make difficult moral choices beautifully fleshes out a character that was treated as more of a symbol on the show than a living, breathing woman with struggles and obstacles.
2. Desert Dwellers by
wisdomeagleFirst Slayer/Illyria, PG-13, pre-series
Summary: Always arising, and falling forever, You I worship.
Review: Whoa. Beautiful, lyrical, original. This ficlet blew my mind with the implications it presents - that Illyria had a hand in the Slayer line. wisdomeagle takes an outlandish concepts and writes it so tightly and convincingly that it's hard not to accept this interpretation as canon. She was the Shaper of Things. Why not shape the Slayer?
3. Thusia: The First Slayer by
antennapediaFirst Slayer, Watchers, Apollo and Artemis
Summary: The origin of the Watchers, according to Watchers of the 20th century.
Review: This fic has a wonderful premise. antennapedia takes the Slayer mythos out of the Buffyverse and places it into a different, but very familiar canon - the Greek pantheon. This reframing of the origins made a lot of sense to me given the Council's British ties. The whitewashing of the Slayer's start in Africa (or mezolithic California?) for ancient Greece speaks much to the imperialist attitudes that we only see glimpses of through Travers and other Council cronies.
4. Chosen One by S.A.
First Slayer & mages, PG-13, pre-series
Summary: She was pulled from the aether, given form, and named Slayer.
Review: What I love so much about this piece is the Slayer's search for identity. She doesn't know who she is or where she came from, only that she has a purpose, which she singe-handedly carries out. Her struggle to understand parallels Buffy's questions in S5 (particularly "Intervention") and drives home the uncertainty of a slayer's life. The ending of this fic is also simply magnificent.
5. The Nature of Things by Nostalgia
First Slayer, PG-13, pre-series
Summary: The origin of the species - a Slayer made of woman.
Review: Up until S7 when the idea of female guardians were introduced, the Slayer was always portrayed as being the handmaiden and creation of men, but this story turns that notion on its head. The wonderfully characterized medicine woman of this story reveals the pains of not just her charge, but what it is to create and... to Watch.
