The Slayer's Scythe
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"It is not for thee. It is for her alone to wield."


Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Seven:
In 2003, the line of Slayers was altered, and their lives and fates were saved by a scythe. The "Slayer Scythe" is a metal weapon somewhat resembling a lachaber axe, but one end is fixed with a long wooden stake. Buffy finds this weapon underneath an old Vineyard, which was previously a monastary, and before that a Pagan Temple. It was being kept from her by Caleb, an agent of the First Evil, and The Bringers aka Harbingers of Death. They are unable to take the Scythe from the stone it is embedded in even with super powers, and modern tools. Buffy, however removes it with no problem. The assumed reasoning for this is that the Scythe is a mystical weapon meant only for the Slayer and is undoubtedly protected against evil. Upon finding this weapon, Buffy realizes an instantaneous increase in ability to fight Caleb and natural skill wielding the weapon, due to the added strength the Scythe provides. She, and Faith both note a sense of knowing it's "theirs." Others don't feel this sense of power or ownership and correctly assume that it is a "Slayer thing." In their research Willow and Giles find that the scythe is represented in writing by what appears to be an m follows by a question mark. Giles remarks that it is actually the international phonetics alphabet symbol for glottal stop. He adds that hieroglyphs stand for sets of consonants, and that "M" plus glottal stop is represented by a picture that's commonly thought to symbolize a sickle or a scythe. He deducts that since the scythe is a symbol of death, the best way to find the source of the Scythe would be to find out where the former occupants of the Pagan Temple kept their dead. Buffy goes to the tomb Giles directs her to and inside she finds a very old woman. She tells Buffy that there were once many of them, but now she is the only one left, and that they are The Guardians. They created the Scythe in secrecy to be used for good by the Slayer, and hid the weapon from the Shadow Men, whom created the Slayer, and later became the Watchers. The Scythe was used by a Slayer to kill the last pure demon on Earth in what would later become Sunnydale, California. It was put into the stone and remained hidden there until Buffy found it. Caleb shows up and snaps the neck of the last Guardian, killing her. He and Buffy fight and she cuts him in half with the scythe, finally killing him. The following day, there is to be a battle against the First Evil which they are not sure they can win until Buffy has a revelation. Knowing that the Scythe contains a powerful dose of the Slayer's essence, she asks her best friend Willow, who happens to be one of the most powerful witches in the world to use the Scythe to activate all of the potential Slayers worldwide, including those thay they had been training to be taken into battle. Any girl, no matter what age or location that was born with the potential to be a Slayer was given the power. Buffy, Faith, and new Slayers Rona and Kennedy wielded the Scythe during that battle.

Wolves at the Gates:
The following year, te scythe is recognized as having great power and is stolen by a group of Japanese vampires. They use the power of th scythe coupled with a mystical device that they have created to deactivate a Slayer named Aiko before killing her, and intend to use it to deactivate all of the new Slayers. During the raid on the vampires headquarters in an attempt to take back the weapon, the vampire Toru skewers a new Slayer named Renee through the chest with the stake end. Dracula helps the Slayers in the attack giving them the upper hand and allowing the Slayer Satsu to grab it.

The Future Slayer, Melaka Fray:
In the future, the Scythe is presented to Fray, the first Slayer called in 200 years by the demon who trains her, Urkonn. It not only gives her great power, but is also her only link to the past Slayers seeing as she does not retain the memories, dreams, and instincts of past Slayers like the other girls before her.