I've got a theory...
So, I've just done a massive sprint-ish power re-read/re-skim of Buffy: Season 8, Issues 1-36.
""Fate of the world"...made sense...when there was only one." -Fray to Buffy-
This is the heart of my theory. Buffy didn't (necessarily) go to the future, but rather to another parallel world. My radical, taking-it-a-step-further guess is that Fray's universe is the one she and Angel created. The one that was "ditched at birth".
Magic and worlds and parallels and prophecies...it's all wrapped up in this "Seed of Wonder". My prediction is that destroying the Seed will upset more than a few cosmic balances. Worlds will hang in the balance. Parallels will collapse and merge and change. People, random bystanders and otherwise, will get sucked into other worlds. Other worlds will get sucked into Earth. Ripples. Ripples all over the damn place.
More than just changing these worlds, pulling demons from some, locking them in others (that Harth will try to play with later). Even more than these types of changes. Shit's gonna get crazy. Someone will have to stop this cataclysmic event before it gets out of control. Someone will have to be the hero. Someone with a lot of power.
Giles speaks of a "totem" that could perhaps stop Buffy and Angel if they got too powerful. Something that might be useful in stopping the destruction. Right next to that panel is a panel of the Scythe...just sitting there. I think the Scythe will be useful in stopping this destructive Seed business and it will end up in Fray's world along with our hero. Someone willing to sacrifice herself for the greater good.
Scott Allie is on record saying that #39 will be tragic.
I think Joss is finally going to kill a core Scoobie. To be more specific, he already did. Willow's gonna stop the destructive fallout from the Seed, taking magic from the worlds (or at least some of them), and getting herself somehow eternally sealed in Fray's world. Willow, with the Scythe again, closing the circle and saving the world. What effect this might have on the Slayers, I don't know. I think we'll still get a Slayer army in Buffy's world and a lack thereof in Fray's.
Back to why I think Fray's world is Buffy and Angel's Twilight world. Why did it have to be Buffy? Why did Buffy have to be the one to kill Willow? Because it's her world. She can be pulled into it and back out of it because it's hers. And, for mystical reasons, Willow can't be killed in the Twilight/Fray world. She can only be killed by someone or something from her own original reality. The dark hair may have even been a smokescreen as part of a plan to convince Buffy to go through with the kill.
BtVS has always had parallels as sort of a background idea, but facing them so boldly like this is kind of neat. (That's if they actaully do what I think they're gonna do...and Joss rarely does.) This storyline has some pretty epic stuff in it, all things considered. Giles' phlebotinum about the Watchers and Twilight was a bit thin...and of course sacrificing consent issues in service of the story is deplorable...but the story itself has me intrigued.
Season 9 will deal with attempting to restore the status quo...but some other big bad will come along to make the job harder. Hopefully some oneshots with Willow and/or some new Fray books.
These are my scrambled predictions as of #36. The next few issues will probably prove that I'm spectacularly wrong, but it's fun to speculate.
Also, expect lots of S8 and Fray in my next icon post.
""Fate of the world"...made sense...when there was only one." -Fray to Buffy-
This is the heart of my theory. Buffy didn't (necessarily) go to the future, but rather to another parallel world. My radical, taking-it-a-step-further guess is that Fray's universe is the one she and Angel created. The one that was "ditched at birth".
Magic and worlds and parallels and prophecies...it's all wrapped up in this "Seed of Wonder". My prediction is that destroying the Seed will upset more than a few cosmic balances. Worlds will hang in the balance. Parallels will collapse and merge and change. People, random bystanders and otherwise, will get sucked into other worlds. Other worlds will get sucked into Earth. Ripples. Ripples all over the damn place.
More than just changing these worlds, pulling demons from some, locking them in others (that Harth will try to play with later). Even more than these types of changes. Shit's gonna get crazy. Someone will have to stop this cataclysmic event before it gets out of control. Someone will have to be the hero. Someone with a lot of power.
Giles speaks of a "totem" that could perhaps stop Buffy and Angel if they got too powerful. Something that might be useful in stopping the destruction. Right next to that panel is a panel of the Scythe...just sitting there. I think the Scythe will be useful in stopping this destructive Seed business and it will end up in Fray's world along with our hero. Someone willing to sacrifice herself for the greater good.
Scott Allie is on record saying that #39 will be tragic.
I think Joss is finally going to kill a core Scoobie. To be more specific, he already did. Willow's gonna stop the destructive fallout from the Seed, taking magic from the worlds (or at least some of them), and getting herself somehow eternally sealed in Fray's world. Willow, with the Scythe again, closing the circle and saving the world. What effect this might have on the Slayers, I don't know. I think we'll still get a Slayer army in Buffy's world and a lack thereof in Fray's.
Back to why I think Fray's world is Buffy and Angel's Twilight world. Why did it have to be Buffy? Why did Buffy have to be the one to kill Willow? Because it's her world. She can be pulled into it and back out of it because it's hers. And, for mystical reasons, Willow can't be killed in the Twilight/Fray world. She can only be killed by someone or something from her own original reality. The dark hair may have even been a smokescreen as part of a plan to convince Buffy to go through with the kill.
BtVS has always had parallels as sort of a background idea, but facing them so boldly like this is kind of neat. (That's if they actaully do what I think they're gonna do...and Joss rarely does.) This storyline has some pretty epic stuff in it, all things considered. Giles' phlebotinum about the Watchers and Twilight was a bit thin...and of course sacrificing consent issues in service of the story is deplorable...but the story itself has me intrigued.
Season 9 will deal with attempting to restore the status quo...but some other big bad will come along to make the job harder. Hopefully some oneshots with Willow and/or some new Fray books.
These are my scrambled predictions as of #36. The next few issues will probably prove that I'm spectacularly wrong, but it's fun to speculate.
Also, expect lots of S8 and Fray in my next icon post.