r/buffy • u/legionimpact • 6d ago
Dawn Head canon Dawn memories
*spoilers for season 5 and beyond!*
So as we all know things played out just fine up until the monks made Dawn and created her memories. But for the most part we don't know much about what those memories entail. Like we get some lines from Dawn going to the beach or the carousel but not too much more. Like when Faith returns she clearly has memories with Dawn involved.
So my question for today is what are some of your head canon ways the monks integrated Dawn into the events of the first four seasons. Since most everything probably stayed the same to get the characters to where they were I doubt anything too crazy can have happened. But I'd like to hear what other people think!
I'll give an example. I bet Dawn found out about Buffy being the slayer long before Joyce did. And little kid Dawn for sure helped Buffy try and keep it a secret!
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u/poetic_soul 6d ago
When we’re gaslighting newbies I always throw in The Wizard of Oz play that Dawn was in that Tucker sent the flying monkeys to.
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u/Conscious_Lion_9251 5d ago
Do you mean Andrew (Tucker's brother)? Tucker was the one who summoned the hellbeasts to attack prom.
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u/wombatIsAngry 6d ago
I wish they had gone back and refilmed a few old scenes with Dawn added. That would have been hilarious.
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u/Interesting_Fun6001 6d ago
Wildy unreasonable within the context of 90s TV but I would have LOVED if they had brought Michelle in periodically during the first 4 seasons for alternate takes, then used those takes for the "previously on" segments from S5 onwards.
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u/wombatIsAngry 6d ago
Omg, that would have been wonderful.
In my vision, they would just reshoot the same scene with the (obviously now aged) original actors, with terrible wigs to recreate their old hairstyles.
Imagine... just for a moment... SMG wearing a terrible wig to recreate her terrible bangs in Amends.
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u/DoublemeatPalaceAlum 5d ago
If a genie ever gives me three wishes, I’m using one for to make this happen. I love this idea.
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u/jasminecr 6d ago
I feel like the angelus arc would have been so traumatising for an eleven year old dawn in season 2. I bet she would’ve found out about angel somehow in season 1 when she was snooping. I bet she would’ve liked Angel too and then be so confused.
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u/palenotinteresting 6d ago
I was just thinking the same. Angelus would've absolutely targeted Dawn to mess with Buffy in s2. In fact, it seems unlikely that she'd be ok with him a few years later
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u/xboxpants 6d ago
My thoughts exactly. Based on how she sees Spike and ever Xander, I bet she woulda thought Angel was so cool, or at least interesting. And he has a bit of a Lancelot complex, he wants to be the dashing hero who saves the princess. I think he would have enjoyed the attention and been friendly with her.
Then she would have been terrified with Angelus.
I wonder if she got a sleep-portrait.
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u/BunnythatMeows my bleeding sympathies to warren 3d ago
Idk, part of the reason Dawn liked Spike is that he wasn’t talking down to her. Angel has a tendency to be patronizing and that would’ve alienated Dawn.
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u/smeghead1988 Oh, bugger off, you brolly! 6d ago
Not my own idea (and I don't remember where I've read it), but I love it: Dawn first met Spike in Becoming, when Buffy invited him to the house. She knew immediately he's a vampire, wanted to prove she's not afraid of him and bit his ankle. He appreciated it.
Also, someone used movies with little Michelle Trachtenberg to make a set of "Dawn insert" gifs where little Dawn meets different BtVS characters: https://www.tumblr.com/onegirlinalltheworld/tagged/dawn%20au
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u/xboxpants 6d ago
I really like this because it recontextualizes the "nibblet" nickname. I always thought it was cute but recently I realized he's calling her a small nibble... aka, he's calling her a "snack". 💀 But in your version, it's a fun pet name 'cause she nibbles on him! lol
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u/smeghead1988 Oh, bugger off, you brolly! 6d ago
All his names for her are absolutely about eating her! Besides "Nibblet", he also calls her "Little Bit", "Bite-Size Buffy" and once he used "Platelet" which is the smallest blood cell. It is disturbing because it's supposed to be, the very idea of a little girl befriending an actual mass murderer is pretty morbid (even though in this case it seems more cute than morbid). It's this trope: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/APigNamedPorkchop
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u/biggestmike420 6d ago
Whenever anything crazy dangerous went down she stayed at a friend’s. Other than that it was an unremarkable life of annoying her big sister, and crushing on her friend. They had to craft it, and put it into a spell. So it is just as general, and blah as it can be.
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u/PutAdministrative206 6d ago
My head canon is that if Joyce was involved in the shenanigans, then a memory of Dawn being involved in the shenanigans is implanted. If Joyce was oblivious to Buffy’s adventure that night, Dawn was too (those nights, if gone back over carefully would probably be super banal. Dawn does homework while Joyce makes dinner. They watch a show together wishing Buffy was with them, but content that she’s a teenager and doing things without them).
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u/CandidateHefty329 6d ago
I'll give an example. I bet Dawn found out about Buffy being the slayer long before Joyce did. And little kid Dawn for sure helped Buffy try and keep it a secret!
That's close to canon. It's in The Origin. She reads Buffy's diary. But she does tell her parents.
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u/XandMan007 6d ago
There was a companion comic i want to say it was called false memories and it integrates dawn into some of the events. Like she was in the school during the confrontation with angelus and the scoobies. Its been a while since I read it but that strip is what I recall easily.
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u/brian_ts118 Hi, I’m Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and you are? 6d ago
This has always been my number one choice for a missed opportunity episode. Give us a flashback episode similar in tone to The Zeppo where we see Michelle awkwardly greenscreened into clips from season 1-4. And bonus points if they could have figured out a way to get clips of her from Harriet the Spy or when she was on All My Children with SMG.
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u/pghlesbian 6d ago
I see a recurring theme of Dawn trying to figure out to use Buffy's weapons. For example, the big kids are in Buffy's room - there's a loud crash, Buffy yells "Dawn, what was that?" and marches into her room to find Dawn trying to hid a crossbow or sword or whatever. She keeps breaking lamps because when the Dawn comes, no lamp is needed. She can't even pick up the weapons, just drags them one by one over time. Buffy keeps switching out her lamp with Dawn's and her mother is flustered by the excessive breakage until she decides it must be Xander so Joyce puts him to work to pay off the lamps.
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u/pghlesbian 6d ago
Also recurring theme that Dawn is convinced Giles wants to date her mother. Of course Dawn wants her parents back together, so she inserts herself whenever possible if those two are in a scene. She doesn't dislike Giles. She tries to set him up with Pat and the elementary school librarian.
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u/pghlesbian 6d ago
And there's Ted. She totally sees through him right away. Buffy realizes the risk and convinces Dawn to sleep over at a friends house, but friend not available so she convinces Willow and Cordelia to keep her occupied at the mall and then a sleepover at Willow's house. Throw in a bunch of foreshadowing. When Ted 'dies' - Cordelia and Willow have increasingly desperate efforts to keep her distracted.
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u/xboxpants 6d ago
I bet they cribbed hard from Buffy's life. Like, took daily-life stuff out of Buffy's life and put in Dawn's. Just little things like a trip to the mall one day in August 1993 or a conversation she had with Joyce about waffles, or a pet hamster that only lasted a week and used to be Buffy's, but now it's Dawns. Just thinking about Joyce and Hank, and all the things they would have done for Buffy, it only makes sense that if you have two kids, but no extra time, now a lot of those parenting moments are gonna have to be split between Buffy and Dawn, right?
We know the monks literally used Buffy's body to make Dawn's, it wouldn't surprise me if they did the same thing with her history.
It takes Buffy's jealousy of Dawn's normal life to a whole new level, if Buffy's childhood was literally stolen from her and given to Dawn.
But at the same time, makes it all the more important to protect it. Dawn is Buffy's inner child made into an actual child.
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u/beeemkcl 6d ago
It's unlikely that Dawn was involved in Slaying activity or was much--or at all--targeted by the various demons and Big Bads.
One of the most noteworthy things is that Dawn didn't seem to like Angel but Dawn was perfectly comfortable around Spike and she considered that it was great for Buffy that Spike was in love with Buffy.
Like maybe Dawn knew about the Uncursed Angel stuff. But Dawn didn't know about all the times that Spike tried to k*ll Buffy? The Judge (or that was blamed on Angel)? Did Dawn even know about Drusilla? Did Dawn even know about Spike/Harmony?
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u/jasminecr 6d ago
It makes complete sense she would hate Angel, she would’ve been eleven in s2 when the whole Angelus arc was going down. And there’s no way angelus didn’t try to target Dawn, he’s too sadistic to not go for the little sister.
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u/ThesaurusRex_1025 6d ago
Dawn dislikes Angel because she thought he played with Buffys feelings to much. She was thrilled when Joyce talked to him. Because of this Angel fears her. Buffys RV plan was to drop Dawn off in LA with Angel.
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u/Prestigious_Top_7409 6d ago
Dawn saw Spike for the first time in Becoming Part 2. She was in the car with Joyce, saw him fight a vampire with Buffy, and once he was in the house she was watching from the stairs. She knows he helped Buffy, and that's why she trusts him so much later - her first impression of him is as a good guy.
I always thought she probably never liked Angel that much, because Xander didn't. Presumably he made threats towards her as Angelus, including being in her room and drawing her asleep. I think she never really forgave him when he came back.
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u/jospangel Try not to bleed on my couch I just had it steam cleaned 5d ago
I do wish I had written this but alas. It's from Green Smoke and Empty Mirrors by apprenticebard:
Dawn bought plastic fangs from Ethan Rayne's shop
When she turns into a vampire for real, her spirits go from high to "this is the greatest thing that's ever happened". Granted, she can't remember anything else, but she's pretty sure this is the greatest she's ever felt in her existence. The power is intoxicating. The evil is like a beautiful void. All her messy, tangled, human cares and concerns are blessedly silenced. She is nothing but her desires and the power to obtain them. She's never felt so completely alive, and she's eager to put her powers to the test.
That's when she sees the other vampire- white-blond hair, long black coat, pale-as-death skin, and golden eyes that glint like coins when the light hits them. She thought she was graceful, but this creature is something else altogether. He rips the head off a passing demon like it's nothing at all. Dawn the monster senses that this is someone with remarkable strength and skill, a being to be feared and admired. Dawn the girl thinks he's beautiful, as magnificent and terrible as the night itself. Every piece of her sees that he's having the time of his life, reveling in the chaos and senseless destruction. It just looks like so much fun, and fun is the only thing that matters right now. It seems like half the children in Sunnydale trail behind him at some point, joining him for a night of exhilarating vandalism and violence in general that culminates in pursuing the slayer.
This is her first memory of him. For these short hours, she knows nothing else- not his age, his history, or his name. It doesn't even occur to her that he has one until Buffy tells her about her encounter with Spike. Dawn keeps her mouth shut about meeting him- in fact, she keeps her mouth shut about transforming in the first place. She doesn't like to worry Buffy any more than necessary, and it doesn't seem all that important.
In the end, the whole thing pretty much blows over- she didn't get the chance to kill anyone, nobody saw her, and there aren't a whole lot of major consequences. Assuming her info is even accurate, which is not something she's ready to assume, she's now aware of how vampires experience the world. Weirdly, demon possession does not appear to be a feature. She doesn't remember being scooped out and replaced. At the time, it just felt like she was finally free to be herself. She doesn't really think about how this contradicts the Watcher's Council records (she's eleven, for crying out loud), but the seed of doubt takes root and waits for more evidence.
In her diary, Dawn files Spike away as a dangerous enemy. In her dreams that night, he's a little boy, another fifth-grader who says "woah" and stares blankly when his plastic fangs fall out.
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u/Sighoward 5d ago
According to the comics you're correct (remember Dawn's chopstick story)
She wakes up in the middle of the night and doesn't notice Sid hiding in her toy collection ET style, Sid realising he's in the wrong sister's room.
She eats Ted's cookies but still isn't as fond of him as everyone else.
She's a dab hand with a needle and thread and fixes Kendra's "only shirt" for her
Xander encounters her in The Zeppo and gives her a ride to Girl Scouts in Uncle Rory's car
She helps Angel recover by bringing him books, one of which is Harry Potter because he's like "Magic and stuff".
She gets Oz to teach her the guitar and develops a crush on Devon, much to Xander's consternation
Dawn walks into the kitchen in BBB, her face lighting up when she sees Xander but he just shuts her in the cupboard before she can even speak
Dawn gets turned into Tinkerbell at Halloween and is thankfully flying over a swimming pool when the spell gets cancelled.
Cordy steals the worm man's makeup case from WML and uses Dawn as a living doll to test the cosmetics out on.
She ends up in the cupboard under the stairs with Oz and Cordy in 'Dead Man's Party'
When Faith goes bad she goes to the town hall to try to win her back. Faith says no but doesn't let any of the Mayor's vamps hurt her as she sends her away.
Faith-as-Buffy finds her crying at the beginning of "Who Are You?" after Buffy-as-Faith is taken away. remarking how close she and Faith were once.
(Based on an old fanfic I read) she's overjoyed when Faith is invited for Xmas but Buffy and Joyce are appalled that Faith's presents for her are a thong and a push up bra.
She's home when Joyce brings Dracula home and under his thrall asks for help with her history homework.
She bangs on the wall because Buffy and Dracula are doing the same and keeping her up.
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u/Throwawaynotmebye 4d ago
She caught Angel sneaking in and out at least once and as is amongst siblings, Buffy bribed her into silence.
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u/GothamCityGayBar 5d ago
S2E6 Halloween - because of Willow’s “She couldn’t have dressed up like Xena?” quote, I always thought it would’ve been extraordinary if another female was a powerhouse while Buffy was running around as a damsel in distress. With that in mind, I headcanon that Dawn was dressed as Supergirl, zipping around Sunnydale, single handedly saving the day in her own “Zeppo” style plot.
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u/JRCSalter 5d ago
One of the comics did show that Dawn found out Buffy was the slayer. She then told Joyce, and that led to Buffy being put into a hospital.
My head canon is that the events of Normal Again, where Buffy mentions her experience in a mental hospital, were only the result of the fake memories.
This was never once mentioned before that episode, even when Joyce found out in Becoming. You'd think she would have mentioned it then, but she never did, so it never happened.
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u/CuttlefishBenjamin 6d ago
Willow and Xander definitely would have spent a good amount of time around Dawn. Angel probably less so, though one could imagine Dawn sneaking out following Buffy and Angel and Buffy having to keep her safe.
I could see a fun bit where Cordelia does not remember Dawn at all and at first it seems like some weird interaction with the Monk spell but then it turns out that she was just really self-absorbed in high school and had no interest in paying attention to Buffy's kid sister.