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![]() Buffy s3e12 (Helpless) I'm just going to come out and say what we've all known for a year and a half… the Cruciamentum (that little final exam back in Helpless) makes no sense. The official reasoning behind it appeared simple:
I think we all agree that these are good skills for a Slayer to develop but the very point of education and training is to allow a person an opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them in an artificial situation where failure does not carry the same severe consequences as a similar mistake in real life. In the Cruciamentum, however, the stakes are no different; if she fails the Slayer will die and will not be able to benefit from her experience. So perhaps it isn't for this particular Slayer's benefit, it could still be argued that it is for the benefit of the war against evil as a whole. Virtually all the armies of the world require gruelling and sometimes dangerous tests to be undertaken by candidates so that those recruited are of a sufficient quality. Depending on the size and purpose of the unit these tests are going to be of varying difficulty, an elite unit will not care that a large proportion of its candidates will wash out, the more elite they are the more expensive each man is to train and equip and more candidates are being recruited at all times. Their tough entry requirements make them a better unit because of it. The Slayer is in a very different situation, however. If a poor Slayer is killed in her Cruciamentum then another Slayer will be called. That Slayer cannot then begin active duties immediately, if she is hidden, as Buffy was, then it will take the Council time to find her and then more time to train her sufficiently to even begin patrols. Even with someone like Kendra who was with the Watchers from an early age must spend time learning to control her new strength and enhanced senses. So there will be a delay of perhaps one to several months while this takes place, depending upon the location and situation of the new Slayer. Assuming that most Slayers are called at around 15-16 (which would pretty much tally with Buffy, Kendra and Faith) it would still take them two or three more years before they have as much experience as the Slayer that failed the Cruciamentum. At that point there's always the possibility that they too will fail, leaving the cycle to begin again. At the very least losing a Slayer to the Cruciamentum means that the forces of good will be weakened for two solid years. The Slayers are not an elite unit where tests are in place to ensure that the limited number of places available, the Watchers have a single place and they have no choice over who is to be chosen. It does not even make logical sense for the Council to say that they must weed out those Slayers who don't come up to snuff. So long as a Slayer is not a downright coward then those who are too weak or stupid will die anyway sooner or later, allowing another Slayer to be called, and if it is later rather than sooner then surely they have been fulfilling their duties adequately in the meantime. The severity of the test of the Cruciamentum is an indicative factor of its true nature. Even though it was not carried out exactly as it should have done the time Buffy had was little more difficult because of Joyce's capture. I'm not trying to detract from her victory but it was somewhat of a fluke, in that, I doubt any other vampire could be killed the way Zachary Kralik was. Buffy did well to spot the weakness and performed admirably in exploiting it but if Kralik was not chemical dependent or if she did not have some holy water with her (as a normal Slayer might not do in that situation, given they are not told of the Cruciamentum) then she really did not appear otherwise to be fairing very well. And Buffy is a good Slayer who, even at that point, had saved the world on at least two occasions. Given her difficulties one has to wonder what sort of Slayer would it take to _ pass _ the Cruciamentum? Have any of the generations of Slayers ever passed before her? One has to assume yes, some have, because if they hadn't then I doubt Giles would have even begun injecting her. So were past Slayers really that good? Perhaps the Cruciamentum has a more sinister purpose, perhaps it is there to secretly get rid of Slayers who, for one reason or another, are not desirable to the Council. They have no control over who is activated and it is clear that they did not approve of Buffy despite all her successes. People like Buffy and Faith would be given the whole kaboodle, mean vampire and no aid while the ones that the Council approve of, like Kendra, might be given a little extra help, a few weapons lying around, a vamp who isn't quite so tough, a playing field that's more to the Slayer's advantage. So long as the Cruciamentum remains only lightly detailed for most Watchers and a senior member of the Council is present and actually controls the test he can tell the Watcher anything he likes about the way the test is stacked without this dirty motive troubling the consciences of the rest.
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