Demon Raising

[midwesternwatcher]

I'd like to collect some ideas on the complex subject of demon raising.

What exactly does it take to raise a demon?

How would a person go about doing it?

Why would a person do it?

Do the demons want to be raised? Is it part of their life cycle?

Do they exist before they are raised, or are they created/made by the raising?

... and many more questions.

Since this is my thread ... remember that unlike some people, I don't expect the Buffyverse to be consistent. It doesn't bother me if the answer to a question is "sometimes this and sometimes that."

This should be fun.

[tkts]

Hm, interesting subject.

What exactly it takes to raise a demon seems to depend on the demon. Sweet is summoned by invoking an amulet. The demon who chases Willow and Dawn into an alley while Willow's hopped up on black magic seems to have been raised as a side effect of the magic she was using. And apparently the demon that causes you to think you're in an insane asylum is summoned by blowing on a big ol' didgeridoo.

Not sure about most of the other questions, but I think they probably do exist before they're raised. They all seem to have some level of memory and general knowledge of how things work (although I suppose it's possible demons have some sort of ingrained instinct, much like newly sired vampires seem to). Most of them seem to be summoned from some other dimension, and if they don't get killed, I'm guessing they pop back there when they're done creating mayhem.

[midwesternwatcher]

What does it mean that some demons are raised, and some seem to just be there?

I just rewatched "Normal Again." Andrew raised the demon with the long name. Spike recognized the type. Do these same demons simply exist as wildlife?

[Secret Scoobie]

Interesting topic, I never thought about it much as I just always assumed it was just summoning, whether they used the word 'raised' or not.

So I agree with tkts that they probably exist in another dimension and are 'tied' to certain chants/spells/objects/people that means they can be called/summoned to appear somewhere else, and supposedly if you CALL the demon then with some of them you may have a brief connection with them that allows you to influence their directions.... obviously some are more resistant to control - Like the one Andrew said he wouldn't summon to eat Kat's flesh because it would turn on them too.

Considering some of them act like 'wild' animals and others seem to have intelligent consciousness (Sweets) I say it's probably more likely that the 'clever' demons have some sort of 'loophole' in summoning them, and aren't really in a master/slave scenario - think about Sahjan's relationship with Holtz... although this is not a 'raising' it still shows a little insight into the types of demons that can be called through dimensions.

I'd say some of the demons that are 'raised' or 'summoned' are recognised by others whether or not they are 'native' to the dimension they're called to, this could be because they've been called there before or the person who recognises them knows their demons well or they have a similar counterpart they're confused with...

[midwesternwatcher]

Remember early in S1, I think in Wlcome to the Hellmouth, Giles said the Old Ones once ruled the earth but then they "lost their purchase on this reality" and had to leave.

What do you suppose that means?

If they couldn't remain, how did they go about leaving? They weren't destroyed, they just left? What would've happened to them if they'd remained? Or wait ... maybe they didn't leave under some threat, maybe they were removed by some kind of force, they couldn't remain even if they were willing to die?

But some of them are still here? How does that work?

Some demons, like Sahjahn, seem to be able to come and go at their own volition.

Remember Anya said none of us have seen demons, just demon-human hybrids?

And just what is the difference between a demon and human, or other animal? Wesley says they don't have genes?