Robin Wood

[Neil]

Hey folks,

I was wondering about the character of Robin Wood.

Did they ever clarified, if he was having any Slayer-Powers, too?

I never really got, why they never returned to that character because he seems quite interesting.

A male semi-slayer, somehow.

What do you think?

[stakey]

I guess you could call him a semi-slayer as he was trained by one but I would say he definitely doesn't posess any slayer 'power'...just good reflexes etc as he was raised by one and then a watcher who would have also trained him as he would train a slayer.

[Neil]

thanks for clearing that up.

That explains why they never taken that character again. Nothing really special about him.

[Neil]

Add On:

That makes me wonder, if slayer-offspring could get the Slayer-powers?

[Neil]

Yeah, I thought that as well, but how does Harth fit in that picture?

He has the slayer dreams because of being Fray´s Twin.

That´s why I started wondering about Robin Wood.

[buffyfan21]

I think Wood is just a good fighter and knows about demony supernatural stuff because he was raised by his mom's watcher who probably trained him in fighting. So, while Wood lacks the mystical powers and inherent strength that naturally comes with the slayer gig, he is still pretty damn strong for a regular mortal man. The watcher probably figured that he wanted to give Wood one up on all the uglies out there.

[Midnight Butterfly]

I dont think he will come back. He isn't a major character and considering Sunnydale is gone there are no school for him lol.
He was probably just thrown in because of his great looks.
I havn't read all the comics yet. Are him and Faith still an item? I thought he was good for her.

[buffyfan21]

He has made an appearance in S8 (maybe once or twice?, during the Faith arc, I believe) but it looked as if Wood and Faith were off doing their separate things (fighting vamps, etc.) and that they didn't have much contact with each other anymore.

[jellymoff]

Jun 23, 2009 8:57:30 GMT -5 Neil said:

Yeah, I thought that as well, but how does Harth fit in that picture?

He has the slayer dreams because of being Fray´s Twin.

That´s why I started wondering about Robin Wood.

Harth is a different case. For years and years after the end of magic there was no slayer. Mel Fray was part of the slayer line, but Harth got her slayer dreams. He has no powers (except for vamp powers), but he has all of the history and knowledge that Mel should have gotten. The dreams of past slayers, the history, etc.

[Neil]

Yeah, but how did he get the dreams. Didn´t that come somehow through the genes?

I don´t really know, but I ever wondered, if Slayer-Powers were magical enery, as evilwillowrocker said, or connected to the genes, because Harth has some aspects of Slayerabilities.

So why, does Harth have the dreams? Does anyone have an idea?

UPDATE: Now I got it.

When a Slayer dies, one of the Potentials - seemingly chosen at random - gains the powers and abilities of a Slayer.

Fray is part of this slayerline.

But because she is a twin, parts of "her", of the being part of the slayerline, got over to Harth.

The different sexes is no problem, because identical twins can have different sexes. That usually occurs, when the eggs are dividing and the Y-chromosom gets lost, so that one of the identical twins becomes a girl. In this case Melaka.

So that´s the reason why Robin Wood has no slayerpowers.

The Slayerline is not through genes and so he is excluded.

Do you agree?

[jellymoff]

Your philosophy is sound. It seems the only reason Harth has the dreams is because he and Mel are twins.

[Neil]

Thank you, but I think it still has got a problem.

If one of the identical twins is losing the y-chromosom, the girl usally has got different diseases, like not growing beyond a certain height or having fertility problems. The so-called turner-syndrom. But Fray doesn´t have any of those.

So the other possibility is, they are not identical twins. But if Fray and Harth wouldn´t be identical twins the question is, why does Harth have any of the powers? They aren´t connected. So is it because of the genes? and if so why hasn´t Robin any of ´em?

The only exception could be, which occurs, that sometimes this anomaly isn´t present in every cell, so that XX and X- Chromosoms are existing aside each other, the so called Mosaik. Then the diseases occur in rare form and the symptoms are weakened.

I hope I got that right. What do you think?

[The Night Lord]

I think you've gotten me a little confused

[henzINNIT]

Harth is a twin to a slayer, and therefore shares a lot more genes than a son of a slayer would.

[Neil]

Sorry, I didn´t want to confuse anybody.

to henzINNIT: If it is just about the genes, than why doesn´t Robin have any Slayer Power. even if he would share less genes, he would share some.

That´s why I think, that the Powers belong just to girls in the slayerline. They aren´t transported to descendants, if slayers have some.

In the case of Melaka it´s that this biological being that is supposed to become Melaka the Slayer becomes two identical twins in their mother´s womb, namely Melaka and Harth.

The last post was just about the possibility of identical twins having different sexes, which is possible. The turner-syndrom (one of the twins losing the Y-chromosom and becoming a girl and having diseases because of that) can be reduced, when the Y-chromosom hasn´t got lost in every cell, which occurs as well. So that would be the explanation why Melaka is healthy.

And why only Harth has powers, although being not a slayer.

What do you think about this theory?

I hope I was able to make my weird thoughts a little bit more understandable and apologize if I offended anyone.

[gumgnome]

Surely if it really had anything to do with genes, all of the potentials would have some powers. Also sisters of slayers (who share approximately 50% of genes), or what about identical twins where only one twin becomes the slayer? It could happen.

The series makes it pretty clear that it's a mystical macguffin that causes Slayer power, so I wouldn't hold out too much hope going down the gene angle.

[Rebecca]

Just to clear up the gene theory (lol):

Male and Female twin pairs are not and never will be identical twins. If they were identical, they would have the same gender from the egg literally splitting in two and making two separate people with the same genes (hence, identical).

Dizygotic twins (two eggs) are what you would classify Mel and Harth, who are no more related than a normal brother and sister with the same parents, approximately sharing 50% of their genes.

A child has approximately 50% of each parents genes (common sense really .

Therefore, Niel's question is sound... Both being men, if Harth got half of the slayer power (the memories) is there a gene component to the slayer line, and if so, whether Robin Wood would have slayer powers as well.

However, I don't think it's that simple The writer (Joss) doesn't hold a degree in Biology, and it's possible he didn't care about the genetic difference between dizygotic and monozygotic twins, assuming twins were twins and shared 100% genes. The "gene" theory could be seen through a fictional light. One may even call it Science Fiction if they were so bold lol.

Therefore, under this modified, science-fictional gene theory, Harth would share 100% of Mel's genes and would have been half called just like she was, and how it came across in the book. That would explain why Robin doesn't display signs of slayer lineage when he is the only known offspring of a slayer, sharing half his genes with her.

At least, that's how I explain Harth getting half the power while Robin doesn't from a genetic perspective.

[Neil]

So you don´t think that the Turner-Syndrom could, in a weakened way, could have played a role, so that Melaka and Fray would be identical twins?

[henzINNIT]

I used genetics a little too bluntly before but I mostly meant that if the kids are born at the same birth, the same generation and parents etc, it makes sense to me that they'd share aspects of the slayer herritage. It plays into the idea of the physcic bond of twins more than the genetic one I guess. I've heard of twins being ill with the same problems at the same time in different corners of the earth and stuff like that.

Of course either may not be definitive examples of each case. Maybe some kids of slayers have had powers passed on, maybe some twin's of slayers remain unnaffected. Would a slayer's daughter be more likely to inherrit?

[Skeptic]

This is a very interesting question, Neil. But it's possibly just trying to read too deeply into what Joss intended with having the Slayer-ness split. I think I know what you're asking, though. If 2 of the mother's eggs were fertilized, we get fraternal twins, so obviously only the female one gets the Slayer-ness. The male one (in theory, I guess) gets nothing. But somehow, Harth got half, even though he was from another egg. So, why are the slayer powers split? Could be because they are just twins. Sharing the same space during creation. Or could be because the re-introduction of magic to the world caused something to go bzzzzt! when the Slayer line came back into being, and the mother having two fetuses, when Mel was potential-ized, Harth was as well.

It's pretty interesting stuff to me. But I think for the purposes of the story, it's possibly reading too deeply into it. I think Joss' goal was probably just to throw a spanner in the works by saying that somehow, in this post-Battle-of-Starbucks-world, a male child got half the slayer powers. I don't think it means Harth would be capable of passing the "Slayer chromosome" on, though, since all we know up until Mel & Harth is that it's not a thing that's passed by genes. It's passed by whatever mystical forces have been at work since the First Slayer was created.