Awwjwah

renaldow

Giles has always had that side to him, and it's come out in the past a few times. Buffy even kept warning him that she would kill anyone who killed Dawn, as she knew that Giles might kill Dawn as an easy way to save the world.

He started showing it a couple seasons ago when he had his run in with his old friend who turned bad guy and also after his girlfriend Ms. Calendar was killed.

elektra

Yes, when they referred to his past as Ripper, they indicated that he had "crossed the line" a few times. He also showed the backbone in Helpless when he defied the watchers council. There was an ep where the Mayor showed up in the school library and he stuck a rapier through him. It's there, he just doesn't normally tap it. I think what he did to Ben fit perfectly. I don't think he was fed up with her at all. He was trying to get across to her that this is a desparate time and sometimes calls for extreme measures. Sometimes one or two have to be sacraficed for the greater good. Again, I don't think he was disappointed in her. He understood why she did that and the fact that she's not a cold blooded murderer it to her credit. He understands her compassion and mercy for those who are innocent, which to an extent Ben was. She showed mercy, he knew that in this case, it couldn't be done. There was too high a price because Glory could still come back. He did what needed to be done. Don't forget, they don't know that Ben switched sides so to speak. If Buffy knew that Ben had sided with Glory and turned Dawn over to them, she would have killed him in a heartbeat.

Awwjwah

Yeah that's true. I did forget those past episodes in which he was a bit more roughneck and it was a good momment in the show as far as I am concerned. He is just so usually soft spoken that when he comes out like that it is a plesent surprise.

das Monkey

We've always known that Giles had that side to him ... what's important, however, is not what Giles did, but what he said ... "She's not like us." It's great character development for both Giles *and* Buffy and reminds us that she is something special. For all her killing, it's still not in her character to kill an innocent, even if it saves the universe. Between that, her defense of Dawn, and her treatment of Spike this season, we have gotten a lot more character development for her.

das

elektra

I look at Buffy as a killer. She has to be in order to get her "job" done. But she's not a murderer. There has been some excellent developement of her this season.