I’ve been watching quite a bit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and for a while now have noticed the similarities of several characters in the show to specific vampire clans mentioned in the White Wolf brand of Vampire: The Masquerade role-playing books. If you want a crash-course in either of the above, I recommend that you visit BuffyGuide and the official White Wolf site (hint: buy the Player’s Guide) for information on the respective genres; I’m not launching into a detailed description of either. Those of you who know what I’m talking about will find it boring, and those of you who don’t will find it confusing. I’ve found that interest in Buffy and White Wolf tend to go hand in hand, so it shouldn’t be difficult to understand either one, and even rudimentary knowledge of one tends to assist understanding of the other. They compliment each other quite well.

This analysis concerns, specifically, the three directly-linked generations of vampires portrayed on the show, in chronological order: Angel, Druscilla, and Spike.* I’ve never seen the Buffy spin-off Angel, so I am not going by any information clarified in that show. If anything in this analysis contradicts information related in episodes of Angel, allow me to plead ignorance of the latter.

Please understand that I am going by personality traits alone. I am QUITE aware that Angel is Druscilla’s sire, and she in turn is Spike’s sire, so there is no possible way for them to be all of these different clans in a literal way. I know all of this. It also goes without saying that this analysis is for my own personal entertainment, and I am not making any money off of either the television show or the role-playing books. Nyah nyah, so there.

I will be applying this analysis in the same way as if I were creating a character sheet for Vampire: The Masquerade, although not quite as detailed. All of the vampires seem to be automatically imbued with the merit Eat Food, so that shall be treated as a matter of course. They also seem to have a rather unusual flaw not described in the books: Whenever any vampire first rises, gets hungry or wants to look particularly intimidating, it assumes a “vamp face” resembling the more attractive Nosferatu: Yellow eyes, prominent fangs, heavy eyebrow ridges and a vaguely wrinkly nose. This face appears automatically in response to dramatic aggravation (again, physical or emotional stress), but can also be created consciously of the vampire’s own free will. All vampiric characters also have the flaw of Casts No Reflection.

Angel is a Toreador. No getting around that; he has impeccable manners, attractive looks, and is of course madly in love with Buffy, a mortal. He also has a massive-ass five-point flaw, to the point of what could be considered a borderline derangement: he has a soul, and this soul causes him great distress (did somebody say the word “angst”?). Before he had his post-vampiric soul, he was an expert in physical and mental torture, and delighted in visiting both to unwilling victims. Even for a vampire, he was absolutely evil and psychotic. After he got the soul, he became the Poster Boy for Vampire Reformation, and now has the derangement of sanguinary animism...he refuses to feed on living humans and resorts to catching rats and employing blood banks.

Angel has the flaw of Cursed, and I am speaking literally here.

Angel does have a few things going for him. He is one of the few lucky vampires to win the grand prize merit of True Love. Of course, this same merit ties in with his curse, which specifies that if he ever experiences true happiness he loses his soul and becomes an evil bloodthirsty monster again. There’s always a catch. He also has a few lesser merits, like Code of Honor and Iron Will. He has fairly heavy amounts of Presence mixed in with middling Celerity and nominal Auspex. His Nature is almost assuredly a Penitent or Martyr, with the Demeanor of a Loner. I would estimate his Humanity as a seven, possibly an eight...either way, it’s pretty darned high. When he lost his soul, his Humanity plummeted to a completely depraved two or possibly even one, though he was decidedly sentient and not deformed. He did take on a more pallid, corpse-like appearance at the time, however.

Druscilla is a screamingly obvious Malkavian, made patently clear by the fact that she is just plain bugnuts. This chick does NOT have her eggs in any kind of straw receptacle, and she delights in inflicting torture onto others. However, since she is so completely gone, she is no longer capable of sufficiently defending herself, and relies heavily on the protection of others--first Angel, then Spike. She is rather weak physically, and relies on mind-control abilities to subdue her victims. She’s quite good at mind games, and has been known to hypnotize others into submission, then kill them.

Druscilla seems to have a more archaic form of dementia, not recognized by modern psychological diagnosis. Older vampire derangements often take the form of visions, religiously inspired hallucinations, “fits” (unexplainable seizures), and other symptoms of what used to be considered signs of demonic possession...after all, that’s what madness was considered, as a form of possession. Physical causes were rarely considered. Since Druscilla was a nice little God-fearing teenager in life, her dementia took on spiritual undertones, and she receives mysterious visions and psychic impressions from others (she can “feel” others’ emotions, detect omens and the like).

On top of everything else, Druscilla is very childlike. Originally embraced by Angel out of spite, he took her under his wing and taught her what every good little psychopath needs to know, but was quickly dismayed when she became a better psycho than he was. Soon out of his control, she embraced and moved in with Spike, an action that soon estranged her from her sire. I estimate that she probably would not have survived long had she not had Spike or an equivalent person to assist her in basic survival; she is both physically and emotionally very dependent on the aid of others.

If I had to pigeonhole a Derangement for her, I’d say that she has a combination of Schizophrenia, Regression, Fugue and possibly the merits See Aura, Oracular Ability, and Sympathetic Bond (to Spike). She has heavy, heavy amounts of Auspex and Dominate, although poor Obfuscate. I would judge her Humanity at two or three, although considering her appearance this seems quite low, so more likely I would give her a nonspecified Path instead of Humanity. Nature would be--what else?--Child, while Demeanor would be something along the lines of Visionary or Deviant.

Spike is a Brujah. Not the stereotypical angst-ridden, sarcastic biker dude formula of Brujah (although he does outwardly appear to be so). I mean what is considered the original Brujah: the philosophers and intellectuals. Granted I haven’t done a lot of research on Brujah specifically, so anyone who wants to help “fill in the blanks” so to speak, is welcome to do so (hint hint, DC). He doesn’t seem governed by the rages and passionate frenzies of the clan, but to tell the truth I found it difficult to locate another even halfway compatible clan. So, Brujah it is. *shrug*

Spike is often the Voice of Reason on the show, providing a succinct (and usually accurate) summary of events with biting wit. He helps the audience digest the plot, often acting as a device to “break the wall”, which is a theater term used when the actors involved talk directly to the audience or camera. Spike does this in a less direct way; he points out the foibles of what are supposed to be the “good guys”, exposing their weaknesses and less attractive traits, their misconceptions and self-deceptions. When our heroes are too confident, Spike is more than willing to cut them down to size. It’s startling to hear the erstwhile villain discussing his perspective with the heroes and realize, “Hey, he’s right!” Especially as of lately, he acts as Buffy’s dark conscience and tells her what she needs to hear, although not always what is pleasant to hear. He helps the protagonists with their personal problems and inner turmoil, often unwittingly. Spike has seen and done it all, and is quite world-weary in giving advice, often setting himself up as an example of what not to do. In general, he has a rather philosophical outlook on life, and seems to still carry traces of his formerly reserved, intellectual self.

Despite his cynical, rather detached viewpoint, Spike is very loyal to what he considers important. When he was with Druscilla he fiercely protected her, and after he was “neutered” he gradually became very attached to Buffy. Granted that this devotion took on nuances of obsession and possessiveness, but in his own twisted way, he was loyal as the day was long. Perhaps I’m speaking out of an inherent pro-Spike prejudice (he IS my favorite character, after all), but he is actually more ethical than the vast majority of vampires we’ve seen paraded across the screen. He does not kill wantonly, and rarely for pleasure, as Druscilla tends to do. His kills are mainly in self-defense (whether specifically in direct attacks on his person, or in seeking out past slayers and killing them), reasons of vengeance, or when it’s simply more convenient to kill them quickly then leave them there to die.

Spike’s personality is slightly complex on paper. While he certainly Spike has what must be the all-time record for Potence, since he can take nearly any amount of physical punishment and bounce back. He seems to have the merit of Nine Lives as well! :) Spike has the Demeanor of a Rogue or Bravo, with the rather contrary Nature of Caregiver (again a holdover from his more civilized Victorian lifestyle), or possibly even Pedagogue. He’s a softie at heart, but damned if anyone’s going to find out. This would cause his Humanity to fall somewhere in the middle, at least for a vampire; perhaps five or six. He’s not intentionally cruel, but he still is always looking out for number one and would not hesitate to throw others into the path of destruction, out of a sense of self-preservation. His Humanity seems to have risen during the course of the show, so Season Six Spike would have a higher Humanity than Season Two Spike (who hovered around level four). After Spike gained his soul at the end of season six, he picked up the same five-point Curse flaw as Angel, and the derangement of Paranoia.

* A complete chronological history connecting Angel, Druscilla and Spike can be found at BuffyGuide. I mentioned it before, and I’ll mention it again, because this is a truly wonderful site, with complete episode synopses, quotes, scripts, notes on obscure references, character and actor biographies, and reviews of every episode. Go see this site; it’s the Whoosh! of the Buffy world.