The First is a strong evil without a physical form. Quotes from "Amends," (third season) "Never Leave Me," and "Conversations With Dead People" (both seventh season) help clarify it...as much as it can be clarified...I'll add on as new episodes bring us closer to the truth.




"These letters contain references to an ancient power known as The First." -Giles
"First what?" -Buffy
"Evil. Absolute evil, older than man, than demons. It could have had the power to bring Angel back." -Giles

"Who are these guys?" -Buffy
"They're known as the Bringers, or Harbingers. They're high priests of The First. They can conjure spirit manifestations and set them on people, influence them, haunt them."
-Giles

"You can't fight The First, Buffy. It's not a physical being." -Giles
"Well, I can fight these priest guys." -Buffy

"I'm not a demon, little girl. I am something that you can't even conceive. The First Evil. Beyond sin, beyond death. I am the thing the darkness fears. You'll never see me, but I am everywhere. Every being, every thought, every drop of hate." -The First, in the guise of Jenny Calendar




"You don't know hurt! This last year is gonna seem like cake after what I put you and your friends through; and I am not a fan of easy death. Fact is, the whole good-versus-evil, balancing the scales thing—I'm over it. I'm done with the mortal coil. But believe me, I'm going for a big finish." -The First, in the guise of Cassie
"From beneath you, it devours." -Willow
"Oh, not it. Me." -The First




I'm not sure if this applies...it may just be what Warren would say to egg Andrew on...but here it is anyhow.

"You're Conan. You're the destroyer. It's you against nature. You're the hunter, you're primal, you live off the land. You're Andrew. Everyone knows you. You play by your own rules. It's kill or be killed!" -The First, in the guise of Warren

"Spike and I were having a conversation, and he was fine. I mean, you know, fine as Spike can be. And then I went to check on you guys, and when I got back, it was like he was a completely different person." -Buffy
"Different like "William the Bloody" type different?" -Willow
"He was talking to someone. I heard through the door, he was having this conversation. And then he started singing." -Buffy
"Maybe it's another musical. A much crappier musical." -Anya
"He mentioned something about a song in the cellar. And he changed there, too—I mean, instantly became another person." -Buffy

"I know these guys. I fought them before. We aren't being haunted. This isn't some demon. It's all the same thing. Spike's ghosts, the people you guys saw, from beneath us, it's all the same thing. I know what we're up against. The First." -Buffy

"Oh, don't look at me that way. I wanted to do this more subtle-like. My Harbingers have a tendency to call attention to themselves." -The First in the guise of Spike
(Spike groans with pain as he's stabbed)
"You're the one who couldn't hold his end of the bargain. You're the one who couldn't take care of what's-his-name. You're the one who had to make breakthroughs and learn something about himself." -The First in the guise of Spike
(Spike is stabbed again) "So now, fittingly, you're the one who gets to do the honors." -The First, in the guise of Spike
(The "honors" being, donating enough blood to open the seal of Danthazar in the basement of Sunnydale high and raise a very old vampire. See the wildfeed summary.)

"To be honest, I'm getting a little tired of subtle. I think it's about time we brought some authority to our presence. Now, Spike, wanna see what a real vampire looks like?" -The First, in the guise of Buffy




In this episode, Giles returns to Sunnydale with three slayers in training. His close call with death has not been resolved, and so we have to wonder...is it Giles talking? Or is it The First? If he is The First, what motive would he have in giving information about himself to the gang?
So, read the following quotes with that in mind.
[It has since been confirmed that Giles is not the First. Yeah!!]

"Are you sure this thing called itself 'The First?'" -Willow
"Pretty sure. It claimed to be the original evil—the one that came before everything else." -Buffy

"When I came up against this thing, I felt it. It was...ancient and enormous..." -Buffy

Willow casts a locating spell for The First. She is possessed by it and says,
"You only make me stronger!"

"We always feared that this day would come—when there would be an attack not just against an individual Slayer, but against the whole line." -Giles
"The First. That's what it wants." -Buffy
"Yes. To erase all the slayers in training and their watchers—" -Giles
"And then Faith, and then me. And with all the potentials gone and no way of making another, it's the end. No more Slayer. Ever." -Buffy

"We haven't found any information on The First. No documentation—" -Willow
"That's because it predates any written history. And it rarely shows it's true face. The only record I know was in the Council Library." -Giles

"What do these records say about The First?" -Buffy
"Very little. It can change form...it only appears in the guise of some who has passed away. Also, it's not corporeal—it can't touch or fight on it's own. It only works through those it manipulates, and it's followers, the Bringers.
The First is unlike anything we've faced before. There's evil, and then there's the thing that created evil. The Source. It has eternity to act, and endless resources." -Giles

There isn't a concensus on Joyce yet. Is she her, or the First? I tend to think that in this particular place she is The First, because of what she's saying. But time will tell.
"These-these friends of you put too much pressure on you. They always have." -Joyce (The First?)
"Something evil is coming." -Buffy
"Buffy, evil isn't coming, it's already here. Evil is always here. Don't you know? It's everywhere." -Joyce (or the First?)
"And I have to stop it." -Buffy
"How are you gonna do that?" -Joyce (The First?)
"I-I don't know yet, but—" -Buffy
"Buffy, no matter what your friends expect of you, evil is a part of us. All of us. It's natural. And no one can stop that. No one can stop nature, not even—" -Joyce (The First?)

"The First predates everything we've ever known, or can know. It's everywhere. It's pure. I don't know if we can fight it." -Giles
"You're right. We don't know how to fight it. We don't know when it'll come. We can't run, can't hide, can't pretend it's not the end, 'cause it is. Something's always been there to try and destroy the world. We've beaten them back, but we're not dealing with them anymore. We're dealing with the reason they exist. Evil. The strongest. The First." -Buffy




"It cannot be fought, it cannot be killed. The First Evil has been and always will be. Since before the universe was born, long after there is nothing else, it will go on." -Beljoxa's Eye, an Oracle
"I refuse to believe that. There must be some way to destroy it." -Giles
"What, am I talking to myself here? There's no way." -Beljoxa's Eye
"Are you saying that The First will succeed in wiping out the line of slayers?" -Giles
"The eye sees not the future, only the truth of the now and before." -Beljoxa's Eye
"If The First has been around for all time, then why hasn't it attempted something like this before? Why now?" -Giles
"The opportunity has only recently presented itself. The mystical forces surrounding the chosen line have become irrevocably altered...become unstable, vulnerable." -Beljoxa's Eye
"Something The First did?" -Anya
"The First Evil did not cause the disruption, only seized upon it to extinguish the lives of the chosen forever." -Beljoxa's Eye
"Then what has caused the disruption? What is responsible for letting this happen?" -Giles
"The Slayer." -Beljoxa's Eye

"I just—I don't understand how Buffy's death mucked up the whole slayer mojo. You know, it's not like she hasn't died before." -Anya
"It's not because she died. The Beljoxa's Eye was quite clear about that in its enigmatic way. It's because she lives. Again. Buffy's not responsible for that." -Giles
"Oh. Willow and me and Xander and Tara. We're the ones who brought Buffy back. We're—we're the reason The First is here, the reason those girls were murdered. No, it's our fault. The world would've been better off if Buffy had just stayed dead." -Anya

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