Dawn Summers is a supporting protagonist in the Buffyverse, appearing in Buffy the Vampire Slayer as the deuteragonist of season five and a supporting character in seasons six and seven while also being an off-screen cameo character in Angel.
She was portrayed by Michelle Trachtenberg, who also played Penny Gadget in the 1999 Inspector Gadget film.
Biography[]
As far as anyone was concerned, Dawn was the younger sister of Buffy Summers, the Vampire Slayer. In fact, she was the Key, a ball of mystical energy capable of breaking down dimensional barriers. A group of monks gave her human form to hide her from the hellgod Glory, placing her with Buffy. Everyone, including Dawn, was given false memories of her having grown up as Buffy's sister, being familiar with her friends and with her status as the Slayer.
Dawn was initially quite contemptuous of Buffy and kept away from her activities as the Slayer and the rest of the Scooby Gang, something her mother Joyce was happy about. Despite this, she was good friends with Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay, and had a crush on Xander Harris, and later Spike. Shortly after her creation, she was kidnapped by the incompetent vampire Harmony Kendall in an attempt to lure Buffy into a trap. Both of them agreed to keep the incident from Joyce.
Dawn remained on the sidelines during Buffy's break-up with Riley Finn and Joyce's diagnosis with a brain tumour. She was aware of the Scoobies treating her differently, mental health patients' odd reactions to her and her being the subject of one of Glory's attempts to locate the Key, but didn't learn the truth until she and Spike broke into the Magic Box and read Rupert Giles' diaries. Unable to understand the situation, Dawn ended up running into Glory but was saved by Buffy and her friends, with Buffy reaffirming that Dawn was her sister. Dawn was the first to notice Spike's feelings for Buffy.
After Joyce's death, Dawn struggled with Buffy as a parental figure but they were gradually understanding the situation when a brain-sucked Tara inadvertently revealed her true nature to Glory. The group went on the run, pursued not only by Glory but by the Knights of Byzantium, an order dedicated to destroying the Key. Dawn eventually fell into Glory's hands and Glory planned to use her to open all dimensional barriers and plunge all universes into chaos. When the portal opened, Dawn was willing to sacrifice herself to seal it but Buffy did it instead, dying to save Dawn and the universe.
Dawn remained in Sunnydale, so looked after by Willow and Tara with a robot double of Buffy posing as the genuine article. When Razor's demons attacked the town, Dawn was one of the first to encounter a resurrected and confused Buffy, stopping her from committing suicide and tending to her wounds. Even though she was no longer the Key, she often found herself in the firing line of Buffy's enemies, such as the demon M'Fashnik.
At Halloween, Dawn and her friend Janice snuck out with two older boys. Dawn had her first kiss with one of them, Justin, before learning he was a vampire. He nearly succeeded in convincing her to let her turn up, but she ended up staking him. She was injured as a result of Willow's descent into dark magic and became increasingly isolated, being tricked by the vengeance demon Halfrek into wishing no-one would leave her, which resulted in the rest of the Scooby Gang being trapped in the house with her and learning about her kleptomania.
The experience bonded Buffy and Dawn, but Buffy resisted Dawn's requests to train with her. Dawn pointed out that she tended to end up in trouble anyway and needed to protect herself. She discovered Buffy's affair with Spike and found Tara's body after she was murdered by Warren Mears. During Willow's grief-fuelled descent to the dark side, Dawn ended up fighting a group of earth monsters she'd created alongside Buffy, who vowed to show her the world.
Buffy began training Dawn to fight vampires: For a time, with the Scooby Gang splintered by recent events, Dawn, Buffy and Xander were the only ones active in Sunnydale and Dawn took an active role in hunting down vampires and other threats such as the flesh-eating demon Gnarl. However, with the discovery that agents of the First were murdering all Potential Slayers, Dawn found herself sidelined again as Buffy focused on training the remaining Potentials. A spell apparently showed Dawn was a Potential and, on learning from her classmate Amanda that there was a vampire at the school, she set out to slay it on her own. However, when the First's agents the Bringers attacked, it was revealed Amanda was the Potential, and Dawn convinced her to step up and fight the vampire. Xander complimented Dawn as they reflected on being the one who wasn't chosen.
Dawn slipped into the role of research, helping get information on the Shadow Men and on a spell to communicate with Bringers. When a poor leadership decision caused Buffy to lose the Potentials' respect, Dawn reluctantly instructed Buffy to leave the house for a time to stop the group fracturing further. As they prepared for the final battle with the First, Buffy had Xander knock Dawn out and forcibly remove her from town, but she immediately returned, giving Buffy a kick to the shin and insisting on staying. She fought alongside Xander to contain the Bringers as Buffy led the army of Slayers into destroying the First's army and the Hellmouth, being among those who evacuated Sunnydale before it was destroyed.
Appearances[]
Trivia[]
- Dawn is one of only three Buffy regulars to appear in every episode after their debut, the others being Buffy and Willow.
- Dawn has the last line of the series ("Yeah, Buffy. What are we going to do now?").
External Links[]
Gallery[]
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 uffyverse Heroes
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Scooby Gang Founding Members:Buffy Summers |
Willow Rosenberg |
Xander Harris |
Rupert Giles Later Additions: Cordelia Chase | Angel | Daniel Osbourne | Anya Jenkins | Spike | Riley Finn | Tara Maclay | Dawn Summers | Andrew Wells | Robin Wood | Faith Lehane | Jenny Calendar Angel Investigations Later Additions: Wesley Wyndam-Pryce | Charles Gunn | Lorne | Winifred Burkle | Connor | Harmony Kendall | Spike | Illyria | Other Slayers Other Allies | ||