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prodigalwatcher49 - "They pose as saints, but are full of lies!" - 'Seven Samurai'
There is nothing so insidious as an enemy that wears a friend's face. It's the reason that so many tales of horror and suspense involve creatures capable of taking on familiar or innocuous forms. Our psychology is such that certain visual cues have come to mean "innocent" and "safe" and "unthreatening" just as surely as we have learned to recognize the dangerous or unwanted on sight.
Vampires, of course, have long exploited this fact. Almost to a one, they take immense pleasure at being able to walk unmolested amongst humanity, often using their appearance to cajole or seduce their intended victims, who have no idea the danger they are in until the façade drops away to reveal the demonic nature beneath.
I cannot tell you the true name of the enemy that, in my experience, utilised this advantage more terribly and to greater effect than any other I have known. Whatever it was called, or whatever it called itself when unmasked is a detail that was never shared, nor was it of particular interest to those who destroyed the demon. It had existed for the better part of a century or more under various assumed names and a human guise. The last name it used was Richard Wilkins.
In 1999, the thing that called itself Richard Wilkins was the duly elected mayor of the city of Sunnydale, California. On the outside, this demon could not have been more disarming. The Wilkins the outside world knew was an average-looking man of middle age, with a perpetually bright and cheerful disposition and a smile that seemed permanently affixed. He was prone to speaking and behaving in a manner more consistent with a television sitcom father from the 1950's than a modern politician, but his seemingly thorough and genuine sincerity kept him from appearing anything more than eccentric in his anachronism.
The truth was that "Wilkins" was an evil that had taken root above the Hellmouth and used its longevity to put into place machinations that would ultimately lead to its ascendance, transforming it from a mere demon into something nearly godlike in its power.
Perhaps the greatest victim of the demon's false face was the Slayer, Faith Lehane. His ostensibly caring and supportive, even paternal demeanour with her cemented her turn from one side of the fight to the other. The kindness and understanding with which it seemed to treat her was-- and likely, still is-- something Faith will always carry with her, for good and ill.
In the end, the demon "Wilkins" was destroyed, but not before the damage was done, not only to the lives of those lost, but to an entire community.
(445)
There is nothing so insidious as an enemy that wears a friend's face. It's the reason that so many tales of horror and suspense involve creatures capable of taking on familiar or innocuous forms. Our psychology is such that certain visual cues have come to mean "innocent" and "safe" and "unthreatening" just as surely as we have learned to recognize the dangerous or unwanted on sight.
Vampires, of course, have long exploited this fact. Almost to a one, they take immense pleasure at being able to walk unmolested amongst humanity, often using their appearance to cajole or seduce their intended victims, who have no idea the danger they are in until the façade drops away to reveal the demonic nature beneath.
I cannot tell you the true name of the enemy that, in my experience, utilised this advantage more terribly and to greater effect than any other I have known. Whatever it was called, or whatever it called itself when unmasked is a detail that was never shared, nor was it of particular interest to those who destroyed the demon. It had existed for the better part of a century or more under various assumed names and a human guise. The last name it used was Richard Wilkins.
In 1999, the thing that called itself Richard Wilkins was the duly elected mayor of the city of Sunnydale, California. On the outside, this demon could not have been more disarming. The Wilkins the outside world knew was an average-looking man of middle age, with a perpetually bright and cheerful disposition and a smile that seemed permanently affixed. He was prone to speaking and behaving in a manner more consistent with a television sitcom father from the 1950's than a modern politician, but his seemingly thorough and genuine sincerity kept him from appearing anything more than eccentric in his anachronism.
The truth was that "Wilkins" was an evil that had taken root above the Hellmouth and used its longevity to put into place machinations that would ultimately lead to its ascendance, transforming it from a mere demon into something nearly godlike in its power.
Perhaps the greatest victim of the demon's false face was the Slayer, Faith Lehane. His ostensibly caring and supportive, even paternal demeanour with her cemented her turn from one side of the fight to the other. The kindness and understanding with which it seemed to treat her was-- and likely, still is-- something Faith will always carry with her, for good and ill.
In the end, the demon "Wilkins" was destroyed, but not before the damage was done, not only to the lives of those lost, but to an entire community.
(445)
