What Price Your Soul?

By: Anna The Piper

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Or not, but it's gloriously ironic that history's two "worst recorded" vampires should both end up souled and fighting on the side of the good. And fighting would be exactly what they're doing. But the "good side"? Looking a little bit murky nowadays. Perhaps it's not so ironic after all.

Destiny is a funny thing. Whose game is it anyway? Who's the puppet, and who's pulling the strings? Who sent the amulet? Why? Who was it intended for?

As a wise man once said, ask the right questions. It's not about the puppet, and it's not about the puppet master.

It's about the strings.

To start with a title, and a rich, double-edged one at that - Hellbound. Bound to hell - headed that way, or tied to it?

You know what they say, any excuse for Fool For Love:

SPIKE: The only reason you've lasted as long as you have is you've got ties to the world... your mum, your brat kid sister, the Scoobies. They all tie you here but you're just putting off the inevitable. Sooner or later, you're gonna want it. And the second - the second - that happens...You know I'll be there. I'll slip in...have myself a real good day.

Hellbound is a lovely affirmation of this. Spike and Angel are both bound to hell - by the very nature of what they are, or because of the atrocities they've committed? I'll come back to that one. But the ties binding Spike aren't all pulling in that direction.

SPIKE:The truth is, I like this world. You've got dog racing, Manchester United. And you've got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It's all right here.
Becoming Part II

Spike's problem is he already got to the point where he let go of those ties; he had himself that real good day. He reached his goal, found his perfect ending. He didn't intend to come back. And he's come back a ghost, chip the second, only frustrating ten times over. HarmonyFB and Estepheia do a wonderful job of explaining how the various ghouls that haunt Spike this episode illustrate everything he has lost. Everything that gave him a reason to go on has been taken away from him. But he has his epiphany, grabs his raison d'etre with both hands, and it's a magnificent echo of a great moment past:

ANGELUS: Take all that away... and what's left?

BUFFY: Me.

Becoming Part II

So we didn't recognise the Spike we knew and loved the first few episodes? Of course we didn't. Neither did he. This is the moment he seizes his identity. The message is clear. You want to know why you're here? Know who you are.

So here's the question. On the one hand, Spike is tied to hell. On the other, to earth. Is there even a difference?

Damnation and redemption in the Angelverse are great, weighty, intricate themes that it would take forever to even begin to unravel. But one question seems worth addressing. What the hell is hell?

There are some fascinating discussions of this all over LJ right now. I'd cite them all but I'd only miss out some gem somewhere, so I'm sticking with registering awe and enormous respect.

Let's begin with the facts. There is no one meaning of hell in the Jossverse. There are hell dimensions, hell gods, the "fire and torment" of eternal punishment that Spike dreads. Actually, that's entirely consistent with the hell of Christian theology (and I'm using this because it's the "ology" I'm most familiar with). In the original Hebrew and Greek of the Bible there are a number of different words that have come to be translated as "Hell", and they all refer to different things. Our modern day concept of hell is shaped by Dante; by a thousand cultural influences; this is ironic, but I know when I took a session on hell with my youth discussion group I prepared by watching Angel. Hee.

Of course, this is always a nice one:

HOLLAND: We're in the hearts and minds of every single living being. And that - friend - is what's making things so difficult for you. - See, the world doesn't work in spite of evil, Angel. - It works with us. - It works because of us…Welcome to the home office.

ANGEL: This isn't...

HOLLAND: Well, you know it is. - You know that better than anyone. Things you've seen. Things you've, well - done. You see, if there wasn't evil in every single one of them out there, why, they wouldn't be people. - They'd all be angels.

Reprise

Again, it's entirely consistent with many strands of Christian (and non-Christian) doctrine. Forget the afterlife, deal with hell on earth.

Spike at the end of Just Rewards tells Fred he's standing over the chasm of Hell. The truth is, they're all straddling Hell right now. One foot wrong and they're going down. The flames of eternal damnation are licking round their feet, every one of them, and they don't see it.

But forget Hell for the moment; here's - still, just about my favourite description ever - Heaven:

BUFFY: I knew that everyone I cared about was all right. I knew it. Time ... didn't mean anything ... nothing had form ... but I was still me, you know? And I was warm ... and I was loved ... and I was finished. Complete. I don't understand about theology or dimensions, or ... any of it, really ... but I think I was in heaven.
After Life

Consciously or not, there's a dichotomy being drawn here, and it's something like this. Heaven is completion. It's what Buffy had. It's what Spike thought he had at the end of Chosen.

Hell is eternity. It's what Holland says to Angel in that fateful elevator trip: We - go on - no matter what. Our firm has always been here. In one form or another. Never mind the fire, never mind the torment. It's eternity that burns.

Maybe I'm just imposing some kind of would-be eastern philosophy on this, but I think there's significance to it. Think about this:

WESLEY: Shanshu has roots in so many different languages. The most ancient source is the Proto-Bantu and they consider life and death the same thing, part of a cycle, only a thing that's not alive never dies. It's- it's saying - that you get to live until you die. - It's saying - it's saying you become human.
To Shanshu in LA

What is the shanshu prophecy really about? Mortality? The end of eternity?

Perhaps it's not a reward, so much as a reprieve.

What kind of destiny is that? What kind of destiny does a vampire with a soul expect anyway?

Does the average vampire care about Hell? Does the average vampire even experience Hell? Traditional Christian theology would suggest that it is your soul that goes on when your body dies. Without a soul, there would be no afterlife. In which case, what is it that sends Angel to Hell in Becoming? The fact that Buffy kills him, sending him into the very portal he's opened up? Or the fact that Buffy got her friends to restore his soul?

But if that were the case, it would also follow that the soul was what allowed Angel to be brought back. Is it the same for Spike?

Darla, though, was brought back human without previously having had a soul. Besides, in the Jossverse, a soul has always been synonymous with a conscience.

But still - if it weren't for their souls, would Spike and Angel be bound for hell at all? Or at least, would they care?

This line is as significant as anything to come out of Hellbound:

PAVAYNE: The soul that blesses you...damns you to suffer-forever.

But of course, we knew that already:

SPIKE: It's here. In me. All the time. The spark. I wanted to give you what you deserve. And I got it. They put the spark in me, and now all it does is burn.
Beneath You

The spark of hellfire. Because of course both Spike and Angel are damned by the soul they each have; the soul that makes them care; the soul that ties them to the world.

Damnation and redemption are two sides of the same coin. They are two sides of the same soul. Pavayne is right, but it works both ways. The same soul that damns them saves them. It's a question of perspective.

SPIKE: The thing, beneath. Beneath you. It's here too. Everybody. They all just tell me. Go, go to hell.
Beneath You

There's a "thing" beneath every "you". It's the moment you stop believing that people believe in you. And the message of Hellbound? Same old, same old. Know who you are. Care enough about the people around you to know that them caring about you justifies your existence.

It's summarised perfectly at the end of the episode:

ANGEL (to Pavayne) Congratulations. You get to live forever, unable to move, to touch, or to feel... or to affect anything in the world around you. But don't worry-I had 'em give you a window. Welcome to hell.

Spike is on the brink of hell. Because he gets to live forever, unable to move, to touch, or to feel…or to affect anything in the world around him. That's the hell he's slipping into. But in Spike's case one he has last power left to him.

The power to stop slipping.

You see, the question the incorporeal Spike has to ask isn't, am I flesh? It's am I flesh to you? That's what matters.

 

 

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny…

So, two vampires, two different concepts, I think, of redemption. And Angel right now has his pretty much screwed up:

ANGEL: Except for one small catch. The prophecy's a bunch of bull. They all are. Nothing's written in stone or fated to happen, Spike. You save the world, you end up running an evil law firm.
SPIKE: Or playin' Casper with one foot in the fryer.
ANGEL: You think any of it matters? The things we did? The lives we destroyed. That's all that's ever gonna count. So, yeah, surprise. You're going to hell. We both are.

Nothing's written in stone, and yet Angel knows for a fact they are both bound for hell? It doesn't make sense.

So the quality of good they have both done cannot outweigh the quantity of evil they have committed? And yet it's a long time since Angel looked on redemption as a balancing act. Why is it a problem now?

In Christian theology redemption isn't something that's earnt, it's something that's given. It's not the way of the Jossverse, never has been, but I think there's some weight to it.

Spike, from at least as early as Crush, has had his sights on a redemption he sees as being well within his grasp.

BUFFY: Angel was good!
SPIKE: And I can be too. I've changed, Buffy.

Oh Spike. How many times? How many times do we hear him say, "I've changed. I'm good now," and then, " I've changed. I'm good now", and yet there always seems to be another rung to climb. Or is there?

Because here's another nice, ambiguous episode title - Just Rewards. Deserved rewards, or only rewards? And goodness, how many twists have we seen in the eleven-year Buffy/Angelverse history as to what exactly anyone "deserves"? As for rewards - they're just rewards, after all. They aren't all they're cracked up to be.

LILAH: Well, I thought that was obvious. You earned it. Think of it as a reward.
GUNN: Reward for what?
LILAH: Ending world peace.

Home

So what happened to the Angel of Epiphany, who put the idea of attaining any kind of reward behind him, and was OK with that?

Angel: In the greater scheme or the big picture, nothing we do matters. There's no grand plan, no big win.
Kate: You seem kind of chipper about that.
Angel: Well, I guess I kinda - worked it out. If there is no great glorious end to all this, if - nothing we do matters, - then all that matters is what we do. 'cause that's all there is. What we do, now, today. - I fought for so long. For redemption, for a reward - finally just to beat the other guy, but... I never got it.
Kate: And now you do?
Angel: Not all of it. All I wanna do is help. I wanna help because - I don't think people should suffer, as they do. Because, if there is no bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness - is the greatest thing in the world.

It's Giles in Restless:

Oh, I'm beginning to understand this now. It's all about the journey, isn't it?

But here's a thought. Maybe Angel didn't have it exactly right in Epiphany after all. Because here we have Angel, cursed with a soul, doing what good he can to atone for his past. Being a Champion, saving the world because he can. And because he can it becomes his duty. Call duty destiny and it becomes something worth doing.

And suddenly, along comes Spike. Spike saved the world for the good of the world, of course he did, but Spike's motives for good have always been caught up in his love of one woman.

What Angel doesn't get, is maybe Spike has it right.

Think about this. When Buffy sacrificed herself in the Gift, it wasn't to save the world, it was to save Dawn. If she'd wanted to save the world she could have sacrificed Dawn. After all, the world needed her. The beginning of Season 6 shows us that. She does what she does not just because she's the Slayer, not just because of a higher calling, but because of the love she has for one person in her life.

It's the same with Xander and Willow at the end of Season 6, and Spike at the end of Season 7. They are all unselfish acts - but all of them carried out because of a personal attachment.

That's the point, and I think people miss it. Fighting for the greater good doesn't mean putting aside personal relationships. Not always. Becoming would be the exception. But generally speaking, the message of the Buffyverse is this - we can't all save the world. All we can do is look out for the people closest to us. And sometimes, in doing that, we might just save the world.

Spike, as a ghost in a whole new world, does what he's always done. He forms attachments. The simple fact is, Spike has always known the key to the shanshu prophecy, always known what it is to be human.

SPIKE: I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it.

Lovers' Walk

That's it, isn't it?

What does it mean to be redeemed? To live, to love, to fuck up and to know that that's OK, that you don't have to pay the price for that. It's not about being a hero. It's about making the best of the mess you get yourself into. It's the message of Intervention, I think, that love is intrinsically, inherently redemptive.

I'm quoting Ascian3 here, because this is perfect:

Spike loved, and that's his power. He understood in the end that the things he loved in the specific - Manchester United, cigarettes, dog racing, and Buffy - couldn't be separated from the world they exist in.

And Angel? Angel doesn't have anyone. Connor and Cordy are gone. Buffy doesn't need him. And Faith, who has relied on him during her time in prison, is somewhere off doing her own thing, standing on her own two feet.

So Angel is fighting for an abstract idea. A concept of good. It's not enough.

 

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean…

Oh Angel, Angel. What are you doing? Selling your soul? Or buying it? One or the other, and neither of them looks healthy.

LILAH: Again, your choice. Think of what you can do with the resources of Wolfram & Hart at your fingertips, the difference that would make. Nothing in this world is the way it ought to be. It's harsh, and it's cruel, but that's why there's you, Angel. You live as if the world were as it should be. With all this, you can make it that way. People don't need an unyielding champion. They need a man who knows the value of compromise and how to beat the system from inside the belly of the beast.
Home

Of course, the Cordelia-Jasmine story last season is the perfect illustration of that - in reverse, perhaps. But it's worth remembering that the relationship wasn't one-way. The beast in the belly of Cordelia existed entirely dependent on her. And the idea that everything was the work of some higher plan, that they were all pawns manipulated into position - is that really the case?

Maybe there is no puppet master.

Here's a thought, from Dead Ends - thanks to LynnB for the heads up.

LINDSEY: The key to Wolfram and Hart: don't let them make you play their game. - You gotta make them play yours.

So here's the question. Is there a difference? What is Wolfram and Hart's game? Do they even have a game?

Really, how long has Angel been calling the shots at Wolfram and Hart?

Take this, for instance:

LINDSEY:Angel is an obstacle to everything that we do. Give me one good reason why we can't just kill him!
NATHAN: Because Angel - is a major player.
LILAH: In business?
NATHAN: In the apocalypse.
LILAH: Oh. That.
NATHAN: The prophecies all agree that when the final battle is waged, he plays a key role.
LINDSEY: Good for him.
NATHAN: Which side he's on is the gray area, and we're gonna continue making it as gray as possible.

Blood Money

And this:

Lindsey: We don't want him dead. We want him dark.
Dear Boy

How dark is beige?

Everything suggests that Wolfram and Hart have Angel exactly where they want him. But really, do they even know where they want him? After all, back in the elevator again, there is no grand plan. Wolfram and Hart exists to perpetuate evil. Or rather, it's symptomatic of continuing evil. Is it? Or does it exist to perpetuate Angel? And is there a difference?

This bothers me, too:

Wesley: Ah, the vampire with a soul, once he fulfills his destiny, will Shanshu. Become human. - It's his reward.
To Shanshu in LA

If the "vampire with a soul's" destiny is not to prevent the apocalypse, but to instigate it, as Wolfram and Hart suggest it might be, why the reward? Why become human in a world that no longer exists?

Something's up. Something's out of kilter. The Angelverse is tipping on its axis and all hell may break loose. Or not. Perhaps hell isn't the issue at all.

Because you know what?

Ladies and gentleman, hell just froze over.