Caleb
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- "I know what you're thinking: "Crazy Preacher Man, spoutin' off about the Whore of Babylon" or some such. That ain't me. I'm not here to lecture you. What's the point? My words just curdle in your ears, you don't take in a thing. So much filth inside your head, ain't no room for the words of truth."
- ―Caleb[src]
Caleb is a misogynistic defrocked preacher and serial killer who serves The First Evil as his leading enforcer. He's portrayed by Nathan Fillion.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] The Calling
- "-Back before I met you, there was this choir girl in Knoxville I used to give singing lessons to... why, she even screamed on key. Show me her.
- All these girls...they followed you willingly. You tricked them.
-I only told them the truth." - ―Caleb and the First[src]
Prior to becoming the right-hand man of the First Evil, Caleb was a defrocked priest and serial killer responsible for the deaths of at least two girls, whom he lured with his stirring sermons and masculine charm. Of these two, we only know one name (Betty), but the second girl was apparently a showgirl in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Despite remaining unseen until the last five episodes of the series, Caleb is revealed to be one of the prime movers for the events of the seventh season. In an effort to eliminate all threats to the First Evil's resurgence, he directs hordes of Bringers to systematically kill Potential Slayers around the world. He also was behind the bombing of the Watchers' Council Headquarters in London, causing the deaths of Quentin Travers and all Watchers and Council Operatives present.
[edit] Sunnydale
- "You girls are just burning with righteousness, aren't you? Problem is, you think they're blazing like suns, when really you're matchsticks in the face of the darkness."
- ―Caleb to Buffy[src]
In the episode "Dirty Girls", Caleb murders two potential Slayers and effortlessly defeats Buffy, Faith, and Spike. Before the Scooby Gang retreats, he also manages to violently blind Xander in one eye by forcing his thumb into his left eye socket.
In the series finale, "Chosen", Caleb is killed in a final confrontation with Buffy with the assistance of the newly-arrived Angel. With Angel watching, Buffy pierces Caleb's abdomen with the Scythe, apparently killing him. Much to their shock, Caleb is revived with another power transfusion from the First and immediately knocks Angel unconscious with a devastating blow. Buffy and Caleb exchange blows once again. However, Buffy manages to slice him vertically in half and put him down permanently.
Later in the episode, the First Evil appears to Buffy, manifesting under the guise of the slain Caleb. The First lectures Buffy on the futility of her campaign against it, and it is this meeting that encourages Buffy to come up with her plan to activate the remaining Potentials to full Slayer status using the essence of the scythe taken from the vineyard two episodes previous.
[edit] Powers and abilities
- "You're in me. Gave me strength no man can have."
- ―Caleb to The First[src]
Caleb provided Buffy and her allies with a villain who was both a physical threat (in contrast to the non-corporeal First Evil) and a recognizable individual (as opposed to the nameless Bringers and Turok-Han, who were formidable but also interchangeable, and the First itself, which had no fixed form).
Caleb's superhuman body served as a vessel for the power of the noncorporeal First Evil. With the possible exception of Glory and Adam, Caleb's strength dwarfed that of Buffy's previous adversaries. His strenght and durability allowed him to defeat Buffy, Faith and Spike with relative ease as well as punching through solid concrete and sending an opponent flying for dozens of feet with a single blow. Caleb's empowerment also allowed him to survive lethal injuries, as demonstrated when he revived after being severely wounded with the Scythe.
- "It's been a while since we've... merged."
- ―The First[src]
However, Caleb's powers were only temporary, thus requiring periodical mergers with the First's manifestation in order to sustain it. The merger caused Caleb's eyes to turn temporarily solid black and mutated his blood, turning it black as well.
Caleb also possesses psychic abilities, such as aura-reading, telepathy, and the ability to detect the powers of his opponents.
[edit] Personality and traits
- "You were born dirty. Born without a soul, born with that gaping maw that wants to open up and suck out a man's marrow. Makes me puke to think too hard on it."
- ―Caleb's view of woman[src]
Behind his priest's collar, Caleb is a sadistic sociopath with a pathological hatred of women. Impressed by his body's fortitude as well as his single-minded nature, the First Evil makes him the commander of its campaign of carnage and mayhem. He likes to reenact his killings by asking the First to take on the form of the girls he killed, so that he may "kill them again."
[edit] Beliefs
- "She didn't know the good news, the glory that was coming. That'd be you. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever."
- ―Caleb to the First[src]
Caleb delivers quasi-biblical quotes, frequently even making allusions to his belief that the First is actually God. Caleb seems to quote the Old Testament more often than the New Testament due to the more sexist views that can be interpreted in the Old Testament, for example his views on women being evil relates to his views on Eve, the biblical first female (in Jewish and Christian book of Genesis), and how she gave Adam, the first created man and first created human, the forbidden fruit. When the First, in the guise of Buffy, asks him if he thinks it is God, Caleb replies that he believes the First is beyond such definition. He states plainly in his debut episode, "I don't truck with Satan, that was just me havin' fun back there. Satan's a little man."
When asked about Caleb's religious connections, Whedon said, "I'm not coming down against priests. This guy clearly is not one."
Caleb also comments further on his admiration of the First, when it (under the guise of Buffy) vocalizes its envy of humans' ability to feel lust and engage in primal sexual acts, while several members of the Scooby Gang engage in such activity elsewhere. He dismisses them all as "sinners," commenting enthusiastically that the First is miles beyond that, for it is "Sin" itself.
[edit] Behind the scenes
- Nathan Fillion is one of three actors who had appeared on Whedon's Firefly series who later played a villain on one of Whedon's other shows, along with Gina Torres and Adam Baldwin, who respectively portrayed Jasmine and Marcus Hamilton.
