Faith (Buffyverse)

Faith is a secondary character in the Buffyverse who is a vampire slayer. Introduced in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 3, she becomes a recurring character in both BtVS and Angel, and is also a comics character. She survived seven years without a surname, but was dubbed Lehane by Whedon after the television canon was closed. She's played by Eliza Dushku.
==Canon==
What are you gonna do, B, kill me? You become me. You're not ready for that, yet.
—Faith in "Enemies"
Faith is introduced as the replacement slayer for Kendra. Characterised as the anti-Buffy – sensual & out of control – she swiftly turns dark, kills someone accidentally, teams up with the season's Big Bad, kills someone deliberately, and winds up in a Buffy-induced coma. She awakes in time to bodyswap with Buffy, create mayhem, get set on the path of atonement by Angel, and wind up in jail. Sprung from jail to deal with an Angelus problem, she returns to the Sunnydale fold towards the end of BtVS to train potentials.
Faith has a one-night stand with Xander, flirts with Spike & has sex with Riley while in Buffy's body,Her antics with Spike are sometimes credited with kickstarting the entire Spuffy arc and has a relationship with Robin Wood. She idolises Angel, despite a history of trying to murder him, but has tricky relationships with her numerous victims, including her former watcher & torturee Wesley, Xander and Cordelia.
==Fannish Opinion==
==Fandom==
Faith is a very popular character, with many fans attracted by her hotness, her wit, her poorly concealed vulnerability, her pairability especially in femslash, the wild ride of her plot line in canon and especially her redemptive arc. She's the Little Black (Leather) Dress of the Buffyverse, and appears in pairings with virtually everyone. The SapphicSlayer archive credits her appearance"Faith, Hope & Trick" first aired in October 1998 as being the catalyst for the rise of Buffy femslash. She's a bit of a marmite character: some fans attack her, particularly for her canonical treatment of Buffy. She perhaps suffers from being the final nail in the coffin of the canonical Buffy/Angel relationship.
The surname issue – in television canon she's never given one – got a lot of discussion at the height of fandom. Some fans liked the anonymity & rootlessness this gave the character compared with Buffy's supportive blood/chosen family; nikitangel describes Faith's lack of surname as a narrative device that leaves the character incredibly isolated and without the family support system Buffy has and makes for herself. Faith-centric stories that invented a surname for her ("Jones" was one example) were sometimes poorly reviewed. Whedon dubbed her "Lehane" in 2005, several years after television canon closed; the name has generally been accepted as a tagging device but has been slow to be accepted in other contexts.
Faith is highly popular in fanworks, especially considering her relative lack of screentime.Based on Wikipedia cast lists, Faith appears in 20/144 BtVS & 6/110 AtS episodes Some Faith-centric fanfiction goes in for Buffy bashing. Most fanfiction is relationship centric, both femslash & het, and explicit works are common. Buffy/Faith is her most popular pairing, building on their complex history as well as perceived canonical attraction, but she's also paired with Cordelia, Dawn, Tara, Willow and many others. Faith/Wesley is one of the most common het pairings, again building on their complex shared history; Giles/Faith is a minor pairing that's increased in popularity with the comics. Other fairly common male partners include Angel and Xander. She's a frequent crossover partner, too – Victoria P states she slides into nearly any fandom and sparks with almost everyoneComment by musesfool dated 5 November 2007 to spnroundtable: ask the author (accessed 19 September 2014) – especially with Supernatural where she's often paired with Dean Winchester. Eliza Dushku also stars in Dollhouse and Tru Calling, and there are occasional same-actor crossovers. Faith even pops up in RPF. 
Faith-centric gen fanfiction is relatively rare. Her experiences in prison are one popular topic, as is her adjustment to life after prison. She sometimes features in teamfic ensembles drawn from both Angel Investigations and the post-Chosen Slayers. 
She's a fairly popular subject for fan art, being drawn in realistic fashion based on Dushku and in both Western & chibi cartoon styles. Action portraits are common and various weapons, especially the knife given to her by the Mayor, are often included even in non-action portraits. She's frequently portrayed in a bright-red crop top and her tattoo is often shown. As with most Buffyverse characters, manips are a particularly common type of art. Faith is also a common subject for vids.
Topics in meta include Faith's background, especially the possibility of sexual abuse; her treatment of & by the Scoobies, especially Buffy; parallels with other characters, from Buffy to Warren;itsnotmymind: Warren Mears (accessed 20 September 2014) her sexuality; and her canonical redemptive arc. In broader fandom, she's often referenced in discussions of slut shaming.
==Example Fanworks==
===Fanfiction===
*Inside by Gyrus. Gen novelette about Faith in prison (2000)
*The Way, Way Back by Liz Estrada. Plotty time-travel novella with Faith working with Kate Lockley; Faith/Kate (2000)
*Mockingbird by Jane St Clair -- Cordelia/Faith (2000)
* It Starts With Faith by Dreiser, unfinished Cordelia/Faith AU, What would happen if Faith was the first slayer to come to Sunnydale? (~2000)
*The Twelfth Sister, The Twelfth Sister Revisited by Rowan. Horror. Bonibaru writes: The first one is awesome, the second one is simply chilling.Better Buffy Fiction Archive: Rowan (accessed 27 April 2012) (2000–1)
*Alignment by Lar. Wesley visits Faith in prison (2001)
*you, me, and shania twain by hostile seventeen. Character study; written for the original Dead Letters Challenge (2001)
*Hallmark Card For My Assassin by Witchkittyn. A rare piece that sexualises Faith's relationship with the Mayor (2001)
*Theory of a Girl by Jintian/hesychasm. Coming-of-age novella, goes AU after "The Gift" (~2002)
*The Uninvited Guest by Yahtzee. AU casefic in which Faith is accused of murdering Buffy; Faith/Gunn & other pairings (2002)
*Contrite Spirits by Lizbeth Marcs. Post-Chosen story that explores Faith's Catholic background; Faith & Xander (2004)
===Fan Art===
A selection of fan art portraying Faith:
*Slayer, the by bluespitfyre. Pencil sketch on digital background (2006)
*FaItH LeHaNe by Melifaith. Chibi-style three-quarters-length portrait; coloured drawing (2007)
*Faith The Vampire Slayer by illust888. Full-length portrait; line art (2007)
*Faith II by sicksister, a prolific Faith/Dushku artist. Portrait; black-and-white screenprint (2009)
*Slayer by warriormind. Dark Faith on apocalyptic background; digital art (2009)
*Faith BTVS portrait by Pisha. Digital art portrait based on coma-Faith (2010)
*Faith by CodenameMakoto. Chibi-style action portrait (2011)
*Dear Diary by atlantiss505, a prolific Faith artist. Full-length portrait; pencil drawing (2012)
*Faith2 by zomberflie. Black-and-white digital art portrait (2013)
*Faith the Vampire Slayer-Buffy, Angel by Cordy5by5. Action Faith; colour digital art (2014)
*See Buffy/Faith, Faith/Wesley & Giles/Faith for fan art for these pairings
===Vids===
*Superstar by here's luck. Amathela describes it as an excellent Faith character study as well as being a fascinating look at her relationship with Buffy.amathela's Happy IDF: Vid Recs, dated July 20, 2008; WebCite (2003)
===Meta===
*Pretty, Dark Hair, Kills Things (part 1), (part 2) by nikitangel at Idol Reflections (2004)
*All My Faith, Straight Faith by gabrielleabelle (2009, 2010)
*riotgrrrlforever: Have Some Faith: Buffy’s Rogue Slayer, Personality, and Riot Grrrl by Riot Grrrl Forever (2013)
==Archives, Fansites & Communities==
*Faith Rocks! (link via WBM): fansite with quotations, sound files, pictures, fanfiction and mailing list (offline)
*Forever Faith (link): archive
*Unsung Heroines (link via WBM): archive for Faith & other Buffyverse women (offline)
*Faith's Solace (link via WBM), fansite (offline)
*Cordy -4- Faith: Cordelia/Faith
*See Buffy/Faith, Faith/Wesley & Giles/Faith for fansites for these pairings
===YahooGroups===
*Faithful: founded in November 1998
===LiveJournals===
*darker-faith: darker side of Faith
*facets-of-faith: general comm
*faith-slash: all Faith f/f pairings
==References==
Category:Buffyverse Characters