Joyce Summers

Joyce Summers is a secondary character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who is Buffy and Dawn's mother. She is played by Kristine Sutherland.
==In Canon==
Divorced from husband Hank, Joyce is a typical single mother, balancing a career managing an art gallery with bringing up her daughter—and the odd bit of defending her from vampires. Joyce struggles at first to come to terms with Buffy's role as the Slayer but later becomes supportive, and is a powerful mentor & protector figure for the Scoobies. She has a one-night stand with Giles in Ripper mode while under magical influence, befriends pre-chipped Spike and readily takes the magical-key-made-Summers-flesh into her family. She dies suddenly after being operated on for brain cancer during S5. Spike and Dawn attempt to resurrect her, but change their minds. She later appears in the guise of the First Evil.
==Fannish Opinion==
==Fandom==
In early seasons some fans were critical of Joyce's reaction to Buffy's Slayerdom, especially during 'Becoming', but by the time of her death she'd evolved into a widely (though not universally) beloved character. 
She only rarely makes it into fanworks. Much Joyce fanfiction is gen. 
Common themes are her relationship with her children, especially after Buffy leaves in the S2 finale, her reaction to acquiring the created memories of Dawn, her reflections after her cancer diagnosis, and other characters mourning for her after her death. One trope is that the false Dawn memories might have been responsible for her brain tumour. Several horror stories allow Dawn & Spike's resurrection attempt to succeed. 
Joyce's most popular het pairings in the JOYFFA archive are with Rupert Giles, Spike, Xander Harris and, to a lesser extent, Angel. Ethan Rayne is another popular partner in AO3, and there are lots of Giles/Ethan/Joyce threesomes. 
In the JOYFFA archive, Faith predominates in femslash, and there's a wide range of other female partners including Willow Rosenberg, Anya Jenkins, Tara Maclay and Jenny Calendar.
Topics in meta include her parenting skills, her sexuality, and her ambivalence towards authority.
==Example Fanworks==
===Fanfiction===
Gen
*On Impermanence: Joyce by Dale Edmonds/viggorlijah. Joyce reflects on her children after the cancer diagnosis (2000 or 2001)
*Being Lois Lane by Yahtzee. Set at the end of S2, as Joyce struggles to come to terms with Buffy as the Slayer. Written after her death in canon; perhaps the best-known Joyce-centric story (2001)
*DeNile by Indri. Spike's view of Joyce & their friendship, set late S4 (2002) 
*Stop Whispering by BehrBeMine. Dawn & Joyce after 'Becoming' (2002)
*A Gap in the Clouds by Dolores Labouchere. Joyce meets Lorne at Caritas (2003 or earlier)
*Yours Eternally by SeraC. Horror story in which Joyce is successfully resurrected; a popular trope (2003)
*The Strong One by Girlpire. A rare Joyce backstory (2005)
*Changed by Spuffyduds. Drabble about Joyce's acquisition of memories of Dawn (2007)
Ships
*The Twilight's Last Gleaming by Laura Shapiro. Explicit Joyce/Giles after 'Band Candy' (1999)
*Cocoa by Te. Joyce/Xander short (2000)
*Responsible Adults (aka, The Menageaverse) series by Mydeira & Sadbhyl. Epic AU based on the Giles/Ethan/Joyce threesome, spinning off from S4 'A New Man' (2004–5)
*Watch Out For That Tree! (Or, Five Times Things Accidentally Rekindled Between Giles and Joyce) by dollsome. Lightly humorous take on Joyce/Giles (2011)
===Meta===
*The Chosen Mom. Idol Reflection essay by Dolores (2004)
*When You Girls Are Older You'll Understand. The Shipper's Manifesto essay by Sadbhyl on the Giles/Ethan/Joyce threesome (2005)
* In Memorium: Joyce Summers essay by ChokolatteJedi (2013)
==Fan Sites, Lists==
*JOYFFA fansite by Dolores & Faithtastic. Archive, meta, episode guides, frame grabs, news (offline)
*JustJoyce YahooGroup, founded February 2000; inactive since 2005
==References==
Category:Buffyverse Characters