jennycalendar:

Another post about Dawn, because I feel like much of her “annoyingness” and “whining” is attributed to her being a “typical teenager.” Teenagers are just like that, you know? And that’s one of the reasons a lot of people give for not hating Dawn.

Personally, I don’t think teenagers are just like that. They don’t just steal from shops and from their loved ones by default. They don’t act personally insulted and offended by everything that happens. But Dawn does, because Dawn had reasons to behave immaturely. Yes, she’s filling the role of “little sister” for Buffy, but Joss knows better than to just [insert generic annoying younger sibling figure], you know?

Dawn is 14-years-old (not the most graceful or grateful age, mind you) when she finds out that she doesn’t exist. She’s not a real person, or she wasn’t until a few months ago. Could you even imagine finding that out about yourself? Until that point, she had been generically annoying, but after that, she becomes heavily emotional and self-destructive. Again, all of this is completely reasonable behavior. 

And then her mom dies. Her sister is too busy saving the world (understandably) to give Dawn her full attention. She’s condescended to and left out of the Scooby Gang for the sake of her own protection. She needs help, but she also wants to help and isn’t being allowed to do so. Glory wants to kill her, and if she succeeds, the entire universe will go kerplooey. And then Buffy dies to save her. Her sister gave up her own life in order to preserve hers. She must feel so much gratitude and guilt and sadness and guilt about her happiness for getting to still be alive and she must feel so alone and so utterly abandoned in all of this.

I’m sorry, but how can anyone hate Dawn for her behavior? Even in season 6, when Buffy comes back to life, you can’t hate Dawn for continuing to act out. She’s growing, and she desperately wants a mother figure to be there for her, but as Buffy’s depression becomes more and more intense, Dawn’s feeling of abandonment and aloneness must continue to grow. Dawn’s feelings might be selfish, but they’re understandable. And she’s no younger than Buffy was when she became the slayer at this point: Dawn feels like she should be allowed to be one of the Scoobies, but Buffy wants to continue protecting Dawn.

It’s not until the end of season 6, when Buffy realizes that Dawn is going to be in danger whether or not she’s a Scooby, that Dawn’s behavior starts to really, dramatically improve. And this makes perfect sense. She’s finally allowed to help, which is all she really wanted (apart from attention, which again makes sense). And she helps a lot. None of the, “Dawn’s in trouble, must be Tuesday” crap, okay. Dawn isn’t strong like Buffy, but she can fight, and it becomes apparent in season 7 that she’s one of the most enthusiastic and competent researchers they have (proficiency with archaic languages, anyone?). She keeps a level head in battle (creating the makeshift weapon from a bag in “Lessons”) and she knows when to back away from a situation (HELLO, AS SOON AS SHE FOUND OUT THAT AMANDA WAS THE REAL POTENTIAL, SHE LET AMANDA TAKE CONTROL). 

And then finally, right before the last battle with the First, when Buffy tells Xander to kidnap Dawn so she’ll be safe, Dawn tases Xander and turns the car around so she can fight alongside everyone else, knowing full-well that she could (and probably would) die.  

So I repeat: How. Can anyone. Hate. Dawn?

(Source: plrtz-glrb, via outforawalk-bitch)