Name: Joyce Summers

AGE: 41

DOB: April 17, 1958

Origin:

Joyce Summers was born in Springfield, Illinois, to a typical middle- class family. The third of four children, Joyce had a rather normal childhood, feeling closest to her sister, Arlene. In high school, she was pretty much a social outcast, her attempts at fitting in with the "cool crowd" making her look foolish and putting her further on the sidelines. She didn't want to go to her high school prom but was pushed by her mother to give it a try. She went alone and was utterly miserable for the first hour until she met Hank Summers. He did have a date, but something about Joyce intrigued him and the two clicked together. They went out on a few more dates after the end of high school and Joyce was happy to know that she and Hank both intended to attend UCLA.

Joyce did well in college, with an affinity for history and sales. She also got closer to Hank and shortly after graduation, the two were married. In 1980, Joyce discovered she was pregnant and in January 1981, went into labor. It was a long birth, Hank in the waiting room for most of it, Joyce pretty much out of it with pain. Above her cries, she made it clear how much she wanted this child, how badly she wanted to be a mother. She finally issued and in the exhaustion, failed to note how it took several minutes for the child to start crying. She decided to name the child Buffy (a short form of Anne Elizabeth), much over the objections of Hank.

Settling in Los Angeles, the Summers raised Buffy the best they could, even spoiling her a bit. A consequence of this was that by high school, Buffy was showing a selfish, prima donna attitude. It wasn't helped by the fact that tensions between Joyce and Hank were growing, with arguments between the two becoming too much for Buffy to handle (Nightmares).

When word came that Buffy had burned down the school gym during the prom, Joyce and Hank were stunned by their child's actions, even more so when Buffy immediately took off for Las Vegas with a boy she'd met named Pike. Two weeks later, she was back, saying she and Pike had broken up and defended her actions by saying that she had been trying to kill vampires. After a few weeks of hearing Buffy talk like this, Joyce and Hank made the difficult decision to place her into a sanitarium until she could recover from what was obviously shock and denial. (Scooby Snacks: Psycho Babble, the Buffy episode, "Normal Again")

While Buffy was "away," Hank and Joyce talked and realized that their marriage was effectively over. Indeed, the two believed that the obvious problems between them were a factor in Buffy's delusions. Knowing there was no way to salvage what they had once had, the two decided it would be better for Buffy if they ended it as quickly and gently as possible.

Buffy didn't take the news of the divorce very well, but as she didn't want to risk another trip to the sanitarium, she tried to keep her opinions to herself. The divorce was amicable and Joyce and Hank remained on surprisingly good terms afterward ("When She Was Bad"). Joyce took custody ofBuffy and moved to the small town of Sunnydale, California, which Joyce believed would be the best place for a fresh start. ("Welcome to the Hellmouth")

Joyce set herself up at a new business, an art gallery in Sunnydale's downtown. The job kept her rather busy, both from Buffy and from a social life of any sort. What hurt Joyce most was that she felt she was growing more distant from Buffy. She was happy to see her daughter making some new friends such as Willow Rosenburg and Xander Harris, and getting involved in school activities (even if many of them had her out at night, and the whole cheerleading thing didn't work out (The Witch))But Joyce just didn't feel herself connecting to her daughter as well as she'd have liked. However, throughout Buffy's sophomore year, she still helped Buffy out where she could, topping it off by making her a killer prom dress (Prophecy Girl).

It didn't help their relationship, however, in that odd things were happening around town, many of which Buffy seemed to get caught up in. When Joyce went to a parent-teacher night, the school was attacked by what appeared to be some sort of gang with odd-looking faces (Joyce chalked this up to drugs). When the gang leader, a blonde Englishman in punk clothing, tried to attack Buffy, Joyce smacked him across the head with the blunt side of an axe and warned him to stay away from her daughter. Earlier, Joyce had been rather upset at hearing from Principal Snyder about various antics Buffy had gotten herself into. But seeing her daughter trying to help others made Joyce realize that Snyder was probably exaggerating things in a bad light and told him she was proud of her daughter. She promised to lay off of Buffy, for at least a week and a half ("School Hard"). Joyce did manage to get herself into a long-awaited date relationship, with a nice man named Ted. She could tell Buffy wasn't crazy about the man but Joyce liked him, as did most others. When Buffy told her that Ted had threatened her during a trip to a mini-golf course, Joyce didn't believe her daughter, attributing it to that ages old problem of daughters and evil stepfathers. The next night, she came home to find the police there with a shocked Buffy sitting with them. Buffy explained that she had come home to find Ted sitting in her bedroom, reading her diary. When Buffy had reacted to this invasion of her privacy, Ted had attacked her and Buffy pushed him down a flight of stairs, killing him. Joyce was shocked, trying to take in the idea of what Buffy was telling her and unable to understand the situation fully.

However, Joyce was more shocked when Ted suddenly came back to the Summers house, saying he had never been dead at all. However, Joyce soon became suspicious by his behavior and backed away which was when Buffy hit him with a frying pan...and stared in shock at the circuitry under his skin. Buffy explained to her mother that Ted was actually a robot, built by a dying inventor to get back his ex-wife. However, the robot had taken its programming a bit further than Ted had planned...as proven when Xander discovered the mummified corpses of Ted's four previous wives locked in the basement of his house. Xander and Willow's investigation had uncovered that Ted had actually been using drugs to get Joyce to like him, which explained the situation to her in terms she was willing to accept. But Buffy assured Joyce that Ted was on the scrap heap of life (Ted).

Joyce was naturally shaken up by the entire experience and secretly felt some guilt over not having trusted Buffy's instincts. However, that incident, along with some other strange occurrences ("Bad Eggs," "Angel") caused Joyce to start thinking about how things in Sunnydale were not what they seemed.

But nothing could have prepared Joyce for the truth she was to discover. When a handsome man named Steven St. Wolf moved to Sunnydale and began working with Robert and Carol, a married couple who ran a neighboring antiques store, Joyce saw something in him that might be a good match for her daughter. So on February 27th, 1998, Joyce arranged for Steve and Buffy to go out on a date. However, returning home herself, Joyce was attacked by a crazed man she had caused to lose his job earlier in the day, when he had tried to have Buffy wrongly arrested for shoplifting. The man had Joyce bound and gagged and in a position to watch as Buffy entered the house. Joyce watched in horror as the man buried a machete in Buffy's back, then as Steve killed the man. Joyce's shock intensified when she saw Mr. Giles, called in with Ms. Calendar by Steve, pull the machete out of Buffy's back and the wound healed right up. Buffy was forced to tell her mother the incredible truth: She was the Slayer, destined to fight against vampires and demons and was also Immortal, unable to die through normal means. Joyce was also shocked to discover that Buffy's librarian, Rupert Giles, was also her Watcher, meant to train and help Buffy, that Willow, Cordelia Chase, Amy Madison, and Jenny Calendar were Amazons and Willow's boyfriend Oz was a werewolf. After taking a while to digest all that and realizing how committed Buffy was to her duties, Joyce felt more proud of her daughter than ever before. (First Date Blues, Dating Sunnydale Style)

The discovery of Buffy's true identity led to a few more eye-openers for Joyce. First, Buffy told her that since Immortals were foundlings, the child Joyce had given birth to was stillborn and Buffy had been a substitute placed by the doctors to answer Joyce's want for a child. Despite this, the two still considered themselves mother and daughter, Joyce overjoyed that Buffy still loved her as much. (Scooby Snacks: A Question of Paternity) Another shock came when the realization of Buffy's Slayer life made Joyce feel guilty over putting her into the sanitarium. Again, Buffy let Joyce know there was nothing to feel guilty over, which helped Joyce's state of mind (Psycho Babble). Joyce found her life being affected the more she got involved with the group. She was a bit surprised when Steve brought a slew of animals around to be guardians for the group. The surprise grew when her dog, whom she nicknamed Sherlock, was able to shapeshift into a dire wolf and then formed a telepathic bond with Joyce. (A Kitty's Tale)

Joyce also found herself becoming a "den mother" for the Scoobies, such as helping Amy through her difficulties with her mother. (Scooby Snacks: Maternal Instincts) When leaving her store one night in August of 1998, she was ambushed by a group of vampires when Xander arrived. Joyce was stunned to see Xander using above-human abilities to single-handedly slay the vampires. Xander explained that he, Oz, Giles, Fox Mulder, and Jarod Russell, had been given empowerments by a faery named Robin Goodfellow. (A Balance Uncovered) A few days later, Joyce met Robin himself, the faery letting her know about a few items in her shop that were far more expensive than she had imagined. Joyce's information let Robin know the gang were walking into a trap in Los Angeles and gave him the chance to bail them out. (Where Everything Knows Your Name) In October, when Kendra, another Slayer, found herself without a place to stay, Joyce decided to take the girl in, happy to have another daughter inside the house.

In November of 1998, Joyce got yet another surprise when Buffy introduced her to Shaw Hunter, a seemingly normal young-looking exchange student who turned out to be a 54-year old half-elven girl who was also Amy's cousin. (Hunter in Darkness) That surprise was nothing, though, compared to what occurred a month later when a hooded woman came into the shop. That girl turned out to be a scarred and embittered Buffy, who refused to believe she was looking at Joyce. A quick call to Steve and he arrived at the shop with another Buffy, adding to Joyce's confusion. It turned out this Buffy was from another reality, where a vampire had killed Joyce shortly after Buffy was first called. After being brought to this Sunnydale, this Buffy showed how cold and emotionally dead she had become after losing her mother.

A long talk between the two resulted in this other Buffy managing to feel better while Joyce felt even more fortunate to have her own daughter turn out the way she did (Be Careful What You Wish For).

Of course, being associated with the Scooby Gang has led to some wild twists for Joyce's life. In February 1999, Joyce suddenly took ill and fainted before Buffy's eyes. Steve quickly had her transferred to a Grail-run hospital in Maine, where she was watched over by doctors. It turned out that the fainting spell was the first sign of a large tumor in Joyce's brain that could become life threatening. After a careful talk between the two, Joyce agreed to take small amounts of water from the Holy Grail to help the healing process along. Within days, Joyce was on her feet, feeling better than ever and was pleasantly surprised to see herself looking younger as well. Unable to avoid a little mischief, Joyce horrified Buffy by coming home from a shopping trip with several very revealing outfits (Joyce waited until she was sure Buffy wasn't watching to return all of them). A few days later, Joyce was surprised when Buffy brought home a leather-clad tough girl named Faith who was yet another Slayer. Joyce offered to take the girl in. When Joyce offered the family room couch, Faith simply shrugged and said that it beat sleeping on concrete. This led to a brief talk between the two, Faith coming clean over her hard past on the streets. Two days later, a construction crew arrived and began redoing the upper floors to give Faith and Kendra their own rooms, Joyce not caring what it cost to make sure "her girls" were treated right. (Faith's Story) On Valentine's Day, Joyce was confused when she ran into a flu- ridden Snyder at the drug store, the man begging forgiveness for some insults he had given her, Buffy, and Faith. Later, at her home, Joyce was confronted by Ted the pizza deliveryman who began putting the moves on her. Even worse, Xander and Oz also showed some interest and even reacted violently when Joyce tried to push them away. It soon came out that an attempt by the girls at a protection spell had gone awry and instead made every man in Sunnydale fall in love with Joyce. The only ones not affected were Larry Blaisdell (who was gay), Robin (who had protection spells set up around him) and Father Ulric (due to his protections and his vow of celibacy, although the girls wouldn't know that for a while). Joyce was soon rushed around Sunnydale as the men's desire to get Joyce turned more and more violent. Eventually, the girls managed to get Joyce hidden away long enough for the spell to lose effect: To keep Xander and Oz out of the way, the girls set up an illusion spell to make Cordelia and Willow both look like Joyce to keep the enspelled boys "busy." Meanwhile, Joyce waited at home while Buffy set herself up as a decoy with an illusion to look like Joyce while the real Joyce set herself up with a long drink to handle things (Another Tuesday Night in Sunnydale).

In late April, Joyce found herself involved majorly in her daughter's world and realized just how dangerous it was. Closing up her shop, Joyce was surprised by the arrival of Buffy, along with Robin, Shaw, Amy, and a red-haired Irishman who turned out to be Robin's old leprechaun friend, Liam Danahure. It seemed that Joyce had unknowingly acquired a mystical Eye that could open a portal to another dimension. Giving the Eye to Buffy, Joyce and the others returned to her home. They saw that the door was open and when Shaw heard a sound, she reacted swiftly and ended up skewering FBI agent Dana Scully, getting blood all over Joyce's carpet. Scully and her husband, Fox Mulder, had come to Sunnydale seeking the Eye themselves. Lying in the living room was the corpse of a doctor who was an authority on the Eye...a doctor the group had seen alive only minutes before. Alerted that something was up, they headed to the library but were too late. The entire thing was a plot by the evil Emperor Shao Kahn who, with the aid of the dark faery Mider and the Irish witch Maeve, opened a portal between Earth and Outworld and covered Sunnydale with his forces. Joyce's jeep went out of control and ended up smashing into her shop, destroying both.

The group managed to escape to Ireland where they ran into Aideen, an old friend of Robin and Liam's who was living as a human with her Immortal lover, Torc. As Robin and Aideen gathered together the Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog, a quartet of Immortal fighters, Joyce tried to wrestle with her feelings of knowing Buffy was captured in Outworld's hands.

Joyce was rocked when she, Amy, and Shaw discovered that Robin, Liam, and Aideen had written the Scroll that stated the Game had all been a fake, in order to prevent a cataclysm on Earth. Joyce helped Amy get over her feelings of hurt over Robin having kept such a secret from her and also bonded with Shaw over their mutual fears over the others.

Joyce was with the others when they fought the forces of Outworld at Castle Kells and was touched when Diedre swore on her life that she would help Joyce get Buffy back. Outside of Tira Na Nog, the group was attacked by another ninja force but aided by a quintet of people with experience fighting Outworld: Mortal Kombat champion Liu Kang, movie star Johnny Cage, special forces commandos Sonya Blade and Jackson "Jax" Briggs and the ninja Sub-Zero.

It wasn't exactly a good evening for Joyce. When Sonya coolly suggested that they accept a certain number of casualties, Joyce informed her that her daughter was not an acceptable loss and that they would be saving them all. The ninja Sub-Zero later came to a troubled Joyce and knocked her out to save her the obvious nightmares she had been feeling, an act Joyce was surprisingly grateful for.

Traveling to the Faery Kingdom to get the Mystic Weapons the Knights needed, Joyce watched as Robin, Liam, Shaw and Aideen fought a team of monsters for the weapons. However, Maeve managed to ensnare Mulder, Scully and Amy, bringing them to Sunnydale, the components needed to merge Sunnydale and Outworld together. Joyce managed to keep Shaw and Robin calm despite their fears over Amy's fate. When Robin tried to get the forces of the three fairy kingdoms to fight Outworld and was rebuked, Joyce stepped up with a speech about how she was willing to fight for her daughter despite knowing she'd probably die. That caused Titania, Queen of the Faery Kingdom to throw in with Robin, beginning a recruitment drive among the faeries. With Joyce insisting on going with, Shaw placed various protection spells to keep Joyce safe from magics.

Joyce tried to keep out of the way of the assault on Sunnydale, reuniting briefly with Buffy and then trying to stay out of danger. While in the library, Joyce saw the Eye suspended in energy and powering the portal. Remember how she was protected by magics, Joyce leaped into the beam, taking away the Eye and shattering it to pieces, cutting off Outworld and Sunnydale with Shao Kahn hurled in between them and apparently ripped apart. For an encore, Joyce brutally beat Maeve with a fury that took even her by surprise, stopping herself at the last moment from killing the witch. Joyce then topped the evening off by warning the Knights and the Kombateers that the Scoobies were planning a surprise sparring ambush, letting Robin give the group his empowerment for an ambush of their own (Immortal Kombat).

Since then, Joyce has tried to get things as back to normal as possible in Sunnydale, continuing her "den mother" duties and living a full life...even if it's not quite the simple one she had once hoped for, it can still be fun.

Description:

Thanks to the Grail, Joyce looks a little younger than her actual age (most people think she had plastic surgery done but haven't brought it up), late thirties at most. She has curly sandy blond hair and piercing blue eyes and her natural, quiet beauty has been enhanced a bit by the Grail. Her five-foot-seven body is still in good shape and can be eye catching if she dresses right (which Buffy is grateful she doesn't do often). She has a wide smile and good laugh and carries with her the air of a woman people instinctively trust and feel they can open up to. But Joyce has a very strong side that has allowed her to get through what life throws at her and even fight if she has to.

Abilities (uncommon): Besides youth and extending her life span for several centuries, the Grail has also made it impossible for Joyce to be taken over by demonic forces, while also making her immune to disease.

Abilities (learned): Joyce has been taking self-defense courses for some basic fighting skills just in case of trouble. While in no way a martial arts expert, Joyce can handle herself in a fight...as Maeve found out the hard way. Joyce also knows how to run a business and has a great deal of expertise in working in the art field, even in putting up with temperamental artists (having several teenage daughters helps)

Current Status: (include here if the person is immortal or not): Citizen of the United States with no criminal record. Graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), with bachelor's degrees in business administration and artistic studies. Owner of Summers' Art Gallery in Sunnydale, California. Living in Sunnydale, trying to rebuild her shop and keep on being a den mother to the group. Joyce is learning to handle more things, as Sunnydale gets odder. She's also trying to live with the realization of the darkness within her that she let loose on Maeve and how to reconcile that with the rest of her life.

Proficient weapons: Joyce hasn't trained with any "traditional" weapons, but has two things in her personal arsenal that put even the Slayer Swords to shame; the Mother Voice and the Mother Eye. These are tools Joyce uses as a last resort, and only in her duties as the mother to three Vampire Slayers when they (more Buffy and Faith than Kendra) do something like typical teenager mischief. As someone once said, Joyce is a mother. She doesn't need superpowers.

What is the one most important thing you can say about the character?

I always felt Joyce was woefully underused in the regular "Buffy" series. For the first two seasons, she'd be the foolish mother with no idea of her daughter's life, at worse coming off as the bad guy by grounding Buffy after she'd saved lives. Even after she found out the truth, she'd still be used as either bait for baddies ("Helpless") or comic relief ("Band Candy"), and times when she'd show strong sides ("This Year's Girl") were few and far between. It's ironic that the episode where Joyce made the biggest impact was the one where she died. ("The Body") What struck me the most was Buffy's dream in "Restless" that implied that Buffy deliberately cut her mother out of her life. That struck me as quite unfair for such a strong character.

One of the first things I wanted to do when writing a Wandererverse story was to bring Joyce in and show how a normal woman could be strong in such a situation. Joyce is something that's needed not just for Buffy but for the Scoobies as well, a strong figure of moral authority that balances out the occasional darkness they find themselves in. She's the emotional backup; the one everyone knows will listen to their problems and help as much as they can. Joyce is also showing that she's stronger than most of the group have given her credit for and can handle far more than she should be able to. Overall, Joyce is a woman who can get through an attack by vampires yet still worry about her daughter's math grades, a true mother.