Buffy Birthdays
Jan. 26th, 2012 05:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
misseIn which I write fannish nonsense about birthdays in the Buffy fandom.
I’m writing a story at the moment (big surprise) which I want to finish before posting. Anyway, one of the issues that has come up is the question of Xander’s age/birthday. Now, the only truly canon birthdate is Tara Maclay, which is 16th October, 1980 (her gravestone, and her birthday episode when her family tries to take her back.) Buffy was born in January (sometime around the 19th) 1981, while neither Willow nor Xander’s birthdays are mentioned onscreen. That said, Xander is older than Buffy by some unknown period of time: during the episode Innocence, which occurs around Buffy’s seventeenth birthday, Xander describes himself as a seventeen year old to Cordelia. Faith’s birthdate, according to the published script of the Angel episode Sanctuary (apparently) is 14th December, 1980, which makes her older than Buffy, and means that a Slayer’s Calling isn’t specific to an age, but more general (ie, puberty/teen years.) Oh, and Cordelia’s birthday is also in December, 1980 (tying together Buffy’s Prom and Angel’s Birthday.
So what can we make from this?
Now, a poster on the Twisting the Hellmouth forums offered up the star sign of Sagittarius for Xander’s sign in a discussion of Xander’s birthday, which I thought was hilariously appropriate. In the same post, they offered up the fact that California requires students to turn five on or before December 2 of the school year to start kindergarten, which means that Xander could have his birthday on or after 3 December to be older than Buffy, but still be in her year (excepting being held back, etc.) So we can now narrow Xander’s birthday down to a possible 3 – 21 December, 1980, and update the list as follows:
Interestingly, Faith, Cordelia and Xander are all about the same age, and possibly the same star signs, if you follow that.
Since Willow’s birthday is never mentioned, we can put her sometime during the Summer holidays, so June – August, 1980? If we use Astrology, we could pick Aquarius, as it has a high affinity for Libra (Tara) and Sagittarius (Xander) while being someone who makes strong opinions, has eccentric leanings and something of a wild side, and having a ‘structured, ambitious, hard-working Saturnian side’, so a birthday somewhere from 19 January – 18 February. Thus:
I guess Faith, Cordelia, Xander and Willow just weren’t important enough for birthdays. Either that, or the writers just weren’t as obsessive about trivial facts as I am. Heh.
I’m writing a story at the moment (big surprise) which I want to finish before posting. Anyway, one of the issues that has come up is the question of Xander’s age/birthday. Now, the only truly canon birthdate is Tara Maclay, which is 16th October, 1980 (her gravestone, and her birthday episode when her family tries to take her back.) Buffy was born in January (sometime around the 19th) 1981, while neither Willow nor Xander’s birthdays are mentioned onscreen. That said, Xander is older than Buffy by some unknown period of time: during the episode Innocence, which occurs around Buffy’s seventeenth birthday, Xander describes himself as a seventeen year old to Cordelia. Faith’s birthdate, according to the published script of the Angel episode Sanctuary (apparently) is 14th December, 1980, which makes her older than Buffy, and means that a Slayer’s Calling isn’t specific to an age, but more general (ie, puberty/teen years.) Oh, and Cordelia’s birthday is also in December, 1980 (tying together Buffy’s Prom and Angel’s Birthday.
So what can we make from this?
♦ Tara Maclay – 16 October, 1980, probably the oldest of the group (excluding Riley, Angel, any Watchers)
♦ Faith Lehane and Cordelia Chase – December, 1980 (dates unknown)
♦ Xander Harris – Sometime before Buffy, other than that unknown.
♦ Buffy Summers – 19 January, 1981 (tentatively)
Now, a poster on the Twisting the Hellmouth forums offered up the star sign of Sagittarius for Xander’s sign in a discussion of Xander’s birthday, which I thought was hilariously appropriate. In the same post, they offered up the fact that California requires students to turn five on or before December 2 of the school year to start kindergarten, which means that Xander could have his birthday on or after 3 December to be older than Buffy, but still be in her year (excepting being held back, etc.) So we can now narrow Xander’s birthday down to a possible 3 – 21 December, 1980, and update the list as follows:
♦ Tara Maclay – 16 October, 1980, probably the oldest of the group (excluding Riley, Angel, any Watchers)
♦ Faith Lehane and Cordelia Chase – December, 1980 (dates unknown)
♦ Xander Harris – 3 – 21 December, 1980.
♦ Buffy Summers – 19 January, 1981
Interestingly, Faith, Cordelia and Xander are all about the same age, and possibly the same star signs, if you follow that.
Since Willow’s birthday is never mentioned, we can put her sometime during the Summer holidays, so June – August, 1980? If we use Astrology, we could pick Aquarius, as it has a high affinity for Libra (Tara) and Sagittarius (Xander) while being someone who makes strong opinions, has eccentric leanings and something of a wild side, and having a ‘structured, ambitious, hard-working Saturnian side’, so a birthday somewhere from 19 January – 18 February. Thus:
♦ Tara Maclay – 16 October, 1980, probably the oldest of the group (excluding Riley, Angel, any Watchers)
♦ Faith Lehane and Cordelia Chase – December, 1980 (dates unknown)
♦ Xander Harris – 3 – 21 December, 1980.
♦ Buffy Summers – 19 January, 1981
♦ Willow Rosenberg – 19 January – 18 December
I guess Faith, Cordelia, Xander and Willow just weren’t important enough for birthdays. Either that, or the writers just weren’t as obsessive about trivial facts as I am. Heh.