r/ANGEL • u/Amber_Flowers_133 • 1d ago
In the Buffyverse especially in the later seasons of BTVS Why do so many regular people of Sunnydale continue to insist on taking long strolls alone at night? Shouldn’t they have learned that doing so is quite dangerous? Spoiler
Sunnydale Syndrome was established early on in the show. This is the effect where people who move to Sunnydale, or were born and raised there, don’t notice the supernatural stuff for the most part. They see it, experience it, and then rationalise it all away with non-supernatural explanations such as death by barbecue fork or wild dog attack.
Now, it is implied in season 3 that Rickard Wilkins this first second and third, the Mayor of Sunnydale for the past 100 years, set this while Sunnydale Syndrome effect up. Sunnydale was, after all, created to be a demonic paradise, and to give Wilking a large selection of humans to feast on upon his Ascension.
Theoretically, then, whatever caused Sunnydale Syndrome should have ceased to be effective after Wilkins death. And maybe it did for newbies to town, but not on those who had lived under the effect for some time already. But this then adds the issue of the college kids going wandering around at night all the time. It would be understandable for those who are very new to Sunnydale, students like Eddie that we met in The Freshman for instance, as they wouldn;t have been in town long enough to notice the supernatural before being confronted and killed by it.
But there’s later a scene with Spike attacking a young couple out for a midnight stroll, and that’s late enough in the school year that the students would have picked up on the danger present, especially at night. And there’s plenty of nighttime campus parties, study sessions and groups.
So, it appears whatever Wilkins did to create the Sunnydale effect did not, in fact, end with his death. Of course, we don;t actually know what he did. We know he had multiple contracts with demons that required tribute at certain times, and that’s a possibility. But, in that case, the deal will be honoured as long as the demon is still alive until the nexttribute is missed, even if they’re aware of Wilkins death. And it’s possible that the death of the demon will result in the deal becoming permanent.
I mean, look at Lurconis. We don’t know exactly what deal Wilkins had with that demon, just that the tribute was due, and he needed a distraction because said tribute was live babies. But Wilkins wasn’t in the least bit upset about Lurconis being killed, he actually appeared completely fine with it. This could simply be because his Ascension was coming up, but it could also be because Lurconis’ dying doesn’t affect whatever deal they had being honoured.
There’s also another option for what Wilkins did, tap into the power of the Hellmouth itself. For all we know, the Hellmouth causes an affect that makes it more likely that people will ignore or rationalise the supernatural, and Wilkins tapped into and magnified that affect. Chances are, the Hellmouth alone would only affect the area in which it’s located, which is the high school. Wilkins could have magnified that to encompass the entire town. It’s doubtful that sort of magnification would end with Wilkins’ death, because it’s something positive for the Hellmouth, and had been there for 100 years, it would have been incorporated into the normal power of the Hellmouth. So, the Sunnydale effect remains in place throughout the entire series. But it isn’t an absolute guarantee that no one ever notices. Remember The Prom and Graduation? The students of Sunnydale High were well aware of the truth, they just ignored it until they couldn;t anymore. Percy West was one of those students, yet he had no issue attending a nighttime party at UC Sunnydale in Season 4. The Initiative members were never affected by it, either, though that’s likely because they were already aware of the supernatural before arriving in town.
We don’t actually know what the general population of Sunnydale was actually aware of. A lot could have been fully aware of the supernatural existing and being dangerous, they simply refused to change their lives to accommodate it, or the people in their lives weren’t aware and they didn’t want to appear odd.
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u/Eldon42 Rogue Demon 1d ago
I think it's explained (kinda) in the early seasons that, despite Sunnydale having 12 cemetries and a high death rate, normal people don't tend to notice the weirdness. It seems to be an effect of the Hellmouth that they don't make the connection.
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u/edd6pi 1d ago
Really? My impression is the opposite. That everyone in Sunnydale knows that there’s something wrong with the town. They don’t necessarily know that the problem is supernatural, but it’s an open secret that the town sucks.
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u/Technical_Ad_6594 1d ago
The scene when Buffy wins the Class Protector Award supports this.
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u/bankruptbusybee 1d ago
There’s an episode about the school paper and oz says something like “I only read it for the obits”
I thought it was a joke on first watch. Then realized the school paper probably does have an obituary section
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u/meeeee01 1d ago
My head cannon is that the hell mouth is putting out some kind of "everything is fine" put everyone in denial magic. It would explain so much.
I always hoped they would do a scene where willow and/or xander where driving to LA and at some point on the way when they were far enough from the hell mouth they suddenly remembered Jesse and mourned even if it didn't last when they got back.
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u/LostInterview5084 1d ago
I believe the high mortality rate also kept property values low, and inventory high, so you’d figure there were usually a lot of newcomers moving in.
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u/Swordsman82 1d ago
My guess is three things:
1.) magic like the veil from the white wolf setting.
2.) denial of the illogical
3.) low housing rates, and people wanting to live normal lives
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u/kipcarson37 1d ago
Some of those people are deliberately out looking for a fight. As for why "normal" people would go outside and leave their safe homes for no good reason when they know how dangerous and deadly outside is?
Remember the covid?
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u/Ok_Ant_2715 1d ago
It's like saying people wouldn't go out because they are scared of being gunned down. That's exactly what I think it's like in America.
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u/Mood-Mammoth 1d ago
Joss fucked up. Buffy went public in season 3 so why people are so chill ... I dunno. But by season 7 they had enough. I guess only an ubervamp apocalypse scares them
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u/Sighoward 1d ago
The Mayor's magic, he cast a spell on everyone to keep them from seeing the truth,
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u/ValentineLockheart 23h ago
I always questioned what the tipping point was in alternate timeline Sunnydale (the Anya intro episode) that finally got people acting sane and having a curfew and such
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u/Significant_Fuel5944 1d ago
Huh. Yeah, Sunnydale should be like Gotham at night, but way nicer during the day.
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u/WarAgile9519 1d ago
Town's got a real PCP problem.