Rupert Giles is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head. He serves as Buffy Summers' mentor and surrogate father figure. The character proved popular with viewers, and Head's performance in the role was well received. Following Buffys run, Whedon intended to launch a television spin-off focused on the character, but rights issues prevented the project from developing. Outside of the television series, the character has appeared substantially in Expanded Universe material such as novels, comic books, and short stories.
Giles' primary role in the series is Watcher to Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) in her capacity as vampire Slayer; he is in the employ of the Watchers' Council, a British organization that attempts to oversee the actions of the Slayer. From youth, Giles was expected to follow the family tradition and become a Watcher, though as a teenager and young adult he rebelled, dropping out of Oxford University to experiment in dark magic and the rock music scene, until a bereavement brought him to his senses. In adulthood, his loyalty to Buffy and her group of friends costs him his job for a time. As the series progresses, Giles increasingly becomes a father figure to Buffy and her friends Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander (Nicholas Brendon). His encyclopedic knowledge, affinity for magic, moderate fighting skills and willingness to kill when necessary make him an asset to Buffy in her fight against the supernatural evils that plague Sunnydale, California.
Following Buffys conclusion in 2003, Whedon intended to continue Giles' story as a spin-off series, Ripper, which he intended to produce with the BBC. The series was to depict Giles in ghost stories set in present-day England, coping with loneliness as well as figurative ghosts from his own chequered past. Over several years Whedon restated his commitment to the project, though announced it would take the form of a one-off TV movie. Despite Head's availability and the BBC's willingness to fund the project, rights issues concerning the character ultimately led to it not developing further. Canonically, the character's story is continued in the comic book Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight (2007–2011) and subsequent stories. The Season Eight sequel Angel & Faith (2011–) heavily features Giles and utilizes ideas and characters from the proposed Ripper spin-off.
Biography
Character history
Rupert Edmund Giles (most frequently called Giles) was born circa 1955 in England. His family has worked within the Council of Watchers for at least three generations; both his father and grandmother, Edna Giles (née Fairweather), were also Watchers. As a child, Giles dreamed of being either "a fighter pilot or possibly a grocer", but he soon learned that being a Watcher is a calling, much as being a Slayer is, and Rupert's father explained his destiny to him when he was ten years old (revealed in "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date").
Although the Scooby Gang later joked that he wore tweed diapers as a child, Giles was in fact a rebellious youth, rejecting his responsibility as a Watcher and dropping out of Oxford University, where he was studying history, when he was twenty-one. During this time, Giles claimed to be a founding member of Pink Floyd in order to impress girls (although since Pink Floyd was founded in 1965, when Giles would have been around ten years old, it was not a particularly credible claim), and may have delved into criminal activity (he remarks that hot-wiring a car is "like riding a bloody bicycle", and a psychologically younger Giles has no qualms about breaking into a clothing store and attacking a police officer). He is a talented singer and guitar player (as Head is in real life) which the gang discovered, to their astonishment, when they saw him singing "Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who in "Where the Wild Things Are". Spike also saw him singing "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd in "The Yoko Factor".