I'm not sure if you might have wanted to mention Illyria here - after all he/she was a God King?
I think Illyria can be seen as a fairly typical god figure by the show's standards - arrogant and wanting worship, largely unconcerned with the welfare of said worshippers. Her extended rants on leadership in "Time Bomb" and points forward would really put her in line with just-powerful-beings reading - she's trying to impose her will on the world, but not manipulating its clockwork in a "god works in mysterious ways" kind of thing, of a sort in which human beings are supposed to sit back and regard with awe.
Which is why I also can't get so much into the idea that BtVS or AtS supports the aspect of Christian though that implies obedience. So much of the series is spent sneering at authority figures - even Illyria is powered down in order to play nice with the rest of the gang in fashion you get the feeling Angel would have liked to talk Jasmine into, if he could have.
"One seeks salvation for oneself, certainly, but one can do this only if one accepts the authority of another."
I can see this working for Spike - and there's that martyr model again - but Buffy? Her final act was to spit in the eye of authority, make up her own rules. That, to me, seemed to be the ultimate message of the franchise, likewise Angel's "we'll show them!" show of force against the Senior Partners. Ultimately, it seems you're there to prove that no god or whatever is the boss of you. It's kind of like adolescent rebellion writ very large.
Of course, then you get the inherent contradiction that this kind of empowerment only works for her, and not so much those she leads, so... well, like I said, the pick and choose buffet.
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I think Illyria can be seen as a fairly typical god figure by the show's standards - arrogant and wanting worship, largely unconcerned with the welfare of said worshippers. Her extended rants on leadership in "Time Bomb" and points forward would really put her in line with just-powerful-beings reading - she's trying to impose her will on the world, but not manipulating its clockwork in a "god works in mysterious ways" kind of thing, of a sort in which human beings are supposed to sit back and regard with awe.
Which is why I also can't get so much into the idea that BtVS or AtS supports the aspect of Christian though that implies obedience. So much of the series is spent sneering at authority figures - even Illyria is powered down in order to play nice with the rest of the gang in fashion you get the feeling Angel would have liked to talk Jasmine into, if he could have.
"One seeks salvation for oneself, certainly, but one can do this only if one accepts the authority of another."
I can see this working for Spike - and there's that martyr model again - but Buffy? Her final act was to spit in the eye of authority, make up her own rules. That, to me, seemed to be the ultimate message of the franchise, likewise Angel's "we'll show them!" show of force against the Senior Partners. Ultimately, it seems you're there to prove that no god or whatever is the boss of you. It's kind of like adolescent rebellion writ very large.
Of course, then you get the inherent contradiction that this kind of empowerment only works for her, and not so much those she leads, so... well, like I said, the pick and choose buffet.