Re: Birthdates

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

I would say that the UPN "1982" date for Willow is a glitch, since it's
never suggested that Willow is more than a year younger than 
Buffy and Xander.    Also, they list Giles's birthdate as "1964", which
is a flatout typo.  (Most likely they were going for 1954, which is when
Anthony Stewart Head was born.  The best canonical evidence for Giles
suggests 1956, however.)

California school selection is from January 1st through December 31st (I
actually looked it up when we had this discussion once before), so all
members of the 'Class of '99 should be born in 1981.  Unless they stayed
back like Oz.

Best evidence on birthdates, in order of appearance:

BUFFY:  January, 1981.  Very likely the 20th.  I actually have an essay
on this published elsewhere, so I won't go into detail but basically
it's taking the "Capricorn on the cusp of Aquarius" comment ("Doomed")
and analyzing the chronology of "Surprise"/"Innocence", which takes
place over four consecutive schooldays, and therefore the second of the
four (Buffy's birthday) must be either Tuesday, the 20th or Wednesday,
the 21st.  A comment by Joyce at the end of "Innocence" suggests it's
Thursday not Friday, so that makes it the 20th.

NOTE:  The two different birthdates that flash on the screen (one 1979,
one 1980) in "I Robot, You Jane" should be ignored. It was a joke
inserted in production to comment on the difference between the
Senior!Buffy of the movie and the Sophomore!Buffy of the series.  The
canonical assertion of 1981 as Buffy's birth year happens a mere two
episodes later, on her tombstone in "Nightmares".

XANDER:  Xander is "16-and-a-half" in "Reptile Boy", which takes place
on October 10th, 1997, but 17 in "Innocence".  Specifically, it's
mentioned that he is 17 in a conversation taking place on Thursday,
January 22nd.  It is most likely that he was born earlier in January,
1981 (he does seem to have many Capricorn characteristics, for those who
follow that sort of thing.

NOTE:  Although it's possible Xander was born in late 1980 and held back
a grade, his remarks about the test he took when he was 7 ("The Zeppo")
seem to contradict this.  Also, if he had been, he might very well have
mentioned it at the time, or said something to Oz (wrt Oz's repetition
of senior year), or remarked about it when lamenting his academic
performance and brainpower ("What's My Line, Part 1", "Bewitched
Bothered and Bewildered", "Go Fish", "Lovers Walk", "Bad Girls", "The
Replacement" and other eps).  And since the "16-and-a-half" line makes
more sense if it's still a couple of months until his birthday, I'm
going with January, 1981.

WILLOW:  Completely unreferenced in the canon.   All we really know is
that it wasn't before October, 1980 (in "Bargaining", none of the Scoobs
are 21 years old and able to buy beermore on this when I get to Anya
and Tara).  Sometime in 1981 seems likely.  I'd like to think that her
using "Geminis" as a random statement in "Wild at Heart" indicates that
she is one, but then I'm a Gemini myself and probably prejudiced.

CORDELIA:  May 22nd, 1981 ("Angel" ep 1.15, "The Prodigal").  

NOTE:  Some confusion was caused when "Birthday" ("Angel" 3.11) ran in
January, 2002, but there are no references to time of the year in that
ep or any around it.  Connor drops Angel in the ocean during the
"summer" (per Sahjhan's prophetic remark in "Sleep Tight") and if you
count back from "Tomorrow", there's no way "Birthday" takes place
anywhere near January.  Given that we already have a definitive
statement, I'm ignoring the airdate and simply ascribing the confusion
to the very compressed (timewise) arcs of "Angel" Seasons 3 and 4.

GILES:   He was 21 when he ran away from Oxford and took up with Ethan.
They summoned Eyghon in 1977.  (Both references from "The Dark Age".)
Unless he'd been with Ethan for a considerable time before Eyghon, which
isn't hinted at in the ep, that means he was most likely born in 1956
(or perhaps late in 1955).

JOYCE:  Born 1958.  (Date on tombstone in "The Weight of The World".)

ANGEL:  Two versions here:  According to BtVS (in all cases except
"Becoming, Part 1"), Angel was born in late April/early May of 1756.
(yep, he's a Taurus, just like David Boreanaz.)

He was...240 in "Angel" (April, 1997)
           ...241 in "Some Assembly Required" (September, 1997) 
           ...243 in "Earshot" (May, 1999)

Also, he's referred to as having been 18 in 1776 ("Halloween), so
presumably that's in reference to an event that took place early in the
year, before his 19th birthday.

However, Joss put a "1753" date on the scene of Darla turning Angel in
"Becoming, Part 1", and the "Angel" series has been consistent about
using that.  "The Prodigal" shows Liam's tombstone as having the dates
1727-1753.

JENNY CALENDAR:  No idea.  There's no date on her tombstone.

SPIKE:  Your guess is as good as mine.  He's "barely 200" in "School
Hard" (September, 1997), but "126" in "The Initiative"  (November,
1999), and "Fool For Love" shows an 1880 siring, which would make him
about 140-150.

OZ:  Born 1980, unless he'd been held back before.

TOM WARNER ("Reptile Boy"):  Tom is a college senior, and therefore five
grades ahead of Buffy and most likely born in 1976.

LARRY:  Larry speaks dismissively of the idea of Oz dating a junior in
"Phases", which implies that he too is a senior.  His return in Season 3
may indicate that he, too, failed to graduate, possibly because of the
stress of coming to terms with his homosexuality.  (Or maybe he's
stalking Oz <g>)

FAITH:  The "Wanted" flyer in "Empty Places" gives her birthdate as
"December 14th, 1980".  This seems mostly in honor of Eliza Dushku (b.
Dec. 30th, 1980) and I personally doubt that Faith is older than Buffy,
but there's no canon rebuttal that I know of.  (My best guess before
that was February, 1982, for Faith.)  

ANYA:  Anya (then known as either "Anyanka" [see "Triangle"] or "Aud"
[see "Selfless"]) became a vengeance demon in 880 AD  (Her reference to
being 1120 years old in "Doppelgangland" [winter-spring 1999] is an
approximation of the time since her "rebirth" as a demon, one supposes.)

In her second human life, she used July 4th, 1980 as her birthdate (see
"Checkpoint"), but apparently didn't have any ID made or she would have
been able to buy the beer in "Bargaining".

RILEY:  The script for "The Freshman" describes him as a junior, but in
"Buffy vs. Dracula" a cut scene refers to him being a graduate student,
so he's more likely a senior during Season 4.  The fact that he and
Forrest and Graham seem to know Parker fairly well in "The Initiative"
may also point to this, since Parker is a senior, but the divide is less
sharp than in high school, of course.  Likely birth year, 1978.

PARKER:  A senior in "Living Conditions".  (And still living in the
dorms and picking up freshman girls.  So very pathetic.)

TARA:  Born October 16th, 1980 (I think).  Source, the tombstone in
"Help", supported by the observation of her 20th birthday in "Family".

DAWN:  Referred to as being 14 in "Real Me" and "Blood Ties" and I think
some other S5 ep, which would argue for her having a summer "birthday",
since the age doesn't change.  The age makes her part of the class of
2004 which supports the statement that she's in 9th grade in "Tough
Love", but contradicts the "freshman" remark in "All the Way".  (Not to
mention the implication that she's **still** a freshman in "Lessons".)

Personally, I like to think of Dawn as being "born" at the end of "Buffy
vs. Dracula" and imagine the monks gave her the September, 1986
birthdate that would go with that.  And if it's late enough in
September, she'd be a Libra, which would fit with:

a)  Michelle's own sign (b. Oct 11, 1985)
b)  her interest in being a lawyer ("Doublemeat Palace")
c)  the universal-force nature of her Keyness.  "The balance" seems an
appropriate sign, IMO. 
ROBIN:  He was four when his mother was killed in 1977 (see "Fool for
Love", "First Date" and "Lies...").  So he was born in 1973 or late '72.
Why, yes, he is a little young to be a principal.

KENNEDY:  According to the script for "Showtime" (I think), she's 19, so
she's born in 1983 or 84.

Yeah, a lot of this is spec.  But I hope it helps.

Dan  


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Buffy:  "I kinda love you."
                     'Choices'

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