Feed the Summer of Giles Plot Bunny

[hobgoblinn]

As I was reluctantly waking up this morning, I got the flash of a question about the Buffyverse. Remember that stupid throw away line in Chosen, where Giles says he has to "dig up" his sources "quite literally; some of them are dead." What do we know about talking to the dead in the Jossverse? Would Willow, hearing that, follow Giles and confront him about not letting her say goodbye to Tara? Would he have a good reason why he didn't try to contact Tara? Or Jenny? Or Joyce?

I'm thinking something about taking the Oath as a Watcher means you're agreeing to be eternally "on call" and since so many books were destroyed, he won't have any choice but to consult some of the dead, even though it usually isn't done. And sometimes people joke about uncomfortable things, and his flippancy is the result of stress and not really wanting to disturb the dead. Particularly the dead he had personal history with.

Anyone want to speculate about this idea? Or provide canon information that will likely have escaped my notice?

And thanks to katekat1010 for the lovely selection of Giles icons; for some reason I had none. If anyone has other Giles icon sources, please let me know-- hers were the first I stumbled across. I'd like a Giles hugging Willow one, I think. You can go to my user pics to see what I have so far-- all the Giles ones are hers. Except kitten giles-- anyone know who made that? I need to credit it appropriately.

Comments

[beatrice_otter]

Usually, ghosts are referred to as people who never passed on to heaven or hell--they're still around on Earth, often because of "unfinished business." So holding a seance to talk to them is one thing; trying to talk to someone in heaven or hell would be something totally different. If Watchers agree to be eternally "on call," does that consist of some kind of spell making them easily conjured even when in heaven or hell, or does it mean some kind of spell binding them to this world, like with Spike? If so, does that mean that they're denied the peace of heaven?