WARREN MEARS

'Warren Mears' is a fictional character in the U.S. television and comic book series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', played by Adam Busch. His role on the series is that of a misogynistic villain.

Contents

Biography

Character history

The Trio

Skinless

Powers and abilities

Characterization

Literary devices

Romantic Interests

Appearances

Canonical Appearances

References

See also

Biography

Character history

Warren Mears is mentioned to have attended Sunnydale High with the Scooby Gang, before transferring to a tech college in Dutton. As a nerd, he was frequently bullied while growing up (cf. "Seeing Red"). Warren is first introduced in the Season Five episode "I Was Made to Love You" as a lonely young man who builds a robotic girlfriend for companionship and sex. Although April was designed to be the perfect girlfriend, Warren instead falls for a real girl, Katrina Silber and leaves April to run out of batteries in his dorm. April follows him and attempts to kill Katrina out of programmed jealousy. Warren sics her onto Buffy Summers in self-preservation, and Buffy finally halts April by causing her to malfunction. Warren later constructs the Buffybot for Spike in the episode "Intervention".

The Trio

In Season Six, Warren becomes the leader of "the Trio," a gang of nerds scheming to take over Sunnydale through technology and magic. Initially cowardly, but relatively harmless, Warren begins to display darker, misogynistic tendencies (appropriate traits for a villain in a show with overall themes of feminism) when he attempts to have non-consensual sex with a mystically-entranced Katrina. When Katrina recovers and accuses him of rape, he kills her (possibly accidentally) as she tries to escape (cf. "Dead Things"). Despite beginning as equal partners, Warren soon begins to dominate and manipulate his Trio teammates Andrew Wells and Jonathan Levinson, finally driving Jonathan to betray him. His plans are eventually thwarted by Buffy, propelling him into a murderous fury resulting in him shooting both Buffy and her friend Tara (cf. "Seeing Red") When Tara dies, her girlfriend Willow Rosenberg goes insane with grief, absorbs the dark magic from most of the books in the Magic Box, tracks Warren down, tortures and flays him alive with witchcraft (cf. "Villains"). It appears that Willow also incinerates Warren's body, but in "The Long Way Home, Part Four", it is revealed that this "disappearing trick" is the work of Amy Madison, who uses her magic to keep Warren "alive," albeit in a skinless state.

Skinless

In the seventh season, Warren's appearance is frequently assumed by The First Evil, which can only impersonate those who have died, to manipulate Andrew into murdering Jonathan (cf. "Conversations with Dead People"). In "The Killer in Me," Willow begins to take on Warren's appearance and personality after kissing Kennedy. This is later revealed to be a revenge plot by Amy and Warren, although Amy's official reason is that she resented the fact that Willow tried to destroy the world and yet is still accepted by the Scoobies.
In the Season Eight comic book story "The Long Way Home, Part Three," Warren is revealed to be the "boyfriend" that Amy Madison has been living with beneath the Hellmouth. He is still without skin, kept alive by Amy's magic, and bears a considerable grudge against both Willow and Buffy. In Part Four, he reveals the means of his survival as he lobotomizes a captive Willow. When Buffy and Satsu arrive on a rescue mission, Amy teleports away, taking Warren with her. Willow heals instantaneously.
On the letters page of ''Buffy Season Eight'' #6, Whedon responds to the question of how the First could have impersonated Warren if he'd never died, by saying, "He was legally dead for like a second. Amy didn't tell him 'cause she didn't want to upset him. I forgot, okay?!"

Powers and abilities

Although Warren displays no independent supernatural powers, he does possess a genius-level intellect, especially in the fields of technology and robotics. He is capable of building highly advanced robots which pass for ordinary humans in society. The Buffybot he built successfully masqueraded as Buffy Summers for several weeks while the real Slayer was dead. His other creations, fusing magic and technology, include an invisibility ray (cf. "Gone"), a small microchip capable of slowing time, the Cerebral Dampener which turns any female within the vicinity into his willing sex slave, and at least two jet packs (cf. "Seeing Red"). In Season Eight, he also displays enough knowledge of biology to perform a lobotomy (cf. "The Long Way Home, Part Four").
In Season Six's "Seeing Red", Warren gains the power of the Orbs of Nezzla'khan, which grant him superhuman strength and invulnerability. In this state, he is more than a physical match for Buffy, until Jonathan betrays him by telling her to destroy his orbs.

Characterization

Actor Adam Busch claims that he doesn't see Warren as simply a villain or purely evil person. He explains that the character has various flaws and positives, and is always given the chance to redeem himself. "He's always given that moment where he can do the right thing that he never ever does," says Busch. "Because he ''is'' flawed and he does have a lot of issues and an inability to communicate or talk to anyone or really explain what it is that he wants." Writer Jane Espenson draws comparisons between the characters of Buffy and Warren, claiming, "When Buffy's talking with Warren about his break-up with April, she's actually identifying with him, because she did a lot of the same stuff with Riley that he did with April."

Literary devices

The writers of ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' make use of several literary devices in Warren's character.
Warren's apparent death by Willow's hands, after being tortured and skinned by her, is arguably foreshadowed on these occasions:

★ In "Seeing Red", Warren knocks Xander Harris to the floor and says, "Let's see how popular you are without a face." This also foreshadows Xander's eventual loss of an eye.

★ Buffy symbolically emasculates him by crushing the Orbs of Nezzla'khan to powder.

★ In "Villains" Warren, upon learning that Buffy survived but unaware of Tara's death, seeks help from Rack, who tells him, "The Slayer is the least of your problems." Warren replies, "Oh, you're right, I'm sorry, let's talk about my skin troubles!"

★ Warren's manner of "death" arguably uses poetic justice. In the episode "Seeing Red", Warren comes up with the plan to skin a Nezzla demon to get the Orbs of Nezzla'khan. However, this idea of skinning becomes part of his undoing in the episode "Villains".

Romantic Interests

★ 'April' — Lonely, Warren built the robot April to be the perfect girlfriend but eventually grew bored of her, abandoning her rather than dumping her face-to-face. Despite her pleasant and cheerfully optimistic nature, April was dangerously loyal to Warren and physically attacked anybody who came between them, including Spike, Buffy, and Katrina. April was designed with the ability to growl and included several fetish programs (as seen in her POV), along with other details such as an inability to cry because it was essentially blackmail.

★ 'Katrina Silber' — Warren is found to be in a relationship with Katrina in the Season Five episode "I Was Made to Love You". Although seemingly happy at first, Katrina grew more and more suspicious of her boyfriend throughout the episode, only to discover his robot-girlfriend, April. This discovery repulsed her, resulting in their immediate break-up. When Warren later tried to have sex with her while she was under the influence of a mind-control spell, she fought back and had her head smashed in with a glass bottle.

★ 'Andrew Wells' — Although their relationship was very vague, it was implied in the Season Six episode "Seeing Red" that Warren seduced Andrew with promises of love and togetherness for his own benefit. Warren touches Andrew affectionately while throwing his weight around in the Bronze and when he later abandons him, Andrew sobs, "How could be do that do me? He promised we'd be together. He was just using me. He never really loved - [catching himself] - hanging out with us."

★ 'Amy Madison' — In the Season Eight comics, Warren revealed that he had been with Amy since she saved his life offscreen in the Season Six episode, "Villains". Although their relationship has not been confirmed, Amy refers to him as her boyfriend on several occasions and addresses him as "sweetie."

Appearances

Canonical Appearances

Warren appeared in 18 canonical Buffyverse episodes:
; ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' : Warren appeared as a guest in 16 episodes:

★ Season 5 (2000, 2001) - "I Was Made to Love You"; "Intervention"

★ Season 6 (2001, 2002) - "Flooded"; "Life Serial"; "Smashed"; "Gone"; "Dead Things"; "Normal Again"; "Entropy"; "Seeing Red"; "Villains";

★ Season 7 (2002, 2003) - "Lessons"; "Conversations with Dead People"; "Never Leave Me"; "The Killer in Me"; "Storyteller";
; ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Comics'': Warren appears in two episodes so far:

★ "The Long Way Home, Part 3 and 4"

References

See also

★ List of Buffyverse villains and supernatural beings