Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Why The Turok-Han Are So Powerful – Screen Rant

Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 7 featured a new, ancient enemy for the Slayer to fightthe Turok-Han. Why are these vampires so powerful?

Of all the vampires slayed onBuffy the Vampire Slayer, the Turok-Hanintroduced in season 7was one of the most powerful monsters on the show. Despite Buffy's slaying prowess and impressive skill, the Turok-Han was almost too powerful for her to face alone, but why?

Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) has a natural edge against vampires and demons with her powers as the Slayer, but season 7the show's final seasonpitted her against numerous threats that seemed initially impossible to defeat. Not only was she entrenched in a battle against The First Evil, which was teased back in season 3, but found herself facing the Turok-Han, a prehistoric vampire, and other minions associated with The First, such as Caleb (Nathan Fillion), a preacher who was imbued with additional strength and powers. Caleb ended up dealing a major blow to the Slayer and her Scooby Gang when he partially blinded Xander, forcing him to lose his eye.

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Her first battle with the Turok-Han saw Buffy more wounded than usual, and not due to any lapse in strength or abilityit was just much stronger. While this became somewhat of a plot hole later in the show as, after the first Turok-Han was killed, the rest seemed to be easier to defeat by comparison, it was a poignant moment for Buffy to realize that there was possibly a vampire that she couldn't beat alone. While she frequently leaned on strength and support from her friends in the past, she usually emerged victorious with little difficulty, even if it took her a few rounds to get her bearings or more information to suss out an enemy's weaknesses. As the Turok-Han wasn't even the true Big Bad of season 7, it begs the question of why and how these particular vampires are so powerful, especially since Buffy has defeated ancient vampires before.

The Turok-Han were summoned by The First Evil by filling the Seal of Danthalzar, located underneath Sunnydale High School, with blood; at first, only one of the ancient vampires arose. Later there were more and, in the series finale, "Chosen", Buffy and the potential Slayerswho ended up with full Slayer powers due to Willow's spellended up fighting a whole army of Turok-Han. According to Giles, the Turok-Han are the equivalent of Neanderthals to humans; they're a primordial race of vampire who are driven by base needs and instincts. Simply put, they're killing machines. Where other vampires, such as Spike, Angel, and the many others who were introduced inBuffy the Vampire Slayerhave had their own agendas and reasons for killing, the Turok-Han don't discriminate. They hunt, they kill, and they feed.

Physically, the Turok-Han bear more of a resemblance to The Master from season 1 than any of the other vampires on the show. They are bald, pale, and possess even more prominent teeththey also have claws, which can be used to shred their victims and tear them apart. While they are harder to stake than other vampires due to an increased density in their sternum and chest region, they can be staked like regular vampires, and turn to dust just like all the others. It's possible that the Turok-Han were connected to Maloker, which is suggested in theBuffycomics, though never confirmed. Maloker was an Old One who created the first vampire; if the Turok-Han were of the first vampires ever created, this connection to Maloker could also explain why they're so powerful.

In season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Master was said to be the oldest vampire on record. The Master is possibly closer in relation and lineage to the Turok-Han due to his association with and leadership of The Order of Aurelius, who worship the Old Ones. This could explain why The Master also bears a resemblance, albeit not quite as feral, to the Turok-Han. While The Master was the reason why Buffy died the first time, she was able to defeat him with relative ease; similarly, the Turok-Han became more easily defeated as season 7 wore on.

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Jack Wilhelmi is the horror features editor at Screen Rant, and has been with the site since 2019. He is a lifelong fan of the horror genre, and loves any excuse to discuss genre-related topics, since none of his friends dare challenge him in horror trivia. He has been published on the independent horror blog Morbidly Beautiful, and has covered major genre film festivals such as Cinepocalypse in Chicago. He has also served as a judge for the Ax Wound Film Festival. In his free time, he is a devoted dog dad to a high-spirited rescue pup named Peter Quill and enjoys volunteering with various animal rescue organizations. Jack likes to travel and explore dark tourism-related and other various haunted locations. He enjoys studying psychology, the paranormal, and will watch literally any schlocky B-movie on the planet for a laugh.

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