Kendra (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Infobox Buffyverse Character

Kendra Young
Title=Kendra
First=What's My Line, Part One| Last=Becoming, Part One| Creator=Joss Whedon, Marti Noxon
Name=Kendra Young
Status=Deceased
Kind=Slayer
Affiliation=Watchers' Council
Powers=Slayer: The strength, speed, reflexes, durability, healing, prophetic dreams and ability to sense vampires both at a distance and at proximity.
Actor=Bianca Lawson

Kendra is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon and introduced by Marti Noxon for the TV series, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". The character is portrayed by Bianca Lawson. Eight years after the character's creation, Whedon granted her the surname Young for a role-playing game and subsequent material.

Character history

Born in another country (never mentioned, but possibly Jamaica due to her accent), her people apparently know about Slayers and consider them highly important, so much so that her parents gave her up for Slayer training at a very early age. Kendra Young did not know her own surname as she studied under her Watcher, Sam Zabuto. She is called when Buffy Summers dies at the hands of The Master in 1997; though Xander manages to revive her, Buffy's death nevertheless activates a second Slayer, causing two to exist. Kendra is fully versed in the Slayer Handbook and fighting techniques. She owns a stake called Mr. Pointy. Her appearance is the first time the Watchers' Council has been shown to identify potential Slayers ("What's My Line, Part One").

In her first year as the Slayer, Zabuto sends Kendra to Sunnydale after signs indicate that a very dark power is about to rise there. Kendra sees Angel kissing Buffy with his vampire face, and assumes that she too is a vampire. Kendra imprisons Angel in a cage to kill him by sunrise and surprises Buffy as she wakes up from a night on Angel's bed. After a physical confrontation, they learn that they are both Slayers (at the time, Spike and Drusilla had hired an organization of assassins to kill Buffy; it was thus intended to be a surprise when both Buffy and the viewer discover she is not an assassin). Rupert Giles tells them that two Slayers existing at the same time is unprecedented.

Meanwhile, Angel is taken unconscious by Willy the Snitch and sold to Spike and Drusilla. Severely weakened by sunlight, he as Drusilla's sire is to be used to return her to health. The Scooby Gang arrive to free Angel, and Kendra returns to her home country with a keepsake from Buffy.

Kendra returns in 1998 when her Watcher informs her that Acathla will open its mouth and suck the world into hell. Zabuto gave Kendra a sword, which Kendra passes on to Buffy after surprising her as she patrols. Kendra helps the Scooby Gang protect Willow Rosenberg while she performs the Ritual of Restoration. Drusilla and her vampire lackeys arrive in the library to stop the attempt to restore Angel's soul and after a brief fight, Drusilla hypnotizes Kendra and slits her throat with her fingernail, killing her ("Becoming, Part One"). Following Kendra's death, Faith is called as a Slayer in Boston.

Powers and abilities

J.P. Williams states that from the perspective of the Watchers' Council, Kendra is the "practically perfect Slayer: solemn, respectful, and efficient." She has mastered the use of every weapon reliant on muscle power, such as swords, knives and axes, and although she lacks field experience, she possesses more textbook knowledge about slaying than Buffy (from her Watcher and the Slayer's Handbook - a book that Giles felt was pointless to give to Buffy). Unlike Buffy, Kendra wields her power "exactly as her superiors instruct." [cite book
last = Williams
first = J. P.
editor = Rhonda V. Wilcox, David Lavery (eds.)
title =
publisher =Rowman & Littlefield
date =2002
location =Oxford
pages = 63-64
chapter = Choosing Your Own Mother: Mother-Daughter Conflicts in Buffy
chapterurl = http://books.google.com/books?id=amKx_wH-PDYC&pg=PA61&ots=lqCTxJ0D11&dq=Choosing+Your+Own+Mother:+Mother-Daughter+Conflicts+in+Buffy&sig=7BjlcdrCJHslRGNC0Q4tOmqOYgY#PPA63,M1 ] However, Kendra's tendency to unhesitatingly follow orders means she lacks moral autonomy [Citation | last =Richardson | first =J. Michael | last2 =Rabb | first2 =J. Douglas | title =Buffy, Faith and Bad Faith: Choosing to be the Chosen One| journal =Slayage | volume =23 | year =2007 | url =http://slayageonline.com/essays/slayage23/Richardson_Rabb.htm | accessdate = 2007-07-26 ] and is easily hypnotized by Drusilla; Jana Riess argues that Kendra's death occurred because "she always obeyed without question and has not strengthened her mind and spirit by discovering her own unique path." [cite book
last =Riess
first =Jana
title =What Would Buffy Do?: The Vampire Slayer as Spiritual Guide
publisher =John Wiley a & Sons Inc.
date =2004
location =San Francisco
pages = 70
url = http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0787969222/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-5874349-0613739# ] Ironically, Kendra's initial reaction to Buffy's insistence of doing things her own way instead of following orders was to retort, "No wonder you died." ("What's My Line, Part Two")

Romantic interests

*Xander Harris: Due to her calling and strict upbringing, Kendra had no experience with boys and was visibly flustered at the sight of Xander.

Appearances

Canonical appearances

; "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" : Kendra appears in three Season Two episodes: "What's My Line, Part One", "What's My Line, Part Two", and "Becoming, Part One".

Non-canonical appearances

Kendra has also appeared in "Buffy" expanded universe material. She has appeared in the comic "Ring of Fire" in 2000, and the novel "The Book of Fours" in 2001.

Notes and trivia

*Actress Bianca Lawson who plays Kendra was initially considered to play Cordelia Chase, as was Sarah Michelle Gellar (who was actually offered the part of Cordelia before being offered the title role of Buffy).

*In an interesting metafictional note, in the novel "The Book of Fours", Kendra's soul was temporarily placed in Cordelia's body to provide Buffy and Faith with assistance in dealing with a crisis.

*Kendra was the last example of a fallen slayer passing on her powers via the traditional slayer line, which was inherited by Faith. After that, it was a powerful spell performed by Willow which activated all potential successors to the slayer's power.

*Kendra's last name (Young) was never used in the original series; in fact, she explicitly states in "What's My Line, Part Two" that she has none. However, the publishers of "", a supplement to a Buffyverse RPG, wanted to include the full names of all Slayers for authenticity. Accordingly, Joss Whedon agreed to devise surnames for Faith (Lehane) and Kendra. These names can therefore reasonably be considered Buffyverse canon.

References

See also