“The hardest thing in this world, is to live in it.” – Dawn Summers
Wow. I am a completely horrible person for positing this so incredibly late, but i got a little caught up with work and school. Really sad that this took so long, because now everything is behind schedule. 
i guess we will have to make do, so lets jump right into Dawnie!
I think we were all pretty confused when we were first introduced to Dawn Summers. Who is this random sister that is just now being mentioned for the first time ever in the 5th season of this series. What is the point of adding her in so late in the game? I mean, for some of us Whedonites we might have assumed that Joss had something fun and exciting in store for us, but i do know many people who hate Dawn; mainly for the way she was introduced. However, she isn’t as random as many of us originally assumed. Joss foreshadowed this multiple times throughout out the course of the 3rd and 4th seasons. The most obvious one is that weird dream/hallucination Buffy had before Faith woke up from her coma in season 4, they were making the bed, and Faith said something about ‘Little sis coming’ before she starts bleeding all over the clean white linens. How rude!
Dawn’s relationship with Buffy remains constantly like a big-sister, little-sister type of relationship. Dawn is annoying and whiny, she buts herself into Buffy’s business, and really envies Buffy’s life. For a few episodes, until we were aware of Dawn’s key-ness, everybody believed that Dawn had always been there. When the monks created her, they shoved memories into everybody’s head and as far as they were concerned, Dawn was born in LA in 86, and moved with Buffy and Joyce to Sunnydale at the beginning of season 1. We later see how deep the monks rooted these memories when Faith re-appears in Season 7, and she knows all about Dawnie, despite the fact that she was never around in season 5-6, when Dawn actually existed.
To be completely honest, I’m not really sure WHY Joss decided to throw a fake, winey, and quite frankly un-needed sister into the mix. I’m well aware of how she aided the plot line by being this mystical key, and how she was helpful in developing Buffy’s character.. blah blah blah. But was this really the best choice? I guarantee there were many other ways to go about all of this, i don’t really know if Dawn was necessary. Unlike many BTVS fans though, i do not hate Dawn. I strongly dislike her at sometimes, but there are other times that i guess she doesn’t totally suck.
One example of a time when i don’t think Dawn completely sucks, is the end of season 5. If you didn’t cry hysterically at this scene, then it is official, you are a robot or an alien. Congratulations. If you did shed a tear or several hundred, then chances are you didn’t totally hate Dawn in this scene. One of my favorite part of “The Gift” is how perfectly Joss illustrates the strength of the bond of sisterhood. {Side note, I have recently started watching Supernatural, and it is almost up to the epic standards of Buffy. And i have noted that the sisterhood bond shown between Buffy on to Dawn is very much like Sam and Dean’s relationship dynamic. It is a very powerful and moving thing to watch when written and acted correctly; as it is done in both BTVS and Supernatural}
By far, my favorite Buffy and Dawn scene is from the season 6 finale “Grave”. There is that super touching moment in the hole in the earth they fell into, and instead of my jabbering on about it, i’m just going to show you this gif that will most likely choke you up.
I mean RIGHT!?
After Joyce died, and after Buffy died, i really think that Tara became some sort of mother figure to Dawn. This relationship dynamic caries out through the rest of season 6, until of course Tara’s death. We see little bits of how reliant upon Tara Dawnie is. I think she tries to hide it a little bit, but we get to see glimpses of it, especially in “OMWF” when she tells Tara that she hates when her and Willow fight. I really feel that this shows how Tara and Willow really became Dawn’s replacement parents/family following Buffy’s death, even following Joyce’s death. Buffy took so long to step up to the plate and become more responsible and care for Dawnie.
Dawn Summers: Okay, true she is technically a fake person who was created by monks, but hey, at least she’s as annoying as a real little sister. And lets face it, she is beautiful, completely stunning, and towards the end, she becomes rather resourceful.
buffysavedmylife 