The following is largely {{apocryphal}}, but based on {{canon}} and logic.
What's not revealed in the programs depicting the BuffyVerse is how there are far more {{BuffyCharactersVampireSlayers}} Slayers? than have been mentioned in the canon of the series. This is by design. Most of the {{BuffyCharactersVampireSlayers}} Slayers? which have been mentioned fit the following criteria:
- The WatchersCouncil knew about them.
- A {{Watcher}} was assigned to her.
- Lived a sadly brief amount of time for a {{human}}.
- Lived an amazingly long period of time for a {{Slayer}}.
If, from the point of being {{called}}, a {{Slayer}} lives more than a year, she's doing pretty good. Between three and five years is exceptional. More than five years is almost uncalled for, prior to BuffySummers. In fact, most {{Slayer}}s last less than a few months. Try days or weeks. And most may not have {{Watcher}}s, because the {{Watcher}}s are only able to determine {{PotentialSlayer}}s based on very broad and uncertain criteria. It's not an exact science. After one {{Slayer}} dies, there can be anywhere from none to scores of {{Slayer}}s {{called}} and dead before someone The {{Watcher}}s are actually watching gets called.
According to NancyHolder?, prior to BuffySummers there was IndiaCohen, who was a {{Slayer}} from June 23rd, 1993 to June 29th, 1996. Three years and six days. That's above average. We also know that The WatchersCouncil tries to keep track of PotentialSlayers? but that they're not always accurate. IndiaCohen India?'s {{Watcher}} didn't arrive on her doorstep until the night she was called. BuffySummers Buffy?'s first {{Watcher}} Merrick didn't find her until after she had already been called. The Council was obviously fighting to keep up with the erratic behavior of the essence that makes the VampireSlayer phenomenon possible. They did manage to guess {{Kendra}} right, but for all the training and dedication, {{Kendra}} lasted less than a year, and was bested by a {{Vampire}}ss who was only recently well after a period of physical sickness, and was still at the time quite mentally deranged. Surely {{Drusilla}} is no match for a VampireSlayer at the top of her game.
We know that some time between September and January of 1996, BuffySummers was {{called}}. She arrived in {{Sunnydale}} California in March of 1997, and prior to that she had an incident at her LosAngeles school where {{vampire}}s took over the gymnasium during a school dance, and BuffySummers Buffy? was forced to set her high school on fire. It's not made clear exactly when that happened, but it must have been after September. Probably around homecoming but before Christmas. So if IndiaCohen died in late June, and BuffySummers was not called until the following fall, there's two to five months there, between Cohen and Summers, where one or more {{Slayer}}s were called and died. If NancyHolder?'s novel is not accepted as {{canon}}, there's still an even greater gap with which to contend.
BuffySummers' predecessor that we know about from the tv series is NikkiWood, Principal RobinWood's mother. She died in the late 1970s. Again, it's safe and logical to assume that many VampireSlayers don't last their first year after being {{called}}, and I'm willing to bet the ones who never get a {{Watcher}} in time don't last the first night. So there can literally be hundreds if not thousands of {{Slayer}}s who lived and died between NikkiWood and BuffySummers, and perhaps anywhere between one and a score of {{Slayer}}s between Cohen and Summers. Either BuffySummers is very lucky, or the best damn VampireSlayer ever. The difference between her and every {{Slayer}} before her is the fact that she refused to go it alone. She had an entourage of BuffyCharactersScoobyGang support? guiding her and keeping her sane. That's what gave her the edge, brought her back from the dead at least three times, and made her the longest lasting {{Slayer}} ever.
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(ZachsMind 08/29/03@8:00pmCST)