Rupert Giles is (or was) a Watcher. This council of Brits is an organization that has existed since time began, in place to teach and protect the Slayer in her fight against the evils of the world. Their beginnings are lost in the mists of history, but the traditions of old are passed down and kept alive. The Council, then, is the oldest organization that still exists.

What caused Rupert to join then? A curiosity, sense of purpose? No. His parents made the choice. Young Rupert was certain of his destiny - to become a fighter pilot (or possibly a grocer). But no, his father had been a Watcher, and his mother. So it was Rupert's duty to join the Council and train as a Watcher. Having been raised to obey his parents, he did so.

But it wasn't long before the teen years took hold. Rupert rebelled, joining a group of necromancers who toyed with evil forces. Young Giles helped conjure the demon Eyghon for fun, even having the demon's symbol (pictured here) tattooed onto his forearm. It was "an incredible high", and the kids thought it great fun. But when Eyghon killed one of the group, they got scared and Giles began on the road to the stodgy tweed-guy we would later come to know.

And so he was Watcher-bound again, completing his studies at Oxford. In 1996 (or early '97) he moved to Sunnydale, California, from his home in England where he had been curator of a British museum (or the British Museum, Willow wasn't sure). His duty was to replace Merrick as Buffy's Watcher. He was soon to discover that this town sat on the Mouth of Hell, and that his position here was the most important one in the world.

For a long while, Giles continued as Book Guy, merely being the researcher and casual trainer of Buffy. But soon things began to happen. He got close to people, too close as it turns out. For Giles has experienced an evolution, from Watcher to man. And it hasn't always been a happy one.

Jenny Calendar was a technopagan who both frustrated and enthralled our Watcher. He fell madly in love with her, but when the demon Eyghon came looking for him, her life was threatened and he blamed himself for it. Later, it was discovered that she was of the Kalderash Gypsy clan that cursed Angel, and Rupert was completely crushed. And just when it seemed they would be reunited in love, she was killed by Angelus for trying to restore his soul.

For the first time since he was a teenager, Rupert let his guard down, revealed himself, his true self, to someone. And it turned out tragically. But, rather than clam up and retreat from his emotions, Giles realized that " 'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" as they say. At some point along the way, he had become a real person, and that could never be removed.