That troll hammer...

[deird1]

I've seen a few comments recently on Buffy picking up Olaf's hammer - and how the fact that she could so easily when Spike couldn't lift it shows just how much stronger Buffy is than the average vampire.

Which I'm finding odd, because I always assumed it was because the hammer is a mystical item. So Buffy, as the Slayer, has special picking-up-hammer powers that are denied to Spike.

...am I completely alone in this assumption? Does everyone else in the whole world take it as Buffy being ridiculously strong compared to Spike?



(Yes, she's stronger than him. But not by that much...)

Comments

[boot_the_grime.livejournal.com]

She can't be much stronger than him, since every fight they ever had was evenly matched, and he had a good chance to beat her a couple of times. And Buffy is certainly not a bad fighter.

I'm not sure if Spike is an average vampire, though (except in the sense that he's not an Ubervamp or something like that). He's a much better fighter than most, for starters.

[deird1]

*nods*

That's what I was thinking. But then everyone's using the hammer-lifting as proof that she's way stronger, and that the other instances of them fighting are retcons...

[shipperx]

But fighting isn't simply brute strength. Strategy, speed (and as FFL made clear) luck are also involved. Picking up a heavy object my in some ways involve skill (there are proper lifting techniques) but also brute strength.

[angearia]

I think their fights are balanced because he's faster than she is and he's probably better at reading her attacks and adjusting since he's a very skilled fighter (shown by how he approaches fighting Illyria).

But I think Spike's speed makes up for the deficit in Buffy's strength. Momentum gives power to punches. So while he can't benchpress as much as she can, he can probably come close to hitting her with a similar amount of force because of speed.

(I've talked about this too much with my PhD in Physics dad...and asked him to write meta on Slayer strength)