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"You can't just go: Librem incendere, and expect..."
The book bursts into flame.
" Don't speak Latin in front of the books, Xander."
Xander and Giles, Superstar

The use of magic requires that the basic essence be channelled, either through the magician, or through tools and ritual accoutrements, into the form of a spell. The former method allows for more immediate, intuitive and spontaneous magics, the latter gives greater control and power, and also avoids the worst of the psychic 'infection' and mystical exhaustion associated with direct channelling. In some cases, especially when commanding the most potent and complex magics, the power must be channelled through both (Becoming - Part 2, Primeval, Grave).

Minor cantrips - such as Willow's floating pencil - are relatively easy to perform, requiring only emotional focus, mental clarity and an understanding of the forces involved (Enemies). The stronger a magician is, the more powerful the feats they can accomplish in this way, but in general the effects achieved are straightforward. Magicians with strong ties to each other, such as Tara and Willow, can form a mystical gestalt to increase their strength, as seen in the exponential increase in the mass that the two can shift together over that they can levitate alone (Hush, The Gift). With practice, a magician or pair of joined magicians can also increase the dexterity with which she can employ such a force, for example Willow and Tara's attempted rose spell (A New Man).

More potent spells usually require incantations, and often the invocation of one or more deities and spirits. Examples of invocations can be seen in Amy's spells: her love spell, invoked Diana, and the rat spell called on Hecate (Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered). Likewise, the curse which the gypsies placed on Angel called upon the apparently limbo-bound 'Spirits of the Interregnum', as well as some generic 'gods'. At the highest levels, magicians may cast even complex and powerful spells by will and gesture alone (Villains, Two to Go, Grave), but typically only when channelling such vast energies that continued use begins to affect their physical as well as psychic integrity.

In addition, tools and ingredients are often required. A cauldron or equivalent is often used to mix a potion, or herbs and incense burned. Sometimes ingredients must be mixed as the spell is performed, as for the love spell, and sometimes they must be prepared in advance, as the catalyst for living flame (Revelations). Items connected to the target of the spell, in particular images (Forever) and treasured items (Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered) are often employed. More specific items may be called for, such as a mummy hand for a prosperity spell (Life Serial), or the Orbs of Thesulah used as a spirit vault for rituals of the undead (Passion, Becoming). A spell of particular power may require a unique or nearly unique artefact such as the Urn of Osiris, used in a true resurrection (Bargaining), although to the greatest magicians, even these items may be done without (Villains). Also, a magician might have some particular tool used generically to focus his own power, such as Jonathon's magic bone (Life Serial).

Particularly powerful magics - especially dark magics - may require sacrifices, often of blood; the caster's own (Halloween), or that of another creature (Bargaining). All magic also takes a physical toll, and requires strength of body as well as will. Just withstand the stress of channelling such vast energies (Blood Ties) can be a trial, and sometimes the deities invoked will demand a test before permitting the spell's caster to wield such power (Bargaining).

Finally, magic always has consequences; nothing is ever given for free. The power is dangerously unpredictable, and spell books often only tell half of the story concerning a given spell. A mishandled spell can have terrible consequences, possibly effects more powerful than the original spell could have achieved (Something Blue), but even when the spell goes right, there can be side-effects. Jonathon's paragon spell created the opposing force, the evil to counteract his good (Superstar), as well as reducing the competence of those around him, and the resurrection spell thaumagenically created a potent demonic force, as well as restoring Buffy to life (After Life).

One risk often overlooked is that if a person uses magic too freely, especially if they are a powerful magician, it could become too easy to use magic. The phrase 'if looks could kill' takes on a darker meaning if a magician's power is so great that little more than a look and an ill-wish can unleash a killing force.

The Sorcerers - The 'old school' of magical practice is represented by those who work their power through tried and trusted formulae, gleaned from the study of ancient texts and tomes. This is magic of a learned and non-spontaneous kind, and its practitioners rarely display any ability to work magic through the simple exercise of will.

Rupert Giles is practised in this form of magic, but does not use it frequently or lightly, at least not since his Ripper days (The Dark Age). Ethan Rayne - Giles shadowy reflection - works magic of a similar sort, but does so casually and in the name and service of Chaos (Halloween). Despite his freer and less cautious use of his arts, Ethan is not notably more powerful than Giles. He does have a greater familiarity with the dark arts, and while his magic is almost exclusively ritual in nature, he does not appear to rely directly on texts.

The Witches - While the Buffyverse's Wicca is probably a more ancient way of doing magic than the hermetic art of the sorcerers, it is in many ways a younger sort of power. It is more spontaneous, allowing for the direct channelling of mystical energy into simple effects like levitation (Enemies), and as such its potential has more to do with the innate strength of the practitioner than with their level of study. While witches do use texts and rituals, simple incantations suffice for many of their spells, and invocations - especially of Goddesses - are extremely common. Witch magic often seems to be channelled directly through the caster, instead of through the ritual, perhaps accounting for the 'black eyes' effect witnessed when great power is called up (Tough Love), especially when that power is touched by darkness (Grave).

Amy Madison (Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered) and her mother (Witch) were powerful witches, but probably the most powerful mortal magician in Buffy the Vampire Slayer is Willow Rosenberg. Willow's power is tremendous, and perhaps the greater for its lack of restraint. Willow is frequently more concerned with whether she can do something, than with whether she should. In this area, Tara acts as her conscience, but her voice of wisdom (All the Way) often goes unheeded, as do warnings from others, such as Giles (After Life). The magic-as-crack metaphors aside (Wrecked), clearly the degree of power which Willow was able to wield was beginning to affect her ability to judge when and if she should use that power.

While witches in the Buffyverse are not intrinsically evil, it seems likely that they would be more prone to casually falling from grace than a sorcerer. The spontaneous and creative use of magic increases the risk of the 'if looks could kill' scenario, and moreover by channelling the magic through herself, a witch takes a far greater risk of psychic pollution should she inadvertently call on a darker power than she intended.

Theurgists - Religious magicians are seen in two types in the Buffyverse, not including the Wicca, who in many cases are not particularly Wiccan. Reference is made to animistic magic, which operates by the calling of natural spirits - although sometimes to dark purposes (The Pack) - and the clerics of the Knights of Byzantium wield a form of magic based around their pseudo-Christian beliefs. In both cases, the defining feature is the externality of the power; the theurgist does not channel magic, but instead explicitly calls upon an outside power to work the desired effect, through incantation and prayer.

There have been only a few definite examples of humans choosing to hunt and battle demons, or at least of those who have managed to do so with any degree of success. Aside from the Slayer - who is bound by destiny and has power well beyond human - the Watchers, the Initiative, and the Knights of Byzantium - who are covered in detail elsewhere - examples of demon hunters include:

Sid (The Puppet Show) was a demon hunter, cursed by a brotherhood of seven demons and placed in the form of a ventriloquist's dummy. He claimed to have co-operated with a Korean Slayer in the 30s, and the fact that the demons chose to curse instead of just killing him suggests that he was capable enough to have roused their particular anger. It is never explained how he came to be a demon hunter, but he seems to have tackled demons one-on-one, even as a puppet. His most important weapon was a keen intellect and an understanding of his quarry.

Holtz (The Trial) was a vampire hunter, and specifically he hunted Darla and Angelus, hounding them across France after the murder of his family. His ability to track his quarry was remarkable - Angelus even doubted whether he was merely mortal - and his weapon of choice was the angry mob. Clearly both Angelus and Darla, neither known to be timid, feared him (Heartthrob), and he was clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Caine (Phases) operated without any moral imperative, killing werewolves for their pelts and selling them in Sri Lanka. He operated as a regular hunter, using traps, bait and a shotgun, and as of his appearance in Sunnydale he had killed eleven weres.

Post-Initiative, the US military clearly retains an anti-demon unit (Listening to Fear, Into the Woods), with some level of international operations (probably clandestine). Like the Initiative, they use an arsenal of state-of-the-art weapons and equipment to combat demons, but they do not reject the use of magic in their fight (As You Were). Riley's unit seems to be a fairly loose-knit team; a sort of monster-killing Kelly's Heroes, formed of assorted experts and survivors. They also have a sufficiently unorthodox organisation - and short enough life expectancies - to have little truck with conventional military fraternisation restrictions. It is also clear that there are other, similar teams operating under the same overall command, but that they work more or less autonomously, and often without overall co-ordination.

The Key is an ancient construct of living energy, millennia old, and designed for a single purpose. The Key opens the door between worlds; when it is activated, the barriers separating the dimensions collapse temporarily, allowing any creature to move back and forth between worlds at will. The origins of The Key, and the reason for its creation, are arcane in the extreme, but its use would inevitably lead to massive destruction in the earthly realm as monsters of all stripes poured across from the hell dimensions (Spiral), which suggests it was not made by anyone particularly cuddly.

To use The Key, its energy had to be poured into the lock - a particular point in space - when the signs were in alignment. The barriers would fall, the portal would open; when the energy of the Key was expended the portal would close. When The Key was made human, the rituals involved required the shedding of her blood, but this would presumably not have been required had The Key been in its formless state (The Gift). Dawn's blood became necessary because it carried her life-force, and her life-force was the living energy of The Key. All the evidence suggests that Glory had her scholarly worshipper, Doc, research the new rite for her; hence the presence of a copy in his study (Weight of the World). It was also suggested that destroying the human shell - killing Dawn - would have destroyed The Key, and not merely released its energy back into pure form.

After the ritual was performed, Dawn felt herself to be no longer The Key, or that at least there was nothing left for her to open. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen, but since she did not bleed out, and is still alive, presumably The Key's energy still exists within her. Whether anyone other than Glory would come looking for The Key - and what might have to be done to store its energy until the next time it could be used - is uncertain.

Some time in the twenty-first century, the Slayer and her allies will fight a final battle against the demon world, resulting in the banishment of all demons, and all magic, from the Earth (Fray). The vampires were gone, and with them, the Slayer. For over two hundred years there will be no Slayer, because there will be need. But after two centuries, the demons find their way back, and with their return, the Slayer is reborn.

It remains to be seen exactly how the demons returned, let alone how they were cast out in the first place, but it is of course natural to assume that The Key may be involved. The Key is designed to open the door, but it is in the nature of keys that they can be turned both ways. If you wanted to seal the barriers between the worlds, then The Key would be the logical tool to use. Did the Slayer then use The Key - or if still human, did The Key use itself - to lock the door, sealing the Earth away from the Hell Dimensions? If so, how was this done?

Presumably, in a world without magic, there would be no place for The Key, and even if it were not destroyed in the final battle, its power would have been ended. If it did survive however, either sheltered somehow, lost and dormant, or cast into the demon dimensions with the Slayer and her foes, then it might have survived the passage of the centuries. In this case, as well as casting out the demons, The Key may have been responsible for bringing them back. This scenario more-or-less assumes a reusable Key - against the postulation above - so what might have become of it since the barriers were reopened?

Hellgods rate among the highest orders of the Powers That-would-very-much-like-to Be, and are, if not synonymous with the 'Old Ones' or the 'Lower Beings', at least on a similar level of power. We do not know very much about them, only that they are ancient, more powerful than any demon, and apparently don't really care much about the fate of the Earth. The annihilation of every living thing on the mortal coil when The Key was activated was neither a goal for Glory, nor even a particularly important side-effect. It was just something that was going to happen in the course of her returning home. Like all such beings then, Hellgods appear to operate at a 'higher' level than humans, with the little things barely impacting on their consciousness. Individual lives mean nothing to them; the suffering of populations is their bread and butter.

Also, unlike demons, Hellgods appear to take little interest in the mortal world. It may be that the demonic obsession with reclaiming the Earth for their kind comes in part from a desire to flee the Hell Dimensions, to a place where they might be masters, and not under the thumb of the Hellgods. The Hellgods rule Hell Dimensions, reigning over many - but not all - of the thousands of such worlds that exist alongside the Earthly realm, making of them the kind of Hell that Earth once was (The Harvest). Each Hell is presumably reshaped over the millennia by its gods, forged into their perfect playground, hence their reluctance to leave and take any actions on Earth. On the other hand, Earthly demons do sometimes worship Hellgods, for whatever reason and reward.

Glorificus was plainly powerful, even for a Hellgod, as her two co-regnants were barely able to defeat her with the advantage of surprise. When they cast her out, they imprisoned her in a shell of flesh and blood; the body of a newborn male. Spells were put in place to separate the two, to keep her consciousness from bleeding into his. She was supposed to remain trapped, helpless, for the span of the man's life, and at the end of it perish with him. Why her fellows felt the need for such an elaborate arrangement is not known, but most likely they were either unable to kill her directly, or unwilling to do so and set a bad example.

In time, Glory's power was able to break through the barriers - possibly with the external aid of her faithful minions - allowing her to become active for short periods of time. Either as a side-effect of the dividing magics, or as a later act, a cloaking effect prevented outsiders connecting Ben and Glory, even if they witnessed the transformation between bodies. once released and free to act, Glory's single goal became to search for The Key - whether it had once been hers, she had been present at or heard of its forging, or a scholarly minion such as Doc merely identified it as a possible means for her to return to her own world

As noted, the Knights of Byzantium appear to base their organisation loosely on the model of a Christian militant order such as the Knights Templar. This would suggest a foundation sometime in the twelfth or thirteenth century, possibly beginning as a brotherhood of Crusaders who learned too much on the road to the Holy Land to be able to ignore the threat posed by The Key and The Beast. From their name we would expect them to be formed in Byzantium, but it could also be that they were founded following some horrific revelation experienced during the sack of Constantinople by the knights of the Fourth Crusade. On the other hand, as is often theorised about the Templars, it is also possible that the Knights were founded as a new incarnation of some more ancient order, long-dedicated to seeking out and destroying the Key. A militant order on the Templar lines would enjoy many advantages that an older movement, possibly based around one of the early Christian faiths, or even Judaism or a pagan faith, would not have, and be able to move with relative freedom throughout the Christian world.

Either way, the Knights of Byzantium plainly operated covertly, their goals - and their very existence - a sufficiently closely-guarded secret that even the usually well-informed Watchers' Council did not know of them. They retreated from the world, holding to their faith with such rigid zeal that they rejected all technological advances. They must have continued to recruit or convert at a good rate, although perhaps experiencing some times of crisis and decline. They may retain links with the Church, although their theology appears highly unorthodox, and in any case it would not be easy to say which church they might be affiliated with.

Members of the order are identified by facial tattoos - a highly unusual practice for a Christian order - which also signify rank: The higher the rank, the larger and more elaborate the tattoo, with additional elements presumably added at each promotion. These tattoos not only mark the knights as members, they also make it harder for them to fit into the world, deepening the order's isolation. They would also make it impossible for a Knight to work undercover, or attempt defection to the order's enemies, as they would likely be killed on sight. Perhaps most importantly, a facial tattoo would be extremely painful to receive, and the pain might form part of an ordeal of investiture. When an initiate became a knight, or when a knight gained new rank, they would swear their oaths, and be required to endure pain as the tattoo representing those oaths was marked on their forehead. This kind of practice strongly hints at origins within a pre-Christian mystery cult.

While the majority of the Order's visible members are warriors, some must play a less active role. A knightly order would require a substantial support staff, including grooms and farriers, blacksmiths and armourers, almoners and clerks. They must also have some form of information- gathering arm, to maintain their search for The Key. Moreover, this intelligence wing, and many of the support staff, would have to be more techno-savvy than the Knights themselves. The Order also maintains its own clergy, armoured in faith and armed with their own brand of Theurgic magic (Spiral).