Fanged Four
| Tropes and genres | |
|---|---|
| Related tropes/genres | Big Bad, Historical Fanworks, Victorian, Families of Choice |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Fanged Four refers to the vampires Darla, Angelus, Drusilla & William the Bloody/Spike in the Buffyverse. It is also the term used to describe historical pre-canon fiction, featuring some or all of these characters.
Peasant describes the Fanged Four as a metaphor for a family[1] and the term's often reserved for the period when the four hunted together, cutting a swathe through Europe and Asia together in slo-mo,[2] between Spike's siring and Angel's being cursed with a soul, based on the flashbacks that appeared in each of the shows. It's actually a surprisingly short period (1880 to 1898), but the show's variable canon gives a bit of wiggle room.
The Fanged Four are relatively popular in fanfiction. The major pairings are Angelus/Darla, Spike/Drusilla & Angelus/Spike, though they're generally assumed to have sex in all combinations. The term Fanged Four is also applied to some historical works involving any combination of the four. So within fandom, Fanged Four stories were often considered to be historical fics set anytime in the period between Darla or Angelus' siring, and the restoration of Angel's soul. The dynamics in many Fanged Four fics also informed stories showing a Fanged Four backstory through the use of flashbacks, or stories that employed time travel or magic to bring a canon character to the Fanged Four era.
Example Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fanfiction
The authors Coquette & Peasant are particularly associated with writing the Fanged Four.
- A Winter's Tale by Coquette (~2002)
- Sweet William by Peasant (2002)
- The Devil of Mercy by Kalima (~2002)
- A Game of Thrones by Mad Poetess. Set during 'Fool for Love' mineshaft flashback (2002)
Fanart
- Buffy: Historias de vampiros 2 by Nuindaeiel. Pencil & digital colour (2008)
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer commission by mygrimmbrother. Digital art (2013)
Meta
- Fanged Four Dynamics revisited by selenak, (2007)
Archives, Communities & Lists
Archives
- Old Fashioned Fourplay archive for historical fiction involving the Fanged Four
- Fanged Four fiction at All About Spike
- Fanged Four works on Ao3
Communities & Lists
- Blood Screaming fansite (offline)
- the-fangedfour LJ (friendslocked)
- fangedfour YahooGroups
References
- ^ Singing Our Little Songs – Why Dru and Spike? (accessed 18 September 2015)
- ^ Blood and Weetabix Recommends (accessed 17 September 2015)