- “As Neanderthals are to human beings, the Turok-Han are to vampires. They're primordial, ferociously powerful killing machines, as single-minded as animals. They are the vampires that vampires fear. An ancient and entirely different race. And until this morning, I thought they were a myth.”
- ―Rupert Giles[src]
Turok-Han, largely referred to as "ubervamp" by the Scooby Gang, was an ancient demon species preceding the vampire.[1]
History
Background
The Turok-Han was a race of ancient powerful vampires, comparable to what Neanderthals are to humans. According to Giles, they were feared amongst vampires.[1]
Sunnydale
The First Evil, via its Harbingers of Death, initially used the combined blood of Jonathan and Spike to open the Seal of Danzalthar, thus releasing the first Turok-Han.[2]
Buffy's first encounter with the Turok-Han nearly killed her as she was caught off-guard, tired from two days lack of sleep and worried about the fate of her friends. Their second encounter happened after the Turok-Han killed one of the first Potential Slayers, Annabelle, sent to Sunnydale for protection. Buffy spent most of this time avoiding the vampire rather than fighting it, but it nevertheless beat her, causing her to flee.[1]
In between its fights with Buffy, the Turok-Han spent most of its time torturing a captive Spike. After Buffy discovered the First's infiltration of the Potential Slayers, he told them that he would have the Turok-Han go after them. The Turok-Han broke into the Summers residence and fought through a force field created by Willow. Buffy, her friends and Potential Slayers then fled to the streets.[3]
As the Turok-Han caught up with them, Buffy tried to hold it off, though the Turok-Han directed its attention to the Potentials after a brief struggle. Following them to the construction site, the Turok-Han was pursued by Buffy who, after a long battle, managed to the kill the vampire in front of the Potential Slayers.[3]
Several weeks after, Lissa attempted to release a Turok-Han using Xander' blood. She was only successful in opening the seal long enough for a Turok-Han to stick its arm out before the ritual was disrupted.[4]
The Shadowmen later showed Buffy a vision of thousands of Turok-Han living below the seal. The First Evil apparently planned to open the Hellmouth and release them all, allowing them to conquer the world. The First would have taken physical form when its forces outnumbered humanity in this world.[5]
Eventually, a few more Turok-Han were released.[6]
Extinction
Buffy and the other Slayers went into the Hellmouth itself to fight the Turok-Han. In the end, all of them were apparently killed, including thousands by the mystical amulet that entrapped Spike.[7] Spike would later remark that the Turok-Han was part of a list of "things that just [didn't] exist anymore."[8]
Physiology and powers
The Turok-Han resembled pale, bald humanoid beings with the pronounced brow ridges. Their eyes were clear save for red and black slit pupils. They had flat bat-like noses, sharpened teeth, pointed ears, and long nails. Each Turok-Han was clad in a black, leathery outfit. Just like vampires, a Turok-Han's body and clothes turned to dust upon death.[3][7]
Abilities
The Turok-Han possessed the conventional abilities of vampires, though to a considerably superior to regular vampires. The first Turok-Han released was able to easily overpower Buffy and nearly kill her. However, it should be noted that Buffy had been caught unprepared, and was also weakened and exhausted from two days' lack of sleep.[1]
Differently from vampires, the Turok-Han were unaffected by crosses and were able to enter human residences without an invitation.[3] Anya described the greater effort to stake a Turok-Han, in comparison to vampires, to trying to pierce steel with wood.[9]
A Turok-Han was able to push an entire wheelbarrow filled with timbers and tools out of its way by a mere shove of its hand, and punch a cinder block into dust to no ill effect.[citation needed] The Turok-Han were also notably resilient; the first one immediately recovered after having a whole mess of steel beams dropped on it,[1] and continued to fight after Buffy impaled it through the eye with a crossbow bolt.[citation needed] Similarly to vampires, the Turok-Han possessed great speed that mimicked teleportation; in Buffy's first encounter with one, it suddenly appeared right next to her even though it was nowhere to be seen seconds before.[1]
The Turok-Han could also leap long distances without aid, doing the same distance as the one Buffy pole vaulted to.[citation needed] Also, according to Anya, a Turok-Han's claws could shred flesh.[9]
Despite being seemingly mindless animals, the Turok-Han were intelligent enough to follow orders from the First and forge their own weapons.[7]
Vulnerabilities
Despite their great power, even the Turok-Han possessed some of the common weaknesses of vampires, like staking, sunlight,[7] decapitation,[3][7] and holy water.[3]
Additionally, although their strength was superior to regular vampires, towards the confrontation with the First Evil, even regular humans like Robin, Giles, Dawn, and Xander could match and defeat Turok-Han in combat given proper training.[7]
Behind the scenes
- The performance of the horde of Turok-Han in the final battle is noticeably worse than the performance of the first Turok-Han. While the first Turok-Han was able to nearly kill Buffy, forcing her to use every possible resource to defeat it the second time around, the later Turok-Han seem evenly matched against the newly activated Slayers and even normal humans. Joss Whedon has acknowledged the continuity issue with the Turok-Han's powers but explained that the story behind the season/episode he wanted to get across to viewers was more important than the continuity.[10]
- In the original shooting script for "Get It Done," Buffy's vision was originally supposed to be a ravaged, post-apocalyptic Sunnydale overrun with Turok-Han.[11]
Appearances
Canonical
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 7 | |||||||||||
| "Lessons" Absent |
"Beneath You" Absent |
"Same Time, Same Place" Mention |
"Help" Absent |
"Selfless" Absent |
"Him" Absent |
"Conversations with Dead People" Absent |
"Sleeper" Absent |
"Never Leave Me" Appears |
"Bring on the Night" Appears |
"Showtime" Appears | |
| "Potential" Mention |
"The Killer in Me" Absent |
"First Date" Appears |
"Get It Done" Vision |
"Storyteller" Absent |
"Lies My Parents Told Me" Absent |
"Dirty Girls" Absent |
"Empty Places" Mention |
"Touched" Mention |
"End of Days" Appears |
"Chosen" Appears | |
| Angel: Season 5 | |||||||||||
| "Conviction" Absent |
"Just Rewards" Archive |
"Unleashed" Absent |
"Hell Bound" Absent |
"Life of the Party" Absent |
"The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco" Absent |
"Lineage" Absent |
"Destiny" Absent |
"Harm's Way" Absent |
"Soul Purpose" Absent |
"Damage" Absent | |
| "You're Welcome" Absent |
"Why We Fight" Absent |
"Smile Time" Absent |
"A Hole in the World" Absent |
"Shells" Absent |
"Underneath" Absent |
"Origin" Absent |
"Time Bomb" Absent |
"The Girl in Question" Mention |
"Power Play" Absent |
"Not Fade Away" Absent | |
| Spike | |||||||||||
| Asylum, Part 1 Absent |
Asylum, Part 2 Absent |
Asylum, Part 3 Absent |
Asylum, Part 4 Absent |
Asylum, Part 5 Absent |
Spike: After the Fall, Part 1 Absent |
Spike: After the Fall, Part 2 Absent |
Spike: After the Fall, Part 3 Absent |
Spike: After the Fall, Part 4 Absent | |||
| Alone Together Now Vision |
What Happens in Vegas, Slays in Vegas Absent |
Everybody Loves Spike Absent |
You Haven't Changed a Bit Mention |
Bedknobs and Boomsticks Absent |
Something Borrowed Absent |
Give and Take Absent |
Stranger Things Absent |
Spike: Into the Light Absent | |||
Other
References
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