It's What's On The Inside That Doesn't Count

With each season comes a new Big Bad, and season 5 brings Glory, a blonde haired beauty with a god's powers and a lunatic's temperament. Glory has a secret, however. She is also unassuming Ben (from the hospital.) As we learn later (after the episodes we've watched so far), Ben is an innocent in all of Glory's evil plans and doings. Unfortunately, Ben's innocence doesn't protect Buffy or Dawn. When Dawn confesses her identity to Ben ("Blood Ties"), she opens herself up to danger (and not just from the soon-to-appear Glory.) Once Ben knows who Dawn is, he is faced with a choice of how to proceed.

Dawn's storyline also progresses in these three episodes. With Riley gone, Buffy can focus her attention on protecting the Key (Dawn) from Glory. In the season 5 featurette on the DVD, the writers talk about how Dawn is Buffy's love interest in season 5, and Buffy certainly does shift most of her emotional energy to sister, even as she tries to take care of her ailing mother. Buffy sees Dawn as an innocent, regardless of the fact that she isn't really her sister. The origins of Dawn's inner power are irrelevant to Buffy. She sees only the innocent young girl.

Both Dawn and Ben are beings created to house a powerful force. Neither is completely aware or understands the power that they contain. Regardless of what their inner force does (in the case of Ben's inner Glory) or is capable of (Dawn as the Key), Dawn and Ben are seen as separate from the forces. Dawn and Ben possess no free will regarding the forces inside them and, therefore, are not held responsible for the actions/repurcussions of these inner beings. This seems to be a recurring theme in Buffy: Actions/appearances can only be judged as evil if you intentionally choose evil for evil's sake. The flip side of this rule is applied to Riley, who despite his conflicted feelings about Buffy, is judged in the wrong by the Slayer because of his choice to be serviced by vampire prostitutes. Even though Xander convinces Buffy to show him mercy, Riley is ultimately judged guilty by the gods of the Buffyverse (or at least the writers) as he and Buffy miss each other, and he flies away.