Watcher

Watcher may refer to:

In print

In television, film and radio

Watcher (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

In the fictional Buffyverse established by the television series Buffy and Angel, a Watcher is a member of a secret organization, the Watchers' Council, which seeks to prepare the Slayer to fight demonic forces. A notable example of a Watcher is Buffy the Vampire Slayer main character Rupert Giles.

Description

Watchers are devoted to tracking and combating malevolent supernatural entities (particularly vampires), primarily by locating individuals with the talents required to fight such beings and win. More specifically, Watchers are assigned to Slayers, girls that are part of a succession of mystically powered individuals who are destined to face said foes. Upon a Slayer's demise, the next Slayer is called into duty and is assigned a Watcher.

The Watchers' Council trains new Watchers in a private school of some kind. In "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date", Giles implies that Watchers are, to a certain extent, "called" or assigned to become Watchers before going to university. This idea is supported by Watcher families such as the Giles and Wyndam-Pryces.

Watcher (presence)

Presence information watcher is an entity that requests presence information about a presentity from a presence service. Usually in order to get presence information a watcher have to subscribe for it to a presence server. When subscribed, the watcher receives event notifications as presence information changes. Alternatively watcher may fetch presence information without subscribing to it.

References