The following articles contains spoilers for Buffy, the Last Vampire Slayer #3

For as long as Buffy the Vampire Slayer has run as a franchise (both in television and comic book form), it has never explicitly been stated exactly how Slayers are chosen in canon. More specifically, it is never stated why Slayers are always chosen to fulfill their duties when they are teenagers. Audiences know that a new Slayer is chosen whenever the previous one dies and that Slayer is always more often than not a young teenage girl, but it's never been explained as to why that age demographic is a factor.

Audiences finally get some understanding during the comic series, Buffy the Last Vampire Slayer. The series takes place in a dystopian future where, following a tragedy that kills the entire line of potential Slayers, an elderly Buffy is the last Slayer on the planet. That is until she's bestowed the responsibility of training the next Slayer, Thessaly, the daughter of Willow and Tara. Meanwhile, out of all of her friends who died during that tragedy, Anya is the only one still alive.

Related: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Has Officially Been Replaced by a New Chosen One

In Buffy, the Last Vampire Slayer #3 by Joe Jaro and Casey Gilly, now that she knows what it feels like to watch over a child, Buffy starts to ponder why Slayers are thrust with such a big responsibility when they're children. Anya interjects that she believes it's because children are brave and evil always comes for the brave, the only ones willing to take a stand against evil. She adds that adults take fewer stands as they get older out of complacency and exhaustion. Although she's merely theorizing, Anya was originally a force of evil in Buffy when she first debuted in Season 3's "The Wish." If anyone has a firsthand understanding of the perspective of evil, it's Anya. If we as an audience are to take Anya at face value, then this puts the BOOM! series into a whole new context.

Anya and Buffy the Vampire Slayer talk

Throughout the series, Buffy is always talking about how she's exhausted and tired of fighting. This isn't the same spunky teen audiences first met in 1997, but a far more jaded, tired woman who is worn out from decades of fighting and even more desperate for rest. Buffy's long-lost the enthusiasm and sense of hope she once had, but in the end, through one self-sacrifice, she re-captures that child-like wonder/spark that it takes to be a brave Slayer, a spark Buffy lost decades ago due to the tragedy at the center of this series.

It puts into perspective exactly what makes a successful Chosen One in the Slayerverse. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer's universe, it's not just about fighting, but having the will to fight and more often than not, it's the children who are brave enough to do just that.