Joss Whedon's beloved television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, taught audiences valuable lessons about life, death, and love; one of the most tragic incidents in the series was the sudden death of Buffy's mother, Joyce, but a popular theory suggests maybe her death wasn't as natural as it was made to seem.
Throughout the show's seven season run, Buffy and her friends - the Scooby Gang - went face to face with all sorts of demonic and evil creatures: Gods, vampires, demons, ghosts, mummies; the list was endless. Very much a 'monster of the week' style show, the deeper connotations of friendship, coming-of-age, and the responsibilities that all young people face at some point or another was interwoven within the show's supernatural narrative and became its greatest success. Part of the reason why Buffy the Vampire Slayer has such an enduring legacy amongst fans - and continued its story to comics after the show's series finale - is because of the life lessons and the incredibly well-rounded characters that the show presented.
Because many fans cared for Joss Whedon's characters, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland) dying of something so normal and even common as an aneurysm that became an unseen complication of surgery for a brain tumor was shocking and heartbreaking, to say the least. However, season 5 also introduced the character of Dawn - Buffy's sister - who was actually ancient magical energy known as "the Key" that was being tracked by Glorificus, the Big Bad of season 5. A group of monks had the best intentions by giving the Key human form and sending her to Buffy in the form of a sister, but could this have caused a larger ripple than fans think?
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Theory: Was Dawn Responsible For Joyce's Death?
The arrival of Dawn in season 5 was a surprise to fans, even though her character had been teased in seasons before through various dream sequences Buffy had with other characters, including Faith and Tara. Though it wasn't incredibly far-fetched that Buffy would have a little sister - her parents were divorced by the start of the series - she hadn't ever been mentioned before, which was both curious and intentional. Once it was revealed that Dawn's entire existence was manufactured to give the Key a human form that Buffy would feel compelled to protect with her life, which she proved by sacrificing herself to save both Dawn and the world, the rest of the pieces started to fall into place.
While Joss Whedon has outwardly said that Joyce Summers' sudden death from a brain aneurysm was meant to give Buffy a different kind of reaction to grief, it also came on suddenly. Realistically, Joyce wasn't that old, seemed to be in good health, and there were no other indicators that she was sick until Dawn came into the picture. This could just be a crazy, random happenstance. Joyce was subject to the mortality and inevitable death that all humans face; this moment became a challenge for not only Buffy, but for the rest of the Scooby Gang, who had to come to terms with this very personal death in their own way, even though they are surrounded by death and evil constantly.
However, Dawn's entire existence hinged on the monks planting memories in the heads of not only Buffy and her friends, but everyone else in Dawn's life. The amount of painstaking care it would take to convince a woman that someone was her child who she'd given birth to and raised would be immense. Joyce had no supernatural powers; she was just a normal woman, so all that magic and alteration to her memories could have very well created the tumor that, ultimately, led to her tragic death in a very natural way. Though Dawn certainly isn't to blame, and none of this has been confirmed by the show runners or writers, it's an interesting theory that brings an additional element of tragedy to one of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's saddest plot lines.