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It was often a key point in the BuffyVerse, that a creature with a soul can be 'trusted' not to kill people because they have a conscience (Angel was tortured by his). OTOH there were a lot of deaths caused by individuals with a soul.

Who was the 'ensouled creature' that caused or was responsible for the greatest number of deaths (of humans) depicted in the BuffyVerse?

I am deliberately excluding Vengeance demons, who according to a comment from De Hoffren, never lost their soul (even when demons). If they were included, Anyanka would be a clear winner (over a thousand years of non-stop work, including triggering the Bolshevik Revolution and ..something in the Crimea), and Halfrek (no slouch on the job herself, competed with Anyanka, and already a demon when William was sired as Spike).

Otherwise it is assumed that demons did not have souls, except for the two (extraordinary) vampires - Angel & Spike.

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  • Faulty logic. Yes, Angel says that the demons consume souls when becoming a vampire. Yes, D'Hoffryn says that Vengeance Demons have souls. That does not mean, or at all imply that they are the only demons with them. Consider Shug, the Soul Eater who ate the souls of his family.
    – phantom42
    Oct 16, 2013 at 15:25
  • @phantom42 "Angel says that the demons consume souls when becoming a vampire" When? AFAIU the human soul is 'free' when the human is sired. Cannot recall a single mention of it being consumed by the vampire that killed them. (As if Darla needed, or wanted, souls. She considered Angel to be scum when she discovered) "Consider Shug, the Soul Eater who ate the souls of his family." (tilts head) I eat potatoes. Are you implying that means I 'have a potato'? Eating something, even incorporating part of its energy/force/strength into yourself, is not the same concept as 'having a soul'.
    – Andrew Thompson
    Oct 16, 2013 at 16:12
  • Shug ate the souls of his family - other Soul Eaters. Yes, this means that the Soul Eaters, which were demons, had souls.
    – phantom42
    Oct 16, 2013 at 16:16
  • @phantom42 Oh right - I get you now (I'm a bit slow).. OK, what was his kill count?
    – Andrew Thompson
    Oct 16, 2013 at 16:18
  • 1
    "It was often a key point in the BuffyVerse, that a creature with a soul can be 'trusted' not to kill people because they have a conscience (Angel was tortured by his). OTOH there were a lot of deaths caused by individuals with a soul." That was a piece of nonsense fed to Buffy by Giles. And she was immature enough to believe in that for years.
    – Dee Rush
    Jul 11, 2016 at 4:46

1 Answer 1

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I put on my thinking cap and wracked my brain to come up with these examples.

Table of known deaths by increasing count..

Dierdre Page/Phillip Henry
    0.25    (Each) For their share of responsibility in death of Randall.
        Rupert Giles, Ethan Rayne, Dierdre, Phillip and Randall were 
        members of a group that was getting 'high' on Eyghon possession. 
        When Randall became irreversibly possessed they tried to exorcise him, 
        but it resulted in his death.
Ethan Rayne
    0.25+   Randall (0.25).
        Cast two spells which caused an unknown number of deaths.
Lilah Morgan    
    0.5 Shot Billy Blim.  He looked human, but was part demon.
Rupert Giles    
    0.75    Randall (0.25)
        Ben (the human form of Glory, a Hell God - 0.5).
Andrew Wells
    1   Jonathan Levinson.
Lindsey McDonald
    1   Had Darla sired by Drusilla, after Angel refused to sire her.
Justine Cooper
    1   Killed Holtz in a way that implicated Angel (at Holtz' request).
Charles Gunn    
    1   Killed Professor Oliver Seidel - Fred's former professor.
Maude Pearson
    1   Murdered her son Dennis (later Cordy's ghost).
Knox
    1   Infected Winifred "Fred" Burkle so that Illyria might emerge in her (dead) shell.
Wesley Wyndham-Price
    1   Knox.
Warren Mears
    2   Katrina Silber his ex-girlfriend (violent though accidental).
        Tried to kill Buffy Summers, but got Tara McLean instead.
Bethany Chaulk
    2   Mostly from fear inspired out of terror.  Once she had learned
        to control her power (telekinesis), she chose not to kill.
Faith Lehane    
    2   Deputy Mayor Allan Finch (accidental in heat of battle).
        Professor Lester Worth. A geologist/volcanologist. Cold..
Willow Rosenberg
    2   Warren Mears (revenge).
        Rack (for power, indifferent - "trust me, it's an improvement").
Dana (potential slayer)
    ?   Dana was raped & traumatised as a child and institutionalized.
        When the potential slayers were activated by Willow, she caused
        an unknown number of human deaths.
Spike/William   
    10+ The 'basement full' of vampires he sired while ensouled.
Ben
    ?   Summoned the Quellar demon to kill the insane people.
Caleb (The Preacher)
    ?   - A misoginystic psychopath, who left a trail of corpses
        (at bare minimum 2) before becoming the vessel of The First 
        and going on to kill lots of watchers and potential slayers.
Lyle/Tector Gorch
    ?   Before they were sired, they "made their reputation by 
        massacring an entire Mexican village in 1886."
Angel/Liam
    35+ - Sam Lawson. A lieutenant in WW2. 
        - Was responsible for (he chose not to stop it) a Thesula demon
        chowing down on the residents of an hotel. (at least 20)
        - A doctor that was stalking his own patient.
        - 13: 12 Wolfram & Hart attorneys + the wife of one that he 
        allowed to die.
        - Drogan - though note he is described as a 'Mystic Warrior'
        rather than explicitly human.

So the 'winner' would seem to be one of the following:

  1. Ben
  2. Caleb
  3. Lyle Gorch
  4. Tector Gorch
  5. Angel

It is hard to delineate between them given the numbers are so nebulous, and cannot be pinned down further.

Notable side mentions. Excluded from the list above for the reasons given.

Professor Maggie Walsh 
    0   Tried (but failed) to kill Buffy by setting a trap with demons.
Billy "Ford" Fordham    
    0   Deal with Spike to sire him in exchange for Buffy'n'snacks.
        Interestingly, Spike kept his side of the deal even after it 
        all turned out for the worse (for him) with no deaths.
Daniel "Oz" Osbourne
    0/1 But both he and the deceased were in Werewolf form at the time.
Cordelia Chase  
    2   Lilah, and a young girl as sacrifice.  Though it is not clear 
        if she had a soul (she was possessed at the time).
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  • 1
    Oz in wolf form also ate one of the people who Xander stopped from blowing up the school (can't remember the name of the episode, it's the one that Xander gets injured at the start and then the others go to fight a big bad without him. He ends up dealing with some high school zombies & slept with Faith).
    – Tim B
    Jan 1, 2016 at 16:38
  • "Oz in wolf form also ate one of the people who Xander stopped from blowing up the school.." They were reanimated corpses. "can't remember the name of the episode.." The Zeppo (one of my favorite episodes)
    – Andrew Thompson
    Jan 1, 2016 at 17:53
  • You spelled "Vulcanologist" wrong...
    – DavidS
    Jul 11, 2016 at 9:21
  • @DavidS Is your name DavidJ, or Andrew? "Silly, silly... Amanda. Why would Faith kill a person who studies Vulcans?"
    – Andrew Thompson
    Jul 11, 2016 at 11:34

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