By Chris Snellgrove | Published
In Buffy The Vampire SlayerNatural disasters are one of the few threats our titular hero No Face when it is busy killing vampires, demons and other forces of darkness. However, it turns out that one of its most memorable enemies is inspired by two series or volcanoes. In it Buffy The “Inca Mummy girl” episode, the Inca princess in question is inspired by a mummy who is in a volcano in Peru, while the god of the mountain demands his sacrifice is inspired by another Peruvian volcano.
If you need a quick review, here it goes: in “Inca Mummy girl”, buffy and the Scobies must deal with a mummy that carries the soul that takes the form of a sexy exchange student. The mummy has a fairly sad story about being pushed to a life that he never requested, but that did not change the fact that she was an existential threat to everyone in Sunnydale and beyond. Buffy and he had to stop her, but what neither they nor most fans realize is that this convincing character is based on the Mummy Juanita, an Inca girl, whose body was discovered in 1995 in the latent volcano or Amppo.
This real life mother was discovered two years before Buffy Released, and “Inca Mummy Girl” portrayed the monster of the week very sympathizer thanks to the body that is in the volcano. The researchers determined that the girl was as young as 12 and was sacrificed by her people as a way of appeasing the gods. In the episode, the Mummy girl is a princess who was chosen by her people as a sacrifice … Someone who would voluntarily change her young life for the life of others.
The Slayer moves through its history, seeing the princess as an related spirit whose life and any death were chosen by forces beyond their control. Interestingly, this Buffy The episode never mentions the volcano itself or the Mummy Juanita as inspirations for this memorable character. Because of this, fans could never guess that a second volcano helped shape “Inca Mummy girl” in one of the best early episodes of the program.
While never appears on the screen, “Inca Mummy Girl” mentions Sebancaya, an Inca mountain god whom the mummy girl must be sacrificed. This character is based on Sabancaya, another volcano in Peru. Interestingly, while Ampato is an inactive volcano, Sabancaya is a asset One, what makes sense … after all, are the volcanoes capable of destroying everything that most of the sacrifices of ancient people seeking relief is generally.
A reason why fans love “Inca Mummy Girl” is that the villain is very different from the usual vampires and demons, one with which our favorite characters can sympathize but that they must finally stop. This Buffy Villain is a bit like an active volcano: beautiful, majestic and capable of leaving and killing countless people in a hat. And he considers that this is a franchise that has presented real gods as villains, we can avoid asking if the incane gods are real in this universe and if Buffy made powerful enemies that day dusting to his princess.
That could be more a threat than the Slayer can handle. But we can only guess how Buffy would answer: “If the Lavapocalypse happens, Pitame”.
