The Queller demon was called to Earth to quell plagues of madness. Ben summoned the demon to clean up the crazy people left in Glory’s wake in Listening to Fear. It suffocated it’s victims by vomiting a protein alkaloid into their face. The demon looks like a slug with a long hard shell. It slithers across ceilings and walls, looking for victims. Buffy stabbed it to death after it tried to kill her mother.
According to Xander’s research, primitive people used to believe that the moon was a cause of insanity. Mental illness has long been associated with the Moon (lunatic is a derivative of lunar). Sometimes they would pray to the moon to send a special meteor to fix the problem the moon had caused. These meteors were expected to quell the madmen, which they did, due to the Queller Demon which arrived inside them.
Appeared in: Listening to Fear
August 12th, 2005 at 2:31 am
Probably the worst ever demon, don’t you think? As (I’m pretty sure) the only extra-terrestrial based demon, it seems like some ridiculously failed rip-off of(i mean “homage to”) banal sci-fi, a bit like the freakish bastard lovechild of an X-Files/Predator one night stand..
August 23rd, 2005 at 9:14 pm
Heh. They even reference Tunguska (an X Files ep, and quite an important one at, as well as the site of a meteor impact) when they discuss the Queller’s origins.
August 24th, 2005 at 8:27 am
Speaking of X-files, am I the only one who thinks the Queller demon looks a lot like the flukeworm in ‘The host’ (X files Season 2 episode 2)?
November 8th, 2005 at 10:50 am
I never watched the X Files before (due to my dad hogging the TV when it was on) but I’m now currently up to season 4 and loving it. Watched the Tunguska episode the other day.
November 8th, 2005 at 6:36 pm
Jess, did you watch *home*?
scared the bjeebus out of me when I first saw it.
November 9th, 2005 at 10:15 am
mairc, I’m still retching from watching ‘Home’. Seriously disturbing stuff!
November 9th, 2005 at 3:18 pm
The Queller demon, to me, was the ickiest (is that a word?), scariest, creepiest demon in all of the Buffyverse. In “Listening to Fear”, it was so nasty when the camera pulled back from Joyce “talking nonsense”, to show that nasty guy hanging above her on the ceiling, it scared me half to death! I am getting the creeps just writing about it! I hope my kids never see that episode (at least not until they’re older) because I cannot imagine the nightmares it would cause. And ewwwwwww…
November 9th, 2005 at 4:40 pm
Poor Quellar demon just wanted a hug!
November 9th, 2005 at 5:05 pm
ha.
Queller was pretty nasty. Kathy was the ickiest as far as I’m concerned, even before Buffy ripped her face off.
November 9th, 2005 at 5:13 pm
good one, but I think my freshman year roommate was worse (and not even a demon). She was an angry, unsocial sophomore who hated me. It’s ok to be angry and unsocial, but I’m likable, damnit!
November 9th, 2005 at 5:18 pm
Mine was a neat-freak and I’m pretty messy. She told me that my side of the room relfected poorly on her. I said that the contrast made her look neater. Then one day she grew a milk mold in her Beauty and the Beast sippy cup and I had to wash it (I was messy, but I was clean) and she never gave me a hard time after that.
November 9th, 2005 at 11:48 pm
Yeah man, this queller demon: Gave me the jibblies!
November 10th, 2005 at 3:08 am
What a creepy little demon. All I can say is, at least he wasn’t a big bad or anything. Can you imagine if it was a recurring charac-uh, thing?
And by the way, excellent use of the word “jibblies”
November 10th, 2005 at 3:20 am
Thanks :)
July 18th, 2006 at 11:25 pm
I’ve always thought this episode was a bit underrated by many fans, partially because of the supreme freakiness of the Queller demon. The scene where it’s on the ceiling staring at Joyce, and she’s ranting and yelling at it, all deranged…..probably the most disturbing scene in Buffy history. Just my opinion.
July 19th, 2006 at 12:31 pm
Flukeworm, The Host, X-Files! THAT’S IT!
All these years I was thinking about what this demon remind me of… Thanks ildjarn!!!!! :D