Ethan was first introduced in the second-season episode "Halloween" as the seemingly benevolent owner of a costume shop. Ethan curses his costumes in the name of the Roman god Janus, so that the wearer becomes whatever they are dressed as. Later that season, in the episode "The Dark Age", Ethan has been having dreams of Eyghon, and the fate of the others who wear The Mark of Eyghon, which acts as a beacon for the demon to locate them, kill them, and possess each corpse in turn to hunt his next victim with. Ethan knocks Buffy unconscious, and tattoos the Mark of Eyghon on the back of her neck and removing his own. The substitution works, and the demon loses interest in him, instead going after Buffy. But Giles arrives, and then her friends, who stop Eyghon from killing both of them.