meet the gang

willow

Willow Rosenberg is Buffy's best friend, and is one of the core members of the self-named Scooby Gang. Although extremely intelligent, she was a relative outcast in high school and was shunned by many of her peers. Her best friend for most of her life has been Xander, and the two of them, along with Jesse usually spent most of their time together. When Buffy moved to Sunnydale, the four of them quickly bonded before Jesse got bit by a vampire, forcing Xander to dust him before he could hurt any more people.

In Willow's junior year of high school, she met Oz, a rock singer for the band Dingoes Ate My Baby who also happens to be a werewolf, and the two of them began dating. The Scooby Gang started to interact with more people, and Willow began to become more popular. It was also at this point that she started developing an interest in magic. When Angel reverted to his demonic form of Angelus, Willow performed a mystical incantation that would bring Angel's soul back.

In Willow's senior year of high school, she was forced to tutor Percy, one of Sunnydale High's most popular students. Although they both hated each other at first, Willow and Percy soon bonded, which brought Willow into favorable opinion with much of the school. She helped orchestrate the events that helped foil the Mayor's ascension.

Although Willow received offers from Stanford and Harvard, Willow chose to stay in Sunnydale with Buffy and Xander, opting to go to college at UC Sunnydale. After Buffy has a bad experience with her demonic roommate, Willow and Buffy dorm together as roommates. Early on in her college experience, she catches Oz flirting with another werewolf, Veruca. Oz leaves shortly after. However, when the Gentlemen arrive into Sunnydale, Willow is locked in the campus hall's laundry room with a girl named Tara, who she later develops strong feelings for.

When Oz returns to Sunnydale looking to apologize to Willow, Willow reveals to both Oz that she's in love with Tara. She also gradually reveals her admission to be a lesbian to the rest of the Scooby Gang shortly thereafter. Tara, being a practicing witch herself, helps Willow gain more confidence in magic. However, when Willow decides to revive a deceased Buffy, Tara tells her to stop using magic for fear that it might cause drastic imbalances. Willow, in retaliation, casts a forgetfulness spell on Tara. When Tara finds out about this, she decides to leave Willow.

Willow makes an attempt to stop using magic as an act of contrition to Tara, but when they finally reunite and proclaim their love for each other, Warren, a part of the Trio, firing wildly in an attempt to kill Buffy, shoots Tara in the back, killing her instantly. Willow pleads to the god Osiris to revive Tara, but Osiris refuses, and Willow decides to hunt down Warren in order to avenge her girlfriend's death. Willow finds Warren and flays him, then moves on to hunt down the remaining two members of the Trio, Jonathan and Andrew. The rest of the Scooby Gang tries to stop her from erecting a demonic statue that would signal the end of the world, but in the end, it's Xander that forces her back to reality.

After a long recovery treatment with Giles in England, Willow returns to Sunnydale magic-free and willing to return to college. However, this is at odds against the world-ending threat that is looming. Before she can operate as normal, Willow is forced to face her guilt and move past it—a feat she accomplishes with potential slayer and new girlfriend Kennedy. In an apocalyptic battle with The First, Willow performs a spell that helps save the world by activating all the Potentials that are helping fight The First and his minions. Willow survives the final apocalyptic battle unharmed.

giles

 Sunnydale At the behest of the Watchers' Council, Giles travels to Sunnydale, California, and works as the librarian at the local high school. There he meets the current Slayer, Buffy Summers, whom he begins training. The library, a sort of command center for the gang, sits right above the Hellmouth.

As the Watcher, librarian, and general authority figure, Giles often delivers exposition. He is a father figure to Buffy and an advisor to her friends Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, together forming the "core four" of the Scooby Gang. Giles is often portrayed as somewhat of a "straight man" and his "stuffy" Oxford sensibility serves as counterpoint to the stereotypical Southern Californian characters and setting. He makes a "weird cluck-cluck sound with his tongue" when he is angry but "too English to say anything" (cf. "Faith, Hope & Trick"). He admits to being technophobic, a fact which often brings him into conflict with technopagan and computer science teacher, Jenny Calendar. However, after Jenny aids him in casting the demon Moloch out of the Internet, the pair reach an understanding and begin a romantic relationship.

Mr. Giles, Sunnydale High's uptight librarianIn Season Two, Giles' dark side is revealed and his relationship with Jenny deepens. In "The Dark Age", Ethan Rayne comes to Sunnydale to flee the demon Eyghon. Giles shamefully admits to Buffy that he was responsible for summoning the demon in his youth, and is horrified when Jenny becomes possessed by Ehygon. Although Ehygon is defeated, Jenny takes time to cope with her ordeal, retaining distance from Giles in the process. When new Slayer Kendra Young arrives in Sunnydale, Giles shares with her an appreciation for obscure texts, resulting in Buffy nicknaming her the "She-Giles." Giles feels betrayed when Jenny reveals she is actually a member of the Kalderash gypsy clan, sent to keep an eye on Buffy's relationship with the vampire Angel. When Angel loses his soul and murders Jenny, leaving her corpse for Giles to find in his apartment (cf. "Passion"), Giles seeks revenge by burning down Angelus' home. Angelus later kidnaps and tortures him, and Drusilla hypnotises him into thinking she is Jenny, so he will reveal how to awake Acathla. Buffy is forced to kill Angel, despite Willow restoring his soul, and subsequently leaves Sunnydale.

In Season Three, the paternal relationship which Giles feels for Buffy is strengthened significantly. He spends the summer desperately following up any clues of Buffy's whereabouts, and is overjoyed when she finally returns months later. Giles briefly serves as Watcher for Kendra's replacement Slayer, Faith Lehane. The Scoobies are given another disturbing glimpse in Giles' past when, along with every other adult in Sunnydale, he is reverted to a teenager by enchanted band candy supplied by Ethan Rayne. During this time, he indulges in theft and vandalism, and has sex with Buffy's mother Joyce Summers. When Buffy keeps Angel's return from hell a secret from the other Scoobies, Giles feels betrayed by her affection for the man who tortured him and murdered Jenny, but later agrees to help Angel in "Amends."

As Buffy's Cruciamentum approaches, a brutal tradition of the Watchers' Council in which a depowered Slayer is forced to battle a vampire, Giles struggles to cope with the guilt of betraying Buffy's trust. Despite describing the test as "an archaic exercise in cruelty", he secretly strips Buffy of her powers, before eventually coming clean when the vampire she is meant to fight escapes. Buffy is disgusted, but is later moved when Head Watcher Quentin Travers dismisses Giles for having a father's love for her. Giles is fired, and replaced with Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, but continues to act as Buffy's unofficial Watcher. When Buffy briefly finds herself endowed with telepathic powers, she discovers that her mother believes Giles to be "like a stevedore in bed." In a battle with the demonic Mayor of Sunnydale, Giles presses the trigger which destroys Sunnydale High, putting himself out of a job.

In Season Four, Giles must cope with being unemployed, and the growing knowledge that Buffy no longer needs him. He continues a sexual relationship with his old friend Olivia, who Anya tactlessly labels his "orgasm friend." Lacking a sense of purpose, he spends most of his time lounging around his apartment, watching Passions with Spike. He begins to suffer from depression, especially when the Scoobies fail to keep him in the loop regarding Buffy's new boyfriend Riley Finn and his affiliation to the Initiative. When Ethan Rayne casts a spell on Giles which turns him into a Fyarl demon (cf. "A New Man"), he must enlist Spike's help to escape the Initiative and Buffy, who believe him to be a demon who murdered Giles. However, Buffy later realises from his eyes and "annoyed" expression that he is in fact Giles, and Ethan is taken into custody by the Initiative. In order to defeat the cyber-demonoid Adam, the four Scoobies cast a spell to combine their strength. Giles provides the "mind", and Buffy is able to defeat Adam.

In Season Five, Giles finds a new purpose as Buffy embraces her destiny as the Slayer. When the owner of The Magic Box is killed by vampires, Giles is convinced by the shop's high profit margins to buy it, hiring Anya as his overtly enthusiastic assistant. Buffy discovers that her sister, Dawn Summers, is actually the Key; mystical energy in human form to protect it from the hell-god Glory. Buffy initially confides only in Giles about Dawn's true nature, and he decides to contact the Watchers' Council for more information about Glory. In "Checkpoint", Quentin Travers blackmails Buffy into obeying the Council's demands, threatening to have Giles deported if she does not comply. Buffy stands up to the Council, informing them that they will release all information concerning Glory to them, and will re-instate Giles as her official Watcher, to be paid retroactively from the month he was fired. Travers reluctantly agrees, and leaves.

As the Scoobies labor to find a way to defeat Glory, Giles brings up the difficult idea of killing Dawn to end her plans. Buffy refuses to listen, and vows to protect Dawn at all costs, much to Giles' anger. Giles admits that he loves Dawn, but that sacrifices have to be made. It is revealed that Glory shares her body with an innocent human male called Ben, and can be killed if Ben dies. In the final battle against Glory, Buffy decides to spare Ben's life, but Giles is less merciful. Explaining that Buffy is a hero and therefore different from them, he suffocates Ben with his bare hands (cf. "The Gift".) Buffy later sacrifices her own life to save Dawn's, saving the world in the process.

Season Six sees Giles reluctantly stepping back to allow Buffy to gain independence. Several months after her death, Giles decides to return to England. On the very day he leaves, Willow, Xander, Anya and Tara resurrect Buffy, and he comes back as soon as he hears of this. Despite being overjoyed to have Buffy back, he is furious at Willow for invoking such dark magic, and angrily dismisses her as "a rank, arrogant amateur." As Buffy begins to over-rely on Giles for financial and emotional support, he decides that his presence is preventing her assuming responsibility for her own life. He leaves again for his native England, moving to a place near Bath, where he works with a powerful local coven.

A few months later, Tara is killed by a stray bullet as Warren Mears attacks Buffy. Willow, still recovering from an addiction to dark magic, suffers a relapse, kills Warren, and attempts to kill his former partners in crime, before resolving to end humanity's pain (and her own) by destroying the world. Hearing about a dark power rising in Sunnydale, Giles teleports back there, wielding great magical power borrowed from the Devon Coven. As Dark Willow boasts of her indestructability, Giles knocks to the floor with a blast of magic energy, stating "I'd like to test that theory" (cf. "Two to Go"). Knowing that Willow is too strong, he tricks her into draining him of his magics, which bring him near death. It also allows Xander to reason with Willow as the good magic brings out her natural love and compassion, eating away at the evil within her.

Giles returns to England with Willow for her rehabilitation. A few months later, he brings Potential Slayers to Sunnydale to protect them from the First Evil and its Bringers. Giles had removed a few volumes from the headquarters of the Watchers' Council, which is soon afterward destroyed by Caleb, an agent of the First. An injured Watcher named Robson witnessed Giles about to be decapitated by a Bringer, before blacking out. When the Scoobies hear about this, they worry that Giles may have been killed, and that the First is merely impersonating him. They are relieved, however, when they manage to tackle him to the ground, proving he is corporeal and therefore not the First. Giles later loses Buffy's trust somewhat when he takes part in a scheme with Robin Wood to kill Spike (cf. "Lies My Parents Told Me"), with Buffy telling him, "I think you've taught me everything I need to know."

xander

From the beginning, Xander's best friend has been Willow, since they were at least five years old. Willow had unrequited romantic love for Xander until she met Oz. At his sixth birthday party, which Willow attended, his parents hired a clown who chased him, resulting in coulrophobia (fear of clowns). He overcame this phobia in Season One's "Nightmares." He did not get a desired toy fire truck for his seventh birthday, and, by coincidence, the house next door caught fire. Xander saw the fire trucks and believed he had Willow to thank.

In Season 1, we learn of the lasting friendship between Xander and Willow. In high school, they developed a mutual hatred of their snobby classmate Cordelia, which led them to form the "We Hate Cordelia Chase" club, of which Xander was the treasurer.

Xander meets Buffy on her first day at Sunnydale High. He overhears what he thinks is a bizarre conversation with Rupert Giles in the school library - Giles reveals his knowledge that Buffy is a Vampire Slayer and that he is her Watcher. After they leave the room, Xander steps forward from the book stacks and says in disbelief, "What?"

He refuses to believe that vampires are real until Willow is almost killed by one, and when the four gather together in the high school library - the first gathering of "the Scoobies" - he says (in a famous quote), "Okay, this is where I have a problem. See, because we're talking about vampires."

But when Xander loses his male best friend, Jesse, to vampires in "The Harvest," Xander takes the stand that "vampires are bad." When the vampires take over the Bronze, Xander accidentally but tragically stakes his former friend. Following Jesse's death, Xander becomes a whole-hearted member of the Scooby Gang. He doesn't mind that he annoys Angel (cf. "Enemies") nor Giles, who wants the Scoobies to exert strict caution and behavior. Xander develops a crush on Buffy, but it is not reciprocated. However, in the Season One finale, "Prophecy Girl," he saves her life by administering CPR after she is drowned by the Master.

In Season 2, Xander gradually begins a turbulent relationship with Cordelia after they are thrown together in several life-or-death situations. The military knowledge Xander acquires - thanks to a spell ("Halloween") - enables Buffy to defeat the Judge, a supposedly invulnerable demon, in the episode "Innocence." When being seen with Xander costs Cordelia her position among Sunnydale High's fashionable clique, she dumps him on Valentine's Day. Xander can't believe it: "Do you know what's a good day to break up with somebody? Any day besides Valentine's Day! I mean, what, were you running low on dramatic irony?" Xander retaliates by coercing Amy Madison, a powerful witch, to cast a love spell, but it misfires: for a few hours, until the spell is broken, Xander finds himself irresistible to every girl, woman, and female vampire in sight - except, ironically, for Cordelia, who, realizing how much Xander cares for her, reunites with him in defiance of her former friends ("Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered").

Season 3 sees Xander revive a mutual interest in Willow. When, in the episode "Lovers Walk," they have been imprisoned by Spike and believe they are on the verge of death, they kiss passionately. During those moments, Buffy, Oz and Cordelia break into the prison to save them and witness this kiss. Cordelia is so horrified that she runs out of the room and into a near-fatal injury. No matter how much Xander apologizes, Cordelia won't hear him nor forgive him.

Season 3 brings additional complications for Xander with the arrival of Anyanka (Anya) in the episode "The Wish." Cordelia, having no idea that the apparent new high school girl is actually an ancient vengeance demon who grants wishes to resentful or betrayed women, wishes that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. She immediately finds herself in another universe in which the vampires and demons have overrun Sunnydale. When Cordelia finds Xander and Willow at night, she urges that they must find Buffy at once. Xander and Willow reveal themselves to be vampires, and Cordelia cries, "No. No! No way! I wish us into Bizarro Land, and you guys are still together?" It is one of the few laugh lines in a dark episode - the couple murder Cordelia and drink her blood in front of Giles. (It seems, later, that Willow is the only one who has the faintest memory of that other universe; Xander doesn't.)

Still steaming from being laughed at by her friends ("the Cordettes," as Angel calls them) for having dated Xander, Cordelia labels him "The Zeppo", mocking him for being useless in comparison with his friends, who are Slayers, witches, werewolves, and vampires. In an attempt to prove her wrong, Xander embarks on an adventure with a group of zombies led by tough guy Jack O'Toole. That night, among other terrifying and surprising events, Xander loses his virginity to vampire slayer Faith Lehane. To him, this is a major, life-changing event. He realizes, when she pushes him out the door, that it meant very little to her.

But the night of "the Zeppo" is not yet over: when O'Toole and his friends try to blow up Sunnydale High, Xander single-handedly puts an end to their plan. The irony is that, in this Xander-centric episode, the other Scoobies try to hide from him the fact that they are facing another apocalypse. While they do achieve yet another closing of the Hellmouth, it is Xander's victory that we see and his bravery in saving the town. That he has gained courage from the night is demonstrated when, the next day, Cordelia taunts him: "Ooh, look, it's Mr. Excitement. On another life-or-death doughnut mission, or are we just cruising for bimbos again, giving them lessons in lack of cool?" Xander doesn't need to prove anything to her; he has proved it to himself; so he just grins at her. Cordelia is unnerved and exclaims, "What? What?" Xander walks away, still smiling.

(That reference to doughnuts should be explained: On a couple of occasions, when Xander can't help with actual research, he "helps" by going to get doughnuts for the Scoobies - Willow and Giles love to research, while Buffy feels much the same inattention and impatience as he does. Those minor moments are later blown out of proportion by those who want to mock him. This happens to "Doughnut Boy" more often in fan fiction than in the show.)
Later in Season 3 ("The Prom"), he is asked to the Prom by Anya Jenkins, formerly the vengeance demon Anyanka. 
This will be the motif of their later dating: Anya is blunt, unaware of the social mores; and Xander is both annoyed by and attracted to her bluntness. Plus, he doesn't have a date, and she is sexy; and Xander will always find her sexy.
In the Season Three finale, "Graduation Day, Part Two," Buffy identifies the enemy they must fight and defeat - Mayor Wilkins, who turns himself into an enormous demon - and she appoints Xander to be her "Key Guy" in the battle. Sunnydale High's graduating senior students agree, in a secret plan, to fight against the villains; Xander is notably cool and expert in leading his team of the forces against them.

Life After High School: A Variety of Jobs and Experiences

In Season 4, Xander's inferiority complex and feelings of isolation increase when he chooses not to enroll in college with his friends. After graduating from high school, he sets upon a cross-country trip inspired by Jack Kerouac's autobiographical novel "On the Road" - but the trip ends when his car breaks down.

He tells Buffy, "I got as far as Oxnard and the engine fell out of my car, and that was literally. So, I ended up washing dishes at The Fabulous Ladies Night Club for about a month and a half while I tried to pay for the repairs. No one really bothered me or even spoke to me, until one night when one of the male strippers called in sick, and no power on this Earth will make me tell you the rest of that story." (Season 4, "The Freshman") (Those lines inspired numerous Xander-based fan fictions. Xander has Joss Whedon to blame, as Whedon wrote the episode.)

Returning to Sunnydale, he moves into his parents' basement as a rented room, and takes a series of odd jobs as a food vendor, a bartender, a phone-sex operator, and a deliveryman. After much persuasion, he has sex with Anya and they begin dating. Initially, his interest in Anya is purely sexual, but as the season progesses, he develops genuine feelings for her, eventually falling in love.

Most of Season 4 is devoted to the adventures of Buffy and Willow when they go to college, to Buffy's romantic attachments, and to the mysterious workings of a paramilitary group, based on campus, called The Initiative. At the climax of Season 4, Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles work together in a magical spell to defeat the seemingly unstoppable demon-cyborg Adam; in this spell, operated by Willow, each of the four has a crucial part to play, which she demonstrates by laying down Tarot cards. She lays before herself the card for "Spiritus... The Spirit." For Giles, it is "Sophus... Mind." For Buffy: "Manus. The Hand." And for Xander, it is "Animus... Heart." That he is the emotional heart of the group can come to no viewer of the show as a surprise.

The last episode of Season 4, "Restless," shows the four Scoobies gathering to celebrate after the defeat of Adam - and then falling asleep. Each of them has a lengthy dream. Xander's dream is filled with inability to fully communicate with his friends and with his fears that he will never escape the basement of his home.

Season Five sees Xander mature significantly, pursuing a more stable career in carpentry and construction work, and moving into his own apartment with Anya.

When famous vampire Dracula comes to Sunnydale in search of the Slayer, he hypnotizes Xander into briefly becoming his willing manservant ("Buffy vs. Dracula"). When Dawn appears at the end of that episode, he, like the others, believes that she has always been Buffy's little sister. Dawn reveals in her diary that she has a crush on him, and Xander is flattered by this. (When Buffy suggests in the episode "Crush" that Dawn might like Spike, Xander is outraged.)

Xander remains protective of Dawn even when they discover that she is new to the world, having been made of mystical energy and disguised as a human to hide her from the hell-goddess Glory. When Buffy must go out at nights to patrol, or for other reasons, he and Anya are always willing to spend evenings with Dawn.

After being hit by the demon Toth's Ferula Gemini spell, Xander is split into two separate beings - one displaying his strengths and one displaying his weaknesses ("The Replacement"). In "Triangle", he defends Willow and Anya equally from Anya's ex-boyfriend, Olaf the Troll, despite being ordered to choose between them - one to live, the other to die.

In the episode "The Body," Buffy's mother Joyce has died and the Scoobies react to this in different ways. Xander, like Willow, Tara, Anya and Giles, always liked her, and in his grief Xander punches his hand through a wall. He helps, with the others, to support Buffy and Dawn after this.

The episode "Intervention" has comical moments when Spike commissions a robot resembling Buffy to be built by later foe Warren Meers. Xander and Anya witness Spike being intimate with the "Buffybot," and when Buffy returns to town from a quest, the Scoobies hold an intervention to advise her not to get close with Spike. The most famous lines from this episode, written by Jane Espenson and Whedon:

This episode becomes fraught with suspense when Glory abducts Spike and tortures him, demanding to know the identity of the "Key" (that is, Dawn). Spike refuses to tell her and barely escapes with his unlife. Xander and Giles carry Spike back to his crypt, and Xander admits to Buffy that he almost regrets having taken the Buffybot away from Spike - whom he loathes: "God, I feel kinda bad for the guy. Gets all whupped, then his best toy gets taken away... It's just... the guy was so thrashed." Because Xander said this, Buffy visits the thrashed Spike, finds that he protected Dawn, and then begins to hate Spike less.

Because of Spike's heroism, even Xander unbends a little toward him in Season 5's episode "Spiral," to the point of lighting a cigarette for him when Spike can't work his lighter because of his wounded hands.

Shortly before going into battle with Glory, Xander asks Anya to marry him should they survive and presents her with an engagement ring. At the climax, after Spike mocks him by calling him "a glorified brick-layer," Xander does his part in helping to defeat Glory. ("And the glorified brick-layer picks up a spare!") When Buffy gives her life to save Dawn, he is as traumatized as the rest.

Although he loves her, Season 6 shows Xander having doubts about his future with Anya.

During the summer after Buffy's death, he continues to serve as an older brother/protector to Dawn and as a surrogate vampire slayer with the other Scoobies. He also joins Willow, Anya and Tara in a spell to bring Buffy back to life, and is assaulted by Spike when Spike finds out what they have done. He wants very much to help Buffy return to a "normal" life.

After putting it off for a long time, Xander finally announces to the Scoobies that he has proposed to Anya ("All the Way"). But (in the very next episode) he feels nervous again. Hoping to guarantee a happy ending, he summons the demon Sweet to turn Sunnydale into a living musical, which goes horribly wrong when people start bursting into flames as well as song ("Once More With Feeling").

As weeks pass, and Anya obsesses about planning their wedding, Xander's nervousness increases. The big day arrives and is a nightmare for everyone involved ("Hell's Bells").

Xander abandons Anya at their wedding, because a demon, pretending to be Xander's future self, shows him false visions of a future in which Xander and Anya are trapped in a bitter marriage with two children who resent them. The demon tells Xander:

"It doesn't have to go like this. But you can't marry Anya. You'll hurt her less today than you will later. Believe me. Sometimes, two people - all they bring each other is pain."

Xander does believe it, because of his parents' rotten marriage. He walks out into the rain and leaves Anya crying at the altar. Even when, later, the vision is later revealed to be false, Xander admits to having had doubts beforehand and reveals that he was afraid of committing himself to her forever.

The Scoobies are shocked when they discover Anya and Spike getting drunk and having revenge/rebound sex. Anya and Spike at once regret it, but Xander confronts them and tries to kill Spike. Buffy and Anya stop him, but Anya says that she owes him nothing after he left her at the altar. Xander expresses disgust that she "let that evil, soulless thing touch" her - and then Spike reveals that he has been having an affair with Buffy. Xander is horrified, but later he and Buffy have a wrenching argument. After they both face other enemies, they forgive each other and return to friendship. And then Tara is killed by Warren, the robot-maker.

Willow turns vengeful and evil, demands payback, and, in her devastated grief, builds enough magical power to destroy the world. Buffy and Giles try to reason with her and to fight her, but it is Xander's love for his childhood friend that turns her around and, for once, it is he who saves the world ("Grave").

In Season Seven, in the midst of revelations that the Scoobies and others will have to fight against a terrifying enemy - the First Evil - Xander struggles over his feelings with Anya and suffers a devastating injury.

"Potential Slayers" from various countries begin showing up (at the Watchers' Council's behest) at Buffy's house for the great battle to come, and Xander helps Buffy and Dawn as much as he can. Sometimes, this effort is repairing broken windows, but he also willingly fights the evil creatures known as "the Bringers," despite having no extra strength or battle knowledge. When Dawn mistakenly believes herself to be a Potential Slayer, Xander empathizes with her disappointment at not being the one in the spotlight ("Potential"). Despite a lot of antagonism, he and Anya finally admit that they still love each other and share special time before the final battle.

In the episode "Dirty Girls," Xander has his left eye gouged out by the evil preacher Caleb and begins wearing an eyepatch. In the hospital, Xander still shows his sense of humor by telling Willow, "I might need a parrot." (This is often misquoted as "I need a parrot.")

In the final battle against the First Evil, Anya is killed by a Bringer's sword, and her body remains in the new Sunnydale High's ruins as the empty town is swallowed by the earth. Andrew Wells, whom she had fought alongside, comforts Xander by saying that Anya had died saving his life. Xander replies by saying, "That's my girl. Always doing the stupid thing."
buffy

Buffy's parents divorced after years of marital problems and Buffy moved with her mother to 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale, a small town in California. Little did they know, Sunnydale was based on top of a Hellmouth. Buffy's presence was predestined. Buffy enrolled at Sunnydale High School, where she became friends with Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris, as well as her new Watcher, Rupert Giles. She also met Cordelia Chase, a superficial and bitchy cheerleader who reminded Buffy of her Hemery days. Buffy met Angel, a mysterious stranger who aided Buffy with cryptic advice every so often. After successfully stopping the vampire ritual known as The Harvest, Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles developed the 'core four' of the 'Scooby Gang' and continued to investigate supernatural happenings in the school library. Buffy longed for a normal social life away from her Slayer duties, and began dating Owen Thurman and tried out for the cheerleading team. Unfortunately, these aspects of normalcy were short-lived.

Buffy gradually developed an attraction towards Angel and was horrified when he was revealed to be a vampire. Initially, Buffy was reluctant to slay him but changed her mind after it appeared Angel had attacked her mother. (In fact, it was not he, but his sire, Darla, whom Buffy shortly thereafter slew.) It was later revealed that Angel was a vampire with a soul, a punishment put upon him by a Gypsy clan for his vicious crimes. Giles revealed to Buffy that a prophecy foretold that she would have to fight a powerful 1000-year-old vampire named the Master. She would die and he would rise to the surface and take over with his vampire followers. Devastated, Buffy quit being a Slayer and contemplated leaving town, but changed her mind after Willow discovered a classroom filled with her dead friends. Buffy went down to the Hellmouth, being directed by the Anointed One, and fought the Master. She was overpowered, bitten and left to drown in a pool of water as the Master went to the surface. Angel led Xander to find and rescue Buffy, and Xander gave her CPR, bringing her back to life. Buffy then battled the Master for a second time on the school roof, staked him in the library and closed the Hellmouth.

Season 2

Buffy spent the summer in LA with her father, after finding the effects of her death too stressful. She overcame this when she destroyed the Master's skeleton back in the Sunnydale library. In her junior year of high school, Buffy came into conflict with vampire couple Spike and Drusilla, who were hellbent on causing chaos in Sunnydale. It was also revealed that they were Angel's past partners-in-crime. Angel and Buffy's relationship began heating up and the pair began officially dating.

Buffy met Kendra Young, a Slayer called after Buffy's death. The two proved to be polar opposites in their Slayer habits, with Kendra being strictly loyal to her Slayer duties whereas Buffy longed for a normal life. They became friends and Kendra taught Buffy to appreciate that her 'Slayer half' was as much a part of her as her 'Buffy half.'

On the night of her seventeeth birthday, Buffy lost her virginity to Angel and unknowingly lifted the curse placed on him a century earlier, thus causing Angel to lose his soul and revert to the evil Angelus. Angelus became intent on destroying Buffy's life and joined Spike and Drusilla, who had reconstructed a supposedly indestructible demon named The Judge - it had been foretold of him that "no weapon forged" could destroy him. Drusilla murdered Kendra; and Angelus murdered Giles's love interest and fellow teacher, Jenny Calendar, and kidnapped and tortured Giles himself. Buffy, with the help of the Scoobies, destroyed the Judge with a stolen rocket launcher, which circumvented the "no weapon forged" clause. When faced with Angelus' plan to destroy the world, Buffy reluctantly joined alliegancies with Spike, who'd become increasingly annoyed with Angelus.

In an important scene in the last episode of Season 2, "Becoming, Part 2," Buffy was forced to reveal her identity to her mother. Joyce didn't take the news well. "Honey, are you sure youre a Vampire Slayer? I mean, have you tried not being a Slayer?" The scene has often been compared with the difficulties a child has in declaring to parents that he or she is homosexual. Joyce grows increasingly angry and delivers an ultimatum:

Joyce: Dont you talk to me that way! You dont get to just dump something like this on me and pretend its nothing!

Buffy: I'm sorry, Mom, but I dont have time for this.

Joyce: No! I am tired of I dont have time or you wouldnt understand. I am your mother, and you will make time to explain yourself.

Buffy: I told you. Im a Vampire Slayer.

Joyce: Well, I just dont accept that!

Buffy: Open your eyes, Mom. What do you think has been going on for the past two years? The fights, the weird occurrences. How many times have you washed blood out of my clothing, and you still havent figured it out?

Buffy, of course, had to leave to save the world. With the help of Xander, she freed Giles. Willow worked on a spell to return Angel's soul, but Buffy couldn't count on that and confronted Angelus, who had opened a vortex to Hell. They battled with swords, and though Willow's spell was successful, it came too late, because the vortex was already opened and could only be closed with Angelus's blood. At the moment that Angel returned to his own wits and recognized her - "Buffy?" - Buffy was forced to drive a sword through his chest to close the vortex and save the world. Traumatized and alone, believing that her mother had really meant that Buffy could not return, in emotional devastation she left Sunnydale and took a bus to Los Angeles.

Season 3

During her time in L.A., Buffy worked as a waitress under her middle name, Anne. However, after rescuing a runaway from a hellish dimension, Buffy returned to Sunnydale to face her own demons.

At first, the Scoobies were hostile towards Buffy, but they managed to make up and Buffy tried to find closure in her relationship with Angel. When Angel mysteriously returned from Hell, Buffy was drawn to help him and rehabilitate him, though keeping it a secret from the Scoobies. When they discovered this, her friends were initially disgusted and confused, but let him back into the gang after he saved Willow from a corrupt ex-Watcher. Meanwhile, a rebellious new Slayer named Faith (called after Kendra's death) arrived in Sunnydale. She immediately won over Buffy's friends and family and provided Buffy with a new ally. Although Buffy and Angel tried to be "only friends," they eventually began dating again, although they took great care to keep it celibate.

On Buffy's eighteenth birthday, Buffy was rendered powerless by the Cruciamentum, a rite of passage for Slayers by the Watcher's Council to test a Slayer's practical capabilities. Giles' reluctance to see Buffy get hurt and his interference with her test caused him to be fired as her Watcher. He was replaced by Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, though Buffy largely ignored him due to his extreme cowardice.

Faith, eventually, led Buffy on a tour of the rebellious side of slaying, which resulted in the accidental death of the Deputy Mayor at Faith's hands. She refused to take responsibility for her actions. Increasingly allienating the Scoobies, Faith turned to the Mayor of Sunnydale, Richard Wilkins III, who was preparing to become a pure blood demon on Sunnydale High's Graduation Day. As the Mayor relied on Faith to help him prepare for his Ascension, Buffy worked first to thwart his plans then to get together a resistance. Faith intervened with these plans and poisoned Angel, rendering him near death. After the Watcher's Council refused to help him on the grounds that he was a vampire, Buffy disgustedly severed all ties with the Council. When the Scoobies discovered that Angel could be cured only with the blood of a Slayer, Buffy planned to sacrifice Faith. The fight between Buffy and Faith left Faith in a coma after Buffy stabbed her. Buffy then gave her own blood to save Angel.

Buffy and the others led their classmates into battle against the now ascended Mayor, which ended in an explosion that demolished Sunnydale High. Angel then left Sunnydale so that Buffy could continue living her life without complications regarding him.

Season 4

Buffy enrolled at University of California at Sunnydale, initially having problems intergrating into university life. After sharing what she believed to be a night of emotional intimacy with college student, Parker; Buffy became depressed when he neglected to contact her afterwards. At Thanksgiving, Buffy was determined to have a normal and safe dinner. Instead she was forced to deal with the demon, Hus, but was helped by Angel although he only revealed his identity to the other Scoobies so as not to endanger anyone. After Xander accidentally let it slip that Angel was in town, Buffy immediately travelled to LA and confronted Angel at his office. The two decided not to contact each other for the time being but as Buffy was about to leave, they were attacked by two Mohra demons. Though the duo succeeded in wounding it, the demon escaped to the sewer. Angel seemingly killed it although he was turned human when its blood mixed with his. Buffy and Angel revelled in the fact that they could be together but it was revealed that Buffy would die much sooner if Angel were to remain human. Angel contacted The Powers That Be and had the change reversed, leaving only himself with the memory that any of this had happened.

Eventually, Buffy attracted the attention of teacher's assistant, Riley Finn, beginning to wonder how she'd manage to balance her Slayer duties whilst dating a normal guy. However whilst fighting the Gentleman, Riley had a secret of his own: he was a member of the Initiative, a US government task force built to research and test on supernatural and demonic forces. The Initiative was led by Prof. Maggie Walsh. Spike was recently implanted with a chip that rendered him incapable of hurting humans. Buffy briefly joined forces with the Initiative but after her relentless questioning, Prof. Walsh tried to dispose of her through Buffy being killed in action. After, Walsh was murdered by her own creation, a human-cyborg hybrid called Adam who then escaped and began his plan to create an army of super soldiers. Meanwhile, Faith awoke from her coma and used a mystical device left to her by the Mayor to switch bodies with Buffy. In Faith's body, Buffy was arrested by the Watchers Council Special Operations Team. She managed to escape and convince Giles of her true identity and with the help of Willow and Tara, managed to reverse the body swap. Upon discovering that Faith had traveled to Los Angeles and was attempting to kill Angel, a furious Buffy used saving Angel as an excuse to go to L.A. for vengeance, only to discover that Faith had become remorseful for her crimes and come into conflict with Angel, who insisted that Faith could be rehabilitated. Though understandably unwilling or unable to believe that Faith was capable of redemption, Buffy ultimately had no choice but to work together with her to fight back against the Watchers Council Special Operations Team. Faith subsequently surrendered herself to the L.A.P.D., and Buffy got into a heated argument with Angel, climaxing when she used her relationship with Riley to verbally attack him and Angel lost his temper and harshly ordered her to go back to Sunnydale after reminding her that he himself could not move on from their relationship. However, Angel subsequently returned to Sunnydale to apologize, running afoul of the Initiative in the process, and succeeded, both sides admitting that they were wrong. Eventually, Riley, who had been torn between the Scooby Gang and the Initiative for some time, turned his back on the corrupt organization to join Buffy. Having been drifting apart over the past year, the existing tensions between Buffy, Giles, Willow, and Xander reached a boiling point when Spike, who had allied himself with Adam in exchange for having the Initiative's chip removed, exploited them to turn the gang against each other as part of Adam's plan . However, when Spike let too much information slip during a subsequent encounter, the Scoobies reconciled and combined their essences within Buffy's body, allowing her to destroy Adam, with the Scoobies, helped by Riley and Spike, subsequently helping to save the Initiative's soldiers from the rampaging demon hordes within the complex. The four were later attacked in their dreams by the the First Slayer, who was offended by their use of the spell; Buffy promptly rejected her insistence that the Slayer work alone without friends.

Season 5

Following her confrontation with the First Slayer, and an encounter with the famous vampire Dracula, Buffy began to fully accept her duty as the Slayer for the first time in her life. A younger sister, Dawn, mysteriously appeared in Buffy's household, her existence seamlessly integrated with the memories of Buffy, her mother, and her associates. Buffy discovered that Dawn wasn't her sister, but rather a ball of mystical energy known as the Key that could open interdimensional portals. A group of monks transformed the Key into human form to hide it from a mentally unstable and extremely dangerous hell-god known as Glory, choosing the Slayer to protect it because they knew she would protect her sister with her life. Initially regarding Dawn as little more than a burden forced on her against her will, Buffy eventually accepted her role as Dawn's protector. Buffy's relationship with Riley began to deteriorate as she failed to give him the emotional intimacy he craved. Riley began visiting vampire brothels where he would allow himself to be bitten, and when Buffy discovered this, they finally broke up and Riley returned to the military. As Buffy recovered from this, she was disgusted to learn that Spike had fallen in love with her. Upon discovering the full extent of his obsession, she had Willow revoke Spike's invitation to her house and personally alienated him from the Scoobies. Despite being depressed over having had two failed relationships, Buffy, after an encounter with April, a gynoid created by her former Sunnydale High classmate Warren Mears, realized that she was overly dependent on men and decided to simply be by herself for the time being.

Buffy was devastated when her mother, who had been experiencing health problems for months and only recently received surgery for a brain tumor, died unexpected from an aneurysm. Taking up the role of Dawn's legal guardian, Buffy was forced to drop out of college to look after her sister, though she began facing continuing problems due to Dawn's increasingly rebellious behavior. As she struggled to fully understand what being the Slayer meant, Giles took Buffy on a vision quest, where the Guide told her that death was her gift, a message she found confusing and hurtful so soon after her mother's death. Upon her return, Buffy discovered that Spike had forced Warren to build a sex-bot in her likeness, and it had resulted in him getting captured by Glory's minions, who believed him to be the Key. Despite her understandable rage and disgust over the robot, Buffy saved Spike and subsequently discovered that he had endured intense torture at the hands of Glory rather than reveal the identity of the Key, nearly choosing death to protect Dawn. Moved by this, Buffy rewarded Spike with a kiss and reconciled with him, welcoming him back to the fold.

When Glory finally discovered the Key and captured Dawn, Buffy retreated into her subconscious, where she battled with the guilt of failing to protect her sister. Willow successfully drew Buffy back out into consciousness, and the Scoobies attacked Glory's stronghold in full force. Despite everyone's efforts, Dawn's blood was used to open the interdimensional portal and chaos reigned on Earth. Buffy defeated Glory and, finally understanding the meaning of the message from the First Slayer, sacrificed her own life, using her own blood to close the portal so Dawn wouldn't have to. Afterward, Buffy was buried on the outskirts of Sunnydale with the epitaph, "She saved the world. A lot." Finally able to rest, she ascended to heaven and found peace.

Season 6

Months later, Buffy was resurrected by her friends, who feared that her spirit may have been trapped in a hellish dimension due to the mystical circumstances of her death.

Buffy's transition back to her life was difficult; she experienced an overwhelming sense of loss after being ripped from heaven, as well as the added everyday responsibilities of raising Dawn and paying bills. She attempted to keep her problems secret from her friends, not wanting them to share in her grief, and confided only to Spike that she had in fact been at peace while dead[68], though the truth ultimately came out. Buffy's depression worsened when Giles left Sunnydale and returned to England when she became overly dependent on him. Struggling to feel alive and seeking someone who understood her, she began a violent sexual relationship with Spike which left neither of them satisfied, keeping it secret from everyone but Tara out of fear of their reaction. At the same time, she was forced to both fight Sunnydale's demon population and become somewhat of a vigilante crime-fighter when faced with the ongoing efforts of the Trio, a group of nerds she went to high school with who had decided to take over Sunnydale, though taking down Buffy, the Slayer, was their top priority. In order to deal with her increasing financial problems, Buffy started working at local burger bar the Doublemeat Palace, a job she found degrading and disturbingly mundane. With all of these problems, Buffy sank into severe depression and self-loathing.

Meanwhile, Willow, proceeding Buffy's resurrection, developed an addiction to magic and began to use it excessively, which Buffy, faced with her own problems, failed to notice and largely ignored at first, even when confronted with evidence by Anya and Xander. This climaxed when a spell cast by Willow went awry and erased all of the memories of the Scooby Gang; when the spell was ended, Tara dumped Willow, which immediately caused Willow's addiction to spiral out of control. Buffy finally became aware of the full extent of Willow's addiction when she and Amy Madison, having been transformed into a rat for three years only to be finally changed back, began making regular visits to the home of Rack, a shady sorcery dealer, who only worsened Willow's condition. When Willow made another trip to Rack's place with Dawn in tow, the two were attacked by a demon that Willow unwittingly summoned during her high, and Willow's carelessness caused a car accident that left Dawn severely injured. Buffy and Spike arrived in time to save them and, despite being understandably furious with Willow, relented slightly when Willow desperately begged her for help. With Buffy's help, Willow renounced the usage of her magic altogether and was put on the road to recovery.

A brief reunion with Riley shocked Buffy into finally breaking up with Spike, admitting to him that she was just using him and it was killing her. Confused and angry, Spike later got drunk with Anya, who had recently been left at the altar by Xander, and the two had sex in the Magic Box, which the Scoobies discovered through bugs that the Trio had planted in the Bronze, the Magic Box, and Buffy's house. Xander subsequently attempted to kill Spike in a jealous rage, but Buffy intervened, revealing her secret relationship with Spike in the process; though Willow, Dawn, and Anya accepted it with relative grace, understanding what Buffy had been going through, Xander reacted exactly as Buffy feared, though he eventually realized why Buffy had kept it secret and apologized. Spike subsequently cornered her in the bathroom and tried to rape her; Buffy fought him off, and Spike fled Sunnydale, horrified by his own actions. When Warren Mears, the leader of the Trio, accidentally killed Tara in an attempt to kill Buffy, Willow, enraged and grief-stricken, suffered a relapse and exacted bloody revenge against him, flaying him alive before the eyes of her horrified friends. Unable to condone Willow's actions, Buffy battled her best friend to stop her from committing more murders, but was promptly defeated before Giles came to her rescue. Willow then tried to destroy the whole world to end everybody's pain, leaving Buffy and Dawn trapped underground. Xander eventually got through to Willow in the end. The trauma of Tara's death and Willow nearly destroying the world finally snapped Buffy out of her depression and forced her to realize that life was worth living, and she promised to stop her self-destructive behavior to be there for Dawn; with this crisis resolved, Buffy was finally ready to live again.

Season 7

As Dawn enrolled in the recently rebuilt Sunnydale High, Buffy was offered a job as guidance counselor by Principal Robin Wood, which she gratefully accepted. Spike returned to Sunnydale after regaining his soul in an attempt to prove himself to Buffy. Buffy recognized the difference in him, and even when it seemed he may revert to a dangerous killer, she assured him that she believed in him. When agents of the First Evil, the Bringers, began tracking down and killing Potential Slayers in an attempt to wipe out the entire Slayer line, Buffy's home quickly filled up with teenage Potentials who came to Sunnydale for protection. Buffy stepped into a leadership role to the girls and worked to train them into an army that could stand against the First and it's army of ancient Turok-Han vampires. She later contacted the Shadow Men for assistance, who offered to increase her strength via the essence of a demon. Buffy refused, unwilling to sacrifice her humanity in exchange for power.

Meanwhile, a reformed Faith, having escaped from prison to help Angel, traveled to Sunnydale to aid the Scoobies in the battle. Upon learning that the First's minion Caleb had something of hers, Buffy led the Potentials into battle to retrieve it, which resulted in the loss of several girls as well as Xander's eye. With this, the Scoobies and Potentials, having been losing confidence in Buffy's leadership skills and methods for quite some time, held a mutiny, appointing a reluctant Faith their leader and forcing Buffy out of the house. Only Spike remained loyal to her, and through him, Buffy, depressed and about to give up, found the strength that she needed to keep fighting. Buffy found the object Caleb was keeping from heran ancient Slayer Scytheand saved the Potentials and Faith after the latter led them into a trap, earning back the gang's loyalty and finally making peace with Faith before revealing her plan to share her power with the other Potentials. Also, with the help of Angel, Buffy finally defeated Caleb and killed him by cutting him in half, killing the First's leading enforcer and one of her greatest foes. Willow used the Scythe to perform a spell which activated Slayers all around the world, and a huge battle was waged in Sunnydale between the Slayers and the Turok-Han. During the fight, Spike sacrificed himself to close the Hellmouth once and for all. Before he crumbled to dust, Buffy admitted to his disbelief that she loved him, before escaping the ruins of Sunnydale with the other survivors.

Miscellany

In Season 2, episode 8, "The Dark Age," Buffy and Willow play a game called "Anywhere But Here." Buffy's choice is, "I'm on a beach, but not one of those American beaches, one of those island beaches where the water's way too blue, and I'm lying on my towel, and it's just before sunset, and Gavin Rossdale's massaging my feet!" Gavin Rossdale was an English musician, known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Bush, as well as an actor. In the TV series "Criminal Minds" episode, "The Performer" (2009), he played a goth singer called Dante, who was implicated in several vampire-like killings. Coincidentally, one of his victims was named Tara.

The Normal Again alternative

In the season 6 episode 'Normal Again' the possibility is raised that actually Buffy is a mental patient in an asylum and that the whole of the Buffyverse is simply a 7 year long delusion she is suffering, starting when she 'meets' Merrick in the Buffy movie and finishing when she regains her sanity again aged 23 at the end of the TV series. Alternatively both Sunnydale Buffy and Asylum Buffy could be real in their own worlds and share some form of link across the dimensions, Asylum Buffy becoming sane again at the end of the TV series because now Sunnydale Buffy can live more normally and Asylum Buffy is no longer driven mad by her visions of being the Slayer.