Buffy the Vampire Slayer Characters
From LoveToKnow Sci-Fi
Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters subvert the traditional roles from horror films. The premise behind the series is that of the hapless blonde victim who not only fights back, but is so powerful that the monsters run from her. Sarah Michelle Gellar inherited the role from Kristy Swanson. Gellar would play Buffy for the entirety of the series run and in several guest appearances on the spin-off (Angel).
About Buffy the Vampire Slayer Characters
Many characters populated the world of the fictional Sunnydale, California. The small, bedroom community town sat directly on top of the Hellmouth (ironically located directly beneath the high school). Vampires, demons, witches, watchers and slayers all came to Sunnydale. Some characters lasted the entire series and some lasted only a handful of seasons.
Slayers
Over the course of the series, viewers met several slayers. The legend of the slayer says that when one slayer dies, another is chosen. She is the “one” girl in the entire world who can stand against the darkness and fight evil. In the 1992 film of the same name, Buffy is the Chosen one, but she requires training from her Watcher. In the series, Buffy remains the Chosen one until she is ‘technically’ dead for a few minutes at the end of the first season. Her death summons Kendra (Bianca Lawson). Other slayers on the show include:
- Nikki Wood – The mother of Principal Woods and a victim of Spike. She was a Slayer in the late 70s and is only mentioned in flashbacks.
- Faith (Eliza Dushku) – Faith is called when Drusilla kills Kendall. Faith and Buffy find themselves at odds often and Buffy puts Faith into a coma at the end of the third season. Faith returned in the fourth season to swap bodies with Buffy and during her tenure in Buffy’s body she discovers the simple joy of friends and family. Buffy learns that Faith is consumed by self-hatred.
- Kennedy and numerous others – In the final television season of Buffy, many potential slayers are introduced and thanks to Willow’s magic, become full-fledged Slayers. The slayers work together against vampires, demons and other evil forces.
Scoobies
Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendan) are the original members of the self-described ‘Scoobies.’ Willow and Xander both grew up in Sunnydale and befriend Buffy on her first day at Sunnydale High School. Over the years, Buffy’s circle of friends grows and shrinks to include others including Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter), Jenny Calendar, Oz (Seth Green), Anya and Tara (Amber Benson).
Most alternate members of the Scoobies are significant others of Willow and Xander. Oz and Tara both dated Willow and each held a supernatural secret of their own: Oz was a werewolf and Tara a witch. Willow dabbles with magic throughout the series, but becomes a full-fledged witch by the time she is in college and turns to the blackest of spells when Tara is killed at the end of the sixth season.
Cordelia and Anya are both significant others of Xander’s. Surprisingly enough, it is the brief flirtation between Willow and Xander that breaks up Xander’s relationship with Cordelia. After high school, Cordelia leaves Sunnydale to move to Los Angeles (and the series Angel). Anya, a former vengeance demon turned human, falls in love with Xander, but she sacrifices herself to save others by the end of the series.
Jenny Calendar was a teacher at Sunnydale and a self-described techno-pagan. She is also of the same gypsy tribe that cursed Angel. She is murdered in the second season by Angelus to prevent her from re-cursing him.
The Watchers
Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) is Buffy’s Watcher in Sunnydale. He moonlights as the school librarian to give himself a good excuse to be on hand. He also stocks the library with esoteric magic books and weapons. Giles is briefly replaced by Wesley Wyndham-Price(Alexis Denisof) when the Watcher’s Council decides that Giles is too personally involved with his Slayer.
Buffy, however, will have nothing of it and quits the council and continues to work with Giles. Giles plays a very strong father advocate in Buffy’s life. He returns to England when Buffy dies, but comes back to Sunnydale when the Scoobies resurrect her in season six of the series. It is Giles who recognizes that Buffy does not want to be among the land of the living again. He forces himself to walk away so that she will stand on her own two feet again. Wesley tries, but eventually he leaves the Watchers altogether and becomes a demon-hunter. He eventually joins Angel’s firm in Los Angeles.
Angel and Spike
Angel (David Boreanaz) and Spike (James Marsters)play profound roles in Buffy’s life. Angel is the vampire cursed with his human soul. He meets Buffy when she moves to Sunnydale, but has watched her for some time. He tries to help her fight the vampires and the demons. They eventually fall in love and make love. But Angel’s curse ends when he finds true happiness and after making love with Buffy the first time, he becomes Angelus once more.
Angelus loathes Buffy for making him feel love and he sets out to destroy all of her friends and family before he plans to murder her. Buffy manages to defeat him with Spike’s help.Spike is Angelus’ grandchild, the get of Drusilla who is a woman Angelus drove mad before turning her into a vampire. Spike wants Drusilla away from Angelus and Buffy needs to stop him. Angel spends some time in hell and when he returns, Buffy cares for him and nurses him back to health. Despite their love for each other, they cannot be together or risk setting loose Angelus once more.
Spike returns in the fourth season of Buffy, angry with Buffy because Drusilla left him. He and Buffy share a love and hate relationship. But unlike Angelus, it is the vampire Spike that is in love with the Slayer. They become lovers for a time and Buffy struggles against the love she feels for Spike, because he’s supposed to be evil. He eventually pursues his own soul in order to be what he thinks Buffy will love. He takes Angel’s place in the prophecy and sacrifices himself at the end of the series to save Buffy and the others when the First Evil unleashes hell on the world.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters live on in the comic book series by Joss Whedon, books, fan fiction and more. All seven seasons are available for purchase on DVD.
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