But the most powerful force in Willow’s life wasn’t love, friendship, or sex. What began as a fascination with and affinity for witchcraft, slowly morphed into a dangerous and debilitating addiction. In the beginning, Willow only used her powers for the good of humanity and to protect those she loved. But over time, like a junkie needing a fix, it became impossible for her to get through the day without casting a spell. Willow rehabilitated herself for a while but then succumbed to the darkest powers of her magic while avenging Tara’s death. Since attempting to bring about the end of the world, Willow has had to deal with the damage she caused to herself and everyone around her, and to try and find redemption in the aftermath.
Anya (Emma Caufield)
Born a regular girl sometime in the Middle Ages, Anyanka was transformed into a vengeance demon called the Patron Saint of Scorned Women after she herself was scorned by a lover. Through the power of the Wish, Anya gleefully avenged other wronged women for over twelve hundred years until one of her curses went very wrong and she found herself suddenly human—powerless, mortal, and trapped in the body of a teenage girl attending Sunnydale High. So Anya was forced to relearn being human again, and to interact with males without devising ways to torture, maim, or kill them.
Frequently confused about the host of human emotions suddenly filling her heart and head, Anya realized she was desperate to go to the senior prom and turned to the one guy who seemed least offensive—Xander. It was the beginning of an unexpected romance characterized by Anya breaking most social norms. Because she has none of the social constraints most people are taught growing up, Anya is bluntly direct. Her way of dealing with her sexual feelings was to drop her clothes and suggest to Xander they have sex right then and there.
But her twelve-hundred-year-old existence also gives Anya a unique perspective on both human behavior and Hellmouth happenings. For, as much as Anya is learning about how to fit into modern society, the Scooby Gang has benefited from her knowledge of the demon world, despite her inappropriate responses.
When Anya’s romance with Xander came to a bad end, the trauma of it opened the door for her demonic vengeance tendencies to return. Only, she couldn’t use any of her power on Xander because her gift is only to avenge others, not herself, so she had to learn to deal with the human pain of dashed dreams. And because Buffy and the others are the only friends she has, Anya must do it while still confronting Xander on a daily basis.
Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg)
Dawn is the sister Buffy never had—literally. Although Dawn is now accepted and recognized as Buffy’s kin, she started life as a mystical energy source, known as “the Key,” hiding in human form. The Key is a portal to another dimension. A group of monks sent Dawn to Buffy to protect Dawn from the clutches of a god named Glory, who needed to use the Key’s blood in a ritual to open the portal so Glory could return home to that other dimension. Two big problems here: First, once the portal opened, the barriers between all dimensions would break down, causing them to bleed together, and evil horrors of every type would feast on mankind in an all-you-can-eat frenzy, destroying the world. Second, Dawn would have to die in order to close the portal and prevent this from happening.
To keep Dawn’s true identity a secret, those clever monks implanted false memories in everyone. Thus Buffy and all her friends have vivid memories of Dawn being there over the years, as does Dawn, even though she never really existed. For a while Dawn went through life cheerfully unaware of her true origins; her biggest traumas were being treated like a kid, and having to live in the shadow of a Slayer sister and her daily heroics. But every time Dawn would try and show just how grown-up she was, she would usually end up making a mess of things, which only made Buffy more exasperated with her.
Eventually Dawn learned the truth about who—or what—she really was. Since the threat of Glory has apparently passed, and Buffy has returned from the dead again, Dawn’s life now is less about mystical energy and more about teenage angst. She is still beset by feelings of inadequacy, which is not helped by Buffy keeping Dawn on a very short leash, unaware that Dawn is picking up some of her sister’s Slayer moves and isn’t such a helpless little girl anymore.
Desperate for any attention, good or bad, Dawn began to steal and became an all-around pain in the butt. Buffy finally realized that her parenting skills needed a major readjustment and that her overprotective ways were stifling Dawn, not helping her. She promised Dawn that she will stop preventing her from living a full life by trying to shield her from its horrors, and instead will help her experience the beautiful things the world has to offer, Hellmouth be damned.
Spike (James Marsters)
Spike is a 130-year-old vampire who got his nickname from his penchant for torturing people with railroad spikes. Back when he was human, young William was a hopeless romantic. Raised in an upper-class London family, he dreamed of being a poet but his “bloody awful poetry” earned him the nickname William the Bloody. After being rejected by the girl of his dreams, Cecily, William was out wandering the streets in misery when he met up with Drusilla, who turned him into a vampire because she fancied him. Spike and Drusilla spent the next hundred years as a couple. He was completely devoted to her and they roamed the world, gleefully leaving drained corpses in their wake. But while together in Prague, Drusilla was injured by a mob and left weak and helpless, so Spike came to Sunnydale hoping the Hellmouth would provide a cure.
Never one to follow tradition, Spike has no time for most ancient prophecies and he doesn’t suffer fools, be they human or undead. But if there’s one thing Spike in particular can’t stand, it is a Slayer. He’s already killed two within the last hundred years—the first in China during the Boxer Rebellion and the second in a New York City subway—and has grand plans on making Buffy the next notch on his fangs. But Buffy isn’t like any other Slayer he’s encountered. For one thing, she has a support group who is always there to improve her odds. And although he is loath to admit it, Spike respects Buffy and is more than a little intrigued with her. He sees a bit of himself in her—someone not afraid to buck the rules and chuck tradition in order to get results.
Although Spike left Sunnydale several times, swearing he’d never return, he always does. Broken up from Dru, who kept leaving him for demons, and incapable of hurting any human because of a chip implanted in his head, Spike turned to the Scooby Gang for companionship. In the process he fell in love with Buffy and doggedly devoted himself to protecting the Slayer and her family as a way to express his love.
Spike thought his dreams were coming true when he and Buffy has a passionate, raw affair. But when she ended it, his despair turned to rage and he once again left Sunnydale, taking off for Africa under the impression he could regain his capacity to kill by being “restored to his former self.” But what he regained wasn’t the ability to kill, it was his soul.
Recurring Characters
Harmony Kendall (Mercedes McNab)
In high school, Harmony was part of Cordelia Chase’s popular “in”-crowd clique. Obnoxious and a complete wanna-be, Harmony did everything Cordelia did, but spent most of her time trashing anyone who wasn’t one of their group. Xander was a favorite target of Harmony’s barbs over the years.
But when the chips were down and Buffy’s graduating class faced annihilation along with the rest of Sunnydale at the hands of a demon mayor, Harmony came through and helped Buffy and the Scoobies fight and defeat the mayor. Unfortunately, during the melee Harmony was attacked by a vampire, though in the confusion of battle, nobody realized her fate. The truth came out when Harmony returned to Sunnydale as Spike’s new girlfriend. Their stormy relationship was powerfully sexual, but tinged with overt antagonism. Harmony didn’t realize Spike’s short temper was in part fueled by his growing desire for the Slayer.
Tired of playing second fiddle to others her entire living and undead life, Harmony made an attempt to establish herself as Sunnydale’s next Big Bad evil by recruiting a handful of misfit minions on a m
ission to kill the Slayer and take over the town. Like most of Harmony’s grand plans, this one backfired, too, and her minions ended up dust or making tracks out of Sunnydale. Foiled again, Harmony escaped, in part because Buffy let her.
Harmony came back to Sunnydale later, only to discover the shocking truth about Spike’s love for the Slayer. That humiliation spurred Harmony to announce she was headed for Los Angeles but, having been born and raised in Sunnydale, it’s quite possible she’ll resurface sooner rather than later.
Ethan Rayne (Robin Sachs)
Ethan Rayne is that friend from your sordid past who keeps popping up as a reminder of times you’d rather forget. Back when Giles dabbled in the black arts, he befriended Ethan, a sorcerer. He is a consummate troublemaker who delights in causing as much misery as possible, particularly for Giles.
A malevolent prankster, Ethan first introduced himself to Buffy and her friends during high school, when he sold most of Sunnydale Halloween costumes that turned people into whatever character they were dressed as. The goal was to cause enough chaos that it would be easy for denizens of the Hellmouth to pick off victims at their leisure. Ethan eventually was caught by the Initiative, a shadowy government agency that hunts down vampires and demons and all other manner of evil creatures, and is now incarcerated in a secret location in Nevada.
Willy the Snitch (Saverio Guerra)
Willy is a local bartender who makes it his business to know what’s going down in Sunnydale and is willing to share the information for a price—or even just to avoid a beating. Willy gets his info by befriending local demons and vampires who often hang out at his pub, and as a result, he often finds himself on the wrong side of Buffy’s fist.
Amy Madison (Elizabeth Ann Allen)
Amy is the daughter of a witch who first met Buffy when her mom switched bodies with Amy to relive her high school cheerleader glory days. Buffy restored Amy back to her rightful body and trapped her mom in a cheerleading trophy so she couldn’t hurt anyone again.
Xander was the first to discover that Amy had inherited her mom’s witchy ways, and blackmailed her into performing a love spell in order to get Cordelia back. The spell went awry but under Giles’s stern guidance Amy reversed the spell, though now the secret was out about her powers.
To avoid being burned at the stake during a demon-induced Sunnydale witch hunt, Amy turned herself into a rat. Willow tried repeatedly to undo the spell and change Amy back to human form but couldn’t figure it out. So for the next three years Amy lived in a cage and amused herself on the exercise wheel until Willow was finally able to revert her. Once human again, Amy became obsessed with performing spells and turned into a very bad influence on Willow, introducing her to the dark side of magic, which led to tragic consequences.
Olivia (Phina Oruche)
Olivia is Giles’s casual romantic interest from England. Although she seems to know Giles’s background, she was somewhat of a disbeliever until she was frightened by the sight of demons called “the Gentlemen” floating past the window. Olivia hasn’t been back to Sunnydale since.
Jonathan Levinson (Danny Strong)
Jonathan was a high school classmate of Buffy’s, who always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Frequently miserable and overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, Jonathan planned to kill himself until Buffy convinced him his life really was worth living.
But his insecurities remained a strong influence on Jonathan, and resulted in his dabbling in magic, including once casting a spell that made him a superhero in the eyes of everyone else. After Buffy discovered the ruse and broke the spell, Jonathan skulked off to plot revenge.
Gone But Not Forgotten
Angel (David Boreanaz)
Angel is an unusual vampire. Born in 1755 in Ireland and originally named Liam by his parents, he was “sired” by Darla when he was a young man. As Angelus, the vampire with the angelic face, he spent the next hundred or so years terrorizing people all across Europe—until he killed a Romanian Gypsy girl and her clan put a curse on him, restoring his soul, and with it, his conscience.
Overcome with guilt by the horror and carnage he had caused, Angel came to America and swore never to feed on a human again, surviving on the blood of rats. Rejecting his former “family,” which included Darla, and the Master, the oldest-known vampire on record, Angel chose to live aboveground with humans and do whatever he could to atone for his evil deeds of the past. Even so, Angel was miserable and aimless, consumed by anguish, until a demon named Whistler gave him a new purpose by arranging for Angel to keep an eye on Buffy and help her battle the forces of evil.
In Buffy, Angel found redemption. He also unexpectedly found love and openly renounced his undead brethren, making him just as much of a marked man as Buffy is a marked woman. But their passion had an unexpected tragic consequence. The old Gypsy curse had a cruel, secret twist: Should Angel ever experience a moment of true happiness, he would lose his soul again. The night Angel finally made love with Buffy, he reverted back to Angelus and began a reign of terror, which included plans to end the world and stalking and tormenting Buffy in his spare time. Willow eventually succeeded in performing a spell that restored Angel’s soul, but it was a moment too late. In order to prevent the end of the world, Buffy had to send him to Hell, which she did after a final kiss goodbye.
After suffering the torments of Hell, Angel was sent back and resumed his emotional relationship with Buffy although both knew they could never be intimate again. Realizing Buffy needed to have a full relationship, and that she wouldn’t as long as he was there, Angel left Sunnydale for Los Angeles to find another path of redemption by setting up Angel Investigations, a detective agency dedicated to “helping the helpless.”
Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter)
In high school, Cordelia Chase was the unquestioned school diva. The most popular and prettiest girl in school—as well as the most completely self-absorbed and self-obsessed—Cordy had her choice of boyfriends, choosing to ignore their noticeably high mortality rate. Although she had an annoying tendency to act is if she were the center of the known universe, there was always more to her than meets the eye. She was well aware that in high school many of her so-called friends were only there to glow in her reflected light of popularity, but also was honest enough to admit it was better than being alone.
When Buffy first came to Sunnydale, Cordelia was one of the first students to extend a tentative hand of friendship. But after Buffy rejected Cordy’s “in” group for the company of designated outsiders Willow and Xander, Cordelia bade her good riddance. Her opinion of Buffy plummeted even further when she always seemed to be around weird happenings, like students being killed and monsters taking over the local hangout.
But Cordy is a pragmatist, and when her own life was in danger she turned to Buffy for help, thereby opening the door to an edgy alliance. Over time Cordelia was reluctantly but steadily drawn into the fold, and learned the truth about Buffy being the Slayer. Although she really would have preferred to be out shopping for new designer fashions, Cordy proved she could be counted on to show up when needed—even though she complained endlessly about it afterward because she found blood and mayhem so … distasteful.
Cordy surprised everyone, herself included, when she started dating Xander. And she was devastated when she caught him making out with Willow. Even though both he and Willow swore it was just a case of raging hormones and not a commitment, Cordy broke it off with Xander for good and remained unattached romantically for the remainder of their senior year.
Shortly before high school graduation, Cordy’s dad was convicted of income-tax evasion, losing all his assets, including the family home. With her parents suddenly broke, Cordy’s plans to attend college were dashed. So instead she headed for Los Angeles to be an actress, but ended up working for Angel’s detective agency.
Daniel “Oz” Osbourne (Seth Green)
Oz was born cool. A man of few words, he fell for Willow after seeing her dress
ed in an Eskimo costume during a “cultural dance” where his band, Dingoes Ate My Baby, was playing. Almost preternaturally patient, Oz delayed getting romantic with Willow, understanding she had issues to work out over her long-unrequited feelings for Xander.
After being bit by his cousin Jordy, Oz turned into a werewolf and discovered it runs in the family. To keep himself from hurting anyone, he locked himself up in a cage provided by Giles for the three nights of the full moon. He and Willow seemed completely compatible and Oz was thoroughly committed to her—until he met a female werewolf named Veruca who unleashed his animal lust and passion. Realizing it was a part of himself he couldn’t control, Oz left Sunnydale to search for answers.
After a stint in the Himalayas, Oz learned to control the animal within, through meditation and herbs. Believing himself centered, he returned to Sunnydale to resume his relationship with Willow only to discover she was involved with Tara. After Willow explained that while she will always love him, she was in love with Tara, Oz accepted the truth of who Willow was and left Sunnydale in search of more answers.
Hank Summers (Dean Butler)
Buffy’s father, who is divorced from her mom, lives in Los Angeles. During her high school years he was the ultimate weekend dad—seeing her only a few weekends every year. Because of the distance that separated them, both in miles and emotionally, and because of Buffy’s tendency to withdraw into herself, Hank lost the ability to communicate with his daughter. Over time, Hank disappeared entirely from Buffy’s life, too busy with his work and with his girlfriend.
Riley Finn (Marc Blucas)
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