List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters explained

Major and recurring fictional characters created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer are as follows:

Cast

Main cast

The following characters were featured in the opening credits of the program.

ActorCharacterCountSeasons
1234567
Sarah Michelle GellarBuffy Summers144colspan=7
Nicholas BrendonXander Harris143colspan=7
Alyson HanniganWillow Rosenberg144colspan=7
Charisma CarpenterCordelia Chase55colspan=4
Anthony Stewart HeadRupert Giles122colspan=2
David BoreanazAngel56
Seth GreenOz39colspan=3
James MarstersSpike96colspan=4
Marc BlucasRiley Finn31
Emma CaulfieldAnya Jenkins81colspan=3
Michelle TrachtenbergDawn Summers66colspan=3
Amber BensonTara Maclay47

Recurring cast

ActorCharacterCountSeasons
1234567
Mark MetcalfThe Master8
Kristine SutherlandJoyce Summers58colspan="2"
Julie BenzDarla5colspan="2"
Andrew J. FerchlandThe Anointed One6colspan="5"
Robia LaMorteJenny Calendar14colspan="4"
Armin ShimermanPrincipal Snyder19colspan="3"
Juliet LandauDrusilla17
Danny StrongJonathan Levinson29colspan="2"
Bianca LawsonKendra3colspan="5"
Larry BagbyLarry Blaisdell7colspan="4"
Jason HallDevon MacLeish8colspan="3"
K. Todd FreemanMr. Trick5colspan="4"
Fab FilippoScott Hope3colspan="4"
Eliza DushkuFaith Lehane20
Harry GroenerMayor14
Mercedes McNabHarmony Kendall15colspan="2"
Alexis DenisofWesley Wyndam-Pryce9colspan="4"
Lindsay CrouseMaggie Walsh9colspan="3"
Phina OrucheOlivia3colspan="3"
Adam KaufmanParker Abrams5colspan="3"
Paige MossVeruca3colspan="3"
Bailey ChaseGraham Miller13colspan="2"
Leonard RobertsForrest Gates12colspan="3"
George HertzbergAdam10
Charlie WeberBenjamin "Ben" Wilkinson14colspan="2"
Clare KramerGlory13
Troy T. BlendellJinx6colspan="2"
Joel GreyDoc3colspan="2"
Todd DuffeyMurk6colspan="2"
Adam BuschWarren Mears16colspan="2"
Tom LenkAndrew Wells27colspan="2"
James Charles LearyClem8
Elizabeth Anne AllenAmy Madison8
Kali RochaHalfrek7
D. B. WoodsideRobin Wood14
Sarah HaganAmanda10
Camden ToyUbervamp4
Iyari LimonKennedy13
Clara BryantMolly5
IndigoRona8
Felicia DayVi8
Kristy WuChao-Ahn6
Nathan FillionCaleb5
Mary WilcherShannon3
Dania RamirezCaridad3

Notable guest cast

ActorCharacterCountSeasons
1234567
Eric BalfourJesse McNally2colspan="6"
Dean ButlerHank Summers4
Robin SachsEthan Rayne4colspan="3"
Julia LeeAnne Steele2 colspan="4"
Saverio GuerraWilly the Snitch5colspan="3"
Harris YulinQuentin Travers3
Andy UmbergerD'Hoffryn4colspan="2"
Sharon FergusonFirst Slayer4
K. D. AubertNikki Wood3
Amelinda EmbryKatrina Silber3
Azura SkyeCassie Newton2
LalaineChloe2
Note

Main characters

Buffy Summers

The show's titular protagonist, Buffy, is "The Slayer", one in a long line of young girls chosen by fate to battle evil forces in the form of vampires and demons. The Slayer has no jurisdiction over human crime. Slaying vampires and other paranormal beings is her specialty and she has a personal rule against killing humans. This calling mystically endows her with a limited degree of clairvoyance, usually in the form of prophetic dreams, as well as dramatically increased physical strength, endurance, agility, intuition, and speed and ease of healing. Traditionally, there has been only one Slayer alive at any given moment, with a new one called upon the event of her death.

Xander Harris

Xander is a close friend of Buffy. Possessing no supernatural skills, Xander provides comic relief as well as a grounded, everyman perspective in the supernatural Buffyverse. In another departure from the usual conventions of television, Xander is notable for being an insecure and subordinate male in a world dominated by powerful females.

Willow Rosenberg

Willow was originally a nerdy girl who contrasted Buffy's cheerleader personality but also shared the social isolation Buffy suffered after becoming a Slayer. As the series progressed, Willow became a more assertive and even sensual character; in particular, she realized that she was a lesbian and became a powerful Wiccan. Willow is Buffy's best friend through everything that happens and maintains her humanity and kindness to others throughout.

Cordelia Chase

See main article: Cordelia Chase.

Cordelia is originally an archetypal popular, shallow, mean-spirited cheerleader. She is tactless, but direct and honest, and she becomes a reluctant ally of the Scooby Gang, even after her relationship with Xander disintegrates. After season 3, she joins Angel in L.A., where she abandons her attempts at acting to fight evil at his side.

Rupert Giles

Giles, rarely referred to by his first name, is a Watcher and a member of the Watchers' Council, whose job is to train Slayers. In the earlier seasons, Giles researched the supernatural creatures that Buffy must face, offered insights into their origins and advice on how to kill them. Throughout the series, he became a father-figure to Buffy, Willow, Xander, and the others, giving them advice not only on the supernatural world, but on life issues as well.

Angel

See main article: Angel (Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

Angel, a vampire, formerly known as Angelus, was a cruel killer until he was re-ensouled by a Romani curse. After decades of guilt over his past atrocities, he allies himself with Buffy and they fall in love. The consummation of their relationship brings him a moment of true happiness, breaking the curse and releasing Angelus upon Sunnydale. Buffy is forced to send him to a hell dimension to save the world. After his release from hell, Buffy and Angel continue to struggle with their ongoing love. Angel breaks off their relationship and moves to L.A. (after season 3) to give her a chance at a more normal life. There, he gathers new allies in his own fight against evil in the five-season spin-off, Angel.

Oz

See main article: Oz (Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

Oz is a brilliant (yet generally unmotivated) student, and part-time rock guitarist. He is Willow's first and only boyfriend, and an active member of Buffy's inner circle, despite the fact that he has recently become a werewolf. Portrayed as taciturn and unflappable, the contrast between his outward coolness and his violent animal episodes is an example of the show's efforts to subvert usual character expectations, as well as to display double-personalities (like Angel/Angelus). As an unusual side-note, the actor Seth Green went on to co-design and supervise the creation of the acclaimed line of Buffy the Vampire Slayer action figures.

Spike

Spike is a vampire character whose role varies dramatically through the course of the series, ranging from a major villain to "love's bitch", to the sarcastic comic relief, to Buffy's romantic interest in a relationship that grows from miserable lust to a friendship, and eventually to a self-sacrificing hero, dying as a Champion at the Hellmouth. His path to redemption subsequently resumes in L.A. (in season five of Angel), where his resurrected character continues to develop into a selfless hero and reconciles with his former nemesis and love rival, Angel, and occasionally works with him. Spike is known for his Billy Idol platinum hair (Buffy mentions in one episode that Spike doesn't style his hair like Idol's, but the other way around), his catch-phrase "bloody hell", and his black leather duster, which he acquired after killing his second Slayer. In Season 4, he was captured by the Initiative and had a chip implanted in his brain to prevent him from hurting humans. In Season 6, he underwent a trial in order to remove the chip, instead he had his soul restored. After accidentally killing a human in Season 7, the chip nearly killed him and he had it medically removed.

Anya Jenkins

Anya is a 1,120-year-old former vengeance demon (Anyanka) who specialized in avenging scorned women. After being forcibly stripped of her demonic powers by Giles, the character is forced to re-learn how to be an ordinary human, a journey which is portrayed as both comical (e.g., her fear of rabbits and her love of money) and poignant (e.g. her grief over Joyce's death). Her story is largely focused on her romantic relationship with Xander, and like many characters on the show, she is portrayed as morally ambivalent.

Riley Finn

See main article: Riley Finn.

Riley is Buffy's first serious boyfriend after Angel. He is initially an operative in a military organization called "The Initiative" that uses science and military technology to hunt down HSTs or "hostile sub-terrestrials" (demons). Riley is Angel's opposite, an Iowa-born-and-raised man whose strength lies in his military secret identity. Buffy's superior physical strength causes him insecurity, particularly after his medically enhanced powers were removed. This, combined with Buffy's inability to truly emotionally connect with him, eventually causes him to leave in the middle of Season 5.

Dawn Summers

See main article: Dawn Summers.

Dawn is introduced in Season 5 as Buffy's fourteen-year-old younger sister, sent to Buffy in human form as a disguise for the Key, a dangerous magical artifact sought by a hellgod. Although Dawn's genesis is magical, she functions as a complete and normal teenage girl, and, after her true nature has been revealed, she is accepted and loved as a sister, daughter, and friend. Although Buffy initially tries to shelter Dawn from her work as Slayer, Dawn later becomes a useful member of the Scooby Gang.

Tara Maclay

Tara is introduced first as a fellow member of a Wicca group during Willow's first year of college. Their close friendship evolves into an ongoing romantic relationship; their relationship attracted significant attention as one of few featured same-sex relationships on television at that time. Tara uses her magical skills to assist the Scooby Gang in their fight against evil, and she struggles with how to deal with Willow's growing addiction to magic. Tara is killed by a bullet intended for Buffy, her death triggering Willow's transformation into "Dark Willow".

Supporting characters

Introduced in season one (1997)

Introduced in season two (1997–1998)

Introduced in season three (1998–1999)

Introduced in season four (1999–2000)

Introduced in season five (2000–2001)

Introduced in season six (2001–2002)

Introduced in season seven (2002–2003)

Introduced in seasons eight to twelve (2011–2018)

Notable villains

The following characters are commonly referred to within the show as Big Bads, usually the principal antagonist for a season, though some seasons have multiple Big Bads.

The sixth season documentaries often refer not only to Dark Willow as the season's Big Bad, but life itself.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Buffy The Vampire Slayer: 20 Characters They Want You To Forget.. screenrant.com . Samantha Marz . 11 February 2018 . 7 July 2022.
  2. Book: Kylo-Patrick R. Hart. Queer TV in the 21st Century. 2012. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. 28. 9781476625607 .
  3. Web site: Bury Your Gays: 109 Dead Gay and Bisexual Male TV Characters, And How They Died.. queerty.com . Riese. 25 March 2016 . 7 July 2022.
  4. Web site: Names as a Way of Exploring Identity in Buffy. 25yearslatersite.com . Robin Moon . 26 July 2021 . 4 July 2022.
  5. Book: PopMatters. Joss Whedon: The Complete Companion. 2012. Titan Books. 334. 9781781164570 .
  6. Book: Nikki Roddy. How To Fight, Lie, and Cry Your Way to Popularity and a Prom Date . 2011 . Lerner Publishing Group . 48 . 9780547687308 .
  7. Book: Jodie A. Kreider, Meghan K. Winchell. Buffy in the Classroom: Essays on Teaching with the Vampire Slayer. 2010. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers . 48. 9780786462148 .
  8. Book: Valerie Estelle Frankel. The Comics of Joss Whedon: Critical Essays . 2015. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers . 12. 9780786498857 .
  9. Web site: Why I'm Excited for Kiersten White's Buffy the Vampire Slayer Novel. themarysue.com . Jamie Gerber . 1 August 2018 . 9 July 2022.
  10. Interview with Marti Noxon . BBC . 7 July 2022.
  11. Web site: Characters That Stunned Fans When They Were Replaced by New Actors. obsev.com. Camila Villafane. 3 February 2021 . 11 July 2022.
  12. Web site: Black Women & WOC Deserve More Than A Buffy The Vampire Slayer Reboot. refinery29.com. Cameron Glover . 21 July 2018 . 11 July 2022.
  13. Book: Jennifer K. Stuller. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. 2013. Intellect Books. 12. 9781783200191 .
  14. Web site: The Most Brutal Deaths in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. . . Cynthia Vinney . 22 July 2021 . 4 July 2022.
  15. https://web.archive.org/web/20021201170926/http://www.geocities.com/newcassie/ http://www.geocities.com/newcassie/
  16. Book: Nikki Stafford. Once Bitten: An Unofficial Guide to the World of Angel.. 2004. ECW Press. 361. 9781550226546 .
  17. Joss Whedon talks about the end of the 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Season 8 comic, and the future of Season 9 – EXCLUSIVE. Vary. Adam B.. Entertainment Weekly. 19 January 2011. 7 July 2022.
  18. Web site: @SlayAliveForum I think he's modeled... . Twitter.com . 18 August 2011 . Georges Jeanty. 7 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131005034415/https://twitter.com/KabaLounge/status/104370559088992256 . 5 October 2013.