Buffy Summers
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Buffy Anne Summers is the title fictional character in the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the television program of the same name and its numerous spin-offs such as novels, comic books and video games. The character was portrayed in the film by Kristy Swanson, later in the television program by Sarah Michelle Gellar and in the video games & unproduced animated series by Giselle Loren.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Character history
- Note: This article refers to the Buffy Summers as depicted in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series and other canonical material. The character featured in the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer is considered an alternate universe version, as the television series and other canonical material rewrite a great deal of the events featured in the film.
Buffy Anne Summers was born to Hank and Joyce Summers on January 19, 1981, in Los Angeles, California. The episodes in which she celebrates her birthday in season two and three aired on January 19 and the ones from the rest of the series aired on dates closest to the 19th. In season four, Buffy informs Riley that she is a "Capricorn on the cusp of Aquarius." (In "I, Robot... You, Jane", computer screens show Buffy's birthdate as October 24th, 1980 and as May 6th, 1979. However, in at least four other episodes of the first season, i.e. spring 1997, Buffy and/or her mother say she is sixteen.)
At the age of eight, Buffy was close friends with her cousin Celia, and enjoyed playing superhero with her; Buffy pretended to be Power Girl, a prophetic choice of alter ego. She looked on helplessly as Celia was murdered by Der Kindestod, a demon that kills sick children and is only visible to those tremendously ill. This experience instilled a fear of hospitals in Buffy.
Buffy came to idolize the Olympic ice skater Dorothy Hamill as she learned the sport. She became a popular cheerleader at Hemery High School in Los Angeles. During her time at Hemery (1995-1997), she was elected both Prom Princess and Fiesta Queen. At fifteen, Buffy began having strange, violent dreams about women from different periods in history slaying monsters. One day, she was approached by a mysterious man who revealed her destiny as a vampire Slayer. This man, Merrick, became her first Watcher. With little training, Buffy defeated her first major enemy, a vampire leader named Lothos, but not before the death of Merrick. In a battle with Lothos' vampiric lackeys, Buffy set fire to the high school gym and was subsequently expelled. After this encounter, Buffy confided in her parents about what really had happened and her destiny as the Slayer. Worried that she was losing her mind, Buffy's parents sent her to a mental institution. While there, Buffy realized that attempts to persuade others of the existence of demonic forces would be futile. She kept quiet and was released after a couple of weeks. Buffy and her parents never spoke of it again.
Her parents, who had been experiencing marital troubles, eventually divorced. Buffy moved with her mother to 1630 Revello Drive in Sunnydale, a small town in California.
[edit] Sunnydale
In Season 1, Buffy's character develops as she begins to accept the responsibilities and dangers of her calling as Slayer. Hoping to be a regular student, she enrolls in the local high school and meets her future best friends, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, as well as her new Watcher, Rupert Giles. She also meets Cordelia Chase, an arrogant, condescending cheerleader like the old Buffy, and Angel, a mysterious stranger who eventually reveals himself as a vampire with a soul. Buffy is quickly forced back into the role of Slayer as she and her new friends battle vampires, monsters, and demons. She grows closer to her Watcher, eventually coming to view him as a father-figure. The first season centers on Buffy's battle with a thousand-year-old vampiric leader, the Master, his protégé the Anointed One, and his bloodthirsty army of the Order of Aurelius. On learning that the Pergamum Codex prophesies her death at the hands of the Master, Buffy contemplates leaving town, but accepts her fate after Willow discovers bodies of her friends slaughtered inside the school. She is overpowered and left to drown in a pool of water in the Master's dwellings; her death frees the Master and opens the Hellmouth, but Angel and Xander find her in time for Xander to resuscitate her. A strengthened Buffy shoves the Master off the roof of Sunnydale High, impaling him on the wooden remnants of a broken desk. After the school year ends, Buffy spends the summer with her father in Los Angeles.
In the show's second season, Buffy's character continues to come to terms with her destiny as the Slayer with the help of Giles and her friends. She finds forbidden love with Angel and clashes with Spike and Drusilla, the new vampires in town. She also meets and befriends Kendra, the Vampire Slayer who had been called when Buffy drowned in Season 1. Eventually, she loses her virginity to Angel, unknowingly ending the Kalderash curse placed on him a century earlier and causing him to lose his soul; without his soul, he reverts to Angelus, the most infamously evil vampire in history. He becomes obsessed with destroying Buffy's life, as he had done to Drusilla a century before. He joins Spike and Drusilla, who have reconstructed a supernatural monster called The Judge. Buffy, aided by Xander's mystical insights into militarism and weapons, foils their plans and defeats The Judge, although Angelus's pathological abuse continues to take a heavy toll on Buffy and her friends. He kills Giles' new love, Jenny Calendar, before she is able to restore his soul, and he develops a plan to destroy the world. After her friends are attacked by Drusilla and a gang of vampires, Buffy (the chief suspect in the investigation), accepts an alliance with Spike, who also wants to stop Angelus. While strategizing with Spike, Buffy is forced to stake a vampire in front of her mother, who is unable to come to terms with the revelation that her daughter is the Slayer. Joyce demands that Buffy stay home and discuss matters with her (telling her that if she leaves now, not to come back); Buffy, however, has "to go save the world. Again." Meanwhile, Drusilla, who has killed Kendra, helps Angelus trick a tortured Giles into revealing how to activate the statue of Acathla, the gate to a hell dimension. Willow manages to reensoul Angel, but not before he opens the hell vortex. Because Angel's blood is the only way to close the vortex, Buffy runs him through with a sword, sending him to hell and saving the world. Traumatized by her ordeal and alienated from her mother, Buffy escapes to Los Angeles.
In Season 3, Buffy's character must reconnect to her calling, her friends, and her family after her departure, as well as make difficult life decisions regarding her relationship with Angel. In L.A., Buffy waits tables in a diner under a false identity (she uses her middle name, Anne), trying to turn her back on her Slayer destiny. However, after rescuing a runaway Buffy returns to Sunnydale to face her own demons. She reunites with her loved ones and tries to find closure to her relationship with Angel. However, he returns mysteriously (by intervention of the Powers That Be, as revealed in Season One of Angel), and Buffy is still drawn to him. Meanwhile, a new, rebellious Slayer, Faith, who had been activated upon Kendra's death, arrives in town. Faith is initially a powerful ally for Buffy, but their opposing personalities lead to antagonism and acrimony as Faith indulges her dark side. Buffy tries to help Faith, who becomes increasingly destructive and disloyal. Alienated from the Scoobies, Faith finds a friend in the affable yet sinister Mayor Richard Wilkins, who had initially founded Sunnydale as a haven for demons to feed. As the Mayor uses Faith to help him prepare to Ascend on Sunnydale High School's Graduation Day, Buffy works first to thwart his efforts, then to organize a resistance. When Buffy learns that Angel, who is on the verge of death, must drink the blood of a Slayer in order to survive, she attempts to sacrifice Faith to save him. Their battle leaves Faith in a coma, and Buffy ultimately saves Angel with her own blood. She then leads her classmates in a climactic battle against the Ascended Mayor and his minions, culminating in an explosion that destroys the Mayor as well as Sunnydale High School. After the smoke clears, Angel leaves for Los Angles so that Buffy can try to have a more normal life without him.
In Season 4, Buffy's character must balance her Slayer duties with her life as a college student. Her difficulty adjusting to college life is further complicated by mystical threats (including, among other things, a demonic roommate, campus werewolves, and enchanted beer), the return of Spike, and a disastrous one-night stand with Parker, a charming playboy. In the meantime, Faith wakes from her coma and, with the help of a mystical device left to her by the Mayor, switches bodies with Buffy. Buffy, in Faith's body, is captured by members of the Watchers' Council, who attempt to send her to England. Eventually Buffy manages to escape and convince Giles that she is herself, and with Willow's and Tara's help, transfers herself back in to her own body. Faith escapes to L.A., where Buffy is dismayed to find her under the protection of Angel, who hopes to rehabilitate her. Buffy's character also experiences some disconnect from her friends, who all seem to be moving in different directions. Buffy eventually attracts the sincere attention of Riley Finn. She is initially pleased to have a boyfriend who is ordinary and normal, although she soon discovers that Riley is a member of the Initiative, a U.S. government task force created to research mystical and demonic creatures. Buffy briefly joins forces with Riley's team, which is led by Dr. Maggie Walsh, head of the covert military organization and UC Sunnydale psychology professor. However, Riley and Buffy become disillusioned with the Initiative after Dr. Walsh betrays Buffy, and eventually, Buffy, Riley, and the Scoobies discover that Dr. Walsh is creating a race of superwarriors from the fruits of the Initiative's demon research. Her first project is Adam, a human-demon-cybernetics hybrid. Buffy must also contend with Spike, who returns to Sunnydale only to be captured by the Initiative, who implant a chip in his head, rendering him unable to harm humans. He provides assistance and information to Buffy and the Scooby Gang in exchange for protection, and Buffy tolerates his presence but recognizes that he cannot be trusted, a suspicion that is confirmed when he temporarily allies himself with Adam in a desperate attempt to get the chip removed from his head. Although the Scooby Gang has been drifting apart, Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles reconcile and combine their essences through a spell that helps Buffy destroy Adam. The government then decides to shut down the disaster-ridden Initiative, and Riley receives an honorable discharge from the Army.
In Season 5, Buffy's character faces her greatest dangers yet, while finally fully embracing her destiny. A younger sister named Dawn mysteriously appears in Buffy's household. Her existence has seamlessly integrated with the memories of Buffy, her friends, and her mother, whose health is beginning to deteriorate. Buffy first discovers that Dawn is not her sister while in a mystical trance, and she soon learns that a group of monks "created" a human body in order to hide a Key, cosmic energy that can open interdimensional portals, from a mentally unstable and dangerous hell-god Glory. Glory wants to use the Key to open the portal between Earth and her home dimension and seek vengeance on those who had exiled her; she is unconcerned that the barriers separating Earth from all hells will be torn apart as well, destroying the fabric of reality. The monks have chosen Buffy to protect the Key because she is the Slayer; they know that she will protect her sister with her life. In the meantime, Spike realizes that he has fallen in love with her. He becomes a more regular and reliable presence in her Slayer life, assisting in the fight against demons; however, he also becomes a nightly fixture on her front lawn, much to her irritation. Giles takes her on a vision quest to the desert, where the spirit of the orignial Slayer tells her that death is her gift to the world, a message she has difficulty understanding. Her relationship with Riley falls apart, primarily because she is unable to give him the emotional intimacy he craves. While Buffy recovers from the blow of another failed relationship, she is repulsed to notice the extent of Spike's obsession with her and uninvites him from her house. She is devastated when her mother Joyce suddenly dies of complications from a brain tumor. As Glory gets closer to discovering the Key, Buffy and her friends take Dawn and run, with Glory as well as an army of knights in pursuit. After an extended standoff in the desert, Dawn is captured by Glory and taken to be sacrificed. Buffy, blaming herself for losing Dawn, retreats into her subconscious, and Willow must enter Buffy's mind to draw her back out. Afterwards, Buffy, Spike, and the Scooby Gang attack Glory's stronghold in full force. Dawn is tied to a high tower where, despite everyone's efforts, a demon uses Dawn's blood to open the interdimensional portal. Buffy fights Glory, beating her severely and, finally understanding the meaning of the message from the original Slayer, saves Dawn and sacrifices her own life by diving into the magical vortex, closing the portal and saving the world. She is buried on the outskirts of Sunnydale with the epitaph, "She saved the world. A lot." Finally able to rest, she ascends to Heaven and finds peace.
In Season 6, Buffy's character faces her own dark side as she deals with depression and loss. Buffy is resurrected by her friends in a dark ritual led by Willow. Her friends believe that the ritual is unsuccessful, but Buffy wakes up in her casket and is forced to dig herself out. Her transition back to her life is difficult; she experiences the pain of having been ripped from Heaven, as well as the added responsibilities of raising Dawn and paying bills. Because her friends believe that they have rescued her from a hell dimension, she confides only to Spike that she had been in Heaven, and insists that he keep her secret from her friends. With the added burden of maintaining that lie, Buffy falls into a deep depression. She begins a violent sexual relationship with Spike, which leaves neither of them satisfied. Buffy later admits to Spike that she is just using him, and breaks things off because it is killing her. He later corners her in her bathroom and makes aggressive sexual advances; she fights him off, and he, horrified by his actions, leaves Sunnydale in search of his soul. Buffy is also forced to deal with the disintegration of the relationships around her, as well as her sister's kleptomania and Willow's growing addiction to magic. She is further frustrated by the ongoing efforts of the Trio — Warren Mears, Andrew Wells, and Jonathan Levinson — whose comically nerdy crimes grow darker as the season progresses. Eventually Warren, furious that Buffy had foiled his plans yet again, shoots Buffy (on purpose) and Tara (accidentally). Willow uses her powers to heal Buffy and remove the bullet, but she is unable to save Tara. The grief-stricken Willow becomes psychotic with dark magicks, exacting revenge against Warren and planning to destroy the world. Xander eventually gets through to Willow, convincing her to back down. After fighting alongside Dawn against monsters raised by Willow, Buffy promises to change her self-destructive behavior in order to be there for her sister.
In the seventh and final season, Buffy's character develops a new perspective on her destiny when she is confronted with the threat of the First Evil, which she had first encountered in season three. The Bringers, agents of the First, are tracking down and killing all the potential Slayers in the world in an attempt to wipe out the Slayer line. Buffy's home quickly becomes filled with teenage Potentials, who come to Sunnydale for protection. Buffy is the natural leader for the Potentials, who initially look up to her with respect. She works to train the Potentials into an army to stand against the First; however, her methods, tactics, and decisions soon begin to alienate the terrified girls. Sunnydale eventually becomes a ghost town as people (and lesser demons such as Clem) flee the increasing demonic activity. When Buffy realizes that their current forces are insufficient to defeat the vast armies of the First Evil, she seeks guidance and assistance from the Shadow Men, who created the original Slayer by binding a pure demon's heart to a young girl. Buffy refuses their offer to increase her own power by filling her with the essence of a demon, which would take away part of her humanity. The Potentials continue to lose faith in her leadership as the dangers around them increase, leading to a mutiny; Giles, Dawn, her friends, and the Potentials all choose Faith as the new leader, and Dawn asks Buffy to leave the house. Spike alone remains loyal to her, and she spends two nights with him before the final battle against the armies of the First. Buffy, acting alone, rescues the Potentials after Faith leads them into a disastrous trap, earning back their trust. Angel comes to town intending to help in the fight, but Buffy sends him back to L.A.; they discuss their relationship, and Buffy admits that Spike is now in her heart. She expresses hope that she and Angel could have a relationship in the distant future, and Angel leaves a mystical amulet with Buffy, who gives it to Spike to wear in the upcoming battle. Her experiences with the Shadow Men lead her to re-examine the parameters of her destiny, and she asks Willow to use her powers to activate every potential Slayer in the world. The band of Potentials transforms into an army of Slayers, who take on the armies of the First. Spike, with the aid of the mystical amulet, sacrifices himself to destroy the armies of vampires and close the Hellmouth. Before she leaves him to die, Buffy tells Spike that she loves him. She and the survivors barely escape as Sunnydale crumbles into a huge crater.
[edit] Italy
After the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy's presence is felt in the Angel series. After destroying the Hellmouth, Buffy, Dawn, Andrew, and Giles move to Italy, where activated Potentials are gathering and where Giles attempts to adapt the Watchers Council model to the reality of thousands of Slayers. She begins to lose trust in Angel after he and his team take leadership positions at an evil law firm. When a psychotic Slayer escapes from a mental hospital in L.A., Andrew works with Angel to apprehend her; when they succeed, Buffy refuses to leave the girl in Angel's care, ordering Andrew and his team of Slayers to bring her to Italy. Andrew eventually becomes roommates with Buffy and Dawn; he sleeps on the couch. Buffy begins a relationship with the Immortal, a charismatic, centuries-old being who is a legendary lover. Angel and Spike (who has been resurrected in L.A.) unsuccessfully seek her out while they are in Italy trying to avert a demon war, but they never catch up to her. However, it has been mentioned in previews of the upcoming straight-to-comic 8th season of Buffy, her romantic affair with the Immortal is a ruse, set up by Andrew, as it's in fact another Slayer in disguise.
[edit] Powers and abilities
- Buffy is a Slayer and as such has all of the powers and abilities thereof. These include superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes and accelerated healing. Buffy also possesses a type of precognition that warns her of impending danger through her dreams. For example, her dreams warned her of both her and Angel's deaths. Soon after Angel lost his soul and reverted to Angelus; holding true to her vision. In addition she also exhibits a strong ability to lead others in battle campaigns. Slayers are also supposed to be able to sense vampires which Buffy, Kendra and Faith all seemed to lack although Buffy had on occasion appeared to have sensed the presence of demons.
- Buffy briefly lost her power as a slayer on her 18th birthday as a test of character conducted by the Watcher Council.
Temporary abilities:
- In season four's "Primeval", Buffy was the focus of a complex spell that briefly gave her the abilities of Xander, Willow, and Giles. The spell also drew on the pure source of the Slayer's power. She was able to punch through Adam's armored hide and rip out his radioactive uranium power core without ill effects. Immediately after defeating the almost invincible Adam, the spell faded.
- In season three's episode "Earshot", Buffy gets an aspect of a demon that she killed, and is left with the ability to hear the thoughts of others (although not vampires, which leave no reflection in the mind). She becomes unable to control all of the thoughts in her head, so Angel kills a second demon of this type (which had gotten away) and feeds her a potion containing the demon's heart. This stops the ability altogether.
[edit] Slayer deaths
Buffy's first death was a clinical death (in "Prophecy Girl"), in which the heart stops beating, but there is still brain activity. People who experience clinical death have often been revived. While normal laymen usage of the word "death" does not refer to reversible conditions, it seems clinical death is all that is required for a second Slayer to be called.
This clinical death activated Kendra as the Slayer, and Kendra's death activated Faith. This is why no new Slayer was called when Buffy died at the end of the episode The Gift. The line runs through Faith (or did until all potential future Slayers became actual Slayers in the final episode).
Buffy's second real death happened at the climax of the episode "The Gift" where she sacrificed herself to save her sister Dawn and the world by hurling herself off a tower and using her own body to close a mystical portal. Her body rested for three months until Willow, Xander, Tara, and Anya resurrected her in "Bargaining". No new Slayer was chosen in this instance because the Slayer lineage now continued through Faith, not Buffy; Kendra was Buffy's immediate successor, she could not have a second one.
Buffy also "died" in a magical nightmare ("Nightmares") and in an alternate reality ("The Wish").
[edit] Romantic interests
- Billy "Ford" Fordham ("Lie to Me"): Buffy developed a crush on Ford in the fifth grade, but he was a "manly sixth-grader" who had no time for younger women. The previously popular student came to Sunnydale and lied to Buffy, saying his father had been transferred and that he would be attending the local high school. In fact, Ford had months to live and was there only to find a vampire leader to arrange a deal: the blood of Buffy and his followers in exchange for eternal life. Buffy is devastated by Ford's betrayal, moved though she is by his cancer. When he rises as a vampire, she stakes him without reaction; the Ford she knew and loved had already died.
- Tyler ("Becoming, Part One"): In a flashback to Buffy's pre-Slayer days, Buffy briefly mentioned the presumably popular student at Hemery High just before she was called. "...Tyler would have to crawl on his hands and knees to get me to go to the dance with him. Which, actually, he's supposed to do after practice, so I'm gonna wait."
- Jeffrey: Buffy's vain and popular freshman boyfriend at Hemery High. Buffy and Jeffrey begin to grow distant as she takes on the responsibility as the Slayer and he breaks up with her by leaving a message on her answering machine. He goes to the dance with Buffy's vapid friend, Jennifer.
- Pike: A sarcastic slacker and Buffy's main romantic interest pre-Sunnydale. Although they initially hated each other as Buffy's superficial valley girl perspective was at odds with Pike's ethics, the two grew closer when they lost friends to Lothos' minions. Pike helped Buffy in killing the vampire king and burning down the school gym full of his minions. The two presumably broke up when Buffy moved to Sunnydale; however, he is never mentioned in the series.
- Angel: Angel, the vampire with a soul, is Buffy's first love. Angel initially loves Buffy from afar, watching her as she is called to her destiny as Slayer; this experience inspires him to move to Sunnydale and become a useful ally in the fight against evil. Buffy loses her virginity to him ("Surprise"), an experience which triggers the loss of his soul. He attempts to destroy her life, as well as the world, until his re-ensoulment; because of his actions, Buffy is forced to send him to a hell dimension to save the world. When he returns, Buffy takes care of him and they try to be friends, but they continue to be drawn to each other. Angel moves to L.A. to give Buffy a chance at a more normal life, although they keep in contact. Sparks again fly when Angel comes into contact with demon blood that makes him human again; however, Angel decides that he cannot abandon his fight against evil and prevails upon the Powers That Be to rewind time, leaving Buffy with no memory of their recent happiness together and restoring him to his vampire form. In the "Buffy" series finale, Buffy admits to Angel that Spike is now in her heart, but leaves him with hope that they can be together at some point in the future. Buffy loses trust in Angel after he takes control of the evil law firm Wolfram and Hart. Angel and Spike seek her out in Italy, but never catch up to her. Andrew tells the two vampires that Buffy loves them both, but she has to live her life.
- Owen Thurman ("Never Kill a Boy on the First Date"): A sensitive and shy Sunnydale High student, whose date with Buffy became a vampire-hunting adventure that made him feel alive. Fearing that such an attitude would get him killed, Buffy broke up with Owen unable to tell him the real reason why; nor to say that she still cares for him just as much.
- Xander Harris: Although Buffy does not return Xander's romantic feelings for her, at one point she flirts and dances seductively with him ("When She Was Bad"). Later, under a love spell, Buffy attempts to seduce Xander in the school library. When the love spell is broken, she is grateful that Xander did not take advantage of the situation ("Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered").
- Tom Warner ("Reptile Boy"): A rich member of Delta Zeta Kappa fraternity, a cult that sacrifices beautiful young high school girls to their demon lord Machida in exchange for worldly success. Tom lures Buffy to a party, pretending to be nicer and less materialistic than his vain fraternity brothers. The leader of the cult, Tom attempts to offer Buffy and Cordelia as sacrifices.
- Cameron Walker ("Go Fish"): A self-absorbed and arrogant swimming athlete at Sunnydale High. Initially, Buffy is interested in the good-looking Cameron, who waxes poetic about the ocean. However, by the end of their first date, he won't take no for an answer and she breaks his nose and gets blamed for leading him on.
- Scott Hope: Scott Hope, a fellow Sunnydale student who had a crush on Buffy, asks Buffy out several times (season 3). Although Buffy is interested in Scott, she is still overwhelmed by her heartbreak over Angel, and repeatedly turns him down. Eventually, she decides to date Scott ("Faith, Hope & Trick"), but Angel's subsequent return from Hell distracts her. Buffy and Scott are only together a few weeks; Scott breaks up with her because he is tired with dealing with her ongoing preoccupations. Years later, Buffy learns that Scott had told classmates that they had broken up because she was a lesbian ("Conversations with Dead People"), and has ironically come out as gay himself in college.
- Parker Abrams: An attractive, older student whom Buffy met in college ("Living Conditions"). Parker was the second person Buffy had sex with. Parker was only interested in having "a good time" and, not wanting a romantic commitment, ignored Buffy after they slept together ("The Harsh Light of Day"). Buffy is devastated by his behavior, and maintains a brief hope that they can reconcile. Buffy, under the influence of enchanted beer, saves Parker's life when he is trapped in a burning building ("Beer Bad"). In the aftermath of the rescue, Parker apologizes to Buffy for his actions; she responds by bashing him on the head with a wooden club.
- Riley Finn: Buffy met Riley when she started at college in the first episode of season four (The Freshman). They begin a serious relationship after discovering each others' demon-fighting secret identities. Riley sacrifices his career and friends to be with Buffy, but is continually disappointed by her unwillingness to be truly open and vulnerable with him. Riley begins drifting away, and Buffy is repulsed to discover that he has been visiting vampire prostitutes. Although Buffy ultimately tries to stop him, Riley rejoins the military and leaves the country, returning to Sunnydale only briefly with his new wife.
- Ben Wilkinson: Buffy met Ben in season 5 and they flirted but never dated.
- Spike: Originally enemies, Spike and Buffy become reluctant allies. He falls in love with her in season five; she does not return his feelings, and is unsettled to discover his growing obsession. She is moved when he withstands significant torture to protect her and her sister, and they reconcile and fight side-by-side until her death. After her resurrection (Season 6), they begin a violent sexual relationship. Buffy breaks things off and admits that she is only using Spike. He later attacks her in desperation (she fights him off), and then leaves town in search of his soul. Spike's loyalty to Buffy continues after his ensoulment, and she eventually admits her love for him, first to Angel then to Spike ("Chosen") as he is about to sacrifice himself to save the world (to which Spike replies: "No you don't. But thanks for saying it."). Spike chooses not to contact Buffy after he is resurrected in L.A., wanting her to remember him as a self-sacrificing hero. In Season Five of Angel, Andrew tells both Angel and Spike that, "Buffy loves both of you, but she's gotta live her life."
- RJ: Buffy, under the influence of a love spell ("Him") develops a brief, powerful obsession with this high school quarterback, along with Dawn, Willow, and Anya. She betrays her sister's trust by making out with RJ in an empty classroom, and almost kills Principal Wood to prove her love to him. The spell is broken when Spike and Xander destroy the enchanted letter jacket.
- Principal Robin Wood: Buffy and Wood went on one date.
- The Immortal: According to Andrew in the Angel season 5 episode, "The Girl in Question", Buffy is drawn to this mysterious being in Italy.
[edit] Trivia
- Buffy's unusual name was the subject of Aphrodisia's somewhat ironic ridicule in the series opener. It would be the subject of a joke as late as the penultimate episode of the series.
- Joss Whedon has since revealed that the character of Buffy Summers is a combination of several X-Men characters. For example, her surname is taken from the character Scott Summers (Cyclops), and her personality is largely taken from Kitty Pryde.
- In addition to Swanson and Gellar, five other actresses have portrayed Buffy. In flashbacks, a younger Buffy has been played by Mimi Paley, Alexandra Lee and Candice Nicole. In season four, Buffy suffered a magical identity crisis and was portrayed by Eliza Dushku ("This Year's Girl" and "Who Are You"). Giselle Loren has portrayed Buffy Summers in the videogames based on the series.
- Charisma Carpenter auditioned before Gellar for the part of Buffy for the TV show. She was later cast as Buffy's rival Cordelia, the part Sarah Michelle Gellar originally auditioned for.
- Despite repeatedly stating that Slayers don't kill people, over the course of the series Buffy directly caused the deaths of at least a dozen human beings. All of them were trying to kill her or others at the time, so these deaths are more in the vein of self-defense and not outright murder.
- In the season 6 opener ("Bargaining"), Buffy is revived and has to dig her way out of her grave; this recalls her nightmare scenario of being turned into a vampire and having to dig her way out of her grave, shown much earlier in "Nightmares".
- Buffy Summers was ranked 13th of Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters of all time.
- In "The Girl in Question", Buffy is portrayed not by Sarah Michelle Gellar but by an unnamed blonde actress whose back remains to the camera.
[edit] Appearances in Buffyverse
Buffy has appeared in:
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movie)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (series): Buffy was a series regular for all seven seasons. She appeared in all 144 episodes.
- Angel: Buffy made guest appearances in two episodes:
- Season 1 - "I Will Remember You" (November 23, 1999), "Sanctuary" (May 2, 2000)
Buffy also makes a number of quasi-appearances in Angel.
- Season 1 - "City of" (Flashbacks), "Bachelor party" (Doyle's vision).
- Season 5 - "Soul Purpose" (January 21, 2004), "The Girl in Question" (May 5, 2004).
