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* VitriolicBestBuds: With Faith in the third season up until Faith [[FaceHeelTurn joined the Dark Side.]]
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* TheEasyWayOrThHardWay: "We can do this the hard way, or the fatal way."
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* TheEasyWayOrThHardWay: TheEasyWayOrTheHardWay: "We can do this the hard way, or the fatal way."
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* TheEasyWayOrTheWayHardWay: "We can do this the hard way, or the fatal way."
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* TheEasyWayOrTheWayHardWay: TheEasyWayOrThHardWay: "We can do this the hard way, or the fatal way."
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* VitriolicBestBuds: With Willow.
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* VitriolicBestBuds: With Willow.Willow, with Anya serving as a surrogate [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling annoying younger sister]].
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* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Her relationship with Willow is meant to be like this; despite being thousands of years older than Willow, she's more naive and immature, which Willow is frequently annoyed by.
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** In Season 3 Buffy, torn between the knowledge that a relationship with Angel is impossible and her emotional and sexual desires, bounces back and forth between JustFriends and StarCrossedLovers until Angel forces the issue by leaving Sunnydale altogether.
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British vampire who served as the villain for early Season 2. Was planned to die, but his status as EnsembleDarkhorse saved him. He showed up in one episode in Season 3 before returning for good in Season 4. Had a chip in his head that prevented him from hurting humans, so he joined up with the Scoobies for survival and so he could get his kicks by fighting demons. Eventually fell in love with Buffy, and had a twisted relationship with her in Season 6. Got a soul at the end of Season 6 and made a HeroicSacrifice in the finale. Reappeared on ''Series/{{Angel}}''.
to:
British vampire who served as the villain for early Season 2. Was planned to die, but his status as EnsembleDarkhorse saved him. He showed up in one episode in Season 3 before returning for good in Season 4. Had a chip in his head that prevented him from hurting humans, so he joined up with the Scoobies for survival and so he could get his kicks by fighting demons. Eventually fell in love with Buffy, and had a twisted relationship with her in Season 6. Got a soul at the end of Season 6 and made a HeroicSacrifice in the finale. Reappeared on ''Series/{{Angel}}''. He is Tropetastic.
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He has blue eyes; real life examples do not count mostly, anyway
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* GreenEyedRedhead
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* StartOfDarkness: "Selfless".
* StartOfDarkness: "Fool for Love".
* TheEasyWayOrTheWayHardWay: "We can do this the hard way, or the fatal way."
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** TheBusCameBack
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** TheBusCameBackTheBusCameBack: "As You Were".
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* NWordPrivileges: In this cut scene from "Dead Things".
--> "Sweetie, I'm a fag. I've been there."
--> "Sweetie, I'm a fag. I've been there."
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* PersonAsVerb: The inimitable Buffyspeak.
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* PersonAsVerb: The inimitable Buffyspeak.
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* SpikyHair
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* PersonAsVerb: The inimitable Buffyspeak.
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* BerserkButton: Tara. Do not press it. If you do, you might survive...if you're a god.
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* BerserkButton: Tara. Do not press it.hurt Tara. If you do, you might survive...if you're a god.
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* AllWitchesHaveCats: Miss Kitty Fantastico!
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* MandatoryLine: Most of the time, her role in Season One was just to appear, act bitchy, then leave.
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* InLoveWithTheMark
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* AllWitchesHaveCats: Miss Kitty Fantastico, again!
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* BornUnlucky: All of his dates are demons. ''All'' of them.
** He and Willow devise a secret code for "My date's a demon who's trying to kill me."
** He and Willow devise a secret code for "My date's a demon who's trying to kill me."
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* FatalAttractor
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* FatalAttractorFatalAttractor: All of his dates are demons. ''All'' of them.
** In the last Season, it is revealed that he and Willow devised a secret phone code for "My date's a demon who's trying to kill me."
** In the last Season, it is revealed that he and Willow devised a secret phone code for "My date's a demon who's trying to kill me."
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* BerserkButton: Faith, pretty much. [[WrongfullyAccused Can't]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil possibly]] [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend imagine]] [[GrandTheftMe why]].
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* BerserkButton: Faith, pretty much.Faith was this for Buffy for a good while. [[WrongfullyAccused Can't]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil possibly]] [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend imagine]] [[GrandTheftMe why]].
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* EvenEvilHasStandards: Was completely freaked out by witnessing an EvilSorcerer become an EldritchAbomination and go on a rampage via performing a ritual similar to the one the Mayor planned on using.
* GoodHairEvilHair
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* [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why Did It Have To Be Bunnies]]
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* [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why Did It Have To Be Bunnies]]Bunnies]]: Though she was shown to be fine with them while alive, suggesting something (possibly a wish gone horribly awry) occured while she was demon.
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* TheGlassesGotToGo: Needed them while alive, with no explanation given as to why he doesn't need them afterward.
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* WeaknessTurnsHerOn: She quite enjoys [[FlorenceNightingaleEffect nursing Angel back to health]], and says that Riley looked "even cuter when you're all weak and kitteny" (AlphaMale Riley is not pleased). In the Season 8 Comics we discover one of Buffy's sexual fantasies involves Angel and Spike chained to her; Buffy is dressed in a NaughtyNurseOutfit.
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* WeaknessTurnsHerOn: She quite enjoys [[FlorenceNightingaleEffect nursing Angel back to health]], and says that Riley looked "even cuter when you're all weak and kitteny" (AlphaMale Riley is not pleased).kitteny". In the Season 8 Comics we discover one of Buffy's sexual fantasies involves Angel and Spike chained to her; Buffy is dressed in a NaughtyNurseOutfit.
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* WeaknessTurnsHerOn: She quite enjoys [[FlorenceNightingaleEffect nursing Angel back to health]], and says that Riley looked "even cuter when you're all weak and kitteny" (AlphaMale Riley is not pleased). In the Season 8 Comics we discover one of Buffy's sexual fantasies involves Angel and Spike chained to her; Buffy is dressed in a NaughtyNurseOutfit.
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* HeroicComedicSociopath
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* HeroicSociopath
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* CakeEater: Harbors an unspoken desire for [[spoiler:Joyce Summers]]. He's a conquistador!
** And for some Sunnydale High teachers as well.
** And for some Sunnydale High teachers as well.
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* LikesOlderWomen: Harbors an unspoken desire for [[spoiler:Joyce Summers]]. He's a conquistador!
** And for some Sunnydale High teachers as well.
** And for some Sunnydale High teachers as well.
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* DatingCatwoman: Spuffy.
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* DatingCatwoman: Bangel and Spuffy.
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* BadBoss: In Season 2 Spike sacrifices a vampire mook on two separate occasions ("School Hard" and "Halloween") just to get an idea of how the Slayer fights.
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* CantYouReadTheSign: A sign saying BEWARE OF DOG is shown behind Spike on several occasions.
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* CantYouReadTheSign: A sign saying BEWARE OF DOG is shown behind Spike on [[RunningGag several occasions.occasions]].
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* TheConfidant: For Buffy in the first half of Season 6.
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* NerdsLoveToughSchoolwork: Looks forward to Summer ending and the new school year.
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* DropInCharacter: In Season 4 and 5 after he's chipped.
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That\'s up for debate. On Torchwood anyway. Besides, Fake Brit is Trivia.
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* FakeBrit: So well done that Marsters went on to play a FakeBrit on [[{{Torchwood}} an actually British show]].
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!!Buffy Anne Summers (SarahMichelleGellar)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/buffy_gellar_5453.jpg
->''"Cool! Crossbow! Check out these babies. Goodbye stakes, hello flying fatality."''
The Slayer, main character, and leader of the Scooby Gang (except when she was absent or dead). Started out as a reluctant Slayer, but grew to accept her destiny. For much of the show's run, she was the only really combat-capable character. [[DeathIsCheap Died twice]].
----
* AbusivelySexyWoman: To Spike. It's all fun and games until she realizes she's turned into a funhouse mirror version of Faith, the chick who molested and almost ''strangled'' Xander.
* ActionGirl
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Lampshaded by Buffy herself in "Something Blue" when she worries that a nice, safe relationship would lack the intensity. She falls in love with Angel and in lust with Spike, but her DoggedNiceGuy boyfriend Riley Finn ends up leaving because Buffy doesn't love him as much as he loves her.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Buffy being given the Class Protector Award nearly qualifies as a crowning.
* BadassAngster
** BadassAdorable: Everyone thinks she looks adorable after her haircut.
* BadLiar: Buffy exhibits this trait on a few occasions.
* BerserkButton: Faith, pretty much. [[WrongfullyAccused Can't]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil possibly]] [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend imagine]] [[GrandTheftMe why]].
* BlessedWithSuck
* BookDumb: To an extent. Truth be told, much of her Book Dumbness comes from just being too busy saving humanity to study.
* BraidsOfAction: Buffy, when on patrol, has the "two-braids" version. Alternate Buffy, from "The Wish," as the "one-braid" version.
* BreakTheCutie: Words cannot describe.
* BrilliantButLazy: She often skipped training or trained on her own time. It wasn't until Season 5 that she took training seriously.
* BullyHunter: She throws down [[JerkJock Larry]], defends Xander and Willow and when suspected witches start being targeted she steps in, causing the group of thugs to back off without her saying or doing a thing.
* [[FluffyTheTerrible Buffy The Terrible]]
* BurgerFool: Her first (legitimate) job, slinging burgers at the Doublemeat Palace.
* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler:What Buffy believes has happened in Season 6]].
* TheCastShowOff: All that ass Buffy kicks? SarahMichelleGellar is in fact a kickboxer and black belt in tae kwon do.
* TheChainsOfCommanding
* TheChosenOne
* CoolLoser: Although it should be noted that the resident AlphaBitch ''does'' scout her out to be one of the "cool girls" when she first arrives in Sunnydale.
* CursedWithAwesome
* CuteBruiser
* ADateWithRosiePalms: She admits to thinking of her boyfriend before moving to Sunnydale, listening to the song "I Touch Myself." [[BlatantLies Before claiming not to know what the song meant]].
* DatingCatwoman: Spuffy.
* DeadpanSnarker
* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Twice. The second time however there was a price to pay, namely part of her sanity causing her to go off the rails.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: When [[BadassAdorable Willow's]] punching arm is sore Buffy is usually the one to do this, taking out the invincible Judge, Mayor, Glory and Caleb.
* DisappearedDad: Divorced
* DisneyDeath
* DrillSergeantNasty: Really nasty. After Chole kills herself Buffy calls her a weak idiot and lashes out at everyone. When [[DarkActionGirl Faith]] returns to help she spits it when the potential Slayers are trying to choose between them and abandons them. She later admits she was a total {{Jerkass}} and comes crawling back.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: "Summers, you drive like a spaz!"
* ExtraordinarilyEmpoweredGirl
* {{Expy}}: It's been theorized she was inspired by Regina and Samantha Belmont of ''NightOfTheComet'' - Blonde, Californian teenage {{Action Girl}}s who end up having to fight the undead.
* FallenPrincess
* FlyingBrick: [[spoiler:After getting a power-up in Season 8.]]
* GallowsHumor: Buffy has always had a morbid sense of humor; in Season Six after she's brought back from the dead it tends to get a DudeNotFunny reaction from the Scoobies.
* GenreSavvy
* HealingFactor: Much slower than normal. Buffy will generally recover from her injuries in a matter of hours, or at most a day or two.
* HeavenSeeker: In Season 6.
* {{The Hero}}ine
* HeroWithBadPublicity: A tragic irony is that Joyce and Principal Flutie assume Buffy is a juvenile delinquent, when she's actually trying to do the right thing.
** And then in Season 8 she literally has bad publicity, while the vampires are [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Villains With Good Publicity]].
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Willow
* HighlyConspicuousUniform: Buffy often patrols wearing bright colors to lure out vamps.
* HotAmazon
* ICanChangeMyBeloved: Her stance toward the rehabilitated Angel and Spike, to massive scoops of backlash by her cohorts.
* IJustWantToBeNormal
* ImprobableWeaponUser: She certainly qualifies, since she frequently uses improvised weapons to kill vampires, especially in the early seasons. Most of these are improvised stakes, ranging in size from a pencil to a mop handle (and, in "Homecoming", she stakes a vampire with a ''spatula''). She also decapitates a vampire with a cymbal in "The Harvest".
* IncompatibleOrientation: With Satsu. Even though Buffy is flattered, and sleeps with her (twice!), she is quite adamant that she is not a lesbian and they can't be together.
* InformedFlaw: Buffy does not really resemble the character type she is [[WordOfGod supposedly]] subverting -- the girly blonde cheerleader who gets killed by the monster in a {{horror}} film. She is not a cheerleader (and, outside of one episode in the first season, shows no interest in becoming one), is not slutty or particularly flirty (she is a serial monogamist with only four sexual partners in the seven-year series), does not drink especially often and (after the first season) does not even wear skirts or dresses very often. A flashback eventually reveals that she fit the cheerleader image a bit more in the years before the series began, but in a lot of respects, she is much more like the classic FinalGirl than monster fodder.
** It is indicated that she ''started out'' as the girly bimbo cheerleader, but that becoming TheChosenOne kind of put an end to much of that. The show doesn't start until ''after'' she has [[TookALevelInBadass Taken A Level In Badass.]]
* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne
* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: She has her moments, notably the time she used a cross and a vampire's burning throat, actually doing what the TropeNamer only threatened.
* KickChick
* LethalChef
* MaamShock: For a different reason than normal: when Satsu calls her ma'am, Buffy remarks that she can't believe she thinks that it is hot.
* MagicalGirlWarrior
* MamaBear
* TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife:
-->"Dates are things normal girls have. Girls who have time to think about nail polish and facials. You know what I think about? Ambush tactics. Beheading. Not exactly the stuff dreams are made of."
* MasterOfTheMixedMessage: Tells Satsu that she can't be with her, but sleeps with her. Twice. Poor Satsu ends up more than a little confused.
** Also with Spike; kissing or having sex with him, claiming that it's never going to happen ever again, then falling back in his arms the moment she gets depressed. [[AttemptedRape This has consequences]] when Buffy really does end the relationship and Spike assumes she's just playing her usual games.
* MuggingTheMonster: About OnceAnEpisode. [[InvertedTrope She's the monster]].
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The Slayer.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Creating the Twilight dimension by screwing Angel, which let thousands of demons invade Earth, which resulted in the destruction of the Seed of Wonder and removed all magic from the world]].
* OnlyAFleshWound: Buffy. Sword. Gut. ''Chosen''.
* OnlyMostlyDead: Buffy in "Prophecy Girl."
* TheOtherDarrin: To anyone who's seen the movie.
* PintsizedPowerhouse
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Xander
* PowerBlonde
* PromotionToParent
* RefusalOfTheCall
* RousingSpeech: Pointed out in Season 7 that she's too good at this. She once gave a RousingSpeech to a telephone repairman.
* {{Sex God}}dess: At least twice in Season 4, it's suggested that [[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy's]] superhuman physical abilities translate to bedroom prowess; both her one-night stand Parker and Faith, who steals her body in a GrandTheftMe plot, comment explicitly on the matter.
** In Season 6 Spike mentions having sex for five hours straight and raves about what an animal she is; he specifically mentions biting -- coming from a vampire, that's an impressive recommendation!
* ShesGotLegs: They get a good showing in "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered".
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Says this word for word to Willow about Satsu. Also in Season 6 with Spike, [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman even to Spike himself]].
* ShutUpHannibal: Buffy loves pulling these.
* StreetSmart
* SuperStrength
* TeensAreShort: SarahMichelleGellar is a good five inches shorter than the actress playing her mother.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Jumped into {{Jerkass}} territory with both feet after killing The Master, and slides into this after her [[CameBackWrong resurrection]].
* UpbringingMakesTheHero: DiscussedTrope with her comparisons to DarkActionGirl Faith. Losing any strong family figures (Joyce's death, Giles leaving) proves the trope correct.
* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend
* WaifFu
* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld
* WhatTheHellHero: EVERYONE freaks out on her when she comes back from running away (Xander, Willow, and Joyce in particular) to the point where she wants to run away again. Willow and a group of zombies crashing her house while she's getting her lecture keeps her from doing so, much to everyone's relief.
** Also, in season 7, Buffy is kicked out of her house after treating the girls under her care like dirt.
* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: "Someone has to talk to her people. That name is striking fear in ''nobody's'' hearts."
* WrestlerInAllOfUs: Buffy uses a Frankensteiner at least once.
* YouFightLikeACow
!!Willow Rosenberg (AlysonHannigan)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/willow_hannigan_7264.jpg
->''"You're the Slayer and we're, like, the Slayerettes!"''
Buffy's best friend. Started out as TheSmartGuy, but eventually became an extremely powerful witch. Came out in Season 4, and is one of the most recognized lesbian characters in fiction.
----
* ActionGirl: Anyone who manages to inflict pain on a ''goddess'' deserves this title.
* {{Adorkable}}
* AdrenalineMakeover: Started out nerdy, shy and fairly weak, but as the show went on, she gradually became more assertive, powerful and hot.
* AndStarring: Starting in Season 6. It's pretty jarring.
* {{Badass}}
** BadassAdorable: In the later seasons.
** BadassBookworm: Not to the same extent as Giles, but she still fits the trope.
** TookALevelInBadass: From being the show's main DistressedDamsel to virtually the most powerful character of the group.
* BerserkButton: Tara. Do not press it. If you do, you might survive...if you're a god.
* BestWoman: At Xander and Anya's wedding, Willow is Xander's best "man".
* BewareTheNiceOnes: ''[[PreMortemOneLiner "Bored now."]]''
* BlackEyesOfCrazy / BlackEyesOfEvil: Dark Willow again.
* BreakTheCutie
* TheChick: In the first few seasons before Faith shows up.
* ClippedWingAngel: After Tara was mindsucked, Willow got amped up on magic and attacked Glory, actually succeeding in hurting her... for a few seconds. Then she got her ass beat.
* CovertPervert: She's played by AlysonHannigan, so hell yeah.
* CradleOfLoneliness: Does this with Tara's clothes when Tara breaks up with her in season 6.
* CuteWitch
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Does a better job at this than even Buffy, having punched out several legitimate gods. Buffy punches out the invincible, Willow punches out ''gods''.
* DePower: [[spoiler:With the destruction of the Seed of Wonder]].
* EvilMeScaresMe: The way Willow feels about the "Doppelgangland" Willow.
* FallenHero: She gets better.
** Debatable on the "getting better" part, if the canonical Season 8 comic books are anything to be believed. Specifically the "Time of Your Life" arc.
** There was also an AlternateUniverse book trilogy ("''Wicked Willow''") that explored what would have happened if she had stayed that way.
* FanServicePack
* FinalBoss: [[spoiler:In Season 6.]]
* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Amy's motivation for hating uber-witch Willow by the seventh season.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Buffy
* HijackedByGanon: [[spoiler:Dark Willow reappears in the ''Time of Your Life'' arc of Season 8.]]
* HotForTeacher: Its mentioned that Willow developed a crush on Giles during series one, even having a photo of him in her locker.
* HotWitch
* IncrediblyLameFun: Ooh! Ooh! Study Party!
-->'''Xander:''' You need a life in the worst way.
* InformedJudaism: "I'm like Santa Claus--except thinner, and younger, and female, and Jewish."
** Uh, hello. ''Rosenberg''...
** There are actually quite a few subtle things she does, like putting stones on a grave (rather than flowers), that are characteristic of a culturally Jewish background.
* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation
* IsThisWhatAngerFeelsLike: Which hilariously carried over to her vampire counterpart. "I don't like you!"
* TheLancer: Not exactly, but she always took over the Scooby Gang when Buffy was unable to do so.
* LesbianVampire: Vamp Willow, more accurately a DepravedBisexual.
* LightIsGood: Bright white haired Willow from the last episode of Season 7.
* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: By the finale, Willow is considerably more powerful than Buffy, and is [[strike:probably]] one of the most powerful witches on earth.
* LipstickLesbian: From Season 4 onwards.
* TheMedic / CombatMedic: During Season 8.
* MostDefinitelyNotAVillain: Regular Willow and Vampire Willow, when impersonating each other.
* NoBisexuals
* OfCorsetsSexy: Vamp Willow.
-->'''Willow''': It's a little binding. I guess vampires really don't have to breathe. [[MaleGaze Gosh look at those.]]
* OhMyGods: For the love of Hecate!
* TheOtherMarty: Willow's played by a different actress in the unaired pilot.
* ParentalNeglect: To the point of not noticing a new haircut for four months. The extent of their neglect verges on FridgeLogic when you consider that the episode establishing their neglectfulness came about a half-season ''after'' a bookcase had fallen on her and briefly landed her in a wheelchair. You'd think if anything would make them pay attention...
* PersonOfMassDestruction
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Xander
* PowerDyesYourHair
* ProgressivelyPrettier
* PromotionToParent: She's Dawn's favorite person; Dawn treats her and Tara [[HasTwoMommies like parents]], and in the Season 8 comics, Dawn says "Will is like a Mom to me."
* PsychoLesbian: Briefly
* RelationshipReveal: With Tara in the fourth season.
* TheReliableOne: Buffy explicitly calls her this at one point. Which is part of why her behavior in season 6 was so shocking.
* RetroactiveWish: Almost a RunningGag with her ("Dead Man's Party", "Beer Bad" and "Triangle").
* ShrinkingViolet: In the first few seasons.
* TheSmartGuy
* SoapboxSadie: Originally protested Thanksgiving because it was all about death.
* StockSuperpowers: She starts displaying a ton in Season 8 with her magic.
** DishingOutDirt
** {{Flight}}
** HandBlast
** HealingHands
** PlayingWithFire
** [[TeleportersAndTransporters Teleportation]]
* SuddenlySexuality
* SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum: Has one after [[spoiler:Tara's death]].
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: During early Season 7, especially the scene in "Selfless" where she reverts to her evil personality for a few seconds while fending off a spider demon.
* SweaterGirl: Season 3 Willow.
-->'''Vamp Willow (looking Willow over)''': Well, look at me. I'm all fuzzy.
* TeenGenius
* TemptingFate: Almost a RunningGag with her.
** "Dead Man's Party": ''Talking about it isn't helping. We might as well try some violence.'' (zombies crash into the house)
** "Beer Bad": ''Men haven't changed since the beginning of time''. (cavemen burst in)
** "Triangle": ''I wish Buffy were here.'' (Buffy enters)
** "Two to Go": ''There's no one on this earth who has the power to stop me now''. (Giles blasts her with a fireball)
* ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Mocha coffee.
* UnluckyChildhoodFriend
** Completely subverted in that when she and Xander do get together, she decides she doesn't want him. Then, when she was in a rut with Oz, she discovered that she prefers Tara. She actually has a tendency to make the other person the UnluckyChildhoodFriend.
* UnstoppableRage: Willow goes into one when Glory sucks Tara's mind, and again when Warren [[spoiler:shoots and kills Tara]].
* VillainousWidowsPeak: Willow wears one naturally. It becomes this once she morphs into Dark Willow.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Word of Joss says the door was left open for either Xander or Willow to come out of the closet. Willow's backdoor was set up in "Doppelgangland" (see Wishverse Willow), and let's not forget Xander and Larry ("[[MistakenForGay Your secret's safe with me!]]"). Seth Green left the show to pursue other projects, and this sealed Willow's fate.
* WhatTheHellHero: In Season 6, Dawn slaps her after almost killing her in a car crash and Tara leaves her after she [[MindRape screwed with Tara's head]].
** Tara left her because she promised to not do magic for a week but couldn't last even a day.
*** And the MindRape, and take into consideration that Glory did something similar to Tara in Season 5.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds
* YouAreInCommandNow: With Giles packed off to England and Buffy (temporarily) worm food, Willow briefly takes the reigns in Season Six.
** And in Season 3, too, briefly.
!!Alexander [=LaVelle=] "Xander" Harris (Nicholas Brendon)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xander_brendon_3931.jpg
->''"I don't like vampires. I'm gonna take a stand and say they're not good."''
Buffy's other best friend. Unlike Willow, Xander never gained any powers (apart from some military training). He had a crush on Buffy early on.
----
* AbusiveParents: Not explicitly abusive ''per se'', but they're definitely not loving parents. His father is also, at least verbally and emotionally, abusive of his mother.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Several, perhaps most notably "The Zeppo."
* {{Adorkable}}
* AnnoyingArrows
* AuthorAvatar: According to Nicholas Brendan, his character is based on Joss Whedon in high school, which is why Xander "gets all the good lines."
** That would explain Xander's avowed fetish for [[SpandexLatexOrLeather spandex]].
* BadassNormal: "''This'' carpenter can dry-wall you into the next century!"
* BasementDweller: In Season 4.
* BeardOfSorrow: Grows one shortly after Renee's death in Season 8.
* BodyMotifs: Xander is the one who sees everything, so Caleb pokes out one of his eyes.
* BookDumb
* BornUnlucky: All of his dates are demons. ''All'' of them.
** He and Willow devise a secret code for "My date's a demon who's trying to kill me."
* ButtMonkey: Quite possibly the TropeNamer.
* CakeEater: Harbors an unspoken desire for [[spoiler:Joyce Summers]]. He's a conquistador!
** And for some Sunnydale High teachers as well.
* CannotSpitItOut: It took him an entire season to tell Buffy about his feelings for her.
** Although there were hints along the way, such as that bracelet he bought her.
*** And, you know, the fact that he was constantly drooling over her. Buffy seems to have inherited her mother's talent for repressing things.
**** Which is TruthInTelevision
* TheCaptain: Come Season 8, he's the ''de facto'' leader of the international Slayers' organization because of his uncanny ability to bring out the best in his girls. See TheHeart below.
* CartwrightCurse: Of his four major love interests, three are dead: Cordelia, Anya, and [[spoiler:Renee]], and all his other possible love interests turned out to be demons trying to kill him. Hopefully Dawn will have better luck.
* ClassClown: His personality in the early seasons. In "The Prom," he complains about not winning the ClassClown award.
* CombatPragmatist: In a world where most people think they need to use swords, stakes, axes, and other similar melee weapons, Xander come up with the idea to use a rocket launcher to kill the Judge.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass
* DeadpanSnarker: Even among an entire cast of snarkers, Xander reigns supreme.
* EasyAmnesia: {{Exploited}}. After Xander is possessed by hyenas, he tells Buffy and Willow he has no memory of it, but when Giles confronts him, he confesses that he was lying so he wouldn't have to talk about it.
** In Season 2 he inadvertently reveals he was lying.
* EmbarrassingMiddleName:
* EyepatchOfPower: After [[spoiler:he loses his eye in Season 7]].
* EyeScream: See above.
** At least he gets to be NickFury now, right?
* TheFace: He lacks the supernatural powers of his teammates, but is best friends with Buffy and Willow to the end. His storylines tends to revolve around interpersonal relationships, and, as the most consistent of the Scooby Gang, he interacts with everyone.
** TheHeart: It's made clear more than once that Xander's strength doesn't lie in battle or conjuring spells, but in his interpersonal skills which hold the group together and keep them sane despite all the insanity swirling around them. [[spoiler:He brought Willow back from the brink by telling her he loved her.]]
* FatalAttractor
* GreenEyedMonster: He is immediately jealous of Angel and is happier than anyone to kill him after Angelus is released, while the rest of the group understands that it's not really the same person.
** To the point that when Willow asks Xander to tell Buffy she's going to try to re-ensoul Angel again, Xander merely says "Willow says "kill him.""
* HormoneAddledTeenager:
-->'''Cordelia''': Does looking at guns make ''you'' wanna have sex?\\
'''Xander:''' I'm 17. Looking at linoleum makes me wanna have sex.
** And when Buffy reads his mind:
--> "What am I going to do? I think about sex all the time. Sex. Help. Four times five is thirty. Five times six is thirty-two... Naked girls. Naked women. Naked Buffy. Oh, stop me."
* HopelessSuitor
* HotMenAtWork
* HypnoTrinket: Subverted. The shiny coin the confident Xander used wasn't hypnotic. It just looked cool.
* InWithTheInCrowd: Due to possession by hyena spirits in "The Pack." He got better.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial
* TheLancer
* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: After telling Buffy he was once roped into working as a male stripper.
* TheLoad: What most new characters think he is. [[HiddenDepths They're wrong]].
* LoserHasYourBack: Several times throughout the series.
* AManIsNotAVirgin: Explicitly averted –- one episode revolves around his virginity.
** Another showed him losing it, and it was the least of what happened that night. See "The Zeppo."
* TheMasochismTango: With Cordelia.
* MissionControl: Often served in this capacity for the Slayer Organization.
* NonActionGuy: Although he doesn't always accept this.
** And his friends wish he were.
* NonActionSnarker
* NumberTwo: To Buffy in the Slayer Organization.
* OddFriendship: With Dracula. Xander even taught him how to motorbike.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: Giving him a sense of kinship with Dawn.
* PerpetualPoverty
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Buffy and Willow
* PopCulturedBadass: Badass enough to not only survive Sunnydale but save the world a couple of times; [[BadassNormal without powers]], and geeky enough to want to be addressed as [[NickFury Sergeant Fury]].
* RunawayBride
* SadClown
* SarcasticDevotee
* ScarsAreForever: His eye.
* ScrewLearningIHavePhlebotinum
* SelectiveObliviousness: In Season 6 Xander misses some rather blatant clues that Spike and Buffy are having an affair.
* ShipperOnDeck: For Buffy and Riley.
* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: How he beat [[spoiler:Willow]] in Season 6.
* TeamDad: To the new Slayers in Season 8. Any Slayer who ever seems depressed or on the verge of a HeroicBSOD is always quickly cheered up by Xander.
* UnfazedEveryman
* WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs: In Season 4.
* WeirdnessMagnet: While everyone shows some of this, Xander has it more than most. He probably comes closest to fulfilling this trope when he is recruited by [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Zombie Bank Robbers]] as a ''wheelman''.
!!Rupert Giles (AnthonyStewartHead)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/giles_head_6928.jpg
->''"You're not, by any chance, betraying your secret identity just to impress, um, cute boys, are you?"''
Buffy's Watcher. Very British. Originally just MrExposition, turned out to have [[DarkAndTroubledPast quite a past]]. Also played TeamDad to the Scoobies.
----
* AdmiringTheAbomination: He does this occasionally. "Werewolves, it's... it's one of the classics!"
* {{Adorkable}}
* TheAllegedCar: Giles' first car.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: The Council shunned him even before they fired him, and wouldn't let him come to the Watcher Retreat in the Cotswolds.
* AntiHero: Type III
* BadassBookworm
* BerserkButton: When people threaten to harm/actually harm his friends.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: ''Indeed''.
* BritishStuffiness: "He makes that 'tut tut' sound when he's angry but too British to say anything."
** At least to others. Early in Season 3, Joyce acquires an artifact that summons zombies. When he finds out, Giles is pissing and moaning in his car:
--> "'[[SarcasmMode Do you like my mask? Isn't it pretty? It raises the dead.']] ''Americans!''"
* TheCastShowOff: He was the first to show off his awesome singing voice.
* CoolOldGuy
* CulturedWarrior
* CunningLinguist
* DarkAndTroubledPast: It has trouble staying buried, too.
* EmbarrassingTattoo: Well, not so much embarrassing as evil, but it's embarrassing ''because'' it's evil.
* ExpansionPackPast
* EvilTwin: Two AlternateUniverse versions of him; Ripper from the game ''Chaos Bleeds'', and a vampire EvilOverlord from ''The Lost Slayer'' book series.
* TheExtremistWasRight: Along with the other Watchers.
* FakeGuestStar: Throughout Season Seven. But we'll act conciliatory and call him a Super-Duper Extra Special Guest Star.
* FoeYay: Two words -- Ethan Rayne.
* FormerTeenRebel: Most of his friends from his rebellious twentysomethings still call him "Ripper."
* GentlemanSnarker
* GlassesPull
* GoodIsNotSoft: Most extreme example? Smothering a wounded [[spoiler:Ben]] to death rather than risk [[spoiler:Glory]] coming back. Before doing the deed, Giles cryptically remarks, "[Buffy's] a hero, you see. She's not like us." -- He wanted to spare Buffy from doing it.
* GrandpaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave
* GuileHero
* HardHead / TapOnTheHead: Giles tends to get knocked out, but never suffers any brain damage (well, not counting some WMG's about S7).
-->""I know I'm back in America now; I've been knocked unconscious."
* [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice]]: [[spoiler:Giles got between a Twilight possessed Angel and Buffy as they fought near the Seed of Wonder, wielding the Scythe to try and destroy the Seed himself and end Twilight's invasion of Earth, or get killed by Twilight and give Buffy the motivation she needed to take the Scythe and end things herself.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: Pre-series-he used to be pretty much evil in his younger days, practicing dark magic and stuff like that and and was known as Ripper.
* HelpingWouldBeKillStealing: Giles in the sixth season of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. [[spoiler: He chose to abandon Buffy because he felt that she was limiting herself by clinging to him in a immature way.]] In principle he had good reasons, but he chose to make his stand right in the middle of a crisis, and forbade everyone else from helping Buffy. That can only vaguely be justified by him following musical logic at the time.
* HopelessWithTech
* HotLibrarian
* IAmVeryBritish: In the second episode, he asks Willow to "wrest more information from that dread machine... That was a bit...British."
* IDidWhatIHadToDo
* INeedAFreakingDrink: "It's all right... I have [[DrinkOrder more scotch]]."
* InSeriesNickname: "Ripper."
* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal]]: [[spoiler:In the comic, and in a way mirroring Jenny Calendar's death no less]].
* LastNameBasis: The only people who call him "Rupert" are his romantic interests [[HoYay and Spike.]]
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: While in London during Season 6, Giles did a spell to bind a demon, but it required him to lose the memory of one of the happiest days in his life. That day was the day he fell in love with Jenny Calendar, leaving him with a heartache that he felt would never go away, even though he had no idea what the memory was about.
* MagicLibrarian
* {{Mangst}}: Not frequently, but when he is truly heartbroken, this is the result.
* MentorOccupationalHazard : In the comics, at least.
* MidlifeCrisisCar
* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: When transformed into a Fyarl demon in "A New Man," Giles experiences the demon's natural violent urges.
* MrExposition: Gets parodied in "Restless" when he ''sings'' his latest exposition.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "Ripper."
* NecessarilyEvil: Best exemplified in the following quote:
-->''"Because I've sworn to protect this sorry world, and sometimes that means doing what other people can't. What they shouldn't have to."''
* [[spoiler:NeckSnap]]
* NightmareFetishist:
-->'''Giles:''' But that's the thrill of living on the Hellmouth! There's a veritable cornucopia of fiends and devils and ghouls to engage! ''({{beat}})'' ...Well, excuse me for finding the glass half-full.
* NonIdleRich
* OccultDetective
* OpeningNarration / PreviouslyOn: Previouslys just aren't previouslys without Giles' smooth buttery tone.
* PapaWolf
* ParentalSubstitute: Gradually becomes a surrogate father to Buffy and the gang as a whole (all of their biological fathers being sadly lacking in various ways), and partially to Faith in Season 8.
* ThePatriarch
* PoisonousFriend: Acts as this on occasion.
* PutOnABus
** CommutingOnABus
* TheSmartGuy: Giles knows something about everything. Except synchronized swimming.
* SmartPeoplePlayChess
* SmartPeopleSpeakTheQueensEnglish
* TheObiWan
* TheSpock
* TeamDad
* WhatTheHellHero: Andrew has this reaction when he finds out that Giles knew that Buffy had gone to the future and killed an evil version of Willow, but didn't tell him or set up precautions in case Willow did turn evil again. Giles even acknowledges he is right, and they begin working on an emergency plan in case Willow does go evil again.
* {{Workaholic}}
* XanatosGambit: Season 6. [[spoiler:The magic Willow stole from him tapped into what humanity was left in her.]]
** [[spoiler:As a result Willow senses the pain of all human beings. And her reaction is to try to wipe out all life on earth.]]
* YourDoorWasOpen: This happens to Giles a lot in the fourth season, even when he's ''sure'' he locked the door.
!!Angel, née Liam (David Boreanaz)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/angel_boreanaz_977.jpg
->''"For a hundred years, I offered an ugly death to everyone I met, and I did it with a song in my heart."''
Vampire cursed with a soul, and Buffy's first LoveInterest. Loses his soul in Season 2, becoming a formidable BigBad with a love of torture (both physical and psychological). Later got [[Series/{{Angel}} his own show]].
He returned to Buffy in the Season 8 comics, and will be co-starring with Faith in an upcoming comic series called ''Angel and Faith''.
----
* AndYourLittleDogToo: He meant ''actual'' dogs.
** Giles' profile on Angelus suggests that he will lash out at everything that made him feel human. Buffy tops the list.
* TheAtoner
* BackForTheFinale
* BigBad
* BigFancyHouse: A creepy, art deco mansion on the edge of town. Angelus moves into the abandoned residence along with Drusilla and Spike.
* TheChampion: He appointed himself as Buffy's guardian shortly after she was called as a Slayer.
* TheCorrupter: Angelus, in his past.
* CursedWithAwesome: His soul.
* CurseEscapeClause: Angel is cursed with a soul [[CantHaveSexEver until he has a moment of perfect happiness]]. (Hey, [[ExactWords the curse isn't specific!]]) Buffy helps break the curse, and then needs to find a way to repair it.
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy
* {{Deuteragonist}}
* [[spoiler:DyingAsYourself]]: Reversed when he came back.
* EnemyWithin: Angelus
* EvilIsHammy
* EvilIsStylish: Not only his clothes, but also wants his kills to be "poetic."
* FaceHeelTurn: Causes special problems during his tenure as BigBad, considering his intimate knowledge of all the Scoobies, not to mention [[ParanoiaFuel standing invitations to most of their homes]].
** He got better.
* ForTheEvulz
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire
* HellBentForLeather: Angelus' leather pants.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In every sense of the word. Buffy [[spoiler:runs him through with a replica of his own blessed sword, which in turns sucks him through his own hell portal]]. Putting a damper on this irony is the knowledge that [[spoiler:Angel suffers the fate reserved for Angelus]].
* HollywoodToneDeaf: On his own show, which displays his more vulnerable sides in a way the original show doesn't.
* {{Hunk}}: His attractiveness is how he got his nickname.
* KickTheDog: As Angelus, oh so much. Giles was going to read something about an incident with a puppy:
--> '''Buffy:''' Skip it. [[{{Squick}} I don't have a puppy, I don't want to know]]. [[NoJustNoReaction Skip it]].
* KnightOfCerebus: Sort of. The previous villains certainly weren't harmless, but the show did become darker once Angelus was unleashed.
* LoopholeAbuse: He gets into the high school to kill [[spoiler: Jenny Calendar]] using this: Vampires can only enter buildings by the personal invitation of the owner or the owner's family, but apparently the sign above the school, which reads "Enter, all ye who seek knowledge" in Latin, qualifies as an invitation.
* LoveInterest: To Buffy.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Literally.
* ManipulativeBastard
* MayflyDecemberRomance
* MindRape: His specialty. What he did to ''Drusilla'' is much, much worse. Actually, Angelus arguably crossed the line from the ''start'' by massacring his entire hometown, family included.
* MrFanservice: He really is something to look at, and he's often chained up and shirtless. He's even been tortured by a vampire dominatrix more than once.
* MysteriousProtector
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Creating the Twilight dimension by screwing Buffy, which let thousands of demons invade Earth, which resulted in the destruction of the Seed of Wonder and removed all magic from the world]].
* NotHimself: When he loses his soul after having sex with Buffy.
* OmnicidalManiac
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Angelus' constant jibes at the wheelchair-bound Spike. He's got a million of 'em, ladies and gentlemen.
* ThePunishment
* PsychoticSmirk
* [[spoiler:RedemptionEqualsDeath: Just as he casts off the Angelus persona, Buffy runs him through with a sword and he gets pulled into {{Hell}} by Acathla.]]
* ReducedToRatburgers: By the time Whistler found him, Angel was homeless and scrounging off of rat blood. (To add insult to injury, he has difficulty catching one.)
* RestrainingBolt: One moment of bliss will turn him psychotic.
* ShirtlessScene: The man likes his tai chi.
* ShooOutTheClowns: Poor Spike is left to rot in a wheelchair while the significantly less cuddly Angelus steals the spotlight.
* SidekickGraduationsStick
* SpikyHair
* StalkingIsLove: Angel has definite tendencies in that direction, in both his evil and not-evil incarnations.
** He actually met and fell in love with Buffy [[UnfortunateImplications when she was 15]]. He then stalked her for a year before revealing himself.
** And he's still up it on the fifth season of ''Angel'', despite being burdened with a desk job! (He has "a source" keeping tabs on her in Italy.)
* StarCrossedLovers: With Buffy.
* StealthHiBye
-->'''Xander:''' Okay, that's ''it''. I'm putting a collar with a little bell around that guy.
* TermsOfEndangerment: You can always tell when he's crazy because he refers to Buffy as "Buff."
* TokenHeroicOrc
* TragicMonster
* VegetarianVampire
* VillainCred: Even the Master held Angelus in high regard, intending to appoint him [[TheDragon Dragon]]. The Mayor was keen to have Angelus on his team, as well.
* WarriorPoet: More like a warrior man of letters -- well-read, multilingual and a talented artist.
* WellDoneSonGuy: As a human, Liam was held in contempt by his father, who believed that his son would never amount to being anything else but being a lazy, promiscuous drunk. When he became Angelus, he sat out to prove his father wrong by making a name for himself, namely by becoming the most famboyantly sadistic vampire ever recorded in human history.
* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler:After he gets exposed as Twilight, everybody has this reaction to him, especially after it is revealed he was an UnwittingPawn to a evil dimension trying to end the world. After he gets possessed by the real Twilight and kills Giles and Buffy is forced to destroy the Seed of Wonder is destroyed to stop the destruction of the world, the only ones willing to associate with Angel and not try to kill him are Buffy and Faith, and Buffy doesn't even want to be around him anymore.]]
* WhoWantsToLiveForever
!!Cordelia Chase (CharismaCarpenter)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/charismacordy_6865.jpg
->''"Tact is just not saying true stuff. I'll pass."''
Started out as the AlphaBitch, before joining the Scooby Gang and eventually being spun off to ''Series/{{Angel}}''.
----
* AlphaBitch: Was definitely this while at Sunnydale. If "[[{{Aqua}} Barbie Girl]]" had been written for her, it wouldn't be much of a stretch.
* TheBrainlessBeauty: Was originally led to be this, but then subverted all to hell when she showed HiddenDepths.
** {{Lampshaded}} early in Season 3 when discussing the SAT:
--> "Actually, I'm looking forward to it. I do well on standardized tests." ({{beat}}) "What? I can't have layers?"
* BrutalHonesty: "Tact is just not saying true things. I'll pass."
* ButtMonkey
* TheCheerleader
* TheChick
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: All too often, someone will make a remark and Cordelia will agree in some shallow, appearance-related fashion.
-->'''Xander:''' You're talking about messing with powerful magic, and you're weak.\\
'''Willow:''' I'm okay.\\
'''Xander:''' You don't ''look'' okay. ''(to Cordelia)'' Does she?\\
'''Cordelia:''' You should listen to him. The hair, it's so flat, and the lips...
* DeadpanSnarker
* TheDragAlong
* DefrostingIceQueen
* FallenPrincess
* TheFashionista
* GangOfBullies / GirlPosse: The Cordettes. Angel would later liken them to the {{KGB}}, but with nicer shoes.
** Cordelia's "friends" give her a taste of her own medicine when she starts to date Xander.
* GoodIsNotNice
* HiddenDepths
* LovableAlphaBitch: The season one finale and onward see her becoming one.
* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Charisma Carpenter is noted for her many outreaches to fans, most prominent of which is that, unlike most of her co-stars, she absolutely refuses to charge for an autograph any conventions she attends.
* MsFanservice
* PutOnABus: To L.A.!
* RichBitch
* RichesToRags: When her father loses all his money.
* RomanticFalseLead: Angel immediately ends up in her crosshairs. Luckily, Angel later confesses that he always found the noblewomen of his era (for whom Cordelia is the modern avatar) to be a horrific bore.
* ScreamingWoman
* ShipTease: With Wesley, ending with a particularly cringe-worthy MomentKiller.
* SkewedPriorities: Though they become less skewed over the years.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Usually ends up as Giles's research partner while Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Oz are out on patrol. HilarityEnsues.
* [[ThresholdGuardians Threshold Guardian]]
* TookALevelInKindness: Zig Zagged in Season Three when Xander cheats on her, effectively ousting her from the Gang. Cordelia attempts to return to her old ways, but Harmony has usurped her position and shut the door. Cordelia returns to aid the Scoobies in the Season Three Finale. Her move to ''Angel'' cements her growth as a caring person.
* UptownGirl: She kept her torrid love affair with Xander secret out of fear of what her peers would think.
* VanityLicensePlate: Cordelia's car has "QUEEN C" for its plates.
!!Anya, née Aud (Emma Caulfield)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anya_caufield_728.jpg
->''" I was feared and worshipped across the mortal globe and now I'm stuck at Sunnydale High. A mortal! A child! And [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking I'm flunking math.]]"''
Originally a 1,120-year-old vengeance demon who lost her powers and eventually joined the Scooby Gang. Was a LoveInterest for Xander for three seasons before their relationship ended, and she went back to being a Vengeance Demon. Lost her powers and rejoined the Scoobies in early Season 7.
----
* AscendedExtra: Originally intended as a one-shot character for "The Wish."
* {{Badass}}: When a vengeance demon. However, she did kill a few demons and vampires as a normal human.
* BeingEvilSucks
* BreakTheCutie: From "Hell's Bells" on.
* BrutalHonesty
* CannotTellAJoke: Though, with little doubt, she's the funniest character from Season 4 onwards.
-->'''Anya:''' OK. A man walks in to the office of a doctor. He's wearing on his head-- um, oh wait, there's a duck. Is that right?
-->'''Heckler:''' YOU SUCK!
-->'''Anya:''' Quiet! You'll miss the humorous conclusion.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Her social skills were considerably better in her first couple of appearances than they were once she started appearing regularly.
* TheComicallySerious
* DeathIsDramatic: Heavily subverted, to the point of it arguably being a [[DroppedABridgeOnHim bridge-dropping]].
* {{Depower}}: Twice.
* DyeingForYourArt: Originally a brunette (her hair color as a human), but later went blonde.
* ForgottenPhlebotinum: Her power center necklace. When she turned demon again, it seemed she never needed it.
* GoodCostumeSwitch / EvilCostumeSwitch: When Anya introduced, she has brunette hair. She colors it blond after becoming human, then goes back to brunette when she becomes a vengeance demon again. When she turns human for the second time, she goes back to blond.
* HappyDance: The Dance of Capitalist Superiority!
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor
* HumanityEnsues
* HumansAreBastards: Why it was easy for her to be a vengeance demon. Three years of fighting alongside the Scoobies allowed her to see the goodness in people and made it hard to go back to vengeance.
* LiteralGenie
* LiteralMinded
* MagicalGirlfriend
* MeaningfulName: Anya's a little "Aud", isn't she?
* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: As a result of being both knowledgeable about demons and very, very blunt.
* NoSocialSkills
* OptOut: Anya got the hell out of Dodge before Graduation Day. Contrast with the fifth and seventh season finales.
* PaintItBlack: When she became a demon again.
* PatrioticFervor: "You know what else is un-American? ''[[FrenchJerk French people]]''.
** Especially funny as she's technically speaking from Scandanavia
* PromotionToOpeningTitles
* PunnyName: Aud. (Yes, she is.)
* RealityWarper
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Well, 1,120. And she's still being carded.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath
* SpockSpeak
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: For Cordelia. Greedy and high-maintenance? Check. Xander's love interest? Check. [[BrutalHonesty Brutally honest]] to a fault? Check.
* {{Tsundere}}
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Willow.
* [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why Did It Have To Be Bunnies]]
* WomanScorned
!!Daniel "Oz" Osbourne (SethGreen)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oz_green_5088.jpg
->''"Huh. A werewolf in love."''
Guitarist for a local band who became a werewolf, as well as Willow's boyfriend. Left in early Season 4. Nigh-impossible to faze. In the comics, he married a fellow werewolf with whom he had a son. Together they teach other werewolves to conquer their demons. He later assisted the Slayer Organization during the Twilight crisis.
----
* BadAss: He has his moments.
** RetiredBadass: A point of contention between him and Willow in Season 8 is the fact that he stopped fighting evil and started a family.
* BlackEyesOfEvil: One of the first things to change during a transformation.
* BrilliantButLazy
* CannotConveySarcasm
* CaptainObvious: But ''lovably'' so.
* TheComicallySerious
* DeadpanSnarker
* FakeBand: Oz is in a band called Dingoes Ate My Baby, after the famous case where Azaria Chamberlain was reportedly taken by a wild dog.
** FridgeBrilliance: Dingoes are from [[EverythingTryingToKillYou Australia]], or 'Oz.'
* FantasticallyIndifferent
* GreenEyedRedhead
* GoalInLife: To [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome perfect the diminished ninth]]! "You could lose a finger."
* HappilyMarried: In the Season 8 comic.
* HiddenDepths
* LeavingYouToFindMyself
* LookWhatICanDoNow: Oz gains near-total mastery over his werewolf side by the time he returns, able to stand directly under a full moon without transforming.
* NotAMorningPerson: He sleeps until 3PM.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent
** HulkingOut: When he learns of Willow and Tara's relationship.
** InvoluntaryShapeshifting
** VoluntaryShapeshifting: After Tibet.
** PartialTransformation: [[ShapeshifterModeLock Mode locked]] during "[[WhatDoTheyFearEpisode Fear, Itself]]".
** PainfulTransformation: Although his later transformations transpire much more quietly. Nevertheless he agrees with [[EvilCounterpart Veruca]] when she describes the first few stages as blood boiling.
* PapaWolf
* PlayingAgainstType: So SethGreen isn't the PluckyComicRelief?
** The comic relief is his unruffled reaction to pretty much everything.
* PutOnABus
** TheBusCameBack: "New Moon Rising".
* RealMenWearPink: Literally in the season 2 finale. He also occasionally wears a t-shirt over his monk's robes, which makes it seem he's wearing a skirt.
* RomanticRunnerUp
* SplitPersonalityTakeover: Comes very close to invoking this voluntarily after it appears his struggles against his werewolf self are futile.
* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: The closer it is to sunset on a full moon night, the harder it is to resist his most primal urges.
* TheNoseKnows
* TheQuietOne
* TheStoic: His reaction upon finding out that he's a werewolf? "Huh."
** NotSoStoic
* TerseTalker
* WalkingTheEarth: Though he eventually settled down.
* WolfMan
!!Spike, né William Pratt (JamesMarsters)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marsters_spike_1571.jpg
->''"I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it."''
British vampire who served as the villain for early Season 2. Was planned to die, but his status as EnsembleDarkhorse saved him. He showed up in one episode in Season 3 before returning for good in Season 4. Had a chip in his head that prevented him from hurting humans, so he joined up with the Scoobies for survival and so he could get his kicks by fighting demons. Eventually fell in love with Buffy, and had a twisted relationship with her in Season 6. Got a soul at the end of Season 6 and made a HeroicSacrifice in the finale. Reappeared on ''Series/{{Angel}}''.
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* AntiHero: [[SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes Type V]]. Turns Type III after getting his soul back.
* AuthorAppeal: {{Showrunner}} Marti Noxon is often accused of having an affinity for Naked!Spike.
* {{Badass}}: Until [[BadassDecay his decay]].
** BadassBiker
** BadassLongcoat
** CulturedBadass: Can quote ''HenryV'' with the best of them.
** PopCulturedBadass
* BasementDweller: Parts of Season 4 and 7.
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: He didn't steal BillyIdol's [[{{Expy}} look]]. Billy Idol stole ''his''!
* BloodKnight Light: Fighting isn't all he lives for, but it's a good portion of it.
* BreakoutCharacter / BreakoutVillain
* BreakTheHaughty: For a guy that cocky, his face sure does seem to be a fist-magnet.
* BruiserWithASoftCenter
* BrutalHonesty
* CantYouReadTheSign: A sign saying BEWARE OF DOG is shown behind Spike on several occasions.
* ClosetGeek: Develops an unlikely passion for ''{{Passions}}''.
* ClosetSublet: With Anya gone, Spike ignominiously moves into a 'spare room' in Xander's apartment.
-->"I know it looks like a closet but [[ImplausibleDeniability it's a room now.]]"
* CombatSadomasochist: Lampshaded on several occasions, most notably when Spike makes his AnguishedDeclarationOfLove.
-->'''Joyce:''' Honey, did you somehow, unintentionally, lead him on in any way? Send him signals?
-->'''Buffy:''' Well, I do beat him up a lot. For Spike, that's like third base.
* CoolAirship: We don't know where he got it, but it is awesome.
* CoolBike: That he stole from a demon biker in Season 6.
* DeadpanSnarker
* DependingOnTheWriter: Spike's level of evilness after being chipped seems to depend on who's writing him. Borders on HeelFaceRevolvingDoor.
* EmbarrassingNickname: "William the Bloody" actually refers to his bloody awful poems.
* EntitledBastard: Spike expecting Buffy's help when the Initiative are after him.
* EternalLove: With Drusilla. ...or so he thought.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: William's hope was to live in blissful trinity with his vampirized mum and Drusilla (to Dru's consternation). The plan went sour when [[IncestIsRelative his mum promptly tried to molest him]].
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Spike has a low tolerance for "poseur" vampires who act above their station, believing they give the undead a bad name. Contrary to his love of brawling, he's also adverse to wanton destruction; Spike enjoys the good life and isn't going to let Angelus destroy the world if he can help it.
* EvilCounterpart: To Angel, initially.
* FakeBrit: So well done that Marsters went on to play a FakeBrit on [[{{Torchwood}} an actually British show]].
* FauxAffablyEvil: Before getting [[RestrainingBolt chipped]].
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire: TropeNamer, though it was on ''Series/{{Angel}}'' and he was being [[DeadpanSnarker sarcastic]].
* FullyEmbracedFiend
* GoodIsNotNice
* GuiltyPleasures: DawsonsCreek and {{Passions}}.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[CharacterDevelopment Slowly over the course of four seasons]].
* HeroicSacrifice: [[Series/{{Angel}} He gets]] [[UnexplainedRecovery better]].
* HeroicSociopath
* HeroWithAnFInGood: In Seasons 5 and 6.
* HiddenDepths: He's surprisingly good at predicting Willow's behavior.
* IAmVeryBritish
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: After his BadassDecay got well underway.
* KnightOfCerebus: When Spike comes crashing through the Sunnydale welcome sign, gets out of his car and says "Home sweet home", it marks the beginning of the storyline that takes the entire series in a darker direction.
* KnightInSourArmor: After his HeelFaceTurn.
* LeeroyJenkins: On more than one occasion, his lack of patience has resulted in him heedlessly screwing up his own plans.
* LimitedWardrobe
* LivingForeverIsAwesome: This sums up the differences between him and Angel in a nutshell.
* LovableRogue
* LovableTraitor
* LoveHurts
* LoveInterest
* LoveMartyr: None of the women Spike falls in love with -- Cecily, Drusilla or Buffy -- ever return his love in the way Spike wants, and he puts up with an incredible amount of abuse from them, [[AbusivelySexyWoman particularly Buffy]].
* LoveRedeems
* ManchurianAgent: In the seventh season.
* ManipulativeBastard
* MenacingStroll
* MommasBoy: Even turned his mother into a vamp so they can [[IncestIsRelative be together forever]]. Also the root of his attraction to Drusilla, his sire.
* MoralityChip: Spike's chip.
* MrFanservice
* MusicalTrigger: The First takes control of Spike with the folk song "Early One Morning."
* NobleDemon
* OnlySaneMan: Quickly assumes he is this when Glory's spell makes everyone forget Glory is Ben every time he explains it to them.
* OpenMouthInsertFoot: Does this often when he's trying to court Buffy.
* PoisonousCaptive: In season four, Spike was often this to the Scoobies.
* PopularityPower
* PromotionToOpeningTitles
* PropheticName: "Pratt" = "idiot" in English parlance.
* QuizzicalTilt
* RealMenWearPink
* RestrainingBolt: Once the Initiative puts a chip in his head.
* RetCon: Angel being his sire and that he respected him. Flashbacks show Drusilla sired him and that he and Angel were always at each other's throats.
** WordOfGod says that vamps refer to anyone in their bloodline before them as their sire, so Spike would refer to Darla and The Master as his sires too.
* SirSwearsalot: Some of this is due to DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch, but it's also a character trait.
* SmokingIsCool
* SourSupporter: After being chipped. He becomes a more enthusiastic Scoobie after falling in love with Buffy.
* SpotlightStealingSquad: Like it or not, Spike eventually became the center of gravity for the entire cast. This started out gradually, kicking into overdrive once Marti Noxon took the helm. There's a reason it's just him and Buffy on the Season 7 box.
** On the other hand, many viewers hold this opinion of all of Buffy's boyfriends [[DieForOurShip who aren't Angel]]. "Something Blue" routinely ends up on Best Episode lists solely due to Buffy/Spike's short-lived (and magically-inspired) 'engagement', thanks in no small part to their immediate chemistry... in marked contrast to (yep) Buffy's ''then''-boyfriend Riley Finn, who is mostly detested by fans. Sensing a pattern here?
* StalkerWithACrush: How he acts initially after falling in love with Buffy.
* TheStarscream: First to the Anointed One, then to Angelus, both successfully.
* StreetSmart
* StylisticSuck: Spike's bloody awful poetry.
-->"''Effulgent''"?
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Initially, Spike was demoted to comic relief to fill the gap left by Cordelia. Joss felt the absence of both Cordy ''and'' Oz left the heroes without a dissenting voice.
* ThereIsAnother: Spike gradually takes on 'Angel' mantle in Seasons 5-7, whereupon he get treated to guilt, hallucinations, [[ReducedToRatburgers eating rats]] -- the works.
** He still caught a lot more breaks that Angel did. When Angel got his soul back, he was obliged to let himself be shackled to the wall of an empty house. Spike gets tied up [[ChainedToABed in Buffy's bedroom with nice soft rope]].
* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: What's he [[StalkerWithACrush doing outside Buffy's house]]? Five words or less. He's "Out. For. A. Walk." *{{Beat}}* "[[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch Bitch]]."
* ThrowingOffTheDisability: Ends up in a wheelchair after a church organ falls on him, but he gets better in a few episodes' time.
* TokenEvilTeammate: Especially in Season 4 and part of Season 5.
* TookALevelInBadass: Heralded by adopting the name Spike.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Aside from blood obviously, he fancies those onion blossoms and buffalo wings served at The Bronze, even though he can't digest them. He also likes to sprinkle Wheatabix into his blood bags for "texture."
* {{Tsundere}}: After he develops a crush on [[spoiler:Buffy]]. "[[MusicalEpisode First he'll kill her, then I'll save her... No, I'll save her]], ''[[IfWeSurviveThis then]]'' [[MusicalEpisode I'll kill her...]]" Played shallowly in his fling with Harmony, where the Deredere is mostly an act, partly a rebound crush, and the Tsuntsun is because she's ''[[ItsAllAboutMe just]] [[MotorMouth that]] [[SpannerInTheWorks annoying]]''.
-->Spike to [[spoiler: Buffy]], after he's caught [[StalkerWithACrush lurking outside her house]]: "And I never really liked you anyway, and [[LameComeback and you have stupid hair]] (''{{beat}}'') [''Leaves'']."
* YouAreNumberSix: The Initiative refer to him as Hostile 17.
* WallGlower
* WarriorPoet: Literally, although the latter isn't really showcased until Angel.
* WhamLine: Several.
** '''Season 2:''' "Oh, I will. [[ThrowingOffTheDisability Sooner than you think.]]"
** '''Season 5:''' "[[spoiler: Buffy]], [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove I love you]]. God, I love you so much. [[AllJustADream ...]][[CatapultNightmare Oh, God, no]]. [[LoveEpiphany Please, no]]."
** '''Season 6:''' Not by him, but about him.
--> '''Spike:''' "So you'll give me what I want. Make me what I was. So Buffy can get what she deserves."
--> '''Demon:''' "Very well. We will return...[[spoiler:your soul]]."
* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy: It's dyed, but beyond that.
-->'''Glory''' ''(about Spike)'': What the hell is that, and ''why'' is its hair that color?
!!Riley Finn (Marc Blucas)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/riley_blucas_9627.jpg
->''"So, what have you got going on tonight?"''
->''"Patrolling."''
->''"Patrolling?."''
->''"..[[LastSecondWordSwap Petroleum]]."''
->--Riley and Buffy
Initiative soldier and Buffy's LoveInterest in Season 4 (and early Season 5). PutOnABus, but came back for an episode in Season 6, and later on a recurring basis in the comics.
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* {{Badass}}
** BadassAbnormal: When on the Initiative SuperSerum.
** BadassNormal: After being taken off the SuperSerum.
* BattleCouple: Riley is eager to form one with Buffy, but she finds his lack of superpowers cramps her style and his inability to measure up makes Riley feel inadequate even as a LoveInterest. When Riley returns for one episode ("[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E15AsYouWere As You Were]]") in Season 6, he's married a BadassNormal ActionGirl, forming a new Battle Couple.
* DoggedNiceGuy: In Season 6 when he returns to find Buffy working in a dead-end job and sleeping with Spike, Riley refuses to condemn her for it, instead giving Buffy the encouragement to start pulling her life back together.
* [[spoiler:FaceHeelTurn]]: In the comics.
** [[spoiler:Except not really. He was spying for Buffy.]]
* FantasticDrug: Became addicted to having his blood sucked by vampire prostitutes. And no, that is not an UnusualEuphemism.
* FarmBoy
* FeelNoPain: An eventual side-effect of Professor Walsh's experiments, though the strain it put on his body led to a HollywoodHeartAttack.
* TheGenericGuy
* GoodLookingPrivates
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Accidentally sleeping with Faith (in Buffy guise). His tenderness is so alien to her that she nearly [[FreakOut freaks out]].
* HappilyMarried: After returning in Season 6.
* LoveInterest
* [[spoiler:TheMole]]: In the comics.
** [[spoiler:ReverseMole, actually.]]
* PutOnABusToHell
** TheBusCameBack
* RomanticRunnerUp: He does have a successful relationship with Buffy for some time, but it's made plain that she doesn't love him the way she loved Angel.
* ScarsAreForever: When he comes back in Season 6, he has your standard Awesome [=McCool=] scar across his left eye. He also has one from when he cut out Adam's mind control chip, and probably has [[CoveredInScars another]] from when Adam stabbed him.
* SuperSoldier: On the mild side of "super", but he and the other Initiative troops are chemically augmented.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Becomes obsessed with [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys Buffy's attraction to vampires]] and starts letting vampire women feed on him.
* WhamLine: "But she doesn't love me."
!!Dawn Summers (Michelle Trachtenberg)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dawn_trach_7295.jpg
->"''We destroyed the mall? ...I fought on the wrong side.''"
Buffy's younger sister who was {{Cosmic Retcon}}ned into existence in Season 5. Was actually a [[MacGuffin Key]] that could open dimensional barriers. Spent two seasons as TheChick before becoming TheSmartGuy.
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* AgeAppropriateAngst: Or so Joss thought, which is why he "scratched his head" when viewer response wasn't ideal. He later admitted the writers were "hitting the same note" with Dawn in Seasons 5-6.
* AgeIsRelative
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling
* ApocalypseMaiden
* {{Badass}}
** BadassNormal
** BadassAbnormal: When she was a giant and a centaurette.
* BarrierMaiden
* [[BigBrotherComplex Big Sister Complex]]: Dawn both resents and idolizes her superhero sister.
* BlueEyes
* BrattyHalfPint
* BreakTheCutie: Pretty much all of Season 5.
* TheChick
* CousinOliver
* CosmicRetcon
* CursedWithAwesome: While being a giant and centaurette were annoying to her, she at acknowledged they had some good points. Being turing into a doll though... not so much.
* DawsonCasting: Considering how much the show made use of it, Dawn was a pleasant aversion; Michelle Trachtenberg started playing the 14-year-old at 14. Probably done to ensure that she would look younger than her sister.
** Ironically, she became taller than her by Season 7.
* FreakOut: After learning she's the Key.
* GenreSavvy: In Season 8.
* HasTwoMommies: As part of the CosmicRetcon, it's stated that she spends the night at Willow and Tara's place whenever she gets upset. Later they semi-adopt her [[spoiler:when Buffy dies]] and move into her mom's old bedroom. Even when Willow and Tara separate early Season 6, Tara goes out of her way to assure Dawn, "This has nothing to do with you. You know we both still love you." Also, in Season 8, she directly says that Willow is like her mother.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial
* IncestSubtext: With her adopted mother, she shows signs of this. She wants Willow and Tara to teach her the stuff they do together, [[LesYay and is promptly told to go to her room]]. In another episode, Willow is perving on a girl dancing, to discover it was Dawn.
** Not to mention she has this vibe with her own sister.
* TheLoad: {{Lampshaded}} in Season 6.
--> "Dawn's in trouble. Must be Tuesday."
* MinoredInAsskicking
* MissedTheCall
* TheNotLoveInterest
* RapunzelHair
* RememberTheNewGuy: [[spoiler:Actually a subversion]].
* ScreamingWoman
* ShipperOnDeck: ''Hardcore'' Willow / Tara fangirl.
* TheSmartGuy: She took a role like this in Season 7.
* StickyFingers
* TookALevelInBadass: In Season 7 (technically starting in the season 6 finale).
* WhamLine: Dawn has a couple, inadvertently or otherwise. Like when talking to Riley about Buffy's relationship with Angel:
--> "Everyday was like the end of the world. She doesn't get worked up like that over you."
** Or to her sister:
--> "Buffy, Spike's completely in love with you."
* WrongGenreSavvy: In a lot of Season 7, she amusingly seems to think she's in ''{{CSI}}''.
* YoungerThanSheLooks: A 14-year old girl who is more than ReallySevenHundredYearsOld and is technically no more than a few hours old when first introduced.
!!Tara Maclay (AmberBenson)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tara_benson_4152.jpg
->''"I want my room to be Willow-friendly."''
Willow's love interest in Seasons 4-6. Also a capable witch, and a lot wiser about her powers than Willow. [[spoiler:Killed off in Season 6]]. She and Willow are the longest-lasting lesbian couple in network television history, and one of the best known.
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* AbusiveParents: As part of her family's misogynistic tyranny of the women of the clan, they told her she was half-demon her entire life and that if she ever left them for too long, she'd turn into a monster.
* [[spoiler:BloodSplatteredInnocents]]
* [[spoiler:BringOutYourGayDead]]
* CureYourGays: Parodied in "Once More, With Feeling."
-->"Oh my God, I'm cured! I want the boys!" (pretends to run off, only to collapse giggling into Willow's arms)
* DeadStarWalking
* FakeGuestStar: Despite appearing in almost fifty episodes.
* [[spoiler:FamousLastWords]]: [[TearJerker "Your shirt..."]]
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Her love song to Willow in "Once More, With Feeling" is extremely touching. And extremely sexy if you actually listen to what she's singing: "Willow, you make me ''com''plete." Whedon said after the fact that it was the dirtiest thing he'd ever written.
-->Joss: Yeah... this is porn.
* HotWitch
* [[spoiler:InstantDeathBullet]]
* MindRape: What Glory did in "Tough Love," and what Willow did in "All The Way."
* PromotionToOpeningTitles: For one episode.
** [[spoiler:DeadStarWalking]]
* RelationshipReveal: With Willow.
* ShrinkingViolet
* SpeechImpediment: Clearly an artifact of her abusive childhood, as it gets worse when her family comes to town, but [[StutterStop almost disappears]] once she gains more confidence in herself.
* [[spoiler:StuffedIntoTheFridge: ''Twice''.]]
* [[spoiler:TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth]]
* WhamLine: If you thought Willow and Tara were "just friends"...
-->'''Tara''': I am, you know.
-->'''Willow''': What?
-->'''Tara''': Yours.
* WhiteSheep
* WiseBeyondHerYears: Despite being the most innocent of the Scoobies, Tara takes the revelation of [[spoiler:Joyce's death]] much more like an adult than any other member of the gang. We later learn it's because [[spoiler:her own mother died when she was 17, so she's been through this before]].
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/buffy_gellar_5453.jpg
->''"Cool! Crossbow! Check out these babies. Goodbye stakes, hello flying fatality."''
The Slayer, main character, and leader of the Scooby Gang (except when she was absent or dead). Started out as a reluctant Slayer, but grew to accept her destiny. For much of the show's run, she was the only really combat-capable character. [[DeathIsCheap Died twice]].
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* AbusivelySexyWoman: To Spike. It's all fun and games until she realizes she's turned into a funhouse mirror version of Faith, the chick who molested and almost ''strangled'' Xander.
* ActionGirl
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Lampshaded by Buffy herself in "Something Blue" when she worries that a nice, safe relationship would lack the intensity. She falls in love with Angel and in lust with Spike, but her DoggedNiceGuy boyfriend Riley Finn ends up leaving because Buffy doesn't love him as much as he loves her.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Buffy being given the Class Protector Award nearly qualifies as a crowning.
* BadassAngster
** BadassAdorable: Everyone thinks she looks adorable after her haircut.
* BadLiar: Buffy exhibits this trait on a few occasions.
* BerserkButton: Faith, pretty much. [[WrongfullyAccused Can't]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil possibly]] [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend imagine]] [[GrandTheftMe why]].
* BlessedWithSuck
* BookDumb: To an extent. Truth be told, much of her Book Dumbness comes from just being too busy saving humanity to study.
* BraidsOfAction: Buffy, when on patrol, has the "two-braids" version. Alternate Buffy, from "The Wish," as the "one-braid" version.
* BreakTheCutie: Words cannot describe.
* BrilliantButLazy: She often skipped training or trained on her own time. It wasn't until Season 5 that she took training seriously.
* BullyHunter: She throws down [[JerkJock Larry]], defends Xander and Willow and when suspected witches start being targeted she steps in, causing the group of thugs to back off without her saying or doing a thing.
* [[FluffyTheTerrible Buffy The Terrible]]
* BurgerFool: Her first (legitimate) job, slinging burgers at the Doublemeat Palace.
* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler:What Buffy believes has happened in Season 6]].
* TheCastShowOff: All that ass Buffy kicks? SarahMichelleGellar is in fact a kickboxer and black belt in tae kwon do.
* TheChainsOfCommanding
* TheChosenOne
* CoolLoser: Although it should be noted that the resident AlphaBitch ''does'' scout her out to be one of the "cool girls" when she first arrives in Sunnydale.
* CursedWithAwesome
* CuteBruiser
* ADateWithRosiePalms: She admits to thinking of her boyfriend before moving to Sunnydale, listening to the song "I Touch Myself." [[BlatantLies Before claiming not to know what the song meant]].
* DatingCatwoman: Spuffy.
* DeadpanSnarker
* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Twice. The second time however there was a price to pay, namely part of her sanity causing her to go off the rails.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: When [[BadassAdorable Willow's]] punching arm is sore Buffy is usually the one to do this, taking out the invincible Judge, Mayor, Glory and Caleb.
* DisappearedDad: Divorced
* DisneyDeath
* DrillSergeantNasty: Really nasty. After Chole kills herself Buffy calls her a weak idiot and lashes out at everyone. When [[DarkActionGirl Faith]] returns to help she spits it when the potential Slayers are trying to choose between them and abandons them. She later admits she was a total {{Jerkass}} and comes crawling back.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: "Summers, you drive like a spaz!"
* ExtraordinarilyEmpoweredGirl
* {{Expy}}: It's been theorized she was inspired by Regina and Samantha Belmont of ''NightOfTheComet'' - Blonde, Californian teenage {{Action Girl}}s who end up having to fight the undead.
* FallenPrincess
* FlyingBrick: [[spoiler:After getting a power-up in Season 8.]]
* GallowsHumor: Buffy has always had a morbid sense of humor; in Season Six after she's brought back from the dead it tends to get a DudeNotFunny reaction from the Scoobies.
* GenreSavvy
* HealingFactor: Much slower than normal. Buffy will generally recover from her injuries in a matter of hours, or at most a day or two.
* HeavenSeeker: In Season 6.
* {{The Hero}}ine
* HeroWithBadPublicity: A tragic irony is that Joyce and Principal Flutie assume Buffy is a juvenile delinquent, when she's actually trying to do the right thing.
** And then in Season 8 she literally has bad publicity, while the vampires are [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Villains With Good Publicity]].
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Willow
* HighlyConspicuousUniform: Buffy often patrols wearing bright colors to lure out vamps.
* HotAmazon
* ICanChangeMyBeloved: Her stance toward the rehabilitated Angel and Spike, to massive scoops of backlash by her cohorts.
* IJustWantToBeNormal
* ImprobableWeaponUser: She certainly qualifies, since she frequently uses improvised weapons to kill vampires, especially in the early seasons. Most of these are improvised stakes, ranging in size from a pencil to a mop handle (and, in "Homecoming", she stakes a vampire with a ''spatula''). She also decapitates a vampire with a cymbal in "The Harvest".
* IncompatibleOrientation: With Satsu. Even though Buffy is flattered, and sleeps with her (twice!), she is quite adamant that she is not a lesbian and they can't be together.
* InformedFlaw: Buffy does not really resemble the character type she is [[WordOfGod supposedly]] subverting -- the girly blonde cheerleader who gets killed by the monster in a {{horror}} film. She is not a cheerleader (and, outside of one episode in the first season, shows no interest in becoming one), is not slutty or particularly flirty (she is a serial monogamist with only four sexual partners in the seven-year series), does not drink especially often and (after the first season) does not even wear skirts or dresses very often. A flashback eventually reveals that she fit the cheerleader image a bit more in the years before the series began, but in a lot of respects, she is much more like the classic FinalGirl than monster fodder.
** It is indicated that she ''started out'' as the girly bimbo cheerleader, but that becoming TheChosenOne kind of put an end to much of that. The show doesn't start until ''after'' she has [[TookALevelInBadass Taken A Level In Badass.]]
* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne
* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: She has her moments, notably the time she used a cross and a vampire's burning throat, actually doing what the TropeNamer only threatened.
* KickChick
* LethalChef
* MaamShock: For a different reason than normal: when Satsu calls her ma'am, Buffy remarks that she can't believe she thinks that it is hot.
* MagicalGirlWarrior
* MamaBear
* TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife:
-->"Dates are things normal girls have. Girls who have time to think about nail polish and facials. You know what I think about? Ambush tactics. Beheading. Not exactly the stuff dreams are made of."
* MasterOfTheMixedMessage: Tells Satsu that she can't be with her, but sleeps with her. Twice. Poor Satsu ends up more than a little confused.
** Also with Spike; kissing or having sex with him, claiming that it's never going to happen ever again, then falling back in his arms the moment she gets depressed. [[AttemptedRape This has consequences]] when Buffy really does end the relationship and Spike assumes she's just playing her usual games.
* MuggingTheMonster: About OnceAnEpisode. [[InvertedTrope She's the monster]].
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The Slayer.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Creating the Twilight dimension by screwing Angel, which let thousands of demons invade Earth, which resulted in the destruction of the Seed of Wonder and removed all magic from the world]].
* OnlyAFleshWound: Buffy. Sword. Gut. ''Chosen''.
* OnlyMostlyDead: Buffy in "Prophecy Girl."
* TheOtherDarrin: To anyone who's seen the movie.
* PintsizedPowerhouse
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Xander
* PowerBlonde
* PromotionToParent
* RefusalOfTheCall
* RousingSpeech: Pointed out in Season 7 that she's too good at this. She once gave a RousingSpeech to a telephone repairman.
* {{Sex God}}dess: At least twice in Season 4, it's suggested that [[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy's]] superhuman physical abilities translate to bedroom prowess; both her one-night stand Parker and Faith, who steals her body in a GrandTheftMe plot, comment explicitly on the matter.
** In Season 6 Spike mentions having sex for five hours straight and raves about what an animal she is; he specifically mentions biting -- coming from a vampire, that's an impressive recommendation!
* ShesGotLegs: They get a good showing in "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered".
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Says this word for word to Willow about Satsu. Also in Season 6 with Spike, [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman even to Spike himself]].
* ShutUpHannibal: Buffy loves pulling these.
* StreetSmart
* SuperStrength
* TeensAreShort: SarahMichelleGellar is a good five inches shorter than the actress playing her mother.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Jumped into {{Jerkass}} territory with both feet after killing The Master, and slides into this after her [[CameBackWrong resurrection]].
* UpbringingMakesTheHero: DiscussedTrope with her comparisons to DarkActionGirl Faith. Losing any strong family figures (Joyce's death, Giles leaving) proves the trope correct.
* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend
* WaifFu
* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld
* WhatTheHellHero: EVERYONE freaks out on her when she comes back from running away (Xander, Willow, and Joyce in particular) to the point where she wants to run away again. Willow and a group of zombies crashing her house while she's getting her lecture keeps her from doing so, much to everyone's relief.
** Also, in season 7, Buffy is kicked out of her house after treating the girls under her care like dirt.
* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: "Someone has to talk to her people. That name is striking fear in ''nobody's'' hearts."
* WrestlerInAllOfUs: Buffy uses a Frankensteiner at least once.
* YouFightLikeACow
!!Willow Rosenberg (AlysonHannigan)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/willow_hannigan_7264.jpg
->''"You're the Slayer and we're, like, the Slayerettes!"''
Buffy's best friend. Started out as TheSmartGuy, but eventually became an extremely powerful witch. Came out in Season 4, and is one of the most recognized lesbian characters in fiction.
----
* ActionGirl: Anyone who manages to inflict pain on a ''goddess'' deserves this title.
* {{Adorkable}}
* AdrenalineMakeover: Started out nerdy, shy and fairly weak, but as the show went on, she gradually became more assertive, powerful and hot.
* AndStarring: Starting in Season 6. It's pretty jarring.
* {{Badass}}
** BadassAdorable: In the later seasons.
** BadassBookworm: Not to the same extent as Giles, but she still fits the trope.
** TookALevelInBadass: From being the show's main DistressedDamsel to virtually the most powerful character of the group.
* BerserkButton: Tara. Do not press it. If you do, you might survive...if you're a god.
* BestWoman: At Xander and Anya's wedding, Willow is Xander's best "man".
* BewareTheNiceOnes: ''[[PreMortemOneLiner "Bored now."]]''
* BlackEyesOfCrazy / BlackEyesOfEvil: Dark Willow again.
* BreakTheCutie
* TheChick: In the first few seasons before Faith shows up.
* ClippedWingAngel: After Tara was mindsucked, Willow got amped up on magic and attacked Glory, actually succeeding in hurting her... for a few seconds. Then she got her ass beat.
* CovertPervert: She's played by AlysonHannigan, so hell yeah.
* CradleOfLoneliness: Does this with Tara's clothes when Tara breaks up with her in season 6.
* CuteWitch
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Does a better job at this than even Buffy, having punched out several legitimate gods. Buffy punches out the invincible, Willow punches out ''gods''.
* DePower: [[spoiler:With the destruction of the Seed of Wonder]].
* EvilMeScaresMe: The way Willow feels about the "Doppelgangland" Willow.
* FallenHero: She gets better.
** Debatable on the "getting better" part, if the canonical Season 8 comic books are anything to be believed. Specifically the "Time of Your Life" arc.
** There was also an AlternateUniverse book trilogy ("''Wicked Willow''") that explored what would have happened if she had stayed that way.
* FanServicePack
* FinalBoss: [[spoiler:In Season 6.]]
* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Amy's motivation for hating uber-witch Willow by the seventh season.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Buffy
* HijackedByGanon: [[spoiler:Dark Willow reappears in the ''Time of Your Life'' arc of Season 8.]]
* HotForTeacher: Its mentioned that Willow developed a crush on Giles during series one, even having a photo of him in her locker.
* HotWitch
* IncrediblyLameFun: Ooh! Ooh! Study Party!
-->'''Xander:''' You need a life in the worst way.
* InformedJudaism: "I'm like Santa Claus--except thinner, and younger, and female, and Jewish."
** Uh, hello. ''Rosenberg''...
** There are actually quite a few subtle things she does, like putting stones on a grave (rather than flowers), that are characteristic of a culturally Jewish background.
* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation
* IsThisWhatAngerFeelsLike: Which hilariously carried over to her vampire counterpart. "I don't like you!"
* TheLancer: Not exactly, but she always took over the Scooby Gang when Buffy was unable to do so.
* LesbianVampire: Vamp Willow, more accurately a DepravedBisexual.
* LightIsGood: Bright white haired Willow from the last episode of Season 7.
* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: By the finale, Willow is considerably more powerful than Buffy, and is [[strike:probably]] one of the most powerful witches on earth.
* LipstickLesbian: From Season 4 onwards.
* TheMedic / CombatMedic: During Season 8.
* MostDefinitelyNotAVillain: Regular Willow and Vampire Willow, when impersonating each other.
* NoBisexuals
* OfCorsetsSexy: Vamp Willow.
-->'''Willow''': It's a little binding. I guess vampires really don't have to breathe. [[MaleGaze Gosh look at those.]]
* OhMyGods: For the love of Hecate!
* TheOtherMarty: Willow's played by a different actress in the unaired pilot.
* ParentalNeglect: To the point of not noticing a new haircut for four months. The extent of their neglect verges on FridgeLogic when you consider that the episode establishing their neglectfulness came about a half-season ''after'' a bookcase had fallen on her and briefly landed her in a wheelchair. You'd think if anything would make them pay attention...
* PersonOfMassDestruction
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Xander
* PowerDyesYourHair
* ProgressivelyPrettier
* PromotionToParent: She's Dawn's favorite person; Dawn treats her and Tara [[HasTwoMommies like parents]], and in the Season 8 comics, Dawn says "Will is like a Mom to me."
* PsychoLesbian: Briefly
* RelationshipReveal: With Tara in the fourth season.
* TheReliableOne: Buffy explicitly calls her this at one point. Which is part of why her behavior in season 6 was so shocking.
* RetroactiveWish: Almost a RunningGag with her ("Dead Man's Party", "Beer Bad" and "Triangle").
* ShrinkingViolet: In the first few seasons.
* TheSmartGuy
* SoapboxSadie: Originally protested Thanksgiving because it was all about death.
* StockSuperpowers: She starts displaying a ton in Season 8 with her magic.
** DishingOutDirt
** {{Flight}}
** HandBlast
** HealingHands
** PlayingWithFire
** [[TeleportersAndTransporters Teleportation]]
* SuddenlySexuality
* SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum: Has one after [[spoiler:Tara's death]].
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: During early Season 7, especially the scene in "Selfless" where she reverts to her evil personality for a few seconds while fending off a spider demon.
* SweaterGirl: Season 3 Willow.
-->'''Vamp Willow (looking Willow over)''': Well, look at me. I'm all fuzzy.
* TeenGenius
* TemptingFate: Almost a RunningGag with her.
** "Dead Man's Party": ''Talking about it isn't helping. We might as well try some violence.'' (zombies crash into the house)
** "Beer Bad": ''Men haven't changed since the beginning of time''. (cavemen burst in)
** "Triangle": ''I wish Buffy were here.'' (Buffy enters)
** "Two to Go": ''There's no one on this earth who has the power to stop me now''. (Giles blasts her with a fireball)
* ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Mocha coffee.
* UnluckyChildhoodFriend
** Completely subverted in that when she and Xander do get together, she decides she doesn't want him. Then, when she was in a rut with Oz, she discovered that she prefers Tara. She actually has a tendency to make the other person the UnluckyChildhoodFriend.
* UnstoppableRage: Willow goes into one when Glory sucks Tara's mind, and again when Warren [[spoiler:shoots and kills Tara]].
* VillainousWidowsPeak: Willow wears one naturally. It becomes this once she morphs into Dark Willow.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Word of Joss says the door was left open for either Xander or Willow to come out of the closet. Willow's backdoor was set up in "Doppelgangland" (see Wishverse Willow), and let's not forget Xander and Larry ("[[MistakenForGay Your secret's safe with me!]]"). Seth Green left the show to pursue other projects, and this sealed Willow's fate.
* WhatTheHellHero: In Season 6, Dawn slaps her after almost killing her in a car crash and Tara leaves her after she [[MindRape screwed with Tara's head]].
** Tara left her because she promised to not do magic for a week but couldn't last even a day.
*** And the MindRape, and take into consideration that Glory did something similar to Tara in Season 5.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds
* YouAreInCommandNow: With Giles packed off to England and Buffy (temporarily) worm food, Willow briefly takes the reigns in Season Six.
** And in Season 3, too, briefly.
!!Alexander [=LaVelle=] "Xander" Harris (Nicholas Brendon)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xander_brendon_3931.jpg
->''"I don't like vampires. I'm gonna take a stand and say they're not good."''
Buffy's other best friend. Unlike Willow, Xander never gained any powers (apart from some military training). He had a crush on Buffy early on.
----
* AbusiveParents: Not explicitly abusive ''per se'', but they're definitely not loving parents. His father is also, at least verbally and emotionally, abusive of his mother.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Several, perhaps most notably "The Zeppo."
* {{Adorkable}}
* AnnoyingArrows
* AuthorAvatar: According to Nicholas Brendan, his character is based on Joss Whedon in high school, which is why Xander "gets all the good lines."
** That would explain Xander's avowed fetish for [[SpandexLatexOrLeather spandex]].
* BadassNormal: "''This'' carpenter can dry-wall you into the next century!"
* BasementDweller: In Season 4.
* BeardOfSorrow: Grows one shortly after Renee's death in Season 8.
* BodyMotifs: Xander is the one who sees everything, so Caleb pokes out one of his eyes.
* BookDumb
* BornUnlucky: All of his dates are demons. ''All'' of them.
** He and Willow devise a secret code for "My date's a demon who's trying to kill me."
* ButtMonkey: Quite possibly the TropeNamer.
* CakeEater: Harbors an unspoken desire for [[spoiler:Joyce Summers]]. He's a conquistador!
** And for some Sunnydale High teachers as well.
* CannotSpitItOut: It took him an entire season to tell Buffy about his feelings for her.
** Although there were hints along the way, such as that bracelet he bought her.
*** And, you know, the fact that he was constantly drooling over her. Buffy seems to have inherited her mother's talent for repressing things.
**** Which is TruthInTelevision
* TheCaptain: Come Season 8, he's the ''de facto'' leader of the international Slayers' organization because of his uncanny ability to bring out the best in his girls. See TheHeart below.
* CartwrightCurse: Of his four major love interests, three are dead: Cordelia, Anya, and [[spoiler:Renee]], and all his other possible love interests turned out to be demons trying to kill him. Hopefully Dawn will have better luck.
* ClassClown: His personality in the early seasons. In "The Prom," he complains about not winning the ClassClown award.
* CombatPragmatist: In a world where most people think they need to use swords, stakes, axes, and other similar melee weapons, Xander come up with the idea to use a rocket launcher to kill the Judge.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass
* DeadpanSnarker: Even among an entire cast of snarkers, Xander reigns supreme.
* EasyAmnesia: {{Exploited}}. After Xander is possessed by hyenas, he tells Buffy and Willow he has no memory of it, but when Giles confronts him, he confesses that he was lying so he wouldn't have to talk about it.
** In Season 2 he inadvertently reveals he was lying.
* EmbarrassingMiddleName:
* EyepatchOfPower: After [[spoiler:he loses his eye in Season 7]].
* EyeScream: See above.
** At least he gets to be NickFury now, right?
* TheFace: He lacks the supernatural powers of his teammates, but is best friends with Buffy and Willow to the end. His storylines tends to revolve around interpersonal relationships, and, as the most consistent of the Scooby Gang, he interacts with everyone.
** TheHeart: It's made clear more than once that Xander's strength doesn't lie in battle or conjuring spells, but in his interpersonal skills which hold the group together and keep them sane despite all the insanity swirling around them. [[spoiler:He brought Willow back from the brink by telling her he loved her.]]
* FatalAttractor
* GreenEyedMonster: He is immediately jealous of Angel and is happier than anyone to kill him after Angelus is released, while the rest of the group understands that it's not really the same person.
** To the point that when Willow asks Xander to tell Buffy she's going to try to re-ensoul Angel again, Xander merely says "Willow says "kill him.""
* HormoneAddledTeenager:
-->'''Cordelia''': Does looking at guns make ''you'' wanna have sex?\\
'''Xander:''' I'm 17. Looking at linoleum makes me wanna have sex.
** And when Buffy reads his mind:
--> "What am I going to do? I think about sex all the time. Sex. Help. Four times five is thirty. Five times six is thirty-two... Naked girls. Naked women. Naked Buffy. Oh, stop me."
* HopelessSuitor
* HotMenAtWork
* HypnoTrinket: Subverted. The shiny coin the confident Xander used wasn't hypnotic. It just looked cool.
* InWithTheInCrowd: Due to possession by hyena spirits in "The Pack." He got better.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial
* TheLancer
* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: After telling Buffy he was once roped into working as a male stripper.
* TheLoad: What most new characters think he is. [[HiddenDepths They're wrong]].
* LoserHasYourBack: Several times throughout the series.
* AManIsNotAVirgin: Explicitly averted –- one episode revolves around his virginity.
** Another showed him losing it, and it was the least of what happened that night. See "The Zeppo."
* TheMasochismTango: With Cordelia.
* MissionControl: Often served in this capacity for the Slayer Organization.
* NonActionGuy: Although he doesn't always accept this.
** And his friends wish he were.
* NonActionSnarker
* NumberTwo: To Buffy in the Slayer Organization.
* OddFriendship: With Dracula. Xander even taught him how to motorbike.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: Giving him a sense of kinship with Dawn.
* PerpetualPoverty
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Buffy and Willow
* PopCulturedBadass: Badass enough to not only survive Sunnydale but save the world a couple of times; [[BadassNormal without powers]], and geeky enough to want to be addressed as [[NickFury Sergeant Fury]].
* RunawayBride
* SadClown
* SarcasticDevotee
* ScarsAreForever: His eye.
* ScrewLearningIHavePhlebotinum
* SelectiveObliviousness: In Season 6 Xander misses some rather blatant clues that Spike and Buffy are having an affair.
* ShipperOnDeck: For Buffy and Riley.
* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: How he beat [[spoiler:Willow]] in Season 6.
* TeamDad: To the new Slayers in Season 8. Any Slayer who ever seems depressed or on the verge of a HeroicBSOD is always quickly cheered up by Xander.
* UnfazedEveryman
* WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs: In Season 4.
* WeirdnessMagnet: While everyone shows some of this, Xander has it more than most. He probably comes closest to fulfilling this trope when he is recruited by [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Zombie Bank Robbers]] as a ''wheelman''.
!!Rupert Giles (AnthonyStewartHead)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/giles_head_6928.jpg
->''"You're not, by any chance, betraying your secret identity just to impress, um, cute boys, are you?"''
Buffy's Watcher. Very British. Originally just MrExposition, turned out to have [[DarkAndTroubledPast quite a past]]. Also played TeamDad to the Scoobies.
----
* AdmiringTheAbomination: He does this occasionally. "Werewolves, it's... it's one of the classics!"
* {{Adorkable}}
* TheAllegedCar: Giles' first car.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: The Council shunned him even before they fired him, and wouldn't let him come to the Watcher Retreat in the Cotswolds.
* AntiHero: Type III
* BadassBookworm
* BerserkButton: When people threaten to harm/actually harm his friends.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: ''Indeed''.
* BritishStuffiness: "He makes that 'tut tut' sound when he's angry but too British to say anything."
** At least to others. Early in Season 3, Joyce acquires an artifact that summons zombies. When he finds out, Giles is pissing and moaning in his car:
--> "'[[SarcasmMode Do you like my mask? Isn't it pretty? It raises the dead.']] ''Americans!''"
* TheCastShowOff: He was the first to show off his awesome singing voice.
* CoolOldGuy
* CulturedWarrior
* CunningLinguist
* DarkAndTroubledPast: It has trouble staying buried, too.
* EmbarrassingTattoo: Well, not so much embarrassing as evil, but it's embarrassing ''because'' it's evil.
* ExpansionPackPast
* EvilTwin: Two AlternateUniverse versions of him; Ripper from the game ''Chaos Bleeds'', and a vampire EvilOverlord from ''The Lost Slayer'' book series.
* TheExtremistWasRight: Along with the other Watchers.
* FakeGuestStar: Throughout Season Seven. But we'll act conciliatory and call him a Super-Duper Extra Special Guest Star.
* FoeYay: Two words -- Ethan Rayne.
* FormerTeenRebel: Most of his friends from his rebellious twentysomethings still call him "Ripper."
* GentlemanSnarker
* GlassesPull
* GoodIsNotSoft: Most extreme example? Smothering a wounded [[spoiler:Ben]] to death rather than risk [[spoiler:Glory]] coming back. Before doing the deed, Giles cryptically remarks, "[Buffy's] a hero, you see. She's not like us." -- He wanted to spare Buffy from doing it.
* GrandpaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave
* GuileHero
* HardHead / TapOnTheHead: Giles tends to get knocked out, but never suffers any brain damage (well, not counting some WMG's about S7).
-->""I know I'm back in America now; I've been knocked unconscious."
* [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice]]: [[spoiler:Giles got between a Twilight possessed Angel and Buffy as they fought near the Seed of Wonder, wielding the Scythe to try and destroy the Seed himself and end Twilight's invasion of Earth, or get killed by Twilight and give Buffy the motivation she needed to take the Scythe and end things herself.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: Pre-series-he used to be pretty much evil in his younger days, practicing dark magic and stuff like that and and was known as Ripper.
* HelpingWouldBeKillStealing: Giles in the sixth season of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. [[spoiler: He chose to abandon Buffy because he felt that she was limiting herself by clinging to him in a immature way.]] In principle he had good reasons, but he chose to make his stand right in the middle of a crisis, and forbade everyone else from helping Buffy. That can only vaguely be justified by him following musical logic at the time.
* HopelessWithTech
* HotLibrarian
* IAmVeryBritish: In the second episode, he asks Willow to "wrest more information from that dread machine... That was a bit...British."
* IDidWhatIHadToDo
* INeedAFreakingDrink: "It's all right... I have [[DrinkOrder more scotch]]."
* InSeriesNickname: "Ripper."
* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal]]: [[spoiler:In the comic, and in a way mirroring Jenny Calendar's death no less]].
* LastNameBasis: The only people who call him "Rupert" are his romantic interests [[HoYay and Spike.]]
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: While in London during Season 6, Giles did a spell to bind a demon, but it required him to lose the memory of one of the happiest days in his life. That day was the day he fell in love with Jenny Calendar, leaving him with a heartache that he felt would never go away, even though he had no idea what the memory was about.
* MagicLibrarian
* {{Mangst}}: Not frequently, but when he is truly heartbroken, this is the result.
* MentorOccupationalHazard : In the comics, at least.
* MidlifeCrisisCar
* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: When transformed into a Fyarl demon in "A New Man," Giles experiences the demon's natural violent urges.
* MrExposition: Gets parodied in "Restless" when he ''sings'' his latest exposition.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "Ripper."
* NecessarilyEvil: Best exemplified in the following quote:
-->''"Because I've sworn to protect this sorry world, and sometimes that means doing what other people can't. What they shouldn't have to."''
* [[spoiler:NeckSnap]]
* NightmareFetishist:
-->'''Giles:''' But that's the thrill of living on the Hellmouth! There's a veritable cornucopia of fiends and devils and ghouls to engage! ''({{beat}})'' ...Well, excuse me for finding the glass half-full.
* NonIdleRich
* OccultDetective
* OpeningNarration / PreviouslyOn: Previouslys just aren't previouslys without Giles' smooth buttery tone.
* PapaWolf
* ParentalSubstitute: Gradually becomes a surrogate father to Buffy and the gang as a whole (all of their biological fathers being sadly lacking in various ways), and partially to Faith in Season 8.
* ThePatriarch
* PoisonousFriend: Acts as this on occasion.
* PutOnABus
** CommutingOnABus
* TheSmartGuy: Giles knows something about everything. Except synchronized swimming.
* SmartPeoplePlayChess
* SmartPeopleSpeakTheQueensEnglish
* TheObiWan
* TheSpock
* TeamDad
* WhatTheHellHero: Andrew has this reaction when he finds out that Giles knew that Buffy had gone to the future and killed an evil version of Willow, but didn't tell him or set up precautions in case Willow did turn evil again. Giles even acknowledges he is right, and they begin working on an emergency plan in case Willow does go evil again.
* {{Workaholic}}
* XanatosGambit: Season 6. [[spoiler:The magic Willow stole from him tapped into what humanity was left in her.]]
** [[spoiler:As a result Willow senses the pain of all human beings. And her reaction is to try to wipe out all life on earth.]]
* YourDoorWasOpen: This happens to Giles a lot in the fourth season, even when he's ''sure'' he locked the door.
!!Angel, née Liam (David Boreanaz)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/angel_boreanaz_977.jpg
->''"For a hundred years, I offered an ugly death to everyone I met, and I did it with a song in my heart."''
Vampire cursed with a soul, and Buffy's first LoveInterest. Loses his soul in Season 2, becoming a formidable BigBad with a love of torture (both physical and psychological). Later got [[Series/{{Angel}} his own show]].
He returned to Buffy in the Season 8 comics, and will be co-starring with Faith in an upcoming comic series called ''Angel and Faith''.
----
* AndYourLittleDogToo: He meant ''actual'' dogs.
** Giles' profile on Angelus suggests that he will lash out at everything that made him feel human. Buffy tops the list.
* TheAtoner
* BackForTheFinale
* BigBad
* BigFancyHouse: A creepy, art deco mansion on the edge of town. Angelus moves into the abandoned residence along with Drusilla and Spike.
* TheChampion: He appointed himself as Buffy's guardian shortly after she was called as a Slayer.
* TheCorrupter: Angelus, in his past.
* CursedWithAwesome: His soul.
* CurseEscapeClause: Angel is cursed with a soul [[CantHaveSexEver until he has a moment of perfect happiness]]. (Hey, [[ExactWords the curse isn't specific!]]) Buffy helps break the curse, and then needs to find a way to repair it.
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy
* {{Deuteragonist}}
* [[spoiler:DyingAsYourself]]: Reversed when he came back.
* EnemyWithin: Angelus
* EvilIsHammy
* EvilIsStylish: Not only his clothes, but also wants his kills to be "poetic."
* FaceHeelTurn: Causes special problems during his tenure as BigBad, considering his intimate knowledge of all the Scoobies, not to mention [[ParanoiaFuel standing invitations to most of their homes]].
** He got better.
* ForTheEvulz
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire
* HellBentForLeather: Angelus' leather pants.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In every sense of the word. Buffy [[spoiler:runs him through with a replica of his own blessed sword, which in turns sucks him through his own hell portal]]. Putting a damper on this irony is the knowledge that [[spoiler:Angel suffers the fate reserved for Angelus]].
* HollywoodToneDeaf: On his own show, which displays his more vulnerable sides in a way the original show doesn't.
* {{Hunk}}: His attractiveness is how he got his nickname.
* KickTheDog: As Angelus, oh so much. Giles was going to read something about an incident with a puppy:
--> '''Buffy:''' Skip it. [[{{Squick}} I don't have a puppy, I don't want to know]]. [[NoJustNoReaction Skip it]].
* KnightOfCerebus: Sort of. The previous villains certainly weren't harmless, but the show did become darker once Angelus was unleashed.
* LoopholeAbuse: He gets into the high school to kill [[spoiler: Jenny Calendar]] using this: Vampires can only enter buildings by the personal invitation of the owner or the owner's family, but apparently the sign above the school, which reads "Enter, all ye who seek knowledge" in Latin, qualifies as an invitation.
* LoveInterest: To Buffy.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Literally.
* ManipulativeBastard
* MayflyDecemberRomance
* MindRape: His specialty. What he did to ''Drusilla'' is much, much worse. Actually, Angelus arguably crossed the line from the ''start'' by massacring his entire hometown, family included.
* MrFanservice: He really is something to look at, and he's often chained up and shirtless. He's even been tortured by a vampire dominatrix more than once.
* MysteriousProtector
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Creating the Twilight dimension by screwing Buffy, which let thousands of demons invade Earth, which resulted in the destruction of the Seed of Wonder and removed all magic from the world]].
* NotHimself: When he loses his soul after having sex with Buffy.
* OmnicidalManiac
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Angelus' constant jibes at the wheelchair-bound Spike. He's got a million of 'em, ladies and gentlemen.
* ThePunishment
* PsychoticSmirk
* [[spoiler:RedemptionEqualsDeath: Just as he casts off the Angelus persona, Buffy runs him through with a sword and he gets pulled into {{Hell}} by Acathla.]]
* ReducedToRatburgers: By the time Whistler found him, Angel was homeless and scrounging off of rat blood. (To add insult to injury, he has difficulty catching one.)
* RestrainingBolt: One moment of bliss will turn him psychotic.
* ShirtlessScene: The man likes his tai chi.
* ShooOutTheClowns: Poor Spike is left to rot in a wheelchair while the significantly less cuddly Angelus steals the spotlight.
* SidekickGraduationsStick
* SpikyHair
* StalkingIsLove: Angel has definite tendencies in that direction, in both his evil and not-evil incarnations.
** He actually met and fell in love with Buffy [[UnfortunateImplications when she was 15]]. He then stalked her for a year before revealing himself.
** And he's still up it on the fifth season of ''Angel'', despite being burdened with a desk job! (He has "a source" keeping tabs on her in Italy.)
* StarCrossedLovers: With Buffy.
* StealthHiBye
-->'''Xander:''' Okay, that's ''it''. I'm putting a collar with a little bell around that guy.
* TermsOfEndangerment: You can always tell when he's crazy because he refers to Buffy as "Buff."
* TokenHeroicOrc
* TragicMonster
* VegetarianVampire
* VillainCred: Even the Master held Angelus in high regard, intending to appoint him [[TheDragon Dragon]]. The Mayor was keen to have Angelus on his team, as well.
* WarriorPoet: More like a warrior man of letters -- well-read, multilingual and a talented artist.
* WellDoneSonGuy: As a human, Liam was held in contempt by his father, who believed that his son would never amount to being anything else but being a lazy, promiscuous drunk. When he became Angelus, he sat out to prove his father wrong by making a name for himself, namely by becoming the most famboyantly sadistic vampire ever recorded in human history.
* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler:After he gets exposed as Twilight, everybody has this reaction to him, especially after it is revealed he was an UnwittingPawn to a evil dimension trying to end the world. After he gets possessed by the real Twilight and kills Giles and Buffy is forced to destroy the Seed of Wonder is destroyed to stop the destruction of the world, the only ones willing to associate with Angel and not try to kill him are Buffy and Faith, and Buffy doesn't even want to be around him anymore.]]
* WhoWantsToLiveForever
!!Cordelia Chase (CharismaCarpenter)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/charismacordy_6865.jpg
->''"Tact is just not saying true stuff. I'll pass."''
Started out as the AlphaBitch, before joining the Scooby Gang and eventually being spun off to ''Series/{{Angel}}''.
----
* AlphaBitch: Was definitely this while at Sunnydale. If "[[{{Aqua}} Barbie Girl]]" had been written for her, it wouldn't be much of a stretch.
* TheBrainlessBeauty: Was originally led to be this, but then subverted all to hell when she showed HiddenDepths.
** {{Lampshaded}} early in Season 3 when discussing the SAT:
--> "Actually, I'm looking forward to it. I do well on standardized tests." ({{beat}}) "What? I can't have layers?"
* BrutalHonesty: "Tact is just not saying true things. I'll pass."
* ButtMonkey
* TheCheerleader
* TheChick
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: All too often, someone will make a remark and Cordelia will agree in some shallow, appearance-related fashion.
-->'''Xander:''' You're talking about messing with powerful magic, and you're weak.\\
'''Willow:''' I'm okay.\\
'''Xander:''' You don't ''look'' okay. ''(to Cordelia)'' Does she?\\
'''Cordelia:''' You should listen to him. The hair, it's so flat, and the lips...
* DeadpanSnarker
* TheDragAlong
* DefrostingIceQueen
* FallenPrincess
* TheFashionista
* GangOfBullies / GirlPosse: The Cordettes. Angel would later liken them to the {{KGB}}, but with nicer shoes.
** Cordelia's "friends" give her a taste of her own medicine when she starts to date Xander.
* GoodIsNotNice
* HiddenDepths
* LovableAlphaBitch: The season one finale and onward see her becoming one.
* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Charisma Carpenter is noted for her many outreaches to fans, most prominent of which is that, unlike most of her co-stars, she absolutely refuses to charge for an autograph any conventions she attends.
* MsFanservice
* PutOnABus: To L.A.!
* RichBitch
* RichesToRags: When her father loses all his money.
* RomanticFalseLead: Angel immediately ends up in her crosshairs. Luckily, Angel later confesses that he always found the noblewomen of his era (for whom Cordelia is the modern avatar) to be a horrific bore.
* ScreamingWoman
* ShipTease: With Wesley, ending with a particularly cringe-worthy MomentKiller.
* SkewedPriorities: Though they become less skewed over the years.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Usually ends up as Giles's research partner while Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Oz are out on patrol. HilarityEnsues.
* [[ThresholdGuardians Threshold Guardian]]
* TookALevelInKindness: Zig Zagged in Season Three when Xander cheats on her, effectively ousting her from the Gang. Cordelia attempts to return to her old ways, but Harmony has usurped her position and shut the door. Cordelia returns to aid the Scoobies in the Season Three Finale. Her move to ''Angel'' cements her growth as a caring person.
* UptownGirl: She kept her torrid love affair with Xander secret out of fear of what her peers would think.
* VanityLicensePlate: Cordelia's car has "QUEEN C" for its plates.
!!Anya, née Aud (Emma Caulfield)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anya_caufield_728.jpg
->''" I was feared and worshipped across the mortal globe and now I'm stuck at Sunnydale High. A mortal! A child! And [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking I'm flunking math.]]"''
Originally a 1,120-year-old vengeance demon who lost her powers and eventually joined the Scooby Gang. Was a LoveInterest for Xander for three seasons before their relationship ended, and she went back to being a Vengeance Demon. Lost her powers and rejoined the Scoobies in early Season 7.
----
* AscendedExtra: Originally intended as a one-shot character for "The Wish."
* {{Badass}}: When a vengeance demon. However, she did kill a few demons and vampires as a normal human.
* BeingEvilSucks
* BreakTheCutie: From "Hell's Bells" on.
* BrutalHonesty
* CannotTellAJoke: Though, with little doubt, she's the funniest character from Season 4 onwards.
-->'''Anya:''' OK. A man walks in to the office of a doctor. He's wearing on his head-- um, oh wait, there's a duck. Is that right?
-->'''Heckler:''' YOU SUCK!
-->'''Anya:''' Quiet! You'll miss the humorous conclusion.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Her social skills were considerably better in her first couple of appearances than they were once she started appearing regularly.
* TheComicallySerious
* DeathIsDramatic: Heavily subverted, to the point of it arguably being a [[DroppedABridgeOnHim bridge-dropping]].
* {{Depower}}: Twice.
* DyeingForYourArt: Originally a brunette (her hair color as a human), but later went blonde.
* ForgottenPhlebotinum: Her power center necklace. When she turned demon again, it seemed she never needed it.
* GoodCostumeSwitch / EvilCostumeSwitch: When Anya introduced, she has brunette hair. She colors it blond after becoming human, then goes back to brunette when she becomes a vengeance demon again. When she turns human for the second time, she goes back to blond.
* HappyDance: The Dance of Capitalist Superiority!
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor
* HumanityEnsues
* HumansAreBastards: Why it was easy for her to be a vengeance demon. Three years of fighting alongside the Scoobies allowed her to see the goodness in people and made it hard to go back to vengeance.
* LiteralGenie
* LiteralMinded
* MagicalGirlfriend
* MeaningfulName: Anya's a little "Aud", isn't she?
* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: As a result of being both knowledgeable about demons and very, very blunt.
* NoSocialSkills
* OptOut: Anya got the hell out of Dodge before Graduation Day. Contrast with the fifth and seventh season finales.
* PaintItBlack: When she became a demon again.
* PatrioticFervor: "You know what else is un-American? ''[[FrenchJerk French people]]''.
** Especially funny as she's technically speaking from Scandanavia
* PromotionToOpeningTitles
* PunnyName: Aud. (Yes, she is.)
* RealityWarper
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Well, 1,120. And she's still being carded.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath
* SpockSpeak
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: For Cordelia. Greedy and high-maintenance? Check. Xander's love interest? Check. [[BrutalHonesty Brutally honest]] to a fault? Check.
* {{Tsundere}}
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Willow.
* [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why Did It Have To Be Bunnies]]
* WomanScorned
!!Daniel "Oz" Osbourne (SethGreen)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oz_green_5088.jpg
->''"Huh. A werewolf in love."''
Guitarist for a local band who became a werewolf, as well as Willow's boyfriend. Left in early Season 4. Nigh-impossible to faze. In the comics, he married a fellow werewolf with whom he had a son. Together they teach other werewolves to conquer their demons. He later assisted the Slayer Organization during the Twilight crisis.
----
* BadAss: He has his moments.
** RetiredBadass: A point of contention between him and Willow in Season 8 is the fact that he stopped fighting evil and started a family.
* BlackEyesOfEvil: One of the first things to change during a transformation.
* BrilliantButLazy
* CannotConveySarcasm
* CaptainObvious: But ''lovably'' so.
* TheComicallySerious
* DeadpanSnarker
* FakeBand: Oz is in a band called Dingoes Ate My Baby, after the famous case where Azaria Chamberlain was reportedly taken by a wild dog.
** FridgeBrilliance: Dingoes are from [[EverythingTryingToKillYou Australia]], or 'Oz.'
* FantasticallyIndifferent
* GreenEyedRedhead
* GoalInLife: To [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome perfect the diminished ninth]]! "You could lose a finger."
* HappilyMarried: In the Season 8 comic.
* HiddenDepths
* LeavingYouToFindMyself
* LookWhatICanDoNow: Oz gains near-total mastery over his werewolf side by the time he returns, able to stand directly under a full moon without transforming.
* NotAMorningPerson: He sleeps until 3PM.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent
** HulkingOut: When he learns of Willow and Tara's relationship.
** InvoluntaryShapeshifting
** VoluntaryShapeshifting: After Tibet.
** PartialTransformation: [[ShapeshifterModeLock Mode locked]] during "[[WhatDoTheyFearEpisode Fear, Itself]]".
** PainfulTransformation: Although his later transformations transpire much more quietly. Nevertheless he agrees with [[EvilCounterpart Veruca]] when she describes the first few stages as blood boiling.
* PapaWolf
* PlayingAgainstType: So SethGreen isn't the PluckyComicRelief?
** The comic relief is his unruffled reaction to pretty much everything.
* PutOnABus
** TheBusCameBack: "New Moon Rising".
* RealMenWearPink: Literally in the season 2 finale. He also occasionally wears a t-shirt over his monk's robes, which makes it seem he's wearing a skirt.
* RomanticRunnerUp
* SplitPersonalityTakeover: Comes very close to invoking this voluntarily after it appears his struggles against his werewolf self are futile.
* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: The closer it is to sunset on a full moon night, the harder it is to resist his most primal urges.
* TheNoseKnows
* TheQuietOne
* TheStoic: His reaction upon finding out that he's a werewolf? "Huh."
** NotSoStoic
* TerseTalker
* WalkingTheEarth: Though he eventually settled down.
* WolfMan
!!Spike, né William Pratt (JamesMarsters)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marsters_spike_1571.jpg
->''"I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it."''
British vampire who served as the villain for early Season 2. Was planned to die, but his status as EnsembleDarkhorse saved him. He showed up in one episode in Season 3 before returning for good in Season 4. Had a chip in his head that prevented him from hurting humans, so he joined up with the Scoobies for survival and so he could get his kicks by fighting demons. Eventually fell in love with Buffy, and had a twisted relationship with her in Season 6. Got a soul at the end of Season 6 and made a HeroicSacrifice in the finale. Reappeared on ''Series/{{Angel}}''.
----
* AntiHero: [[SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes Type V]]. Turns Type III after getting his soul back.
* AuthorAppeal: {{Showrunner}} Marti Noxon is often accused of having an affinity for Naked!Spike.
* {{Badass}}: Until [[BadassDecay his decay]].
** BadassBiker
** BadassLongcoat
** CulturedBadass: Can quote ''HenryV'' with the best of them.
** PopCulturedBadass
* BasementDweller: Parts of Season 4 and 7.
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: He didn't steal BillyIdol's [[{{Expy}} look]]. Billy Idol stole ''his''!
* BloodKnight Light: Fighting isn't all he lives for, but it's a good portion of it.
* BreakoutCharacter / BreakoutVillain
* BreakTheHaughty: For a guy that cocky, his face sure does seem to be a fist-magnet.
* BruiserWithASoftCenter
* BrutalHonesty
* CantYouReadTheSign: A sign saying BEWARE OF DOG is shown behind Spike on several occasions.
* ClosetGeek: Develops an unlikely passion for ''{{Passions}}''.
* ClosetSublet: With Anya gone, Spike ignominiously moves into a 'spare room' in Xander's apartment.
-->"I know it looks like a closet but [[ImplausibleDeniability it's a room now.]]"
* CombatSadomasochist: Lampshaded on several occasions, most notably when Spike makes his AnguishedDeclarationOfLove.
-->'''Joyce:''' Honey, did you somehow, unintentionally, lead him on in any way? Send him signals?
-->'''Buffy:''' Well, I do beat him up a lot. For Spike, that's like third base.
* CoolAirship: We don't know where he got it, but it is awesome.
* CoolBike: That he stole from a demon biker in Season 6.
* DeadpanSnarker
* DependingOnTheWriter: Spike's level of evilness after being chipped seems to depend on who's writing him. Borders on HeelFaceRevolvingDoor.
* EmbarrassingNickname: "William the Bloody" actually refers to his bloody awful poems.
* EntitledBastard: Spike expecting Buffy's help when the Initiative are after him.
* EternalLove: With Drusilla. ...or so he thought.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: William's hope was to live in blissful trinity with his vampirized mum and Drusilla (to Dru's consternation). The plan went sour when [[IncestIsRelative his mum promptly tried to molest him]].
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Spike has a low tolerance for "poseur" vampires who act above their station, believing they give the undead a bad name. Contrary to his love of brawling, he's also adverse to wanton destruction; Spike enjoys the good life and isn't going to let Angelus destroy the world if he can help it.
* EvilCounterpart: To Angel, initially.
* FakeBrit: So well done that Marsters went on to play a FakeBrit on [[{{Torchwood}} an actually British show]].
* FauxAffablyEvil: Before getting [[RestrainingBolt chipped]].
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire: TropeNamer, though it was on ''Series/{{Angel}}'' and he was being [[DeadpanSnarker sarcastic]].
* FullyEmbracedFiend
* GoodIsNotNice
* GuiltyPleasures: DawsonsCreek and {{Passions}}.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[CharacterDevelopment Slowly over the course of four seasons]].
* HeroicSacrifice: [[Series/{{Angel}} He gets]] [[UnexplainedRecovery better]].
* HeroicSociopath
* HeroWithAnFInGood: In Seasons 5 and 6.
* HiddenDepths: He's surprisingly good at predicting Willow's behavior.
* IAmVeryBritish
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: After his BadassDecay got well underway.
* KnightOfCerebus: When Spike comes crashing through the Sunnydale welcome sign, gets out of his car and says "Home sweet home", it marks the beginning of the storyline that takes the entire series in a darker direction.
* KnightInSourArmor: After his HeelFaceTurn.
* LeeroyJenkins: On more than one occasion, his lack of patience has resulted in him heedlessly screwing up his own plans.
* LimitedWardrobe
* LivingForeverIsAwesome: This sums up the differences between him and Angel in a nutshell.
* LovableRogue
* LovableTraitor
* LoveHurts
* LoveInterest
* LoveMartyr: None of the women Spike falls in love with -- Cecily, Drusilla or Buffy -- ever return his love in the way Spike wants, and he puts up with an incredible amount of abuse from them, [[AbusivelySexyWoman particularly Buffy]].
* LoveRedeems
* ManchurianAgent: In the seventh season.
* ManipulativeBastard
* MenacingStroll
* MommasBoy: Even turned his mother into a vamp so they can [[IncestIsRelative be together forever]]. Also the root of his attraction to Drusilla, his sire.
* MoralityChip: Spike's chip.
* MrFanservice
* MusicalTrigger: The First takes control of Spike with the folk song "Early One Morning."
* NobleDemon
* OnlySaneMan: Quickly assumes he is this when Glory's spell makes everyone forget Glory is Ben every time he explains it to them.
* OpenMouthInsertFoot: Does this often when he's trying to court Buffy.
* PoisonousCaptive: In season four, Spike was often this to the Scoobies.
* PopularityPower
* PromotionToOpeningTitles
* PropheticName: "Pratt" = "idiot" in English parlance.
* QuizzicalTilt
* RealMenWearPink
* RestrainingBolt: Once the Initiative puts a chip in his head.
* RetCon: Angel being his sire and that he respected him. Flashbacks show Drusilla sired him and that he and Angel were always at each other's throats.
** WordOfGod says that vamps refer to anyone in their bloodline before them as their sire, so Spike would refer to Darla and The Master as his sires too.
* SirSwearsalot: Some of this is due to DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch, but it's also a character trait.
* SmokingIsCool
* SourSupporter: After being chipped. He becomes a more enthusiastic Scoobie after falling in love with Buffy.
* SpotlightStealingSquad: Like it or not, Spike eventually became the center of gravity for the entire cast. This started out gradually, kicking into overdrive once Marti Noxon took the helm. There's a reason it's just him and Buffy on the Season 7 box.
** On the other hand, many viewers hold this opinion of all of Buffy's boyfriends [[DieForOurShip who aren't Angel]]. "Something Blue" routinely ends up on Best Episode lists solely due to Buffy/Spike's short-lived (and magically-inspired) 'engagement', thanks in no small part to their immediate chemistry... in marked contrast to (yep) Buffy's ''then''-boyfriend Riley Finn, who is mostly detested by fans. Sensing a pattern here?
* StalkerWithACrush: How he acts initially after falling in love with Buffy.
* TheStarscream: First to the Anointed One, then to Angelus, both successfully.
* StreetSmart
* StylisticSuck: Spike's bloody awful poetry.
-->"''Effulgent''"?
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Initially, Spike was demoted to comic relief to fill the gap left by Cordelia. Joss felt the absence of both Cordy ''and'' Oz left the heroes without a dissenting voice.
* ThereIsAnother: Spike gradually takes on 'Angel' mantle in Seasons 5-7, whereupon he get treated to guilt, hallucinations, [[ReducedToRatburgers eating rats]] -- the works.
** He still caught a lot more breaks that Angel did. When Angel got his soul back, he was obliged to let himself be shackled to the wall of an empty house. Spike gets tied up [[ChainedToABed in Buffy's bedroom with nice soft rope]].
* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: What's he [[StalkerWithACrush doing outside Buffy's house]]? Five words or less. He's "Out. For. A. Walk." *{{Beat}}* "[[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch Bitch]]."
* ThrowingOffTheDisability: Ends up in a wheelchair after a church organ falls on him, but he gets better in a few episodes' time.
* TokenEvilTeammate: Especially in Season 4 and part of Season 5.
* TookALevelInBadass: Heralded by adopting the name Spike.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Aside from blood obviously, he fancies those onion blossoms and buffalo wings served at The Bronze, even though he can't digest them. He also likes to sprinkle Wheatabix into his blood bags for "texture."
* {{Tsundere}}: After he develops a crush on [[spoiler:Buffy]]. "[[MusicalEpisode First he'll kill her, then I'll save her... No, I'll save her]], ''[[IfWeSurviveThis then]]'' [[MusicalEpisode I'll kill her...]]" Played shallowly in his fling with Harmony, where the Deredere is mostly an act, partly a rebound crush, and the Tsuntsun is because she's ''[[ItsAllAboutMe just]] [[MotorMouth that]] [[SpannerInTheWorks annoying]]''.
-->Spike to [[spoiler: Buffy]], after he's caught [[StalkerWithACrush lurking outside her house]]: "And I never really liked you anyway, and [[LameComeback and you have stupid hair]] (''{{beat}}'') [''Leaves'']."
* YouAreNumberSix: The Initiative refer to him as Hostile 17.
* WallGlower
* WarriorPoet: Literally, although the latter isn't really showcased until Angel.
* WhamLine: Several.
** '''Season 2:''' "Oh, I will. [[ThrowingOffTheDisability Sooner than you think.]]"
** '''Season 5:''' "[[spoiler: Buffy]], [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove I love you]]. God, I love you so much. [[AllJustADream ...]][[CatapultNightmare Oh, God, no]]. [[LoveEpiphany Please, no]]."
** '''Season 6:''' Not by him, but about him.
--> '''Spike:''' "So you'll give me what I want. Make me what I was. So Buffy can get what she deserves."
--> '''Demon:''' "Very well. We will return...[[spoiler:your soul]]."
* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy: It's dyed, but beyond that.
-->'''Glory''' ''(about Spike)'': What the hell is that, and ''why'' is its hair that color?
!!Riley Finn (Marc Blucas)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/riley_blucas_9627.jpg
->''"So, what have you got going on tonight?"''
->''"Patrolling."''
->''"Patrolling?."''
->''"..[[LastSecondWordSwap Petroleum]]."''
->--Riley and Buffy
Initiative soldier and Buffy's LoveInterest in Season 4 (and early Season 5). PutOnABus, but came back for an episode in Season 6, and later on a recurring basis in the comics.
----
* {{Badass}}
** BadassAbnormal: When on the Initiative SuperSerum.
** BadassNormal: After being taken off the SuperSerum.
* BattleCouple: Riley is eager to form one with Buffy, but she finds his lack of superpowers cramps her style and his inability to measure up makes Riley feel inadequate even as a LoveInterest. When Riley returns for one episode ("[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E15AsYouWere As You Were]]") in Season 6, he's married a BadassNormal ActionGirl, forming a new Battle Couple.
* DoggedNiceGuy: In Season 6 when he returns to find Buffy working in a dead-end job and sleeping with Spike, Riley refuses to condemn her for it, instead giving Buffy the encouragement to start pulling her life back together.
* [[spoiler:FaceHeelTurn]]: In the comics.
** [[spoiler:Except not really. He was spying for Buffy.]]
* FantasticDrug: Became addicted to having his blood sucked by vampire prostitutes. And no, that is not an UnusualEuphemism.
* FarmBoy
* FeelNoPain: An eventual side-effect of Professor Walsh's experiments, though the strain it put on his body led to a HollywoodHeartAttack.
* TheGenericGuy
* GoodLookingPrivates
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Accidentally sleeping with Faith (in Buffy guise). His tenderness is so alien to her that she nearly [[FreakOut freaks out]].
* HappilyMarried: After returning in Season 6.
* LoveInterest
* [[spoiler:TheMole]]: In the comics.
** [[spoiler:ReverseMole, actually.]]
* PutOnABusToHell
** TheBusCameBack
* RomanticRunnerUp: He does have a successful relationship with Buffy for some time, but it's made plain that she doesn't love him the way she loved Angel.
* ScarsAreForever: When he comes back in Season 6, he has your standard Awesome [=McCool=] scar across his left eye. He also has one from when he cut out Adam's mind control chip, and probably has [[CoveredInScars another]] from when Adam stabbed him.
* SuperSoldier: On the mild side of "super", but he and the other Initiative troops are chemically augmented.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Becomes obsessed with [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys Buffy's attraction to vampires]] and starts letting vampire women feed on him.
* WhamLine: "But she doesn't love me."
!!Dawn Summers (Michelle Trachtenberg)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dawn_trach_7295.jpg
->"''We destroyed the mall? ...I fought on the wrong side.''"
Buffy's younger sister who was {{Cosmic Retcon}}ned into existence in Season 5. Was actually a [[MacGuffin Key]] that could open dimensional barriers. Spent two seasons as TheChick before becoming TheSmartGuy.
----
* AgeAppropriateAngst: Or so Joss thought, which is why he "scratched his head" when viewer response wasn't ideal. He later admitted the writers were "hitting the same note" with Dawn in Seasons 5-6.
* AgeIsRelative
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling
* ApocalypseMaiden
* {{Badass}}
** BadassNormal
** BadassAbnormal: When she was a giant and a centaurette.
* BarrierMaiden
* [[BigBrotherComplex Big Sister Complex]]: Dawn both resents and idolizes her superhero sister.
* BlueEyes
* BrattyHalfPint
* BreakTheCutie: Pretty much all of Season 5.
* TheChick
* CousinOliver
* CosmicRetcon
* CursedWithAwesome: While being a giant and centaurette were annoying to her, she at acknowledged they had some good points. Being turing into a doll though... not so much.
* DawsonCasting: Considering how much the show made use of it, Dawn was a pleasant aversion; Michelle Trachtenberg started playing the 14-year-old at 14. Probably done to ensure that she would look younger than her sister.
** Ironically, she became taller than her by Season 7.
* FreakOut: After learning she's the Key.
* GenreSavvy: In Season 8.
* HasTwoMommies: As part of the CosmicRetcon, it's stated that she spends the night at Willow and Tara's place whenever she gets upset. Later they semi-adopt her [[spoiler:when Buffy dies]] and move into her mom's old bedroom. Even when Willow and Tara separate early Season 6, Tara goes out of her way to assure Dawn, "This has nothing to do with you. You know we both still love you." Also, in Season 8, she directly says that Willow is like her mother.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial
* IncestSubtext: With her adopted mother, she shows signs of this. She wants Willow and Tara to teach her the stuff they do together, [[LesYay and is promptly told to go to her room]]. In another episode, Willow is perving on a girl dancing, to discover it was Dawn.
** Not to mention she has this vibe with her own sister.
* TheLoad: {{Lampshaded}} in Season 6.
--> "Dawn's in trouble. Must be Tuesday."
* MinoredInAsskicking
* MissedTheCall
* TheNotLoveInterest
* RapunzelHair
* RememberTheNewGuy: [[spoiler:Actually a subversion]].
* ScreamingWoman
* ShipperOnDeck: ''Hardcore'' Willow / Tara fangirl.
* TheSmartGuy: She took a role like this in Season 7.
* StickyFingers
* TookALevelInBadass: In Season 7 (technically starting in the season 6 finale).
* WhamLine: Dawn has a couple, inadvertently or otherwise. Like when talking to Riley about Buffy's relationship with Angel:
--> "Everyday was like the end of the world. She doesn't get worked up like that over you."
** Or to her sister:
--> "Buffy, Spike's completely in love with you."
* WrongGenreSavvy: In a lot of Season 7, she amusingly seems to think she's in ''{{CSI}}''.
* YoungerThanSheLooks: A 14-year old girl who is more than ReallySevenHundredYearsOld and is technically no more than a few hours old when first introduced.
!!Tara Maclay (AmberBenson)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tara_benson_4152.jpg
->''"I want my room to be Willow-friendly."''
Willow's love interest in Seasons 4-6. Also a capable witch, and a lot wiser about her powers than Willow. [[spoiler:Killed off in Season 6]]. She and Willow are the longest-lasting lesbian couple in network television history, and one of the best known.
----
* AbusiveParents: As part of her family's misogynistic tyranny of the women of the clan, they told her she was half-demon her entire life and that if she ever left them for too long, she'd turn into a monster.
* [[spoiler:BloodSplatteredInnocents]]
* [[spoiler:BringOutYourGayDead]]
* CureYourGays: Parodied in "Once More, With Feeling."
-->"Oh my God, I'm cured! I want the boys!" (pretends to run off, only to collapse giggling into Willow's arms)
* DeadStarWalking
* FakeGuestStar: Despite appearing in almost fifty episodes.
* [[spoiler:FamousLastWords]]: [[TearJerker "Your shirt..."]]
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Her love song to Willow in "Once More, With Feeling" is extremely touching. And extremely sexy if you actually listen to what she's singing: "Willow, you make me ''com''plete." Whedon said after the fact that it was the dirtiest thing he'd ever written.
-->Joss: Yeah... this is porn.
* HotWitch
* [[spoiler:InstantDeathBullet]]
* MindRape: What Glory did in "Tough Love," and what Willow did in "All The Way."
* PromotionToOpeningTitles: For one episode.
** [[spoiler:DeadStarWalking]]
* RelationshipReveal: With Willow.
* ShrinkingViolet
* SpeechImpediment: Clearly an artifact of her abusive childhood, as it gets worse when her family comes to town, but [[StutterStop almost disappears]] once she gains more confidence in herself.
* [[spoiler:StuffedIntoTheFridge: ''Twice''.]]
* [[spoiler:TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth]]
* WhamLine: If you thought Willow and Tara were "just friends"...
-->'''Tara''': I am, you know.
-->'''Willow''': What?
-->'''Tara''': Yours.
* WhiteSheep
* WiseBeyondHerYears: Despite being the most innocent of the Scoobies, Tara takes the revelation of [[spoiler:Joyce's death]] much more like an adult than any other member of the gang. We later learn it's because [[spoiler:her own mother died when she was 17, so she's been through this before]].
----
