History Characters / BuffyTheVampireSlayerScoobyGang

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The other pages are:
!Buffy the Vampire Slayer Characters

* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerBigBads Big Bads]]
* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerSunnydaleResidents Sunnydale Residents]]
* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerSunnydaleHigh Sunnydale High]]
* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerVampires Vampires]]
* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerDemonsAndMonsters Demons and Monsters]]
* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerWatchersAndSlayers Watchers and Slayers]]
* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerTwilightGroup The Twilight Group]]
* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerOtherCharacters Other Characters]]
* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerComic Dark Horse Comic Characters]]

!Angel Characters

* [[Characters/AngelInvestigations Angel Investigations]]
* [[Characters/AngelWolframAndHart Wolfram and Hart]]
* [[Characters/AngelLosAngelesResidents Los Angeles Residents]]
* [[Characters/AngelBigBads Angel Big Bads]]
* [[Characters/AngelOtherCharacters Other Characters]]

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:In General]]

-->''"There is only one thing on this earth more powerful than evil, and that's us. Any questions?"''
--->---''Buffy Summers''

!!Tropes that apply to the Scooby Gang as a whole:
* AwesomeMcCoolname: No Alices or Bobs here; this is an Aerith-Only group. The only normal-names are Andrew and Dawn (which is kind of borderline). The other common names (Alexander, Daniel) avoid normalcy by going by unusual nicknames (Xander, Oz (from his last name, Osbourne)).
* BadassCrew: The Scoobies are a handful of humans and vampires that keep all the nasties in the Hellmouth from overrunning the world.
* BadassNormal: Xander is the most prominent example because he stays relevant even after his friends have become mages or werewolves or {{Super Soldier}}s. Giles and Anya also count to a degree.
* BetterAsFriends: Willow and Xander, whose UnluckyChildhoodFriend and ObliviousToLove statuses only give way to romance when they're both in other relationships. Willow chooses her relationship with Oz (and then, after they break up, discovers she's a lesbian) and she and Xander remain best friends.
* BreakingTheFellowship: Happens to them in-between Seasons 6 and 7. Willow and Giles have departed to London for Willow to undergo rehabilitation over her magic addiction, Anya has become a vengeance demon again, and Spike has departed Sunnydale to regain his soul; in "Beneath You," when Dawn suggests rounding up the rest of the gang to deal with the MonsterOfTheWeek, Xander points out that she, himself, and Buffy ''are'' what's left of the Scoobies. This is rectified over the course of Season 7.
* ChildhoodFriends: Willow and Xander have been best friends since kindergarten. They knew Cordelia for a long time - and hated her so much they formed a club devoted to it.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance:
** Willow had a crush on Xander for years. They get together briefly in season three, only for Willow to realize she'd rather be with Oz. (And then with Tara.) Turns out they were born to be PlatonicLifePartners, not lovers. In "The Gift", the fifth season finale, Xander declares, "Smart chicks are so hot!" Willow replies with a wistful smile, "You couldn't have figured that out in 10th grade?"
** The comics reveal Dawn and Xander, who appear to be together in the comics now. Dawn has always had a crush on Xander.
*** Also opens up some questions about free will when you realize Dawn was a construct built by the monks to hide the key. ALWAYS in her case is literally from the beginning of season 5 when she was made. The crush memories she has that ARE shown from before then were implanted by the monks.
* DeadpanSnarker: Buffy and Xander are the most prominent, [[WorldOfSnark but they all have their moments]].
* DysfunctionJunction: It's more subtle in the earliest seasons, but it becomes increasingly obvious the Scoobies all have a lot of issues and [[DarkAndTroubledPast troubled pasts]] to go around.
** Buffy has the responsibility of saving the world at the age of [[HarmfulToMinors just 15]] which [[ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne clashes with her own plans for a happy and stable life]], her parents had a messy divorce which deeply affects her well into adulthood, [[ParentalAbandonment her dad abandoned her]]...and this is when the series ''starts''.
** Willow's parents are also divorced; her father is apparently [[DisappearedDad never around]] while her mother is rather [[ParentalObliviousness oblivious]] or [[EducationMama overly pushy]] and [[SoapboxSadie preachy]], and she spends most of her life up until college as a social outcast with [[HeroicSelfDeprecation poor self-esteem]] and [[ShrinkingViolet no confidence]].
** Xander's parents are actually not divorced, though he probably wishes they were because [[AwfulWeddedLife they do nothing but fight]] and are extremely [[ParentalObliviousness oblivious to his problems]]; he covers up his lack of self-esteem and insecurities [[StepfordSmiler with humour]].
** Giles has a very DarkAndTroubledPast involving [[FormerTeenRebel teen rebellion]] [[GoneHorriblyWrong gone wrong]] and black magic, earning him the nickname [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Ripper]], which he now tries desperately to move past (to the point of going a little ''too'' far the other way).
** Angel is [[TheAtoner brooding good vampire]], [[BlessedWithSuck cursed with a soul]] to punish him for all of past evils (of which there are ''many'') and he is also tormented by his [[StarcrossedLovers doomed love]] for Buffy.
** Cordelia is an AlphaBitch who [[HiddenDepths secretly]] only acts the way she does because she [[IJustWantToHaveFriends doesn't want to be alone]], even though she suspects none of her 'friends' [[FalseFriend really care about her]].
** Oz seems to have the most stable homelife, but also happens to be a werewolf, forcing him to be locked in a cage for three nights every month lest he goes on a rampage and hurts someone.
** Faith's mother was a [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]] [[AlcoholicParent substance abuser]] and [[ParentalSubstitute her Watcher]] was brutally murdered in front of her; she continues down an emotional tailspin before having a FaceHeelTurn, then goes down a [[RedemptionQuest long, hard road to redemption]].
** Anya is an ex-vengeance demon who DoesNotLikeMen, but finds herself falling for Xander anyway – her insecurities around relationships and [[NoSocialSkills lack of awareness about social interaction]] cause [[LoveHurts some problems here]], though.
** Riley is a soldier who was trained to follow orders blindly, [[BrokenPedestal discovers that the organisation he works for is not the force of good he believed it to be and that his admired mentor is actually a pretty nasty piece of work]], who performs unethical experiments, tried to murder his girlfriend and experimented on ''him'' without his knowledge or consent; he subsequently struggles with being a DefectorFromDecadence and with his increasing awareness that Buffy [[AllLoveIsUnrequited doesn't love him as much as he loves her]].
** Tara's family are so [[AbusiveParents controlling and abusive]], it's a miracle they even let her go to college, grinding her down until she was a [[ShrinkingViolet stuttering and painfully shy]] [[ExtremeDoormat doormat]] who made teen!Willow look confident. Her mother was the only family member who was nice to her and [[DeceasedParentsAreTheBest died when she was 17]]. And that's not even getting into the part where they tricked her into believing she was ''part-demon'', which turns out to be an utter lie designed to control her and the other women in her family.
** Dawn is a magic-made CosmicRetcon who has to grapple with the realization that all her memories are fake and all her friends and family were magicked into being so. Then she has to deal with being hunted by a Hellgod, watching all her friends get hurt trying to protect her, and then the [[spoiler: deaths of her mother and sister in quick succession.]]
** Spike was a once much-maligned Victorian poet, who was routinely mocked by his peers. After being turned, he attempted to save his sickly mother from worsening tuberculosis by siring her, only to be traumatized when she comes back cruel and tries to molest him. By the time he becomes a Scooby, he's been neutered and humiliated countless times, forced to work with the good guys until he falls in love with a woman who despises him. After which he continually tries and fails to grapple with morality, which his soulless nature leaves him wholly unequipped to understand.
*** Things ''really'' reach a head in Season 6. Buffy sums it up to Giles pretty sufficiently:
---->'''Giles:''' Buffy, what's happened here?\\
'''Buffy:''' God. I don't know where to start.\\
'''Giles:''' Well, Willow's clearly been abusing the magicks.\\
'''Buffy:''' She has. She was, and I barely even noticed. Everything's been so...Xander left Anya at the altar and Anya's a vengeance demon again. Dawn's a total klepto. Money's been so tight that I've been slinging burgers at the Doublemeat Palace. And I've been sleeping with Spike.
* FamilyOfChoice: Several examples throughout the show:
** When Tara's AbusiveParents try to take her home, Buffy and her friends insist that ''they'' are Tara's family instead, as they actually care for her.
** Giles was the closest thing Buffy, Willow, and Xander had to a father as teenagers; this doesn't really become clear until later seasons, when we see just how distant all of their fathers are.
** Also, although the Scoobies themselves were something more like FireForgedFriends for the first five seasons, the deaths of Joyce and then Buffy and Giles' absence knitted them together domestically as they banded up to take care of Dawn; Willow and Tara moved in to the Summers' house and made her morning pancakes, Spike became the friendly villainous babysitter, Buffy became the hard-working mother after her resurrection, and Xander was always there fixing the windows. Seasons 6-7 definitely portrayed them as a well-oiled family unit with a home base and designated roles.
* FireForgedFriends: This is how they became friends. It is also the most common solution to any major strife among the Scoobies. A notable example is Xander and Spike in the final season. Despite openly hating each other until this point, they manage to work together to save the girls from the influence of RJ's magic jacket in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E6Him Him]]". After Spike goes back to save Xander from Caleb in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlaterS7E18DirtyGirls Dirty Girls]]" their previous animosity is almost completely set aside. Perhaps the most prominent example is in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E2DeadMansParty Dead Man's Party]]" during season three. After just about ''everyone'' spends most of the episode trashing Buffy for running away to the point that she nearly runs away again, all is forgiven and they're all best buds again right after they stop a magic mask-induced ZombieApocalypse.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes:
** Spike is an example in Season 7—most of the Scoobies neither like nor trust him (lampshaded by Anya), but Buffy insists he stick around because he's valuable. Though that's not the only reason.
** Cordelia qualifies as this in the second and third seasons, hanging around only because she's "in the know" and because she's dating Xander at certain points.
** Later, Anya (a former vengeance demon-turned-human) for the same reasons as Cordelia.
* FriendsRentControl: Get this in the comics, but for a good reason: the building was haunted and the owner couldn't get anyone else to live there. As a result they have three very nice apartments for a group that generally only has one or two members working at a time.
* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang:
** Anya and Tara had barely any close personal interaction despite hanging out together for years in the Scooby Gang and their love interests being best friends with each other, possibly due to their vividly contrasting personalities.
** Oz and Cordelia got along well enough, yet when he crosses over to ''Angel'', they briefly catch up, then run out of things to say.
** Oz and Angel rarely interacted, mainly due to the fact that Oz joined the gang around the time Angelus was on the loose. When Oz arrived in Los Angeles, he and Angel exchanged brief words, Cordelia noting that their conversation was typical of their relationship.
* GoodIsNotSoft: They're all nice kids and Giles is a QuintessentialBritishGentleman, but they've killed a lot of monsters.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: As of Season 8, many people believe them to be a speciesist group preying on vampires. Only gets worse in Season 9 due to [[BigBad Simone's]] antics, but they finally shake it off in Season 10.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Buffy and Willow. It made for a bit of awkwardness when Willow came out as gay, partially because they had grown apart quite a bit during that season and Buffy had ''no clue'' until then. It's given shippers more ammunition than every bullet in every war ever.
* HonoraryTrueCompanion: Cordelia and Angel would sometimes join in the early seasons; but the former still does not like being in their presence, and the latter, being a vampire, can't be there during the day.
* HonorBeforeReason: Throughout Season 4 and most of Season 5, they all are largely against killing Spike after he got his RestrainingBolt because he's helpless, despite the fact that he was one of their worst enemies and kept saying that he would kill them all at the first opportunity once he got the chip removed. Of course, that doesn't stop them from regularly taunting him over his "impotence" and beating him up for fun or information.
* KidHero: Most of them started demon fighting when they were back in high school.
* KidHeroAllGrownUp: Most of the Scoobies were high schoolers that began demon-hunting at age 16. The show ends with them in their early twenties, with the [[ComicBookAdaptation sequel comics]] following them until their late twenties or early thirties (Buffy mentions being 30 years old in Season 12).
* LikeBrotherAndSister:
** Buffy and Xander after Season Two. For the first two seasons it's a bit one-sided (Xander's in love with Buffy during this time).
** Xander and Willow also end up like this. They start off more like PlatonicLifePartners, but as the series progresses they drift apart a bit, and form close relationships with other people. They remain part of the same group of True Companions.
* PlatonicLifePartners:
** Xander and Willow are like this at least for the first three seasons. They've known each other their whole lives (or at least since kindergarten), and are so close that Xander is even able to save the world at the end of Season 6 by telling Willow how much he loves her. They "dated" as children, Willow had a mostly unrequited adolescent crush on Xander, and have a brief fling as teenagers, but are basically friends throughout.
** What Angel and Faith have become by Season 9.
** Buffy is this with Xander eventually. To get there he had to get over his crush on her and she had to stop thinking of him as a simple 'friend'.
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The Scooby Gang has had, at various points, a Slayer (Buffy), a confident outcast (Xander), a computer geek turned witch (Willow), a stuffy librarian (Giles), a snotty cheerleader (Cordelia), a taciturn werewolf (Oz), two vampires (Angel and Spike), a soldier (Riley), a millenium old ex-demon (Anya), an energy being turned human (Dawn), a gentle and shy witch (Tara), and a geeky demon summoner (Andrew) - and that's not even counting their various allies and friends from all walks of life. No matter the line-up, the Scooby Gang is very good at what they do when it comes to hunting demons.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork:
** Cordelia was a reluctant team member (sort of). It gets worse after her breakup with Xander.
** Spike could also be an example, especially in season 4, when he's only working with them so he can get to kill anything at all. Especially prominent with Xander.
** Xander towards Angel, although not so much Angel towards Xander.
** Anya winds up behaving this way to the rest of the Scoobies during the end of season 6 and the beginning of season 7 when she becomes a vengeance demon again after Xander leaves her at the altar.
* ThouShaltNotKillMuggles: The group insists that, while demons are fair game, humans are out of their jurisdiction period, though Buffy is the most adamant on this.
* TrueCompanions: They've all become this throughout the series, to the extent of calling one another family.
* VitriolicBestBuds:
** Willow and Anya, with an entire episode dealing with the matter and Anya serving as a surrogate annoying younger sister.
** Spike and Xander become this by season seven.
** Buffy and Faith were this before Faith's FaceHeelTurn to the dark side. She and Buffy do become closer again at the ends of Season 7 and Season 8 of Buffy after Faith's HeelFaceTurn.
[[/folder]]

[[index]]
* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerScoobyGangOriginals Original Scooby Gang]][[note]]Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris, Rupert Giles[[/note]]
** [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerBuffySummers Buffy Summers]]
* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerScoobyGangLaterAdditions Later Additions]][[note]]Dawn Summers, Spike, Andrew Wells[[/note]]
** [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerSpike Spike]]
* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerScoobyGangFormerMembers Former Members]][[note]]Angel, Cordelia Chase, Anya Jenkins, Oz, Riley Finn, Tara Maclay[[/note]]
** [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerAngel Angel]]
[[/index]]

* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerScoobyGangOriginals Original Scooby Gang]][[note]]Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenburg, Xander Harris, Rupert Giles[[/note]]

* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: Anya and Tara had barely any close personal interaction despite hanging out together for years in the Scooby Gang and their love interests being best friends with each other, possibly due to their vividly contrasting personalities.

* FireForgedFriends: Not only did they first become friends via slaying, but a good fight against monsters is generally ''the'' best solution to any strife between them, as shown in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E2DeadMansParty Dead Man's Party]]".

* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerBigBads Big Bads]][[note]]Lothos, The Master, Angelus, The Mayor, Adam, Glory, The Trio, The First Evil[[/note]]

* The Scooby Gang

* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerScoobyGang The Scooby Gang]][[note]]Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris, Rupert Giles, Dawn Summers, Andrew Wells, Angel, Cordelia Chase, Anya Jenkins, Oz, Spike, Riley Finn, Tara Maclay[[/note]]

[[/index]]*

* SecondYearProtagonist: Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Cordelia all begin the show as high-school sophomores.

* {{Adorkable}}: They all have their moments. Hell, being too dorky and weird for the cool kids is part of what brings them together (y'know, besides the fact that they're saving the world on a weekly basis).

* FireForgedFriends: Not only did they first become friends via slaying, but a good fight against monsters is generally ''the'' best solution to any strife between them, as shown in "Dead Man's Party."

[[/index]]

* TrueCompanions: They've all become this throughout the series; they even call each other family more than once.

--> '''Giles:''' Buffy, what's happened here?
--> '''Buffy:''' God. I don't know where to start.
--> '''Giles:''' Well, Willow's clearly been abusing the majicks.
--> '''Buffy:''' She has. She was, and I barely even noticed. Everything's been so...Xander left Anya at the altar and Anya became a demon again. Dawn's a total klepto. Money's been so tight that I've been slinging burgers at the Doublemeat Palace. And I've been sleeping with Spike.
* FireForgedFriends: Not only did they first become friends via slaying, a good fight is generally ''the'' best solution to any strife between them, as shown in "Dead Man's Party."

--> '''Buffy:''' She has. She was, and I barely even noticed. Everything's been so... Dawn's a total klepto, Xander left Anya at the altar and Anya became a demon again. And I - I'm so... I've been sleeping with Spike.

** Buffy has the responsibility of saving the world at the age of [[HarmfulToMinors just 15]] which [[ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne clashes with own plans for a happy and stable life]], her parents had a messy divorce which deeply affects her well into adulthood, [[ParentalAbandonment her dad abandoned her]]...and this is when the series ''starts''.

** Faith's mother was a [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]] [[AlcoholicParent substance abuser]] and [[ParentalSubstitute her Watcher]] was brutally murdered in front of her; she continues down an emotional tailspin before having a FaceHeelTurn, then goes down a [[QuestForRedemption long, hard road to redemption]].
** Anya is an ex-vengeance demon who DoesntLikeMen, but finds herself falling for Xander anyway – her insecurities around relationships and [[NoSocialSkills lack of awareness about social interaction]] cause [[LoveHurts some problems here]], though.

* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerScoobyGang TheScoobyGang]][[note]]Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris, Rupert Giles, Dawn Summers, Andrew Wells, Angel, Cordelia Chase, Anya Jenkins, Oz, Spike, Riley Finn, Tara Maclay[[/note]]

* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerScoobyGang]][[note]]Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris, Rupert Giles, Dawn Summers, Andrew Wells, Angel, Cordelia Chase, Anya Jenkins, Oz, Spike, Riley Finn, Tara Maclay[[/note]]

* [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerScoobyGang The Scooby Gang]][[note]]Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris, Rupert Giles, Dawn Summers, Andrew Wells, Angel, Cordelia Chase, Anya Jenkins, Oz, Spike, Riley Finn, Tara Maclay[[/note]]