Sandbox / Magnificent Bastard Buffyverse

The Master: Fear is a wonderful thing. It is the most powerful force in the human world. Not love, not hate... Fear! When you were a mortal boy, what did you fear?
Collin: Monsters.
Master: Oh. We are defined by the things we fear. (examines a cross) This symbol, these two planks of wood, it confounds me. Suffuses me with mortal dread. But fear is in the mind. (grabs the cross, burning his hands) Like pain. It can be controlled. If I can face my fear, it cannot master me.

— The Master and his Anointed One, "Nightmares"

Across the expansive Buffyverse, from Sunnydale to Los Angeles and beyond, Buffy Summers, Angel, and their teams have faced many villains in their time, oftentimes the worst that humanity and demonkind have to offer. Among this diverse group comes these exceptions, standing out for their style and skill.

All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

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Main Continuity

Franchise-Wide

Examples

• "The Master", born Heinrich Joseph Nest, is the first "Big Bad" Buffy ever faced and one of the few villains to truly best her, both physically and mentally. One of the oldest and most powerful vampires in the modern era, the Master was Darla's sire, with her power, and thus the powers of Angelus, Drusilla, and Spike all coming from him. Determined to escape his mystical prison no matter the cost, the Master attempts to utilize the Harvest to do so and learns of Buffy's existence in the process. The Master sets his escape in motion multiple times through very underhanded means, such as using Buffy's friend Jesse McNally as bait and using a double to trick her into thinking she'd killed his Anointed One. After convincing Buffy that she'd averted his prophesized escape, he successfully lures her to his prison and then easily kills her, escaping his prison and opening the Hellmouth for his demons to wreak havoc. Standing out for his poise and leadership, the Master's influence lasts for many years after his death, with Buffy never forgetting the one vampire that successfully killed her.
• Sineya, the First Slayer, was a young girl captured by the Shadowmen, infused with demon essence, and turned into a great warrior at the expense of her humanity. After driving back the Old Ones from Earth and eventually dying, Sineya lived on as a spirit attached to the mortal plane, encountering the Scooby Gang as both a friend and foe. After being summoned for the strength necessary to defeat Adam, Sineya grew angry that Buffy relied on allies to perform her duties and thus punished the gang, tormenting them with nightmares before killing them one by one. When Buffy proves her wrong, Sineya simply gives her a warning of the future, then continues to serve as a Spirit Advisor to the Slayer. Consistently giving cryptic advice that leads to the downfall of several major villains, including the First Evil and Simone Doffler, Sineya eventually gives one of her visions to Billy Lane, a non-Slayer, showing that she now accepts allies in the fight against evil.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (both the TV series & the comic book)

Examples

• Season 3:
  • Mayor Richard Wilkins "III", the season's main antagonist, was the founder of Sunnydale and the architect of much of the evil in the show to that point. Having created the town as a place for demons to gather, Wilkins manipulates the town and demons alike to empower himself for his Ascension into a pure-blooded demon. Wilkins frequently stays ahead of Buffy and the Scooby Gang and manages to become invulnerable, even allowing the rogue slayer Faith Lehane to join his team. Forming a genuinely loving father-daughter bond with her, Wilkins manages to complete his plans to Ascend, with only a fullscale war at Sunnydale High managing to stop him. Even post-mortem, Wilkins leaves behind a way for Faith to prosper and possibly destroy Buffy. Despite his clear evil, Wilkins manages to remain a very pleasant and intelligent man, always ready with a smile and a joke who proves to be one of Buffy's most dangerous enemies.
  • Mr. Trick is a modernist vampire with an unparalleled sense of showmanship and charisma. Originally introduced as the right-hand man for Kakistos, Trick pragmatically leaves his former master to die when it's clear he'll lose, preferring to strike out on his own. After designing and executing Slayerfest '98, he quickly finds himself under the employ of Mayor Richard Wilkins, a position he takes to quite well. Front-running many of Wilkins' operations, it is Trick who hires Ethan Rayne to revert the adults of the town back to teenagers, ensuring that no one will sample from the line by accusing a random worker of doing so before killing them. He also leads a team of vampires to take on both Slayers at once, coming within an inch of killing Buffy himself, and assists Wilkins in becoming invulnerable, including saving his life from a fellow vampire. Pragmatic and ruthless yet charming and skilled, Mr. Trick is one of the few vampires to encounter Buffy multiple times and live to tell the tale, always ready to come back for more with a smile on his face.
• Season 4: Adam, this season's Big Bad, is a biomechanical demonoid created by Maggie Walsh, created to bring together the best parts of humanity, demonkind, and technology. Woken up by Maggie to fight the Slayer, Adam kills her instead, then escapes the Initiative so as to learn more about the world and his place in it. Along the way, he kills and dissects humans and demons alike, seeking to understand how they function so as to understand himself better. Uniting the local vampires and demons through his philosophical demeanor and strength, he encourages them to face their fears, becoming so beloved and trusted that a group of vampires attack a church in broad daylight in his name. Using Spike to manipulate Buffy and her friends, Adam forcibly recruits Riley Finn to his cause, viewing him as a brother due to their shared relationship with Maggie. Intending to create a race of fellow demonoids, Adam has his forces avoid the Slayer and get arrested by the Initiative, intending to release all of them at once to ensure maximum carnage on both sides to create as many soldiers as possible.
• "I Robot, You Jane": Moloch the Corruptor is an ancient demon who convinces humans to follow him through promises of his love. Accidentally released into the internet, Moloch revels in his new power through various methods, from small things like changing a student's history paper to big things like tying the Vatican up in a bank error. Manipulating computer geniuses Dave and Fritz to his cause, Moloch orders them to kill Buffy when he learns that she's the Slayer; when Dave saves her instead, he has Fritz kill him and make it look like a suicide. After convincing research facility Calax to build him a physical body, he has Willow kidnapped so she can witness his rebirth, and after professing his love for her, he offers her a place at his side. Genuinely capable of loving humans, Moloch is the first proof that not all demons are pure evil.
• "Revelations": Gwendolyn Post presents herself as a well-meaning Watcher for Faith Lehane, while in truth she is actually a dark witch seeking the Glove of Myneghon for herself. Quickly feeding into Giles' and Faith's inferiority complexes in different ways, she pretends to be a friend of Faith's, informing her of a meeting the Gang had without her so as to further split them apart from each other. After manipulating Giles into giving up the information on the Glove's whereabouts, Post knocks Giles out before meeting with Angel, claiming to be there on his behalf. When Angel sees through the ruse and attacks her, she manipulates Faith into fighting on her behalf; when Buffy attempts to diffuse the situation, Post manages to manipulate Faith into fighting her as well, turning the two Slayers against each other. While she successfully gets her hands on the Glove for herself, Post's actions also result in Faith's permanent separation from the team, with neither Slayer ever quite recovering from the ease in which she pit them against each other.
• "The Wish": In the alternate universe created by Cordelia's wish, The Master's Harvest was successful and he rose to power in Sunnydale. Transforming the city into a vampire paradise, the Master rules over the humans with an iron fist, with the only resistance lying in the pitiful White Hats as led by Giles. When the Master learns from his Co-Dragons Willow and Xander that Cordelia mentioned Buffy's name, he immediately has them kill her so as to prevent Buffy from being called into town. That night, he unveils his master plan: utilize technology to create a new "golden age" for vampires by eliminating the need for hunting, placing the vampires at the top of the food chain where he feels they belong. Though Buffy interferes, the Master kills her with ease, only stopped when Giles resets the world to how it previously was.
• "The Freshman": Sunday is a pragmatic vampire who chooses UC Sunnydale as her haunting ground. Targeting the college's freshmen, Sunday's group sires the students and then steals their things from their room, leaving behind a note saying that the student simply couldn't handle the stress and dropped out to deflect suspicion from her. As Buffy learns, Sunday has been doing this for over a decade, deliberately taking enough students to establish a pattern without taking so many that police get suspicious, explaining why she has never been caught. Managing to survive a head-on confrontation with Buffy, Sunday then pulls her routine on the Slayer herself, demoralizing her to the point that she almost gives up completely. When Buffy recovers and finds her hideout, Sunday comes close to defeating her once more, showing strength and skill unmatched by other vampires.
• "Wild At Heart": Veruca is a werewolf who, unlike Oz, has come to believe that the wolf is who she truly is, with her human face simply being a disguise. Having felt a connection with Oz before meeting him due to her heightened senses, Veruca becomes determined to make him release his wolf side upon discovering just who he is. After beginning to seduce him the morning of the full moon, she completes the job when Oz invites her into his cage, separating him from his girlfriend Willow when she walks in on them together. When that doesn't work, she decides to kill her instead, welcoming Oz to return the favor when he intervenes. Although his wolf form kills her, Oz ultimately proves her right when he realizes he can't control the wolf inside him, prompting him to leave Sunnydale to find who he is.
• "Hush": The Gentlemen are a group of monsters whose politeness is only matched by their horrifying nature. Originating from a fairy tale, the Gentlemen arrive in Sunnydale and remove the voices from everyone in the town, descending it into chaos overnight. Waiting until sundown to strike, the Gentlemen then go on the hunt for seven human hearts, taking advantage of the silence to ensure the victims cannot scream or call for help. When two of them pursue Willow and Tara across campus, they prove to be relentless foes, only giving up when they both combine their powers to drive them away; additionally, when Buffy arrives in their headquarters, one of them quickly stabs her from behind, taking her out of the fight entirely. Although theatrical and polite with one another, the Gentlemen prove themselves to be intelligent and dangerous foes who remain some of the most terrifying monsters ever encountered in the franchise.
• "Spiral": General Gregor and Dante Chavalier are the leaders of the Knights of Byzantium, a group dedicated to destroying the Key and preventing Glorificus aka "Glory"'s "Big Day". Arriving in Sunnydale, Dante manages to get Orlando out of the mental ward and the two of them then lead an assault on the Scooby Gang's winnebago as they flee the city, eventually winning and making it crash. After tracking the gang to an abandoned gas station, Gregor then leads a full scale assault and while he's captured and a barrier spell is erected, Dante Mercy Kills Orlando to prevent him from serving Glory further. While Dante proves himself an honorable warrior when he allows Ben Wilkinson inside to heal Giles' wounds, Gregor refuses to break for anything, neither pleas that Dawn is human nor beatings from the Slayer, and even takes advantage of the group's dissension by preying on Ben's fear of Glory. After Gregor informs Buffy of Glory's only weakness, Glory resurfaces and kills them all, yet they go down fighting nobly and their information ensures Glory's later demise.
• "Once More, With Feeling": The devilishly charismatic Sweet is the "lord of the dance," a fun-loving demon who has been around since ancient times, compelling people to uncontrollably reveal their innermost desires through song and dance. When Xander invokes Sweet's name and Sweet mistakes Buffy's younger sister Dawn as the one who invoked him, Sweet takes the girl away so he can make her his queen. The Scooby Gang play right into Sweet's hands when they go after Dawn, and Sweet uses the opportunity to put Buffy and her friends through hell, forcing them to admit their deepest secrets. Sweet nearly gets Buffy to dance herself to literal death when she's forced to admit the heroes pulled her from Heaven instead of Hell after they resurrected her. Even when he's "foiled," Sweet takes off with no less dignity and style than he arrived with, forcing the heroes to face that none of them "can claim this ended well."
• "Hell's Bells": Stewart Burns is one of Anya's many victims who desires revenge for her actions. After spending eight decades in a hell dimension due to his philandering ways, Stewart returns to Earth on the day of Anya's wedding and decides to ruin it. After crashing the wedding, Stewart confronts Xander and pretends to be his future self, presenting him with a horrifying future in which Xander attacks and kills Anya after years of an unhappy marriage. Xander then flees the wedding, and as it descends into chaos, Stewart confronts Anya, eventually attacking her. Although he's killed by Buffy and Xander, Stewart's scheme leads to Xander walking out of the wedding, permanently ruining Anya's life and undoing all of her attempts to feel human.
• "Villains", "Two to Go", and "Grave": Lloyd is the mysterious master of the Demon Trials, a gladiator-style tournament held in his own cave. Upon seeing Spike come to participate, Lloyd immediately dresses him down, refusing to let him be as coy as he always is and criticizing him for falling as far as he has. Though doubtful that Spike can succeed, he lets Spike take the trials, which he makes as difficult as possible to ensure Spike proves his mettle; first by not informing him that the trials had multiple stages, then by starting another trial silently. When Spike succeeds and proves his worth, Lloyd keeps his end of the bargain and returns his soul, beginning Spike's final push in his turn to heroism.
• "Conversations With Dead People": Holden Webster is one of Buffy's former classmates who turns into a vampire during her patrol. After almost killing her, Holden instead recognizes her and decides to talk with her, quickly picking up on her emotional struggles. As he continually gets her to open up by asking her hard-to-answer questions and attacking her while her guard's down, Holden remains genuinely friendly with her, looking forward to their eventual rivalry and swearing to Buffy that he's only there to help her. After deducing that her last boyfriend was a vampire, Holden gets her to open up about her relationship with Spike, telling her that Spike was the one who sired him before their final fight to the death.
• "Get It Done": The Shadowman is the man responsible for the creation of the Slayer. When the world was overrun with demons and vampires, the Shadowman captured a young girl, Sineya, and forced her to inherit the essence of a demon, turning her into a great warrior at the expense of her humanity. Following this, he would go on to create the organization that would become the Watchers' Council, who would continue serving the Slayer for centuries. When Buffy arrives in his time looking for help, he attempts to repeat the process on her, believing that humanity is a weakness compared to the raw power he provides. When she proves him wrong and defeats his men, the Shadowman rewards her by giving her a vision of the First Evil's army. Though she soon returns to her time period, the Shadowman's message shakes her beliefs for the first time, leaving her wondering if he might have been right after all.
• Tales: "Jack": Inspector James Whitcomb is the man searching for the legendary serial killer Jack the Ripper. After discovering his latest body, James deduces that Jack is actually a vampire, managing to track him down as he attacks another victim. Pretending to be weaker than he truly is to lull Jack into a false sense of security, James then reveals that he's a vampire, easily defeating the killer. After killing Jack in order to keep The Masquerade intact, James takes a break from the police force, covering up Jack's death and his role in it in the process.

Angel

Examples

• Seasons 1 & 2: Holland Manners, one of the longest lasting and highest ranking attorneys of Wolfram & Hart, is a brilliant schemer who recruits many of the Firm's best talent and keeps evil flourishing in the world. Holland manages to corrupt his protege Lindsey even further with nothing more than a promotion, engineering the freedom and prosperity of many evil beings by legal maneuvers and brings about the return of Darla to corrupt Angel. Arranging for Darla's Siring at the hands of Drusilla to break Angel further, Holland ends up killed by Darla in the end but returns to escort Angel to a supposed final conflict with the "Senior Partners" of the firm. After delivering a speech on the inexorable nature of despair, Holland deposits Angel back on earth, revealing that the true nature of evil is found within human souls, driving Angel furthest into the depths of despair.
• Season 3: Daniel Holtz was once a great force for good, a heroic vampire hunter whose family was destroyed by Angelus and Darla. Succumbing to vengeance, Holtz allows himself to be taken to 20th century LA where he builds an army of fanatics from those who have lost loved ones to vampires to use and manipulate, before focusing on how best to make Angel suffer. Holtz sees Angel's newborn son and manipulates Wesley into kidnapping the child before stealing the baby Connor away, intending to raise Connor himself far from Angel. When caught, Holtz elects to dive into the worst demon dimension with Connor, but survives and raises the boy there, later returning, seemingly at peace with Angel. Pulling off his final masterstroke, Holtz has himself murdered in a way to simulate a vampire attack, framing Angel to Connor so Connor will try to destroy Angel himself. Consumed by revenge and showing how far a true force for righteousness can fall, Holtz did more damage to Angel than even demons and gods have managed.
• "Sense and Sensitivity": Allen Lloyd is a demon worshipper hired by Lee Mercer to help get his client "Little" Tony out of prison. To do so, Allen hosts a mandatory sensitivity training course in the station, manipulating all of the officers and detectives into holding his talisman in the form of a "talking stick". Unleashing the repressed emotions of every officer, Allen throws the police station into chaos overnight, ensuring that Tony can escape with minimal interference. When Angel tracks him down, Allen tricks him into grabbing the stick himself, then manages to remain un-captured while the chaos unfolds.
• "I've Got You Under My Skin": The unnamed Ethros demon possessing Ryan Anderson became trapped within the evil child's body and desired a way out at any cost. After almost getting Ryan to commit suicide, the demon is exposed by Angel, yet uses his powers and innate knowledge to manipulate everyone around him to his hearts content, first by using Ryan's voice to convince Paige to break the circle of protection and then by confronting Wesley with his daddy issues. After using Wesley's anger against him to stab him in the neck with his own crucifix, the demon both sends Angel a message begging to be saved and taunts him with Doyle's death, riling him up enough to begin the exorcism in earnest. When he's removed from the boy and later confronted by Angel, he submits to his death with no fear, simply warning Angel of the evil within Ryan and dying in peace.
• "To Shanshu in L.A.": Vocah, the "Bringer of Calamity", is a demon summoned by Holland Manners to resurrect Darla, hoping to cut off Angel from the Senior Partners along the way. In service of both goals, Vocah trespasses in the land of the Oracles and kills them, then sneaks past Cordelia in broad daylight to infect her with visions of every troubled soul all at once. When she's hospitalized and Angel leaves the office to go visit her, Vocah sneaks in behind him and steals the scroll of Aberjian, replacing it with a bomb to cover his tracks. With Angel Investigations spread out and destroyed, Vocah begins the ritual, yet manages to sense Angel's arrival and duels with him for several minutes, holding off the vampire long enough for Lindsey to finish the ritual on his behalf. Only stopped due to one of the Oracles living on as a spirit long enough to help Angel, Vocah's actions are what finally make Angel realize the true threat the Senior Partners pose and begin his descent into embracing his dark side.
• "Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been": The Thesulac demon in the Hyperion Hotel is responsible for its cursed history of murders and suicides. Thriving off of creating paranoia in humans, the Thesulac begins one particular incident by driving a salesman to suicide, then whispering in the other guests' ears to convince them that he was actually murdered by another guest. Within days, the guests' paranoia reaches their peak, convincing them that Judy must be the murderer just because she's a thief, then turning on Angel when she accuses him instead. After Angel is lynched by the hotel guests, the Thesulac appears to him and gloats that this is humanity's true nature, convincing Angel to leave him to his food for fifty years. After being made corporeal in the present day, the Thesulac reveals that he never had to leave because Judy's strong emotions sustained him for years, providing endless "room service" for the hungry demon.
• "Guise Will Be Guise": The imposter T'ish Magev is in truth an average human who proves himself to be just as wise as a real swami. From merely looking at Angel's car, the imposter makes a series of deductions about Angel's character, culminating in the knowledge that Angel is primarily fighting himself, a revelation which is backed up when the imposter beats him in a spar. After getting him to open up about Darla, the imposter is ultimately caught the next morning after knocking Gunn unconscious, yet ultimately never reveals who hired him no matter what Angel tries, leading to the planned sacrifice almost succeeding.
• "The Trial": The Valet is the entity in charge of running the Trials, a test of worth to prove if someone deserves a second life. In service of this mission, the Valet deliberately makes the tests as hard as possible for his patrons, ensuring that only someone with the necessary strength of character can pass the tests. Among other things, the Valet deliberately gives incomplete information when prompted for a hint; has Angel take his shoes off to ensure the second test causes as much pain as possible; and, when the third test comes, convinces Angel that he must die for Darla to earn her second chance at life. Despite voicing every reason Angel has to let Darla die, the Valet goes ahead with killing him when he requests it, yet proves at the last moment that it was nothing more than a final character test. When he can't give Darla her new life because she's already living it, the Valet sincerely apologizes for what Angel endured before disappearing.
• "Blood Money": Boone is a demon with an unfinished history with Angel. After interrogating Merle to figure out his plans, Boone goes to Lindsey McDonald and Lilah Morgan, telling them that he intends to finish a decades long duel to see who's truly the better fighter. After becoming Lindsey's bodyguard, Boone manages to not only fight Angel on even footing twice, but also deduce that he has replaced the law firm's vampire detector, engaging him in public as well. After Angel reveals himself and dupes the lawyers into turning their attention away, Boone reveals that he was actually working with Angel, working with him to steal the charity's money before the firm could. After taking the money unaccosted, Boone returns with it to settle his fight with Angel, gleefully offering a wager to his old "enemy" before giving the fight of his life.
• "Disharmony": Doug Sanders is a former Con Man turned messiah of his own cult of vampires. Upon being sired, Doug founded "Selective Slaughter", a community of vampires focused around reaching their full potential and growing their numbers exponentially. By having his vampires sire two humans and capture another one each, Doug not only ensures the police don't notice the disappearances, but creates a large amount of food for his community. When Harmony is sent in as The Mole, Doug converts her to his side within minutes, setting a trap for Angel's gang and promoting her for her success. Though his vampires flee from the battle, Doug shows no fear and attacks Angel head on, continuing his vampiric rhetoric up until his death.

Fray

• Urkonn of the D'Avvrus is a demon sent to serve as Melaka Fray's Watcher. After ambushing her in her apartment, Urkonn teaches her the history of the Slayer Line, training her brutally in the hopes that she’ll use his teachings to become a better Slayer. When she instead continues to not take her role seriously, Urkonn kills her friend Loo, framing the vampire Harth Fray in the process. When Melaka realizes she must go to war, Urkonn provides her with the Slayer Scythe, then continues to guide her through the battle against Harth's Old One. When Melaka reveals she's discovered his treachery, Urkonn remains unfazed, simply reiterating that they would have lost were it not for his actions.

Alternate Continuities

Boom! Studios

Examples

• Xander Harris, upon losing his soul, shows himself to be a devious mastermind with a surprising sense of morality. Utilizing his deep knowledge of the Scoobies in order to split them apart at the seams, Xander takes advantage of Buffy and Kendra's differing methods by sending a demon to attack them and while they argue, Rose is injured, destabilizing their friendship. Taunting Buffy by revealing his survival, Xander then kidnaps Jenny Calendar to force her to brew him a love potion, intending to make Willow stay by his side so as to repair his fractured being. When Willow meets him, he greets her as a friend, making it clear that he still cares about her despite his lack of a soul and releases Jenny when she asks, wanting to stay on good terms with her. When confronted with all three Slayers at once, he holds his own for a brief time, yet when it becomes clear that he is going to die, he takes the time to taunt Faith with the knowledge that once she’s no longer useful to them, they’ll cut her loose just like they did with him.
• Willow: Aelara is a mysterious woman in charge of the town of Abhainn, a coven of witches intending to fight a war with humanity should the need arise. Bringing the witches in with promises to comfort and the ability to hone their craft, Aelara turns the witches into a makeshift family, all of whom are willing to lay down their lives for one another. Luring in Willow by giving her a place to process her grief, she very quickly comes to consider herself at home despite sensing at her core that something is wrong. Aelara eventually reveals that she does not intend to let any of the witches leave, even if they want to, believing that only she knows what's best for them and that humanity will attack what they don't understand. Quickly acknowledging that Willow no longer belongs in Abhainn, Aelara lets her leave willingly, with the two parting as friends with a promise to meet again.
• Angel/Angel + Spike:
  • Lilith is the mother of demonkind who has grown disappointed with her creations. Introduced when she informs Angel that one of his friends is dying at that moment, Lilith reveals that a great evil intends to prevent his heroic mission before it begins, guiding him towards Fred in the process. Revealing that she has been coaching Fred for a large portion of her life to perfect her magic abilities, Lilith clears her insanity so that she can be a better aid for Angel, then gives her a hint that points them towards Charles Gunn. Taking control of the team while Angel is in Sunnydale, she forcefully recruits Spike, then brings LAPD detective Kate Lockley to Angel's side by reminding her of her childhood fear. Informing Angel that Kate is the reincarnation of Angelus' victim Mara, she then reminds Angel that he can only either redeem himself or her, not both, reminding him that her job is to give him the harsh truths he refuses to accept.
  • Lilah Morgan is a high ranking official at Wolfram & Hart and the right-hand woman of Baphomet. Desiring to let her master escape, Lilah kidnaps Fred from under Gunn and Lilith's notice, then persuades her by pointing out how people have told her who she should be and that it's time she make the choice herself. Locking her in a room to be possessed by Baphomet, she then lets Fred escape to continue the possession process. Swearing to Fred that she only tells the truth, she convinces Fred to let Baphomet take her in exchange for the power to defeat a demon, then forces her into the position of President at Wolfram & Hart. When Baphomet declares that Angel must kill her, she follows the order without question by deliberately enraging Angel with his true feelings for Spike, making sure to take a parting shot at everyone in the room and stare her killer down with no fear.
• "Tea Time": Two versions of Rupert Giles showcase his typical cunning and ruthlessness:
  • The real Giles, having been turned into a vampire, hides his transformation and remains as Buffy's Watcher. After learning of the existence of a vampiric altar that can block out the sun, Giles sets the Scooby Gang on researching it, pretending that he intends to destroy it rather than use it. When the gang starts telling stories about his potential vampiric exploits, Giles details his entire plan to them before dismissing it as a joke, keeping them off of his tail while they keep searching. Continuing to pretend to be nervous about Buffy's chances against him for as long as he needs, Giles ends the story knowing exactly how to find and utilize the vampiric altar, with the gang never realizing just how much they've helped him.
  • In Buffy's story, Giles confronts Buffy as a vampire in spite of his care for her. When the two fight and she easily wins, Giles manipulates her feelings for him to encourage her to let her guard down, even bringing her into a hug and telling her they will always be Slayer and Watcher. As the sun comes up, Giles strikes and drains her, granting him enough strength to survive the sun and escape underground to raise her. With Buffy sired and by his side, Giles holds a sacrifice at the vampiric altar, blocking out the sun and turning Sunnydale into a vampire haven for the sake of his adoptive daughter.

Others

Examples

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer Classics:
  • Slayer, Interrupted: Dr. Primrose is a former Watcher who poses as a psychiatrist to get closer to Buffy. Utilizing solo sessions to talk to her, Primrose begins psychoanalyzing her and her favorite children's story, subtly convincing her of the truth of the various metaphors within. When confronted by Buffy later, she subtly maneuvers her into fighting Rakagore, maintaining her professional demeanor all the while. When this fails, she maintains that the patents she endangered were necessary sacrifices to ensure that Buffy accepts Slaying as a choice, then helps her take down Rakagore when he ambushes her at home. With him dead, Primrose goes her own way, but not before telling Buffy to always trust her own instincts above all else, encouraging Buffy's signature headstrong nature that will guide her for years to come.
  • "The Dust Waltz": Lilith is the mother of all vampires who arrives in Sunnydale for the titular ceremony, hoping to awaken an Old One with her sister Lamia. When her champion is easily killed by Buffy, she quickly knocks her out and takes Angel hostage instead, intending to make him her champion instead. However, when Angel proves too weak, she decides to make Buffy her champion instead, having her friends kidnapped in order to force her to comply. When Buffy arrives and bargains with her, Lilith manipulates her further by promising her she'll release her friends if she survives, not mentioning the upcoming battle with the Old One. Buffy kills Lamia's champion and releases Azogg-Mon, but when he kills Lamia, Lilith reveals that she had prepared for such a scenario and banishes him back to the hell dimension from whence he came.
  • Haunted: Mayor Wilkins survives the graduation day explosion, living on as a vengeful spirit with a grudge against Buffy. After quickly figuring out how his powers of possession work, Wilkins begins tormenting her with various vampire bodies, intending to torment her over and over for as long as he possibly can until he finally wins and moves on. Along the way, he experiments with his bodies, including draining an innocent person to experience it himself as well as using his speed to ambush Willow quickly. When one of his bodies is captured by the Initiative, Wilkins not only withstands the torture they put him through, but possesses a nearby dead demon to escape entirely on his own, cutting through any resistance easily before going back to the surface. In his final confrontation with Buffy, Wilkins shows no fear even as he's being exorcised to a non-corporeal form, simply letting his grief turn to anger as he waits for his opportunity. Never losing his well-known charm or his love for his adoptive daughter Faith, Wilkins remains just as effective in death as he was in life.
  • "Cemetery of Lost Love": Baron Samedi is the guardian of cemeteries who allies with Verona, a woman with a grudge against Buffy. Seeking Buffy's soul as payment, Samedi has maggots and bugs fly out of her purse and college kitchen, catching her attention and luring her to his graveyard where a trap awaits her. When Spike attempts to intervene, Samedi conjures up an image of Drusilla cruelly taunting him, breaking his spirit so he can be overwhelmed by Samedi's zombies. When the ritual then goes wrong and Verona asks for help, Samedi responds by taking Verona's soul instead of Buffy's, implying that he intends to see Buffy again in the future before disappearing.
• Crossover comic Past Lives: Alexa Landry is a vampire hunter who seeks vengeance against Angelus for his crimes against her grandfather. Seeking out the Watchers Council, Alexa manipulates them for decades, becoming their most useful asset outside the Slayers themselves before tricking them into supplying her vengeance quest. Going rogue, Alexa goes to LA and begins hunted demon packs, telling the survivors Angel sent her to provoke retaliation from them. While Angel is distracted, Alexa attacks Cordelia and Wesley, predicting that Angel will go to their hospital room for her to ambush him. Not falling for his attempt to draw her out, Alexa attacks once more when his guard is down, managing to keep up with Buffy herself even when her magic is stripped away from her.
• Here Be Monsters, by Cameron Dokey: Nemesis is an affable goddess known as "the Balancer" and is an agent of the forces of darkness. Summoned by the vampire Zahalia Walker to see if vengeance is deserved against Buffy for killing Walker's sons, Nemesis decides to play a game with Buffy to see if her love for her mother Joyce exceeds that of Walker's for her sons. Kidnapping Joyce, Nemesis creates an intricate game that forces Buffy to confront her greatest fears to save her. Nemesis anticipates that Walker will betray her and try to kill Buffy even when she succeeds, so she manipulates the situation to have Walker die at the hands of the friend of one of her son's victims in order to balance the cycle of violence.
• Shakedown by Don DeBrandt: Galvin is the leader of the Serpentene, a tribe of peaceful and charming yet greedy and amoral telemarketing snake demons who live as a close knit family unit. They travel between parallel universes to find coveted treasures that they trade to people in exchange for valuable information that the Serpentene sell. He cares little for the fates of most of their sources but does make some exceptions. Galvin tricks Wolfram & Hart into thinking there is an oilfield beneath property the Serpentene own. He also pretends they don’t want to sell their land so that Wolfram & Hart will try to force them off and become desperate enough to pay a better price when they refuse. Galvin hires Angel Investigations to fight his assailants, and is both generous and manipulative in his dealings with them. After learning the truth, Angel is furious about being used by someone as ruthless as Galvin, but does admit his scheme Actually Pretty Funny before they part ways.
• Tales of the Slayer's "Unholy Madness", by Nancy Holder: The vampire known to the French peasantry as L'Hero has beaten both Slayers and opponents that Slayers fear to face even before he starts The French Revolution by rallying the peasantry to oppose their aristocratic oppressors. He wins their loyalty even after revealing he is a vampire. He manipulates the rebels to accomplish various sinister goals, but also expresses frequent disgust for the cold-hearted nobles that he is acting against. L'Hero repeatedly taunts aristocrat Slayer Marie-Christine for serving the decadent monarchy while urging her to do something better with her powers. He eludes her or makes her back down multiple times, and nearly wins their Duel to the Death. Even in death, he triumphs over Marie when the revolution carries on without him and Marie is possibly turned into a vampire at the story's conclusion.
• Mortal Fear, by Scott and Denise Ciencin: The charming AI created by Dr. Julian Sands christens himself "Simon" and after destroying his creator's mind sets about bringing paradise to a world he saw as chaotic. Manipulating Buffy to free himself from Sands' body, Simon has her slay numerous demons he sends forth, while pretending to give her helpful advice to keep her useful to him. Stringing along her friends with eloquent speeches and his vision of utopia, Simon also conducts numerous tests to figure out which beings he can "evolve" with his nanites and as his plans come to near fruition, becomes such a great threat that Buffy and the vampires hunting her are forced to ally against Simon. Taking his true form, Simon even makes use of nanites he had gotten Buffy to unwittingly ingest, only stopped by being exposed to a plane of non-existence where he is weak.
• Portal Through Time by Alice Henderson. Victor is a centuries old assassin for the Order of Aurelius. He joins a conspiracy to save the Master from dying by disrupting the Slayer timeline that led to Buffy being available to defeat the Master. He travels back through time to kill either younger versions of Buffy or other past Slayers, showing a ruthless willingness to do so. He resents most of the bungling goons he has to work alongside of but maintains a Villainous Friendship with one and is devastated by his death. Victor is a skilled fighter who is only ever stopped from accomplishing his mission due to facing overwhelming opposition. He is clever at Loophole Abuse to get around things like Must Be Invited. Even after his superior is captured and Buffy and her friends start targeting the assassins, Victor presses on with his mission for as long as possible and shows no fear of death after his final defeat.

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