History Characters / BuffyTheVampireSlayerBuffySummers

* BastardGirlfriend: She's just as guilty of this as Spike in her Season 6 relationship with him. She constantly verbally degrades him, tries to force him into sex when he doesn't want it in "Gone", and violently beats him bloody before leaving him on the ground in "Dead Things".

** A literal case in "Killed by Death." Buffy is weakened by the flu, which leads to her poor performance in a fight with Angelus and would have cost her her life had the other Scoobies not warded him off with crosses. Xander herself muses that Buffy is "half the Slayer."

* ReluctantWarrior: She didn't like her slayer duties and specially during the high school seasons. Giles has to do everything short of grabbing her by the hair.

** A literal case in "Killed by Death." Buffy is weakened by the flu, which leads to her poor performance in a fight with Angelus and would have cost her her life had the other Scoobies not awarded him off with crosses.

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[[caption-width-right:250:''"If the apocalypse comes, beep me."'']]

* OneTrueLove: For Angel and vice versa. Despite their efforts to move on, they retain feelings for one another throughout both characters' shows. Angel states outright in Season 8 that he and Buffy have such a connection that no matter how hard they try, they could ''never'' be truly happy with anyone else.

* BadassAngster: Often angsts about her destiny of vampire slayer but especially in Season 7 which was outright depression.

* BreakTheCutie: This is a Joss Whedon production. Cuties are inevitably broken; Season 7.
* BrilliantButLazy: She often skipped training or trained on her own time. It wasn't until Season 5 that she took training seriously.

* CaperRationalization: It's revealed in issue 10 of Season 8 that in order to fund her big Slayer Organization, Buffy robbed a Swiss bank account, rationalizing that due to the bank's insurance, it was a "victimless crime." Willow is not convinced, pointing out that her actions [[NotHelpingYourCase just support the government's fears]] [[BewareTheSuperman of Slayers]] [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers acting above the law]].

* TheChainsOfCommanding: If it sucks to be the Slayer then it also sucks to be the Head Slayer.

* ComfortFood: "When this is over I'm thinking pineapple pizza and teen video movie fest. Possibly something from the Ringwald oeuvre." There's also the Buffy sized tub of chicken she brings back from her intense visit to Angel when she was brought BackFromTheDead.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: When she had Willow activate all Slayers worldwide, it didn't occur to Buffy that [[BewareTheSuperman not all of the newly empowered Slayers would be willing to use their powers for good]], with one Slayer in particular, Simone Doffler, becoming a terrorist and obsessed with killing her, and another, a mental patient named Dana, breaking out of a mental hospital and causing all manner of trouble for the Angel Investigations team in L.A.

* GallowsHumor: Buffy has always had a morbid sense of humor; in Season 6 after she's brought back from the dead it tends to get a DudeNotFunny reaction from the Scoobies.

* 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. Then in Season 8 she literally has bad publicity, while the vampires are [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Villains With Good Publicity]].

** With Spike. After their relationship fell apart in Season 6, they spent most of Season 7 walking on eggshells despite still obviously having feelings. Then circumstances were such they had to go their separate ways and didn't reunite until Season 9...at which point they still failed to resolve anything. Finally resolved in Season 10, where they get back together.

* InformedKindness: In "Sanctuary," Faith remarks that Buffy was the only person in Sunnydale who was there for her and tried to be her friend. As shown throughout ''Buffy'' Season 3, even before the events of "Bad Girls" and "Consequences," Buffy generally treated Faith more like a commodity than an actual friend, picking a fight with her on their very first patrol together, having to be talked into including her on several different gatherings, and dumping all of her responsibility for Alan Finch's death onto her, all of which contributed to Faith's FaceHeelTurn.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Interesting deconstruction. She embodies this trope quite often in the early stages of an episode plot that ends with her acting selflessly, showing the constant tension between her acceptance of her duty and her still young, fragile psyche.

* PromotionToParent: After Joyce's death Buffy is forced to take over the parenting of Dawn.

* NotQuiteDead: In "Prophecy Girl," after the Master bites her and leaves her to drown in a puddle of water. Xander is able to revive her with [[CPRCleanPrettyReliable CPR]]; nonetheless, as revealed in "What's My Line," Buffy being NotQuiteDead was enough for the next Slayer, Kendra, to be called.

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Lampshaded by Buffy herself in "Something Blue" when she worries that a nice, safe relationship would lack the intensity.

* SelectiveObliviousness: For the early part of Season 6, she displays this attitude towards Willow's [[AddictiveMagic magic addiction]], ignoring it and even making excuses for her. It isn't until "Wrecked," when Willow's addiction ends up landing Dawn in the hospital, that Buffy is finally forced to acknowledge it; even then, she believes that the addiction started because of her break-up with Tara... only for Willow to inform her that said addiction is why Tara dumped her in the first place.

* BroughtDownToNormal: In Season 3's "Helpless," Giles is forced to strip her of her powers using powerful mixtures of adrenaline suppressors and muscle relaxers as part of her Cruciamentum, a rite of passage to test the Slayer's intellect and wit.

* BrokenBird: From "Innocence" onwards, Buffy develops a tendency to shut herself off emotionally from her friends, and especially her lovers.

* DoesNotKnowHerOwnStrength: At times. For example, during the Season 1 episode "Witch" (when she was under a spell and not at her best), she accidentally throws one of her classmates across the gym during cheerleading practice, and in Season 5's "Into the Woods", accidentally crushes the doctor who operated on her mother while hugging him in relief.

* InformedKindness: In "Sanctuary," Faith remarks that Buffy was the only person in Sunnydale who was there for her and tried to be her friend. Even before the events of "Bad Girls" and "Consequences", Buffy generally treated Faith more like a commodity than an actual friend, picking a fight with Faith on their very first patrol together, having to be talked into including Faith on several different gatherings, and dumping all of her responsibility for Alan Finch's death onto Faith, all of which contributed to Faith's FaceHeelTurn.

%% LightningBruiser

* HeroAntagonist: She serves this role in the ''Angel'' episode "Sanctuary," wanting to kill Faith for [[GrandTheftMe swapping bodies with her]] and [[PowerPerversionPotential sleeping with Riley at that time]]; this puts her into conflict with Angel, who wants to rehabilitate Faith. Eventually, Buffy calms down and wants Faith locked up instead.

** A literal case in "Killed by Death." Buffy is weakened by the flu,

* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: The first time, Buffy more or less got over it after a few months, mostly offscreen. The second time there was a price to pay; Buffy suffers major depression that lasts the entire season.

* WorfHadTheFlu: Her poor performance against the original Turok-Han during the first two fights is in part because she had gone without sleep for ''two days solid''. After the first encounter, Giles explicitly ''told'' her she should get some sleep, but Buffy refused. Of course, even after resting and recovering, Buffy has a hard time dealing with the Turok-Han and has to use literally ''everything'' she can get her hands on to take it down.

* CrutchCharacter: Going hand-in-hand with AsskickingEqualsAuthority, she's the only real combat-capable character. During the {{Time Skip}} between Seasons 2 and 3, after she runs away to L.A., the Scoobies pick up the slack and struggle dealing with common vampires. It got so bad that after she die

* DeathSeeker: Implied, but ultimately subverted; after being resurrected in Season 6, Buffy suffered severe depression and stated at least once that she was happier when dead. It's to the extent that in the Season 6 finale, Dawn is genuinely surprised that Buffy actually ''didn't'' want Willow to destroy the world. Then again, there's a difference between "wanting to die yourself" and wanting to let everyone die.

* NeverMyFault: It's rare that this trope applies to her as most of the time she's [[TheChosenOne carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders and feeling responsible for everyone and everything.]] However, it's played straight at least once in "Blood Ties," where Buffy's immediate reaction upon finding out that Spike helped Dawn break into the Magic Box is to storm off to his crypt and start to beat the crap out of him, blaming him for Dawn finding out about being the Key in the worst possible way. However, Spike quickly turns the tables on her, pointing out that not only did ''[[LockedOutOfTheLoop he]]'' [[LockedOutOfTheLoop not know that Dawn was the Key before then]], but ''[[PoorCommunicationKills Buffy]]'' [[PoorCommunicationKills was the one who kept it from her in the first place]]. When Dawn later runs away, Buffy admits that [[JerkassHasAPoint he was right]] and the whole mess is her fault.

* YouAreWorthHell: Spike certainly thought so, and was nearly killed in the process of earning his soul back. Conversely, Angel turned down a chance to become human again rather than risk her dying on his watch.