This LA pom-pom shaker, Prom Princess and Fiesta Queen was born in 1981 to Hank and Joyce Summers. Growing up, the young Slayer-to-be was said to be as close as blood sisters with Celia, her cousin. Unfortunately, Celia died, and Buffy decided to pledge her allegiance to her childhood hero, bladestress Dorothy Hamill. In 1996, the Buffster met Merrick, a peculiar man who informed her that she was the latest in a line of chosen ones: Vampire Slayers. Merrick was a Watcher, a keeper if you will, of the chosen Slayer. Whoever could have imagined that a high-maintenance mall rat could eventually move on to save the world on several occasions? Well, no one at her City of Angels high school could, partly because in her first major victory against the bloodsuckers, she torched the gym. Thank goodness our hero somehow managed to avoid juvy or any kind of lengthy court case. Unfortunately for Buff, her parents decided to divorce after this nasty chain of events. An entirely new chapter opened in the Slayer's life when her mom decided to make a move to beautiful Sunnydale, California. Buffy's slaying days had just begun in 1997 when she found out from her new Watcher, Giles, that Sunnydale was actually located atop a Hellmouth, a portal to an evil dimension replete with Vampires, demons and other ultra-nasty types. Too bad she couldn't leave her duties as the Chosen One behind; she might have avoided the stress of being killed and resurrected. On top of the whole dying thing, Buffy has had quite a traumatic six years: she's lost her soul mate Angel, as well as her mother, discovered that her sister Dawn wasn't actually her sister, dealt with the strain of paying the bills on minimum wage, and become involved and broken up with her former archenemy, Spike. More recently, she watched her best friend Willow nearly destroy the world, but with help from Dawn, Buffy and the rest of the gang managed to come out on top. With strength, intelligence and fortitude, Buffy will continue to slay any Big Bad that comes her way. Her friends and family will be fighting alongside her to keep Sunnydale and the rest of the world safe, and we hope she'll be lucky enough to avoid another trip to the cemetery. In a coffin, that is.
As Sunnydale's high school computer genius-turned-coed lesbian witch, Willow has had quite an interesting life. For someone who was such an introvert when she first met Buffy and joined the Scooby gang, Willow seems to be putting a spell on everyone lately. The daughter of Ira and Shelia Rosenberg, Willow has always been quite detached from her parents. So detached, in fact, that her mother tried to set her on fire, paying homage to those brave souls in Salem, Massachusetts circa 1692. Willow was the shy, quiet type whose intelligence and expertise at hacking made her an important part of Buffy's Vamp-staking in Sunnydale. Early in her friendship with the Slayer, Willow was content to play sidekick. She harbored a secret attraction to her lifelong pal Xander, and they enjoyed a brief liaison, but the intensity of their pairing burned out quickly. Then, Willow fell madly in love with one of the coolest guys in town, werewolf Oz. They were blissful for a while, until Oz left town after realizing he was unable to control his primal instincts, possibly putting Willow in danger. The witch slowly became friends with fellow Wiccan Tara, and their spell-casting encounters soon developed into love. When Oz returned to reclaim his lost love, Willow realized the depth of her love for Tara, and remained devoted even after Tara's brain was temporarily scrambled by Hellgod Glory. Things were looking good for Willow until she began to develop signs of an addiction to magic. Her relationship with Tara fell apart when she cast a forgetting spell on her lover to mask her unhealthy dependence, and the breakup sent Willow even further into exploring dark forces. It wasn't until Willow took Buffy's sister Dawn with her to get high (literally) and ended up in a car wreck that Willow realized the damage she was doing to both herself and friends. She quit cold turkey, and eventually patched things up with Tara. Their tender reunion was cut violently short when Tara was murdered by Warren, head honcho of the Evil Trio. Enraged, Willow returned to magic and went on a vicious hunt for revenge. After murdering Warren in cold blood, Willow fought Buffy and set out to destroy the world, but Xander's friendship and love brought her to her senses just in time.
Loyal wiseass of the Scooby gang, Alexander LaVelle Harris tries to keep good spirits within the gang despite his questionable home life. Born and raised in Sunnydale, Xander was never much of a student. Lacking academic discipline, he decided to forgo entering UC Sunnydale with the rest of the crew. Instead, he has taken jobs that range from washing dishes at a strip club to bartending to working in construction. Despite his seeming lack of ambition, Xander has proven on many occasions to be an irreplaceable addition to the team. Xander often shows his deep loyalty to the mission. For instance, he worked hard to keep things sane in Sunnydale while Buffy was missing at the beginning of his senior year in high school. Best friends with Willow since his youth, Xander keeps pursuing the wrong women. He got the "we're just friends" from Buffy early on in their relationship, nearly became a late night snack for a she-mantis teacher, fell for an Incan mummy, and by kissing Willow, he ended up cheating on the one solid love interest that he had in high school, Cordelia. At one point he even had a quickie with unstable and bloodthirsty Slayer Faith. Xander's luck turned when former vengeance demon Anya entered his life. They fell in love despite differences in age (approximately a thousand years) and family background (human versus demon). Setting aside his fear of commitment, Xander proposed marriage, and Anya joyfully accepted. Unfortunately, after reflecting on his parents' troubled relationship, Xander realized he wasn't ready to devote himself entirely to Anya. The day of their wedding, he left his would-be-bride brokenhearted by putting a stop to their nuptials. The devastated Anya reverted to her old vengeance-demon ways, and they remain estranged. After the breakup, Xander's relationship with Buffy was strained, but eventually they reaffirmed their friendship. He was on hand when Warren shot Buffy and Tara, and his moving declaration of love and eternal friendship finally brought Willow back from the brink of destroying the world. Xander saved the day in the simplest, yet most powerful way, through love and devotion to his lifelong friend. As ever, what he lacks in supernatural power, he makes up for in heart.
Dawn Summers isn't really anyone's love child. Sometimes siblings just appear out of nowhere and come pre-packaged with bogus memories. When the youngest Summers arrived in Sunnydale, she was your typical teen, an obnoxious little monster who spent more time getting under Buffy's skin than actually helping out.
Several months after Dawn's arrival, Buffy and the Scooby Gang discovered her true identity: she's really The Key, an epical powerful energy source transformed into human appearance by benevolent monks. As an average bratty teen, Dawn didn't much like finding out that she was actually a cosmic force. As a matter of fact, she ran away from home. Buffy managed to convince her that they are family regardless of her origin, but their happiness was cut short with the unexpected death of their mother, Joyce.
Shortly thereafter, a nasty and potent Hellgod, Glory, arrived to find the Key and try to use her to open a portal that would release hell on earth. Despite knowing that her sister would be left entirely alone, Buffy sacrificed herself in Dawn's place to prevent the portal from opening. Unable to accept the death of her friend, Willow used her rapidly increasing Wiccan powers to raise her from her grave and bring her back to Sunnydale.
Buffy's return gave Dawn her family back, but her sister's remoteness made Dawn feel neglected and unloved. She began shoplifting, much to the gang's dismay. Even her relationship with Willow was altered forever when the witch took the teen on a wild, magic-addled ride that ended with a car wreck and a broken wrist for Dawn.
A turning point came when Buffy fought the demonic skeletons brought to life by Willow's rage over Tara's death. Dawn began to fight alongside her Slayer sister, and Buffy was amazed at the strength and power the girl suddenly displayed. Together they were victorious, and Buffy gained a new respect for her younger sister, much to Dawn's relief. But now, Dawn must face one of the most hazardous experiences the universe has to offer: high school. Lucky for her she's got the Slayer on her side.
A cocky and witty vamp from 19th century England, Spike got his former (pre-bloodsucker) name, William the Bloody, because of his bloody awful poetry. In 1880 the sensitive poet was sired by his Vampire lover Drusilla and dubbed Spike because of his penchant for torturing victims with railroad spikes. Spike has killed two Slayers: one lived during the Boxer Rebellion; the second was a punk rock kid in New York whose trench coat has become part of Spike's signature look. As one of the most interesting members of Sunnydale's night stalkers, Spike had an off-and-on romance with Drusilla, who ended up leaving our favorite bad boy the first time for the Chaos Demon and the second time for the Fungus Demon. According to Dru, the Victorian poet-turned-psychotic Slayer killer simply wasn't evil enough for her. The wandering Spike returned to Sunnydale in search of the Gem of Amarra, which would make him invincible. Eventually, Spike began dating Harmony, the former Sunnydale High snob-turned-fang-face. Not surprisingly, that didn't work out, and somewhere along the line, Spike developed an unhealthy interest in more than just Buffy's blood: he wanted her body. When the Initiative implanted a chip in Spike's head to render him harmless to humans, Spike became more a fringe member of the Scooby Gang than a nemesis. His sharp tongue and seductive attitude were eventually irresistible to Buffy, and they began a torrid affair that was both literally and figuratively destructive. Their subsequent breakup destroyed Spike and drove him to attack Buffy, but she fought back and declared she could never love him. Devastated, Spike took off for Africa in search of a powerful demon who could help him give the Slayer what's coming to her. Regardless of what he was expecting, Spike received something no one anticipated: the return of his soul. Now, all bets are off, and who knows what will happen between Spike and the rest of the gang when he returns to Sunnydale?
The vengeance demon Anyanka, Patron Saint of Scorned Women, has seen a lot of life changes in her 1124 years, but none more than recently. Anya was first cursed by the demon D'Hoffryn for practicing vengeance spells on men. As the story goes, Anyanka first entered Sunnydale to grant Cordelia a wish via her magic necklace. Rather than wish disaster on Xander, Cordy wished that Buffy had never moved to Sunnydale, but the Buffyless Sunnydale turned out to be a chaotic, Vamp-ridden alternate reality. Luckily, Giles destroyed the powerful amulet, wiping out the alternate universe and transforming Anya into a human student at Sunnydale High. The evil D'Hoffryn refused to change her back, and the former demon was left not old enough to buy beer and not bright enough to pass math. During college, Anya reconnected with the Scooby gang, and wound up falling hard for Xander. The ex-demon's newly acquired humanity brought out a kindness formerly untapped, and her blunt yet honest way of speaking endeared her to Xander and his friends. When Giles departed for England, a delighted Anya took over the Magic Box. Running the store seemed like an excellent venue for Anya to develop her surprising newfound love of accounting. Eventually Xander proposed, and their relationship seemed solid…until their wedding day. A panicked Xander left Anya at the altar, and in her rage, she returned to the Demon fold. Anya remains an integral member of the Scooby gang, though her bitterness over Xander's rejection lingers. With her demon powers back in place, there's no telling what wishes Anyanka may grant in the future.
Born a Watcher prodigy, Rupert Giles took over Buffy's Slayer training and mentoring when Buffy moved to Sunnydale after her former Watcher, Merrick, had been killed. Upon graduating from Oxford University, Giles dreamed of being a fighter pilot or a grocer. Unfortunately, he was forced into the family business of Slayer nurturing. Even after his youthful rebellion as the demon-summoning Ripper, his intelligence (and the Watchers Council) eventually set him on his destined path. When he first moved to Sunnydale, Giles was the Sunnydale High Librarian whose sole purpose was to train and guide the newly arrived Buffy in Slayer ways. Over time, their relationship deepened, and Giles became a father figure to Buffy, providing much-needed emotional support along with Slayer training. Regrettably, the Watchers Council canned Giles when he informed Buffy that he had to revoke her powers temporarily so that she could participate in her 18th birthday ritual test. The Council, not amused, sent in Wesley Wyndam-Price to take over active Watcher duty for Buffy. However, Giles remained in Sunnydale well after Wesley's departure and continued to aid our hero with his vast knowledge. A rather shy man, Giles has romanced only a few women in Sunnydale, including Sunnydale High's dearly departed computer teacher, Jenny Calendar, and a former girlfriend from England, Olivia. After quite a long period of unemployment, Giles enjoyed a brief stint singing at the Espresso Pump, then bought the Magic Box. Following Buffy's death, Giles returned to England, leaving the shop in Anya's capable hands. Though he returned briefly after the Slayer's resurrection, he left permanently upon realizing that Buffy no longer needed his training and protection. Fortunately, he reappeared just in time to help the gang save Willow from dark forces, and in the process, save the world.
