Buffy Summers

Template:Infobox Buffyverse Character Buffy Anne Summers is the eponymous fictional character in the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the television program of the same name and its numerous spin-offs, such as novels, comic books, and video games. The character was portrayed by Kristy Swanson in the film, by Sarah Michelle Gellar in the television series, and by Giselle Loren in the video games and unproduced animated series. In 2005, Bravo TV named her as the 13th greatest television character of all time, ahead of Hawkeye Pierce and J.R. Ewing.

Biography

Note: This article refers to the Buffy Summers as depicted in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series and other canonical material. The character featured in the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer is considered an alternate universe version, as the television series and other canonical material rewrite a great deal of the events featured in the film.

Character history

Buffy was born to Hank and Joyce Summers on January 19, 1981, in Los Angeles, California. At the age of eight, Buffy was close friends with her cousin Celia, and enjoyed playing superhero with her; Buffy pretended to be Power Girl, a prophetic choice of alter ego. She looked on helplessly as Celia was murdered by Der Kindestod, a demon that killed sick children and was only visible to those who were ill. This experience instilled a fear of hospitals in Buffy.

Buffy came to idolize Olympic ice skater Dorothy Hamill as she learned the sport. She became a popular cheerleader at Hemery High School in Los Angeles. During her time at Hemery (1995-1997), Buffy was elected both Prom Princess and Fiesta Queen. At age fifteen, she began having strange, violent dreams about women from different periods in history slaying monsters. One day, Buffy was approached by Merrick, a mysterious man who revealed her destiny as a Slayer and became her first Watcher. With little training, Buffy defeated her first major enemy, a vampire leader named Lothos, but not before the death of Merrick.

In a battle with Lothos' vampiric lackeys, Buffy set fire to the high school gym and was subsequently expelled. After this encounter, she confided in her parents about what really had happened and her destiny as the Slayer. Worried that she was losing her mind, Buffy's parents sent her to a mental institution. While there, Buffy realized that attempts to persuade others of the existence of demonic forces would be futile. She kept quiet and was released after a couple of weeks. Buffy and her parents never spoke of it again.

Joyce and Hank, who had been experiencing marital troubles, eventually divorced, and Buffy moved with her mother to 1630 Revello Drive in Sunnydale, a small town in California.

Sunnydale

In Season One of the series, Buffy begins to accept the responsibilities and dangers of her calling as Slayer. Hoping to be a regular student, Buffy enrolls in the local high school and meets her future best friends, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, as well as her new Watcher, Rupert Giles. She also meets Cordelia Chase, a condescending, arrogant cheerleader, and Angel, a vampire with a soul. Buffy is quickly forced back into the role of Slayer as she and her new friends battle vampires, monsters, and demons. She grows closer to Giles, eventually coming to view him as a father figure.

File:Btvs-buffy1.jpg

Buffy faces The Master for the first time

The first season centers on Buffy's battle with a thousand-year-old vampire leader known as The Master, his protégé, the Anointed One, and the Order of Aurelius. On learning that the infallible Pergamum Codex prophesies her death at the hands of the Master, Buffy contemplates leaving town, but accepts her fate after Willow discovers bodies of her friends slaughtered inside the school. She is overpowered and left to drown in a pool of water in the Master's dwellings; her death frees the Master and opens the Hellmouth, but Angel and Xander find her in time for Xander to resuscitate her. A strengthened Buffy shoves the Master off the roof of Sunnydale High, impaling him on the wooden remnants of a broken desk. After the school year ends, Buffy spends the summer with her father in Los Angeles.

In the show's second season, Buffy continues to come to terms with her destiny as the Slayer with the help of her friends. Buffy finds forbidden love with Angel and clashes with Spike and Drusilla, the new vampires in town. She also meets and befriends Kendra Young, the Slayer who had been called when Buffy drowned in the first season finale. Buffy loses her virginity to Angel, unknowingly lifting the Kalderash curse placed on him a century earlier. This causes him to lose his soul and revert to Angelus, the most infamously evil vampire in history. He becomes obsessed with destroying Buffy's life and joins Spike and Drusilla, who have reconstructed a supernatural monster called the Judge. Aided by Xander's mystical insights into militarism and weapons, Buffy foils their plans and defeats the Judge, but Angelus' pathological abuse continues to take a heavy toll on Buffy and her friends.

When faced with Angelus's subsequent plan to destroy the world, Buffy reluctantly accepts an alliance with Spike, who also wants to stop Angelus. While strategizing with Spike, Buffy is forced to reveal her identity as the Slayer to her mother, who demands that Buffy stay home and discuss matters with her, telling her that if she leaves now, not to come back; Buffy, however, has "to go save the world. Again." As Buffy fights with Angelus, trying to prevent him from opening a vortex to a hell dimension, Willow works a spell to re-ensoul Angel. The spell is successful, and Buffy watches Angel return; however, Angelus had already activated the statue to open the gateway and Angel's blood is the only way to close it. Buffy reluctantly stabs Angel with a sword, sending him to Hell and saving the world. Traumatized by the ordeal of essentially killing her boyfriend and being alienated from her mother, Buffy leaves Sunnydale and escapes to Los Angeles.

In Season Three, Buffy must reconnect to her calling, her friends, and her family after her departure, as well as make difficult life decisions regarding her relationship with Angel. In L.A., Buffy waits tables in a diner under a false identity (she uses her middle name, Anne), trying to turn her back on her destiny. However, after rescuing a runaway, Buffy returns to Sunnydale to face her own demons. She reunites with her loved ones and tries to find closure to her relationship with Angel. However, Angel returns mysteriously (by The First, as revealed later), and Buffy is still drawn to him.

Meanwhile, a new, rebellious Slayer, Faith, who had been activated upon Kendra's death, arrives in town. Faith is initially a powerful ally for Buffy, but their opposing personalities lead to antagonism and acrimony as Faith indulges her dark side. Buffy tries to help Faith, who becomes increasingly destructive and disloyal. Alienated from "the Scoobies", Faith finds a friend in the affable yet sinister Mayor Richard Wilkins, who had initially founded Sunnydale as a haven for demons to feed. As the Mayor uses Faith to help him prepare to become a pure-blood demon on Sunnydale High's Graduation Day, Buffy works first to thwart his efforts, then to organize a resistance. When she learns that Angel, who is on the verge of death after being poisoned by Faith, must drink the blood of a Slayer in order to survive, Buffy attempts to sacrifice Faith to save him. Their battle leaves Faith in a coma, and Buffy ultimately saves Angel with her own blood. Afterward, she leads her classmates in a climactic battle against the transformed Mayor and his minions, culminating in an explosion that destroys the Mayor as well as Sunnydale High School. After the smoke clears, Angel leaves for Los Angeles so that Buffy can try to have a more normal life without him.

In Season Four, Buffy must balance her Slayer duties with her new life as a college student. Her difficulty adjusting to college life is further complicated by mystical threats (including, among other things, a demonic roommate, campus werewolves, enchanted beer), the return of Spike, and a disastrous one-night stand with Parker Abrams, a charming playboy. Buffy also experiences some disconnection from her friends, who all seem to be moving in different directions. She attracts the sincere attention of Riley Finn, who is (as she soon discovers) a member of the Initiative, a U.S. government task force created to research mystical and demonic creatures. Buffy briefly joins forces with Riley's team, which is led by Dr. Maggie Walsh, head of the covert military organization and UC Sunnydale psychology professor. However, Riley and Buffy become disillusioned with the Initiative after Professor Walsh betrays Buffy, and eventually Buffy, Riley, and the Scoobies discover that Professor Walsh is creating a race of super-warriors from the fruits of the Initiative's demon research. Her first project is Adam, a human-demon-cybernetics hybrid who escapes and tries to unite the demon races against humans.

In the meantime, Faith wakes from her coma and, with the help of a mystical device left to her by the Mayor, switches bodies with Buffy. In Faith's body, Buffy is captured by members of the Watchers' Council, who attempt to send her to England. She manages to escape and convince Giles that she is herself, and with Willow and Tara's help, transfers herself back in to her own body. Faith escapes to Los Angeles, where Buffy is dismayed to find her under the protection of Angel, who hopes to rehabilitate her. Buffy must also contend with Spike, who returns to Sunnydale only to be captured by the Initiative, who implant a chip in his head, rendering him unable to harm humans. Spike provides assistance and information to Buffy and the Scooby Gang in exchange for protection. Buffy tolerates his presence but recognizes that he cannot be trusted, a suspicion that is confirmed when he temporarily allies himself with Adam in a desperate attempt to get the chip removed from his head.

Although the Scooby Gang has been drifting apart over the course of the season, Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles reconcile and combine their essences through a spell that helps Buffy destroy Adam. In the end, the U.S. government decides to shut down the disaster-ridden Initiative, and Riley receives an honorable discharge from the Army.

In Season Five, Buffy faces her greatest dangers yet, while finally fully embracing her destiny. A younger sister, Dawn, mysteriously appears in Buffy's household. Her existence has seamlessly integrated with the memories of Buffy, her friends, and her mother, whose health is beginning to deteriorate. Buffy discovers that Dawn is not her sister while in a mystical trance, and she soon learns that a group of monks "created" a human body in order to hide the "Key," cosmic energy that can open interdimensional portals, from a mentally unstable and dangerous hell-god known as Glory. Glory wants to use the Key to open the portal between Earth and her home dimension, and seek vengeance on those who had exiled her; she is unconcerned that the barriers separating Earth from all hells will be torn apart as well, destroying the fabric of reality. The monks have chosen Buffy to protect the Key because she is the Slayer; they know that she will protect her sister with her life.

In the meantime, Spike realizes that he has fallen in love with Buffy, and he becomes a more regular and reliable presence in her Slayer life, assisting in the fight against demons; however, he also becomes a nightly fixture on Buffy's front lawn, much to her irritation. Giles takes Buffy on a vision quest to the desert, where the spirit of the original Slayer tells her that death is her gift to the world, a message she has difficulty understanding. Buffy's relationship with Riley falls apart, primarily because she is unable to give him the emotional intimacy he craves. While Buffy recovers from the blow of another failed relationship, she is repulsed to notice the extent of Spike's obsession with her and un-invites him from her house. Buffy is immensely devastated when her mother suddenly dies of complications from a brain tumor.

File:Btvs-buffy3.jpg

Buffy's gravestone viewed in the last shot of the fifth season finale, "The Gift"

As Glory gets closer to discovering the Key, Buffy and her friends take Dawn and run, with Glory as well the Knights of Byzantium, an army of warriors, in pursuit. After an extended standoff in the desert, Dawn is captured by Glory and taken to be sacrificed. Buffy, blaming herself for losing Dawn, retreats into her subconscious, and Willow must enter Buffy's mind to draw her back out. Afterwards, Buffy, Spike, and the Scooby Gang attack Glory's stronghold in full force. Dawn is tied to a high tower where, despite everyone's efforts, a demon uses Dawn's blood to open the interdimensional portal. Buffy defeats Glory and, finally understanding the meaning of the message from the first Slayer, sacrifices her own life, in order to save Dawn's. She dives into the magical vortex, closing the portal and saving the world. She is buried on the outskirts of Sunnydale with the epitaph, "She saved the world. A lot." Finally able to rest, Buffy ascends to Heaven and finds peace.

File:Willow-spell.jpg

Willow performs the spell to resurrect Buffy from the grave.

In Season Six, Buffy faces her own dark side as she deals with depression and loss. Buffy is resurrected by her friends in a dark ritual led by Willow. Her friends believe that the ritual is unsuccessful, but Buffy wakes up in her casket and is forced to dig herself out. Her transition back to her life is difficult; Buffy experiences the pain of having been ripped from Heaven, as well as the added responsibilities of raising Dawn and paying bills. Because her friends believe that they have rescued her from a hell-dimension (apparently thinking that, because she died within Glory's vortex in much the same way Angel died in Acathla's vortex at the end of Season 2, she was trapped in a hell-dimension just as Angel had been), she confides only to Spike that she had been in Heaven, and insists that he keep her secret from her friends.

With the added burden of maintaining that lie, Buffy falls into a deep depression and begins a violent sexual relationship with Spike, which leaves neither of them satisfied. Buffy later admits to Spike that she is just using him, and breaks things off because it is killing her. Spike later corners her in her bathroom and tries to rape her; Buffy fights him off, and Spike, horrified by his actions, leaves Sunnydale in search of his soul.

Buffy is also forced to deal with the disintegration of the relationships around her, as well as Dawn's kleptomania and Willow's growing magic addiction. She is further frustrated by the ongoing efforts of the Trio, consisting of Warren Mears, Andrew Wells, and Jonathan Levinson, whose comically nerdy crimes grow darker as the season progresses. Eventually, Warren, furious that Buffy had foiled his plans yet again, shoots Buffy (on purpose) and Tara (accidentally). Willow uses her powers to heal Buffy and remove the bullet, but she is unable to save Tara. Grief-stricken, Willow becomes psychotic with dark magics, exacting revenge against Warren and planning to destroy the world. Just when it seems as if there is no stopping Willow, her oldest friend, Xander, comes through for her. After fighting off monsters raised by Willow, with Dawn, Buffy promises to change her self-destructive behavior, in order to be there for her sister.

In the seventh season, Buffy develops a new perspective on her destiny, power, and womanhood, when she is confronted with the threat of the First Evil, which she had first encountered in Season Three. The Bringers, agents of the First, are tracking down and killing potential Slayers all over the world in an attempt to wipe out the Slayer line. Buffy's home quickly becomes filled with teenage Potentials, who come to Sunnydale for protection. Buffy is the natural leader for the Potentials, who initially look up to her with respect. She works to train the Potentials into an army to stand against the First; however, her methods, tactics, and decisions soon begin to alienate the terrified girls. Sunnydale eventually becomes a ghost town as people (and lesser demons such as Clem) flee the increasing demonic activity.

When she realizes that their current forces are insufficient to defeat the vast armies of the First Evil, Buffy seeks guidance and assistance from the Shadow Men, who created the original Slayer by binding a pure demon's heart to a young girl. Buffy refuses their offer to increase her own power by filling her with the essence of a demon, which would take away part of her humanity. The Potentials continue to lose faith in Buffy's leadership as the dangers around them increase, leading to a mutiny; Giles, Dawn, her friends, and the Potentials all choose a reformed Faith as their new leader, and Dawn asks Buffy to leave the house. Only Spike remains loyal to Buffy, and Buffy spends two nights with him before the final battle against the armies of the First. Acting alone, she rescues the Potentials after Faith leads them into a disastrous trap, earning back their trust.

Angel comes to town intending to help in the fight, but Buffy sends him back to L.A. Buffy admits that Spike is now in her heart and expresses hope that she and Angel could have a relationship in the distant future. Angel gives her a mystical amulet, which she passes on to Spike to wear in the upcoming battle.

Buffy's experiences with the Shadow Men lead her to re-examine the parameters of her destiny, and she asks Willow to use her powers to activate every potential Slayer in the world. The band of Potentials transforms into an army of Slayers, who take on the armies of the First. Spike, with the aid of the mystical amulet, sacrifices himself to destroy the armies of vampires and close the Hellmouth. Before she leaves him to die, Buffy tells Spike that she loves him. Then, she and the survivors barely escape as Sunnydale crumbles into a huge crater.

Post-Sunnydale

After the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy's presence is felt in the Angel television series. After destroying the Hellmouth, Buffy, Dawn, Andrew, and Giles scatter around the world to train activated Potentials while Giles assumes control of the Watcher's council and brings it in line with Buffy's vision. Angel and Spike are led to believe by Andrew that Buffy is in Italy and living with The Immortal, but this is later revealed to be a prank.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight shows that Buffy has moved to Scotland with Xander and Dawn, where from a citadel they command an army of 500 Slayers in 10 squads. For Buffy's protection, lookalike Slayers are placed in Italy and somewhere underground to distract enemies. Buffy and Xander's organization grows to encompass mystics and a wide technological armory as they become pros at demon slaying. Remaining in contact with Giles and Andrew, the gang manage to keep on top of demonic threats on a more global level.

Somewhere during the time of Angel Season Five, Buffy begins to lose trust in Angel after he and his team take leadership positions at Wolfram & Hart. When Dana, a psychotic Slayer, escapes from a mental hospital in Los Angeles, Andrew works with Angel to apprehend her; when they succeed, Buffy refuses to leave Dana in Angel's care, ordering Andrew and his team of Slayers to bring her to Italy where he is stationed.

As Buffy's organization grows, certain elements of the American military led by General Voll begin to view the Slayers as a terrorist army in the wake of Sunnydale's destruction. Voll appears to have a connection to a mysterious incident involving castle-bound demons, trapped by a mystical force field with a recurring symbol connecting him to the incident, and a greater plan in the works. Giles discusses with the demon that someone has been engineering conflicts for the Slayers. Growing unhappy with Buffy's continued existence, Voll enlists the help of a slightly unhinged Amy Madison and her resurrected "boyfriend" Warren Mears in destroying Buffy. As the story continues, there are hints that Voll has greater motives behind his distrust of the Slayers.

Powers and abilities

Buffy is a Slayer; as such, she has all of the powers and abilities thereof. These include superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes, and accelerated healing. Buffy also possesses a type of precognition that warns her of impending danger through her dreams. For example, her dreams warned her of both her and Angel's deaths; soon after, Angel lost his soul and reverted to Angelus, holding true to her vision. In addition, Buffy exhibits a strong ability to lead others in battle campaigns.

Slayers are also supposed to be able to sense vampires which Buffy, Kendra, and Faith all seemed to lack, although Buffy had on occasion appeared to have sensed the presence of demons, if only by observing their archaic sartorial choices. Like all Slayers, within Buffy's "dreamscape" are a collective of inherited slayer memories and prophecies.

In Season Eight, Xander comments that Buffy has some degree of mystical protection over her now, at least while she sleeps. To that end, her protection means even daggers split apart so as not to pierce her skin.

Temporary abilities

• In the episode "Earshot", Buffy gets an aspect of a demon that she killed, and gains the ability to hear the thoughts of others (although not vampires, which leave no reflection in the mind). She becomes unable to control all of the thoughts in her head, so Angel kills a second demon of this type (which had gotten away) and feeds her a potion containing the demon's heart, stopping the ability altogether.
• In the episode "Primeval", Buffy was the focus of a complex spell that briefly gave her the abilities of Xander, Willow, and Giles; the spell also drew on the pure source of the Slayer's power. She became faster, stronger and had magical abilities. for example she stopped Adam's bullets in the air and turned a missile into a dove. She was able to punch through Adam's armored hide and rip out his radioactive uranium power core without ill effects. Immediately after Buffy defeated the nearly invincible Adam, the spell faded.

Slayer deaths

Buffy's first death (in the episode "Prophecy Girl") was a clinical death, in which the heart stops beating, but there is still brain activity. People who experience clinical death have often been revived. This death activated Kendra Young as the Slayer, and Kendra's death activated Faith. This is why no new Slayer was called when Buffy died at the end of the episode "The Gift". The line runs through Faith (or did until all potential future Slayers became actual Slayers in the final episode).

Buffy's second real death happened at the climax of the episode "The Gift", where she sacrificed herself to save Dawn and the world by hurling herself off a tower and using her own body to close a mystical portal. Her body rested for 147 days until Willow, Xander, Tara, and Anya resurrected her in the episode "Bargaining". No new Slayer was chosen in this instance because the Slayer lineage now continued through Faith, not Buffy; Buffy had already "died" and activated her successor, and could not do so again.

Buffy also "died" in a magical nightmare (in the episode "Nightmares") and in an alternate reality (in the episode "The Wish").

Romantic interests

Buffy's primary romantic interests in the series are Angel and Spike. The two characters have both their parallels and rivalries. When Angel and Spike search for Buffy, Andrew Wells tells the two vampires that Buffy loves them both, but she has to live her life. In the season eight comics, Buffy is shown dreaming a scenario where both lovers are naked and holding her. The three of them are wrapped in chains and surrounded by cupids or putti, and Buffy wears a nurse outfit. In the Buffy series finale, "Chosen", Buffy both indicates to Angel and to Spike that she loves them, although they react with varying degrees of belief.

Other love interests in the series have been relatively more short-lived, including Pike from the movie and "The Origin" adaptation as well as Riley Finn, an antithesis to Angel and Spike who was her third longest running relationship.

• Billy "Ford" Fordham ("Lie to Me") — Buffy developed a crush on Ford in the fifth grade, but he was a "manly sixth-grader" who had no time for younger girls. The previously popular student came to Sunnydale and lied to Buffy, saying his father had been transferred and that he would be attending the local high school. In fact, Ford had months to live and was there only to find a vampire leader to arrange a deal: the blood of Buffy and his followers in exchange for eternal life. Buffy is devastated by Ford's betrayal, though moved by his cancer. When he rises as a vampire, she stakes him without reaction; the Ford she knew and loved had already died.
• Tyler ("Becoming, Part One") — In a flashback to Buffy's pre-Slayer days, Buffy briefly mentioned the presumably popular student at Hemery High just before she was called. "...Tyler would have to crawl on his hands and knees to get me to go to the dance with him. Which, actually, he's supposed to do after practice, so I'm gonna wait."
• Jeffrey — Buffy's vain and popular freshman boyfriend at Hemery High. Buffy and Jeffrey begin to grow distant as she takes on the responsibility as the Slayer and he breaks up with her by leaving a message on her answering machine. He goes to the dance with Buffy's vapid friend, Jennifer.
• Oliver Pike — A sarcastic slacker and Buffy's main romantic interest pre-Sunnydale. Although they initially hated each other as Buffy's superficial valley girl perspective was at odds with Pike's ethics, the two grew closer when they lost friends to Lothos' minions. Pike helped Buffy in killing the vampire king and burning down the school gym full of his minions. The two presumably broke up when Buffy moved to Sunnydale; however, he is never mentioned in the series. Pike was mentioned and appeared in The Origin, a story detailing Buffy's old High School pre-Sunnydale, filling the same role as the movie.
• Angel- Angel initially loves Buffy from afar, watching her as she is called to her destiny as the Slayer; this experience inspires him to move to Sunnydale and become a useful ally in the fight against evil. Buffy loses her virginity to Angel (in the episode "Surprise"), an experience which triggers the loss of his soul. As Angelus, he attempts to destroy her life, as well as the world, until his re-ensoulment; because of his actions, Buffy is forced to send him to a hell dimension to save the world. When Angel returns, Buffy takes care of him and they try to be friends, but they continue to be drawn to each other. Angel eventually moves to Los Angeles to give Buffy a chance at a more normal life, although they keep in contact. Sparks again fly when Angel comes into contact with demon blood that makes him human again; however, Angel decides that he cannot abandon his fight against evil and prevails upon the Powers That Be to rewind time, leaving Buffy with no memory of their recent happiness together and restoring him to his vampire form. In the Buffy series finale, Buffy admits to Angel that she does still look into the future and leaves him with hope that they can be together at some point in that future. However, Buffy apparently loses trust in Angel after he takes control of Wolfram & Hart. Angel and Spike seek her out in Italy, but never catch up to her.
• Owen Thurman ("Never Kill a Boy on the First Date") — A sensitive and shy Sunnydale High student, whose date with Buffy became a vampire-hunting adventure that made him feel alive. Fearing that such an attitude would get him killed, Buffy broke up with Owen, unable to tell him the real reason why; nor to say that she still cares for him just as much.
• Xander Harris — Although Buffy does not return Xander's romantic feelings for her, she flirts and dances seductively with him in the episode "When She Was Bad". Later, under a love spell, Buffy attempts to seduce Xander in the school library. When the love spell is broken, she is grateful that Xander did not take advantage of the situation. While just close friends for the majority of the series' run, in Season Eight, there are comments made in a dream of Buffy's referring to a sexual relationship between them, with Buffy going as far as to proposition and kiss him before the dream wackiness escalates.
• Tom Warner ("Reptile Boy") — A rich member of Delta Zeta Kappa fraternity, a cult that sacrifices beautiful young high school girls to their demon lord Machida in exchange for worldly success. Tom lures Buffy to a party, pretending to be nicer and less materialistic than his vain fraternity brothers. The leader of the cult, Tom attempts to offer Buffy and Cordelia as sacrifices.
• Cameron Walker ("Go Fish") — A self-absorbed and arrogant swimming athlete at Sunnydale High. Initially, Buffy is interested in the good-looking Cameron, who waxes poetic about the ocean. However, by the end of their first date, he won't take no for an answer and Buffy breaks his nose and gets blamed for leading him on.
• Scott Hope — A fellow Sunnydale High student who had a crush on Buffy. Scott asks Buffy out several times during Season 3. Although Buffy is interested in Scott, she is still overwhelmed by her heartbreak over Angel and repeatedly turns him down. Eventually, Buffy decides to date Scott ("Faith, Hope & Trick"), but Angel's return from Hell distracts her. Buffy and Scott are only together a few weeks; Scott breaks up with her because he is tired with dealing with her ongoing preoccupations. Years later, Buffy learns that Scott had told classmates that they had broken up because she was a lesbian, and has ironically come out as gay himself in college.
• Parker Abrams — An attractive, older student whom Buffy met in college. Parker was the second person Buffy had sex with. However, he was only interested in having "a good time" and, not wanting a romantic commitment, ignored Buffy after they slept together (cf. "The Harsh Light of Day"). Buffy is devastated by his behavior, and maintains a brief hope that they can reconcile. While under the influence of enchanted beer, Buffy saves Parker's life when he is trapped in a burning building. In the aftermath of the rescue, Parker apologizes to Buffy for his actions, and she responds by bashing him on the head with a wooden club.
• Riley Finn — Buffy met Riley when she started at college in the episode "The Freshman". They begin a serious relationship after discovering each others' demon-fighting secret identities. Riley sacrifices his career and friends to be with Buffy, but is continually disappointed by her unwillingness to be truly open and vulnerable with him. Also Riley felt that he wasn't strong or aggressive enough to satisfy Buffy the way that dangerous vampires did. He begins drifting away, and Buffy is repulsed to discover that he has been visiting vampire prostitutes and allowing them to drink his blood to get a rush from the intoxication of the blood loss. Although Buffy ultimately tries to stop him, Riley rejoins the military, where he is able to continue demon slaying, and leaves the country, returning to Sunnydale only briefly to track down a dangerous demon, with his new wife.
• Ben — Buffy met Ben in Season Five when her mother was diagnosed with a brain tumour. They flirted but never dated, because Buffy didn't want to define herself by her lack of a relationship.
• Spike — Originally enemies, Spike and Buffy become reluctant allies. Spike falls in love with Buffy in Season Five; she does not return his feelings, and is unsettled to discover his growing obsession. Buffy is moved when Spike withstands significant torture to protect her and her sister, and they reconcile and fight side-by-side until her death. After her resurrection in Season Six, Buffy begins a violent sexual relationship with Spike. She breaks things off, admitting that she is only using Spike and the relationship is "killing her". Spike later attempts to rape an injured and weakened Buffy (she fights him off), and then leaves town in search of his soul. Spike's loyalty to Buffy continues after his ensoulment, and she eventually tells Spike she loves him (in the episode "Chosen") as he is about to sacrifice himself to save the world (to which Spike replies: "No, you don't. But thanks for saying it."). Spike chooses not to contact Buffy after he is resurrected in L.A., wanting her to remember him as a self-sacrificing hero.
• RJ Brooks — Buffy, under the influence of a love spell (in the episode "Him") develops a brief, powerful obsession with this high school quarterback, along with Dawn, Willow, and Anya. She betrays her sister's trust by making out with RJ in an empty classroom, and almost kills Principal Wood to prove her love to him. The spell is broken when Spike and Xander destroy the enchanted letterman's jacket.
• Principal Robin Wood: Buffy and Wood went on one date, but their relationship never went beyond friendship after he revealed that he was the son of an earlier Slayer.

Trivia

• Buffy's unusual name (which is actually a nickname for "Elizabeth" in real life: Buffy, anyway, seems to be baptized just as "Buffy") was the subject of Aphrodisia's somewhat ironic ridicule in the series opener. It would be the subject of a joke as late as the penultimate episode of the series.
• Joss Whedon has since revealed that the character of Buffy Summers is a combination of several X-Men characters. For example, her surname is taken from Scott Summers (Cyclops), and her personality is largely taken from Kitty Pryde.
• In addition to Kristy Swanson and Sarah Michelle Gellar, five other actresses have portrayed Buffy. In flashbacks, a younger Buffy has been played by Mimi Paley, Alexandra Lee, and Candice Nicole. In Season Four, Buffy suffered a magical identity crisis and, having swapped bodies with Faith, was portrayed by Eliza Dushku (in the episodes "This Year's Girl" and "Who Are You"). Giselle Loren has portrayed Buffy in the video games and aborted animated series based on the series.
• Charisma Carpenter auditioned before Sarah Michelle Gellar for the part of Buffy. She was later cast as Buffy's rival Cordelia, the part Sarah Michelle Gellar originally auditioned for.
• Julie Benz and Elizabeth Anne Allen also auditioned for the part of Buffy, ending up with the semi-recurring roles of Darla and Amy Madison, respectively.
• Despite her various strengths, Buffy is sometimes portrayed as somewhat of a dumb blonde; her best friend Willow describes her in "Chosen" as "nice girl, not that bright." Buffy even mentions this herself in the episode "Goodbye Iowa", telling Dr Angleman, "I feel an attack of dumb blonde coming on." Buffy also has a habit of mangling demon names, much to Giles' irritation; Bezoar becomes "Bozo", Acathla becomes "Alfalfa", Kakistos becomes "Kissing Toast", and Turok-Han becomes "Chaka Khan."
• A minor character trait of Buffy's is her aversion to studying history. In "The Harsh Light of Day", she sarcastically dismisses the subject as, "exciting dates and compelling places."
• A minor character trait of Buffy's is her inability to drive. She repeatedly asks her mother if she can take lessons, to little avail. When she finally does get her hands on the wheel in "Band Candy", she doesn't know what the hand brake is for. In Season Four's "Something Blue", she admits that "cars and Buffy are unmixy things." Buffy is never stated to have ownership of a car.
• In the episode "Bargaining", Buffy is revived and has to dig her way out of her grave; this recalls her nightmare scenario of being turned into a vampire and having to dig her way out of her grave, shown much earlier in the episode "Nightmares".
• Buffy Summers was ranked 13th on Bravo's "100 Greatest TV Characters of All Time".
• Over the course of the series' 144 episodes Buffy had 210 kills that can be confirmed; Vampires: 125, Demons: 59, Primals: 1(She-Mantis), Walking Dead: 2, Robots: 2 (Malcom and Ted), Misc. Creatures 17 & Humans: 3 = 210

Appearances in Buffyverse

Buffy has appeared in:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movie)

Buffy stars in this movie.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy was a series regular for all seven seasons. Buffy and Willow were the only two characters that appeared in every episode of the TV show. She appeared in 144 episodes overall.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Comics

She appears in all of the issues so far.

Angel

Buffy made guest appearances in two episodes:

• "I Will Remember You" (November 23, 1999) * "Sanctuary" (May 2, 2000)