Buffy Summers' Journal

She often displayed poor driving skills. She repeatedly asked her mother if she could take lessons, to little avail. When she finally did get behind the wheel, she didn't know what the hand brake was for.[164] She later admitted that "cars and Buffy are unmixy things."[165] She also drove while in Faith's body, again badly (although this could be because she was being chased by assassins at the time and was trying to get away).[18] Still later, she was shown to still have possession of Joyce's SUV, but was still characteristically terrible at driving and parking it.[166] Strangely, however, she was shown driving at one point and did so perfectly.[167]
Buffy also tended to unconsciously babble out almost senseless sentences when she was emotional or nervous (much to the dismay, amusement or confusion of others). Angel and Willow had fondly discussed this aspect of hers, both agreeing that when Buffy was emotionally excited or worked up, it's hard to get a word in.[168]Giles also had once described Buffy as willful, insolent, and that she abused the English language terribly[51](Buffy later admitted to having this trait, when briefly transported to the future[169]). Buffy also spoke in strange phrases and tangents, similar to Willow, which could confuse others, especially Giles at one point.
Buffy had a strong distaste towards the use of conventional firearms largely to their ineffectiveness against most demons, with Tara's death by Warren's stray bullet only reinforcing her dislike[170]. When a police officer intervened while she fought a M'Fashnik demon, Buffy chucked his pistol away, telling him "These things, never helpful'.[171] Months later, when given a machine gun and was unable the aim it properly, Buffy rephrased what she said instead saying guns weren't useful instead of helpful.[82] Even during a war against human soldiers, Buffy still stuck by her "Slayers don't use guns" philosophy after Giles brought her a Chinese assault rifle.[172]Despite this, Buffy still employed the use of a tranquilizer rifle to sedate Oz while he was in wolf-form [173][174]Buffy's favorite weapon over time was shown to be frequently identified as the traditional wooden stake, even being completely unbothered with using it on creatures other than vampires.[175] When probed of this habit, Buffy would simply say it was because she knew how to use it.[176]

Abilities: Being the slayer
Items carried: Mr Pointy and the scythe
History: Before becoming the Slayer, Buffy's personality was that of a superficial blonde valley girl; she herself claimed that evenCordelia "looked like a classical philosopher next to me".[51]Initially snobby towards people of a lower social class such as Pike,[29] the isolation she experienced from her popular friends at Hemery High gave her new-found empathy towards outcasts like Willow and Xander.[31] Nevertheless, Buffy was something of a rebel who did not conform to traditional Slayer conventions; Rupert Giles once admitted that "some flexibility is required" when it came to being Buffy's Watcher.[40] Buffy also tended to venture out of the Slayer's typically supernatural jurisdiction, often fighting crazed robots and even human criminals. Buffy is unique as a Slayer in that she refuses to give up her "normal" life for her destiny and works with a group of close friends who know her identity. The spirit of the First Slayer once insisted to Buffy that the Slayer must work alone, a belief which Buffy promptly rejected.[70] Buffy's individualistic and rebellious tendencies cultimated into developing an extreme distaste of being manipulated and "losing control" [144], particularly when it revolved around her life. This was made most apparent in her initial request to have the monks erase her false memories of Dawn,[145] her forced destiny as The Slayer, her brief loss of her abilities through Giles' betrayal[146], her rejection of Twilight,[147], anger over Angel's decision to keep his presence hidden while in Sunnydale,[148] as well as deciding to turn himself into a vampire again without her knowledge. [149] Kendra, who had been trained as a Slayer from early childhood, told Buffy that a Slayer did not have the luxury of emotions. Buffy responded that her emotions gave her power and she considered them "total assets".[40] Spike once stated that Buffy's improvisational fighting style was much like that of Nikki Wood, the second Slayer he killed.[150]
Additionally, one of Buffy's most notable qualities was her frequent sarcasm and ironic sense of humor. She often cracked jokes and puns about her opponents, especially in the midst of battle. Buffy apparently took much enjoyment out of taunting them, usually getting very annoyed her enemies didn't respond. Angel had once stated that Buffy always deployed light-hearted humor to cover up how she truly felt or to avoid uncomfortable situations, similar to Xander. [151] Buffy had a tendency to be overconfident when she faced her enemies, but this probably came from her Slayer strength. Buffy was also very stubborn, hard-headed and a natural leader, making her at times overly demanding and bossy.[152] She was extremely determined and fiercely independent by nature, detesting giving up or losing battles of any kind, be it supernatural or personal issues. This would be especially apparent in her humilation of running away from Glory while trying to protect Dawn.[153] Buffy has been accused of being violent following her calling as a Slayer. Buffy denied that she was but when questioning Xander of this, he said "The important thing is, you believe that." [154] Faith had also once harshly mentioned to her that Buffy was "all about control."[155]She was also somewhat short-tempered in nature, as it never took very much to irritate her. Buffy once described herself as " I am capable of awesome. I'm usually super reliable and conscientious and according to popular report, a little tightly wound." [156]
Throughout most of her career as the Slayer, Buffy functioned as a reluctant hero. She constantly wished for nothing more than a normal life, an attitude that was particularly prevalent during her high school years. However, as time moved on, Buffy slowly became more accepting of her Slayer duties, particularly after Kendra helped her to understand that being the Slayer was part of who she was and not simply a burden forced upon her shoulders against her will. After her meeting with the First Slayer and battle with Dracula, Buffy finally came to terms with her role as the Slayer. Despite her ever-present reluctance to be the Slayer even in her later years, Buffy has been depicted as having a incredibly strong sense of responsibility with the people she saved and the world as well. This was shown in her disagreements over Faith's impulsive and careless attitude and her self-righteous stance on many other things.
When it to came to her duties or what she felt was important, Buffy would always focus all her energy on it, fearing letting anyone down. Because of this, she could be seen as a very serious and resolved person when it came to slaying or other matters, unlike her more easygoing, less serious counterpart Faith. Buffy was also an expert in battle strategies and tactical plans, being very much a leader type. This skill earned her great respect from others and many successes, becoming the self-proclaimed leader of the Scooby Gang for many years. Buffy was also very down-to-earth and a definite realist, being one of the first to recognize disadvantages and weigh them appropriately. Because of her powerful feelings of responsibility for those around her, it was easy for Buffy to blame herself harshly for failures or misfortunes for those she cared for.
After her mother's death, Buffy's determination to succede was becoming more frayed. The constant setbacks and tragedies in her life was causing her to lose faith in herself, not going unnoticed by Giles and Xander. [157]Dawn's capture by Glory shattered her resolve entirely, falling into a catatonic state that she was only able to pull out of because of Willow. Buffy's waning faith even reached the point that she had, just for a moment, wanted Glory to win and Dawn to die so the pressure and responsibility would be over, a thought that intensely disturbed her. [158] Buffy's personality and character developed a much darker and self-destructive persona after being brought back from Heaven. She had hated living and the harshness of everything her life had, even attempting to commit suicide at one point until stopped by Spike.[159] Due to her depression and self-loathing, she had sought out a violent sexual relationship with Spike, later admitting that she didn't love him and was just using him to feel something.[160] However, after the death of Tara and Willow's subsequent dark magic-fuelled rampage, Buffy snapped out of her depression and realized that life was worth living, returning to her old self (more or less).
While Buffy acknowledged that humans can be just as bad as demons, if not even worse, she largely refused to kill humans under any circumstances, insisting that the Slayer did not have a license to kill, which occasionally put her into conflict with her less-merciful teammates. She held great disgust and hatred of collateral damage as she had always tried to save as many people as she could by any means necessary even if a solution to save the world was killing someone innocent (a striking difference from her ex-boyfriend Angel, who had employed "ends justified the means" tactics in the past). For example, she spared Ben's life after Glory was defeated despite full knowledge that Glory would eventually resurface and come after her again, which resulted in Giles doing so instead, and flat-out refused to even consider killing Dawn to stop Glory's plans [81]. Additionally, she refused to kill Warren Mears despite his vicious crimes, including Tara's murder, preferring to let him face human justice, whereas Xander and Dawn were so disgusted and furious with him that they openly supported Willow's intent to kill until after she actually did it and then targeted Andrew and Jonathan, who had nothing to do with Tara's death.[91]. However, throughout her focus of the "Slayer mission", she stated matter-of-factly that if she had to, she would be able to kill a human to save the world [161]; indeed, Buffy had made exceptions to her "kill no humans" rule on multiple occasions: she was perfectly willing to kill Faith to save Angel's life [55], killed several members of the Knights of Byzantium to protect Dawn,[162] and bisected Calebwith the Scythe [104]. Nonetheless, she made it a rule in the Slayer Organization to "go for the wound" with their human enemies [110].
Additionally, Buffy fully understood that not all demons were evil and was in fact good friends with several demons, such as Clem, and held a code of honor even with longtime enemies, refusing to kill Spike when he was rendered helpless by the Initiative's Behavior-Modification Circuitry despite their long history of animosity before and after that point, while also being disgusted with Riley when he expressed prejudice against Willow for dating Oz, a werewolf. Despite this, Buffy was perfectly willing and able to kill demons when they committed bad deeds; when Anya, having become a vengeance demon again, killed several fraternity boys in accordance with a wish, Buffy decided right then and there that she had to kill Anya rather than talk her down like they did with Willow, justifying it by stating that Willow was a human and Anya was a demon, and reminding Xander that she killed Angel because it was necessary, stating that as the Slayer, she is the law and her judgements on demons were absolute[163].
Though she was normally quite aware socially, Buffy had proven to have a few lapses in judgment that cost her and others as well. Her destructive relationship with Spike, for example, was attributed to her own feelings of vulnerability, self-loathing, and unworthiness after the death of her mother as well as her abrupt descent fromheaven. Despite her powerful sense of responsibility, when in a state of depression or ill humor, she had been shown to procrastinate and put off or otherwise ignore things she should be dealing with. This was most prominently seen in her exile out of Heaven, ignoring her role as guardian of Dawn and forcing Giles to both take care of her[164] and pay the bills she couldn't afford.[165] Another example was when she had smashed theSeed of Wonder and remained indifferent over Willow's pleas of returning magic, hardly thinking of the consequences of the action because she did what she had to do; in this case, she was finally forced to face the negative consequences of the Seed's destruction when she discovered that without magic, Dawn was fading away[166].
Buffy also appeared to have an inferiority and superiority complex,[167] as she felt like she was worse than everyone or that there was something wrong with her, and that even though her friends and former boyfriends think the opposite, their opinions didn't mean anything. She could also be surprisingly rather negative and give in to fits of pessimistic tendencies, suffering from occasional abandonment issues[114] since almost all her friends and boyfriends had left her at some point. She suffered from constant loneliness, especially since she felt the burden of being the Slayer was something no one could understand or share with her.[103] Buffy had once admitted that she cut people out, of both her problems and personal feelings for years, coming to the conclusion that she was closed off from everyone else. [168] Fearing her attachment to reality was disconnecting, Buffy wondered if being the Slayer would eventually overcome her so much, she'd be too hardened to be able to love anymore.[169] However, Buffy's increasingly closed off demeanor over the years was a combination of the harsh lifestyle of a slayer and her chronic habit to be strong for everyone else despite her own problems.[170][171] This was often misinterpreted by many as insensitivity and detachment, even from her closest friends.
When her intelligence or abilities have been put into question, as when she was under investigation by theWatchers' Council,[172] Buffy responded poorly to authority and was mostly unable to complete any of the tasks given. She would almost appear as the "dumb blonde" stereotype, but in her confrontation with the Council, when things were on her terms, Buffy appeared to have a relatively advanced sense of awareness that wasn't accessed through many traditional methods. However, Willow did admit that Buffy wasn't always very smart("You know Buffy. Sweet girl, not very bright.")[104] The strength in her personality sometimes made it hard for her to relinquish control.
One of Buffy's most defining personality traits was her tendency to keep things secret from the rest of theScooby Gang, which came back to haunt her more than once. Such secrets included Angel's resurrection [48], Dawn's identity as The Key,[173] her relationship with Spike,[174] and her sighting of Spike in the basement of the new Sunnydale High.[175] Buffy has also been shown to have a usually forgiving nature, the only exception possibly being Faith to an extent.
Buffy had a tendency to mangle the names of vampires, demon species and mystical terminology, much to Giles' constant irritation. For example, "Astral Body" became "Asteroid Body",[35] "Tirer La Couverture" became "Rolling Food Stuff",[176] Bezoar" became "Bozo",[177] "Morgala" became ""Morgan Freeman",[178] "Kakistos" became "Kissing Toast", "Taquitos", and "Khaki Trousers",[49] "Acathla" became "Alfalfa" and "Al Franken",[28]"Beljoxa's Eye" became "Botox's Eye",[98] and "Turok-Han" became "Chaka Khan".[179] Even some normal words she has been shown to mispronounce, such as "Haperdashery" became "Haerbradasgrening", "Habbledaspery", and "Have-a-dash-of-tea." [180]
She often displayed poor driving skills. She repeatedly asked her mother if she could take lessons, to little avail. When she finally did get behind the wheel, she didn't know what the hand brake was for.[181] She later admitted that "cars and Buffy are unmixy things."[182] She also drove while in Faith's body, again badly (although this could be because she was being chased by assassins at the time and was trying to get away).[18]Still later, she was shown to still have possession of Joyce's SUV, but was still characteristically terrible at driving and parking it.[183] Strangely, however, she was shown driving at one point and did so perfectly.[184]
Buffy also tended to unconsciously babble out almost senseless sentences when she was emotional or nervous (much to the dismay, amusement or confusion of others). Angel and Willow had fondly discussed this aspect of hers, both agreeing that when Buffy was emotionally excited or worked up, it's hard to get a word in.[185]Giles also had once described Buffy as willful, insolent, and that she abused the English language terribly[52](Buffy later admitted to having this trait, when briefly transported to the future[186]). Buffy also spoke in strange phrases and tangents, similar to Willow, which could confuse others, especially Giles at one point.
Buffy had a strong distaste towards the use of conventional firearms largely to their ineffectiveness against most demons, with Tara's death by Warren's stray bullet only reinforcing her dislike[187]. When a police officer intervened while she fought a M'Fashnik demon, Buffy chucked his pistol away, telling him "These things, never helpful'.[188] Months later, when given a machine gun and was unable the aim it properly, Buffy rephrased what she said instead saying guns weren't useful instead of helpful.[89] Even during a war against human soldiers, Buffy still stuck by her "Slayers don't use guns" philosophy after Giles brought her a Chinese assault rifle.[189]Despite this, Buffy still employed the use of a tranquilizer rifle to sedate Oz while he was in wolf-form [190][191]Buffy's favorite weapon over time was shown to be frequently identified as the traditional wooden stake, even being completely unbothered with using it on creatures other than vampires.[192] When probed of this habit, Buffy would simply say it was because she knew how to use it.[193]
History:
Buffy was born to Hank and Joyce Summers on January 19th, 1981, in Los Angeles, California. In childhood, she was close friends with her cousin Celia, and enjoyed playing Power Girl with her. When she was eight, she witnessed Celia's murder in her hospital bed by Der Kindestod, a demon that killed sick children and who was only visible to those who were ill.
Buffy was left with a fear of hospitals after the experience.[20] As she grew up, she came to idolize Olympic ice skaterDorothy Hamill, and practiced the sport herself.[24] In the fifth grade, she developed a crush on sixth grader Billy Fordham; although the two were friends, he never returned her feelings.[25] Buffy started attending Hemery High School in 1995, where she became a popular cheerleader and was elected both Prom Princess and Fiesta Queen.[26][27]

At the age of fifteen, Buffy suddenly began having violent dreams about women from different historical periods slaying monsters. Although she didn't understand at first, her experiences were soon explained to her when she was approached at school by Merrick, a mysterious man who revealed her destiny as the "Chosen One" and became her first Watcher.[28] Buffy and Merrik initially butted heads due to his intolerance of her teenaged-girliness; however, the pair eventually gained a mutual fondess for each other as he trained her for battle against the vampire king Lothos. As her increasingly strange behavior alienated her from her peers and her boyfriend Jeffrey, she befriended fellow outcast Pike. She began relying on him for support after Merrick sacrificed himself to protect her from Lothos. Despite having had very little training, Buffy managed to defeat Lothos and his minions at a school dance. Unfortunatetely, she burnt down her high school's gym in the process, for which she was subsequently expelled. Shortly after her expulsion, Buffy and Pike took an impromptu trip to Las Vegas to hunt vampires.[29] Upon their return, Buffy told her parents what had happened at Hemery High and about her destiny as the Slayer. They refused to believe her, thinking instead that she was losing her mind. They made the decision to commit her to an insane asylum. Shortly after her arrival, Buffy realized that it was better not to perpetuate her story, and she was released after a few short weeks. Buffy and her parents never spoke of it again.[30]
Sunnydale High
Sophomore
Buffy's parents, who had been experiencing marital troubles for years, finally divorced, and Buffy moved with her mother to 1630 Revello Drive in Sunnydale, a small town in California. Little did they know that the town was located on a Hellmouth, and that Buffy's presence there was predestined. Buffy enrolled at Sunnydale High, where she became friends with Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, as well as her new Watcher, Rupert Giles. She also met Cordelia Chase, a superficial cheerleader reminiscent of Buffy before she became the Slayer, and Angel, a mysterious and handsome stranger who aided Buffy with cryptic advice.[31] Though initially trying for a normal life without slaying, she was forced to except her duties and successfully stopped the vampire ritual known as the Harvest by the Order of Aurelius, a vampire cult under the rule of ancient and power vampire the Master, who was trapped underground in Sunnydale. Together, Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles formed the "core four" of the "Scooby Gang" and continued to investigate the various supernatural mysteries that occurred on the Hellmouth.[32] Wishing to have a social life separate from her Slayer duties, Buffy tried out for the cheerleading squad and briefly dated fellow studentOwen Thurman, but these attempts at normalcy were quickly thwarted by supernatural activity.[26][33]

Buffy gradually developed an attraction to Angel, and was horrified when she came to realize that he was a vampire. Though initially reluctant to slay him, she ultimately decided to do so when it appeared that Angel had attacked her mother. She relented upon discovering that he had a human soul as a result of being cursed by a Gypsy clan as punishment for his vicious crimes. Additionally, she found out that Angel had in fact been set up by the vampireDarla of the Order of Aurelius, Angel's sire and Joyce's true attacker, who was staked by Angel in the ensuing confrontation.[34]
When people's nightmares began coming true in Sunnydale, Buffy's guilt over her parents' divorce manifested and she was briefly transformed into a vampire.[35] When a string of odd occurrences started, making what was believed to be the oncoming apocalypse, Giles warned Buffy that she would eventually be forced to battle the Master as the Hellmouth would open.

Upon learning that the infallible Pergamum Codex prophesied her death at the hands of the Master, a saddened and fearfully Buffy temporarily quit being the Slayer and contemplated leaving town, but accepted her fate after Willow discovered bodies of their classmates slaughtered inside the school. Armed with a crossbow and wearing a prom dress, Buffy descended down the sewers to confront the Master at his lair. Buffy was overpowered and bitten once, discovering it was her that would set the Master free as her Slayer blood gave him the power to do so. The Master then left Buffy to drown in a pool of water in the Master's dwellings, but Xander resuscitated her, Awakening, Buffy felt more strong and confronted the Master once more, managing to defeat him and effectively closing the Hellmouth.[36]
First Love

Buffy spent the summer with her father in Los Angeles. During her time there she didn't slay a single vampire, but after her fatal experience she began suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and lavished on material items like clothes while remaining emotionally distant from others. Upon her return to Sunnydale in the fall, she made her condition obvious by taking out her anger on her slaying-targets and behaving rudely to her friends. She finally recovered emotionally when she destroyed the Master's skeleton after his remaining followers attempted to resurrect him.[37]

In her junior year of high school, Buffy came into conflict with Spike, a vampire renowned for murdering two previous Slayers. Spike and his lover Drusillawere Angel's former associates,[38] and had come to Sunnydale intent on wreaking havoc on the town. Spike, in particular, wanted to make Buffy his third slayer kill.
Buffy, who was once more attempting to attain some level of normalcy in her life, lied to her Watcher so she could attend a frat-party, though was forced to reveal her deception when her life was put in danger once again. She then took her relationship with Angel to the next level, and the two began officially dating.[39] During a school career fair, Buffy was confirmed qualified for law enforcement. Around this time, Buffy was targeted by the Order of Taraka, an order of assassins hired by Spike to kill her so she wouldn't interrupt an ritual to heal a sickly and weak Drusilla. While taking hiding in Angel's apartment, Buffy met Kendra Young, a second Slayer who had been mystically activated when Buffy drowned. The two quickly proved to be near-polar opposites, with Kendra's complete devotion to her Slayer duties contrasting to Buffy's emotions and loyalty to her friends and family. They eventually became friends and Kendra helped Buffy rescue Angel after he was kidnapped to complete Drusilla's healing, his life for hers. From this, Kendra taught Buffy to appreciate that being a Slayer was part of who she was, and not just a burden. [24][40]
On the night of her seventeenth birthday, Buffy lost her virginity to Angel.[41] By causing Angel to experience a moment of true and utter happiness, she unknowingly lifted the curse placed on him a century earlier, causing him to lose his soul and revert to the evil Angelus, the most notoriously evil vampire in recorded history.[42]

Angelus became obsessed with destroying Buffy's life and joined Spike and a restored Drusilla, who had reconstructed an invincible demon called the Judgeto destroy humanity. Buffy managed to defeat the Judge with a stolen rocket launcher, but Angelus' pathological abuse continued to take a heavy toll on Buffy and her friends over the months through the form of creepy letters and threatening to endanger her friends and family. He even revealed their intimate night together to her mother, forcing Buffy to go through "the talk" with her, though came to an understanding as Joyce was as nervous as she was. It climaxed when he murdered the Scoobies' ally and Giles' love interest, Jenny Calendar. This put Giles in danger when he tried to kill Angelus in retribution, nearly getting killed before Buffy saved him, not wanting to lose him, especially at a time as this.[43] When faced with Angelus's subsequent plan to destroy the world, Buffy was fully willing to kill him but also relied on Willow to re-ensoul as a last resort after they discovered the spell to do so in Jenny's office. Challenged to a duel with Angelus, Buffy was tricked again when he staged an attack against Willow and the others which culminated to the death of Kendra at the hands of Drusilla. Coming to the scene of the crime, Buffy was suspected for Kendra's murder and resisted arrest, making her a target to the Sunnydale police force.

She reluctantly accepted an alliance with Spike, who had become tired of Angelus' presence and had no desire to see the world end. When returning home with Spike, she killed a vampire in front of her mother so she was forced to reveal her identity as the Slayer. Joyce reacted badly to the news and in a fight of confusion and disagreements, Buffy was thrown out by her own accord. She returned to the library where the murder had happened to acquire a mystical sword given to her by Kendra prior to her death. When this happened the school's unpleasant Principal Snyder arrived and expelled her.

Buffy confronted Angelus and tried to prevent him from opening a vortex to ahell dimension, while Willow worked a spell to return Angel's soul. Though the spell was successful, Angelus had already begun to open the vortex, and Buffy was forced to drive the sword through the re-ensouled Angel's chest, sending him through the vortex to the hell dimension before he could even remember Angelus' siege against Sunnydale. Traumatized and alone, Buffy then boarded a bus out of Sunnydale and escaped to Los Angeles.[44]

Return to Sunnydale
While in L.A., Buffy spent the summer waiting tables in a diner under a false identity (her middle name, Anne), trying to turn her back on her destiny. However, after rescuing a runaway from a hell dimension which struck her into battle mode, Buffy returned to Sunnydale to face her own demons.[45]

After a few difficulties, namely being caught trying to run away once more during her welcome back party that was then attacked by zombies, Buffy reconciled with her friends and family.[46] Dropped from her charges, Buffy was let back into Sunnydale High even though Snyder initially prevented her return from happening to his own pleasure, but he was overruled by the School Board.
At school Buffy was required to improve her grades by doing several makeup tests, obtain a recommendation from a member of the school staff that wasn't an "English librarian" and received counseling for a small time. She also started a relationship with normal schoolmate Scott Hope which ended shortly after a number of weeks. On the other hand, she discovered Angel had been returned from his hell dimension in a feral state.[47] She secretly rehabilitated him at his mansion, helping him heal while still finding herself greatly drawn to him.
When the Scoobies discovered this, they were disgusted, confused, and furious, though they begrudgingly accepted him back into the team when he saved Willow from being killed by a corrupt ex-Watcher.[48]

Meanwhile, a rebellious new Slayer, Faith Lehane, arrived in town, immediately winning over Buffy's friends and family and providing Buffy with a new ally. Contrary to Kendra who was the model slayer, Faith was a fun-loving brawler that threw responsibility more so than Buffy did. Buffy discovered that under her facade of enthusiasm of the kill was fear, having escaped from Sunnydale after the vampire Kakistos killed her Watcher and threatened to come after her. After averting the problem by slaying the vampire, Buffy and Faith started a complicated sisterly relationship of learning each others' strengths and weaknesses.[49]
Though Buffy and Angel attempted to simply be friends and nothing more, they eventually continued dating, though they took great care to keep their relationship celibate.[50]
Shortly before her eighteenth birthday, Buffy was de-powered in preparation for her Cruciamentum, a Slayer rite of passage organized by the Watchers' Council meant to test the Slayer's practical capabilities. This pitted her against a vampire manic which she initially avoided though packed the courage to take him on when held her mother hostage and she ended victorious. Giles' reluctance to see Buffy hurt and subsequent interference in the test led to him being fired as her official Watcher and replaced with Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, though Buffy quickly rebelled against Wesley and refused to take him seriously when he turned out to be little more than a bumbling idiot and a coward.[51]
Eventually, Faith led Buffy on a rebellious tour of her side of Slaying, which did entice Buffy to some degree. This however proved disastrous when Faith accidentally killed the Deputy Mayor and refused to take responsibility for her actions.[52] Buffy tried to make her own up, but was shot down and Faith herself tried to frame Buffy for her crime by lying to Giles, though he saw through this. Buffy and Faith's relationship would be then changed from that point on.[53]
As the Senior Prom was closing in, Buffy expressed excitement in having her prefect high school experience with Angel as her date. However, realizing he could never give her a normal life, Angel broke up with Buffy the day before. Despite being extremely saddened, Buffy still made it her duty that she and her friends enjoy themselves at the event. She went forth and killed a number of hellhounds released by a dateless nerd and attended prom dressed in formal wear. To her surprise, she was presented with an award, acknowledging the countless times she saved the student body. Just as it couldn't get better, Angel arrived in a tuxedo, not wanting to take her back but give her the slow dance she desired.[54]

Increasingly alienated from the Scoobies, Faith found a friend in the affable yet sinister Mayor of Sunnydale,[53]who was preparing to become a pure-blood demon on the Sunnydale High Graduation Day and devour the student body.[55] As the Mayor relied on Faith to help him prepare for his ascension, Buffy worked first to thwart his plans, then to organize a resistance. Faith impeded these efforts by poisoning Angel, leaving him on the verge of death; when the Watchers' Council refused to help on the grounds that Angel was a vampire, a furious and disgusted Buffy chose to stop following the Council's orders altogether, severing all ties with them.
When the Scoobies learned that only the blood of a Slayer could save Angel's life, Buffy attempted to sacrifice Faith to save him, willing to kill a human in this case.[55] Their battle left Faith in a seemingly permanent coma, and Buffy ultimately saved Angel with her own blood which also put her the hospital, though she quickly recovered.
Buffy then led her classmates in a climactic battle against the transformed Mayor and his minions, which culminated in an explosion that destroyed the Mayor as well as Sunnydale Highschool. After the smoke cleared, Angel left for Los Angeles so that Buffy could try to have a more normal life without him.[56]
U.C. Sunnydale

The First Slayer: "The Slayer does not walk in this world."
Buffy: "I walk. I talk. I shop. I sneeze. I'm gonna be a fireman when the floods roll back. There's trees in the desert since you moved out, and I don't sleep on a bed of bones."
— Buffy and the First Slayer[src]
After the explosive events of her high school graduation, Buffy experienced difficulties adjusting to life as a college freshman at U.C. Sunnydale. She was injured during an encounter with a group of on-campus vampires,[57] and came off as unstable to her friends when she suspected her overly compulsiveroommate to be demon—she was proven correct in her assumption, and she began rooming with Willow after confronting Kathy.[58] Her troubles were only worsened by Angel's recent departure. She sought comfort with fellow student Parker Abrams, and slept with him only a few weeks after meeting him. When he brushed her off afterward, she became understandably depressed.

Her experience with Parker was made more difficult by Spike, who had returned to Sunnydale after Drusilla left him once again. He uncovered theGem of Amara—a ring that made any vampire who wore it invulnerable to vampiric weaknesses—and confronted her on campus. Though she managed to take the ring back, Spike escaped into the sewers. At Buffy's request, Oz delivered the Gem to Angel in Los Angeles.[59]
During Thanksgiving, Buffy was forced to deal with Hus, the vengeful spirit of a Native American warrior, after he was released by Xander's construction crew. Buffy, who had been determined to have a safe and normal holiday meal with her friends, was also shocked when Spike arrived unexpectedly at Giles' flat, begging for help. Spike had been captured by the mysterious Initiative—a group of army-clad individuals Buffy had encountered at the university, and implanted with a cerebral micro-chip that made it impossible for him to harm humans.[60] Buffy was aided in the battle against Hus by Angel, who had returned to Sunnydale without her knowledge—when Xander accidentally revealed that Angel had reappeared, Buffy, hurt that he had spoken to everyone but her, immediately traveled to Los Angeles to confront him. Buffy and Angel agreed to remain apart; just as she was about to leave, they were attacked by a Mohra Demon. They tracked the demon down into the sewers after succeeding in wounding it, but became separated. Angel seemingly managed to kill it, but its blood had mixed with his own during the confrontation, causing him to become human again.
Buffy and Angel reveled in finally being able to be together, but Angel soon discovered that The Powers That Be had not yet offered him redemption. When Angel was almost killed by the regenerated Mohra demon, Buffy managed to slay it. After Angel discovered that Buffy would die much sooner if he remained human, Angel had the the Oracles rewind time to reverse his transformation into a human. Buffy was left with no memory of the incident.[61]
Back in Sunnydale, Buffy and the Scoobies kept Spike tied up in Giles' flat as he bartered information about the Initiative for shelter and blood. At school, Buffy eventually attracted the sincere attention of her psychology teacher's assistant, Riley Finn, and began to wonder how she could balance her Slayer duties while dating a seemingly-normal boy. While fighting the Gentlemen, however, Buffy came to discover that Riley had a secret of his own; he was a member of the Initiative, which Buffy learned was a government task force created to research mystical and demonic creatures led by Buffy's psychology professor, Maggie Walsh.[62] Buffy briefly joined forces with the Initiative, but her relentless questioning of the organization's motives, as well as her relationship with Riley, began to unsettle Professor Walsh, who tried to dispatch her by having her killed in action.[63] Walsh was subsequently murdered by a creature of her own creation, the monstrous half-human/half-demon cyborg,Adam, who then escaped and began his plan to create an army of similar super soldiers.[64]

Meanwhile Faith, having awakened from her coma, used a mystical device left to her by the Mayor to switch bodies with Buffy.[65] In Faith's body, Buffy was taken into custody by the Watchers Council Special Operations Team. She managed to escape and convince Giles of her true identity. With the help of Willow and Tara Maclay, Buffy reversed the body swap .[18]
Upon discovering that Faith had traveled to Los Angeles and was attempting to kill Angel, a furious Buffy used saving Angel as an excuse to go to L.A. for vengeance, only to discover that Faith had become remorseful for her crimes. This put Buffy into direct conflict with Angel, who insisted that Faith could be rehabilitated. Though understandably unwilling or unable to believe that Faith was capable of redemption, Buffy ultimately had no choice but to work together with her to fight back against the Watchers Council Special Operations Team. Faith subsequently surrendered herself to the police, and Buffy got into a heated exchange with Angel, climaxing when she used her relationship with Riley to put Angel on the defensive, who then harshly ordered her to go back to Sunnydale after reminding her that he himself could not move on from their relationship.[66] Angel subsequently returned to Sunnydale to apologize, and after running afoul of the Initiative in the process, succeeded in mending things with Buffy, with both sides admitting that they had been wrong.[67]

Riley, who had been torn between the Scooby Gang and the Initiative for some time, eventually turned his back on the corrupt organization to join Buffy after helping them save Oz from the Initiative complex.[68] Having been drifting apart for the previous year, the existing tensions between Buffy, Giles, Willow, and Xander reached their boiling point when Spike, wanting to have the chip removed from his head, exploited them to turn the gang against each other as part of Adam's plan.[67] When Spike let too much information about the plot slip during an encounter with Buffy, however, the Scoobies reconciled andcombined their essences within Buffy's body, allowing her to destroy Adam.
The Scoobies, helped by Riley and Spike, subsequently helped save the Initiative's soldiers from the rampaging demon hordes within the complex; the Initiative was subsequently closed down by the U.S. government, and Riley was honorably discharged from the military.[69] The four were later attacked in their dreams by the First Slayer, who was offended by their use of the adjoining spell to defeat Adam; Buffy promptly rejected the First Slayer's insistence that the Slayer work alone without friends.[70]
Sisterhood and Sacrifice
"I need to know more. About where I come from, about the other Slayers. I mean, maybe... maybe if I learn to control this thing, I could be stronger, I could be better."
―Buffy embraces her role as the Slayer.[src]
Soon after her confrontation with the First Slayer, Buffy encountered the famous vampire Dracula, who had traveled to Sunnydale with the intention of making the legendary warrior his bride. Buffy—among others—was at first left powerless to Dracula's unique "thrall", but managed to overcome his control and force him to leave her town. As a result of her battle against the Count, Buffy began to fully accept her duty as the Slayer for the first time in her life, and had Giles put her through more extensive training in order to prepare her for the unknown battles ahead.[71]
awn, had mysteriously appeared in the Summers' household; her existence had been seamlessly integrated into the memories of all those she had ever known.[72] After casting a spell on herself in the hopes of discovering the mystical source of an illness she believed her mother was blighted by, Buffy discovered that Dawn was not her sister at all, but rather a ball of magical energy known as the Key capable of opening interdimensional portals. A group of
the Key to take human shape in order to protect it from a mentally unstable Higher Power known asGlorificus; they had chosen to put the Key in the Slayer's care, as a sister, in the hopes that she would protect it with her life. Though Buffy was understandably skeptical of Dawn when she learned that she had been fabricated and integrated into her life without her prior knowledge, she quickly came to accept her responsibility as Dawn's protector, not because she felt obliged to carry out the monks' wishes, but because she slowly realized that she truly did love her sister, regardless of the circumstances of her existence
Buffy continued to patrol Sunnydale and fight evil with the Scoobies, despite the looming threat of Glory. When she left an encounter with an average vampire badly wounded, she became briefly obsessed with the deaths of past Slayers, and poured through old Watchers' records with Giles in an attempt to better understand her situation. She eventually went to Spike for information instead, who, having killed two Slayers in his lifetime, proved particularly knowledgeable on the subject. He brought her to the Bronze, where he recounted to her the events of his life in great detail, from his human life as William Pratt, to his siring by Drusilla, his rivalry with Angelus and his obsession with Slayers. He imparted to her his own personal philosophy in regards to Slayers—that every one has a death wish—before she shoved him to the ground and returned home, where she learned about mother's possible illness. As she cried on the back porch, Spike suddenly appeared; though he at first seemed frustrated and intent on harming her for her prior words, upon seeing her in distress, he abandoned his pointless vendetta and comforted her for the first time.[74]
Buffy's relationship with Riley slowly began deteriorate as she repeatedly failed to give him the emotional intimacy he craved. Riley began visiting a vampire brothel where he would allow vampires to bite him; when Buffy discovered this as a result of Spike's interference, she destroyed the brothel and confronted Riley, after which he left her and returned to the military.[75] Buffy dealt with Riley's departure as best she could, but remained emotionally sensitive. She managed to concern herself with their continued struggle against Glory, who was still searching desperately for the Key. The Watchers Council eventually came to Sunnydale with information about Glory, but refused to give it up until Buffy passed a test they had prepared for her. The Council interviewed Buffy's friends and allies in order to ascertain if she was "worthy" of the knowledge they had to deliver. Though Buffy at first failed to meet their standards, an unexpected visit from Glory gave her the confidence to stand up to the Council. Through a particularly rousing speech, she managed to convince them to give the information and reinstate Giles into the Council. From them, she learned that Glory was not a demon at all, but a god.
Later, Dawn casually revealed to Buffy that Spike had fallen in love with her, much to Buffy's surprise and disgust. She confronted him about it on a stakeout; though she attempted to tell him that his feelings were impossible, he kidnapped her in order to proclaim his devotion to her by murdering his sire and ex-lover, Drusilla. Buffy managed to escape, and subsequently alienated Spike from the Scoobies and had Willow recant his invitation into her house—something she had not bothered to do since he first helped her during their fight against Angelus.[76]
Despite Buffy's depression over having had two failed relationships, after an encounter with April, a robot created by her former Sunnydale High classmate Warren Mears, she realized that she was overly dependent on men and decided she needed to be by herself for a while. This proved to be greatly fortunate as it made her reject the advances of Ben Wilkinson, a handsome medic who was actually the human counterpart of Glory.[77]
Buffy and Dawn were left devastated by the death of their mother, who's body Buffy found at home on the couch. Joyce had been experiencing health problems for months, and only recently received surgery for a brain tumor when she died unexpectedly from an aneurysm.[78] In order to fully take up her role as Dawn's legal guardian, Buffy was forced to drop out of college, though she faced difficulties as a result of Dawn's increasingly rebellious behavior.[79]Meanwhile, Buffy's struggle to understand what being the Slayer truly meant, Giles chose to take Buffy on a vision quest, where her guide, the First Slayer, cryptically told her that death was her "gift." Buffy found such a message both confusing and hurtful so soon after her mother's passing, and immediately went back to Sunnydale. Upon her return, she discovered that Spike had issued Warren to build a robot in her likeness, which had resulted in him being captured by Glorificus' minions in belief that he was the Key. Despite her understandable rage and disgust over the robot, Buffy saved Spike and subsequently discovered that he had endured intense torture—and come close to dying—at the hands of Glory in order to protect Dawn's identity as the Key. Moved by his sacrifice, Buffy rewarded Spike with a kiss and reconciled with him, welcoming him back into her circle of friends.[80]

When Glory finally discovered that Dawn was the Key, Buffy immediately had her and the gang rushed out of Sunnydale in a Winnebago piloted by Spike. This attempt was hampered when the Knights of Byzantium, a militia intent on killing the Key to stop Glory, attacked the Scoobies on the road. Ben, who was called in to treat Giles who had been injured in the assault, unwillingly turned into Glory and kidnapped Dawn, despite Buffy and the others' attempts to protect her. Believing she had failed, Buffy retreated into her subconscious, where she battled with the guilt of having failed to protect her sister.[22] Via magic, Willow successfully drew Buffy back out into consciousness.

Although she knew that Dawn's death would destroy Glory's plan for good, Buffy refused to allow her sister to be harmed. She prepared for the battle with the Scoobies; whilst retrieving weapons from her house, she allowed Spike to enter the premisise again, after which he expressed his gratitude to her for treating him "like a man." Buffy and the others subsequently attacked Glory's stronghold in full force. Willow weakened Glory's mentality, while Xander hit her with a wrecking ball and Buffy beat her repeatedly with a mystical troll god's hammer, before she finally reverted to Ben's weaker form. Not wanting to kill an innocent human, Buffy allowed Ben to live, warning him not to go after Dawn again. Giles, however, knew that Glory would rise again and killed Ben with his own hands, thus destroying her. Spike climbed the tower where the ritual was to be performed in an attempt to rescue Dawn, but was outmaneuvered and pushed to the ground by one of Glory's f
ollowers. Despite all the Scoobies' best efforts, Dawn's blood had already been used to open the interdimensional portal by the time Buffy reached her atop the tower. Dawn offered to kill herself in order to stop the ritual, but Buffy, who at that moment understood the meaning of her message from the First Slayer, chose instead to sacrifice herself for the good of the world. She leapt into the portal—her blood, which Dawn's had been modeled after, effectively closed the rift. Buffy's allies stood over her body and wept openly. She as buried on the outskirts of Sunnydale with the epitaph: "She saved the world. A lot."[81] Finally able to rest, she ascended to heaven, where she apparently found peace.[82]

Resurrection

Several months later, Buffy was effectively resurrected by her friends, who had feared that her spirit had been trapped in a hell dimension due to the mystical circumstances of her death.[83] In reality, however, she had been allowed to move on to heaven, where she had apparently found peace and happiness.
After crawling from the depths of her own grave, Buffy aimlessly wandered the streets of Sunnydale before being found and taken back to her house by Dawn. Buffy was comforted by Spike, who had been serving as Dawn's protector and sitter in Buffy's absence and officially joined the Scooby Gang in Buffy's absence. Her transition back to life was very difficult; she experienced an overwhelming sense of loss after being—as she put it—ripped out of heaven and thrust back into a world of pain. She had to take back her duties as the Slayer, and deal with the everyday responsibilities of raising Dawn, working and paying bills. She attempted to keep the secret that she had been in heaven from her friends, not wanting them to share in her grief, and confided only in Spike, though the truth ultimately came out when she was under the influence of the demon Sweet.[84] Buffy's depression worsened when Giles left Sunnydale and returned to England when she became overly dependent on him.[85] Struggling to feel alive and seeking someone who understood her, she began a violent sexual relationship with Spike which left neither of them satisfied, keeping it secret from everyone but Tara out of fear of their reaction.[86] In order to deal with her increasing financial problems, Buffy started working at local burger bar the Doublemeat Palace, a job she found degrading and disturbingly mundane.[87] With all of these problems, Buffy sank into severe depression and self-loathing.
Meanwhile, Willow, proceeding Buffy's resurrection, developed an addiction to magic and began to use it excessively, which Buffy, faced with her own problems, failed to notice and largely ignored at first, even when confronted with evidence by Anya and Xander.[86] This climaxed when a spellcast by Willow went awry and erased all of the memories of the Scooby Gang; when the spell was ended, Tara dumped Willow, which immediately caused Willow's addiction to spiral out of control.[85] Buffy finally became aware of the full extent of Willow's addiction when she and Amy Madison, having been transformed into a rat for three yearsonly to be finally changed back, began making regular visits to the home of Rack, a shady sorcery dealer, who only worsened Willow's condition. When Willow made another trip to Rack's place with Dawn in tow, the two were attacked by a demon that Willow unwittingly summoned during her high, and Willow's carelessness caused a car accident that left Dawn severely injured. Buffy and Spike arrived in time to save them and, despite being understandably furious with Willow, relented slightly when Willow desperately begged her for help. With Buffy's help, Willow renounced the usage of her magic altogether and was put on the road to recovery.[88]

In contrast to the ruthless hell-god Buffy faced the year before, her newest "nemesises" consisted of her old nerdy classmates that formed a group called the "Trio", with the intent of committing crimes, obtaining women and eventually taking over Sunnydale. Seeing Buffy as a foil in their plans they made it their top priority to take the Slayer out, proceeding with several, ongoing minor annoyances against her, though she never had any interest in directly stopping them. One of their games lead to accidentally turning Buffy invisible. At first Buffy enjoyed this new power by tricking the mentality of a social worker that was unimpressed by Buffy's ability as Dawn's guardian, and by desperately going to Spike for sex. Upon learning that if she were to continue being invisible for an extended period her molecule structure would break down, Buffy still sought to stop the Trio and made herself visible, not wanting to die despite her current grime state of life. The Trio's scheme's finally reached breaking point when their leader, Warren Meersaccidentally killed his ex-girlfriend Katrinia after a mystical date rape attempt. With the use of magics ofJonathan Levinson and demon summoning from Andrew Wells, he manipulated events to make Buffy think she killed Katrinia. Convinced, Buffy was ready to confess to the police though this was thwarted when Spike dumped the body to save her. In an encounter of grief and denial in her relationship with Spike, Buffy beat him severely. Luckily for her, Buffy discovered that she wasn't actually the perpetrator of the crime and the death was ruled as a suicide; nonetheless, Buffy realized that the Trio were becoming too dangerous for her to ignore and resolved to bring them to justice.

A brief reunion with Riley shocked Buffy into finally breaking up with Spike, admitting to him that she was just using him and it was killing her.[89] Confused and angry, Spike later got drunk with Anya, who had recently been left at the altar by Xander, and the two had sex in the Magic Box, which the Scoobies discovered through bugs that the Trio had planted in the Bronze, the Magic Box, and Buffy's house. Xander subsequently attempted to kill Spike in a jealous rage, but Buffy intervened, revealing her secret relationship with Spike in the process; though Willow, Dawn, and Anya accepted it with relative grace, understanding what Buffy had been going through, Xander reacted exactly as Buffy feared, though he eventually realized why Buffy had kept it secret and apologized. Later, Spike cornered her in her bathroom, and in a misguided attempt to force her to admit her love for him, tried to rape her. She managed to fight him off, and in tears, dared him to ask again why she couldn't love him. Frustrated with his own inability to be either a man or a monster and disgusted with himself for his own actions, Spike fled Sunnydale.[90]
After yet again foiling the Trio's plan, an enraged and embarrassed Warren tried to kill Buffy by shooting at her in her backyard while she was off-guard. She used the spilt second she had to push Xander out of the way and took the bullet, forcing her to be taken to the hospital. Meanwhile, one of Warren's stray bullets accidentally killed Tara, Willow, enraged and grief-stricken, suffered a relapse and recklessly absorbed a large amount of dark magic. Willow saved Buffy at the hospital by telekinetically removing the bullet before proceeding to hunt down Warren and exacting bloody revenge against him, flaying him alive before the eyes of her horrified friends.[91] Unable to condone Willow's actions, Buffy battled her best friend to stop her from committing more murders, but was promptly defeated before Giles came to her rescue.[92] In the ensuing battle, the Magic Box was destroyed and Willow tried to kill Andrew and Jonathan with a

fireball which Buffy managed to stop, though trapping Dawn and herself underground in the cemetery from the fireball's blast, preventing any chance of Buffy stopping Willow herself.
Willow then tried to destroy the whole world to end everybody's pain, which caused a number of demons to spawn and attack Buffy and Dawn. Xander eventually got through to Willow in the end. The trauma of Tara's death, Willow nearly destroying the world and seeing Dawn's proficiency with a sword finally snapped Buffy out of her depression and forced her to realize that life was worth living, and she promised to stop her self-destructive behavior to be there for Dawn; with this crisis resolved, Buffy was finally ready to live again.[93]
Leader to the Potentials
"So I say we change the rule. I say my power... should be our power."
―Buffy chooses to share her power with the Potentials.[src]
=
When Dawn enrolled in the recently rebuilt Sunnydale High as a freshman, Buffy was offered a job as guidance counselor by Principal Robin Wood, which she gratefully accepted.[94] Though initially she found it to be an unfulfilling experience as she was unable to connect with any of the students that came to while others had trivial reasons, she became concerned when a girl with psychic powers, Cassie Newton who claimed she would soon die. Buffy at first thought she was suicidal, after learning it was upcoming indefinite event she saved her from being sacrificed by a group of demon-worshiping students, she discovered it was actually due to congenital heart condition that Cassie would die from. While Cassie was alive, she revealed several cryptic samples of Buffy's near future.[95]

Meanwhile, Buffy had discovered that Spike was living in the basement of the high school. Though at first taken aback by his madness, she eventually came to realize that he had regained his soul in order to prove himself to her. Recognizing that he had changed, she brought him out of the basement and helped him to recover. It eventually became apparent that he was being controlled by an evil force to feed on, kill and sire humans in town. Buffy tied Spike to a chair in order to prohibit him from moving; after he frenzied and attacked Andrew Wells, she chained him in her basement. When he begged her to kill him, she refused, and expressed her belief in him. He was later kidnapped by the agents of The First Evil.[96] The First's minions had been tracking down and killing Potential Slayers in an attempt to abbolish the entire Slayer chain. These Potentials were brought to Sunnydale for protection and training at Buffy's home; the house was quickly overrun with teenaged Potentials. Andrew, who had been underthe influence of the First and captured by Buffy and her friends, led them to the First's area of focus, the Seal of Danzalthar, situated on the gateway to the Hellmouth; Spike's blood had been used to open the Seal. Upon investigating the creature that had been released, Buffy encountered an ancient and powerful vampire known as a Turok-Han.[97] Buffy eventually stepped up as leader to the Potentials, and killed the Turok-Han to prove her determination and ability. Afterward, she delved into the First's lair, where she rescued Spike, who had been brutally tortured by both the First and the Turok-Han.[98]
She later used the Slayer Emergency Kit given to her by Robin, whose mother was a Slayer herself. She used this to contact the the Shadow Men for assistance. In response they took her into another dimension and offered to increase her strength via the essence of a demon. Buffy refused, unwilling to sacrifice her humanity in exchange for power.[99]