Anya Jenkins
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 Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins |
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Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins, formerly known as Aud and Anyanka, Patron Saint of Scorned Women, is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the cult television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Emma Caulfield.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Character history
Anya was born as Aud in the year 860 in Sjornjost, Sweden, a small Scandinavian village. Aud grew up raising rabbits and became an outsider in her community, who dismissed her as "odd", because of her strange mannerisms, and out-of-the-ordinary ideas (such as breeding rabbits as gifts). In 880, at the age of 20, she fell in love with the boorish Olaf, a Viking warrior who enjoyed hunting trolls and drinking at the bar. One night, Olaf drunkenly slept with a barmaid named Rannveig, and a furious Aud turned him into a troll. Olaf was forced to flee from fellow villagers, who did not believe his story. Aud's act of vengeance attracted the demon D'Hoffryn, who offered to transform her into an immortal vengeance demon for scorned women. D'Hoffryn renamed her Anyanka and gave her a silver necklace with the power to grant wishes. Anyanka's interpretation of the wish expressed was often rather loose and considerably more destructive than the wisher intended.
Bringing pain and suffering to men all over the world, Anyanka also developed a phobia of bunnies, a source of jokes from Season Four on (cf. "Fear, Itself"). In the episode "Once More, With Feeling"," Anya sings, "Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes. They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses, and what's with all the carrots? What do they need such good eyesight for anyway?", a verse remniscient of Willow's speech about spiders in (cf. "Nightmares").
Around 1199, Anyanka went to the Koskov valleys above the Urals to curse an unfaithful man. She witnessed a sorcerer's Ascension into pure demon form. The death and carnage — only a few people survived — shocked even her. Around 1580, Anyanka met Dracula, and she was in Salem, Massachusetts, during the witch trials in 1692.
In the 19th century, Anyanka became a close friend and fierce competitor of the vengeance demon known as Halfrek. They spent time together during the Crimean War. Anyanka impressed "Hallie" with a granted wish in Saint Petersburg, Russia, that sparked a revolution in 1905. In 1914, Anyanka traveled to Chicago, Illinois to exact vengeance on a man named Stewart Burns, making him a grotesque creature and sending him to a hell dimension to be tortured for all eternity. This came back to haunt her on her wedding day.
[edit] Sunnydale
Anyanka arrives at Sunnydale High in 1998 (in the episode "The Wish") as a student named Anya Emerson[1]. Anya seeks to wreak vengeance on Xander Harris for cheating on Cordelia Chase with his best friend Willow Rosenberg -- a fateful decision for her and Xander. After some difficulty, she tricks Cordelia into wishing that "Buffy Summers had never come to Sunnydale". In the grim alternate reality that results, The Master has risen and set up shop in The Bronze. Rupert Giles manages to discover Anya's power center, however, and breaks the necklace, undoing Cordelia's wish and making Anya mortal again.
Later, in the episode "Doppelgängland"," Anya dupes Willow into assisting in a magical attempt to recover her power center, but it fails. Now with human feelings, she yearns to attend the school prom in spite of her abhorrence of all men; her only hope for a date is the last man she was sent to punish. Anya develops feelings for Xander and asks him out again just before graduation. Her romantic plans are foiled when he tells her of the Mayor's plan for another Ascension — at the graduation ceremony. Anya decides to flee Sunnydale and invites Xander to join her. He refuses, citing his "friends on the line." She leaves without him.
Anya returns to Sunnydale early in Season Four, still infatuated with Xander. She persuades him to sleep with her (in the episode "The Harsh Light of Day"), but her lack of tact soon puts her at odds with other Scooby Gang members, especially Willow, who has little trust for the ex-demon. Although she has difficulty with only men in the previous season (she was one of the few who could "tell Prada from Payless," Cordelia remarked in "The Wish"), Anya has trouble conversing with everyone from this season on.
Anya frequently reminisces about her life as a Vengeance Demon, describing often graphic punishments and murders she had inflicted in over a millennium, often for misdeeds that most people would not consider to warrant death. Oddly, no one on the series seemed to find this particularly distasteful, even though it placed Anya in the exact same position that Spike was in after receiving his microchip: She was a murderer who, although incapable of repeating her crimes, was thoroughly unrepentant for them.
Anya becomes a regular in the fifth season of the show. While playing The Game of Life, she discovers her love for money and capitalism (as opposed to her belief in Communism during the early 20th century and her charitable attitude of her years as Aud). Anya's budding retail skills encourage Giles to hire her as a cashier at The Magic Box; when he later leaves Sunnydale he becomes a silent partner, leaving Anya to run the shop.
In the fifth season episode "Checkpoint", Anya is questioned by members of the Watchers' Council, and invents the full name Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins, claiming to have been born on the fourth of July in Indiana.
During an apocalypse, Xander proposes to Anya and they are engaged for most of Season Six. Xander's doubts grow, however, and it is not difficult for Stewart Burns, escaped from Hell and impersonating Xander's future self, to persuade him to leave Anya at the wedding (cf. "Hell's Bells"). Hurt and angry, Anya becomes a vengeance demon again thanks to D'Hoffryn. She is frustrated when she cannot grant her own wishes against Xander. In the Season Six finale, Willow destroys The Magic Box, leaving Anya jobless in the mortal world. Anya does not enjoy her new/old work. She spends a summer granting half-hearted wishes and gains a reputation among demons as "Soft Serve."
Halfrek encourages Anya to a darker path, but after her gruesome attack on a group of fraternity members, she loses her taste for the gore of vengeance. After a battle with Buffy, she begs D'Hoffryn to return the guys to life. D'Hoffryn agrees, but at the cost of the soul of a vengeance demon. Anya agrees, thinking it means hers, but D'Hoffryn murders Halfrek instead. He turns Anya human once more for her to live in pain, at least until the coming of the First Evil (cf. "Selfless"). Afterward, D'Hoffryn periodically sends his henchmen to attempt to assassinate Anya, for his vengeance is not easily crushed.
Anya decides that heretofore she had been dependent on others and resolves to find an independent purpose in life for herself. In practice, she returns to occasional intimacy with Xander. She does rejoin the Scooby Gang.
Xander and Anya still love each other, although they never really get back together officially again. In the climactic battle against the First Evil (in the episode "Chosen"), Anya is brutally slain from behind, bisected by a Harbinger's sword. Her body lies in the school's remains as the entire, empty town of Sunnydale crumbles into the Hellmouth. Andrew Wells comforts Xander by telling him that Anya had died saving his life, to which Xander replies, "That's my girl, always doing the stupid thing."
[edit] Post-Sunnydale
Anya will definitely reappear in the canonical Buffy the Vampire Slayer season eight comic book series, although she will not necessarily be alive.[2] Whedon has also hinted that "it's all about Anya" and a memorable appearance of bunnies.[3]
[edit] Powers and abilities
Anyanka possessed the ability to grant wishes of vengeance and had a frightening demonic form in which her face appeared to be skinless with exposed veins. She was much stronger than some demons and vampires (knocking Spike across the room while lying down in "Beneath You"), and could teleport, use telekinesis and heal quickly. Anyanka also had a psychic sense of a woman's desire for vengeance and could tell if a vampire has a soul. Anya could also manipulate some energies to invisibly knock over an opponent.
With over a thousand years of experience as a former vengeance demon, Anya's knowledge of demonology was immense. Although Anya's native language is Swedish, she spoke fluent, if sometimes stilted, English as well as some French and Latin.
Thanks to her countless years of experience, Anya also exhibits some basic knowledge of magic. She is seen numerous times commenting on Willow's spellcasting and interest in magic with a reasonable degree of insight, and has occasionally participated in the casting of spells herself (cf. "Doppelgängland"). When she was a human, Anya's experience and practice of combat from her times as a demon allowed her to be an effective fighter, as seen in the series finale.
As a side note, she states in the "Selfless" flashback that she likes to bowl and she's "good with math" (although, in the episode "Doppelgangland", she says she's failing math).
[edit] Trivia
- Caulfield said, "As far as I know, I don't think Joss Whedon ever intended to have Anya around for more than one episode. He found this great way to have her interact with the storylines that had developed throughout the entire [third] season."[4]
- Commenting on the personality of her character, Caulfield said, "Anya remains mortal and ambivalent. She's just struggling with being human, and really, don't we all struggle with that from time to time? She's very irreverent - and definitely bitter."[4]
- Being born in A.D. 860, Anya is the oldest character whose year of birth is known. Being born in Sweden, Anya is also one of the large platoon of European characters on the show: Angel (Irish); Spike, Drusilla, Ethan, Giles, Wesley and the other Watchers, Halfrek, Molly and Annabelle (all English); Jenny, Enyos and Dracula (Romanian).
- Joss Whedon joked at the Noctural convention in 2001 that Anya was originally supposed to die during the Season Five finale, "The Gift". However, he had to keep her alive because Emma Caulfield kept moving as Xander was carrying Anya [5]
[edit] Romantic relationships
- Olaf ("Triangle", "Selfless")
- Dracula ("Buffy vs. Dracula")
- Torg ("Showtime")
- Xander Harris- The love of Anya's life, they had planned to get married but Xander called it off. In Season Seven Anya began to forgive Xander, and died while still in love with him.
- Spike — Hurt over Xander, Anya had sex with Spike in The Magic Box in the episode "Entropy". The action was caught on camera set up by the Trio and also seen by the Scooby Gang. In other occasions, they flirted together, anyway.
- Rupert Giles — When the Scooby Gang lost their memories as a result of a spell cast by Willow (in the episode "Tabula Rasa"), Anya and Giles believed that they were engaged, based on the fact that she had an engagement ring (from Xander) and the papers showed they owned the shop together. They shared a kiss while under the effects of Willow's spell, just moments before the spell was broken, to the horror of both of them. Normally, they share a mutual deep friendship, much like a father-daughter one (despite another reality's Giles having first robbed Anyanka of her demon powers), even though not as profound as Giles-Buffy one.
[edit] Appearances
Anya appeared in 81 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
- Season 3: 4 episodes; "The Wish", "Doppelgangland", "The Prom" and "Graduation Day, Part One"
- Season 4: 15 episodes; "The Harsh Light of Day", "Fear, Itself", "Pangs", "Something Blue", "Hush", "A New Man", "The I in Team", "Goodbye Iowa", "Who Are You", "Superstar", "Where the Wild Things Are", "New Moon Rising", "The Yoko Factor", "Primeval" and "Restless"
- She was a series regular for Seasons 5-7, though she did not appear in "Normal Again", "Help", "Conversations with Dead People", or "Dirty Girls"
- She also appeared in the video game Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds, although she appears only in two levels briefly. However, you do fight her evil counterpart Anyanka at the end of level 7.
[edit] Products
In 2005, Diamond Select Toys produced several action figures in the likeness of Emma Caulfield for their Buffy the Vampire Slayer line. Each figure featured a "real-scan" likeness of Emma and episode/character specific outfit. Figures produced: "Season 5 Anya" in red top and black skirt, "Hell's Bells Anya" in wedding dress, "Once More, With Feeling Anya" in butterfly top and green skirt, "Anyanka" in demon dress, and "Bunny Suit Anya" in removable bunny suit. A repaint of "Bunny Suit Anya" was featured in the Vengeance Book box-set.
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ The surname "Emerson" is given in the Sunnydale High Yearbook
- ^ MTV News | Re-Buffed: New Comic Book Series Resurrects Vampire Slayer
- ^ "IGN Interview with Joss Whedon, page 2".
- ^ a b Springer, Matt, "Hollywood Zen", from Buffy the Vampire Slayer magazine #11 (UK, August 2000), page 12.
- ^ groups.google.com/group/uk.media.tv.angel/msg/.
