Xander Harris
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 Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris |
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Alexander LaVelle "Xander" Harris (born 1981 in Sunnydale, California) is a fictional character in the cult television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Nicholas Brendon, whose twin brother Kelly Donovan appeared as his occasional double.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Character history
Xander was born to Anthony and Jessica Harris. According to Xander, his dad once tried to sell him to some Armenians. Tony was a self-pitying drunk who first appeared in a nightmare sequence in Season Four's "Restless"; he tore out his son's heart. Jessica is a fragile mess without a stove; her culinary repertoire includes a "famous phone call to the Chinese place." She's known to neglect her son and appear cheerful in front of strangers as an attempt to cover the true nature of her miserable life. Xander's uncle, Rory, is an alcoholic taxidermist.
His best friend Willow Rosenberg broke up with Xander over a stolen Barbie when they were 5. At his 6th birthday party, which Willow attended, his parents hired a clown who chased him and gave him a phobia of clowns, which Xander overcame in Season One's "Nightmares." When he did not get a toy fire truck for his 7th birthday, the house next door caught fire. Xander saw real fire trucks then and thinks he had Willow to thank.
Every Christmas, Xander sleeps outside to avoid his family's drunken arguments. Neither parent is happy with their marriage, but they have stayed together for decades. When he was 13, Xander attended Willow's bat mitzvah, where his parents drank to excess. Throughout the series, Xander's family was said to be unreliable and even abusive, and the main source of his insecurities. They finally appeared at Xander and Anya's aborted wedding in Season 6's "Hell's Bells."
In 1997, Xander meets Buffy Summers on her first day at Sunnydale High. He overhears her bizarre conversation with Rupert Giles in the school library and loses his male best friend Jesse McNally to vampires in "The Harvest." Xander takes the stand that "vampires are bad" . The following night, he attempts to kill Jesse with a stake, but his reluctance prevents him. Jesse is accidentally staked as someone passing by bumps him onto Xander's stake.. He becomes a wisecracking sidekick of the Scooby Gang, often annoying those around him, including Angel (cf. "Enemies") and the more uptight Giles.
Despite his insecurities, Xander proves to be loyal, courageous, and endowed with a high degree of emotional intelligence. In the Season One finale, "Prophecy Girl," he revives a drowned Buffy, allowing her to defeat The Master. In the second season, the military knowledge Xander acquired - thanks to a spell (see "Halloween") - enables Buffy to defeat the Judge, a supposedly invulnerable demon, in the episode "Innocence." In the Season Three finale, "Graduation Day, Part Two," he leads Sunnydale High's students against Mayor Wilkins and his vampires. In Season 4's "Primeval," Xander gives Buffy his "heart" in the spell that defeats Adam. In the finale of Season Six, "Grave," Xander's love for his childhood friend Willow turns her around and saves the world.
Xander develops a crush on Buffy quickly, but it is not reciprocated. He gradually begins a turbulent and ambiguous relationship with Cordelia Chase after they are thrown together in several life-or-death situations, though he had been the treasurer of the "We Hate Cordelia" club. Being seen with Xander costs Cordelia her position among Sunnydale High's fashionable clique, and she dumps him on Valentine's Day. Xander retaliates by coercing Amy Madison to cast a love spell, which misfires: for a few hours, until the spell is broken, Xander finds himself irresistible to every girl, woman, and female vampire in sight – except Cordelia, who, realizing how much Xander cares for her, reunites with him in defiance of her former friends (cf. "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered").
Season Three sees Xander revive an interest in Willow, and a kiss that leads to Cordelia's near-fatal injury in the episode "Lovers Walk" and Anyanka's arrival in the episode "The Wish." He is used by Faith one night after helping save her from an attacking demon and loses his virginity to her in the episode "The Zeppo." Later, he is asked to the Prom by the newly-human Anya.
After graduating from high school, Xander chooses not to enroll in college. He sets upon a cross-country trip inspired by Jack Kerouac's On the Road that ends when his car breaks down. He spends most of that summer working as a dishwasher in a male strip club to pay for a new car. One night, when a dancer falls sick, Xander reluctantly takes to the stage, a story which he says "No power on earth will force me to reveal". He returns to Sunnydale and moves into his parents' basement, for which he has to pay rent. In the fourth season, he takes a series of odd jobs as a food vendor, a bartender, a phone-sex operator, and a deliveryman. Xander eventually pursues a more stable career in carpentry and construction work. He moves into his own apartment with Anya, where he stays until the end of the series.
Xander falls in love with Anya in Season Four after much persuasion, and proposes to her at the end of Season Five. However, his doubts about their future together – made even worse by a visit from a demon that pretended to be his future self, showing him a bitter future where he apparently killed Anya – cause him to leave her at the altar (see "Hell's Bells"). They still love each other, however, when his left eye is gouged out by Caleb near the end of Season Seven. Xander's love does not survive the finale because Anya is killed by a Bringer's sword, and her body remains in the new Sunnydale High's ruins as the empty town is swallowed by the earth. Andrew Wells, whom she had fought alongside, comforts Xander by saying that Anya had died saving his life.
The last time Xander is referenced on television (in the Angel episode "Damage"), he is in Africa, rounding up Potential Slayers for Buffy. More recently, Xander is featured in the post-Sunnydale story "Antique" in the Tales of the Vampires comic book line, apparently having spent some time under the thrall of Dracula again, as his manservant. He is summarily rescued by Buffy and two newly-activated Slayers.
[edit] Post-Sunnydale
In the canonical Buffy the Vampire Slayer season eight comic book series, Xander continues to maintain a presence. He now leads Slayer "central command" in Scotland and we learn that as commander of Slayer operations he insists on being called Xander or "Sergeant Fury". One of his assistants points out that Fury was a Colonel while running S.H.I.E.L.D. but Xander notes he prefers Fury from Howling Commandos. Buffy describes him as "[her] Watcher" which he disputes. From Slayer central command, Xander views his operatives on a big screen as well as monitors progress from several manned computers, talking to his Slayers into earpieces in an Oracle-style role.
As Xander is the leader of all the various Slayer cells, he has access to a series of cameras watching his Slayers, operatives working at computers, and several psychics and neophyte witches at his command. He remains in contact with Andrew and Giles, and maintains a close relationship with Buffy and Dawn.
He also appears on the cover of issue #2, alongside Buffy.
[edit] Powers & abilities
Xander represents the importance of everyday humans in the struggle against evil since he has proven that even an "average" person can make a difference and save the world. He possesses no special powers or abilities, but he gains much experience from battling by Buffy's side. As Buffy explains to the Watchers' Council, Xander has clocked more field time than all of the Watchers combined (cf. "Checkpoint"). His powers of persuasion and empathy are often his most useful assets. For example, Xander saves the world from Willow using only his words in the episode "Grave." He also recognizes that Buffy and Riley are "imploding" and forces Buffy to face the role that she played in the failed relationship (cf. "Into the Woods").
While possessed by a demonic "hyena" spirit in the Season One episode "The Pack," Xander exhibits enhanced strength equal, if not superior, to a Slayer, and heightened senses, as well as a taste for fresh, raw meat, and a lack of social inhibitions.
Xander is briefly transformed into a soldier on Halloween, and thereby acquires military training and weapons knowledge. His abilities fade, but do not disappear completely, over the next few years, allowing him to use such information as military codes and training, allowing him to organize a defense against Mayor Wilkins after he has transformed into Olvikan and acquire a rocket launcher to stop the indestructible demon known as the Judge. In Season 8, his military knowledge gives him the leadership of a government-described "army" of Slayers, viewed as an international "terrorist" organization.
Xander was once hit by a bolt from the Ferula-Gemina which split his personality into two different beings (cf. "The Replacement", Season 5), resulting in one Xander who was laid-back and confident, easily getting a promotion and a large apartment, and another Xander who was highly insecure and paranoid, believing that the other him was a demon who was hypnotizing his friends.
Xander is something of an expert on pop culture. On one occasion (cf. "Seeing Red", Season 6), Xander shows that he can read Klingon. In Season 7, he often demonstrates pop culture knowledge rivaling that of Andrew Wells.
Xander becomes a skilled carpenter by the end of the series, gaining practical job experience from repairing damage caused by various combats involving the Scooby Gang and as a foreman of a construction crew. He was first promoted to this position in the Season Five episode "The Replacement." Spike at one point referred to Xander mockingly as 'a glorified bricklayer.'
In Season 7, both Xander and the evil priest Caleb make reference to Xander being "the one that sees everything" in that he sees his friends' flaws and strengths more clearly than anyone else, simply because no one is looking at him, even going so far as Dawn saying that this perhaps is his superpower. This human (non supernatural) strength - his insight, empathy, and understanding - is what prompts Caleb to take Xander's eye, also knowing it would anger Buffy.
[edit] Trivia
- In the DVD commentary for the episode "Dirty Girls", writer Drew Goddard mentions there was talk of killing off Xander towards the end of Season 7 and having The First Evil assume Xander's appearance when conversing with Buffy for the remainder of the season. This was ultimately decided against since Xander was thought to be too important to the series, and that his death occurring so late in the season would leave little time to deal with it correctly, and that throughout the series' run, Xander was the one character who never wavered, and to punish that characteristic with death would send a message the staff wasn't trying to get across.
[edit] Romantic relationships
A recurring joke about Xander is that he is a "demon magnet," as many of the women he has dated or been attracted to have turned out to be demonic or in some other way supernatural. Of course, as most of the cast is supernatural, and most of the characters date supernatural beings all the time, one could argue Xander's reputation is not entirely unique; nevertheless, he usually gets in more trouble from this than others.
- Willow Rosenberg — After a brief romantic involvement in elementary school, Xander and Willow are best friends for years. Xander shares a moment of tenderness with Willow during the boring summer of 1997, which is ended by Buffy's return. Later, in the show's third season, Xander and Willow began a secret romance while he was dating Cordelia and she was dating Oz. This ends when Cordelia and Oz rescue Xander and Willow, who have been kidnapped by Spike, and discover them kissing. However, at some level, Xander retains deep feelings for Willow, these feelings are what he reaches out to in order to turn Dark Willow from her path of destroying the world, simply by refusing to leave as she commands him and bringing up all the incidents in their life they had shared and the friendship between them.
- Buffy Summers — Seeing her on her first day at Sunnydale High caused Xander to crash into a railing, literally falling head over heels. Buffy, however, sees Xander only as a friend, and over time, they have become surrogate siblings (the only exception to this was in the episode "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered", see below).
- Miss Natalie French — The real teacher was born in 1907 and taught for a few decades. Her name was stolen by a demonic she-mantis whose pheromones attracted many of Sunnydale's males. She drugged Xander's drink at her house and intended to mate with him before beheading him. Buffy managed to stop her and save Xander in time.
- Ampata — The Incan mummy girl wanted to live a life she never had the chance to, and fell for Xander as he was the first male she'd ever met who didn't treat her as a princess, but as a person. However, her love with Xander was short-lived when she attempted to kiss him (and thus draining him of life to continue her own), when he offered himself to her to stop her draining Buffy and Willow. In the end, however, she collapsed from lack of energy, and never reached any of them.
- Every woman in Sunnydale — When Amy Madison performed the magic spell to make Cordelia fall madly in love with Xander just so he could break up with her and hurt her, it backfired and made every woman (vampire Drusilla included) in Sunnydale except Cordelia fall in love with the "irresistible" Xander Harris; as a result, Xander was nearly killed by a veritable army of demented women who were resolved to kill Xander if they couldn't have him for themselves, and Buffy was briefly turned into a rat by a jealous Amy.
- Cordelia Chase — Cordelia and Xander meet as children and are antagonistic from the beginning. Their romantic relationship in high school faces several obstacles, including peer pressure from Cordelia's clique (she is ostracized from her social circle), Cordelia's self-involved and insensitive manner, and Xander's unresolved attraction to Willow, Buffy, and Faith. When Cordelia discovers Xander and Willow kissing in the basement of an abandoned factory (where they are being held prisoner), she ends their relationship for good. By the end of Season Three, they have settled into a hesitant friendship (for example, Xander buys her a prom dress after he discovers that her family has lost its wealth). After graduation, their lives take different paths; he remains in Sunnydale and fights evil with Buffy, and she moves to Los Angeles to become an actress (see Angel) and "helps the helpless" with Angel.
- Faith Lehane — Some weeks after his relationship with Cordelia dissolved, Xander found himself helping Faith fight a demon one night in the episode "The Zeppo." After the battle, an adrenaline-fueled Faith took Xander back to her apartment and had sex with him; this was Xander's first sexual encounter. Weeks later, after Faith had gone rogue and killed a man, Xander confronted her about her actions. Faith began simulating rough sex and then started to strangle him before being interrupted by Angel.
- Anya Jenkins — Xander's most long-term relationship, despite such problems as Anya's nigh-on insatiable sexual appetite and total disregard for normal social conventions such as not talking about sex in public. Despite this, however, the two fell deeply in love, coming close to getting married, and retained strong feelings for each other. Anya passes away in season 7, however, Xander and Anya still were in love.
- Nancy — After being frustrated with his own relationship problems with Anya and others in the past, Xander luckily runs into Nancy and, along with the gang, protects her from a giant worm-like demon that was specifically attacking her. Xander walks her home, and both new at dating, they awkwardly ask each other out. However, after finding out the demon is Nancy's ex-boyfriend who was turned into the worm-like creature by Xander's own ex-fiancee, Anya, the two never date.
- Lissa — Approximately a year after his breakup with Anya, Xander takes another dip in the dating pool, and impulsively asks out Lissa, a beautiful woman he meets at a hardware store. Their date goes well until Lissa ties Xander to a torture wheel, reveals herself to be a demon, and cheerfully prepares to use Xander as a human sacrifice. Xander, before being rescued, ponders what causes him to keep getting involved with female demons.
[edit] Appearances
Xander has appeared in:
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Xander was a series regular for all seven seasons, appearing in every episode of the show except "Conversations with Dead People" in the show's seventh and final season.
[edit] References
- ^ Kelly Donovan on IMDb (appeared in "Intervention" and "The Replacement")
[edit] External links
- Saifai.co.uk :: BtVS :: Xander - Actor and character profile for Xander Harris and his counterpart Nicholas Brendon including biography and photograph gallery
- Buffyverse Dialogue DB - Character profile for Xander Harris including his main story arcs and a detailed list of episodes and script lines
