Anya's death

[celestialarrow]

okay when anya died i didnt care and this is why i always thought her character was cruel, cold and sarcastic at the wrong times. she never really contributed anything to the show too me! and i never got what xander saw in anya she was mean and ditzy. her character didnt really relate to the others on the show she couldnt fight except for those episodes chosen and selfless. i mean her character never really grew to me compare anya and cordelia. cordy started off as this popular girl who at time was a biotch but as time went on and she faced trying trials that tested her as a person she became a selfless hero willing to risk everything for her friends and the greater good she gave up potentially happiness with angel to ascend to a higher plane to fight evil even though at the time she didnt know it was all a trick by a renegade higher power but nevertheless she made a grave saciface. and then you have anya she never became a heart warming person when xander left her at the altar i didnt even care. i wish she developed more depth and characterization that separate her from back when she was a demon.

 

[VisionGuy]

ROFLMFAO!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, this thread is gonna get interesting. :lmao:

I think Anya grew but her change wasn't as drastic as Cordelia's. Anya could have just skipped down when the apocalypse came. She didn't have a reason to stay since Xander and her were over. But she decided to stay and fight. I think that shows growth from when she left town for the ascension in season 3. Not to mention everything that happened in Selfless.

 

[Lyri]

::headdesk:: oh dear God this is gonna be a wild ride.

personally, i adored Anya. she was funny, made me laugh a lot, sweet and caring and grew to be a selfless individual. i mean, she wanted to undo what she'd done to the Frat boys so much that she was willing to give up her own life. how is that not personal growth? and i agree with what VG said up there. she could have skipped town in S7, left the others to fight the battle with the First, but she chose to stay and fight, because she knew it was the right thing to do. in the end, Anya gave her life to help save the world. the word 'Selfless' does not even begin to discribe Anya Jenkins.

 

[justanotherjen]

Anya kind of grew on me. She wasn't my favorite character but I did see a lot of growth from her. The fact that she was willing to give up being a vengeance demon because she started to feel guilt for her actions shows that she changed.

And the whole conversation with her and Andrew towards the end where they are discussing why they are staying--that really got me for some reason. She skipped out on the last Apocalypse but this one--she feels vested in it. She knows most likely her friends will die and she is willing to die, too, to help them. She was a true hero--going into battle knowing you have little chance to survive but doing it all the same because you know it is the right thing to do. I cried when she died. Actually I screamed, then went into shock, then cried a minute later as it all kind of set in.

The best part about her was her lack of tact. She cracked me up with the stuff she said, not understanding she shouldn't say them. It did get annoying at times. My favorite scene was after Joyce died and she broke down because she didn't understand how to deal with it or how to act.

 

[Joyce Summers]

I don't think Anya could ever be called cruel (post-demon days I mean) or cold. Sarastic yes, but it was never meant in a mean or callous way. It was just the way Anya simply was. She stated things as they were. She was blunt and this became less annoying (as it was intended to be in season 3) and much more endearing the more we came to know her. Even Giles stated to gain amusement from Anya's blunt comments and her genuine confusion over human habits (which might be why his role in her life had progressed into a fatherly one akin to his with Buffy, by season 6)
And I think to say Anya didn't develop depth or at all is an exageration. As the others have said, Anya did grow, she just grew more subtly than the others. But she always had her heart in the right place. Even technically in season three. She may not have been completely right, but she was concerned about Xander's welfare which shows progress in my opinion. And she shoves Xander out of the way in The Gift so she is hit and not him. She sacrifices herself to save him.
She was shown to be there for more than comic relief in The Body in her lament when she is revealed to be whilst a thousand years old also a very lost child who just didn't understand the death of someone close to her, or death at all.
In season 4 Xander saw all the wonderfulness that could be in Anya and his sensitivity (and let's admit it, patience) brought it all out of her. And she was truly madly in love with him and she was so completely heartbroken in Hell's Bells that personally I believe it is almost impossible not to empathize with her. I mean to have your one true love abandon you on your wedding day?
Anya though, in all her flaws, wasn;t cold or callous or even selfish she just said it how it was. She was concerned about her own life, isn't everybody? Anya just admitted this freely and in The Gift, Chosen and Triangle (where she says kill me instead of Willow, just don't kill Xander) she's shown that she can put those self-concerns aside to save others.
In my opinion, Anya was great and an increasingly wonderful delight throughout the duration of the show.

And word of warning; once Gategod reads this thread you will undoubtedly recieve a bigger rant than mine. haha

 

[LittleMissLikesToFight]

Anya grew on me too. she was, at first, annoying. especially her lack of tact. I thought cordelia pulled it off in a much more funny way. Anya was...well... a nuisance. At first, anyway. She definitely grew on me as time went on and i felt a little tug at my heart when she died. I guess i wasn't even positive she did until andrew said what he did to xander. BUT i think i was more upset when i thought Wood had died. Yeah, i know! we didn't even have as much time with him! I'm insane... so i've been told...

 

[Nabila]

I have to admit I am not a big fan of Anya, but I found her amusing even when she was annoying. And I believe she improved as time went by because of her love for Xander. I appreciate that she supported Xander and lessened his insecurities. Buffy and Willow had their own lives. It was just good to see that Xander who didn't have a great family life had Anya who adored him, and basically clung to him. The clinging got annoying sometimes, but Xander was all she had.

I guess I felt for Anya how I felt for Spike. In Entropy, I understood this more. It is about the sadness of being Anya, and the sadness of being Spike. They were outsiders.

Originally posted by celestialarrow
i wish she developed more depth and characterization that separate her from back when she was a demon.

Sometimes there are just characters we can never sympathise with. This is basically how I felt about Dawn when she just came out of nowhere and was being mean to Buffy. I'm still struggling with it. lol

 

[TrueVengeance]

Warning: Once GATEGOD gets here then we'll get a rant 😛

No character growth from Anya? There was quite a bit! Maybe not as drastic as Cordy's, but you also have to remember that Anya was a demon for over 1000 years, not a highschool bitch. How was she cold (season 4 or later)? Is it because she was always honest when it came to her own saftey? Because she always put Xander first. In fact I think it was her love for Xander that caused her to change into a better person. Look at Triangle, The Gift, Selfless, and Chosen. In Triangle, she told Olaf to kill her instead of Willow, because she knew Xander wouldn't choose, eventually resulting in him dying. In The Gift, she stayed for the apocolypse because Xander was. She pushed him out of the way of falling debris, getting hit herself. And Selfless and Chosen shouldn't even need explaination.

 

[Harm]

Coming from an Anya fan. I don't understand this post!
How was Anya supposed to grow when in all reality there was
nothing Human about her. She may have been on/off mortal, but she
was never really a human. She was sarcastic but I don't see how she was cold
hearted at all! Comparing her to Cordelia isn't fair. Cordelia, one of my other favorites.

Cordelia was human all her life until she ascended! Most people grow and mature and
because out of the thousands of years she was alive, she was human for maybe 24 1/2 years!
Counting her time as originally human, and as human with the scoobies! When Xander left Anya at
the alter I lost a lot of respect for the character, Xander Harris. Selfless was an amazing episode
and her death was heroic and tragic. I miss Anya terribly and her time on the show was great!

She made me laugh, feel sad, everything! She was great! :nod:

 

[GATEGOD]

Warning: Once GATEGOD gets here then we'll get a rant 😛

No character growth from Anya? There was quite a bit! Maybe not as drastic as Cordy's, but you also have to remember that Anya was a demon for over 1000 years, not a highschool bitch. How was she cold (season 4 or later)? Is it because she was always honest when it came to her own saftey? Because she always put Xander first. In fact I think it was her love for Xander that caused her to change into a better person. Look at Triangle, The Gift, Selfless, and Chosen. In Triangle, she told Olaf to kill her instead of Willow, because she knew Xander wouldn't choose, eventually resulting in him dying. In The Gift, she stayed for the apocolypse because Xander was. She pushed him out of the way of falling debris, getting hit herself. And Selfless and Chosen shouldn't even need explaination.

Why would I rant 😉

Fines, I won't. Maybe a tiny bit? Okay! Anya contributed alot to the show. Not only did she become a scooby, but she was always there with a question or a joke to lighten the mood or make things worse. She was always coming up with new ideas and she helped the gang countless times. She was a sweet cute girl who didn't know what is was meant to be human until Xander came along. Once Xander crushed her. He did. Than she was just a shell of herself filled with pain, anger and sorrow. When she finally showed a huge change at the end of Selfless she grew even more. Her character was very deep and the only problems I have was Xander hurting her and a bringer killing her!! None being her fault. I could go on.. oh yea.. sorry. See I didn't rant too much.

 

[TrueVengeance]

Why would I rant 😉

Fines, I won't. Maybe a tiny bit? Okay! Anya contributed alot to the show. Not only did she become a scooby, but she was always there with a question or a joke to lighten the mood or make things worse. She was always coming up with new ideas and she helped the gang countless times. She was a sweet cute girl who didn't know what is was meant to be human until Xander came along. Once Xander crushed her. He did. Than she was just a shell of herself filled with pain, anger and sorrow. When she finally showed a huge change at the end of Selfless she grew even more. Her character was very deep and the only problems I have was Xander hurting her and a bringer killing her!! None being her fault. I could go on.. oh yea.. sorry. See I didn't rant too much.

And here I was lookin' forward to your rant 😛

But well said! Speaking of helping the gang, I honestly don't think everyone notices how much she was there for the gang from season 5 onwards. Even after her ties to Xander were over she still helped.

 

[GATEGOD]

Kemy agrees: Its more that she clung to them for a lack of anyone else to be with, mooching off them.

She became human and they were the only people she knew. When Xander broke her heart and they were distant she went back to the only other thing she knew which was being a vengeance demon with her 'demon' friends If the gang was there for her than she wouldn't have killed those people in Selfless! She clung to them because she was lonely and because she was a 900 year old ex-demon. She could help them, and she did, on countless occasions.

 

[Lyri]

actually, Anya was over 1120. bit more than 900, lol.

 

[GATEGOD]

actually, Anya was over 1120. bit more than 900, lol.

See, so she had so much knowledge to give, aswell as life experience. She did help them. Thanks Lyri 😀 I confused the year she was born (860) with her age

 

[SpikedBuffy]

Yikes!

Well, Anya is not my most favorite character... she's pretty near the bottom, but I wouldn't say she was cruel/worthless/etc. Her point of view was so clearly different than everyone's character, that she was bound to say things or do things that viewers might not have liked.

However, she did show much character development. We met her as a demon, and then watched her struggle with her humanity through 3-6. To top that off, she had to deal with being a human while planning a wedding (a large feat in itself). What would you expect after being left at the alter? That she'd accept humanity more? Of course not..she'd fall and return to the only thing she knew.

I'd say that she was guilty and felt extreme remorse for her act in "Selfless" with the frat boys that it shows tremendous group. And don't forget, as Andrew put it in "End of Days".... she 'loves humans'. She changed drastically!

 

[celestialarrow]

you all have made good points but you guys point out her good qualities in certain episode yet there are a number of episodes where she wasn't so nice and sweet i get that she was a demon but so was spike before he had a soul yet his character grew without losing his comedic punts. the thing is i've watched episodes where even buffy and the gang would question her contributions to the team. you all talk about her being kind but only towards xander name her real connections to any other character and not for a one episode stint. i mean throughout the series not trying to discredit the character just saying there are alot of characters throughout the buffy-verse that are sarcastic yet they have really grown as a person which she was at one time or another i know she had been a demon for a long time but SHE made the choice to become human out of the love she had for xander but no one forced her either time she made the choice. and you talk about her being a demon was the reason she couldnt really connect but she was a human before she was changed unto a demon. and to say she changed drastically is going to far because truly the only difference between anya and anyanka is that anyanka has powers because she liked xander while she was a demon.

 

[Cordelia Chase*]

and you talk about her being a demon was the reason she couldnt really connect but she was a human before she was changed unto a demon.

Anya couldnt connnect to alot of things. She didint understand human ways. Thats why when Joyce died Anya didnt understand why everyone kept crying, or where Joyce went, or why she had to die.

Remember, Buffy did say she was an 1000 year old demon. Thats alot of vegeance to just break away from and instantly be good.

Edit:

you all have made good points but you guys point out her good qualities in certain episode yet there are a number of episodes where she wasn't so nice and sweet i get that she was a demon but so was spike before he had a soul yet his character grew without losing his comedic punts. the thing is i've watched episodes where even buffy and the gang would question her contributions to the team.

Okay. Anya wasnt all peachy at first but she had to learn these things. Anya knew vengence. That was her job. Being a vengeance demon. When that was taken away, she didnt know how to fit in so was was basically being herself. The more she hung around Xander and the Scoobies the more she understood and realized human ways(you could say).

And yes Spike progressed but he had a chip in his head. He was forced not to hurt humans so he was starting to get used to helping the scoobies.

 

[TabulaRasa]

Anya's the bomb. I also saw a lot of growth from her character. Yes she was still sarcastic but I grow more as a human being every day and I am still just as sarcastic as the day I started out.
And like others have said, she stuck around for the final battle, which was def more scary than the others. Well it would have been to me. And she stayed. That's not the Anya that first started out.

 

[Senior Watcher]

anyas death was very sad. i think it really plucked my heart strings since the writers had made her more 'human-minded' and less 'demon-minded' toward the end of the series.

she was an excellent character on the show. it wouldnt have been the same without her. im sure gategod (a.k.a. anya harris) would agree.

 

[November]

Anya was my favorite character. I found Cordellia to be a total bitch and I kept hoping she would be killed off (from buffy S1-3, not angel coz then she was cool) They cant really be compared.
Cordy would say mean stuff where as more often than not Anya would just point out the truth. Yes Im sure it wasnt what they always wanted to hear but she wasnt really being mean, just observant! As for the demon killings and stuff I think everyone has covered it and agreed that she had grown and developed as she felt remorse for the deaths and was willing to put her own life on the line for those she cared for.