Buzzfeed ranks the main characters of BtVS and Angel

[Black Eye Guy]

Buzzfeed have complied a list of the top 117 characters from worst to best, their requirements to qualify for the list were:

To be included on this list, a character has to have a name, appear on Buffy and/or Angel for at least three episodes, and meaningfully participate either in the episodes’ plot or in a larger, season-long storyline. (Sorry random teacher or Wolfram & Hart flunky!) When it made sense, I grouped some characters, and there are also a handful of special exceptions for standout characters in just one or two episodes who have significant arcs of their own. Also, for the persnickety, since an actor’s performance plays a definite role in the success or failure of a character in these rankings, I did not factor in the post-finale comic books.

Here are some highlights:

117 (last place) - Kennedy
116. The Anointed One
115. Ben
114. Graham

110. Hank Summers
109. Adam

107. Knox
106. Detective Kate Lockley

101. The Beast
99. Parker Abrams

97. Marcus Hamilton

93. Eve
92. Jasmine

90. Riley Finn

84. Sahjhan
83. Caleb

80. Connor

78. Principal Robin Wood
77. Nina Ash

69. Violet (aka Vi)

62. The First

60. Amanda

55. Kendra

53. Whistler
52. Allen Francis Doyle (Doyle)
51. Gwendolyn Post
50. Dawn Summers
49. Gwen Raiden

40. The Buffybot
39. Clem
38. Ethan Rayne
37. Charles Gunn

35. Lorne
34. Principal Snyder
32. Glory
31. Doc
30. Lilah Morgan
28. Lindsey McDonald
23. Warren Mears
20. Darla
19. Angel
18. Daniel “Oz” Osbourne
17. Illyria
16. Angelus
15. Jonathan Levinson
14. Andrew Wells
13. Tara Maclay
12. Drusilla
11. Xander Harris
10. Anya
9. Mayor Richard Wilkins
8. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
7. Cordelia Chase
6. Winifred “Fred” Burkle
5. Buffy Summers
4. Faith
3. Rupert Giles
2. Spike
1. Willow Rosenberg

(sorry listed more of them then I meant too, it's hard to cut people out! Full List here)

Obviously it's nothing but opinion, but what do you think?


I think its a terrible list, lol.

From the moment I read in Kennedys entry that season 7 was arguably the worst and the potentials were the main reason for it, I knew me and this list were not going to be friends.

I dont even know were to start with what I think is wrong with it, They dont say what the criteria is for ranking, I assume its just that person as a character?

I guess firstly Hank Summers, Billy Fordham, The Anointed One, Gwendolyn Post and Parker Abrams rating higher then anyone in the Buffyverse calls into questions the validity of this list for me!

Doyle at 52!

I thought Marcus Hamilton, Jasmine and Eve were awesome - though the writer acknowledges a BtVS over Angel bias.

Principal Snyder at 34, above Gunn whos at 37 and Lorne?!?

Doc above Glory? (At this point I'm ready to fight!)

WARREN AT 23, Warren the women hating, sexist, murdering character is better then Doyle, Glory, Gunn and Lorne!

Angel at 19! Beaten by Andrew, Johnathan? eh no...

Then Buffy scrapes her way into the top 5!?!

Then to bring it on home we have Spike at no. 2

Spike... Hellz no (somebody hold me back!)
Though his reason for being there, really shows the thinking behind the list "When he’s a lovesick sex toy for Buffy, he’s fabulous (and scorchingly hot)"
Also this writer is trippin' he was not Angels parter, he was an underling/employee has been all along right back to the fanged four days!

And I love Willow she is a personal favourite of mine and would be my favourite character, but I dont agree with the reasoning "No other character goes on as wide-ranging a transformation " Wesley and Cordelia both go through an equally wide-ranging transformation, I think in Cordelias case even more wide ranging

I dont see how Jasmine muddys up Cordelias character but Willow dark arc doesn't do that for Willow?

Willow goes from nerd to All powerful Witch.
Cordelia goes from bitch to Higher Power.

Like I said Willow is my favourite character but I find it hard to put her at the top of a best character list objectively, (which I presume is the case here, and the writer says their editor had imput)

I dont think the characters are being held to the same standard to position them. As a character Buffy loses marks on the list for having self-righteous ruts, which I totally agree with, but Spike is fabulous so he gets second best? What about his attempting rape ruts? Or Willows murdering ruts?

So thoughts?

---------- Post added at 12:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:44 AM ----------

Also some of the stuff in the descriptions makes me wonder how big a fan the person who made the list is.

Maybe we should do our own, like the scene poll going on at the moment?

 

[Lyri]

This list is garbage!!!

Alright, so I don't think Kennedy is as bad as other people seem to regard her, but come on! Does she really deserve to be in last place? Behind Hank, Parker, Knox and the Annoying One?! Sorry, unbelievable.

Dawn at 50?!

And no offence to the Giles fans, but there's no way he should beat his Slayer. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, NO ONE should be ranked above Buffy.

This list isn't objective at all. You can completely tell that just by looking at who came in last place. It's no secret that Kennedy is widely hated by most of the fandom.

Though, I'm actually surprised Connor ranked so high, lol.

I think BB should do our own list, lol.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

And no offence to the Giles fans, but there's no way he should beat his Slayer. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, NO ONE should be ranked above Buffy.

Totally agree, If I take my own favourites based on bias out, objectively no one beats Buffy.

I think BB should do our own list, lol.

Yeah it's handy to have the list of names, could be interesting to compile as a group and compare the results.


I keep venturing into the comments section on Buzzfeed, it is not pretty in there!

 

[Lyri]

I don't think we can make a poll with 117 options, lol, but it would be nice to use this as a guide to do our own version.

I'd even volunteer to help!! 😉

 

[VisionGirl]

That list is $h!t!!!!

JMO 😉

 

[SRMarx]

I can't say I agree with most of this list. Some characters were so minor I am not sure if they should have even been considered. The list seems quite biased.

 

[Blaze]

It's already been said, but man is this list a big pile of poop. So biased, and I just find myself shaking my head in disagreement the whole time I was reading.

 

[Robb Stark]

Andrew ranks ahead of Angel?

Lol.

Seriously, no objective person could honestly say that. This whole list, top to bottom, is just beyond biased.

 

[sk]

Agree that it is an unusual bad list.
Usually you can understand the thinking and somewhat agree with lists like these.
This one seems quite random.

But what can you say. It's some persons opinion. Hard to criticise and say that it's wrong.

/SK

 

[Kean]

I was expecting the list to be bad but the shear madness of putting FOUR other people a head of Buffy Summers is baffling. Don't even start me on Angel.

I'm all in for our own list. And while we're at it, we should post it on Buzzfeed too! And our final list of best Buffyverse scenes. I'll even make the gifs!

 

[JCoatsworth]

Haha 😀 I agree with the first and the last place 😛
Nah, seriously, there are worse characters than Kennedy. But I don't know what's the deal with all of those lists made by magazines or websites. How are they any better or more important than lists made by any other fan?

 

[sleecin]

Eve Dawn Buffybot Lilah Illyria Should have had better places :O

 

[Black Eye Guy]

Haha 😀 I agree with the first and the last place 😛
Nah, seriously, there are worse characters than Kennedy. But I don't know what's the deal with all of those lists made by magazines or websites. How are they any better or more important than lists made by any other fan?

They're not, but I think the idea behind them, usually, is to be unbiased so that everyone can relate to the list which I think is the problem here, the list is so biased, it's very personal.

 

[Taake]

Ehm... hell yeah that's a personal list. Agreed that it's more or less garbage to me. Especially no. 80 and 52!

Also Warren over Lilah and Lindsey....? I think not! Warren can slum it with Kennedy on my list.

 

[JCoatsworth]

They're not, but I think the idea behind them, usually, is to be unbiased so that everyone can relate to the list which I think is the problem here, the list is so biased, it's very personal.

Yes, especially Kennedy. I rather dislike her myself, but I'd never put her on last place.

 

[EVIL UU]

<Reads through the list>

Faith above Buffy, Spike above Buffy, Giles above Buffy, Xander not even in the top 10...

Willow wins

I'm OK with it, I guess. Debatable but hey, at least it's not Spike.

 

[AndrewCrossett]

I love how this gets reported as "Buzzfeed's list" when it's actually one guy's personal list.

These numbered lists are just click-bait anyway. People who hate the list spend just as much time looking at the banner ads as those who like the list.

I never understand long numbered lists like this unless they're based on actual vote totals or something. What makes #74 better than #75?

Anyway, I understand that lots of people hated Kennedy (I didn't), but it bugs me when people start hating on Iyari too, like this guy does. She played the character exactly the way she was supposed to.

 

[thetopher]

What exactly is the system this person uses to decide who's better?

Is it acting ability? Likability? Consistincy of character?
He says Angel is an inconsistant chacter and then puts Willow at number one?
This list is just so illogical and so personally bias, what was the point of this anyway.

Angel got he own show, there's a reason for that. He should be much higher.
Buffy should be one or two. Faith is about in the right place😀

Spike should be lower, maybe nine or ten.
I don't know why some people are even on here.😕

Anyway, we all have our own personal lists, we just aren't so pompous or self-important as to put them on-line as some sort of official countdown.😉

 

[Kurai]

He seems to hate most the characters on the list.

But anyway, if the list was more subjective, and explained why he put the characters in that order in a subjective way (not 'I hate this character because they did this'), it would have been better. Like, my favorite character is Oz, but I definitely wouldn't go as far as to name him 'the best character in the series'.

 

[patriot1123]

I really don't understand the complaints on this thread about how this list is not objective, is biased, and is just one person's opinion. Um, yeah. That's exactly what it's supposed to be. If you ranked characters by how many minutes of screen time they had, that would be objective. Ranking characters from "worst" to "best" will always, always, necessarily, by definition, be subjective, biased, and opinion. Your disagreement with the list is just as much subjective, biased, and opinion.

I mostly agreed with this list. Kennedy dead last works for me. I would have ranked Angel and Marcus Hamilton higher, and Jasmine, Oz, and Riley lower. I would put Giles (the "British, bookish, badass benevolent authority figure") at 2 and move Spike to 3. But I agree with Willow at 1 - definitely.