Did Buffy Really Love Angel?

[TaylorSwift]

She send him to hell when a couple drops of blood could've closed that portal...I'm guessing no.

I also think it was that time of the month for her.

I thought it wasn't supposed to close with a few drops...or I've mistaken the whole thing? Can someone please enlighten me about this?

 

[The Unspoken]

I thought it wasn't supposed to close with a few drops...or I've mistaken the whole thing? Can someone please enlighten me about this?

Well, she definitely didn't care enough to at least try it with a couple drops of blood first.

 

[Tome]

But seriously, I'm not even a fan of Bangel and it's clear as day to me that they loved each other. 😛

 

[TaylorSwift]

Well, she definitely didn't care enough to at least try it with a couple drops of blood first.

I don't think there was lots of time to try different things..I mean, the world was about to end and being basically swallowed by Acathla...She didn't want everybody to die because she had to try something first.

 

[The Unspoken]

I don't think there was lots of time to try different things..I mean, the world was about to end and being basically swallowed by Acathla...She didn't want everybody to die because she had to try something first.

Yet there was enough time for one last extensive make-out session. And that's all it was for her.

 

[StarSlayer]

Kean agrees: Touché. But I would like to say that if I thought Buffy was in love with Spike I would say that. The show just didn't convince me that was the case. I don't say it to be spiteful. I just wanted to point that out.

LOL! 😀 Got it 😉

messagetooshort

 

[ashsummers]

Simply declaring it to be a no-brainer doesn't make it a no-brainer. In fact, it makes it even less likely that she loved him.

I don't see how it makes it less likely either. I was being playful with the no-brainer remark 😉 It was hardly an argument. There has been so much animosity about the opposing ships lately I was hoping to just keep it light and breezy.

But since you asked... Do you really think Buffy would have gutted Faith for a man she didn't love? Gone against her whole belief system in doing so? Isolated her closest friends after she had to kill Angel? Stated the words "I loved him more than I will ever love anything in this this life", completely broke down unable to breath after he said he was leaving in Prom? Love is a difficult thing to define. Oxford dictionary defines it as

a strong feeling of affection and sexual attraction for someone

Did Buffy feel those things for Angel? Hells to the yeah.

 

[Ms.Trick]

BEWARE: that post is full of spoilers of Buffy and Angel.


I'm not a Bangel, but I definitely think that Buffy deeply loved Angel, to an incredibly high level. I believe Angel is Buffy's one. The one she loves the most, even after they broke up and he left. She cares about him a lot, and when I see her with Angel, I feel like she loves him more than she will ever love Riley or Spike. He was the only one she truly gave herself to. When she said to Riley "I gave you my body, heart and soul", I felt it was more something she has to say to Angel. To Angel she gave her body, heart and soul. Riley didn't get that much closure with Buffy. For Angel, Buffy would have accepted any pain love-related. She'd always be there, no matter what. Angel was her chevalier servant, her everything. So yeah, I believe she loved Angel.

But!
What I really wonder is: "Did Angel really love Buffy?".
I kind of feel like Buffy was to Angel what Riley was to Buffy: someone he cared about, he loved, but there was that spark missing. I think what Angel had with Cordelia was way closer to real love. With Cordelia, Angel really opened up, became more himself. With Buffy, he was all broody and mysterious guy, while around Cordy he was more acting like a man than like a broody-mysty vampire. I was already not fond of the Angel part of the Bangel in Buffy, but everything went much worse in Angel (the show). Like "I didn't even cry when she died". And I don't remember quite well, but in the first episode, Doyle made a speech about Angel's life in Sunnydale, and I was really left with the feeling that Buffy was just "the hot chick that happens to be a Slayer" to Angel.
And generally, I don't like how Angel acts like Buffy is just is property. He left her. He left her left town. He came back a few times to Sunnydale, and they went all kissy kissy or flirty. He falls in love with Cordelia, and while Cordelia is in the coma, he goes to Sunnydale and has that "You'll always be my girl?" conversation with Buffy. Then Buffy rejects him. Cordy wakes up, Angel is ready to finally be with her. Cordy dies. Angel goes to Italy and is upset because Buffy is seing the Immortal. In the meantime, he's also implicated in a relationship with Nina.
It really makes me feel like to him, Buffy is just the girl he knows will always be there, you know, just in case.
I don't think I made myself very clear.

So to summarize:
Buffy really really loved Angel
but
Angel didn't love Buffy half as much as Buffy loved him, and he certainly loved her three times less than Spike actually really loved Buffy.

And if you guys wonder, I'm no Bangel, or Spuffy, or Briley. I think all Buffy's relationships are flawed, the two never love each other equally (Buffy loved Angel more than he did love her; Spike and Riley loved Buffy more than she did love them. Even tough at some point I believe Spike was as high on Buffy's pedestal as Angel).

 

[TaylorSwift]

Yet there was enough time for one last extensive make-out session. And that's all it was for her.

Wow..then Sarah's acting what was telling you? To me, it said sacrifice and pain of losing true love just after finding it again...I respect people who don't ship Bangel but to coming to the point of thinking that was just a make out session to Buffy is unbelievable...
Plus, I think the kiss for plot's sake had to be there no matter the few seconds left and when something like that happens to you I doubt you're gonna be all reasonable and say to yourself: wait, let's try something first. You go with instincts first, that's how we work in time of shock or big emotions. I don't wanna convince you, I'm hardly capable of that but it was worth a try.

 

[ashsummers]

Taaroko agrees: I agree heartily with everything you said about Buffy and Angel, but wow, Oxford's definition of love is crap.

Definitely an oversimplification that is for sure. Websters ain't much better I'm afraid.

a (1) : strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties <maternal love for a child> (2) : attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers (3) : affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests <love for his old schoolmates>

Love is notoriously difficult to define as it's kinda subjective yknow? 🙂

 

[The Unspoken]

Do you really think Buffy would have gutted Faith for a man she didn't love? Gone against her whole belief system in doing so?

She was secretly in love with Faith and her actions here were very much the result of extreme self-loathing; she couldn't handle the fact that she was in love with Faith. See my signature for further proof (and extreme hotness).

Isolated her closest friends after she had to kill Angel?

She felt guilty because she could've closed the portal with just a couple drops of his blood; see above.

Stated the words "I loved him more than I will ever love anything in this this life",

To quote Cordelia: 'Hyperbole much?'

completely broke down unable to breath after he said he was leaving in Prom?

They broke up in the sewer and considering how often Buffy goes there, I'm surprised she didn't catch some cold or disease earlier.

 

[TaylorSwift]

Like "I didn't even cry when she died".

I don't remember this quote...what episode was this on? If you remember, thanks. It's probably later in Angel seasons cause I haven't heard it yet..I have to see the scene and then judge. I think he loved her a lot, maybe him not crying was his way of copying..or we have to consider the contest. Anyway, I'm just gonna wait and see the scene..LOL

 

[Misty]

Buffy loved Angel alot and she always will because he was her first love. However, I do agree with others on Buffy loving Angel more that he ever loved her. That's not to say that he didn't love her, because he did, but not as much as she loved him. But that's just my opinion.

 

[TaylorSwift]

I don't remember this quote...what episode was this on? If you remember, thanks. It's probably later in Angel seasons cause I haven't heard it yet..I have to see the scene and then judge. I think he loved her a lot, maybe him not crying was his way of copying..or we have to consider the contest. Anyway, I'm just gonna wait and see the scene..LOL

Then I watched...ok, I do remember now..I linked this to show the gang he was fine and they had nothing to worry about so they got off his back with questions..but it seems unlikely he wouldn't cry. Oh well, my idea is set in stone: they loved each other and still do...but thanks so much for reminding me the episode. 🙂

 

[InsaneMystic]

Love is notoriously difficult to define as it's kinda subjective yknow? 🙂

Yup, that's kinda the point. Nothing will ever convince me that there was love between those two as the ship stank of romance... which by my def makes any love between them pretty much impossible.
(I also say that Tillow - my favorite ship, even befroe Spuffy - was not romantic, and that its lack of romance is what makes it so appealing to me... which will earn me, if anything, even more shaked heads than my stance of "there never was love between Buffy and the bad hair dude". 😉)

white avenger agrees: I agree. Furthermore, I think that Angel was more in love with the simple act of BEING in love than he ever was with Buffy, Cordy, Nina, or any other woman he had ever been with.

Now, that I can agree with, even though I'm still kinda fuzzy on the definition of what "being in love" actually means. Your remark fits my view of the guy's character very well.

 

[Marisa]

You know The Unspoken got me thinking does no one hear think Angel could have been a person on how to catch a predator? It actually makes sense.

Back to the question did she love him yes. Will she always love him yes. Is it as big as it is made to be IMO nope.

 

[prophecygrrl]

Buffy loved Angel. I don't believe it's the purest, truest or healthiest love at that point, but it's powerful and it's there. And from Buffy's side, it's very innocent and sweet. That part, at least, I agree with.

But...I don't believe that Angel loved Buffy the same way. *hides from inevitable fallout*

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

Buffy loved Angel alot and she always will because he was her first love. However, I do agree with others on Buffy loving Angel more that he ever loved her. That's not to say that he didn't love her, because he did, but not as much as she loved him. But that's just my opinion.

Hmm. Why do you think that?

Because I don't see it.

 

[InsaneMystic]

zobothehobo agrees: How can you say Tillow wasn't romantic? I thought it was the most romantic ship on the show.

Hehe Zo, I knew someone outside the circle of "usual suspects" would disagree with me on that, and from our talk in the OR thread, I knew your definition of romance and mine are one thing our minds are as far away from their usual parallelity as it gets. 😉

To put it simply, romance is one of the worst things in the world IMO, and the one ship that even tops Buffy/bad hair dude in that regard is Season Five Spuffy. Spike stalked her, stole her clothes to sniff them, and built both a shrine to her and a sex toy robot with her face. It's pretty much an impossible challenge for anyone in the world to top that for sheer romanceyness! 😛

Tillow was free from that kinda crapola. To me, Tara and Will basically were best friends who also happened to be lovers... and as you know from my views in the OR thread, that's the highest praise I can give to a ship, at all. There was no romance (which would, basically, have made trust and friendship impossible between them); instead, it was pure love. 🙂

 

[zobothehobo]

Hehe Zo, I knew someone outside the circle of "usual suspects" would disagree with me on that, and from our talk in the OR thread, I knew your definition of romance and mine are one thing our minds are as far away from their usual parallelity as it gets. 😉

To put it simply, romance is one of the worst things in the world IMO, and the one ship that even tops Buffy/bad hair dude in that regard is Season Five Spuffy. Spike stalked her, stole her clothes to sniff them, and built both a shrine to her and a sex toy robot with her face. It's pretty much an impossible challenge for anyone in the world to top that for sheer romanceyness! 😛

Tillow was free from that kinda crapola. To me, Tara and Will basically were best friends who also happened to be lovers... and as you know from my views in the OR thread, that's the highest praise I can give to a ship, at all. There was no romance (which would, basically, have made trust and friendship impossible between them); instead, it was pure love. 🙂

I guess I sorta kinda get that... I mean I think your definition of romance is kinda crazy... but thinking about it from your view, I get it. Plus the pure love thing I completely agree with.