Do you ever think of a character as just 'one of a pair'?

[Valjavertjinn]

Well, I was just thinking about this earlier. In the Buffyverse, some characters just seem to exist as an extention of another character. Take Oz, for example. Since you almost always see him with Willow, you might start to forget that he has his own cool personality and just hink of him as a part of her.
I don't like it when it happens, but it does. Characters just sometimes seem to live (or die) simply because of their special someone.
What do you think?

 

[Skytteflickan88]

Well, this was the case for Tara in season 4 & 5, with a few exceptions. Kind of feelt like Cordelia seemed to "the shoulder to cry on" for Angel in season 3, which got a bit dull. I mean, she got her moment, but I just feel we got less of her, and more of her as Angel's buddy, you know?

Also, in in season 5-7 Spike seemed to be there to mainly be Buffy's punchingbag/sex machine. Don't get me wrong, he got very interesting stories, but I would definitly say he was very much written as a way to get the Buffy character to evolve, more so than in earlier seasons, when he started events that the characters reacted to. Not sure if explain it well. And I do prefer the later arcs to his Big Bad arc, which could only go so far.

I actually felt that he started to become hiw own in Angel season 5, but that that stopped in the IDW comics post-ATF, since a lot he did he did to be unlike Angel, or to do better than Angel, or to simply get away from Angel. Now in season 9, he seems to be back to be "Buffy's", so we'll see where it goes.

Also, same for Kennedy as with Oz and Tara. She's basically just Willow's loved/ex-loved one.

 

[SlayerFest]

Honestly...no, but I know exactly what you're talking about. Ugh I can't think of an example, but there are definitely times when I watch a show and a couple is just one person haha because they're always together. It's kind of similar to when two people in school hang out together all the time. I had two friends who were together so often that eventually, saying their names separately did not feel normal or right. I personally saw every character as their own person. I could see why this might happen with Willow and Tara though. Tara was really quiet in the beginning and we never really saw her in any scenes without Willow until Family, I believe.

 

[Chosen Enemy]

Tara, definitely. And I was thinking about that lately. I got to the conclusion that she was an easy tool in Joss' hands. Because he used her as a plot device to develop Willow's character. She was never a regular, so Joss could kill her more easily in order to make Willow turn evil. Because I think that Tara's death was the only way to make Willow get to the situation where she will want to destroy the world and kill her friends.

Also, Tara almost never made connections with the other Scoobies (except for Dawn). For an episode or two with each, but other than that, she was Just Willow's girlfriend. We never saw her other friends, and we know she had some, she talked about them. But from what we saw on screen, she was nothing but Willow's friend, and Joss didn't even bother to develop her more. Then he killed her off in order to develop the story.

 

[brinkster130]

Oz, Tara, Anya are the major characters that spring to mind. We did get to see little glimpses into their lives; but their main roles seemed to be directly linked to their significant others. Without those relationships they really didn't have a connection to the group.

 

[shadcat]

Agreed with those who've mentioned Oz/Tara/Anya. They were extensions to the people they dated in the Scooby Gang. When you break them up, thus remove them from the gang, you run out of use for them / don't follow their story. Which is a shame as I like all three of them. (Especially Anya. Shocking I know)

---------- Post added at 10:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:08 PM ----------

[MENTION=10352]Chosen Enemy[/MENTION] agrees: Well, the fact that a character is 'one of a pair' doesn't mean you can't like them or that they're not good characters

Not what I meant~ I meant it's a shame as I wish they were all explored more even when they weren't dating Xander/Willow

 

[InsaneMystic]

Aside from the Gorches and the German terrorist twins, no not really. 🙂