Fred or Illyria?

Which character do you love more: Fred or Illyria?

  • Total voters
    82
I definitely prefer Fred. She is one of my favorites. Illyria doesn't capture my attention, really. I find her interactions with Spike and Wesley interesting, but that's about it.
 
i voted for fred, even though i loved illyria, too. the illyria/wes and illyria/spike dynamic was amazing, and amy acker is incredibly talented. i was heartbroken when fred died, though (i had always been a fresley fan), and she definitely tops illyria for me. willow was my favourite female character on buffy, and i saw a lot of willow in fred. (unfortunately, not literally haha *did i say that?* haha sorry)
 
I loved Fred, I always thought she was so adorable, and I cried bucketloads when she died (Hole in the World was one of the saddest episoodes ever, in my opinion), but I thought Ilyria kicked ass too-and how good an actress is Amy Acker by the way? Ilyria couldn't have been more different to Fred, but Amy still pulled off that portrayal beautifully.
In general I'd have to say my favourite was Fred but Ilyria comes a close second.
 
I loved Fred; she was a character with a lot of history on the show. Illyria was a last-minute addition and I only really started to warm to her during the last few episodes. I chose Fred.
 
I voted both because in my opinion, they're different persons that cant be compared(lol, I didnt read After the Fall so I dont know how Illyria changed). And I like them both.
 
Buhbi said:
I'm confused, I dont remember seeing any Fred bitchiness, correct me if I'm wrong though
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For me, Fred never really grabbed my attention. The relationship between her and Gunn struck me as a bit contrived and unlikely, and I put it down to the writers trying to make 2 fairly pedestrian characters more interesting (but not succeeding).

Now don't confuse my indifference to the characters as any reflection on the actors who played them, as I thought both Amy Acker and J August Richards did a great job with what they were given.

But the way I see it (and I accept not everyone will see it like this) is that Fred really wanted a hero who could live up to her ideals, even if she didn't live up to them herself. If they "˜failed' in any way, she let them know, and let them go.

For example, when she plotted revenge on the lecturer who sent her to a hell dimension (hooray, I thought, she has got claws! At last, a decent plot line for her"¦) Gunn steps in to save her from having the deed on her conscience and does the job for her. No matter how noble his intention was, however, she repays his consideration by turning a cold shoulder and rejecting him.

My dislike of Fred, really began though, during the episode in Season 3 when she visits Wesley after he has had his throat cut. It is bad enough that all his so-called friends at Angel investigations decide to stay away and pretend he doesn't exist anymore, but that's not enough for good ole Miss Perfect. She has to go round to put the verbal boot to make sure he's got the message, even though it's all ready apparent he's been deserted. Having barely survived both is throat cutting and Angel's attack on him, she then feels the need to personally deliver her own message of condemnation. Talk about kicking a man when he's down! See what I mean? What a bitch!

As for Fresley, I sincerely don't believe this was all it was cracked up to be. Not forgetting her penchant for judging her menfolk too harshly, don't forget she had had her memory altered when she decided she was attracted to Wes. Connor did not exist, nor did the back history of Wesley's so called betrayal at the time she fell for him due to the spell that Wolfram & Hart had cast for Angel. We will never know how they would have fared had she remembered what had transpired in the past. There was also a moment in the episode when Fred asks Wesley to help her plot her revenge against her lecturer when he asks why she didn't turn to Gunn for help. She replies that Gunn isn't like that (doesn't have a dark side), which is why she loves him. There is a significant pause when we are shown Wesley's reaction to this comment. The inference is that she has asked HIM because he HAS a dark side, and she will never love him for that reason.

As far as I am concerned I thought Lilah made a much more fitting partner for Wes. She understood the duality of human nature and didn't condemn him for not being perfect. Infact, I think the fact that Lilah was used by the partners to help lure Angel and Co over to Wolfram and Hart testifies to the influence that she subconsciously created around him. I think it was this strange liaison that was his eventual downfall.

Although I loved the episode AHITW I wasn't upset to see Fred go.
 
Senior Partner said:
For me, Fred never really grabbed my attention. The relationship between her and Gunn struck me as a bit contrived and unlikely, and I put it down to the writers trying to make 2 fairly pedestrian characters more interesting (but not succeeding).

Now don't confuse my indifference to the characters as any reflection on the actors who played them, as I thought both Amy Acker and J August Richards did a great job with what they were given.

But the way I see it (and I accept not everyone will see it like this) is that Fred really wanted a hero who could live up to her ideals, even if she didn't live up to them herself. If they "˜failed' in any way, she let them know, and let them go.

For example, when she plotted revenge on the lecturer who sent her to a hell dimension (hooray, I thought, she has got claws! At last, a decent plot line for her"¦) Gunn steps in to save her from having the deed on her conscience and does the job for her. No matter how noble his intention was, however, she repays his consideration by turning a cold shoulder and rejecting him.

My dislike of Fred, really began though, during the episode in Season 3 when she visits Wesley after he has had his throat cut. It is bad enough that all his so-called friends at Angel investigations decide to stay away and pretend he doesn't exist anymore, but that's not enough for good ole Miss Perfect. She has to go round to put the verbal boot to make sure he's got the message, even though it's all ready apparent he's been deserted. Having barely survived both is throat cutting and Angel's attack on him, she then feels the need to personally deliver her own message of condemnation. Talk about kicking a man when he's down! See what I mean? What a bitch!

As for Fresley, I sincerely don't believe this was all it was cracked up to be. Not forgetting her penchant for judging her menfolk too harshly, don't forget she had had her memory altered when she decided she was attracted to Wes. Connor did not exist, nor did the back history of Wesley's so called betrayal at the time she fell for him due to the spell that Wolfram & Hart had cast for Angel. We will never know how they would have fared had she remembered what had transpired in the past. There was also a moment in the episode when Fred asks Wesley to help her plot her revenge against her lecturer when he asks why she didn't turn to Gunn for help. She replies that Gunn isn't like that (doesn't have a dark side), which is why she loves him. There is a significant pause when we are shown Wesley's reaction to this comment. The inference is that she has asked HIM because he HAS a dark side, and she will never love him for that reason.

As far as I am concerned I thought Lilah made a much more fitting partner for Wes. She understood the duality of human nature and didn't condemn him for not being perfect. Infact, I think the fact that Lilah was used by the partners to help lure Angel and Co over to Wolfram and Hart testifies to the influence that she subconsciously created around him. I think it was this strange liaison that was his eventual downfall.

Although I loved the episode AHITW I wasn't upset to see Fred go.
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really really interesting points here that i'd never thought of before. now, i am way too tired to construct a logical argument to show how i disagree with you haha, so i'll just have to leave it there until another time.
 
Definitely Fred. Illyria didn't really have any emotions...well, she did, but her monotonous voice made it difficult to project them. Fred developed very much as a character, starting out as a sheepish cave-dweller and becoming a respectable human being.
 
I preferred Fred but Amy Acker did an amazing job with Illyria and I did find her to be interesting. Though i couldn't help but fall in love with sweet Fred and I did love all her storylines. I loved her with Gunn and Wes. While I thought her falling for Wes was really out of the blue it was great for him and I cried when she died. Hard.

Again Illyria is intersting, but I still found myself enjoying the bittersweet moments where Illyria would turn herself back into Fred and we could see the amazing woman again.
 
Fred! Fred, Fred, Fred, Fred, Fred!
Don't get me wrong I LOVED Illyria but Fred...I mean FRED!
She is my favorite character in a TV show ever.
I have been know by the name of Fred by everyone I know since the age of 12 and am planning on getting it changed to Fred when I have the money.
I think she is the most beautiful, amazing, interesting and deeloped character ever. The whole crazy in Pylea thing was brilliant, her getting used to living in the 'real world' again was beautifully sweet, finding out about her professor, relationship issues, DIEING...I just love everything they did with Fred.
I'm even happy they killed her, I liked seeing a beginning, middle and end to a character...(means they can't do lots of crap to the character after the shows finished and completely f*ck her up)
 
I prefer Fred of course.
Illyria was I know, new to the world, but the robot type tics and way she spoke never got fun to listen to or watch. Her character just wasn't what Fred had already made herself and I never felt like the show needed anything that drastic. Fred was essential, IMO. Then she was just suddenly gone even if it was still Amy. Meh, Illyria was alright but Fred was the show.
 
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