Selfless acts in the Buffy-verse

[percepto girl]

Well, those are quite a few. Buffyverse characters are so darn cool *gushes*. I guess everybody knows what the big ones are, and they have mostly already been mentioned, but I do like to think about the small acts of selflessness that are less obvious but leave a big impact, like Xander helping Spike light his cigarette in Spiral. It seems so insignificant, but it made me respect Xander so much more.

 

[Starlet]

Almost all great selfless-moments I can think of have been already mentioned but there is also Anya saving Xander by risking her own life in The Gift .

 

[palabravampiress]

^ She tried to do that in "Triangle," too.

Stupid Xander, leaving Anya at the altar. She loved him soooo much.

 

[Angelic Slayer]

A lot of my faves have been mentioned, but just for the record...

• Xander buying Cordelia her prom dress
  
• Angel giving up his humanity to protect Buffy (in "I Will Remember You")
  
• Spike bringing flowers to the house after Joyce's death
  
• Anya's willingness to sacrifice herself for strangers in "Selfless"
  
• Xander putting his life on the line for Willow

Again, I could go on forever, but these are just some of the situations that I thought really emphasized how selfless these characters were/are.

 

[Starlet]

I have another one:
Anya while being vengeance demon again was helping Scoobies stop evil Willow. It was really selfless of her and well, she got her shop destroyed as a result.

 

[palabravampiress]

Anya and Spike dying in Chosen. I just saw a Chosen vid on YouTube in which both of those character deaths were given their own little snippets and it almost made me cry, man.

Aww man... poor Anya. Poor Xander for losing Anya. I will always lament Anya's death in Chosen. Always. Always. Always. I mean, yeah, it was really big of her to stay and fight knowing that she would probably die. It showed lots of character development. I just miss her, is all. The real world is a little darker without fictional Anya in it.

I don't so much feel sorry for Spike cuz I know he comes back, but it was such a beautiful end to his arc that, I gotta say... as much as I love AtS: season 5's Spike and Angel banter (and I really, really do), I kinda wish they'd let him go out in a beautiful, effulgent blaze and stay that way. It just fit his story so well, you know?

 

[sosa lola]

Xander not choosing either Anya or Willow as the first woman for Olaf to kill, which had Olaf break Xander's hand.

 

[Angelic Slayer]

I just finished watching "The Gift" and I wanted to touch on something that I hadn't thought of before. Here's what I noticed:

BUFFY: Go!

DAWN: Buffy, it's started.

DAWN: I'm sorry...

BUFFY: It doesn't matter. What are you doing?

DAWN: I have to jump. The energy --

BUFFY: It'll kill you!

DAWN: I know. Buffy, I know about the ritual! I have to stop it.

BUFFY: No!

DAWN: I have to! Look at what's happening!

-pause-

DAWN: Buffy, you have to let me go! Blood starts it, and until the blood stops flowing it'll never stop. You know you have to let me ... It has to have the blood ...

I think in the light of Buffy's ultimate sacrifice, this small moment really has gone unnoticed. But here it is: Dawn would have jumped. Had Buffy not stepped in, a fifteen year old girl was going to jump off a hundred foot tower into a pit of firey hell... to save the world.

Although Buffy's sacrifice was something to be respected, this was Buffy's destiny. She knew since she was sixteen that she was the slayer, that she would die for the good fight and that it would be painful. Like she said, this is the work she had to do, and as we soon learn later on in the series; Buffy felt as though that was truly her time to go. Dawn was an innocent girl, a typical girl, who had no calling or reason to be thrown into this crazyness-- and she was going to jump. Not for herself, not for the love of a sister or a friend, for the world. A world of strangers that she would never know. At fifteen.

And again, this was not her calling. Buffy was chosen, Dawn never was. She had to reason to jump; no guilty conscience or calling or particular reason that went unnamed (like Buffy not wanting her sister to die), but she almost killed herself. She started running and only the slayer could hold her back. Which really to me, means something huge.

I donno, I just thought this was probably one of the most selfless acts during the series, looking at it again. And again, with how huge Buffy's finale was, I thought it was worth mentioning, anyway. 🙂

 

[Starlet]

I watched Never Kill A Boy On The First Date today and thought that Buffy refusing to date Owen in order to keep him away from danger was very selfless act. She took so mature decision.

 

[Atren]

I been thinking over this and i have come to weird conclusion. Tara was closest to saint in series imo, but thinking of hers i have hard time coming up with them. Best one i can think is between S5 and S6 helping Dawn along with others. I guess problem is that she is so saintly so her selfless moments do not stick out in my memory. Can anyone name some?

 

[TrueVengeance]

I been thinking over this and i have come to weird conclusion. Tara was closest to saint in series imo, but thinking of hers i have hard time coming up with them. Best one i can think is between S5 and S6 helping Dawn along with others. I guess problem is that she is so saintly so her selfless moments do not stick out in my memory. Can anyone name some?

Unlike most of the characters, she was generally nice all the time, so her selfless moments really weren't as noticeable, I guess?

But to name a few:
*She was willing to let Willow go back to Oz in "New Moon Rising" no matter how much it hurt.

*She refused to tell Glory that Dawn was the key.

*She left Willow in Tabula Rasa for her own good.

Hmm maybe it is kind of hard 😛

 

[The Chosen]

This doesn't have to do with a major Buffyverse character, but what about in "Flooded" when the police officer was willing to risk his life to save Buffy from M'Fashnik? Remember, in the loan office?