Was Anya's death a twist?

I was shocked because it was a, for BTVS untypical, cruel death. And it came very surprising even if I knew that she would die in the last season it was a shock, because it happened so fast! I was sad and had a inner twist because there was just this one second ... and then she was gone...history, never mentioned again. There hadn't been any tears. Not even from Xander. That made me sad.
 
Well, I already knew that Spike was moving to "Angel," and I was pretty sure that somebody else would have had to die, though I was really expecting it to be Xander or Giles. The idea of Faith dying while saving Buffy's life also occurred to me, accompanied by a dramatic "You've already died a couple o' times, B. My turn now," speech. Frankly, I didn't see Anya as being high enough up in the hierarchy of the players to matter that much.
 
I don't consider a surprise...a twist. An example of a movie with a surprise that isn't necessarily a twist (although countless people insist that it is) is the ending of the movie Se7en ("What's in the box!?!?!?) not much of a twist haha.

An example of one in Buffy, is when we figure out that Angel and Buffy tricked Faith in Enemies. It changes your view of the entire situation. Similar (except not as "what.the.hell....ish) to Fight Club. You see that movie from a new perspective when you watch it a second time. The definition of a twist ending is: a plot twist occurring near or at the conclusion of a story, an unexpected conclusion to a work of fiction that causes the audience to reevaluate the narrative or characters.

So while Anya's death is unexpected...it doesn't really cause us to reevaluate anything. We knew that people were going to die in the final battle. If Anya revealed that she had secretly been working for The First the whole time (before she was sliced and diced) now that would have been a twist.
 
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david4wt
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Living Dead Boy
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InsaneMystic
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Abbeycat
Abbeycat
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It was certainly shocking the first time I saw it.

I think it is a crucial development in her character though, as it completes her journey to being fully human. That's the last thing that happens to all of us in our human journey, death. She has done horrible things as a demon (and at times as a human) but she dies honorably while fighting the good fight. It's still real sad, but I think it really makes her character. 🙁
 
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Summerlilly
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Hale Caesar said:
I didn't see it as a twist. I just saw it as a stupid decision. I would have liked it if they made it relevant to the story...
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It was relevant to the story though D'hoffyrn mentioned it in Selfless. Also Emma Caufield wanted Anya killed
 
I was just going to ask was the speech that D'Hoffryn gave Anya not a foreshadowing of her death. It goes like this, in-case people have forgotten:

ANYA
You should've killed me.

D'HOFFRYN
Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. From beneath you, it devours. Be patient. All good things in time.
 
I already knew that two of the main characters were going to die, thanks to my husband who saw it before I did, but when I saw Anya's death it was a shock. I never thought she was one of the two it was going to be, and it broke my heart.
 
In retrospective, Anya probably had to die. Joss specifically said in the commentary that he didn't want any member of the Core Four to die, or else his message would've been lost. So Spike and Anya were pretty much the last main characters whose death would have made a impact with the audiences. (Although my heart stopped as soon as the Ubervamps took Faith down. I was like, Oh no, not my girl!!!!!! 😉) I kinda saw Spike's death coming, but Anya did throw me for a loop. I'm probably the only one who did mind the fact that she got killed pretty quickly. It was one of (if not the) biggest battles of their lives, so for every character to get some over the top, heroic send-off would probably be too much.

I thought this article pretty much summed up why I'm at peace with how Anya died: Why Anya Had To Die
 
Not that it wasn't surprising, but I don't really consider Anya's death a twist. She's one of the most outspoken about the possibility of death come the final battle. She also has at least one scene with Andrew I can recall in which she gets to talk a bit about her decision to fight with her friends, etc. I felt there was a decent amount of 'closure' attempted on Whedon's part leading up to Chosen which softened the blow...although it is still depressing.
 
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