What If: Willow and Xander's roles were swapped?

[nightshade]

What if Xander was the intelligent one and Willow the one struggling more academically. Or if Xander got into magic instead, and Willow had to find work.

 

[NotASlayer]

One difference I can think of is it would be Xander that Anyanka-Anya was asking for help in "Doppelgangland". Which could easily have had a whole bunch of knock-on effects. Would Anya and Willow become an item, instead of Anya and Xander, so @NoShip ends up with Wanya? 🙂 Would Anya be fantasising over Willow digging in "Pangs"?

 

[NoShip]

Off the top of my head, I would say the slightly promoted s1 Angel-Buffy-Xander triangle would happen and Xander would probably win because X is human and Buf wants to be a normal girl.

Also, watch the unaired pilot on youtube and experience Buffy and Xander starting a story-arc-quality relationship. Interestingly, Angel does not appear.

Post automatically merged: Apr 3, 2024

One difference I can think of is it would be Xander that Anyanka-Anya was asking for help in "Doppelgangland". Which could easily have had a whole bunch of knock-on effects. Would Anya and Willow become an item, instead of Anya and Xander, so @NoShip ends up with Wanya? 🙂 Would Anya be fantasising over Willow digging in "Pangs"?

I LLLUUUVVVV Wanya!!!!!

 

[thetopher]

I feel that if they kept to the same basic season-to-season plotting and characterization; i.e alt-Xander was initially more grounded and loyal like Willow and alt-Willow was clowning and humorous but had a temper and 'delivered hard truths' and the like:

Alt-Willow would be defended a lot more than Xander, after all she wouldn't a toxic male, bitter incel but instead be perceived as very level-headed compared to ditzy Buffy and her vamp-fetish. Obviously is she were still gay then some might make unkind speculations and say 'secretly jealous' and inevitable shipping would happen.
I can't really see the writers keeping alt-Willow entirely skill-less and normal though, she'd probably still have mad computer skills and become a seriously good investigator. This is a girl-power show after all.

Alt-Xander would be more shippable with Buffy, probably, given that he eventually gains superpowers and is 'more of a match' for her, plus being supportive and empathetic. Also we would've gotten more bad boy Wish-verse vamp-Xander.
Unfortunately if he still turned evil and veiny in S6 I can't see him ever being forgiven by the fandom, even if he were avenging Anya's death at the hands of Warren. Overall I imagine many would be much harsher on S6 alt-Xander and all his 'toxic, controlling' actions than cutesy Willow. Also man empowering dozens of girls whilst other man closes Hellmouth? Nope, gotta change that series ending; maybe Xander supercharges Buffy whilst she's holding the scythe and she 'shares' her slayerness to activate all the other girls? Hmn, maybe.

So many tangents to think on and ripple effects going forward. But all the speculation does make me feel that we got the right combination in the end.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

It's a feminist show, men can only steal or borrow power, women discover inherant power within themselves. I don't think they would make Xander either Harry Potter or Billy Cranston, so I don't know, I think it's too far outside the parameters of the series.

 

[TheMaster666]

It's a feminist show, men can only steal or borrow power

Angel? Spike? Riley?

Being feminist, at least at that point in time, didn't mean being anti-male.

 

[TheAnnoyingOne]

I suspect Willow would have gotten even more hate than Xander tbh. I feel like annoying female characters get on people's nerves more easily than annoying male characters due to deeply rooted misogyny in society.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

I suspect Willow would have gotten even more hate than Xander tbh. I feel like annoying female characters get on people's nerves more easily than annoying male characters due to deeply rooted misogyny in society.

There is deeply rooted misandry as well. I was all for the original premise of feminism, that women should get the same opportunities and pay as men for the same work, but feminism has transmogrified itself into hatred for men. This has gone institutional - Waterloo University about 50 miles west of me is looking for a math professor who is female or identifies as non-binary. I used to work with a guy who had been a math professor there, but he would be disqualified for that job now purely for having a Y chromosome. The last customer I had before I retired was a woman-owned business because in the Federal Business Opportunities website for contracts being tendered, she got priority because she was a woman. About half of the federal opportunities have a clause saying, "Preference will be given to woman-owned businesses, minority-owned businesses or HBCU's (historically black colleges and universities)."

I agree that annoying female characters get on people's nerves more easily because most people know someone who fits that description and even the other women they interact with are annoyed. Annoying males don't interact as much as females.

 

[TheAnnoyingOne]

There is deeply rooted misandry as well. I was all for the original premise of feminism, that women should get the same opportunities and pay as men for the same work, but feminism has transmogrified itself into hatred for men. This has gone institutional - Waterloo University about 50 miles west of me is looking for a math professor who is female or identifies as non-binary. I used to work with a guy who had been a math professor there, but he would be disqualified for that job now purely for having a Y chromosome. The last customer I had before I retired was a woman-owned business because in the Federal Business Opportunities website for contracts being tendered, she got priority because she was a woman. About half of the federal opportunities have a clause saying, "Preference will be given to woman-owned businesses, minority-owned businesses or HBCU's (historically black colleges and universities)."

I agree that annoying female characters get on people's nerves more easily because most people know someone who fits that description and even the other women they interact with are annoyed. Annoying males don't interact as much as females.

It's true that misogyny caused a form of overcompensation that led us to the other extreme (and contributed to an extreme form of wokeism that is rampant today), which is misandry. But that's a now issue, things were different back then.

 

[maggiie]

Thinking back to the original ideas the writers had for Xander to come out as gay instead of Willow, I wonder if that would constitute as swapping roles? I do think this could have definitely been an interesting plot as there is little to no gay male representation in Buffy (unless you count the unspoken tension between angel and spike lol). This is not to say that Willow shouldn't have been written to be a lesbian- I think the representation especially for the time period was necessary but thats a whooole other tangent... Magic wise it could make sense, with Xanders whole waaahhh im so unlovable schtick it could have easily turned into something adjacent to the dark willow trope but.. maybe more incel like .. I wonder how you could swap personality tropes with willow though- theyre are almost complete opposite, you would have to change actors as well

 

[KaitKat]

I suspect Willow would have gotten even more hate than Xander tbh. I feel like annoying female characters get on people's nerves more easily than annoying male characters due to deeply rooted misogyny in society.

I don’t know about that in shows like Smallville for example Chloe who some call the female Xander but is much worse is pretty well loved but Xander is hated for being a toxic nice guy. Not to say that their isn’t misogyny in fandoms because good god their is but from what I see a lot of it comes down to shipping and not liking traditional female characters but that’s a whole other conversation.