When Xander lets Anya's Evil Past Slide

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Joshua

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Whenever you hear Anya talking about her past as Anyanka while Xander's around, and he just jokes about it as usual and not even going Ape Shit like he does whenever Angel talks about his past as Angeleus or Spike's past as William the Bloody. What is your reaction?

Mine is normally

britneyugh.gif
 
R
Ripper666
Nice pic!
I think he gets uncomfortable instead of joking. I think he'd rather she stops talking about it so that he can ignore it, but Anya's past came to bite her in the ass in Hell's Bells and ruined her and Xander's wedding.

I don't remember Angel and Spike talking about their past in front of Xander nor do I remember Xander making a scene when they'd talk about their past.
 
R
Ripper666
I agree!
The Chosen Slayer said:
Whenever you hear Anya talking about her past as Anyanka while Xander's around, and he just jokes about it as usual and not even going Ape Shit like he does whenever Angel talks about his past as Angeleus or Spike's past as William the Bloody. What is your reaction?
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Yeah but Anya never killed, or tried to kill, one of his loved ones until "Selfless".
 
Well be honest, sometimes Anjankas actions as demon are too funny and a lot of her jokes basic on them. For example when she explain what she did to all the men who cheated on their girlfriends. I guess that on the one hand it's a nervous laugh of Xander (he cheated on Cordi) and on the other hand it's really hard to keep serious with Anya. And she just punished men who deserved it. However you trasnlate "deserve". Angel killed innocent!
 
[MENTION=11629]Ripper666[/MENTION] She killed hundreds of men, or at least ruined their life "turning them in the size of a mini van". And that's not something you deserve just for cheating 🙂
 
R
Ripper666
That's what I meant with "however you translate deserve". :)
Hale Caesar said:
Xander was fine with Anya's past of killing people because she was having sex with him.
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I don't think that this was the only reason for Xander to accept her. He loved her. He loved her with all her mistakes. If he only wanted sex he wouldn't have go through so hard times with her, he wouldn't have solved so many problems he had because of her.
 
I think it is very realistic and true to life. Almost all of us have been in relationships with someone who has done something in their past which they are ashamed of or embarrassed about and we are more than happy to give them a second chance with us because it is in the past.

When a friend or someone we know starts dating a new person and we hear of that person's past misdeeds we come over all "ooh be careful, it doesn't sound like they can be trusted" or "how can you overlook something like that?"

Of course being in the Whedonverse the past actions seem to be things like slaughtering families, driving innocent young girls insane and ruining the lives of men on behalf of spurned women, but scale it down and we've all been there.
 
Well I think that he chose to ignore it out his feelings for her... it's hypocritical yes and if anything I feel that it should have made him more understanding of Buffy's relationship to either Angel or Spike, cause frankly - even if Anya didn't have fangs and drained people of blood - she did have an even longer history of blood and mayhem and she (much like Angelus) actually seemed to enjoy that 'job' quite a lot.

But wearing those 'rose-colored glasses' I suppose that Xander couldn't really imagine or grasp that... I don't think he was okay with it, but I don't think he really knew how to tackle the thoughts about it either. Much like Buffy thinks she understands what Angelus/Spike did in their mean days, she doesn't really comprehend all of the atrocities they actually committed, or I think she would have a much harder time being around either one of them.
 
Again I repeat, when did Xander hear Spike or Angel talk about their past and make a big fuss?

I don't think Xander was okay with Anya's past, but he did choose to ignore it because it made it easier for him to be with her.

Xander gets a taste of his hypocrisy in Selfless when he's put in Buffy's shoes, and I think that was the slap he needed to realize how similar his situation with Anya was to Buffy's with Angel. From then on, he starts to change and become and more supportive friend to Buffy as seen in later episodes.
 
I think Anya being an ex-demon had a lot to do with it. It's like when Spike was chipped--she couldn't hurt people, so the Scoobies accepted her. During that time, she evolved and somewhat developed a conscience so that when she became a demon again, she didn't really want to hurt people. I think that development says a lot about her and Xander's relationship, actually.
 
Everybody treated Anya's past as a joke, not just Xander. This tends to happen when writers are being stupid and shoehorn characters where they don't belong (see also Spike and Andrew). Basically Anya is given a pass because she is comic relief, not a character anyone takes seriously, except for an episode or two.
 
I don't really remember Xander getting on Spike's case as much as Angels', and Xander just hated Angel because he wanted Buffy.

He let Anya's wrongdoings slip because he loved her.

Everything he did was done out of lust/love. Not that it excuses his hypocrisy or makes the inexplicable hatred I have for him right now disappear. 😛
 
Here's the thing: the show is basically set up on the notion that the protagonists fall for characters with evil pasts. When this happens of course said characters are either unable to harm others or choose not to.

But the fact remains that "I love you in spite of the horrible acts you used to commit" is a very big part of what the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer is all about. It starts off on a very palatable, simple level with Angel and Buffy, in season 1. It's "I love you despite who you used to be because you are almost literally a different person now." In seasons 2 and 3, this is heightened to "I have now discovered that you are never really very far away from the monster you were--in fact you were him just yesterday-- but I love you anyway, because I understand that you are still entirely different for all intents and purposes."

This is all heightened even further with Xanya: "You recently were a vengeance demon, (who is responsible for all of our deaths in an alternate universe), but you are now a human being who is attempting to make a go at a normal life, and I love you." Heightened further still with season 6 Spuffy: "You were a monster who was once my enemy who is now unable to do physical harm and is in love with me so I will enter into a physical relationship with you."

Season 7 Spuffy, (whether you believe Buffy truly loves Spike or not), comes full circle à  la season 1 Bangel with the same foundation: "I love you in spite of who you used to be because you are almost literally a different person now."

So my point is: Xander is surely hypocritical when he judges Buffy negatively for loving Angel and Spike. But I don't agree with the sentiment that it is at all out of place in the context of the show for Xander to find Anya, a former killer, lovable. That's so much of what this show's about. Redemption, faith, love, second chances. It just is.
 
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