Xander and his contradictory personality.

[buffffy]

Am I the only person who notices how contradictory Xander was? When Buffy was faced with the decision of staking Angel at the end of S2 (I think that was S2), Xander was completely insensitive and told her to just go ahead with it. BUT... When Willow goes nuts, and is about to end the world, Xander runs to her side telling her that he loves her whether she was going to end the world or not... I, personally think that Xander is very insensitive and rude.

😡😡😡😡😡😡

 

[brinkster130]

Well, I think you're comparing apples and oranges with those examples; but I do understand your frustration over his hypocritical attitude. The difference in the situations you brought up is that Xander loves and cares for Willow because they are friends and he's never cared much for or been friends with Angel; so of course he's going to forgive her more.

I do agree with you about Xander being insensitive and rude, particularly when it came to who Buffy was involved with.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

buffffy.
You missed a basic requirement for all tv shows, the way that the characters grow and change.
But to answer your question properly I'd need to know what you mean and when you mean.
So can you describe what was happening when Buffy had to stake (?wooden stake?) Angel.

 

[Lyri]

I'm probably one of the first to call Xander out over his hypocritical actions in the series, but this example isn't one of those actions.

As much as I hate to admit it, I do understand why Xander wanted Angelus to die. Angelus was choosing to end the world out of spite, for no other reason than because he wanted to. On top of that, he was Angelus, the worst vampire ever to exist, and that person wasn't just going to go away if Willow's spell worked. Yes, Angel would return, but Angelus was always going to be there, under the surface, and could come back at any time - in fact, he did. By deciding not to tell Buffy about Willow's spell, Xander thought he was doing the right thing, keeping the world a little safer.

Willow, on the other hand, is a completely different situation.

I'm no Willow fan, but even I can see that Willow was consumed by grief when she decided to end the world, grief over losing the love of her life, the one person she trusted more than anyone. Not only that, she was weighed down by what Giles did to her, and all the pain and grief of every person in the world was thrust unto her as well as her own. Willow wanted to end their suffering, put them - and herself - out of their misery because she couldn't deal with her own pain. Once she face her pain and grief and guilt, she became herself again, the person who had no intention of ending the world and wasn't in danger of doing it again.

Xander knew Willow better than anyone and he could see that she was lost in her own pain and that was the only reason she was on this crazy quest, and he knew that if he could get through to her, he could save not only the world, but Willow herself.

Angelus was a completely different story. Xander hated him, had no ties to him and Angelus was nothing more than a monster who did deserve to die, despite all the good that Angel had done up until that point and all the good he still had to do.

Xander is a hypocritical douche, looking down on Buffy for dating vampires while he himself dates and almost marries an ex-vengeance demon who has killed thousands more people than Spike and Angel put together. But in this instance, he was right to want to save Willow.

 

[EVIL UU]

[MENTION=12560]buffffy[/MENTION]

When Buffy was faced with the decision of staking Angel at the end of S2 (I think that was S2), Xander was completely insensitive and told her to just go ahead with it.

Angel's gone. What's left is Angelus, a homicidal corpse that tried to kill Buffy a few days back, murdered Jenny and oh, freaking eats humans and wants to actually destroy the world. Buffy on the other hand is a slayer, a supernatural being specifically created to deal with his kind. Do the maths. What is Xander supposed to tell her? Buff, do not kick his ass? Try not to hurt his feelings, maybe? Willow's curse may or may not work. If it doesn't work, Buffy has to slay Angelus, period, otherwise it's game over, end of the world, apocalypse but no Buff, no pressure, you love Angel and your emotions are significant, it's OK if you fail it's not like I want to live. I mean, really? Xander's pretty tame, I'd tell her to tear the bastard apart! Take pictures too!

When Willow goes nuts, and is about to end the world, Xander runs to her side telling her that he loves her whether she was going to end the world or not...

OK, so...what else is he supposed to do? What, wrestle her? Seriously. Xander doesn't have a choice. And hey, it works. The world gets to spin a little bit longer.
[MENTION=6332]Lyri[/MENTION]

Xander is a hypocritical douche, looking down on Buffy for dating vampires while he himself dates and almost marries an ex-vengeance demon

Well, Spike isn't exactly an ex-vampire, is he?

 

[itssmiletime]

Nah, Xander's great.

Him telling Willow 'I love you' always came across as a measure of last resort. I'm not saying he didn't mean what he said, but come on, the world is minutes away from ending. Buffy's begging and pitiful attempts at slaying failed. Anya and Giles who possess some skill in magic, can only do so much. He did what anyone who sees someone who they deeply love in deep pain- try to help them and to understand them. You know, treat them like a human being.

Angelus is evil, flat out. He had a curse. Willow could come crashing down and never become dark willow again. There was a possibility. Angel couldn't. And Buffy couldn't kill him. He made a threat on her friends lives in Innocence. Every time Buffy had a chance to kill Angelus, and didn't, she, pretty much chose him over her friends. I took the 'Kick his ass' meaning drop the fantasy, we are angry at you, and we have every reason to be. If you do not stick a sword into him, the world will end.

I mean, sometimes delusional people can never comprehend the truth...

 

[The Bronze]

I think Xander gets treated quite harshly by fans a lot of the time. He's no saint obviously but for the most part his heart is in the right place. He's incredibly heroic and often risks his life for his friends and has dedicated a large portion of his life to trying to save the world.

With regard to the situations mentioned here I'm not sure what else he was supposed to do. Was he going to take Willow out armed with his yellow crayon?

The timing of everything at the end of Season 2 was tragic but that's not Xander's fault. Buffy had only just prepared herself mentally to kill Angel. It would have been reckless of Xander to tell Buffy about Willow's attempts to restore his soul moments before she was about to fight him. There's every chance that the information would have got Buffy killed by distracting her and in turn got the world sucked into hell.