Xander. The One Without the Superpowers.

I agree with you, while he's never been one of my fav. characters i totally respect him, partically because he's the ONE scooby who has NO skills setting him apart from a regular human.

I mean, even giles as an old(er) man has all his fighting skills and some magic abilities.

Xander just has his tenacity and willingness to see things through to the end. And yes as NUMEROUS (too many IMO) threads have pointed out he's been a dick at times and petty and jealous about Angel.. and so what? NONE of you have ever been jealous about some guy or girl who was with someone YOU either had been with, or wanted to be with or whatever.

Also, when Xander knew he'd messed shit up he was (eventually lol) willing to do whatever necessary to fix it.

One of my fav xander moments is when buffy's in hospital S3 and Angelus goes in and xander and him have the little verbal face off and xander ends it with 'you're going to die, and i'm going to be there' dunno why that line hit me but it always does.

Anyways xander gets my respect.
 
I do love Xander, even though he had his faults. He was majorly insensitive, and blind when in love. But it's moments like when he stood up for Tara in Family and saved the world by talking to Willow when you see how much he really cares. 🙂

Many people say that he's the most brave because he fights without any powers. It's admirable, true, but I'm not sure that we should give him major props for it... Wes, Early!Cordy, Gunn, Fred, and many others had no real powers, yet were still extremely capable. I'm just not so sure about rewarding someone for being utterly useless in battle, yet still flinging themselves into it...

But anyway, Xander is pretty underrated, and I find him to be a very interesting character. The Zeppo, one of my all-time favorite episodes, showed how strong, loyal, and resilient he really was. And how he was much, much more than just a comic relief character. 🙂
 
I really adore Xander. As so many have said, he is amazing because he *is* flawed and *doesn't* have superpowers. And I really respect him.

However, I wasn't a big fan of the list. Potential wasn't on there. And it was pretty mean about the rest of the characters. It seemed like they were putting them down in order to bring Xander up, and that's not necessary if Xander is (and he is) so amazing. I highly object to calling Willow a crackwhore and Buffy ungrateful and all the other snide comments. Xander is the heart of the Scoobies; he wouldn't want them to be put down. And they don't need to be in order to make Xander seem amazing, because he does that on his own... sans superpowers AND being mean about the rest of the Scoobies.
 
Wishing Oceans said:
Many people say that he's the most brave because he fights without any powers. It's admirable, true, but I'm not sure that we should give him major props for it... Wes, Early!Cordy, Gunn, Fred, and many others had no real powers, yet were still extremely capable. I'm just not so sure about rewarding someone for being utterly useless in battle, yet still flinging themselves into it...
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Aw, utterly useless? I've always thought Xander had something to offer in each battle, he doesn't really have to have something special like Buffy's strength and Willow's magic and Giles' years of training and wisdom. At the construction site, he smacked Glory with one of the machines that only Xander knew how to use. In their fight in Graduation, Xander was the leader who organized the student army and shouted orders. And like I said in another thread, he knew how to shoot an arrow perfectly in the later seasons.

I think of your list of brave characters, only Cordelia and maybe Oz can match with Xander. Fred has her physics knowledge, Wesley has years of training as a watcher, Gunn also is a skilled fighter.
 
sosa lola said:
Aw, utterly useless? I've always thought Xander had something to offer in each battle, he doesn't really have to have something special like Buffy's strength and Willow's magic and Giles' years of training and wisdom. At the construction site, he smacked Glory with one of the machines that only Xander knew how to use. In their fight in Graduation, Xander was the leader who organized the student army and shouted orders. And like I said in another thread, he knew how to shoot an arrow perfectly in the later seasons.

I think of your list of brave characters, only Cordelia and maybe Oz can match with Xander. Fred has her physics knowledge, Wesley has years of training as a watcher, Gunn also is a skilled fighter.
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True, he did have army knowledge, but that really only came in handy for a couple of battles. (Also, wouldn't Xander's army knowledge be like his power, just like Fred's physics knowledge would be hers, etc? 🙂 Also, as for Gunn, Xander could have learned fighting discipline if he wanted to- He just didn't want to, apparently. )
 
I come down on Xander for reasons. To illustrate what he could be if given the opportunity. He's an interesting character study.
It has to be understood that Xander, once he is shown to have powers beyond human (The Pack and The Wish as prime examples) becomes the alpha male leader. His underlying nature comes out. Cruel, vicious, confident. This is not a good thing for Xander.

It is his immaturity that ultimately saves him from the Dark Side. It keeps him from going Darth Xander. Even then, his jealousy is the Achilles heel he has the most problems with. Pierce Brosnany eyes, who Faith is doing, too many Buffy comments to even mention, Anya's stint with Spike.

When split in two and even as Army Guy his stronger half takes charge. Xander is a bad influence on himself, and his own checkpoint.
Disregarding the dark-half of Xander is a true disservice to the character.
 
V
Vengeance
well written.
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