Xander is the ultimate best friend to both Buffy and Willow. Not only does he always have his friends’ backs and is willing to jump in whenever and wherever he is needed, but he also provides some great comedic relief throughout all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Xander always seems to find himself in some sort of trouble and he always tries to talk his way out of those situations. When he can’t talk, he resorts to fighting, but isn’t the strongest, especially at first, which of course, provides even more comedic relief once Buffy steps in to save him.
“I laugh in the face of danger, and then I hide until it goes away.”
It doesn’t take long for Xander and Willow to find out that Buffy is the vampire slayer. By episode three of the first season, titled “Witch”, Xander and Willow are officially on board and ready to help Buffy however they can. At first, Buffy isn’t sure that’s a good idea because what she does is dangerous and the things Buffy finds herself up against, could kill her new friends, very easily. Xander and Willow know the risks, but don’t seem to mind them, and Xander delivers these somewhat assuring words to Buffy.
“Come on, Slayer, I like it when you’re scared. The more I scare you, the better you smell.”
After a school field trip to Sunnydale’s zoo, specifically to the off-limits hyena exhibit, Xander starts acting strangely.
He’s hanging out with the school bullies, dressing differently, and isn’t very nice to Buffy or Willow. All of these red flags send Buffy, Willow, and Giles into detective mode. They finally are able to link Xander’s bizarre behavior to their visit to the zoo and Buffy tries confront her friend, possessed by an evil hyena. Buffy does her best not to hurt Xander, but she must stop him.
“Are we overlooking the possibility that she may be very attracted to me? ...She’s possessed.”
At the end of season one, Buffy is killed by the Master, but brought back to life when Xander is able to give her CPR to resuscitate her. After Buffy kills the Master and saves the world, she spends her summer in Los Angeles to get out of Sunnydale for a while. When she returns to Sunnydale, Buffy isn’t herself. She’s acting out, talking back, and keeping distance from her friends, until one night at The Bronze, where she dances with Xander seductively and that’s when the gang decides there must be something wrong with her.
“Willow, she told me to tell you... kick his ass.”
Angel is evil and about to wake Acatha, which would send the entire world to hell. Buffy knows she must kill the man she loves to put an end to her plan, but Willow may be able to help Buffy so she doesn’t have to kill Angel.
Willow wants to try the spell that will give Angel his soul back. She sends Xander to go tell Buffy about her plans, but when Xander finds Buffy, he doesn’t tell her that Willow is trying the spell again. Instead, he joins Buffy in the fight.
“What? You just tripped and fell on his lips?”
In season three, Angel comes back to Sunnydale, but is good again. Buffy knows it’s wrong, but she can’t stay away from him because she loves him so much, so she hides Angel and her relationship with him from all of her friends, who sense something is wrong. Xander follows Buffy one night and sees her with Angel. He tells the rest of the gang and they all stage an intervention to try to get Buffy to understand how much danger she’s putting everyone in by being with Angel again.
“Whoa, Giles has a TV. Everybody, Giles has a TV! He’s shallow like us!”
The gang meets at Giles’ apartment to get to the bottom of the latest evil they’re up against. Instead of doing research, Xander and Oz rummage through Giles’ things.
Oz is going through his record collection, while Xander moves a few boxes and discovers Giles’ television set, an unexpected item to be in the stuffy librarian’s house. Willow decides it must just be there as an art piece, but Xander turns it on, and it works, making the gang both amused and a little disappointed in their watcher.
“Nobody harms my Master!”
After five seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we finally get to see Buffy face the most famous vampire of all time, none other than Dracula himself. Buffy and her friends are pretty starstruck when they first meet the infamous vampire. Later on, Xander runs into Dracula alone, and using the powers of his mind, Dracula gets Xander on his side to serve him. Xander spends most of this episode referring to Dracula as his “master” and defending him whenever he can.
“Okay. I’m not panicking. I’m not. I’m not. Stop looking at me like I’m panicking.”
Buffy dies at the end of season five, but early on in season six, Willow uses magic to bring Buffy back from the dead, thinking that is what’s best for everyone, but it’s not.
Buffy was in heaven and she was happy and Willow took her away from all of that, so when Buffy is back on earth, she’s depressed. Willow decides to cast a spell on Buffy to make her forget her time in heaven, but the spell goes awry and the whole gang loses their memories, causing Xander, especially, to panic.
“I love you, Willow.... So if you’re gonna end the world, you’re gonna have to start with me.”
Willow’s magic becomes more like an addiction and slowly escalates until it is completely out of control and no one can stop her. After Tara is killed, Willow’s powers becomes particularly evil and her grief causes her to lose total control. Willow kills Warren, who is responsible for Tara’s death and then turns her focus to ending the world. Xander is the only one who can stop her, but he doesn’t fight her. Instead, he finds Willow and tells her how much he loves her, causing Willow to breakdown and release her emotions without causing the apocalypse.
“I saved the world with talking, from my mouth. My mouth saved the world!”
After leaving Sunnydale to heal after Tara’s death and her brush with evil, Willow comes back to her hometown and all of her friends. Xander is especially excited for Willow’s return and makes a sign to bring to the airport to welcome her home. While waiting for Willow, Buffy and Dawn go over how Xander saved the world from evil Willow. Clearly, Xander loves this story and has been telling it often, so often, that his friends can’t help but tease him now, but Xander still feels the need to point out his heroism.