Buffy Summers, the title character on the hit television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, leads an exciting life, to say the least. Every week, Buffy and her friends seem to find themselves facing new evils and saving the world from the latest vampire, demon, and/or force of darkness, with Buffy doing most of the fighting and the saving.

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Buffy's transformation over the course of the series' seven seasons is epic. Every season shows Buffy learning something new and the audience draws clear parallels to Buffy's normal life and her slayer life, and all the lessons that come for a heroine as she transitions from high school to adulthood while simultaneously preventing the apocalypse.

Slayer Denial

When Buffy finds out she is "The Chosen One", in the feature film with the same title and the same creator, Joss Whedon, she denies it. That denial continues throughout the first season of the series. In the pilot episode, Buffy bolts when her new watcher and the school librarian, Rupert Giles, tries to give her a book about vampires. At the end of the first season, when Buffy learns of a prophecy saying she'll die when she faces The Master, she tells Giles that she quits. Buffy eventually stops running from her destiny and slowly embraces it for the next six seasons.

She's No Longer The Chosen One

Buffy and Faith

Buffy technically dies at the end of season one, after the Master bites her and throws her into a puddle, where she drowns. Xander and Angel find her just in time and Xander is able to bring her back to life by giving her CPR. In the few minutes that Buffy was dead, a new slayer was called, which means now that Buffy is alive again, she must adjust to no longer being the "chosen one" but being one of the "chosen two".

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It's a hard adjustment for Buffy to make and sharing the spotlight is not something she is initially very good at. Things become even more difficult when her slayer co-worker, Faith, crosses over to the dark side.

She Graduates

Buffy faces a lot of challenges when it comes to her academic work. Slaying takes up most of Buffy's free time, and that mixed with a lack of focus when she is at school creates the perfect storm for Buffy's bad grades and causes multiple threats for expulsion. At the end of season two, Buffy is expelled from Sunnydale High, but her mom manages to fight for Buffy to get her back in school in season three. It's a miracle Buffy even makes it to graduation day, but luckily, for everyone, she's there and she, along with the rest of her graduating class, save the world from Sunnydale's evil Mayor

She Falls For A "Normal Guy"

Buffy and Riley in a promo iamge for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

While attending UC Sunnydale, Buffy meets Riley, a teacher's assistant in one of her classes and there is instant chemistry. This is a big change for Buffy considering the only person she really fell for before Riley was a two hundred year old vampire.

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Buffy longs for a sense of normalcy, especially when it comes to her love life and being with Riley shows how much Buffy has matured. She really comes into her own as a woman once she's in college and her relationship with Riley is proof of that.

She Gets A Sister

At the beginning of season five, we meet Dawn, Buffy's sister, the problem is, we've spent the four previous seasons believing Buffy was an only child and never seeing any evidence to contradict that. It's very confusing at first, but as the season moves along, we learn that Dawn is a "key" and a hell-goddess named Demon is looking for "the key" so she can open all the dimensions and subsequently, release hell on earth. To protect the world, a group of monks used magic to turn the key into human form and sent that human to Buffy knowing that Buffy would protect, especially when the magic also changed Buffy and everyone else's memories to include Dawn. 

Her Mom Dies

Buffy and Joyce in The Body

Joyce is one of, if not the only, character in the series to die from health-related issues and not at the hands of a demon or a vampire. In season five, Joyce reveals that she has a brain tumor and she puts up a really strong fight, but in one of the most critically acclaimed episodes of the series called, "The Body", Joyce loses her battle and passes away.

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Buffy has already had to grow up pretty quickly, being the Slayer, but once her mom is dead, Buffy must take on even more responsibility to continue raising dawn and manage the Summers' household.

Buffy Dies

Buffy Season 5

At the end of season one, Buffy technically dies for a few minutes, but at the end of season five, Buffy dies for good (ish). Glory has gotten her hands on Dawn and Dawn's blood has been spilled over the portal, opening all of the dimensions and releasing hell on earth. The only way to close the portal is with Dawn's blood, but Buffy can't let her sister die. She realizes that because they are sisters, they have the same blood, so Buffy sacrifices herself to close the portal and so that Dawn can live. Buffy's friends are devastated when they realize what has happened and fans are left to wonder where the show can go from here.

Her Depression

At the beginning of the series, Buffy (on the outside) seems like a bubbly teenager, she even tries out for the cheerleading squad in season one. By season six, once Willow has resurrected Buffy using magic, Buffy spirals into a deep depression. Willow and Buffy's other friends thought they were doing the right thing when they brought Buffy back to life.

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What they didn't know what the Buffy was in heaven, with her mom, and she was happy and at peace, and her friends ripped her away from that and brought her back to earth where she's constantly made to deal with horrible things. Buffy struggles to find happiness after coming back from the dead.

She Falls For Spike

Buffy and Spike

This relationship came out of left field considering that Buffy and Spike have been arch enemies for years and the whole reason Spike even moved to Sunnydale was to kill the slayer. Spike develops feelings for Buffy first and when he admits that to you, she is instantly and understandably, disgusted. Over time, Buffy starts seeing a softer side of Spike and her feelings of disgust turn to lust. Buffy and Spike eventually start sleeping together and Spike falls head over heels in love with Buffy, but she can never fully reciprocate his feelings, and he knows that. 

She Becomes A Slayer Trainer

To face the biggest and baddest villain, The First Evil, in season seven, Buffy knows she needs some extra help. Buffy gathers groups of women, called Potential Slayers, and begins training them to assist her on the frontlines of the biggest battle she's ever seen. These women live at the Summers' house where they attempt to learn everything Buffy knows, despite not having the same slayer strength that Buffy has. Buffy goes from being on her own, to training her very own slayer army. Buffy's leadership skills have come a long way since the beginning of the series and it shows in the final season.

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