Before
there was Harry, Hermione, and Ron, there was Buffy, Willow, and Xander (and
yes, I maintain that the Buffy trio
was a precursor to the Harry Potter
team. I mean, come on! The Chosen One, the nerdy girl, and the
insecure wisecracker? Sound
familiar?) For me, Buffy the Vampire Slayer only got better when it expanded its cast
– I love Oz, and Anya is fabulous – but there’s something so special about
these three.
First,
there’s the simple fact that Buffy so quickly becomes friends with Willow and
Xander. Buffy’s new in school and
desperate to fit in, and being immediately taken under Cordelia’s wing gives
her a chance at the same popularity she had in LA. However, it speaks to Buffy’s character that
she doesn’t even consider joining Cordelia in spurning losers/geeks like Xander
and Willow. Buffy’s conscious of her
image and wants to be popular, but her kindness and sense of justice outweigh
those desires easily. And so, even as Willow
awkwardly tries to warn Buffy about the social dangers of hanging out with her,
Buffy does precisely what she wants and befriends Willow and Xander, Cordelia
be damned.
At
first glance, just being friends with someone like Buffy probably seems like a
big enough change for Willow and Xander, but of course they both radically adjust
their definition of “big change” when they get to the real revelation: Sunnydale is a frequent stomping ground for
vampires and other demons, and Buffy has been endowed with superpowers to fight
them. Despite their shock and the very
real threat to their safety – now, Buffy is the one trying to warn them off –
they instantly fall in line with Buffy, unwilling to sit on the bench when the
world needs protecting.
With Harry Potter, the main thing Harry has
going for him is a prophecy of his all-importance, but Buffy is literally
capable of things that her friends aren’t.
She has superhuman strength and agility and is generally a lot less
breakable than Willow and Xander. So,
she has more of a point when she gets on the “lonely savior” kick and tries to
sideline her friends for their own protection.
But despite the disparity, Xander and Willow never back down from the
fight. They do whatever they can to help
Buffy, from researching demons to learning magic, from whittling stakes to
wielding them. And that’s the kind of
people they are – having learned what’s out there, they have to help, and
knowing that their friend stands between the world and hell, they have to stand
beside her.
Really,
this is what sets Buffy apart from so many slayers who came before her. I mean, yes, Buffy’s amazing and strong and
brave, and even though she’s a teenager, I kind of want to be her when I grow
up. But the slayer line is long, and
she’s not the only amazing, strong, brave one.
So, when we look at why she’s able to survive so many years and
withstand so much, the difference is that she’s not doing it alone. She doesn’t have to be everything because she
has other people’s talents to lean on; Willow has a far greater aptitude for
research, and Buffy depends on her insight and research. She goes into the fray with people at her
back, and when things go badly, she has Xander to make her smile and remind her
of all that she can do. Buffy’s the
Chosen One, so the burden of holding the demons back is ultimately hers, but
thanks to her friends, she’s not the only one shouldering it.
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