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   Message 152,510 of 152,792   
   David to All   
   Buffy The Vampire Slayer: 5 Times We Fel   
   19 Jul 20 08:03:14   
   
   From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
    https://screenrant.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-times-felt-bad-hated-anya/   
      
      
   Buffy The Vampire Slayer: 5 Times We Felt Bad For Anya (& 5 Times We Hated   
   Her)   
      
   Anya was a pivotal part of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer crew. Here's a look   
   at 5 times we felt bad for her and 5 times we absolutely hated her.   
      
   BY CHRIS LITTLECHILD   
      
   No member of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s iconic Scooby Gang is entirely pure   
   and virtuous. Buffy considered leaving her calling behind on numerous   
   occasions, Giles has a very shady past he doesn’t like talking about,   
   Willow… well, we’ve all seen what happens when she unleashes her super   
   villain alter ego.   
      
   Of everyone who ever made the group, though, Anya is one of the most   
   complicated. From vengeance demon to socially awkward force of good and back   
   again, we’re never quite sure where we stand with her. Let’s take a look   
   back at some of the times we truly felt bad for this troubled character,   
   juxtaposed with other moments when we absolutely couldn’t bear her.   
      
      
   10   
   FELT BAD: When D’Hoffryn Killed Halfrek In Her Place   
      
   We’ve all made mistakes in our lives. Generally speaking, our mistakes tend   
   to involve overcooking dinner a little or forgetting to bring those papers   
   to work. You know, things a little tamer than setting a vicious spider-demon   
   loose to horribly butcher a fraternity in a heart-ripping bloodbath. The   
   point is, nobody’s perfect.   
      
   After battling with the decision of returning to vengeance demonhood or not,   
   Anya finally turns in Season Seven’s “Selfless." The issue is, she retains   
   enough of her humanity to feel awful in the wake of the massacre, begging   
   D’Hoffryn   
   to reverse what she’d done. He begrudgingly obliges but explains that a   
   vengeance demon’s life is required to complete the reversal. Anya offers her   
   own, but D’Hoffryn has a cruel idea that amuses him more: he summons Halfrek   
   and kills her as Anya watches, leaving the latter to live with the knowledge   
   of what she’s done.   
      
      
   9   
   HATED HER: Her Introduction As The Villain   
      
   Though Anya is a member of the Scoobies later in the show, she was a villain   
   in her first appearance. She made her debut in Season 3, Episode 9, “The   
   Wish.” This story sees Anyanka take the guise of new student Anya Jenkins,   
   as she pursues vengeance on Xander (who had kissed Willow) on girlfriend   
   Cordelia’s behalf.   
      
   As Anya, the demon goads Cordelia into making a wish. As the scorned young   
   woman has come to blame Buffy for all of her ills, she wishes that the   
   Slayer had never come to Sunnydale.  Anya gleefully creates a whole new   
   timeline in response, in which The Master’s bid for power was successful,   
   Willow and Xander are both his vampiric pawns and Sunnydale life is   
   generally even more terrifying.   
      
      
   8   
   FELT BAD: When She Was Trying To Comprehend Joyce Summers’ Death   
      
   The episode “The Body” is probably the most emotionally charged and   
   powerful   
   in the show’s run. It marks the death of Joyce Summers, Buffy’s mother; not   
   by monster attack or ancient curse but through natural means.   
      
   Each of the characters have different responses to their grief. Anya, new to   
   the whole ‘humanity’ thing, just can’t understand the emotions she’s   
   feeling   
   or supposed to feel. After being chastised several times for asking   
   inappropriate questions, she tearfully bursts out, “I don't understand how   
   this all happens. How we go through this… there's just a body, and I don't   
   understand why she just can't get back in it and not be dead anymore!   
   It's... mortal and stupid!” Anya’s social faux pas are often very funny,   
   but   
   we can’t help but feel sorry for her here.   
      
      
   7   
   HATED HER: Her Time As A Vengeance Demon   
      
   Now, we’re a little conflicted on this one. After all, from one perspective,   
   vengeance demons aren’t ‘bad’ per se. By definition, they seek to right   
   certain wrongs. Halfrek’s vengeance centered around justice for ill-treated   
   children, for instance, while Anya’s job was to deal with the lovers of   
   scorned women.   
      
   Noble as all of this may sound, two (possibly hideous, blood-splattered,   
   eyeball-clawing-demon-based) wrongs don’t make a right. Her casual   
   references to her past life (“I for one didn't want to start my day with a   
   slaughter... which really goes to show how much I've grown!”) show what a   
   terrifying character she really is. With Buffy characters’ frequent   
   hero-to-villain-and-back-again moments, the team couldn't trust her.   
      
      
   6   
   FELT BAD: When Xander Left Her At The Altar   
      
   Of course, this is one of two major events in Anya’s story arc that made us   
   feel desperately sorry for her. Having struggled with her newfound humanity,   
   she has found true love and seeks a ‘normal’ life and marriage. After much   
   planning, the day arrives, but it’s just not to be.   
      
   While the future Xander we see actually turns out only to be an old enemy of   
   Anya’s, the seeds of doubt he sowed in Xander’s mind with false images of   
   their awful future together has the desired effect: Xander leaves, the   
   wedding doesn’t take place and Anya is devastated.   
      
      
   5   
   HATED HER: She Becomes A Vengeance Demon Again   
      
   Anya’s humanity was hard-fought. She didn’t understand who she was or how   
   she should act, because this was wasn't truly who she was. Her powers had   
   been stripped and she had been forced to live as a mortal, she didn’t choose   
   it.   
      
   What did she choose? To become a vengeance demon in the first place, to   
   cause centuries of gory misery and countless horrors in the name of   
   ‘justice.’ Though it’s entirely understandable that the emotional   
   turmoil of   
   being left at the altar profoundly affected Anya, she knew exactly what   
   being vengeance demon truly meant this time around and still chose that path   
   again (albeit briefly).   
      
      
   4   
   FELT BAD: When She Tried Her Hardest To Fit In With The Scoobies   
      
   As the tragic Tara also found, the Scooby Gang is a tough group to try and   
   join later on. Former villains like Spike, new arrivals like Anya and Tara…   
   they all tried to gain the trust of Buffy’s inner circle and fit in, all   
   finding it an uphill battle for their own individual reasons.   
      
   Anya found it difficult enough to make any headway with Xander himself at   
   first, with the group proving almost impenetrable as a result of her lack of   
   social finesse and her many quirks. We see how hard she tries at times and   
   how much it hurts her that she isn’t quite ‘there.’   
      
      
   3   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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