10 Buffy The Vampire Slayer Moments That Shocked Us All

Often considered one of the show's finest episodes - and rightly so - The Wish is a classic 'What If?' storyline that completely flipped the show's narrative and characters on their head in some highly creative and truly disturbing ways.

When Cordelia confides in new student Anya that she dislikes Buffy and wishes she'd never come to Sunnydale, she soon finds that her wish has been granted and the town is no longer plagued by Buffy's presence.

What Cordelia didn't count on however is that without Buffy's intervention, The Master was able to escape his confines and with his horde of followers, have taken over the night and their powers are steadily growing.

Realising her mistake, she quickly tells Giles of her wish and tries to make things right, but is swiftly accosted and subsequently killed by the vampire versions of Xander and Willow, both of whom take a perverse pleasure in feeding on her. Considering that Cordelia is the central character of this episode, the fact that she is mercilessly killed halfway through is truly startling, and all the events from this point on really hammer home just how ruined Sunnydale would have been had Buffy not been around to keep the peace.