10 TV Characters Who Were Secretly Terrible People
6. Xander Harris - Buffy: The Vampire Slayer
In the earlier seasons of Buffy, Xander is introduced as a bit of a clueless comedic relief and a well-meaning screw-up. As time goes on though, his character never really grows which only heightens his other, far more toxic, character traits. Xander is judgemental, manipulative and extremely prone to jealousy.
Even aside from stringing Willow along for far too long, when Xander does meet his eventual fiancée Anya all he ever seems to do after a certain point is complain about her to anyone who will listen. Instead of talking to her about his unhappiness, he waits until their wedding day to call things off with Anya and then gets angry at her for finding someone else.
Despite his constant mistakes and bad decisions (which include withholding information that could save Angel’s soul and letting him die), the Scooby Gang repeatedly forgives Xander which is something he can never do for others. He treats Spike and Faith with contempt for their prior misgivings, despite the fact that he’s not really been much better.
It didn’t take most fans of Buffy all that long to figure out the nerdy motormouth was a pretty awful guy but for every heroic moment in later seasons, he does something irredeemably terrible to his so-called friends.