Buffy The Vampire Slayer: 10 Best Characters Who Only Appear In One Episode
2. Gnarl (Season 7, Episode 3)
Gnarl crops up towards the start of Season 7, and he’s the kind of guy who will give you nightmares for the rest of your life. Using his poison-infused fingernails, Gnarl paralyses his victims, strips off their skin, and eats them until they’re nothing more than a corpse on the ground.
Willow experiences Gnarl’s villainy first-hand when she ventures into his cave and gets paralysed by those poisonous fingernails. Gnarl then proceeds to strip off Willow’s skin, relishing every moment. The wet, slurping sounds of skin entering his mouth are grotesque, and his sing-song voice makes everything even worse. He doesn’t just eat his victims – he mocks them whilst he’s doing it:
“Too bad there’s no one to help you…And if they do return, where will they find you? Inside me you’ll already be.”
Willow’s torture scene is the only time we see this repulsive creature. But despite his brief appearance, he’s the standout villain in the final season. With one exception, no other demon matches Gnarl when it comes to pure terror.