Buffy The Vampire Slayer: 10 Worst Things Xander Ever Did
He may have been sold as a lovable goofball, but Xander Harris made some very bad choices.
Over twenty years after it first aired, Buffy The Vampire Slayer remains a cult-classic, with new fans still regularly discovering the series. Many believe the show was ahead of its time. The character of Buffy Summers is considered a feminist icon of the 90s, while her best friend Willow Rosenberg, who came out as gay in the series fourth season, engaged in one of the first long-running lesbian relationships in Network television, and remains a beloved role-model of the LGBTQ community.
However, like many early so-called progressive series, Buffy The Vampire Slayer still had issues. For every Buffy Summers or Willow Rosenberg, there is a Xander Harris. The third member of the series' main friendship group, Xander was portrayed as a lovable goofball, an everyman, a nice guy who spends the first few seasons nursing an unrequited crush on his best friend Buffy. However, in more recent years, new fans watching the series, or old fans revisiting it, are discovering that Xander regularly engages in problematic and even toxic behaviours over the course of the series.
Xander Harris definitely isn't the worst character out there, but he is far from the nice guy the series tries to paint him as. Here's the ten worst things Xander did throughout Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
10. He Was Basically Using Anya For Sex
Throughout Buffy The Vampire Slayer's early seasons, Xander is portrayed as unlucky, or in at least one case, an idiot when it comes to matters of love. His feelings for Buffy were unrequited, he ruins his relationship with Cordelia, and his brief dalliance with Faith meant a lot more to him than it did to her. However, things seem to be looking up for Xander with the arrival of former demon Anya Jenkins.
While at first attending Prom together simply because neither one of them have other options, Anya at least cares enough to try and convince Xander to flee with her before the Mayor's ascension. In season four, Anya returns in the hope of purging her feelings for Xander through a sexual encounter, but instead, the opposite occurs.
For a while, Xander doesn't admit to having feelings towards Anya, mostly keeping her around because she is an easy source of sex, which would otherwise be in short supply for a guy living in his parents' basement. It is not until mid season five that he acknowledges that his relationship with Anya is serious. Given how much Anya clearly already loves Xander by this point, it does make Xander seem a little selfish.