Buffy The Vampire Slayer: 12 Best Cult Heroes
11. Joyce Summers
To call Buffy's mother a cult hero when the show is full of many more ostensibly cooler characters might seem odd at first but Joyce is really one of the unsung heroes of the series.
For the first two seasons, Joyce has no idea of her daughter's true nature as the scourge of all evil but after she finds out she is surprisingly understanding of it.
Her life only got weirder across the series - finding out her domineering boyfriend was a robot, regularly being taken hostage by bad guys, suddenly having another daughter who is actually a big ball of energy - but Joyce always seemed to take it on the chin.
Having a tough life yet always staying strong - yeah, you can tell she's Buffy's mother.
Unfortunately, like Doyle, Joyce suffered an untimely death - dying from a brain aneurysm in season five.