Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Tropes (General)

General Tropes A-G

• Abandoned Warehouse
• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Though Sunnydale's were deliberately built to be demon accessible by the Mayor.
• Abusive Parents: This is Sunnydale, and good parent-child relationships will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
  • Almost every character on the show has at least one parent who is abusive or neglectful. For instance, Tara's father, who convinced her that she was a demon.
  • Also Buffy's father, who does not show up when Buffy's mom dies, forcing Buffy to take care of her underage sister; Xander's father, who is an alcoholic; Spike's mother, who tried to come onto him after being turned into a vampire; and Principal Wood's mother, who prioritized her Slayer duties over him. The latter is witnessed from six-year-old Wood's point of view, which is somewhat biased.
• Abusive Precursors: The Old Ones.
• Academy of Adventure: Sunnydale High School. Not for nothing does Buffy eventually blow it up (it gets better).
• Accidental Murder: The launching event for both Faith's & Willow's face heel turn.
• Action Series
• Adopt the Dog: Cordelia mounting a Gunship Rescue in the Season One finale. With her BMW.
  • Spike endures hours of torture to spare Dawn, solely to spare Buffy pain.
• Adults Are Useless: Xander's parents are drunks, Buffy's father is rarely around, Willow's mother shows up once, getting in her way, and Willow's father is mentioned in reference, with Willow worrying what "Ira Rosenberg will think of his only daughter nailing a crucifix to her wall." The only parent who isn't completely useless is Joyce, and that's because she's too busy being Team Mom.
  • The Watcher's Council plays into this as well, as does Wesley. Averted big-time by Giles, though.
  • Played up in Season 3's "Band Candy", where a certain brand of chocolate makes adults who eat it revert to teenage maturity levels.
• Affably Evil: Mayor Wilkins, Harmony, Clem, Spike (after his encounter with The Initiative) pretty much all the demons who showed up to Anya and Xander's wedding, Holden Webster from "Conversations With Dead People", and occasional random vamps. And Ethan Rayne.
• Age Without Youth: At some point, vampires lose the ability to assume human form, and are stuck in their Game Face, which grows increasingly aged and inhuman over time. Exactly what they'll look like (or become) in the end is unknown, but one particularly old vamp named Kakistos eventually developed cloven hooves.
• Aliens and Monsters: Sorta. A grand total of one (supremely scary) alien appears in the entire run of the series, and it's origin is supernatural anyway.
• All Abusers Are Male: Under the helm of Marti Noxon, the show tended to drift in this direction.
• All Love Is Unrequited: Initially.
• All Myths Are True: Except leprechauns.
• All Witches Have Cats: Tara suggests she and Willow get a cat. Willow thinks she means a Familiar but no, she just wants a pet. And so Miss Kitty Fantastico guest-stars for a few episodes before its unfortunate demise in an off-screen accidental crossbow discharge.
• All Women Love Shoes: At least Buffy and Cordelia have one thing in common.
• Alternate Universe: Plenty of em, 3 mentioned or seen: The Wishverse, the One with No Shrimp and the One That Is All Shrimp.
• Ancient Conspiracy: The Watcher's Council.
• Ancient Grome: Justified, seeing as all the various gods seem to exist.
• And I'm the Queen of Sheba: One aspiring heir to the Master chatters on that when he kills Buffy, it'll be the greatest event since the Crucifixion. "And I should know. I was there." Behind him, Spike's famous voice cuts in:

Spike: Oh please! If every vampire who said he was at the Crucifixion was actually there, it would've been like Woodstock.

• • Which Spike actually attended. Never try feeding off a hippie.
  • In his first scene, Willy demurs that he's staying away from that whole vampire scene and "living right" ("What's My Line, Pt. 1").

Angel: Sure you are, Willy. And I'm taking up sunbathing.

• • Willow trying to masquerade as her vampire counterpart. Anya smells a rat. "If she's a vampire, then I'm the Creature from the Black Lagoon."
• Ankle Drag: One of the Hellmouth's tentacles slithers up Willow's ankle ("Prophecy Girl").
  • Buffy, wracked with guilt over her role in the death of Deputy Mayor Finch, has a nightmare of Finch's corpse dragging her underwater ("Consequences").
• Anti-Hero: Willow, after Glory does her sanity-sucking thing to Tara. YMMV on killing Warren. Spike's also an anti-hero, as is Giles by the end of the show
• Anyone Can Die: Ms. Calendar, Joyce, Tara, Anya and Spike. After they make the switch to Angel, Cordelia and Wesley, though Spike gets better. You have to expect this.
• Apocalypse How: Several times, at varying levels. See the trope page for details.
• Arc Villain: Trope Codifier for live action television.
• Ask a Stupid Question: In the pilot, Joyce asks if Buffy's going out to a nightclub.

Joyce: Oh. Will there be boys there?
Buffy: No, Mom. It's a nun club.

• • In "The Harvest", Harmony asks Cordelia if they're going to the Bronze tonight. "No", Cordy snorts, "we're going to the other cool place in Sunnydale." Harmony seems to struggle with that conundrum.
  • In "When She Was Bad", Xander's announcing that Cibo Matto will be gracing their presence at the Bronze. Willow asks if they're playing.

Xander: No, Will, they're going to be clog dancing.
Willow: (amazed) Cibo Matto can clog dance?! (Beat) ...oh, sarcasm, right.

• • Buffy diffusing a school shooting in "Earshot":

Jonathan: You think I just want attention?
Buffy: No, I think you're up in the clock tower with a high-powered rifle because you wanna blend in.

• • In "The Wish", Cordelia, oblivious to the fact that Xander's a vampire in this reality, tells him that they need to find Buffy pronto.

Wishverse Xander: (warily) ...Buffy. The Slayer?
Cordelia: No! Buffy the dog-faced girl!

• • Wishverse Buffy and Angel are present at the factory's unveiling, observing from the back. "What's the plan?", Angel asks. Without looking at him, Buffy holds up a stake: "Don't fall on this."
• The Atoner: They're everywhere. Giles, Faith, Angel, Spike, Willow and Andrew. Amazingly, only one of them has suffered Redemption Equals Death. It was Giles.
• Attack of the Killer Whatever: Subverted.
• Ax Crazy: Drusilla, Faith, Caleb, Warren Mears.
• Baddie Flattery: In her nightmare encounter with the Master, he comments that Buffy is prettier than the last Slayer. He compliments her aim in "Prophecy Girl", after casually catching her crossbow bolt.
  • The Mayor concurs with that assessment ("Choices"). "She's pretty, Angel! A little skinny."
  • Friend-turned-enemy Billy Fordham sadly tells Buffy he's missed her, which is tantamount to admitting that her analysis of him (that he's a scared kid hiding behind elusions of villainy) is spot-on ("Lie to Me").
• Bad Guy Bar: Willy's.
  • Played for Laughs with the Sunset Club, a mecca for dorks.
• Bad Guys Play Pool: Willy's Bar.
  • The billard table at The Bronze is usually an indicator that someone's up to no good. Xander is angrily playing a game by himself when Faith approaches him with a plan to dust Angel ("Revelations").
  • Percy, the basketball jock who exploits Willow to pass his tests, is cockily shooting pool when Vampire Willow (from the Wishverse) strolls in ("Doppelgangland").
  • In "Fool for Love", Spike shoots pool while relating his past to Buffy.
• Basement Dweller: Xander, The Trio, Spike.
• Batman Cold Open: Occasionally doubles as a Couch Gag; for instance, "Halloween" starts with Buffy fighting a vampire in a pumpkin patch.
• Batter Up: A popular weapon amongst the Scoobies. Anya doesn't know how to hold one properly.
  • The demon in "Nightmares" is a lumbering figure with a club for a hand. The club is representative of a baseball bat, and the monster itself is a manifestation of an abusive baseball coach.
  • As punishment for murdering Ms. Calender, Giles pays a visit to Angelus and greets him with a kerosene-soaked flaming bat to the head.

Angelus: Jeez, whatever happened to wooden stakes?

• • For attempting to strangle Xander in her bed, Faith is treated to a baseball bat to the teeth (courtesy of Johnny-on-the-spot Angel).
• Battle Couple: Each of Buffy's boyfriends (Angel, Riley, Spike) are combat-ready.
• Battle Trophy: Spike's duster.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Happens frequently, as you might expect from living on a Hellmouth. Here are just a few examples.
  • Xander stepping up to the plate and taking his best shot with Buffy. "I want to dance with you." He gets his wish in the very next episode, when a shell-shocked Buffy bumps and grinds against him to enrage Willow and Angel.
  • The M.O. of vengeance demons.
  • Quoted by Halloween costume fashionista Ethan Rayne. "Don't wish to blow my own trumpet, but it's genius. The very embodiment of 'be careful what you wish for'."
  • Buffy has a love-hate relationship with her job. She complains about being a Slayer, but is reluctant to give up her duties when Kendra and Faith threaten to edge her out of the gang.
  • "Helpless" depicts what would happen if Buffy were truly a normal girl] stuck in a house with vampires.
  • Conversely, "The Wish" shows what would happen if Buffy never came to Sunnydale at all.
  • A scorned Xander performing a love spell on Cordelia. Needless to say, it backfires.

Giles: I cannot believe that you are fool enough to do something like this!

Xander: Oh, no, I'm twice the fool it takes to do something like this.

• • Ken's Hannibal Lecture in "Anne". He ridiculing her for running away from Sunnydale and her old identity -- trying to disappear. "Congratulations. You got your wish."
  • The Trio wanted to be taken seriously as super villains. Willow skinned Warren and Jonathan & Andrew fled the country.
• Because Destiny Says So
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Faith and Gwendolyn Post, Faith and the Mayor and Faith and Angel.
• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Caligula and Jack the Ripper were the same vampire, and Anya was partially responsible for the Russian Revolution.
  • Billy Idol stole his look from Spike
  • Martha Stewart is a witch.
• Beyond the Impossible: Willow breaks the supernatural "One Slayer" rule set down by the Council. This was solid internal logic for the bulk of the series until then..
• Big Brother Instinct: Spike to Dawn.
• Bilingual Bonus: Spells are almost always done in another language, often a dead one like Latin.
• Bit Character: Deputy Mayor Finch's death marks the third murder investigation involving Buffy in less than two years: she is previously suspected in the deaths of fellow Slayer Kendra and her would-be stepfather, Ted. Each investigation is headed by the same Detective (played by James MacDonald).
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
• Bit Part Badguys: Vampires starting around Season 3 or so.
  • Team Rocket Wins: Run of the mill, common vampires, under no leadership but their own -- have bested Buffy on a couple of occasions and are among the most common sources of Slayer overall deaths in the series.
• Bittersweet Ending: Very common. Seasons 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8 all have them. Episodes also have them often, including the musical episode.

Everyone: "The battle's done and we kinda won, so we sound our victory cheer, but where do we go from here?"

• Black Eyes of Evil: Tend to accompany spellcasting.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Buffy (blonde) Willow (redhead) but it's a toss up amongst Cordelia, Anya or Dawn when it comes to the brunette.
  • Even though he's a guy Xander could probably be considered the brunette since Buffy, Willow and Xander are practically a trio of their own.
  • These hair color stereotypes are heavily inverted. Buffy is hardly a Dumb Blonde, Willow is easily the quietest of the trio and not fiery normally. And if there's one thing Xander isn't, it's brainy.
• Bloodless Carnage: Lots of death, lots of vampires sucking blood out of people, a few plain old slit throats, very little red.
• Blood Magic: In the Master's first attempt at an early parole, his Dragon Luke volunteers to become the Master's "Vessel", supplying him with power by feeding on human blood.
  • It's Buffy's blood which ultimately allows the Master to break free ("Prophecy Girl").
  • In the Season Two premiere, the Master's acolytes attempt a ritual to bring him back to life. This involves slitting the necks of his adversaries (i.e. the Scoobies) and wetting his skeleton with their blood.
  • Angelus' blood is the key to de-petrifying the demon Acathla and opening a portal that would suck the world into hell. Unluckily for him, it's a two-way street; Buffy runs Angelus through with a sword whilst standing in front of Acathla, sending Angelus to hell and sealing the portal shut.
  • Likewise, the blood of "The Key" is necessary to open and close the wall separating Glory's universe from ours. Her zealots succeed in using Dawn as the Key by spilling her blood; however, Buffy takes advantage of a loophole by using her own blood (which is identical to Dawn's) to close the vortex.
  • In Season Seven, the Seal of Danzalthar opens only when a large quantity of blood is spilled on it.
• Bond One-Liner: Subverted more than once.
  • "That'll put marzipan in your pie plate, bingo!"
  • "Hey Ken, wanna see my impression of Gandhi?" (SPLAT)

Lily: Gandhi?
Buffy: [beat] Well, you know, if he was really pissed off.

• Book Ends: At the end of the pilot, Giles signs off with, "The world is doomed." He amends this in the series finale ("definitely doomed").
  • Season 2 began with Buffy arriving from LA and ended with Buffy leaving for LA.
  • At the start of Season 2, Joyce says she hopes Buffy can make it through the school year without getting kicked out. At the end of the season Buffy does get kicked out.
  • In the "Graduation Day" two-parter, the teacher prodding his students to play "Hangman" is the same guy from the season premiere urging everyone to "be somber" now they've returned to school.
  • In "Lie to Me", Ford arranging a "surprise" date with Buffy is eerily reminiscent of the scene between Angel and Drusilla at the beginning of the episode, and conveys the same sense of battle lines being drawn.
  • In the same episode, Buffy says she's done with being lied to by her friends, but Angel tells her that some lies are necessary -- which is a nice setup for the Title Drop at the end of the episode.
  • When Buffy reawakens in the hospital in the Season Three finale, she approaches Faith's bed and returns the forehead kiss that Faith had given her in "Enemies".
  • Principal Snyder is killed by being eaten. This after Snyder made such a big deal back in his first appearance ("The Puppet Show") about how former Principal Flutie got devoured by hyenas because he was too soft on kids.
  • Willow suggested to Buffy in "The Harvest" that one way she could get out of school would be to "blow something up." Can do!
  • Buffy began and ended Season 6 at the cemetery (though it should be noted that every season except the first begins in a cemetery).
    • The real Book End of Season 6 is the fact that both the premiere and the finale feature Buffy climbing out of the ground and showing the stark differences in the circumstances. In the premiere she's clawing her way out of a coffin, terrified and desperate and she emerges to darkness and what she thinks is Hell. In the finale she climbs out with her sister and emerges into the sun, looking hopeful and peaceful.
  • Season 7 premiere. "It's about power."
• Brainless Beauty: Harmony, some minor characters, arguably Glory. Cordelia seemed to be one, but had Hidden Depths.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: In "Once More With Feeling":

Xander: It's a nightmare. It's a plague. It's like a nightmare about a plague.

• Breaking the Fourth Wall / Leaning on the Fourth Wall
• Break the Cutie: Willow, Dawn, Buffy herself, Anya from "Hell's Bells" on, arguably Riley and even Faith. Blame Joss Whedon.
• Brick Joke: "Passions" has a throwaway line about the Orb of Thesulah being sold to dumb New Agers as paperweights. In the Season Finale, Giles mentions he has been using one as a paperweight.
  • Buffy remarks that she could use a snack after killing The Master. In her debut episode, Faith, another Slayer, says that slaying always makes her "hungry and horny."
  • The origin of Chanterelle's name.
  • Xander looks forward to leaving school so he can finally tell Snyder what he thinks of him ("What's My Line, Pt. 1"). This never happens, but in "Restless" Xander does have a cathartic exchange in his Dream Sequence. ("You know, I never got the chance to tell you how glad I was you were eaten by a snake.")
  • "You HAD SEX WITH GILES?!"
  • In "Lover's Walk", Spike wails that Dru left him for a Chaos Demon. ("All slime and antlers!") The spat between Spike, Dru and Antler Guy is shown in "Fool for Love".
  • In "Choices", Xander is reading Jack Kerouac, inspiring to him to go on a road trip after graduation. However, as Buffy learns in Season Four, he only makes it as far as Oxnard when his car breaks down.
  • In Season 5, Spike tries to hide his Stalker with a Crush obsession with Buffy with a Lame Comeback; "I never liked you anyway, and you have stupid hair." In Season 6, after finally making out with Buffy, Spike gushes over how good her long hair looks (Buffy responds by getting a bobcut).
• Broad Strokes: Between this series and the original movie.
• Bully Hunter: Our hero, in the first few seasons. Buffy jumps to the aid of those being picked on at least half a dozen times.
• Bury Your Gays: Surprisingly enough, this trope is played straight more often than not.
  • We have Larry, the only confirmed gay man ever on the show, who was killed in the battle against The Mayor in "Graduation Day".
  • And Tara, Willow's long time girlfriend, was shot and killed by Warren Mears.
  • And then there's Kennedy, Willow's second girlfriend, who was killed between the end of Season 7, and the beginning of Season 8. She was subsequently revived by Willow.
• But Not Too Gay: Willow and Tara were a couple for about eighteen episodes before they so much as kissed on-screen, probably partly for this and partly to avoid claims of sensationalism.
  • Although, this is most likely also done so Joss could do it without the Executives advertising it, by placing their first on-screen kiss in The Body.
• Calling Your Orgasms
• Can't You Read the Sign?
• Card-Carrying Villain: Glory, The Trio, Caleb, vampires in general.
• Casual Danger Dialog
• Casual Kink: Several times, most notable in "The I in Team".
• Character-Magnetic Team
• Character Development: Plenty for all, but it's worth noting that ones who get the most of it are the ones who end up on Angel: Cordelia, Wesley, and Spike, all of whom end their time in the Buffyverse very different from when they first appeared.
• Characterization Marches On: Wow. In the first episode of Buffy, Buffy herself was a perky cheerleader, Darla was somewhat whiny, and Angel was aloof, mysterious, and kind of chipper. Fast forward to the episode Angel, and they've developed more into the personalities that they're known for.
  • With Darla, it's somewhat hard to tell, considering that she gets dusted so soon, but she does come back on Angel, and it's a lot more apparent.
• Character Overlap: See Character Development above.
• Chekhov's Skill: Willow's magic in Season 3, Xander's construction job in Season 5. Giles' skill with black magic in Season 8.
• Chop Sockey
• Cigarette of Anxiety: Happens a few times. In the episode "Spiral", Spike tries it. Problem is, his hands are screwed up from the fight they were just in, so Xander ends up lighting it for him. Reversed in the episode "Get It Done". Spike, who has been various flavors of The Woobie throughout the first half of the season, and who has just gotten curb stomped by a demon that he needs to kill to help Buffy, goes back to an old hideout of his to retrieve his duster, before going out to fight the demon again. After he dispatches the demon, he lights up a smoke to show that He's Back to his old Badass self.
  • When Faith returns to help save the world with people who hate her she sneaks down into the basement when she gets sick of the potentials to smoke. In the comics she returns to being very cynical and uses smoking to cope, and when tricked to kill a slayer who is targeting Buffy she needs a lot of cigarettes to cope, then seemingly quits after getting with Giles then Angel.
• City of Weirdos: Sunnydale.
• Clock Tower: Sunnydale High's steeple, showcased in "Earshot".
• Collectible Card Game
• Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are: Buffy vs. Angel in his eponymous episode.
  • Buffy and the Master in "Prophecy Girl".
  • Spike hollering at the drop ceiling panels in "School Hard".
  • In "Ted", Buffy goes hunting for something to take out her frustrations on, but she's too depressed to make an effort; we see her sitting on a playground swing saying "Vampires? Heeeere vampires..."
• Coming Out Story: Willow.
• Conflict Killer: Spike then Angelus in Season 2, Adam in Season 4, and Willow in Season 6.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: Frequently applies to vampires, and more egregiously to the Turok-Han.
• Continuity Lock Out: Happens at least three times in-universe. First Joyce has to learn what it means that her daughter's a slayer, then Riley does the same and later learns about Faith, then in season seven, Principal Wood is out in the cold apropos all the things that have happened to Spike. The first time it's a Tear Jerker, the second just a Lampshade Hanging, the last one a Crowning Moment of Funny.
• Cool Car: Played straight with Cordelia's (Chrysler Cirrus) convertible (QUEEN C), Xander's (uncle's) 57 Chevy Bel Air, Spike's DeSoto Fireflite and Giles' BMW convertible. Subverted with Giles' earlier Citroën, but still cool enough to have fanpages devoted to it.
  • Mainly because if it were restored it would actually be pretty cool.
• Coolest Club Ever: The Bronze, literally the only club in town.
• Crapsack World: The high school paper has an obituary section. 'Nuff said.
  • It's really just Sunnydale, though. And Cleveland. But this trope DEFINITELY applies to Sunnydale in "The Wish"; if you thought regular Sunnydale was bad...
• Creator Cameo: "Parking Ticket Lady" (Marti Noxon) and "Mustard Guy" (David Fury) in the musical episode "Once More With Feeling".
  • In "Lie to Me", the fake vampire lying in a coffin who greets Willow enters a club ("Hi" Vampire in the credits) is played by Todd Mc Intosh, the show's makeup supervisor.
• Credits Gag: "Grr. Argh."
  • The credits card was reportedly scribbled by Whedon with only seconds to go until broadcast.
• Crucified Hero Shot: Both Buffy death scenes.
  • Subverted with the first one. Buffy doesn't even get the dignity of falling on her back when she dies: she is dumped face-first into a shallow pool of water while unconscious and drowns.
• Cryptic Background Reference
• Cutesy Name Town: Welcome to "Sunnydale", the most evil and horrible place on the planet, next to Cleveland.
• Damned By Faint Praise: Willow's excited to hear that since Angel came to our fair shores about eighty years ago, there are no reports of him hunting ("Angel"). She reads this as proof that he is a good vampire. "I mean, on a scale of one to ten, 10 being someone who's killing and maiming every night, and 1 being someone who's... not."
  • In "Prophecy Girl", Xander takes the plunge and asks out Buffy. She's at a loss for words. "Well, you're not laughing, so that's a good start."
  • In "School Hard", Joyce wonders what Buffy's teachers will have to say about her scholastic performance. "Well", Buffy declares, "I think they'll all agree that I always bring a pen to class, ready to absorb the knowledge."
  • Willow congratulates Buffy from moving on from Angel ...then makes the mistake asking the Scoobies if they approve of the new guy, Scott. "He didn't try to slit our throats or anything," quips Cordelia. "It's progress." ("Faith, Hope, and Trick")
  • Buffy concedes that she's not popular. But she's not exactly unpopular! ("Homecoming")

Buffy: A lot of people came to my Welcome Home party.
Willow: But they were eaten by zombies.

• • In "Earshot", Hogan feigns excitement at Percy's improved verbal skills. "I actually heard him complete a sentence," he tells Willow. "It had a clause and everything."
  • At a pep rally in the same episode, Oz muses that the cheerleaders' spelling has improved.
  • In "Graduation Day pt. 2", Snyder congratulates the Class of '99, saying that they were "more or less adequate."
• Damsel in Distress: Cordelia in seasons one and two, Willow fairly often, and, in a frequent subversion, Xander. Also, Dawn in seasons five and six and the potentials in season seven. Actually, most every character was a Distressed Damsel sooner or later.

Buffy: Dawn's in trouble. Must be Tuesday.

• Dangerous Workplace: The Magic Box's storekeeper keeps getting killed over the seasons. In "Real Me", Giles decides to buy the shop and run it with the Scooby Gang there to hangout and protect him.
  • On a creepy note, none of the magic store's owners have lived. This includes Anya (killed by a Bringer) and Giles (killed in Season Eight).
• Dark Is Evil: Vampires, Bringers and a few other things.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Post-Heel Face Turn Spike still wears his leather duster and Angel's entire wardrobe seems to be black.
• A Date with Rosie Palms: Numerous times.
• Deadpan Snarker: Oz, Spike, Buffy, Xander.
  • Giles also has his moments.
• Decoy Damsel: In the Pilot, Xander's best friend Jesse is nabbed by the Master's goons. By the time they free him in the sewers, he's already been vamped.
  • The Annointed One tries this on Buffy in "Prophecy Girl", standing on the school lawn and wahing for help. Buffy sees right through him.
  • A whimpering brunette vampire who impersonates Cordelia in "When She Was bad".
  • Inverted with Faith's introductory scene, when the Scoobies rush in to 'rescue' her from a disco vampire.
• Defiant to the End: In Angelus's torture chamber, Giles is barely conscious and bound to his chair. Angelus circles him like a buzzard, telling him he can make the pain stop. Giles finally cracks; he'll tell Angelus what he wants to know. He speaks in a hoarse whisper so Angelus has to put his face very near Giles's and listen very carefully:

Giles: In order...to be worthy... you must perform the ritual... in a tutu!

• • As Faith holds Willow at knife point, Willow tries to reason with her. Faith senses another speech coming on, and invites Willow to tell her it's all right, there's still good in Faith, it's not too late to change, etc. Willow furrows her brows and says it's way too late.

"You know, it didn't have to be this way. But you made your choice. I know you had a tough life; I know that some people think you had a lot of bad breaks. Well, boo hoo! Poor you. You know, you had a lot more in your life than some people. I mean, you had friends like Buffy. Now you have no one. You were a Slayer, and now you're nothing."

• • Spike's willingness to face torture and death to protect Dawn.
• Devil's Advocate: The Devil's Advocate ball gets passed around the cast of characters, but tends to land in Xander's lap as often as not. The opposing viewpoint is commonly prefaced with "Not to be the bad guy here, but..." or some form of "I don't want to be that guy, but..."
• Did Mom Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Angelus and Joyce. Spike and Joyce, for laughs.
  • And later, Dracula and Joyce.
• Did Not Do the Research: Whenever the military or large scale combat appears.
• Disc One Final Boss: Spike, Mr. Trick, The Initiative, Dracula, The Trio -- this happens a lot.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Often, but never more so than Sid the dummy.
  • The first time Xander sees Buffy (while skateboarding), he careens into a guardrail.
  • In "Prophecy Girl", Willow sits enraptured while Xander tries his pick-up lines on her. When he asks for Buffy, Willow points out she's gone, and pathetically offers to let him practice on her some more.
  • Xander losing his train of thought as Willow's leg creeps up his shin ("Band Candy").

Xander: The band. Yeah. They're great. They march.

Willow: Like an army. ...Except with music instead of bullets, and...usually no one dies.

• Does This Remind You of Anything?: LOTS AND LOTS.
  • Magic = Drugs and sex, lesbian sex in particular, hence some Unfortunate Implications. Lampshaded in "Same Time, Same Place", when Anya initially is reluctant to do a spell with Willow because "it might get sexy", and it did.
  • Vampire attacks = sex.
    • And when Spike has his chip, inability to commit vampire attack = impotence.
  • Dawn believing she's a Potential = pregnancy.
  • Buffy revealing she's as a slayer to her mother = coming out of the closet. The initial incident aside, Joyce later refers to a figurative "Slayer Pride Parade"...
  • Witchcraft = also homosexuality.
  • Dawn finding out she's The Key = adoption.
  • Riley letting vampires feed on him = prostitution.
  • A big one is Buffy releasing Angelus when they make love = your boyfriend will turn into a jerk/monster after you sleep with him.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Xander, when he sees the fear demon. It's not Tempting Fate, it's just tacky.
  • And in "Something Blue", Buffy taunts Spike:

Buffy: Oh, look at my poor neck. All bare and tender and exposed. All that blood just pumping away.
Spike: Giles, make her stop.

• Don't Sneak Up On Me Like That: Buffy tends to do this; for example, it's how she first meets Oz.
• Doppelganger: The three core scoobies have had at least one each: the Buffybot, Vamp Willow, and, arguably, the time Xander's personality was split into two physical bodies.

Xander: Hey wait 'til you have an evil twin. See how you handle it. (leaves)
Willow: (muttering) I handled it fine.

• Double Entendre: Used plenty of times.
• The Dragon: The Master has Co-Dragons in Luke and Darla.
  • The Annointed One becomes a Dragon Ascendant following the Master's death. The vampire preacher Absalom could be considered the A.O.'s Dragon.
  • Spike is Demoted to Dragon after making the mistake of letting Angelus crash at his place.
  • Mr. Trick begrudgingly serves as a Dragon-in-Chief to Kakistos before getting fed up and leaving him to the Slayers. He later finds himself employed by Mayor Wilkins, but meets his end during a scuffle with Faith, who goes on to take his job.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Slayers occasionally have prophetic dreams.
  • One dream at the end of Season 3 prophesies Dawn, who shows up in Season 5. It even gives the number of days until Buffy's death at the end of Season 5... at the end of Season 3.
• Dresses the Same: In the episode "Angel", Cordelia spots a girl wearing a dress identical to her own, and accuses her of wearing a cheap knockoff of her designer original. The girl scurries off with Cordelia in hot pursuit, haranguing her. "This is exactly what happens when you sign these free trade agreements!"
  • At the Sunset Club, Angel rails on about how these kids don't know anything about vampires. "What they are, how they live, how they dress..." At that moment, a dude dressed in exactly the same outfit as Angel appears next to him, checks him out, and walks away. "...Ahem."
• Drugs Are Bad: Steroids will turn you into fish monsters.
  • The villain's Psycho Serum in "Beauty and the Beasts" was also a pretty obvious steroids analogue.
  • Magic = drugs, complete with dealers.
    • And don't lets forget Riley's blood-addiction thing (which is also played with in Angel, to an even further degree)
• Dude in Distress: Pretty much all the guys on this show at one point or another. It's been lampshaded that Xander frequently gets involved with demonic women who try and kill him, Angel gets tied up and tortured a few times, Spike spend a good deal of Season 7 in custody of the First Evil tied up and bled as a sacrifice. Even the stoic Oz ends up captured by the US military at one point.
• Dynamic Entry: In "The Harvest", Luke is about to chow down on Cordelia when Buffy kicks one of his mooks over a railing and onto the stage below. Luke watches him land with a thud.
  • In the episode "Angel", things aren't going so well between Buffy and her fan club. As the leader of the Three is going for the kill, Angel suddenly yanks his hair from behind and punches him in the face.

Angel: Good dogs don't... [socks vampire] bite!

• • In the Season Two premiere, Xander grapples with a vampire in a losing effort until a hand yanks the vamp away. We then see the vamp get pummeled by someone in a shiny micro-mini.

Buffy: Miss me?

• • Buffy actually manages this in 'Halloween' in a scene where she was physically present the entire time, when the spell that was keeping her helplessly afraid and unaware of who she was ends in the middle of Spike's attack on her:

Buffy: (flips herself upright) Hi honey. I'm home. (ass kicking)

• • While Angelus is busy with her Watcher, Buffy swoops out of nowhere and judo kicks him in the back ("Passion").

Angelus: (to Giles) All right, you've had your fun, but you know what it's time for now?
Buffy: My fun.

• • Perhaps the most famous example in the Season 2 finale. A Sunnydale cop, so nonexistent in previous weeks and so very prevalent in this one, jumps out and tells Buffy to hold it right there. Suddenly, the gun gets kicked out his hands. Spike pops out of nowhere, slaps around the cop and kicks him into the hood of his car, knocking him out.

"Hello, cutie."

• • In the same episode, Angelus readies himself to free Acathla as his acolytes look on. Buffy enters quietly behind one of the henchvamps and cleanly decapitates him. O hai!
  • In "Consequences", Faith is straddling Xander in her bed and about to strangle him. She hears a sound and looks over to see Angel swinging a baseball bat before the screen goes black. Ow.
• Embarrassing Cover Up
• Emergency Impersonation: Willow impersonates the captured alternate universe Willow to get her mooks to go outside.
• End of an Age
• The End of the World as We Know It: "I suddenly find myself needing to know the plural of apocalypse".
• Enemy Mine: Spike frequently found himself calling on Buffy for help, even as far back as Season Two.
  • In "Prophecy Girl", Xander enlists his hated enemy's (Angel) help to storm the Master's lair, and save Buffy. Angel scoffs at that, so Xander shoves a cross in his face for extra convincing.
• Enter Stage Window: Buffy typically uses her bedroom window to enter and leave the house after curfew, before her mother finds out she is The Slayer.
  • At one point, she climbs in through the window, despite knowing that her mother is out of town for the weekend. When asked why she didn't just use the door, she is at a loss.
• Erotic Dream: Has had its fair share.
• Establishing Series Moment: In another series, the schoolgirl in the first episode would have been a Dead Blonde Walking. Here, she's a vampire.
• Estranged Soap Family: Hank Summers, who was gradually retconned into being a deadbeat dad. He made one reappearance in later seasons, but as part of the Cuckoo Nest.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones
• Even Evil Has Standards: Spike explains that while vampires may love to talk about destroying the world amongst themselves ("It's just tough-guy talk."), he prefers the world as it is. Where he draws the line, however, is sucking the world into Hell.

"The truth is I like this world. You've got... [beat] dog racing. Manchester United. And you've got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It's all right here. But then someone comes along with a vision. With a real passion for destruction. Angel could pull it off. Goodbye, Piccadilly. Farewell, Leicester Bloody Square, y'know what I'm saying?"

• • Mayor Wilkins says that he married his wife in '03 and that he was with her to the end, which was "not a pretty picture". He suggests that the immortal Angel and the mortal Buffy will have the same problem. Wilkins gets in Angel's face, saying that he's selfish for keeping Buffy from the life she should have. "Is that what you came back from hell for? Is that your greater purpose?" Receiving a blank stare for an answer, Wilkins disgustedly turns his back on him.
• Everybody Has Lots of Sex : Averted. In the seven-year series, Buffy only has four sexual partners (Angel, Parker, Riley and Spike), Willow has three (Oz, Tara and Kennedy) and Xander has two (Faith and Anya, not counting demonic seductions with intentions on his life). With the exception of Parker and Faith, two one-night-stands who promptly abandoned the cast regulars after the event, all these relationships evolved into sexual contact after prolonged friendship and/or dating.
• Evil Counterpart: Giles in particular racked up a high count, if only because anyone with a vaguely mentor-like personality or British accent will qualify. Giles had an evil counterpart on Angel, too, despite never even appearing on that show!
  • Faith to Buffy, of course. Later subverted when Faith is reformed in prison.
  • Oz has an evil counterpart in Veruca.
  • Willow's archenemy (still at large by the time of Season Eight) is Amy Madison.
  • Riley = Forrest.
  • Dawn = Glory.
  • Anya = Halfrek.
• Evil Gloating: A few of the villains do this. Ethan Rayne acknowledges that it's generally a bad idea, but he can't seem to help himself.
• Evil Only Has to Win Once: The stakes to losing to any of the Big Bad's.
• Evil Sorcerer: Ethan, The Mayor and, in his past, Giles. It's been hinted that Giles was much, much worse than Ethan.
• Exclusively Evil: Vampires and, initially, demons.
• Expecting Someone Taller
• Exposition of Immortality: It's a TV show with vampires and demons and werewolves, oh my! There was going to have to be some of this going on at some point. Being television means a lot of it comes through flashbacks; mainly provided for Angel as Angellus, Angel being cursed by the gypsies, Angellus being evil with Spike and Dru, etc.
• Expressive Hair: When Buffy's hair is all curly, she is normally not herself or crazy. This goes all the way back to Xander's daydream in the fourth episode of the series.
• Expy: Der Kindestod, of Freddy.
  • Ted, and The Stepfather.
  • For another example, look at Gnarl from "Same Time, Same Place" and tell us he doesn't remind you of Gollum. They even have the same habit of referring to themselves in the third person.
• Failed Attempt At Drama: The Trio do this a few times.
  • And Willow in "Doppelgangland", when she meekly explains that she's storming off now. "It doesn't really work if you come with me."
  • When the earthquake stops, and the Master, in mid-rant, asides, "Whaddaya think? 5.1?"
  • "Prophecy Girl": When he wakes up, tell him...I dunno. Think of something cool. Tell him I said it.
  • Oz insists on a moment of silence after the school blows up. Everyone gets annoyed and leaves. "..And we're done."
  • Ethan Rayne in "A New Man" tried to do an "I'm back to raise Hell" monologue when he thought he was alone but Giles heard him.
  • Spike falls into an open grave in "Out Of My Mind".
• Fallen Princess: Buffy, later Cordelia and Anya.
• Fantastic Religious Weirdness: Willow nailing crosses to her bedroom as well as more general cosmology.
• Fantasy Kitchen Sink
• Fantasy Pantheon: All gods seem to be real besides for "the" God and there are a group of god-like beings called The Powers That Be. There are also beings known as Hellgods, which can be killed. Oh, and the Old Ones are there, too. There's an unnamed goddess mentioned a few times by Willow (probably The Goddess of Wicca). Basically, there's a fuckton of gods.
• Fatal Flaw: Pride seems to be a popular one.
• Feminist Fantasy
• Flashback Nightmare: Part of the Slayer package is flashbacks to battles of other Slayers in the form of nightmares. Angel Season 5 shows what happens when a crazy person gets them.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Darla, Glory, and (arguably) Buffy herself.
• For Halloween I Am Going as Myself: For vaguely defined reasons, apparently because they think it is just corny, Vampires and demons do not cause problems on Halloween, and instead stay in their respective lairs and wait for the night to end. Spike is disgusted when a couple of teenaged Vampires try to cause trouble and explains that there are rules for this sort of thing, and explains that he is a rebel, whereas they are just idiots.
• Freudian Slip: Xander helping to gather Buffy's books in the pilot. "Can I have you --Uh, can I help you?"
  • Later outshined by, "We're your bosom friends! The friends of your bosom!"
  • Buffy's reaction to Angel's Face Revealing Turn in episode 7. Joyce, hearing Buffy's terrified shriek, races to her daughter's room, but Angel's flown the coop. "Nothing," Buffy composes herself. "I saw a shadow."
  • Wesley's introduction to comely Cordelia ("Consequences"). "In fact, I am... here to watch... girls."
  • Buffy getting the results of her SATs back ("Lover's Walk"). When Buffy shares her scores, Cordy smiles hugely because they enable Buffy to "leave and never come back!"
• Friendly Neighborhood Vampires: But not very many.
• Frozen Fashion Sense: According to Buffy, this is the dead giveaway. Another one is hilariously outdated dance moves.
• Gayngst: Despite having four (possibly five) homosexual characters, there is very little gayngst on the show. Larry suffers a little before coming out of the closet but by the time it's mentioned again, he's out and quite happy about it. Spike manages to bring out a little gayngst in Willow during "The Yoko Factor" but that too fades rather quickly.
• Girl-On-Girl Is Hot: Xander certainly thinks so.
• Girlish Pigtails: Buffy sports pigtails while working incognito at a Greasy Spoon.
  • Buffy during Giles's dream sequence in the episode "Restless." Buffy's attitude in the scene is that of a much younger child, and Giles is essentially her father.
• Godwin's Law: Nazis have been referenced a few times in Buffy. In "The Witch", Buffy says Amy's mother is, "Nazi-like".
  • In "Becoming Pt. 1", Cordelia says of Principal Snyder, "How about because you’re a tiny impotent Nazi with a bug up his butt the size of an emu?"
  • In "Gingerbread", Xander is dismayed at all the parents rallying against the occult. "Aw, man it’s Nazi Germany and I’ve got Playboys in my locker!"
• Gondor Calls for Aid
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: The leader of the Three has a scar over his eye ("Angel"), as does Kakistos ("Faith, Hope, and Trick"). The latter's scar is a memento from Faith, whose Watcher was slain b Kakistos.
  • Wishverse Buffy from the alternate universe ("The Wish") wears green camo and has a prominent scar across her mouth.
• The Good, the Bad, and The Evil
• Go Through Me: The whole gang does this to protect Tara from her abusive family. Except Spike.

Buffy: "If you want Tara, you'll have to go through all of us."
Spike: "Except me."
Xander: "Except Spike."
Spike: "I don't care what happens."

• • Though, he does purposely hurt himself just to help her. There is nothing for him to gain from this, making it help cement his Heel Face Turn.
  • Xander tried this several times, and gets his ass handed to him every time.
    • Notably, not that time he kept watch over Buffy in the hospital.
    • Or the time with Jack O'Toole in the school basement with the bomb.
• Graying Morality: Gradually, over the course of all seasons, the gaps between the clear white and black of the first season fade. Never hits Grey and Gray Morality, though.
• Green Eyes: You'd think the casting call explicitly asked for them. Willow, Giles, Riley, Joyce, and Buffy all have 'em.
  • Yet the girl who's natural form is a big, green ball of energy doesn't.
• Groin Attack: Buffy does this to Angelus in "Innocence". She also kills Caleb by vertically bisecting him, from the groin upwards.
  • The scythe version was also attempted by Buffy on Twilight in Season 8 during their first fight. Twilight's reaction is kinda foreshadow-y.
• Guarding the Portal: A major part of the series premise.
• Guilty Pleasures: In-universe example. Spike, Giles and Joyce all watch Passions. Spike also watches Dawson's Creek.
• Guns Are Useless: "These things? Never helpful." They really aren't.
  • Except that one time, when they were. To kill a smurf.

General Tropes H-N

• Hair-Raising Hare: To Anya, anyway.
• Halloween Episode: Three of them. In Season 2, "Halloween". In Season 4, "Fear Itself". In Season 6, "All the Way".
• Hard Work Montage: Referenced, of course,

Buffy: I thought it was gonna be like in the movies. You know, inspirational music ... a montage, me sharpening my pencils, me reading, writing, falling asleep on a big pile of books with my glasses all crooked ('cause in my montage I have glasses)...

• • Then in "Once More With Feeling".

Buffy: I'm worried our training's gonna turn into a montage from an '80s movie.
Giles: If we start to hear inspirational power chords, we'll just lie down until it goes away.

• Headbutt of Love: Willow and Tara do this a few times.
• He Knows Too Much: Angelus is very thorough is disposing of everyone who knows how to restore his soul.
  • Faith murders a Volanologist in his office, seemingly at random. We later learn that the doctor excavated the fossilized remains of an Old One, which puts Buffy on the trail of the Mayor's weakness.
  • Xander walks in on the lunch lady pouring what appears to be rat poison into the jell-o.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Spike, Faith, and especially Vampire Willow.
• Hell Gate: The Hellmouth.
• Hidden Supplies: Giles stashes his weapons in the library's book cage. He has a another cache hidden in his apartment ("These are his good weapons).
  • Buffy keeps her gear hidden in a false-bottom chest under her bed.
• Hollywood Dateless: Everybody. Not least of which Miss Maybelline herself.
• Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: Except of course when Dawn is in trouble. Other than that Halloween (despite being boycotted by any self-respecting demon), Buffy's birthday party, and any school event is a guaranteed demon magnet.
• Hypocrite: Buffy, dear god, Buffy.
  • Willow as well.
  • Xander is a massive example. Continuously blows down on Spike at any chance he gets for his past crimes. Yet it's never mentioned that Anya, who is far older than Spike, spent 1000 torturing and killing men, not to mention being a misanthropic man hater. And to make matters worse, Anya has never been sorry for doing what Vengeance Demons do, and caught nowhere near the amount of criticism Xander gave to Spike, or even Angel.
• Hypothetical Casting: The tabletop RPG made a lot of hay out of the televised nature of its inspiration; the GM position is called 'The Director', and individual adventures are called 'Episodes' and meant to be part of a larger 'Season'. To top it all off, the rulebook encouraged players to identify the actor who would play their character if the game they were in was actually a TV show.
• I Call It Mr. Pointy
• I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Sunnydale's original name, before the Mayor renamed it.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Xander and Dawn.
  • Bites her in the ass in Season 8. She gets turned into a giant (which is problematic for her, though she does fight a giant Mecha-Dawn), a Centuarette and a Doll (which gets her captured by an insane doll collector). Xander at this point had gotten over this, basically running the Slayer Organization and Dawn is quite happy to be normal again and is actually comforted by Xander throughout the whole ordeal while everyone else basically ignores her. They get together.
  • Xander gets a big one in "The Zeppo" as well.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Many characters, since this is a Joss Whedon show after all; Tara may be the most notable.
• I'm Thinking It Over!
• Incredibly Lame Pun: Buffy makes them quite regularly, but probably the worst one is Xander's:

Giles: I've never actually heard of anyone attacked by a lone baseball bat before.
Xander: Maybe it's a vampire bat.

• • That one Buffy made about her Valentine's Day staking being "heart-felt" was even more cringe-worthy.
• Informed Attribute: Vampires are quite often described as being very pale. The make-up artists apparently gave up on this early on, because with the exception of the first couple seasons most vampires sport a rather healthy complexion.
  • Possibly allowed given that many if not most of the vampires on the show are "new recruits".
• Innocent Innuendo: In "Lie to Me", Giles is unsure about a "surprise" date, but finally stammers, "Alright, I put myself in your hands."

Jenny: That sounds like fun.

• • Buffy moped over Ford for months, and would sit in her room listening to "I Touch Myself" by the Divinyls. She quickly shifts gears by saying she had no idea what the song was about.
  • Buffy glancing up from her career aptitude test to inquire, "Do I like shrubs?"

Xander: That's between you and your God.

• • In "Killed by Death", Willow mentions that she and Xander used to play doctor (with medical textbooks and things).
  • In "Earshot", Buffy, discussing her "Touch of the Demon", is obliged to mention that it was "A good touch. Not a bad touch."
  • Cordelia in her cheerleader uniform. "I still have knee marks on my back."
• Insult to Rocks: While Buffy is hunting Angel inside the empty Bronze, she calls out that she knows he's in there, and she knows what he is ("Angel"). From the balcony, Angel, in game face, sneers, "I'm just an animal, right?"

Buffy: You're not an animal. Animals I like.

• • In "Lover's Walk", Spike sobs that he's "nothing" without Dru, a sentiment which Buffy is inclined to agree with. "You're not even a loser anymore. You're a shell of a loser."
  • In "Consequences", Angel's sermon to Faith doesn't appear to be sinking in. In the privacy of his garden, he grumbles to Buffy that it's like talking to a wall. "Only you get more from a wall."
• Internal Affairs: The Watcher's Council keeps its Slayers on a tight leash. In fact, they have an entire wet-works team dedicated to taking down rogue Slayers. The Watchers themselves (poor Giles) are also under close scrutiny.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: As far as vamps are concerned, there is no separating wall.
• Interspecies Romance: A whole lot, though Dawn, in between Seasons 7 and 8 takes the cake by dating a demon thing with tentacles.
• Inverse Dialogue Death Rule
• Inverted Trope: Y'know all those classic horror movies where some blonde bimbo cheerleader is the victim of the film's monster? Well here that idea is gleefully turned upside down, where vampires and demons check the wardrobe for Buffy before going to bed.
• Ironic Name: You'd think that characters with names like Angel, Faith, Harmony, and Glory would be heroic characters, but they're all villains. While Angel does pull a Heel Face Turn eventually, he's still a vampire and becomes more of an Anti-Hero than a shining example of heroism. Faith similarly pulls a Heel Face Turn, although she's even more of an Anti-Hero after it. Harmony is really only Affably Evil and a Card-Carrying Villain, but unlike the other two she stays a villain. Of the four, Glory is the only really purely evil one (and she's at least Faux Affably Evil).
  • It should be noted that Angel specifically picked his name to be ironic (his real name is Liam): he is the "vampire with the angelic face." His evil side, when it resurfaces, is referred to with the much more intimidating name of "Angelus".
• It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Tried with Riley. Sadly, it fails.
• It's Probably Nothing
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: In the Season 2 premiere, Buffy tortures a vamp by making her swallow her silver necklace.
  • If Band Candy is anything to go by, Ripper, even years before he was at his worst, was a huge fan of this.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Larry for Xander, and Percy for Willow.
• Karma Houdini: Andrew, Drusilla, Willow, Anya, Harmony.
  • In the Season 2 finale, Willow asks Xander to tell Buffy to buy some time while fighting Angelus, so that Willow can do the spell to return Angel's soul. Instead, when Xander catches up to Buffy, he says Willow's message is: "Kick his [Angelus's] ass." Buffy ends up having to kill a re-ensouled Angel to save the world, which leads to a major Heroic BSOD. Xander's actions are only brought up once, years later, and even then he never suffers any consequences.
    • Subverted in that it may have been the right thing to do at the time. Giles was missing, the world was in danger of ending and Willow had just come out of a coma. Buffy, although her reluctance was understandable, had allowed Angelus to go unchecked for months before she had gathered the nerve to stake him (or found any hope of a re-ensouling spell). By the time Willow did the spell, she had only a few spells under her belt and had just woken up from a coma. Considering that Willow would be performing the spell in her hospital bed, it's no wonder that Xander might not want to give Buffy false hope.
    • Also, even though Xander couldn't have known it at the time, Angel doesn't get re-souled until after he releases the demon...killing him was the only thing she could do. Not saying it's a justification for what Xander said, but it is a pretty solid reason why no one would have brought it up since.
  • "Once More With Feeling" has Xander (more through foolishness than malice) summon a demon that danced several people to death and caused several unwanted confessions.
  • Willow tried to end the world and all she got was a summer getaway to England.
    • Not really true; Willow underwent what was essentially a combination of intense therapy and magical training. In fact, it is specifically noted that she returned home before her time in England was scheduled to be complete. Although she is welcomed back by her friends, the events of Season 6 aren't forgotten; when flayed bodies start showing up she is one of the first suspects. Furthermore, she doesn't reintegrate into her old role in the group for a long time. As there are definite and long-lasting consequences for her actions, both for the character and those around her, I'd be hesitant to call Willow a Karma Houdini. She pays for what she did, a bit at least.
  • Anya even lampshades this when complaining about Buffy's treatment of her in a Season 7 episode, pointing out that Buffy's entire team was evil at one time.
• Kick the Dog: Dru and Angelus even take it to Squick levels.
• Killed Off for Real: Miss Calender, Tara, and several Potencial Slayers over the course of Season Seven. The Series Finale also saw the abrupt death of Anya.
• Kind Restraints:
  • Oz is confined on full moons. At first in a cage locked with a key, later however in a cage locked with a combination keypad which he can supposedly only operate when he is human.
  • When Buffy starts rooming with a new girl her own age, then starts to get annoyed about those kinds of little things that roomies do to annoy each other... then she starts to get delusional and claiming that the girl is 'evil', and that she's going to have to 'slay' her, which prompts the rest of the Scoobies to tie her up to stop her while trying to find out why she's suddenly gone crazy. Turns out the girl actually IS a demon in disguise, and she's been performing nightly rituals to drain Buffy's soul, which is why she's acting erratic. Also, the restraints are less than effective at holding her.
  • Buffy chains Angel up to keep him from hurting himself or attacking others after his return from hell, when he's still feral and wild.
• Kiss Me I Am Virtual: April, the Buffybot.
  • Don't forget the demon that turned the Internet and any computer connected to it into his plaything, trying to romance Willow.
• Knight Templar: The Knights of Byzantium.
  • The Watcher's Council.
• Lame Comeback:

Buffy: Let's be realistic Willow, your basic spells are usually only about 50/50.
Willow: Oh yeah? Well... so's your face!

• • A deleted scene (though still viewable in the first pilot) had Xander shouting after Cordelia, "Check back tomorrow! I'll have that devastating comeback ready!"
  • Also, when Cordelia is campaigning to be May Queen:

Cordelia: Here's a chocolate... (snatches chocolate away from Buffy) Oh. I don't think I need the loony-fringe vote. (walks off)
Buffy: Well, I-I don't even like chocolates! (beat) Okay, that was the lamest comeback of our time.

• Lampshade Hanging: Whedon appears to have bought up an entire IKEA worth of lampshades, here and in his other work.
• Late Arrival Spoiler: The fact that Angel is a vampire was originally a huge, shocking revelation mid-way through season one. Nowadays, it's common knowledge.
• The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort
• Legacy Character: The Slayer, seeing as there have been millions of them.
• Let's You and Him Fight: In "Angel", Darla concocts a plan to entice Angel "back to the fold" by arranging to have him kill Buffy.
  • Kendra first sees Buffy when she's tonguing with Angel, who's still in game face, and naturally assumes she's his vampire honey.

Kendra: Did I not see you kissing a vampire?
Willow: (stands up in her defense) Buffy would never do that! --Oh. Except for that... sometimes you do that. (sits)

• • In "Revelations", rogue Watcher Gwendoyln Post exploits the rift between Faith & Buffy to conceal her own hunt for a mystical glove. When Angel gets in her way, Gwen sic Faith onto him, also.
• Life Drinker: Not the vampires, actually, but rather Ampata from "Inca Mummy Girl". She was an Andean mummy who sucked living humans' life forces dry to stay alive herself.
• Love Floats: Tara and Willow do this a few times.
• Luck Manipulation Mechanic: In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG, Drama Points can be used to increase the chance of success for Heroic Feats.
• Mad Scientist: Professor Walsh, Warren Mears, Ted.
• Magic Floppy Disk: Ms. Calendar's spell, Maggie Walsh's data.
• Magnetic Plot Device: The only reason the Hellmouth existed was as a perpetual hand-wave to explain the large numbers of supernatural beings that come to Sunnydale, only a few villains are directly connected to it.
• Make-Out Point: Oz goes when he's a werewolf; Dawn goes with two vampires.
• Malaproper: Buffy does this all the time.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Done at least twice, first with the episode that leaves us unsure if Buffy is actually in a mental institution and the whole show has been dreamed up by her, and also with the blizzard that prevents Angel from killing himself.
  • A blizzard in Southern California on Christmas day? Word of God is that it's a miracle.
• Meaningful Name: Xander's name references the original Buffy movie, in which Buffy had a friend named Pike - zander and pike are closely related species of fish.
  • Xander is also short for Alexander, which means "defender of mankind".
  • Wesley is likely named after the original Creator's Pet from Star Trek: The Next Generation considering that he was intended to be hated by the audience and killed off. Ironically, he became a well-liked, long-running character. In-Universe
• Meet Cute: Buffy and Angel didn't hit it off at first. Though there was hitting involved.
  • Season Two has a running gag of Oz admiring Willow from afar, but the pair keep missing each other. They finally meet at the school's career fair, after their genius IQs land them in a VIP room with waiters and classical music.

"Canapé?"

• • Buffy accidentally dumping a pile of textbooks over Riley's head.
  • Willow being shushed by her Wicca group for perpetuating "stereotypes". A shy girl in the back raises her hand to support Willow's opinion. Oh hi, Tara.
• Mercy Lead: Angelus toys with Ms. Calender for a bit, letting her scramble out of her classroom. "Oh, good. I need to work up an appetite first." ("Passion").
  • A video recording of Mr. Trick welcoming Buffy and Cordelia to Slayerfest '98. He explains that they have "exactly 30 seconds—'(checks his watch) no, that's 17 now—to run for [their] lives." ("Homecoming").
  • In "The Wish", Vamp Xander and Vamp Willow snuggle a bit, prompting Cordy to screech that she can't win, since Xander and Willow are an item even in the Wishverse. Xander agrees with the "can't win" sentiment, and vamps out. "But I'll give you a head start."
• Minored in Asskicking: Giles and Dawn.
• Mistaken for Gay: Larry mistakes Xander for gay in "Phases". Over a season later in "Earshot", he still hasn't been corrected.
  • A social worker thought Buffy was gay when she found out she lives with Willow.
• The Mole: Shows up a few times.
  • After Buffy joins the Initiative, she considers herself still to be investigating them and not really a member.
  • Spike is a mole inside the Scoobies, for Adam.
• Moment Killer
• Monster of the Week: Most of the first season is this.
• Mooks: Most commonly vampires. Also, Glory's demon lackeys.
• More Deadly Than the Male: There's a reason Slayers are always women. Dudes have traditionally stayed on the sidelines, from the Shadow Men all the way down to their descendants, the Watcher's council.
• Muggles Do It Better: Buffy blowing up the Judge with an RPG, and later the ascended Mayor with some TNT.
• Mundanger: "So, we meet at last, Mister Drippy."
• Murder by Mistake: The Mayor's Assistant and Tara both die this way.
• My God, What Have I Done?
• My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: "The cow should touch me from Thursday."
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast : The First Evil.
  • Um...the Slayer?
  • As a young rebel Giles was known as Ripper.
  • Vampires really love this. Angelus is Ominous Latin Chanting in name form, The Master has a name that screams evil and Spike, well, if a name makes you think of sharp things, it's not likely to be a nice person. Kakistos also just sounds evil (it means worst of the worst in Greek, so yeah, evil). Averted with Darla
    • Spike's original nickname is a subversion: William The Bloody. Before he was a vampire, he earned that nickname for his bloody awful poetry. His current nickname, however, comes from his habit of sticking railroad spikes into his (still-living) victims.
  • The Initiative. Nondescript name that starts with "The" and is an organization? The logical analytical circuits find that highly unlikely and the bullshit meter agrees.
  • The name "Glory" doesn't strike fear into the hearts of the common person, but the name she's known by among the Monks? The Beast.
• National Stereotypes: Englishmen hate showing their emotions, drink gallons of tea, and love tweed.
  • Once Wesley crossed over to Angel, it surfaced on that show as well.

Robert Wyndam-Pryce: Oh that's right, this is Los Angeles. We're supposed to talk about our feelings. Then maybe we'll hug.

• Nerd in Evil's Helmet: The Trio tried really hard, but never quite got the "evil" part down.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Okay, you have the hots for this guy you know is a vampire. So you do the deed, which ends up causing him to lose his soul and become the mind raping Big Bad. Yeah, nice job bringing in Angelus Buffy.
  • Thanks so much for wishing hell on earth where everybody dies Cordelia. Really appreciate it.
  • Nice job bringing Buffy back to life, and allowing The First to enact his evil plan.
  • While we're at it, nice work imitating Twilight, becoming possessed and killing Giles, Angel.
  • Nice job having Faith arrested just as Angel was getting through to her, Wesley.
• No Bisexuals: Willow, from Season 4 onwards. In some episodes suggest she still has feelings for Oz (and a continuing attraction to Xander and Giles, among other male characters), whereas in some she'll chirp "gay now!" at the very idea that she could be attracted to a boy, or react to a Love Potion-induced crush by trying to turn her target into a girl (though she only did so when someone else claimed that she couldn't be attracted to him if she's gay). This could be the character's own assumption that she's gay rather than bisexual, as one of Willow's defining traits is jumping headlong into her current role (of which magic and lesbianism are both big parts) in an effort to overcome her original Shrinking Violet background.
  • Also, a lot of those instances were when she was with her first girlfriend, who for a lot of that time was very insecure. This may have started as having to constantly reassuring Tara about her sexuality (as well as feelings) and become a habit.
• No Body Left Behind: Vampires immediately turn to dust and dissolve when staked, along with their clothes. And guess what? Dusting a vamp using computer graphics still cost $5,000 per vampire.
• No Communities Were Harmed: When characters consult a Sunnydale map, there are really examining Santa Babara.
• No Dress Code: Had a lot of this during the high school years. The skirts were way too short and the tops didn't cover enough.
• Noodle Incident: Buffy burning down the gym at her previous school. This is a reference to Joss' original script for the movie, before Executive Meddling kicked in.
  • In "Angel", Darla reminiscences with Angel about their fling in Budapest.
  • "Zeppo" is one big lampooning of this trope. The Scoobies face the deadliest threat ever, and we never see it.
  • In their debut episode, Dru complains to Spike that she's hungry, and that she misses Prague. Spike points out that she nearly died in Prague; "Idiot mob." This was expanded on in the comics, where a flashback shows Drusilla being captured by an "Inquisitor" and thrown into a Prague jail. Spike didn't fare much better, as he got tossed into a lake by an angry mob.
• No Periods, Period: Flat-out averted in the movie, as Buffy gets menstrual cramps whenever a vampire is around. This is explained as her body's reaction to something perceived as unnatural (it also underscores the connection between slayer-ness and femininity).
  • Xander going through Buffy's purse in search of a stake and being horrified to discover a tampon.
  • Willow telling Oz, in response to discovering he's a werewolf, that "for a few days a month, I'm not so fun to be around, either."
  • When Harmony (under the effects of a love spell) seethes that Cordy never loved Xander, Cordy deadpans, "... Okay, Harmony, if you need to borrow my Midol, just ask."
  • Lampshaded in Season 7:

Andrew: [Being the Slayer] is like... well, it's almost like this metaphor for womanhood, isn't it? The sort of flowering that happens when a girl realizes that she's part of a fertile heritage stretching back to Eve, and--

Xander: I will pay you to talk about Star Wars again.

• No Smoking: The show has a clear bias against smoking, as every character in the show who has smoked has been either evil (Spike and the evil Angel) or doomed (Laura in Nightmares; the prostitute who was Angel’s first kill after re-losing his soul; and Sheila in School Hard). Subverted with Faith, she starts smoking after her Heel Face Turn.
• Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: The Watcher's Council. By the time of Angel, even Wesley shrugs off their violent demise without much grief.
  • In "Fray", whatever remnants of the Council that survived to the 23rd century have reduced into a few insane zealots.
• Not So Dire: Very common gag.

General Tropes O-Z

• Offscreen Afterlife: Twice -- Buffy in Heaven and Angel in Hell.
• Off to See the Wizard: Buffy refers to the hyena-possessed bullies in "The Pack" as the "winged monkeys".
  • In "Flooded", Andrew boasts that he trained flying demon monkeys to disrupt a school play.
  • In "Nightmares", Billy Palmer awakens from his coma and, seeing the Scoobies around his bed, says, “I had the strangest dream. And you were in it, and you."
  • In "The Yoko Factor", Willow says, "If ever a whiz there was."
  • In "Empty Places", Rona says, "Ding, dong, the witch is dead" when Buffy is ousted from the house.
  • In "Grave", Willow gleefully says, "Fly my pretty, fly!" when she sends her ball of fire to seek Andrew and Jonathan.
  • The episode "No Place Like Home" takes it's name from the movie, obviously. A similar reference is made in the Angel episodes "Over the Rainbow" and "There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb." In that former, Cordelia clicks her heels three times (as Dorothy does in the film) and grumbles, "Worth a shot."
• Ominous Latin Chanting: Most of the spoken magic in the series. Gaelic is a rare variation
• Only I Can Kill Him: Followed in the first few seasons, averted in Seasons 5, 6 and 7.
• The Only One: The Slayer is supposed to be this.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: The characters whose accents were different from their actors tended to maintain them quite well. There are a few exceptions.
  • David Boreanaz had a great deal of difficulty with Liam's Irish accent in flashbacks and in an episode of Angel asked that he not have to use it during an episode where he otherwise should have. It was lampshaded as part of the weirdness of the episode.
  • James Marsters was very good with his accent (as far as most Americans could tell), with only slight wobbles. Later in the series, according to some, he's finally mastered a lower-class overlay on top of an upper-class accent, allowing Marsters to play with his presentation of Spike, using his history to drive his voice to motivate certain scenes.
  • In-universe: Once Spike had to try and fake an American accent and it was hilariously awful.
    • This gets brain bending when you realize that this is an American man (James Marsters) pretending to be an upper-class Englishman (Spike's actual origin) pretending to be a lower-class Englishman (Spike trying to sound tougher) pretending to be an American (to fool Riley).
  • Alexis Denisof's accent for Wesley was normally impeccable, to such a degree that his natural accent sounds disturbingly false on other shows, but even he slipped once or twice.
  • The she-mantis in Season One. The actress is from South Africa and her American accent is far from perfect. However, since she's a giant, man-eating bug, this could be acceptable or justified.
• Opening Narration: Only there for the first season and occasionally the second, thankfully. First spoken by Giles then a generic narrator.

In every generation there is a Chosen One, one girl in all the world. She alone will stand against the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness. She is The Slayer.

• The Ophelia: Drusilla and, to some extent, Tara after Glory wrecks her mind.
• Opposites Attract Revenge
• Orcus on His Throne: Glory and the First Evil, both of whom spend long stretches of time not doing very much of anything.
• Our Dragons Are Different: One comes out of the Key Portal during "The Gift".
• Our Gods Are Very Various and Very Numerous
• Our Monsters Are Weird
• Our Vampires Are Different: The vampires in the series are stated to be demons taking over a human body after they've been sired. Since the souls of the victims are gone, the demon takes over the victim's memory and builds on their personality, with a sense of unlocking new potential or getting rid of the humanity that was in their way.
  • A partial aversion, though, as the vampires here have pretty much the classic vampire traits: blood sucking, sunlight bad, crosses and holy water are harmful, stake to the heart is lethal, etc.
  • One point that causes a small degree of confusion in-series is the rule about vampires needing an invitation to enter a home: once they're invited the first time, they're always "welcome". And welcome signs count.
  • It plays with this trope in the Dracula episode. Dracula fits all the tropes you would expect him to in contrast to the usual vampires on the show. He can shape-shift, turn people into obedient minions, and he's more focused on romance than just finding food.
• Our Werewolves Are Different:
  • Wait, they change into wolves under the full moon. How are they different?
    • They don't look the least bit wolf-like (after their initial appearance)? And they don't change under the full moon, they change the night of the full moon, the night before, and the night after.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Season 3 gives us Type V zombies, Season 8 gives us Type O, popped into existence by an angry witch.
• Outlaw Couple: Most notably Spike and Drusilla, but also Angel & Darla, Evil Willow & Xander and Spike & Harmony.
• Parrot Expowhat: Both Buffy and Willow do this a fair amount.

Anya: Buffy's got some kind of job there helping junior deviants, Spike's insane in the basement, Xander's there doing construction on the new gym —
Willow: Wait, Spike's what in the what-ment?
Anya: Insane, base.

• Pick on Someone Your Own Size: Buffy gets this a lot, from both male and female villains.
• Planet of Steves: The writers of Buffy seem to love the name William and all its derivatives. Here’s a list of all the William variants used on the show: William the Bloody (Spike’s human name and original title), Liam (Angel’s human name), Billy Fordham ("Lie to Me"), Billy Palmer ("Nightmares"), Billy Crandal ("I Only Have Eyes For You"), Billy Blim (the eponymous Angel episode), Willy the Snitch, and Willow's name being shortened to Wil (yeah, this one is a bit of a stretch).
• Platonic Life Partners: Willow & Xander.
  • Becomes a more standard Will and Grace after Willow comes out.
• Plot Armor
• Polyglot: As part of her Character Development to The Smart Guy, Dawn has learned at least Turkish and Sumerian between Seasons 6 and 7. Giles can read five languages, including German and Sumerian.
• Present Company Excluded: Xander says this to Buffy, when lamenting his poor taste in women.
• "Previously On...": Season 6.
  • The season 5 finale had one that included clips from nearly all of the previous 99 episodes.
• Product Placement: Buffy's iBook almost becomes a tertiary character in later years.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: David Boreanaz (as Angel), Seth Green (as Oz), Mark Blucas (as Riley), James Marsters (as Spike), Emma Caulfield (as Anya), Michelle Trachtenberg (as Dawn).
  • Played with for Amber Benson as Tara. After she and Willow get back together, she's finally in the opening credits for the first time in the next episode...the episode where she dies.
• Prophecy Twist: More than once.
• The Public Domain Channel: Faith watches it a lot in her hotel room.
• Punctuated Pounding
• Put on a Bus: Oz, Faith, Angel, and Cordy; of course, we know where the latter two went (Faith too, actually).
  • Don't forget about Amy, who spent three years as a rat.
    • Everyone who survived in the final episode actually escaped town in a school bus.
  • The Bus Came Back: Oz and Riley both get episodes like this.
• Put on a Bus to Hell: Oz and Riley.
• Ready for Lovemaking
• Reality Ensues: Season 5 final -- Buffy approaches The Dragon atop a tower. He gears up for a fight, and she just knocks him off the tower.
  • In the Season 3 premiere, the Monster of the Week knocks The Chick down and does a speech about how his realm is inescapable. Then the girl gets up and pushes him off the edge.
• Rebuilt Set: Sunnydale High 2.0.
  • The Bronze underwent a major renovation following the rampage of Olaf the Troll, including a new sign.
  • Giles renovates The Magic Box to accommodate the gang's exploits, including a gym in the back room.
• The Renfield: Xander in "Buffy Vs. Dracula", Glory's minions.
• Resurrection Sickness: Angel, and later Buffy.
• Resurrective Immortality: Dracula, apparently, who comes back after being staked.

Buffy: I've seen your movies. You always come back.

• Retired Badass: Giles in his youth was a rebellious demon-summoning warlock known as "Ripper".
• Retired Monster: Spike, after he got the Chip in Series 4.
  • And then when he got his Soul back in Series 7.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: In "The Harvest", Angel tries to talk Buffy out of going into the sewers.

Buffy: I've got a friend down there. Or at least a potential friend. You do you know what it's like to have a friend? (Angel bows his head) ...That wasn't supposed to be a stumper.

• • Mr Whitmore lecturing his Teen Health class ("Bad Eggs").

"The sex drive in the human animal is intense. How many of us have lost countless productive hours plagued by unwanted sexual thoughts and feelings? (Xander puts his hand up) That was a rhetorical question, Mr. Harris. Not a poll."

• • Cordy bitching at Xander for dragging her out of bed for a ride. "What am I, mass transportation?" ("What's My Line, Pt.1").

Xander: "That's what a lot of the guys say, but it's just locker-room talk."

• • After Wesley is fired, Cordelia barges into the library and demands to know what happened to him. Xander responds, "Inbreeding?"
• Ritual Magic: Very popular in the Buffyverse, whether it be the gypsies who cursed Angel, or Willow doing incantations.
• Rubber Forehead Demons: A lot of demons are pretty much indistinguishable from humans apart from skin tone and horns or some other head feature. There are also a fair number of non-humanoid ones.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Jesse.
• Saving the World: The Watcher's Council seems way too uncaring about the amount of apocalypses in Sunnydale.
• Schrödinger's Butterfly
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The Master, Acathla, the Seal of Danzalthar, among others..
• Secret Circle of Secrets: Several.
• Secret Relationship: Xander and Cordelia in the second season, Willow and Tara in the fourth, and Buffy and Spike in the sixth.
• Series Fauxnale: "Prophecy Girl", "Graduation Day", and "The Gift". Also "Chosen", if you want to count the Season 8 comics. This happened a lot.
• Seventh-Episode Twist: the revelation that Angel is a) a vampire and b) a vampire with a soul. Hits on exactly episode 7
  • Season 2: Angel reveals his connection to Drusilla.
  • Season 3: Faith loses her trust in people.
  • Season 4: Riley works for the Initiative. Spike becomes a series regular.
  • Season 5: "Every Slayer has a death wish."
  • Season 6: Buffy and Spike kiss.
  • Season 7: The Big Bad confronts the Scoobies. Spike has been feeding again.
• Sex Is Violence
• Shadow Archetype: Faith, Ethan, Adam, etc.
• Shaped Like Itself: Buffy writers love this trope.
  • In the pilot, Buffy tells Giles that she's taken an early retirement, and suggests that if he's so keen on slaying, why doesn't he go slay vampires instead? Giles protests that he's a Watcher and his duty is to... "Watch?" Buffy pipes up.
  • After being inducted into the Scooby Gang ("The Harvest"), Xander and Willow are left sweating over their new knowledge while the rest of the school parades around innocently. "It's like we got this big secret!"

Willow: [beat] We do. That's what a secret is, when you know something other guys don't.

• • Jenny Calender had a similar reaction to Giles demanding to know details of their "secret" date ("Lie to Me"). Unluckily for him, it was a monster truck rally.
  • To Willow's question about when the Reconstruction began, Buffy tries to focus and replies, "Um, Reconstruction...uh, Reconstruction began after the...construction, which was shoddy so they had to reconstruct." ("Angel").
  • In the same episode, Giles sits at Joyce's sickbed and chats about Buffy. Giles confesses that Buffy is having trouble in history class because she "lives very much in the now. And, um... history, of course, is very much about the, uh... the then."
  • In "School Hard", Buffy and Willow scurry around trying to keep Joyce and Snyder from exchanging words. Buffy, seeing Snyder coming, babbles that Joyce hasn't seen the boiler room yet.

"The boiler room is really interesting! What with the boiler being in the room and all."

• • Oz complimenting Cordy's Halloween costume, which consists of a black unitard with cat ears and drawn-on whiskers. "You're like a big cat."
  • Ms. Calender apologizing to Giles for spying on him for over a year ("Passion").

Jenny: I know you feel betrayed.
Giles: Yes, well, that's one of the unpleasant side effects of betrayal.

• • In "Anne", Cordelia seems to have a feeble grasp on what being "The Bait" entails.

Cordelia: What's the plan?
Xander: The vampire attacks you.
Cordelia: And then what?
Xander: The vampire kills you. We watch. We rejoice.

• • In "Earshot", One of the headlines in Freddy's school newspaper reads, "APATHY ON THE RISE -- NO-ONE CARES."
• Shipper on Deck: A bunch of them. Dawn is a Willow/Tara shipper, as is most of the cast, Buffy is a Anya/Xander shipper, Xander's a Riley/Buffy shipper, Willow is a Buffy/Angel shipper, Buffy was an Oz/Willow shipper and more. And the First, who is, on some level, the people he turns into (he has their memories and stuff), was a Buffy/Faith shipper which means the Mayor likely was as well and the Mayor knew Faith better than anyone...
• Shirtless Scene
• Shoot the Dog
• Shout-Out: The Master’s sunken lair is reminiscent of the 1987 vampire classic The Lost Boys, one of Whedon’s inspirations for Buffy.
  • Buffy gives a shout out to Charmed: in the series finale, Willow, after performing the spell that awakens all the Slayers on earth, exclaims, "Oh my goddess!" This is the title of the fifth season finale of Charmed. Apparently Joss Whedon saw the title of the episode, thought it was awesome, and threw it into the finale.
  • Buffy's last name might be a shout out to Montague Summers. Quotith The Other Wiki: "He was responsible for the first English translation, published in 1928, of the notorious 15th-century witch hunter's manual, the Malleus Maleficarum." He also believed in vampires, witches and other things.
    • Joss has stated that Buffy's last name is a Shout-Out to Cyclops (IE Scott Summers).
  • Dawn wolfing down two bowls of "Sugar Bombs".
  • On the eve of the final battle, when Xander, Giles, Amanda, and Andrew are playing Dungeons & Dragons, they encounter Trogdor the Burninator.
  • During "No Future For You", Giles mentions the great bearded wizard of Northampton.
• Shrinking Violet: Willow and Tara. Also, Marcie Ross from the first season is this trope taken Up to Eleven: She was so shy that she eventually began to feel invisible, a feeling that was made worse by the fact that no one in school really noticed her. The power of the Hellmouth made that feeling into reality and Marcie could no longer be seen by anyone.
• Shrouded in Myth: Some demons, and to some vamps, Buffy or Slayers in general.
• Signs of the End Times: Mrs. Calender knows the Hellmouth is about to open based on locally occurring portents; a family's swimming pool begins to boil (with them in it), a cat gives birth to a litter of snakes and a baby is born with his eyes facing inward.
• Simple Score of Sadness: Buffy and Angel's love theme.
• Sinister Minister: Caleb: Taking, mass and kicking ass.
  • The Annointed One's guardian, Abasalom ("When She Was Bad").
  • A Catholic Priest, Josephus du Lac, wrote a number of books containing dark rituals, resulting in du Lac being excommunicated ("What's My Line?").
• Six-Student Clique: The high school years: Buffy = The Head and The Wild One, Willow = The Smart one, Xander = The Quirk, Cordelia = The Pretty one, Oz = The Muscle. During college, Riley became the muscle and Tara became the pretty one.
• Slashers Prefer Blondes: The whole show could be considered a subversion of this trope.
  • Darla is a villanous subversion. First introduced to us as a simpering 'victim,' she ends up luring two hapless males into her web.
• Slave Mooks: Strangely common. The mooks of the various Big Bads are this, some only because of the Big Bad being a very Bad Boss and some due to brainwashing. Also shows up with some weekly villains like the giant worm demon thing in Bad Eggs' baby-controlled people and Spike becomes one for a bit in Season 7.
• Smash to Black
• Smoking Is Cool: Spike, Faith. Parodied with Harmony, who tries to smoke and well, looks like an idiot.
  • But not as much of an idiot as Andrew does, in his opening "Storyteller" fantasy, when he has his big Meerschaum pipe. (Which he still hasn't got the hang of, when he pops up in Angel...No, not like that!)
  • Subverted in "Nightmares". Smoking gets you beat up by a boogeyman
• Soft Glass: Averted, Subverted, and played straight.
• So Happy Together
• Sophisticated As Hell: Many demons are surprisingly this like D'Hoffryn and the Beljoxa's Eye.
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Subverted sometimes, but when in use it's Exponential. Big Bads in order
  • Season 1: Vampire (The Master).
  • Season 2: Vampire(s) (they also used demons to try and end the world).
  • Season 3: The Mayor and his desire to become a "True Demon".
  • Season 4: Cyber-Demonoid and a Government agency.
  • Season 5: A dethroned God.
  • Season 6: The Trio (a bunch of nerds who spend most of the season as Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain), or simply themselves and their own failings (and also Willow).
  • Season 7: The First Evil, the embodiment of that concept in that universe.
  • Season 8: The Universe itself!
• Spell My Name with a "The": The Three.
  • The Judge.
  • The First Evil.
• Spider Sense: Slayers are said to be very attuned to vampires in the area; trying to sneak up on one is a bad idea. However, we've seen normals like Giles use this ability, too, so it could just be a matter of training.
  • Similarly, Angel is able to detect Darla lurking in his apartment ("Angel"). The spin-off series established (late in its run, waaaaay at the end of Season Five) that vamps can sense each others' presence.
• Staking the Loved One: Xander's stakes his best bud in the two-parter series premiere, albeit comedically.
  • Season Two is a protracted inner struggle for Buffy, who can't bring herself to stake Angelus in their first encounter.
• Stock Phrases
  • From "The Harvest".

Luke: Ladies and gentlemen, there is no cause for alarm. Actually, there is cause for alarm...it just won't do any good.

• • From "Real Me".

Harmony: So, Slayer. At last we meet.
Buffy: We're met, Harmony -- you half-wit!

• • From "Once More With Feeling".

Giles: Spike, if I want your opinion... (looks at him in contempt) I'll never want your opinion.

• • In "As You Were", Riley insists on searching a shirtless Spike's crypt.

Spike: Over my dead body.
Riley: I've seen enough of your dead body for one night, thanks.

• Stock Sound Effects: The occasional scream and a few others.
  • Does Joss Whedon have only one chanting sound effect that shows up roughly every other episode?
• Stronger with Age: Vampires.
• Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Buffy would be a big help in Los Angeles since, as Angel admits, she's stronger then even he. After appearing twice on Angel to read him the riot act (and wring Faith's neck), Angel tells her to take her cowboy antics someplace else.
  • Fortunately for Angel, he has a spare Slayer stewing in jail.
  • The opposite is in effect, too. Angel turns up again in the Series Finale, ready to help fight the Big Bad, but Buffy immediately sends him away so he can prepare "a second front" in Los Angeles in case she dies.
• Supernatural Angst
• Supernaturally Delicious and Nutritious: Slayer blood is tastier than that of normal humans, to the point of possessing healing properties.
• Supervillain Lair:
  • Season One: The collapsed church beneath the Hellmouth. Doubles as a Tailor-Made Prison, since the Master's really anxious to get out of there.
  • Season Two: The factory for The Anointed One/Spike, and Crawford Street mansion for Angelus.
  • Season Three: City Hall.
  • Season Four: The Initiative.
  • Season Five: Glory's apartment. Tough act to follow, those clandestine underground government labs.
  • Season Six: Warren's basement. Erm...
  • Season Seven: The vineyard. And eventually the Hellmouth itself.
• Surveillance as the Plot Demands
• Suspiciously Specific Denial
• Swiss Cheese Security: Nobody in Sunnydale ever locks any doors.
• Sword Over Head; In "Angel", the eponymous hero attempts Suicide by Cop by provoking Buffy into killing him. Eventually Buffy gets Angel in her crossbow sights; to Angel's surprise, the Slayer intentionally shoots wide and her bolt thunks into the wall beside his head.

Angel: Little wide...

• • Buffy nearly overpowers Angelus in their first encounter ("Innocence"), but can't bring herself to finish him. ..So she settles for a kick to the groin instead.
• Tailor-Made Prison: Angelus, which he gets out of via perfect happiness brought on by screwing Buffy (she must be VERY good in the sack). The Ubervamps are in one (the Hellmouth) as well.
• Talking in Your Dreams: Buffy and Angel in "Amends", though there's no actual talking involved. The First Slayer also communicates with Buffy and the gang this way in "Restless".
• Tangled Family Tree: Angel has one, which gets even worse on his own show and in Buffy Season 7. The Master sired Darla, who sired Angel, who sired Drusilla who sired Spike. Angel killed Darla, who was later brought back from the dead on Angel, as a human. Dru then sired Darla, making her Darla's mother grandchild and Darla her own Great Grandchild. This makes Spike her brother and Great Grandchild and Angel her son and Grandfather. Angel and Darla then break the laws of reality, having a child. This child is Angel's brother, child and Great Grandchild. His Grandchild/Brother/Child then has Jasmine with Cordelia, making Jasmine his Grandchild, Great Great Grandchild and Niece. Meanwhile, Spike went on a siring rampage against his will. Some of those vamps can be assumed to have sired others, making them all clean, if numerous, branches on a very fucked up tree. I would imagine Spike and The Master would be looking on with horror as to what's going on behind/in front of them on the family tree.
• Tantrum Throwing: Xander bouncing a tennis ball at a chalkboard after Buffy rejects him ("Prophecy Girl").
  • The Master throws a few candelabra around his prison after Darla bites it ("Angel").
  • After Angelus' ritual goes awry, he grabs the nearest stone pot and smashes it.

Spike: Someone wasn't worthy ♪

• • When Willow is held random for an artifact, Wesley plays devil's advocate, saying the artifact must be destroyed. A shouting match ensues, which Oz wordlessly puts an end to by getting out of his chair and shoving an urn across the room, smashing it ("Choices").
• Tap on the Head: Dear god, this happens alot. Giles should be brain damaged by now.
  • Lampshaded numerous times, by Giles himself and other characters.
• Tattooed Crook: Faith and Angelus both have tattoos (Faith has one on her arm, Angelus on his back (It's also there when he's Angel)).
  • Note: Faith's was caused by being possessed by a dead Greek Slayer. It's the Mark of Kakistos, the mutated vamp who killed her Watcher. This is explained in one of the Expanded Universe books.
  • Also Giles in his Ripper phase. Ethan counts until he removes his.
• That Came Out Wrong: Several instances.
• There Can Only Be One: Mostly averted with the Slayers. In theory, there is only supposed to be one slayer in each generation (at least, as indicated by the page quote). However, due to Buffy's first death, a girl named Kendra became a Slayer. After Buffy was resurrected, they both acted as Slayers. Then, a year later, Kendra was killed by Drusilla and Faith became a Slayer, resulting in a similar situation.
  • Of course, it's averted hard at the end of Season 7, when Willow casts a spell to make all of the Potential Slayers into full fledged Slayers.
  • Oddly absent in Seasons 5 and 6, when Buffy dies a far more permanent (supposedly, anyway) death, but no new slayer appears, or is even mentioned.
    • Because as far as the rules were concerned, Buffy died already. Instead of calling a third Slayer, Buffy's death in Season 5 caused a disruption in the Slayer line that led to the events of Season 7. (To elaborate on that, the Slayer line runs through the most recently called Slayer. In other words, Faith was the rightful Slayer at the time. In order for a third Slayer to be called, she, not Buffy, would have to die. Buffy's continued existence after her second death represents a weak point in the line, because Buffy herself doesn't belong.)
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: Out. For. A. Walk. ... Bitch.
• This Is Your Brain on Evil
• Title Drop: "I'm Buffy. The vampire slayer. And you are?"
  • Many episodes have a title drop on the episode title as well.
• To Create a Playground For Evil: Quite a few villains have this as their goal.
• Too Happy to Live: This trope is Joss's best friend in life. Seriously, it happens to alot of people.
• Took a Level in Badass: Xander, Willow, Giles, Dawn, Warren, Amy, Harmony, Oz, the entire 1999 Class of Sunnydale High, ALL of the Potentials and more. Giles' levels are more "Regained Levels In Badass" though.
• Town with a Dark Secret: There's an entrance into Hell under the high school, the Mayor wants to be a demon, vampires rise from the cemetery every night and there are buried (sometimes magical) treasures hidden in the right mausoleum. The secret government lab under the college is the least exciting secret there was.
• Tracking Device: Willow's oft-used "locator spells".
• Trash the Set: Many times.
  • Spike's factory is set aflame thanks to Angelus' recklessness. However, Spike did revisit the charred ruins.
  • Giles lighting up Sunnydale High with a Plunger Detonator would be the Ur-example.
  • The Bronze seems to have an unlimited refurbishment and furniture-replacement budget and, throughout all seven seasons of Buffy, seems to have self-repairing capabilities (like the school) since major damage is completely fixed by the next episode. An exception is when Xander rebuilt the window jamb after a Sex Bot tossed Spike through the window.
  • The Magic Box is destroyed after Dark Willow, crazed by magic, sucks its contents dry. Her battle royale with Giles doesn't help.
  • There's also a dining-room chair in the battle-weary Summers household that's conspicuously ductaped through most of the end of the series.
  • Lampshaded in Season 7:

Buffy: Every piece of furniture has been destroyed and replaced since you left, so actually, new house.

• • Later in Season 7, Xander finally declares that he is tired of the picture window being smashed in over and over again, and refuses to repair it again. It remains boarded up for the rest of the series.
• Trauma Swing
• Treacherous Advisor: Gwendolyn Post, Doc.
• Triple Shifter: Dealt with by a minor Slayer power being able to get by with very little sleep.
• Trouble Follows You Home
• Truce Zone: Willy's Bar. Later subverted in "The Zeppo" when it gets trashed and Willy is beaten to a pulp by a bunch of demons.
• Two Girls and a Guy: With Buffy, Willow, and Xander.
• Two Words: Obvious Trope: Out. For. A. Walk... Bitch.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: It's amazing how they just walked around Sunnydale High throwing words around like "Vampire", "Slayer", "Witch", "Demon", "Disembowelment", and "Innards" in full view of others with no one paying attention.
  • It was implied that most of the town either knew or was in such deep denial that you could dust a vamp in front of them and they wouldn't change their views. Hell, it happened a bunch of times.
• Unrequited Love Switcheroo: In the Season Eight continuation, Buffy and Xander.
• Urban Fantasy
• Vampire Hunter: No shit.
• Vampire Invitation: You need one if you're a vampire. There exist loopholes though; a hotel is a public accommodation, for instance. For some reason, vampires are never savvy enough to just burn down the house from the outside.
• Vampires Are Sex Gods: Mocked. Inability for a vampire to feed is a metaphor for impotence. Poor Spike...
• Van Helsing Hate Crimes
• Victoria's Secret Compartment
• Villain-Beating Artifact: Too many examples of artifacts, like:
  • The Troll God's Hammer that's used in Season 5 to cut down Glory.
  • An ancient scythe that can defeat/kill Caleb.
  • Hope's Dagger, which was forge from the first rays of the sun on earth. It's the only weapon to injure the First Evil.
• Villain Episode: "Fool For Love" (Spike) and "Who Are You" (Faith).
• Villain Pedigree: Vampires, the Big Bads for the first two seasons, are little more than no-name Mooks by the end.
• Villain World: The world we see in "The Wish".
  • The Wicked Willow trilogy of books explored what would've happened if Willow had stayed power mad.
• The Virus: Vampirism.
• Visit by Divorced Dad: Buffy encounters what she thinks is her father in "Nightmares", but is actually a cruel manifestation of all of her own insecurities as a delinquent daughter. She spends the summer with her dad over the first season hiatus, but their relationship remains frosty.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Spike and Angel and Willow and Anya.
• Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World
• Walk and Talk: The hallways of SHS and UC Sunnydale.
• Wannabe Diss: Liberally sprinkled on everyone from Heroic Wannabes to Vampire Wannabes.
• Weapon Twirling: Buffy frequently twirls her stakes.
• Weirdness Magnet: Sunnydale in general, but especially Xander.
  • Taken to its extreme in an episode where Willow lampshades this and accidentally turns Xander into a literal demon magnet.
• We Used to Be Friends: Faith, Cordelia, Angelus, Giles, Willow - a lot of characters at some point in the story.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?: The Cheese Man that appears in everyone's dreams in "Restless", who Joss Whedon has said means absolutely nothing.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: Kendra and Angel.
• When Dimensions Collide: Every attempt to open the Hellmouth is generally described as a Type II event ready to happen -- but it's only at the end of Season 5 that we actually see hell dimensions bleeding over onto Earth when Doc uses Dawn's blood to break down the walls between dimensions.
• Where Do They Get All Those Wonderful Swords, Axes, Knives and Medieval Crossbows? Seriously, is there a mail-order catalog?
• Working with the Ex: Buffy The Vampire Slayer is not shy about using this trope.
  • Angel and Buffy during Season 3 of her show.
  • Buffy ended up working briefly with Riley and his wife in the sixth season in the episode "As You Were".
• Workout Fanservice: Angel doing his shirtless, exercising Tai Chi routine. Plus, this trope is acknowledge by Word of God.
• World of Snark: Just about every character ever seen is snarky as hell.
• X Meets Y: Marti Noxon's vision for Seasons 6-7 was "Party of Five with monsters." Well, that explains a lot.
• You Have Failed Me...: The Master kills one of his minions in episode 2. "You have something in your eye."
  • The Anointed One and his lackeys try to pull this on Spike. Tried.
  • It looked like Spike was going to pull this on Billy Fordham in "Lie To Me" when Billy's plan to deliver several dozen people to Spike is foiled by Buffy. But not only does Spike not kill Billy, but he keeps his end of the deal and sire Billy. After all, Billy kept up his part of the deal, and Spike probably knew that Buffy would be waiting at Billy's grave to stake him when he rose anyways.
  • Also averted in 'Band Candy'. At the end of the episode the Mayor and Mr. Trick are sitting around and talking about how the entire night was a bust because Buffy killed the demon they were going to sacrifice the kidnapped babies to, meaning they'd set up the Band Candy incident as a giant diversion for a plan that failed anyway. The Mayor then asks Mr. Trick what he did with Ethan Rayne, who'd cast the Band Candy spell.

Mr. Trick: I paid him. The man did his job.

• • Glory does this to 2 of her minions in "Intervention".
• You Look Familiar: Brent Jennings played the vampire pastor Absalom ("When She Was Bad") before being cast as Mr. Trick a year later.
  • Spice Williams plays the police instructor who tries to murder Buffy, Patrice, in "What's My Line?" She also appeared in "The Zeppo" as a member of the Sisterhood of Jhe, and later turned up on Angel as a convict hired to kill Faith in prison.
• Your Vampires Suck: Aimed at Anne Rice a few times, but Buffy's also been on the receiving end.
  • Dracula gets this alot from Spike. To be fair, Drac still owes him money.
• Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb