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Xander Harris

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What are you waiting for? GO!

I laugh in the face of danger! Then I... hide until it goes away.
~ Xander Harris.
Seven years… Working with the Slayer. Seeing my friends get more and more powerful… All of them. And I'm the guy who fixes the windows. They'll never know how tough it is, Dawnie. To be the one who isn't chosen, to live so near to the spotlight and never step in it. But I know. I see more than anybody realizes because nobody's watching me.
~ Xander to Dawn.

Alexander LaVelle "Xander" Harris is a major character in the Buffyverse appearing as one of the two tritagonists (alongside Spike) of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in which he appeared as the tritagonist of seasons one, two, three, four, five and seven and the deuteragonist of season six.

He was a close friend of Slayer Buffy Summers and a founding member of the Scooby Gang. Being the only one of his group of friends to not possess any supernatural abilities, Xander was usually the one who saw everything beyond the supernatural. Besides this, Xander was known to be very humorous and sarcastic, especially in the face of danger.

He is portrayed by Nicholas Brendon.

Personality

Xander is often seen making jokes and wanting to be in the action even though he is one of the weakest of the main cast. Xander is very childish and is labelled as an outsider. Part of his reasoning for trying to be part of the actions seems to come from his insecurity and fears of being seen as a failure and loser in the eyes of his peers.

Xander is also shown to be protective of his friends and can overreact in situations that involve them being hurt in some form. Ultimately he does show courage when needed and always speaks his mind even when not always the brightest move.

He usually swallows his pride and is very forgiving. He always apologizes. Xander is easy to work with and is very loyal to the team.

Abilities

Gifted Intellect/Master Strategist and Tactician/Expert Investigator: Due to his laziness and procrastination Xander is often perceived as dimwitted and unintelligent. As the series progress and Xander becomes more confident and self-assured he shows himself to actually be a very intelligent man, being especially resourceful and quick-witted, as well as possessing a surprisingly high insight into other's emotions, especially that of his friends. Due to having U.S Army training implanted into his mind, Xander became exceptionally capable with strategy and tactics as well as possessing insight in to other military protocols. After becoming co-leader of the Slayer Organization alongside Buffy, Xander proved himself to have become a brilliant strategist, effectively coordinating Slayer teams worldwide with remarkable efficiency. Xander has, on occasion, shown himself to be a very adept investigator and tracker.

Investigating and Street Smart Skills: Xander has excellent street smart skills and can figure out things in a minute, Why he as excellent detective skills,

Expert Hand-to-hand Combatant: After fighting alongside Buffy and the Scooby gang for a while, his hand to hand combat style has improved. Due to being implanted with knowledge and experience of a U.S Infantry Soldier thanks to Ethan Rayne's spell, Xander possesses an instinctive knowledge of U.S army combatives and weapons training, making him an extremely capable fighter in his own right. Though Xander began to lose the knowledge with time, Xander appears to have worked to regain it or otherwise retrain himself to a similar level of skill as before, as he is shown in the last season to still be a formidable fighter by human standards, easily overpowering the bringers when they attempted to invade the Summers house.

  • Expert Marksman: Xander is an extremely proficient marksman both with firearms and with bows.
  • Weapon Mastery: Due to training alongside his friends and fighting monsters for much of his young adult life, Xander is extremely skilled with a variety of weaponry, most especially medieval weaponry.

Appearances

Television

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003, 143 episodes)

Comics

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer Classics (1998-2003, 49 appearances)
  • Tales (2004, 1 appearance)
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
    • Season Eight (2007-2011, 36 appearances)
    • Season Nine (2011-2013, 22 appearances)
    • Season Ten (2014-2016, 25 appearances)
    • Season Eleven (2016-2017, 8 appearances)
    • Season Twelve (2017-2018, 4 appearances)
  • Angel
    • Angel & Faith (2013, 1 appearance)
    • Angel & Faith: Season Ten (2014, 1 appearance)
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2019-, 16 appearances)
  • The Vampire Slayer (2022 - present)
    • The Vampire Slayer Issue 1 Introduction of Xander and Tony relationship origin
      In this continuation of the comic series, Wilow's spell backfires causing massive changes in the universe. Xander is now gay and has a boyfriend named Tony. However, Xander is secretly cheating on Tony with Spike because Tony is "emotionally unavailable",

Novels

  • Buffy the Vampires Slayer (75 novel appearances)

Video games

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2000)
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2002)
  • Wrath of the Darkhul King (2003)
  • Chaos Bleeds (2006)
  • Sacrifice (2009)

Trivia

  • Nicholas Brendan's identical twin-brother, Kelly Donovan, also played the character as the former's stunt double.
  • Ryan Reynolds was originally offered the role of Xander, but turned it down.

External Links

Navigation

           uffyverse Heroes

Scooby Gang

Founding Members:Buffy Summers | Willow Rosenberg | Xander Harris | Rupert Giles

Later Additions: Cordelia Chase | Angel | Daniel Osbourne | Anya Jenkins | Spike | Riley Finn | Tara Maclay | Dawn Summers | Andrew Wells | Robin Wood | Faith Lehane | Jenny Calendar

Angel Investigations
Founding Members:Angel | Cordelia Chase | Allen Francis Doyle

Later Additions: Wesley Wyndam-Pryce | Charles Gunn | Lorne | Winifred Burkle | Connor | Harmony Kendall | Spike | Illyria |

Other Slayers
Nikki Wood | Kendra Young | Kennedy | Amanda | Colleen | Dianne | Chao-Ahn | Rona | Dominique | Shannon | Soledad | Caridad | Violet

Other Allies
Pike | Jonathan Levinson | Clement