Residing in a shared creative landscape referred to by fans as the Buffyverse, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel spawned dozens of richly drawn, deeply moving, totally hilarious characters from the 1997 Buffy premiere to the 2004 Angel finale. To celebrate these characters — even the ones I'd just as soon never see again — I've ranked them from worst to best.
Criteria: To be included on this list, a character has to have a name, appear on Buffy and/or Angel for at least three episodes, and meaningfully participate either in the episodes' plot or in a larger, season-long storyline. (Sorry random teacher or Wolfram & Hart flunky!) When it made sense, I grouped some characters, and there are also a handful of special exceptions for standout characters in just one or two episodes who have significant arcs of their own. Also, for the persnickety, since an actor's performance plays a definite role in the success or failure of a character in these rankings, I did not factor in the post-finale comic books.
A bias: I'm more of a Buffy person than an Angel person, but my editor in this endeavor is die-hard Angel fan Shani Hilton, and she successfully argued the case for several Angel characters. (Also: I really do like Angel very much!)
117. Kennedy
116. The Anointed One
115. Ben
114. Graham
113. Lee Mercer
112. Shannon
111. Principal Flutie
110. Hank Summers
109. Adam
108. Dr. Sparrow
107. Knox
106. Detective Kate Lockley
105. Percy West
104. Caridad
103. Molly
102. Linwood Murrow
101. The Beast
100. The Knights of Byzantium
Played by: Wade Andrew Williams, Justin Gorence, Karim Prince
Number of episodes: 3
First episode: "Checkpoint," Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 5
Last episode: "Spiral," Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 5
Seriously? Knights?! Who ultimately served no purpose other than to fill up time before Glory's inevitable capture of Dawn? OK, there was that kinda exciting RV-vs.-knights-on-horseback action sequence, but still. COME ON.
99. Parker Abrams
98. Rona
97. Marcus Hamilton
96. Scott Hope
95. Rack
94. Glory's Minions
Played by: Kevin Weisman, Troy Blendell, Todd Duffey, Alan Heitz, Lily Knight, Matthew Lang
Number of episodes: 11
First episode: "Shadow," Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 5
Last episode: "The Gift," Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 5
Glory's oily-haired, demon-y worshippers are essentially parodies of sniveling, supplicatory flunkies, and that's all they're ever allowed to be. They don't even get an Oompa Loompa-style origin story musical number. Poor minions.
93. Eve
92. Jasmine
91. Gavin Park
90. Riley Finn
89. Silas
88. Merl
87. Veruca
86. Chao-ahn
85. Forrest
84. Sahjhan
83. Caleb
82. Willy
81. David Nabbit
80. Connor
79. The Groosalugg
78. Principal Robin Wood
77. Nina Ash
76. Marcie Ross
75. Professor Maggie Walsh
74. The First Slayer
73. Virginia Bryce
72. Deputy Mayor Allan Finch
71. Penn
70. Quentin Travers
69. Violet (aka Vi)
68. Rondell
67. Kathy Newman
66. Daniel Holtz
65. Dracula
64. Katrina Silber
63. Skip
62. The First
61. Billy Blim
60. Amanda
59. Mr. Trick
58. D'Hoffryn
57. Holden Webster
56. The Deathwok Clan
Played by: Brody Hutzler (Landok), Tom McCleister (Mother of the Vile Excrement), Brian Tahash (Narwek), Joss Whedon (Numfar)
Number of episodes: 4
First episode: "Belonging," Angel Season 2
Last episode: "There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb," Angel Season 2
Lorne's Pylean kin are the embodiment of Angel's mid-series crisis/vacation to Pylea, in the best way — a loving-if-incredibly-silly satire of medieval-loving Renaissance Faire folk and a reminder of just how different Lorne really was from the rest of his kind.
[Ed.: "It really annoys me that Landok is not at all perturbed by the number of free humans wandering around Los Angeles in ‘Belonging,' and yet, he comes from a society in which every single human is enslaved."]
55. Kendra
54. Dana
53. Whistler
52. Allen Francis Doyle
51. Gwendolyn Post
50. Dawn Summers
49. Gwen Raiden
48. Circle of the Black Thorn
Played by: Leland Crooke (Archduke Sebassis), Dennis Christopher (Cyvus Vail), Mark Colson (Izzerial), Stacey Travis (Sen. Helen Brucker), Jeff Yagher (Ed), Nick Jaine (head of the Sahrvin Clan)
Number of episodes: 7, between all the different characters within the Circle; 2 for the Circle itself
First episode: "Life of the Party," Angel Season 5 (for Archduke Sebassis); "Power Play," Angel Season 5 (for the Circle)
Last episode: "Not Fade Away," Angel Season 5
It's a grand, mythology-expanding notion, a secret society of influential demons who are the Senior Partners' most powerful instruments on earth. Each member is well differentiated from the other — and well matched against the corresponding members of Angel's crew who takes them out in "Not Fade Away." But even though a couple members are sprinkled through Angel's fifth season, shockingly, the Circle as a concept onto itself is only introduced in the penultimate episode of the entire series. You get the feeling that had Angel not been canceled, the Circle would have lived for far longer to antagonize Angel and Co. As it stands, they make for a perfectly formidable Big Bad with which to end the show.
47. Sweet
46. Billy "Ford" Fordham
45. Larry Blaisdell
44. Holland Manners
43. Dennis Pearson
42. Sunday
41. Justine Cooper
40. The Buffybot
39. Clem
38. Ethan Rayne
37. Charles Gunn
36. Roger and Trish Burkle
35. Lorne
34. Principal Snyder
33. Cassie Newton
32. Glory
31. Doc
30. Lilah Morgan
29. Halfrek/Cecily
28. Lindsey McDonald
27. Anne Steele (aka Lily Houston, aka Chantarelle)
Played by: Julia Lee
Number of episodes: 5
First episode: "Lie to Me," Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 2
Last episode: "Not Fade Away," Angel Season 5
A confession: Until I embarked on this project, I had totally forgotten that Anne Steele from Angel (pictured, at right) is the same character as "Chantarelle" from the Billy Fordham Buffy episode "Lie To Me" (pictured, at left) — and the teenage runaway Lily in the Buffy Season 3 premiere "Anne." To be able to track this one, normal girl, and see how Buffy and Angel make a tangible difference in her life over the course of seven years, is one of the very best small triumphs for these two shows.
26. The Master
25. Harmony Kendall
24. Joyce Summers
23. Warren Mears
22. Amy Madison
21. Jenny Calendar
20. Darla
19. Angel
18. Daniel "Oz" Osbourne
17. Illyria
16. Angelus
15. Jonathan Levinson
14. Andrew Wells
13. Tara Maclay
12. Drusilla
11. Xander Harris
10. Anya
9. Mayor Richard Wilkins
8. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
Played by: Alexis Denisof
Number of episodes: 109
First episode: "Bad Girls," Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 3
Last episode: "Not Fade Away," Angel Season 5
Wesley arrives in Sunnydale as a naive and spineless Watcher who fails his charge miserably, and dies in Los Angeles a heartbroken, cynical warrior ready to give his life for a higher cause. His journey from one extreme to the other occasionally tips into a wearying despondency — having your throat slit and your friends abandon you can do that to a guy, I guess. But Denisof threads each step without ever losing sight of the man at his core. It’s an astonishing transformation.
7. Cordelia Chase
6. Winifred "Fred" Burkle
5. Buffy Summers
Played by: Sarah Michelle Gellar (and Eliza Dushku in one episode)
Number of episodes: 147
First episode: "Welcome to the Hellmouth," Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1
Last episode: "Chosen," Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7
Like so many heroes before her, sometimes Buffy can slip into a self-righteous rut while everyone else gets to have much more fun — and her Season 6 dark period, while psychologically valid, was a slog. That's the territory when your name is in the title. But none of it diminishes Buffy's place as a pop culture touchstone, a woman in all her complexity who is also our hero, racing into danger and kicking evil's ass as best she can.
4. Faith
3. Rupert Giles
2. Spike
1. Willow Rosenberg
Played by: Alyson Hannigan
Number of episodes: 147
First episode: "Welcome to the Hellmouth," Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1
Last episode: "Chosen," Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7
It is just no contest. No other character goes on as wide-ranging a transformation, from nerdy bookworm to avenging witch, from pining after her best friend Xander to making love to her beloved girlfriend Tara, from struggling to levitate a pencil to bestowing the power of the Slayer into every single potential in the world. She can be as funny and heartbreaking in practically the same breath, and, crucially, she is allowed to fuck up HUGE while still remaining innately herself. (Her Season 6 descent into darkness is the only one that feels organic to the character rather than the Thing That Needs To Happen This Season.) Even when she's Dark Willow, she is still Willow; it's not a demon possessing her, but her own rage and grief.
Put it this way: The seed for this insane project began when my colleague Louis Peitzman was finishing up his insane project of ranking every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (A similar post for Angel is in the works, by the way.) The topic of the best Buffyverse characters came up, and without hesitation, I said, "Willow." As far as I'm concerned, it's the only possible answer.
So that's my list of the best and worst Buffyverse characters. What's yours?
Grrr, argh: Forrest and Maggie Walsh, of course, were on Buffy, not Angel — which had five seasons, not seven. "Once More, with Feeling" was on Season 6 of Buffy, "Amends" was on Season 3, and "Into the Woods" was on Season 5. And Xander was on 143 episodes of Buffy. Thanks to readers DenaVen, vickid9, VAd, sjdawson, cortneys7, btvsfan, and @ianfarrington for catching that!