The A to Z of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
As Buffy and co celebrate their 20th birthday, Paul Jones lays down the letters of the lore
U is for Uber-vamps - aka the Turok-Han. The First's (see E) impossibly hard vampire henchmen waiting beneath the Hellmouth (see H) for the final showdown. After Buffy barely survives her first encounter with a Turok-Han, the battle ahead seems impossible to win. But, in one of the most goose-bump-inducing scenes of the entire series, she lures it into the open, organises an audience of frightened Potential Slayers, and shows them that the fight isn't quite over yet…
V is for Veruca - the female werewolf Oz mates with while in wolf form and who subsequently tries to kill his girlfriend Willow (see W). Oz stops Veruca by ripping her throat out. Relationships can be messy sometimes.
W is for Willow - a nerdy genius, late blooming lesbian and increasingly powerful witch, Buffy's best friend Willow (Alyson Hannigan) is always upbeat. Oh, except when someone shoots her girlfriend and she becomes possessed by dark magic and tries to destroy the world (see D). Other than that, she's lovely.
X is for Xander - Willow's oldest and closest friend and the third core member of the "Scooby Gang". Not quite as geeky as Willow - but up there. An everyman surrounded by powerful women (he almost married a demon), Xander (Nicholas Brendon) often provides the comic relief but he's also the human heart of the Scooby Gang. So when Willow tries to destroy the world, it's Xander who stops her - with love (aaaaah).
Y is for Yellow Crayon Moment - when Xander talks Willow down from her magic-pumped mission to end everything (see X) it's using a story from their childhood, about her breaking the yellow crayon in kindergarten. "Yellow crayon moment" has since become a shorthand among fanboys and girls for any similar scenario.
Z is for Zombies - remember that time a demon called Ovu Mobani raised all the dead in Sunnydale? They killed everything in their path until Buffy destroyed him. She saved the world. A lot.
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