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Xander is based in part on Whedon himself, particularly in his high school years; as such, he is often the most geeky as well as witty and verbose of Buffy's characters. The character's overriding arc through the series has been his struggle towards maturity and earning the respect of others.
Brendon recognised that Xander was based on Joss Whedon when he had attended high school, accounting for why Xander "gets all the good lines". He signed with a manager and was cast as Xander Harris on Buffy the Vampire Slayer three months later.
So Xander’s main issue is misogyny and this extends through the early seasons when Whedon based him off himself: He has a weird possessive attitude towards his female friends & their sex lives. He watches Buffy change in season 1, he’s nasty when she turns him down in Prophecy Girl.
- He Gains Confidence
- He Becomes A Solider
- He Matures
- He Finds True Love
- He Gets Braver
- Finds His Independence
- Gains Trust
- He Saves The World
- He Becomes A Heartthrob
- He Makes Sacrifices
Xander starts out as a young, self-deprecating teenage boy who uses sarcasm and humor to deflect his real emotions. He carries that same wit and humor throughout the series, but he stops using it as a shield and starts embracing his emotions. Xander gets pretty caught up in the idea that he's not masculine enough and frequently finds himself intimi...
In seasons two's Halloween episode, Buffy and her friends decide to dress up for Halloween and volunteer taking kids around Sunnydale for trick-or-treating. The Scoobies get their costumes at a new shop called "Ethan's". Xander picks out an army costume in an attempt to look tough and masculine. RELATED: Buffy The Vampire Slayer: 10 Best Episodes (...
When it comes to dating and women in general, Xander struggles. In the first season, after Xander meets Buffy, he develops and instant crush on the slayer, but those feelings are not reciprocated, so he's left pining for her secretly. When Xander finally moves on from that crush, he falls for Cordelia, but they have to keep their relationship a sec...
For the first time in Xander's life, a girl finally has a crush on him. That girl is Anya, the vengeance demon, turned high school student. Anya shares her feelings for Xander, which initially he doesn't reciprocate, but the more time he spends with her, the more he starts to fall. Xander and Anya get engaged at the end of season five. RELATED: Buf...
For a guy who didn't even know vampires were real before Buffy came to town, Xander adapts rather quickly to the idea and has the series progresses, we see him getting braver with every big-bad encounter he has. In season four, the Scooby gang must face Adam, who is a demon-cyborg created by mad scientist and college professor, Dr. Maggie Walsh. Be...
In the beginning, Xander can be classified as a "sidekick". He's the guy who is always one step behind everybody else and ready to jump in if he's called to do so. In later seasons, especially once the gang has graduated from high school, we see Xander off on his own a lot more. Willow and Buffy choose college after high school, but Xander gets a c...
There are times when Xanderdoes more harm than good. Early on, he has a tendency to get in the way or cause more trouble when Buffy is slaying, so much so, that in one episode called, "The Zeppo", Buffy asks Xander is hang back when she is patrolling because she's sick of having to save him all the time and when she has to do that, it jeopardizes t...
Xander is always willing to lend a helping hand when Buffy needs it while saving the world, but he his solely responsible for saving everyone at the end of season six. Willow has become Dark Willow after Tara was killed by Warren. RELATED: Buffy The Vampire Slayer: 5 Times Xander Was A Nice Guy (And 5 Times He Was A "Nice Guy") Dark Willow goes on ...
Xander's character is clearly set up in the beginning to be a typical high school nerd. He seems to embrace his social status with jokes at his own expense and keeping within the boundaries his status has created. Toward the end of high school and into his adulthood, Xander erases those boundaries and as he becomes more confident and unwilling to b...
You could argue that Xander doesn't start out as the most selfless character. In the early episodes, he's frequently seen putting himself and his safety first. Though he loves his friends, he's selfish and he tends to use Buffy and Willow when he needs them and doesn't seem capable of returning the favor. That all changes as Xander grows up and we ...
- HE WAS ALMOST MADE GAY INSTEAD OF WILLOW. When Joss Whedon first created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he knew that he wanted one of Buffy's best friends to be gay, but he wasn't sure who between Xander and Willow.
- HE WAS ALMOST KILLED OFF IN SEASON SEVEN. In season seven, the writers strongly considered killing off Xander in the episode "Dirty Girls." The scenario would have seen Caleb kill him off and for the rest of the season, The First would have appeared in the form of Xander.
- PRODUCERS TOLD NICHOLAS BRENDON TO STOP WORKING OUT. In both movies and TV shows, actors are expected to take the necessary steps to make sure their body type fits the character they play.
- NICHOLAS BRENDON GOT JENNY CALENDAR'S NAME CHANGED. Well, not directly, nor intentionally. Jenny Calendar's name being changed due to Nicholas Brendon's own actual real name was more of a creative decision made by Joss Whedon for the sake of a last minute oversight.
Aug 25, 2017 · In Xander's trivia it says Joss based Xander off himself. Even though Xander is Christian and Joss does not believe in God.
Oct 1, 2024 · Another popular romance trope that Joss Whedon wouldn’t miss out on putting in his series was the enemies-to-lovers dynamic for Xander — a character who is reportedly modeled after Whedon's time in high school.
