Buffy: The Vampire Slayer has captured audiences for nearly three decades. The television series, aired from 1997-2002, focuses on a teenage monster-fighter and her friend group. Most recently, the show has even seen a streaming resurgence as modern fans rediscover some of Buffy’s classic characters: the strong-willed titular heroine, the nerdy witch Willow Rosenberg and the lovable, bumbling Xander Harris. Sadly, Nicholas Brendon, who portrayed Xander Harris for all seven seasons of the show, died at the age of 54 on March 20. Brendon leaves behind him the legacy of Xander Harris, a character who is often criticized for his many mistakes, as well as his own complex past.
Brendon is the second cast member of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer to pass away recently. Michelle Trachtenberg, the actress behind the rebellious and innocent Dawn Summers, died at the age of 39 only last year, and Brendon commemorated his co-star with a live video in which he stated that “she was just like a beam of light.” Now, after news of Brendon’s passing, the cast of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, joined by countless fans, remembers Brendon’s career.
Brendon also played Kevin Lynch in crime drama Criminal Minds, Seth Richman in the sitcom Kitchen Confidential and co-wrote issues of the Buffy: The Vampire Slayer comic series. Still, Xander Harris is most likely Brendon’s most memorable character. Xander began the show as an awkward teenager and ended as a seasoned vampire hunter, and Brendon appeared in all but one Buffy episode. Introduced in the very first episode, Xander quickly befriended newcomer Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and would later learn she was one woman in a long line of vampire slayers. Together with his best friend Willow (Alyson Hannigan), Xander would team up with the forces of good to drive out evil. However, Brendon’s character was often used for comic relief and, in comparison with his super-powered friends, sidelined for his own safety.
Yet, despite being represented as a light-hearted clown, the character has drawn criticism, with fans going so far as to call Xander “the real villain.” Throughout the show, Xander is fixated on various female characters, and the list grows quite long as Buffy progresses. More importantly, however, the character often mistreats the women of Buffy. Xander grows angry with Buffy for not returning his feelings, plays with Willow’s feelings after her attachment to him is revealed, cheats on one of his girlfriends and leaves his eventual fiancée at the altar. The character is often judgemental of his friends’ actions and slow to look past appearances. Nevertheless, Xander Harris remains one of the most beloved television show characters of all time. Much of that is owed to Brendon’s performance. Brendon brought a naivety and gentleness to Xander’s character that often counteracted the writing, and for that, he lives on.
However, Nicholas Brendon had his own personal demons to fight, as well. The actor long suffered from alcoholism and depression, despite repeated stints in rehabilitation facilities. Brendon once appeared on The Dr. Phil Show for only a short time before walking off the stage, which he later explained by stating that he had been very drunk the night before and bothered by Dr. Phil’s questions about his troubled childhood. He had a history of violence against women and rocky relationships, having divorced his second wife only five months after their marriage. Up to only a few days before his unfortunate death, Brendon was involved in various disputes. In a way, many of the actor’s struggles mirrored the contentious nature of Xander Harris.
Both Xander Harris and Nicholas Brendon, despite numerous mistakes and horrible failures, remained very much human. According to the New York Times article that announced Brendon’s death, the actor developed a stutter at the age of seven and later in life served as an ambassador for the Stuttering Foundation. Upon his death, many of Brendon’s co-stars spotlighted the warmth Brendon shared with his colleagues. For example, Gellar honored the iconic actor by sharing one of Xander Harris’s lines, “I see more than anybody realizes, because nobody’s watching me,” along with her own statement that “I saw you Nicky. I know you are at peace, in that big rocking chair in the sky.”
More than any other character on Buffy, Xander Harris reminded audiences of their own humanity, of the seemingly limitless capacity for humans to mess up. This facet of Xander Harris can explain why the character is so contentious today — in Buffy’s world of vampire slayers and powerful magic-wielders, we are faced with our own weakness. Yet, hopefully, as with Xander Harris and Nicholas Brendon, we will have friends and family to pick us up from the ground and encourage us to keep fighting.
Jane Locke is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a staff writer for the Arts & Culture department and can be reached at jlocke@cornellsun.com.
