anya's death [Archive] - Buffy-Boards

celestialarrow

01-23-2008, 10:15 AM

okay when anya died i didnt care and this is why i always thought her character was cruel, cold and sarcastic at the wrong times. she never really contributed anything to the show too me! and i never got what xander saw in anya she was mean and ditzy. her character didnt really relate to the others on the show she couldnt fight except for those episodes chosen and selfless. i mean her character never really grew to me compare anya and cordelia. cordy started off as this popular girl who at time was a biotch but as time went on and she faced trying trials that tested her as a person she became a selfless hero willing to risk everything for her friends and the greater good she gave up potentially happiness with angel to ascend to a higher plane to fight evil even though at the time she didnt know it was all a trick by a renegade higher power but nevertheless she made a grave saciface. and then you have anya she never became a heart warming person when xander left her at the altar i didnt even care. i wish she developed more depth and characterization that separate her from back when she was a demon.

VisionGuy

01-23-2008, 10:18 AM

ROFLMFAO!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, this thread is gonna get interesting. :lmao:

I think Anya grew but her change wasn't as drastic as Cordelia's. Anya could have just skipped down when the apocalypse came. She didn't have a reason to stay since Xander and her were over. But she decided to stay and fight. I think that shows growth from when she left town for the ascension in season 3. Not to mention everything that happened in Selfless.

Lyri

01-23-2008, 10:28 AM

::headdesk:: oh dear God this is gonna be a wild ride.

personally, i adored Anya. she was funny, made me laugh a lot, sweet and caring and grew to be a selfless individual. i mean, she wanted to undo what she'd done to the Frat boys so much that she was willing to give up her own life. how is that not personal growth? and i agree with what VG said up there. she could have skipped town in S7, left the others to fight the battle with the First, but she chose to stay and fight, because she knew it was the right thing to do. in the end, Anya gave her life to help save the world. the word 'Selfless' does not even begin to discribe Anya Jenkins.

justanotherjen

01-23-2008, 10:38 AM

Anya kind of grew on me. She wasn't my favorite character but I did see a lot of growth from her. The fact that she was willing to give up being a vengeance demon because she started to feel guilt for her actions shows that she changed.

And the whole conversation with her and Andrew towards the end where they are discussing why they are staying--that really got me for some reason. She skipped out on the last Apocalypse but this one--she feels vested in it. She knows most likely her friends will die and she is willing to die, too, to help them. She was a true hero--going into battle knowing you have little chance to survive but doing it all the same because you know it is the right thing to do. I cried when she died. Actually I screamed, then went into shock, then cried a minute later as it all kind of set in.

The best part about her was her lack of tact. She cracked me up with the stuff she said, not understanding she shouldn't say them. It did get annoying at times. My favorite scene was after Joyce died and she broke down because she didn't understand how to deal with it or how to act.

Joyce Summers

01-23-2008, 11:06 AM

I don't think Anya could ever be called cruel (post-demon days I mean) or cold. Sarastic yes, but it was never meant in a mean or callous way. It was just the way Anya simply was. She stated things as they were. She was blunt and this became less annoying (as it was intended to be in season 3) and much more endearing the more we came to know her. Even Giles stated to gain amusement from Anya's blunt comments and her genuine confusion over human habits (which might be why his role in her life had progressed into a fatherly one akin to his with Buffy, by season 6)
And I think to say Anya didn't develop depth or at all is an exageration. As the others have said, Anya did grow, she just grew more subtly than the others. But she always had her heart in the right place. Even technically in season three. She may not have been completely right, but she was concerned about Xander's welfare which shows progress in my opinion. And she shoves Xander out of the way in The Gift so she is hit and not him. She sacrifices herself to save him.
She was shown to be there for more than comic relief in The Body in her lament when she is revealed to be whilst a thousand years old also a very lost child who just didn't understand the death of someone close to her, or death at all.
In season 4 Xander saw all the wonderfulness that could be in Anya and his sensitivity (and let's admit it, patience) brought it all out of her. And she was truly madly in love with him and she was so completely heartbroken in Hell's Bells that personally I believe it is almost impossible not to empathize with her. I mean to have your one true love abandon you on your wedding day?
Anya though, in all her flaws, wasn;t cold or callous or even selfish she just said it how it was. She was concerned about her own life, isn't everybody? Anya just admitted this freely and in The Gift, Chosen and Triangle (where she says kill me instead of Willow, just don't kill Xander) she's shown that she can put those self-concerns aside to save others.
In my opinion, Anya was great and an increasingly wonderful delight throughout the duration of the show.

And word of warning; once Gategod reads this thread you will undoubtedly recieve a bigger rant than mine. haha

LittleMissLikesToFight

01-23-2008, 11:58 AM

Anya grew on me too. she was, at first, annoying. especially her lack of tact. I thought cordelia pulled it off in a much more funny way. Anya was...well... a nuisance. At first, anyway. She definitely grew on me as time went on and i felt a little tug at my heart when she died. I guess i wasn't even positive she did until andrew said what he did to xander. BUT i think i was more upset when i thought Wood had died. Yeah, i know! we didn't even have as much time with him! I'm insane... so i've been told...

Nabila

01-23-2008, 12:18 PM

I have to admit I am not a big fan of Anya, but I found her amusing even when she was annoying. And I believe she improved as time went by because of her love for Xander. I appreciate that she supported Xander and lessened his insecurities. Buffy and Willow had their own lives. It was just good to see that Xander who didn't have a great family life had Anya who adored him, and basically clung to him. The clinging got annoying sometimes, but Xander was all she had.

I guess I felt for Anya how I felt for Spike. In Entropy, I understood this more. It is about the sadness of being Anya, and the sadness of being Spike. They were outsiders.

Originally posted by celestialarrow
i wish she developed more depth and characterization that separate her from back when she was a demon.

Sometimes there are just characters we can never sympathise with. This is basically how I felt about Dawn when she just came out of nowhere and was being mean to Buffy. I'm still struggling with it. lol

TrueVengeance

01-23-2008, 02:20 PM

Harm's Way

01-23-2008, 02:23 PM

Coming from an Anya fan. I don't understand this post!
How was Anya supposed to grow when in all reality there was
nothing Human about her. She may have been on/off mortal, but she
was never really a human. She was sarcastic but I don't see how she was cold
hearted at all! Comparing her to Cordelia isn't fair. Cordelia, one of my other favorites.

Cordelia was human all her life until she ascended! Most people grow and mature and
because out of the thousands of years she was alive, she was human for maybe 24 1/2 years!
Counting her time as originally human, and as human with the scoobies! When Xander left Anya at
the alter I lost a lot of respect for the character, Xander Harris. Selfless was an amazing episode
and her death was heroic and tragic. I miss Anya terribly and her time on the show was great!

She made me laugh, feel sad, everything! She was great! :nod:

GATEGOD

01-23-2008, 02:31 PM

Warning: Once GATEGOD gets here then we'll get a rant :p

No character growth from Anya? There was quite a bit! Maybe not as drastic as Cordy's, but you also have to remember that Anya was a demon for over 1000 years, not a highschool bitch. How was she cold (season 4 or later)? Is it because she was always honest when it came to her own saftey? Because she always put Xander first. In fact I think it was her love for Xander that caused her to change into a better person. Look at Triangle, The Gift, Selfless, and Chosen. In Triangle, she told Olaf to kill her instead of Willow, because she knew Xander wouldn't choose, eventually resulting in him dying. In The Gift, she stayed for the apocolypse because Xander was. She pushed him out of the way of falling debris, getting hit herself. And Selfless and Chosen shouldn't even need explaination.

Why would I rant ;)

Fines, I won't. Maybe a tiny bit? Okay! Anya contributed alot to the show. Not only did she become a scooby, but she was always there with a question or a joke to lighten the mood or make things worse. She was always coming up with new ideas and she helped the gang countless times. She was a sweet cute girl who didn't know what is was meant to be human until Xander came along. Once Xander crushed her. He did. Than she was just a shell of herself filled with pain, anger and sorrow. When she finally showed a huge change at the end of Selfless she grew even more. Her character was very deep and the only problems I have was Xander hurting her and a bringer killing her!! None being her fault. I could go on.. oh yea.. sorry. See I didn't rant too much.

TrueVengeance

01-23-2008, 02:36 PM

Why would I rant ;)

Fines, I won't. Maybe a tiny bit? Okay! Anya contributed alot to the show. Not only did she become a scooby, but she was always there with a question or a joke to lighten the mood or make things worse. She was always coming up with new ideas and she helped the gang countless times. She was a sweet cute girl who didn't know what is was meant to be human until Xander came along. Once Xander crushed her. He did. Than she was just a shell of herself filled with pain, anger and sorrow. When she finally showed a huge change at the end of Selfless she grew even more. Her character was very deep and the only problems I have was Xander hurting her and a bringer killing her!! None being her fault. I could go on.. oh yea.. sorry. See I didn't rant too much.

And here I was lookin' forward to your rant :p

But well said! Speaking of helping the gang, I honestly don't think everyone notices how much she was there for the gang from season 5 onwards. Even after her ties to Xander were over she still helped.

GATEGOD

01-23-2008, 02:50 PM

Kemy agrees: Its more that she clung to them for a lack of anyone else to be with, mooching off them.

She became human and they were the only people she knew. When Xander broke her heart and they were distant she went back to the only other thing she knew which was being a vengeance demon with her 'demon' friends If the gang was there for her than she wouldn't have killed those people in Selfless! She clung to them because she was lonely and because she was a 900 year old ex-demon. She could help them, and she did, on countless occasions.

Lyri

01-23-2008, 02:53 PM

actually, Anya was over 1120. bit more than 900, lol.

GATEGOD

01-23-2008, 02:56 PM

actually, Anya was over 1120. bit more than 900, lol.

See, so she had so much knowledge to give, aswell as life experience. She did help them. Thanks Lyri :D I confused the year she was born (860) with her age

SpikedBuffy

01-23-2008, 04:11 PM

Yikes!

Well, Anya is not my most favorite character... she's pretty near the bottom, but I wouldn't say she was cruel/worthless/etc. Her point of view was so clearly different than everyone's character, that she was bound to say things or do things that viewers might not have liked.

However, she did show much character development. We met her as a demon, and then watched her struggle with her humanity through 3-6. To top that off, she had to deal with being a human while planning a wedding (a large feat in itself). What would you expect after being left at the alter? That she'd accept humanity more? Of course not..she'd fall and return to the only thing she knew.

I'd say that she was guilty and felt extreme remorse for her act in "Selfless" with the frat boys that it shows tremendous group. And don't forget, as Andrew put it in "End of Days".... she 'loves humans'. She changed drastically!

celestialarrow

01-24-2008, 11:05 AM

you all have made good points but you guys point out her good qualities in certain episode yet there are a number of episodes where she wasn't so nice and sweet i get that she was a demon but so was spike before he had a soul yet his character grew without losing his comedic punts. the thing is i've watched episodes where even buffy and the gang would question her contributions to the team. you all talk about her being kind but only towards xander name her real connections to any other character and not for a one episode stint. i mean throughout the series not trying to discredit the character just saying there are alot of characters throughout the buffy-verse that are sarcastic yet they have really grown as a person which she was at one time or another i know she had been a demon for a long time but SHE made the choice to become human out of the love she had for xander but no one forced her either time she made the choice. and you talk about her being a demon was the reason she couldnt really connect but she was a human before she was changed unto a demon. and to say she changed drastically is going to far because truly the only difference between anya and anyanka is that anyanka has powers because she liked xander while she was a demon.

Cordelia Chase*

01-24-2008, 11:16 AM

and you talk about her being a demon was the reason she couldnt really connect but she was a human before she was changed unto a demon.

Anya couldnt connnect to alot of things. She didint understand human ways. Thats why when Joyce died Anya didnt understand why everyone kept crying, or where Joyce went, or why she had to die.

Remember, Buffy did say she was an 1000 year old demon. Thats alot of vegeance to just break away from and instantly be good.

Edit:

you all have made good points but you guys point out her good qualities in certain episode yet there are a number of episodes where she wasn't so nice and sweet i get that she was a demon but so was spike before he had a soul yet his character grew without losing his comedic punts. the thing is i've watched episodes where even buffy and the gang would question her contributions to the team.

Okay. Anya wasnt all peachy at first but she had to learn these things. Anya knew vengence. That was her job. Being a vengeance demon. When that was taken away, she didnt know how to fit in so was was basically being herself. The more she hung around Xander and the Scoobies the more she understood and realized human ways(you could say).

And yes Spike progressed but he had a chip in his head. He was forced not to hurt humans so he was starting to get used to helping the scoobies.

TabulaRasa

01-24-2008, 08:49 PM

Anya's the bomb. I also saw a lot of growth from her character. Yes she was still sarcastic but I grow more as a human being every day and I am still just as sarcastic as the day I started out.
And like others have said, she stuck around for the final battle, which was def more scary than the others. Well it would have been to me. And she stayed. That's not the Anya that first started out.

Senior Watcher

01-24-2008, 08:54 PM

anyas death was very sad. i think it really plucked my heart strings since the writers had made her more 'human-minded' and less 'demon-minded' toward the end of the series.

she was an excellent character on the show. it wouldnt have been the same without her. im sure gategod (a.k.a. anya harris) would agree.

Aussie

01-24-2008, 10:27 PM

Anya was my favorite character. I found Cordellia to be a total bitch and I kept hoping she would be killed off (from buffy S1-3, not angel coz then she was cool) They cant really be compared.
Cordy would say mean stuff where as more often than not Anya would just point out the truth. Yes Im sure it wasnt what they always wanted to hear but she wasnt really being mean, just observant! As for the demon killings and stuff I think everyone has covered it and agreed that she had grown and developed as she felt remorse for the deaths and was willing to put her own life on the line for those she cared for.

palabravampiress

01-25-2008, 12:22 AM

So, what? People who aren't all hearts and bunnies all the time aren't worthwhile characters?

You don't have to be nice and sweet or even a particularly likeable person to be a really awesome character. Look at Faith. Look at Spike. Look at Drusilla. Look at the Mayor. A lot of the show's baddies or semi-baddies were incredibly endearing and/or charismatic characters with interesting personalities and/or growth. The core characters, too, had their flaws. Willow tried to destroy the world, for goodness' sake! A character who isn't nice and doesn't win you over with her stunning personality isn't necessarily a bad character; she's probably just a complex one.

I, personally, thought Anya was a beautiful work of art. Watching her struggle with her newfound humanity, watching her form ties to people, watching her break, watching her struggle to stand on her own, watching her eventually choose to lay her life on the line -- and to lose it -- for humanity... my God! There's an entire lifetime of development in Anya.

Also, there's something to be said for her bluntness. She was never cruel. She was forthright and rational. Anya told the truth. She didn't dissemble. She didn't prevaricate. She didn't lie. I think it is telling that we humans are raised to think that there is something wrong with that. In many ways, Anya was pure. She was new. She was uncorrupted by the crazy, nonsensical parts of society that we humans take for granted. She questioned things that we should, perhaps, question more often than we do. She was bewildered by things that, perhaps, should bewilder us. She was beautiful.

Andrew Wells

01-26-2008, 09:48 AM

I love both Cordilla and Anya...and it was always a toss up on who I loved more(would have liked a second meeting of the two of them after season 3) ...I thought Xander was Anya's connection into the human world. At first she didn't understand humans or why they do certain things. She still thought like a demon, but over time this changed. That's why it's so heartbreaking in both Hells Bells and Selfless to see that the connection with Xander has been severed because she couldn't go back to her demon life since she was more human now. That's why I always felt her death was fitting because she died not as a demon in some supernatural, grand way, but as a human fighting for her friends, and dying a small but meaningful death. I always thought Anya's character and arc was layered and interesting.

Harm's Way

01-26-2008, 01:09 PM

Yeah! And plus..even if Anya doesn't seem so great, if we were to see
like an alternate seasons 3-7 (anyaless) You would probably see a drastic
change in the show feeling. She adds so much and she's my favorite character! :nod:

luvsspike

01-30-2008, 01:49 PM

I love anya. Does anyone remember? It was her idea for using the troll hammer in Season 5 to kill Glory.She does have heart she took back killing the frAt guys and the scene in the episode "the killer in me" Where there leaving to go see if Giles is part of the first and Xander goes i know the girls are out there alone with him and he said that in reaction to Anyas look to him. She also stayed to fight and she gave this whole speech to andrew when they were stealing supplies from the hospital about being a human and what it means.I was sad when she died I think she gave the show much of its humor.OH also when Joyce died how she trying to understand how to go threw greif of a person who died.She cried and was very emotinonal about it.Yes she is blunt and sometimes does not think before she says something but i do think she helps.Oh also she protecting Andrew and Johnathon when Willow went evil .She did so will would not kill another person and lose herself more.I am just saying she was not all bad. I loved anya! The person who was annoying was Dawn.She would not stop nagging!

Buffy obsessed fan

02-05-2008, 01:54 PM

Elithustra

02-05-2008, 02:29 PM

palabravampiress

02-05-2008, 02:44 PM

Initially, wasn't a fan of Anya. But I grew to adore that woman! I mean, she's into money, she dislikes bunnies. Already her and I had two great things in common.

But what happened to her at the end, blew me away, totally unexpected. I cried. Yup. Tears were streaming. I was more upset about Anya's death than Buffy ending!

I totally agree! I was prepared for Buffy's ending. I was unspoiled for Anya's death, though. It hurt. Physically. I was like, "NO!" I liked Anya. She and I are a lot alike. I think I would have been more upset if Giles had died. Anyone else? Fine. Kill 'em. Just save Anya!

GATEGOD

02-05-2008, 03:20 PM

Oh, Goddess, when I read his post I thought I was gonna have a FIT! Mostly, 'cause ya know, Vicky thinks Anya rocks. Vicky like Anya...Wait, why am I calling me Vicky...? Okay, that's beside the point; ever seen Selfless...? If you have, you're craze, if you haven't...then that explains it. But I don't get the problem with Anya...she was blunt and straight up...but like Joss said in the commentary [I can't spell that word <_<] for 'Superstar' it really helps get the Storyline moved along. Plus, she didn't know any better. She was a vengeance demon for eleven hundred and twenty-four [correct me if I'm wrong on the exact amount] years. And I wouldn't say she was ever a 'mean' character, sure a little selfish and capitalist but who doesn't love money!?!, but it's just what she knew. Anya was one of the best characters there was, in my opinion, I get that everyone has different opionions, and I'm usually very open to that, I just don't get the huge dislike of Anya.

I don't get why people dislike Anya either. She came to be my favorite character in the show. Said what she thought, sometimes didn't know what was wrong to say, but how could she, she wasn't a human for hundreds of years, than bam. She has to get used to everything. She doesn't understand alot of things in the beginning, thankfully Xander and her connect and she is able to learn and develop. Now Xander isn't the best teacher... but Anya turned out great. Funny, insightful, always having something to ask or say, always 'omg' I don't want to die. She was funny without knowing/trying to be. I loved it. Atleast she died fighting for something. But still If I could turn back time and change things, I would.

BuffyBloke

02-18-2008, 08:50 AM

I would consider Anya to be an annoying but yet loveable character for me. I really loved the way she just said things, no matter how irrational or nasty they were. It was the way she constructed them and it came out of her mouth that tickled my funny bone. I always will respect Anya in that regards, she was a different happy/loveable and evil character at one point and she never really lost any of those traits (except during season 6/7 where she sort of went back to her old ways and still kept a bit of good in her).

You know I'll be honest? When I first watched Chosen, I was so emersed in the battle and stuff I actually missed her death the first time! I remember did reading Anya was going to die in the finale, and after finishing watching the finale, I was thinking "So Anya died alive while Sunnydale was crumbling underneath her...boy what a way to go.." .. :) It wasn't until I watched it a second time I saw her get that sword slashed into her , and realised it was her as it just went by so quick.

Junostar

02-24-2008, 07:55 AM

I felt the same damn way about Tara. She was exasperating to the 10th power. I didn't feel bad when she left/died.

babyo0ogirl

03-05-2008, 02:07 PM

awww... I loved Anya. She was sweet & funny & yes, sometimes she said the wrong thing, but she never meant to hurt anyone. I was really sad that she died .

GATEGOD

03-05-2008, 02:18 PM

awww... I loved Anya. She was sweet & funny & yes, sometimes she said the wrong thing, but she never meant to hurt anyone. I was really sad that she died .

I know I've said this 703 times but:

:cry: Me too :cry:

Entiel

03-05-2008, 05:32 PM

I believe she always had a suggestion on a tight situation or just was there to makes us laugh..also her character grew quite a lot...she learned to live with humans for starters..also apart from loving Xander and changing her hole life for him she sacrificed herself for Andrew not because she had feelings but because it was the right thing to do...

Starlet

03-08-2008, 06:03 AM

For me, Anya's death was the saddest thing in Buffy finale:(
She was one of my favourite characters, she was so funny and she brought in a lot of humour to the show. Such a character was really needed in the show. Without Anya BTVS wouldn't be the same.
This is true that Anya was very concerned in money, but we all need it. It isn't bad thing that she wanted to have organized life, home,savings. She didn't want anything for free, she was putting in a lot of work to achieve it. But still, the money wasn't the most important thing in her life.
It also can't be said Anya was cold and cruel. She never said things just to hurt someone. She was just straight and was always telling the truth. She really loved Xander, she was even ready to give up her life for him. We could see it fo example in "The gift" when she saves him. It isn't also a truth that she didn't care about other Scoobies. She really wanted to help Willow when she went bad. When Giles was badly hurt she was so afraid he could die, she didn't want to lose him, I think he was kinda like a father for her. She always felt like part of a team, even when she bounced back to be a vengeance demon. I remember that dialogue between her and Spike in "Entropy": Spike:And I can't stand the lot of you. Anya: Me either! I hate us!
And after all we can't forget her sacrifice in the last episode. She died to save other people. I think it definitely makes her a hero.

girlunstrung

04-16-2008, 12:37 PM

I love Anya, so maybe I'm biased, but I cried like a baby when she died.

caitaintdead

04-16-2008, 01:22 PM

Yep, Anya was fantastic, sometimes I wonder whether people are just trying to stir confrontational arguments when they say things along the lines of 'Anyas death meant nothing'. Anya was one of my favourite female role models growing up. I could see a lot of myself in her, and admired and aspired to her strength, bravery and honesty.

Anyas death was heartbreaking and real. One of those rare people that realise that the things they have done wrong need an outcome. In Selfless she thought she was giving up her own life when in reality she had to lose her good friends. Her heartbreak over losing Halfrek instead of herself shows loyalty and compassion. From willing to put her life on the line for the wrongs she did in Selfless proves that she was willing to do so again.

In other words - I like Anya and mourned her death almost as if she was a friend in real life.

Xin Rong

04-16-2008, 01:47 PM

Anya was one of the best characters. I was devastated when she died in such a truely crap and overly quick death...

celestialarrow

04-25-2008, 08:37 AM

Okay I know I haven't been in this thread awhile me being the one who started it and all. But I must admit that her death hit me after I rewatched it so to all those who love anya. I must apologize i believe that its my duty because I teared up when i rewatched it and she died such a horrible way she didn't even know it was coming she really didn't deserve that.

The Kinslayer

05-15-2008, 05:35 AM

I always (well almost) loved Anya but her death affected me less than I thought it should. Of course I wasn´t happy about it but still. You can´t have a fight this big without anyone dying, and although Spike did die it´s not the same thing. His death had a purpose, and most of us I guess knew he would come back on Angel. True, some potentials died but not anyone the´d grown to love and I´d rather see Anya die than Dawn, Giles, Xander, Willow or Faith. Buffy could have been an option doing the ultimate sacrifice if it hadn´t been done already. That leaves us with Andrew and Robin and let´s face it, if they´d died it wouldn´t affected us as much as it did with Anya. Even if I must say that Andrew´s my favourite character in season 7.

And last I think Xander sums it up real good: "That's my girl. Always doing the stupid thing." A fitting end to her character in my eyes. The only "bad" part is that it happened so quick and that we never really got the chance to let it sink in.

Natasha1988

05-15-2008, 08:16 AM

I Loved Anya she Was Always Ready With A Sarcastic Comment To Lighten Any Situation,
I Cried Like A Baby When She Died!

Pulse

05-22-2008, 05:31 PM

I think her death was a bit anti-climactic... almost like a blink and you miss it moment. She is my favourite character and I wish she didn't die.

She was very funny. I think my favourite line of hers is when Giles is talking about how the Watchers Council was blown up, and Anya calls him repressed and overreacting...thinking he was the one that did it. Also, how could you not love her when they were interrogating Andrew. She really was quite a nice character.

Always funny, and I think she was very reliable and a loyal scoobie

Ysma

05-22-2008, 06:26 PM

It's sucks that she died at the end. Anya's one of my fav. character on the show.

JuniorWatcher

07-04-2008, 09:34 AM

Anya is my fav character in Buffy, so first time watching Chose, and seeing her get seared ( is that the right word?) was awful.
As bad as it sounds when the bringer stabbed her, I though he had stabbed her through her stomach, because it was so quick. It's only when I watched it again, I realised it was almost like cutting her in half :(.
I have to admit I got quite teary when Xander started shouting Anya's name at the end, and then it show's Anya dead on the floor :(.
Always provided the best laughs.

LifeIsJustThis

07-04-2008, 11:48 AM

awww... I loved Anya. She was sweet & funny & yes, sometimes she said the wrong thing, but she never meant to hurt anyone. I was really sad that she died .
I wish Xander could ahve said goodbye to her before she died :) I think if she'd survived that they would have figured out their issues and gotten back together...
It's interesting that of the gang, the demons died and the humans survived...Spike, Anya. My mother pointed this out. I thought it was interesting and I'd never actually thought about that.

Veyron

08-09-2008, 05:06 PM

Anya was annoying when she first came into the show but over time, I grew to appreciate and laugh, a lot, at her innocent, naive comments. Her development as an ex-demon should have been, in my opinion, handled a lot better in the 85 or so episodes she was in, but I guess with S.M.G. saying she wanted out Joss and the writers decided to curtail her development and kept her at one level of, dare I say it, irritation. By irritation I mean that as an ex-demon who'd turned human then back to demon then back to human - which must have been so frustrating that she might have lost a few marbles in the process.

Her death, like Buffy's rousing speech about each and every girl who has the potential to be a slayer, will be a slayer brought forth a burst of emotion from me and I'm man enough to admit that several times during the S7 finale tears did well up in my eyes! Spikes demise like-wise!

Earlier today, when I re-watched the finale with my twelve year old nephew who was watching it for the first time even though I knew it was coming I still welled up... My feminine side coming out me thinks!

charmingslayer

08-09-2008, 05:10 PM

I wished she lived but she didn't but theres a rumor that Emma actually wanted Anya to die so she won't be brought back to a Buffy or Angel movie is this true?

DarkAvenger

08-09-2008, 05:32 PM

Emma wanted Anya to dye? Why? How do you know that?

MozYa

08-09-2008, 05:34 PM

I wished she lived but she didn't but theres a rumor that Emma actually wanted Anya to die so she won't be brought back to a Buffy or Angel movie is this true?

Probably not since your more likely to appear in a sequel of any sort if you die in the Buffyverse.

TrueVengeance

08-09-2008, 08:38 PM

Emma didn't want to do any immediate spinoffs or movies, therefore it made it very easy for Joss to kill Anya off. She said it herself in an interview I believe. I also remember hearing her say that she doesn't like to work on one project for too long, and ended up staying (and loving xD) on Buffy longer than she had planned.

However, she recently said that if there were to ever be a movie and they wanted Anya back as a ghost or something, she'd do it. :D

All from misc. interviews of her that I've heard.

Gilesau

08-11-2008, 07:04 AM

I didn't like Anya for the first time but the second time around I loved her! I got used to her inappropriate remarks and humor. She grew during the show and started to care about "humans" and her friends. I think she related to Tara the most because she was an outsider as well.

fly on the wall

08-15-2008, 12:08 PM

I can only echo and agree with what lovely things people have said about Anya (I love her, she's my favorite character)...but I just want to add that the writers were genius and totally nailed the "new to this culture/don't understand your ways" aspect to her character. I realized how well this was done just the other day, in fact. I have a cousin that grew up in Saudi Arabia. She speaks fluent English but since she speaks Arabic 11 months out of every year, her translation is often a little weird ("close the light", "is the juice finished?", etc). On top of that, America and Saudi Arabia are very different places with different cultural norms. A LOT of her tendencies remind me of Anya. My cousin just doesn't get how she should act sometimes, in the same endearing, often humorous ways Anya displayed. The writers completely got how an ex-vengeance demon turned human would act.

I really don't understand how anyone could say Anya was cruel or mean. She stuck with the Scoobies through three Apocalypses when she could have left and hid. She still helped the Scoobies even after Xander left her at the altar, which shows she cared for them. She was always there for much-needed comic relief/sarcasm. She was willing to give her life for others time and time again. She was honest, sometimes brutally so, but it was the kind of honesty necessary for the show's progression. Oh, and the scene after Joyce's death breaks my heart and shows that Anya isn't cruel, she just doesn't understand certain things.

I'm in blissful denial about her death, so I won't write about that. :whistle:

palabravampiress

08-15-2008, 01:25 PM

^ Yeah, I think Anya's monologue in The Body is one of (if not the) most beautifully written and performed moments of the entire series. It might even be my favorite moment. Ever.

fly on the wall

08-15-2008, 01:41 PM

^ I'm dry-eyed through that episode, until Anya's speech. It's beautiful. And I definitely agree, one of the best moments in BtVS.

SamZie021

08-21-2008, 11:49 AM

I completely agree with Fly on the wall, I think Anya is misunderstood but she does truly care about the others, I also think she brings much need humour during the darker times in the show, which makes you chuckle!! My favourite Anya moments is at the end of S7 when they are playing a board game the night before they face the first, and someone says "Who could sleep on a night like this" and there Anya snoozes away!! I think its hilarious, and don't forget she died saving Andrew how on earth can that be cold and mean!??

LifeIsJustThis

08-21-2008, 01:13 PM

I always cry when I rewatch the last episode. I can't help it!

SamZie021

08-21-2008, 02:16 PM

Also in bargaining when Tara is feeling uncomfortable about raising Buffy and says she has bats in her stomach Anya offers to let her look at the money to make her feel better which shows just how much Anya cares because we all know how much Anya loves "the money" I was gutted when Anya died.

Airam

08-28-2008, 12:17 AM

i know she had been a demon for a long time but SHE made the choice to become human out of the love she had for xander but no one forced her either time she made the choice.

Okay so I already agreed with an earlier post that touched on all of the redeeming qualities in Anya that I would have touched on. I LOVE Anya, its hard to pick a clear #1 favorite, but if someone was at me with huge scissors threatening to cut off my big toe her name might just be the one to slip out of my mouth. I honestly believe that all of the best quotes on the show come from her, i.e.: "His physical presence has a penis!", "I WAS being patient, but it took too long.", (after Willow asks for her help) "Is it diffucult or time-consuming?", "No, no, it's an omen. It's a higher power, trying to tell me through bunnies that we're all gonna die. Oh god."

And i could go on and on, but I just wanted to take a sec to correct one quick thing that was bugging me and I didn't see anyone else bring it up. The part I quoted from celestialarrow's post. Okay, NEITHER time that we saw Anya become human on the show was because she chose to. She did chose to become a demon again after Hell's Bells, but the first time she became human was after the spell on The Wish was undone, not her choice. And in Selfless she was prepared to die to bring the fratboys back, thats what she thought would happen, the twist was D'Hoffryn made her human and killed Halfrek instead. But yeah, never did she make a choice to become human because of her love for Xander. She was made human and what we saw following was her trying as best she could to assimilate to being human and all the feelings, etc, that that entails.

Violette

08-28-2008, 06:22 AM

I miss Anya, I was sad that her character had to die at the end of the series. I think her character was very well developed and grew a lot throughout the seasons. Her perspective was always witty and unique, taking the viewpoint of an ex-demon living among humans ("becoming a productive member of society"). I have to admit that I didn't really like her when she first came into the show in season 3, but I started growing fond of her in seasons 5 and 6. They say that she's a replacement for Cordelia, bringing jokes and sarcastic humour/questions during intense times, but I think she's much more. Her final speech in "End of Days" (when she was robbing the hospital for first aid supplies with Andrew) was really moving, and it really summed up her role in the show well. Not to mention that a lot of her lines are hilarious. "Selfless" is one of my favourite season 7 episodes.