Slayer Support System
I laugh in the face of danger! Then I hide until it goes away...
- — Xander Harris
A founding member of the 'Scooby Gang' (and the only one who ever seriously called it that...), Xander Harris has made it his life's mission to have his friends' backs ever since high school. This is more complicated than it sounds, since one of his best friends is one of the most powerful witches on the planet, while the other is a Vampire Slayer.
Personality[]
Xander's basically Charlie Brown, Peter Parker, and Bridget Jones all wrapped in one. He's someone for whom things never quite seem to work out, but he usually manages to put on a brave face no matter how much disappointment he's confronted with. Of course, he's not exactly above indulging in a quality moping session either.
Xander has struggled mightily with his ideas of masculinity over the years. Both of his closest friends are female, and both of them are far more powerful than he is. Both of them have developed a tendency to see him as "one of the girls," despite the fact that he's a hairy construction worker. He's had to swallow his pride and really re-examine what being "masculine means for him." Ultimately, whether he would express it this way or not, he's assumed the role not of a protector, but of a provider. He does what he can to help his friends and their cause, and if that means lending money and fixing windows, that's what he'll do. If it means telling jokes, providing emotional support, or simply "being there," he'll do that as well.
For a guy who's had such a tough upbringing, Xander has a tendency to wear his heart way out on his sleeve--much further than most people do, certainly. This means that he doesn't always have much of a filter, and it often means that some of his uglier (and pettier) emotions aren't kept in check. He's quick with a smile, but just as quick to yell at someone when he feels they've hurt him, or openly sulk when he's feeling jealous or ignored. Fortunately, he tends more to "positive" emotions.
SKILLS[]
COMBAT |
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Xander has faced and defeated an impressive number of vampires and other creatures of the night, especially for a guy with no powers and little formal training. He's able to fight well enough to avoid being too much of a liability, but ultimately he tends to leave the physical stuff to the girls. Still, when the occasion calls for it, Xander is capable of pulling out a stake, axe, or a Super Soaker full of Holy Water and dusting a few vamps.
HANDYMAN |
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After high school, Xander got a job as a construction worker. Despite some initial misgivings, he turned out to be genuinely good with his hands. Xander is a competent professional. However, to the rest of the Scooby Gang, he's still largely seen as the guy who fixes the windows or unclogs the toilet.
LEADERSHIP |
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Being the foreman of a construction crew gives Xander qualities of leadership, and ordering around construction workers is no mean feat.
LORE |
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For years now, Xander has been hitting the books alongside his fellow Scoobies whenever Buffy was faced with a particularly tough challenge. However, he was always easily distracted, and could only retain so many references to "The Harvest," "Der Kindestod," or "Gurnenthar's Ascendance" before his eyes started to glaze over and/or close. Still, although he doesn't remember as much as he probably should, he still generally knows where to find the sort of information needed to help the Slayers against whatever the Big Bad is this week.
TACTICS |
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Between his years of experience fighting monsters alongside a Slayer, his accidental "download" of the memories and experiences of an Army soldier, and a lifelong obsession with games like Call of Duty, Xander has actually developed a fairly impressive grasp on basic tactics.
ADVANTAGES[]
FRIENDS |
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Despite being a loser in high school, Xander has always been pretty good at forming friendships. Sure, friendliness is always a valuable character trait to possess, but in Xander's case his genuine niceness has payed dividends he'd never have imagined: His best friends include Vampire Slayers, Witches, Werewolves, and Watchers.
ONE WHO SEES |
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Xander occasionally points out great truths those around him either can't, or don't want to notice.
WEAKNESSES[]
BUTTMONKEY |
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Xander is somebody for whom nothing seems to go quite as planned. He's been called the woobie and buttmonkey. The latter describes him fairly accurately, in that things don't always go his way.
WEAK LINK |
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Virtually every villain, monster, or Big Bad who decided to go against the Slayer started by going against her support network first. But where Xander is concerned, this was always especially annoying. To put it simply, Xander always has been (and remains) the most obvious target of all of the Scoobies and their extended circle of Scoobyettes.
Growing up is hard for everyone, but Xander Harris had a tougher time than most. Living in a household that could politely be called "dysfunctional," his only escape came from his stacks of comics, his DVDs, and his best friends, Willow and Jesse. To cope with his tough home life and his lack of popularity at high school, Xander became "the funny guy." It seemed as if he was destined for a life of academic mediocrity and social disappointment. But then a New Girl transferred to Sunnydale High.
After his friend Jesse was killed by vampires, Xander became entangled in the crazy world of Slayers and Monsters. He went on a date with a praying mantis, got possessed by a hyena, met a living ventriloquist dummy, participated (unwillingly) in a talent show, confronted his childhood fear of clowns, and developed an unrequited crush on the Slayer (which he got over, eventually). He even managed to save the day when an ancient vampire attempted to unleash Hell on Earth.
Despite his lack of supernatural abilities, Xander became an important part of the "Scoobies"--or, more accurately, he provided wisecracks and emotional support while everyone else did the majority of the actual work. Still, he managed to play a clutch role every now and then, especially after he gained the skills and knowledge of an Army soldier. (It was a weird Halloween.)
After high school ended, Xander didn't have much to fall back on. Unlike all of his friends, he hadn't applied to college, and he became something of a directionless townie, living in his parents' basement. Only the support of his (former) demon girlfriend helped him to start growing up. Eventually, he found work as a carpenter, a profession that he proved to be genuinely good at.
Aside from being "the funny guy" and "the guy who fixes the windows" (or "The Zeppo," if you're mean-spirited), Xander gradually assumed a vital role within the gang. He was the guy who paid attention. He saw what was really going on with people, because nobody was really paying attention to him.
The Scooby Gang's final mission in Sunnydale was to close off the Hellmouth that had plagued their existence for years. Willow cast a spell to activate every Potential Slayer, Buffy led them all into the very Mouth of Hell, and Xander... helped. But afterward, with the Hellmouth destroyed, not to mention Sunnydale gone, and with every Potential Slayer on the planet now able to use her powers, it seemed that the Gang could finally use some well-deserved rest.
Then, they were all teleported to San Francisco, and things got even weirder....
Logs featuring Xander Harris:
Coming soon!