Summary

• Buffy's friends are at risk of turning into vampires due to the constant vampire attacks in Sunnydale, showcasing the high stakes of the show's supernatural battles.
• Several key characters in Buffy the Vampire Slayer have been turned into vampires, such as Jesse, Angel, Harmony, and even Buffy herself in a nightmare sequence.
• Spike's backstory and desire for love as a human explains his loyalty to Drusilla and his actions throughout the series, shedding light on his complex character.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer follows a high schooler named Buffy given the title of Slayer to protect her hometown of Sunnydale, but even with her protection, a number of characters turned into vampires in the show. With hoards of vampires constantly terrorizing the town, things are bound to fall through the cracks. Sometimes, those things happen to be her friends who stand less of a chance fighting against supernatural creatures.

Buffy isn't alone in her fight against vampires in California. She has a team of friends from school—Willow and Xander—as well as her Watcher, Mr. Rupert Giles. This show's lore behind vampires is different from most mainstream understandings. In Buffy The Vampire Slayer, when a person is sired into a vampire, they become a demon and lose their soul. This means that they can't truly feel anything, but the human side of them is trying to regain the same emotions they once felt, which creates very interesting and warped characters. While strong villains on Buffy the Vampire Slayer are nothing new, this bend to vampire lore makes them even more interesting, even when the vampirism is temporary.

8 Jesse McNally

Jesse McNally was one of the first characters to get turned into a vampire. Before Buffy arrived in Sunnydale, Jesse was good friends with her group, Willow and Xander. In season 1, episode 2, "The Harvest", Jesse gets sired by a vampire named Drusilla, He is taken to be eaten, but she decides to use him as bait to set a trap for Buffy. Jesse dies in this episode at the hands of Xander when he accidentally stakes Jesse during battle.

7 Angel

Angel started and ended the series as a vampire—though he briefly got to experience being a human again in his spinoff show, Angel. However, Buffy the Vampire Slayer dove into his backstory in season 2, episode 21, "Becoming, Part 1". It explored Angel's life when he was human and showed how he was sired by a vampire named Darla, which explains his odd affections towards her. This episode was important to his character because, while Angel has always had a strong moral com, this episode takes his character back to the beginning before that was true. It gives him further development than the mysterious, benevolent love interest.

6 Harmony Kendall

Harmony was a regular guest on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. While she wasn't in every episode, she was a part of the popular group led by Cordelia Chase, and later took over the group once Cordelia was ousted. In season 3, episode 22, "Graduation Day, Part 2", Harmony was caught in an attack led by the Mayor's group of vampires at Sunnydale High School's graduation ceremony. She was sired by one of them and ed the attack. The show brings her back in season 4 to attempt to kill Buffy, but then she leaves Sunnydale to go out on her own.

5 Anne Pratt

Anne had a small role on the show, but she was an important factor in a main character's life. Spike—also known as William Pratt, or William the Bloody—was Anne Pratt's son. In order to save her life, Spike sired his mother. While his vampirism turned the extreme love he felt for people into overbearing obsession, his mother had no desire to be around her son at all. She thought his presence was overwhelming and tried to get away from him. Anne tried to kill Spike, but when her plan failed, he killed her instead. While she wasn't a continuous character, this was a foundational moment for Spike, and it formed him into the vampire he became.

4 Spike

Spike is one vampire that stayed around for the full run of the show. Like Angel, he was a vampire for the series' entirety. Exploring his backstory in the show provided a lot of important details to his character. He was changed by Drusilla—a season 1 villain. His loyalty to her wasn't explained besides her siring him. All he wanted was to be loved as a human, which explains his actions in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Spike's desire to be connected is why he stayed with Drusilla, loving her as much as a vampire in Buffy the Vampire Slayer could love anyone.

3 Willow Rosenberg

Willow's main connection to the supernatural was being a witch, but she did dabble in vampirism for a couple of episodes. In season 3, episode 9, "The Wish", Cordelia Chase makes a wish that Buffy never came to Sunnydale, which rids the town of its Slayer. While in this alternate universe, vampire Willow makes her first appearance. The second and last time she's seen is in season 3, episode 16, "Doppelgangland". Willow summons the vampire double to Sunnydale while trying to rein in a friend's powers, and Vampire Willow tries to kill Willow. Often portrayed as the nerd in the group, having Willow break stereotypical tropes—even just a version of her—really expanded her character.

2 Alexander (Xander) Harris

Xander appeared as a vampire in the same way that Willow did. When Cordelia made a wish to get rid of Buffy in the alternate universe that was created, Xander was a vampire the same as Willow. They were partners in crime in season 3, episode 9, "The Wish" as they terrorized alternate Sunnydale. Xander was responsible for the deaths of Cordelia and Angel—one of the show's morally righteous vampires—before the wish was reversed and everything returned to normal. He remained the comedic relief between the vampires, but it shifted to a much darker type of humor, showing the battle of human and demon within him.

1 Buffy Summers

Buffy Summers' good luck can attribute to some of her wins, but her bad luck can explain almost everything else. In season 1, episode 10, "Nightmares", a child named Billy in a coma was astral projecting himself into Sunnydale, manifesting townsfolks' worst nightmares. These fears covered everything from spiders and being naked at school to deeper fears like failing to protect their loved ones. It's revealed toward the end of the episode that Buffy's greatest fear is losing to The Master—the season 1 big bad—and becoming a vampire. She fights and lives as a vampire for the second half of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, but once Billy defeats the creature haunting him, her and everyone else's nightmares disappear.