* In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode entitled Him ( Season 7, Episode 6, aired November 5, 2002 ), Dawn Summers ( Michelle Trachtenberg ) is called into the principal's office to answer some questions about a boy who fell down the stairs under suspicious circumstances.

Dawn suffers from abandonment issues due to both her mother and Buffy having died in the same year she entered Buffy's life ; she considers the Scooby Gang to be her surrogate family and is very close to them.

She is cruelly honest to Dawn and Buffy, and overpowers everyone with whom she comes in contact.

Displeased with how Willow abuses her power, especially toward herself, Tara leaves Willow while continuing to counsel Dawn and Buffy.

Buffy suffers emotional turmoil throughout this season, including the realization Dawn is not actually her sister, the deterioration of her relationship with Riley, the discovery that Spike has become obsessed with her, and her mother's death from a brain aneurysm.

In the final season of the show ( 2002 – 2003 ), things starts to come around for Buffy when Principal Robin Wood hires her as a school counselor for the newly-rebuilt Sunnydale High School and has repaired her relationships with Dawn and her friends.

Volume II of the similar series of novels Tales of the Slayer ( 2003 ) features two stories about Buffy ; the character battles a mummified spirit in Todd A. McIntosh's " All That You Do Comes Back Unto Thee ," while Jane Espenson's " Again Sunnydale " sees a season six-era Buffy sent back in time to high school, when her mother is still alive but Dawn does not exist.

Though Buffy is disgusted by this, her hostility towards him fades considerably when she learns that Spike refused, even under intense torture, to reveal the identity of The Key to Glory, nearly laying down his life to protect Buffy's sister Dawn.

Spike displays unabashed grief after Buffy dies in the showdown with Glory, Spike honors her memory by remaining loyal to the Scoobies, fighting at their side and serving the role of baby-sitter / older brother / protector to Dawn, helping Willow and Tara to raise her in Buffy's absence.

Buffy learns that her sister, Dawn Summers, is actually the Key: mystical energy disguised in human form to conceal it from the hell-god Glory.

Buffy vows to protect Dawn at all costs.

In the final battle against Glory, Buffy abandons the fight when Glory turns back into a wounded Ben, so that she can save Dawn.

Dawn Summers is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon and introduced by Marti Noxon and David Fury on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, portrayed by Michelle Trachtenberg.

Within the series, Dawn is the little sister of main character Buffy Summers ( Sarah Michelle Gellar ), a girl chosen by fate to be a vampire Slayer.

Whedon introduced Dawn to the series because he wanted to introduce a character with whom Buffy could have an intensely emotional non-romantic relationship.

After years of foreshadowing, Dawn was introduced at the start of the fifth season as part of a large in-story retcon: characters accepted Dawn's presence as if she had always been there, and as if Buffy always had a sister.

Dawn is first introduced as Buffy's ( Sarah Michelle Gellar ) younger sister at the end of Buffy season five premiere " Buffy vs. Dracula ", though Buffy had been previously established as an only child.

Four episodes later Buffy discovers Dawn is in fact a mystical object known as The Key ; a group of monks transformed The Key into human form and sent it to the Slayer for protection from the villainous Glory ( Clare Kramer ).

When Dawn learns of her origin, she resorts to self-harm and runs away from home, until Buffy assures her they are real sisters no matter what, securing it with a blood oath.

When Glory successfully uses Dawn's blood to break down the dimensional barriers, Buffy sacrifices her own life, realizing that their blood is now the same, to end the apocalypse and save Dawn.

However, with Buffy spiralling into a deep depression, Dawn feels highly neglected and is often seen alone and seeking attention from her sister as well as other members of the group.

While helping Buffy battle demons in the season finale, Dawn proves herself to be capable in a fight, finally earning her sister's respect and a promise to train her.

In 2009, on her album Running for the Drum, Buffy Sainte-Marie released a new version of " America the Beautiful ".

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a 1992 American action / comedy film about a Valley girl cheerleader named Buffy ( Kristy Swanson ) who learns that it is her fate to hunt vampires.

In December 2011, more than a year after the official reboot announcement, the Los Angeles Times site reported that Whit Anderson, the writer picked for the new Buffy movie, had her script rejected by the producers behind the project, and that a new writer was being sought.

During her growing film career Gellar continued work on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer ; however, she decided to leave the show after the seventh season.

In her feature in Esquire magazine Gellar expressed her pride for her work on Buffy, " I truly believe that it is one of the greatest shows of all time and it will go down in history as that.

Roles like Buffy and Cruel Intentions made her a sex symbol across the globe.

The team consists of Buffy Summers and her friends and colleagues who assist her in her duties as the Slayer.

First forming in the Season One episode " The Harvest " to prevent The Master from opening a portal to hell, the line-up of the group varied from year to year, but the core that remained intact throughout the series ' run was Buffy herself and her best friends, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, as well as her Watcher, Rupert Giles.

In the beginning, Buffy often had to protect her friends from monsters, but over the course of the series most of them gained superpowers and fighting skills of their own, with Xander the only notable member with no mystical abilities or connection to the supernatural, though he does acquire extensive military knowledge thanks to a spell.

* Buffy Summers — As the Slayer, Buffy possesses enhanced abilities that enable her to battle the forces of darkness.

Although Buffy had initially been reluctant to accept her destiny, by the end of Season One she faces the prophecy of her death head-on.

In Season Six he returns after Buffy is resurrected, then leaves again so that his presence won't hold her back from growing strong and independent.

However, she often finds herself in perilous situations and relies on Buffy to save her.

During one desperate fight in partnership with Buffy, she accidentally kills a man, creating a permanent schism between her and the Scoobies and eventually leading Faith to join up with The Mayor.

* Buffy Summers, until her death at the end of " The Gift "

Willow plays an integral role within the inner circle of friends — called the Scooby Gang — who support Buffy Summers, a teenager gifted with superhuman powers to defeat vampires, demons, and other evil in the fictional town of Sunnydale.

She grows faint at the sight of monsters, but quickly forms a friendship with Buffy Summers ( Sarah Michelle Gellar ) and is revealed to have grown up as friends with Xander ( Nicholas Brendon ).

She does not come from the battle unscathed and must be assisted by Buffy, but her power is evident and surprising to her friends.

Willow's earliest and most consistent relationships are with Buffy and Xander, both of whom she refers to as her best friends although they have their conflicts.

The television series shows Buffy carrying out her destiny in a small town built atop a portal to hell ( Hellmouth ), surrounded by a group of friends and family who support her in her mission.

Season three ( 1998 – 1999 ) sees Buffy reconnect to her calling, her friends, and her family after her departure, as well as make difficult life decisions regarding her relationship with the resurrected Angel.

Buffy literally unites with her friends to defeat Adam in a spell which invokes the power of the First Slayer.

" Jason Middleton feels that Buffy avoids the " final girl " character trope seen in horror films, where the androgynous and celibate heroine gets to outlive her friends and exact revenge on their killer ; in Middleton's words, " she ... gets to have sex with boys and still kill the monster ".

He kidnaps Willow and Xander, and forces Willow to conduct a love spell for him to make Drusilla love him again, even coercing Buffy and Angel to help him in exchange for the safe return of their friends.

He also tells Buffy and Angel that they can never be friends because of their love for one another.

After Buffy is resurrected at the beginning of Season Six, she is despondent and detached from her friends.

For example, when he wants to create disharmony among the Scoobies, Spike divides-and-conquers with " The Yoko Factor ", exploiting tensions that exist under the surface to alienate Buffy and her friends against each other.

Spike's skills of analysis allowed him to realize Willow was barely holding it together after Oz's departure even though Giles and Buffy thought she was doing better, to be the first to see through Tara's abusive and controlling family, forced Buffy and Angel to admit that they were more than " just friends " and identify when and why some relationships, such as between Buffy and Riley, are not meant to last, masterfully feeding Riley's insecurities in an effort to sabotage his relationship with Buffy, so Spike can pursue her.

In adulthood, his loyalty to Buffy and her group of friends costs him his job for a time.

As the series progresses, Giles increasingly becomes a father figure to Buffy and her friends Willow ( Alyson Hannigan ) and Xander ( Nicholas Brendon ).

He is a father figure to Buffy and an advisor to her friends Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, together forming the " core four " of the Scooby Gang.

Although Buffy and her friends save Angel, the ritual is successful.

Oz introduces Buffy, Willow and friends to his wife Bayarmaa, who is also a werewolf, and his young son, Kelden.