In Buffy's dream Riley says, " If I kiss you, it'll make the sun go down " and when he does so, it instantly becomes night, as if Buffy has crossed over a threshold.

Scholar Farah Mendlesohn asserts that Willow's realization that she is in love with Tara allows viewers to re-interpret Willow's relationship with Buffy ; in the first three seasons, Willow is often disappointed that she is not a higher priority to Buffy, and even after Willow enters a relationship with Tara, still desires to feel integral to Buffy's cause and the Scooby Gang.

These stories explain how Buffy's relationship with Pike ended, as well as fleshing out events alluded to in the television series, such as the time she spent in a mental institution and her parents ' divorce.

" Giles feels betrayed when Jenny reveals she is actually a member of the Kalderash gypsy clan, sent to keep an eye on Buffy's relationship with the vampire Angel.

Giles goes to warn Faith as Duncan states this is the fate that Slayers deserve for rejecting the Watchers Council, especially Buffy, reminding Giles that Buffy's relationship with Angel resulted in Jenny Calendar's death.

In Season Eight, the character's older-brother relationship with Buffy's little sister Dawn ( Michelle Trachtenberg ) also develops along romantic lines, too late for Buffy to realise her compatibility with Xander.

Tara remains a part of the group, spending time with Dawn, and non-judgmentally acting as Buffy's confessor when Buffy divulges she has a painful and addictive sexual relationship with Spike, a vampire whom she loathes.

He is first introduced during Buffy's relationship and conflict with Parker Abrams.

Kennedy antagonises Buffy when she learns of Buffy's lesbian affair with the Slayer Satsu, in part fearful Buffy is in fact gay and will pursue Willow, and later helps Satsu get over Buffy was it becomes clear she only experimenting and will not pursue a relationship with her.

During the confrontation, the Mayor pointedly asks questions about the viability of Buffy's relationship with Angel ( David Boreanaz ), a vampire who has been re-ensouled and who fights alongside Buffy.

Faith's relationship to the Mayor in many ways mirrors Buffy's relationship to her Watcher, Giles, who is Buffy's father figure.

An ongoing theme in the series is Buffy's complex relationship to her destiny as the current Slayer and how she uniquely expresses this role, and this plot element is further explored in season four in general, and in the episode " Restless " in particular.

Whedon commented on her appearances in Buffy's dream: " The idea that Tara would be her spirit guide made sense because she didn't have that particular relationship with Tara, and Tara has a kind of good Wiccan mystical energy.

Sutherland welcomed the change ; she felt the relationship between Joyce and Buffy " became so much richer " after Joyce finally knew of and faced Buffy's role as the Slayer.

Buffy's tragic love affair with Angel, a relationship that could bring neither of them any happiness, was broken off, in part, after Joyce's request that Angel be the one to end it.

In the commentary, when Joss Whedon is asked about his decision to turn Angel evil, he said that he feels it was necessary to keep the story fresh as viewers would quickly become bored with Angel and Buffy's relationship.

While putting pictures of Jonathan up on a wall, Willow and Tara talk about the fight earlier that night and Buffy's relationship with Riley.

An ongoing theme in the series is Buffy's complex relationship to her destiny as the current Slayer and how she uniquely expresses this role, and this plot element is further explored in season four in general.

Buffy and Xander begin to discuss Buffy's relationship with Spike, and the two make up and reaffirm their friendship.

* When Faith flirts and teases with Spike in Buffy's body, Spike clearly reveals some of the repressed lust he harbors for Buffy, foreshadowing their later relationship.

* Faith ( in Buffy's body ) becomes the first person to recognize Willow and Tara's romantic relationship when she comments that Willow " isn't driving stick anymore.

He remained with the Scoobies until the end of Season Five, when he returned to England at Buffy's death.

Over time, Spike falls in love with Buffy, and he briefly becomes Buffy's lover in Season Six.

They are mentored by the school librarian who is also Buffy's Watcher, Rupert Giles ( Anthony Stewart Head ), who often works closely with Willow in researching the various monsters the group encounters.

A younger sister named Dawn ( Michelle Trachtenberg ) mysteriously appears in Buffy's household, her existence having been seamlessly integrated with memories of the other characters.

Season six ( 2001 – 2002 ) depicts Buffy's struggle with depression and loss after being ripped out of a place like Heaven by her friends, who thinking she is trapped in a Hell dimension, perform a spell to bring her back from the dead.

Earlier in the series, the audience glimpsed Buffy's most personal sexual fantasy in her dreamspace: a threesome with Angel and Spike.

The series ' final two arcs are in some sense are about Buffy's relationships with Angel and Spike.

In the days and hours leading up to the final showdown with Glory, Spike fights by Buffy's side, earning her trust and a re-invitation to her house.

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.

In Season Seven, a re-ensouled Spike must cope with the guilt of his past actions and try to win back Buffy's trust.

In the Dark Horse Presents # 24 Season Eight tie-in, " Always Darkest ", Spike and Angel appear ( again in a dream sequence ) at Buffy's side when she is fighting Caleb, but to her dismay the two start flirting with and kissing one another.

He indulges in theft and vandalism, and makes out with and has sex with Buffy's mother, Joyce Summers.

As Buffy's Cruciamentum approaches ( a brutal tradition of the Watchers ' Council in which a depowered Slayer is forced to battle a particularly dangerous vampire using only her wits ), Giles struggles to cope with the guilt of betraying Buffy's trust.

Giles is fired, and replaced with Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, but continues to act as Buffy's unofficial Watcher, proving especially helpful when Wesley turns out to be an incompetent coward.

Giles later loses Buffy's trust somewhat when he takes part in a scheme with Robin Wood to kill Spike (" Lies My Parents Told Me ").

The memories of Buffy and her associates were altered, along with relevant records, so that they believed her to have always existed as Buffy's sister.

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Buffy's stuffy new Watcher, annoys Giles in the library while both Slayers attempt to ignore him.

* Buffy's challenge to Mohra, " You hurt my boyfriend ," recalls her very similar challenge to Spike in the season two Buffy episode, " What's My Line, Part Two ", after he abducts Angel as the blood sacrifice in his healing ritual for Drusilla: " You can hurt me, you can send assassins after me, but nobody messes with my boyfriend.

* That one of Angel's first acquaintances threatens him with pepper spray in the Angel premiere, " City of " recalls Buffy's response to one of her first acquaintances in the Buffy premiere, " Welcome to the Hellmouth ".

* Dawn Summers — Buffy's younger sister, Dawn, is actually a mystical orb of energy who was turned into human form by her guardians.

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.

Willow takes on the leadership role when Buffy is unavailable, and her growing powers sometimes make her resent being positioned as Buffy's sidekick.

Merrick eventually comes to respect Buffy's rebellious nature, and she defeats vampire king Lothos ( Rutger Hauer ) by relying on her own contemporary style as opposed to traditional Slayer conventions.

Buffy's debut into literature came in the comic Dark Horse Presents 1998 Annual on August 26, 1998, while her first prose appearance was in Halloween Rain by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder on October 5, 1998.

Notably, Spike's first act in Sunnydale is to attack Buffy and a large group of people at her school, making his first appearance the deadliest of any of Buffys " Big Bads ", as he very nearly kills Buffy, but Buffy's mother distracts Spike long enough for Buffy to recover.

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.

This is seen most poignantly in " The Body " when her inability to comprehend Buffy's mother's death leads to inappropriate remarks which at first make others angry, but then allow for catharsis and comfort.

As the series went on, the significance of Dawn's arrival is revealed to the series ' other characters and they come to understand that she has not always been Buffy's sister, or indeed a sentient being ; Dawn had originally been the mystical ' key ' to unlocking dimensions, and was made into Buffy's sister so the Slayer would protect her.

Dawn is, however, a real girl, Buffy's biological sister, and has real memories of her fictional childhood.