* Riley Finn — Buffy's college boyfriend, Riley is a soldier for the government demon-hunting operation the Initiative.

Willow is able to perform a complicated spell to restore the soul of Angel, a vampire who is also Calendar's murderer and Buffy's boyfriend.

He gets depressed, especially when the Scoobies fail to keep him in the loop regarding Buffy's new boyfriend Riley Finn and his membership in the Initiative.

The character's backstory gives her ties to Buffy's boyfriend Angel ( David Boreanaz ), and it is gradually established over the course of Buffy and Angel.

He pines for Buffy's romantic affection, oblivious to Willow's affections for him, and distrusts Buffy's boyfriend, the ensouled vampire Angel ( David Boreanaz ).

Whedon intended Riley to be the antithesis of Buffy's boyfriend of the past three seasons, Angel ( David Boreanaz ), who now headed his own spin-off show.

Riley Finn ( Marc Blucas ), Buffy's boyfriend for the past year, leaves in the episode " Into the Woods ".

According to Buffy scholar Rhonda Wilcox, the themes of maturation and facing adult responsibilities begin with the departure of Buffy's boyfriend Riley Finn six episodes before, and crystallize in the preceding episode in which Buffy realizes she does not need a boyfriend to be fulfilled.

* That much of Buffy's pleasure comes from her sense of being a " normal girl falling asleep in the arms of her normal boyfriend " underscores one of the Slayer's fundamental internal conflicts, which she first expresses to Giles in the Buffy premiere, " Welcome to the Hellmouth ", and essentially resolves in the series finale, " Chosen ".

* 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.

It is discovered however that one of Scott's ( Buffy's boyfriend ) friends was responsible after he took a potion which turned him into a ' macho man '.

Dawn tries to make Riley feel good by positively comparing him to Buffy's former boyfriend Angel, but unintentionally makes him feel worse: she relates that she thinks Riley is good for Buffy because Buffy was always in tears over her tumultuous relationship with Angel, but that she never cries over Riley-she never " gets that worked up " over him.

* Spike and Buffy's future relationship is foreshadowed when Spike steps in to help in the final fight and Glory refers to him as Buffy's boyfriend

" Writer Jane Espenson draws comparisons between the characters of Buffy and Warren, claiming, " When Buffy's talking with Warren about his break-up with April, she's actually identifying with him, because she did a lot of the same stuff with Riley that he did with April.

Buffy and Riley fought demons together and continued saving each other's lives and the world, although Riley was never quite let into Buffy's inner circle.

Riley also appears in the first issue of the follow-up series Season Nine ; the structure of " Freefall, Part I " suggests that Riley — like Spike, Xander, Willow and others — could have been Buffy's possible one-night-stand after the party she hosts at her apartment in San Francisco.

" In contrast to both Angel and Spike, Riley held out the possibility of normality in Buffy's life.

Buffy defeats the demons and appears on the monitors after Walsh has prematurely announced Buffy's death to Riley, who walks out.

Both Riley and Adam, now only in human form, appear in Buffy's dream.

Riley is notably different from both and Buffy's anxiety about becoming intimate with him, according to scholars, either calls The Gentlemen to Sunnydale or is represented by them.

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.

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.

Riley encourages everyone to follow Buffy's lead.

Their leader explains that Riley received Buffy's message, and they are there to help Spike.

Meanwhile, Riley, Xander, Willow and Anya take over Buffy's patrol.

As Buffy and Riley leave, Spike swears to taste Buffy's blood, but as he walks off, he falls into an open grave.

Buffy and Sam patrol and talk about Buffy's honorable reputation as the Slayer and, of course, about Riley.

Afterwards, Riley tries to keep up his secret identity, but Buffy's friends pretty much know who he is by his clothes, while Spike evades detection by posing as a " friend of Xander's " with a bad American accent.

Uncomfortable, Buffy initially keeps quiet to avoid bragging, but from Buffy's conversation with Riley afterward, the viewer can infer that Buffy is forced to admit that she has killed hundreds of vampires and saved the world multiple times.

* Rupert Giles — As Buffy's Watcher, and a father-figure and mentor to the entire group, Giles is a founding figure of the Scooby Gang, although his British upbringing resists the lighthearted nickname at first.

He is also Buffy's lover in Seasons One through Three.

* 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.

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.

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

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.

By the seventh season, she is the most powerful person in Buffy's circle.

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.

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.

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.

When Buffy's decision sees the world lose its magic, Spike is the only one to be emphatically supportive of the decision she had to make.

" 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.

He spends the summer desperately following up every clue as to Buffy's whereabouts, and is overjoyed when she finally returns months later.

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 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.

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.