The heart of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was its characters and the relationships they shared with one another throughout the show’s seven seasons. Some of TV’s favorite romances were born out of Buffy: Buffy and Angel, Buffy and Spike, Willow and Tara. More than romance, Buffy demonstrates the complexity of love between all types of people — the type that best friends feel for each other, the heartbreaking end to a first love, and even the deep feelings that can exist between two murderous vampires.
Buffy tells a story about love and the various forms it takes. Here are our 10 favorite quotes about love from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
“I Will Always Find You.”
Season 5, Episode 22 ‘The Gift’
After Glory plays with Tara’s mind, leaving her confused and unwell, Willow does her best to keep Tara calm and safe while the Scooby Gang searches for a way to destroy Glory and save Dawn from the bloodletting ritual. Amidst the chaos of the final showdown between the Gang, Glory, and all of Glory’s minions, Tara’s mind finally starts to heal. The two have a quick, painfully sweet reunion before joining the fight again: “Willow, I got so lost.” “I found you. I will always find you.”
Anya’s Wedding Vows
Season 6, Episode 16 ‘Hell’s Bell’s’
Oh, Anya. Never was there a character more simultaneously baffling and lovable. Her personality is in full display when she is practicing her wedding vows, with early versions throwing around phrases like “sex poodle” and “who do you think you are, a sea captain?” After several drafts, she delivers the following moments before her would-be wedding:
“I, Anya, want to marry you, Xander, because I love you and I’ll always love you. And before I knew you, I was like a completely different person. Not even a person, really. I had seen what love could do to people and it was hurt and sadness. Alone was better. And then, suddenly, there was you, and you knew me. You saw me. And it was this thing. You make me feel safe and warm, so I get it now. I finally get love, Xander. I really do.”
Although fans of the show know just how well that wedding went, it’s still a funny, moving moment for Anya’s character.
“Love Isn’t Brains, Children.”
Season 3, Episode 8 ‘Lover’s Walk’
After Angelus taking over and Buffy subsequently having to (temporarily) kill Angel, season three finds the two lovers in an awkward place. Too much has happened to be like they were — yet, like all epic loves, they can’t escape each other. So, they do what many have tried and failed in TV romance: to be just friends. Of course, it doesn’t go well, and it takes Spike to point out the obvious:
“You’re not just friends. You’ll never be friends. You’ll be in love till it kills you both. You’ll fight, you’ll shag, and you’ll hate each other till it makes you quiver, but you’ll never be friends. Love isn’t brains, children. It’s blood. Blood screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love’s bitch, but at least I’m man enough to admit it.”
“Love Makes You Do the Wacky.”
Season 2, Episode 2 ‘Some Assembly Required’
Many early episodes of Buffy were monster-of-the-week style, including one episode where two science club members assemble body parts to create an undead girlfriend for their equally undead bro who’s recently been brought back to life. As the Scooby Gang tries to figure out what would motivate people to act like this, Willow says the following all-too-true line: “Love makes you do the wacky.”
“Eyeballs to Entrails, My Sweet.”
Season 2, Episode 6 “Halloween”
Long before Spike was tossing cigarettes outside of Buffy’s house, he was devoted to long-time lover, Drusilla. Shortly after the pair arrives in town with a quest to kill the Slayer, Dru asks Spike if he loves her insides, the parts he can’t see. To which he replies:
“Eyeballs to entrails, my sweet.” If that isn’t romance, we don’t know what is.
When Xander Demonstrated Love Between Friends
Season 6, Episode 22 ‘Grave’
When Willow fully embraces her dark magic after Tara’s been killed, nobody is able to reach her, not even Buffy. No one, that is, until Xander follows her to a near-Apocalypse to deliver a heartbreaking speech about the love between best friends: “. . . You’re Willow. The first day of Kindergarten, you cried because you broke the yellow crayon and you were too afraid to tell anyone. You’ve come pretty far. Ending the world? Not a terrific notion. But the thing is, yeah, I love you. I love crayon-breaky Willow and I love scary, veiny Willow. So if I’m going out, it’s here. If you wanna kill the world, then start with me. I’ve earned that. I’ll still love you.”
“Magic.”
Season 6, Episode 5 ‘Family’
In season 5, viewers finally got to learn more about Tara’s past. Unfortunately, her past was a mess of emotionally abusive family, rampant misogyny, and fear. It’s no wonder she left without ever looking back. When her family makes an appearance on her birthday, it leaves Tara understandably shaken. Thankfully, Willow, Buffy, and the rest of the gang team up to defend Tara, asserting themselves as her new family and effectively banishing the toxic family for good.
At Tara’s birthday party, Willow tells her: “I think about what you grew up with, and then I look at what you are. It makes me proud. It makes me love you more.” “Even when I’m at my worst, you always make me feel special. How do you do that?” “Magic.”
Angelus’ Speech About Passion
Season 2, Episode 17 ‘Passion’
Tragically, one of the show’s most beautiful moments of character growth happened when Angelus snapped Jenny’s neck and left her for Giles to find. This was just one way of many that Angelus taunted Buffy, trying to torture her as much as possible. Throughout the episode, Angelus recites a speech about passion and how, in the end, it’s what fuels humanity.
“Passion. . . It lies in all of us. Sleeping, waiting, and though unwanted, unbidden . . . It speaks to us, guides us. Some to despair . . . others to murder, and others to madness. Passion rules us all, and we obey. What other choice do we have? . . . It hurts sometimes more than we can bare . . . If we could live without passion, maybe we’d know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow . . . without passion, we’d be truly dead.”
When Xander Gets Real About Country Music
Season 1, Episode 12 ‘Prophecy Girl’
Love him or hate him, early Xander one was one of the original “Nice Guys” of television. After asking Buffy to the dance and being turned down, he delivers one of his funniest — and arguably most accurate — lines of the series: “That’s okay. I don’t wanna go. I’m just gonna go home, lie down, and listen to country music. The music of pain.”
“Because You’re With Me, You Know?”
Season 4, Episode 19 ‘New Moon Rising’
Willow and Tara were one of the most beloved couples of the series, but they weren’t the first fan-favorite relationship Willow was involved in. Long before Will stumbled into her first Wicca club meeting, there was Oz. From the moment Oz first noticed Will, fans were rooting for the two to meet and be together. After all, they shared the same wit, humor, and quirky personalities. Despite how it ended, their relationship embodied the innocence and magic of first love.
Their relationship came to a screeching halt in college, much to many viewers’ dismay. Oz eventually returns, hoping for a second try. Of course, by then, Willow has met and fallen for Tara. This leaves Oz and Willow to share a final moment together before he leaves the series for good:
Oz: “It was stupid to think you’d just be waiting.”
Willow: “I was waiting. I feel like some part of me will always be waiting for you. Like, if I’m old and blue-haired, and I turn the corner in Istanbul and there you are, I won’t be surprised. Because…you’re with me, you know?”
