Ranking the Scoobies

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of the best television shows of all time. Due partially to the writing and relatability and a lot to the truly incredible ensemble cast that carried the show for 7 seasons. We will be ranking the Scooby gang, I will be excluding Buffy for the purposes of this list because of course she wins. We will also be using every makeup of the Scoobies throughout the course of the show so Oz, Tara, Anya, and Cordelia will get some attention.

I think this is pretty obvious Xander, goes at the very bottom. Joss Whedon's self insert is dead last for reasons of he sucks. He’s a shit friend to Buffy, he treats Anya like crap and he feels like he is owed something for being the “nice guy”. Xander is a garbage person and the world and the show would be better without him.

Then we have Oz. Now he’s really only ranked this low because he spent such a short amount of time actually as a member of the Scoobies. But his stoic bravery mellowed out our Willow so well. He was an entertaining addition to the group and was a great catalyst for Willow’s character development.

Next up we have Cordelia. She may have been a raging bitch but the structure of the show and the Scoobies themselves would not be the same without her. She was also extremely badass in her own right and though her character was completely destroyed when she was pulled onto Angel she had some great development on Buffy.

Now I really love Anya, she was kind of irritating sometimes but she was an amazing addition to the group. She deserved so much better than Xander but even after he destroyed her she managed to pull herself together and work with the Scoobies even when she was apart from Xander. Her arc from demon to human was extremely well written especially when we went back to her having demon powers for a moment. It really showed how her humanity was tied at least somewhat to her relationship with Xander.

Moving into the top 3, we have Tara. Her induction into the group was probably the most official and heartfelt. Buffy stood between Tara and her family and the Scoobies came to her rescue. It was a very sweet moment, and I tear up everytime. Tara helps Willow expand on her magic as well as being a safe place for Buffy and Dawn to confide in. Tara becomes the first added in Scoobies to actually feel like part of the family. Even more so than Anya as she had better connections with the group outside of her love interest.

In second place we have Giles. He was not only Buffy’s father figure, but he was really a parental figure to all of the Scoobies. Acting not only as their leader but as their teacher, and friend. The reason Giles is such a good character is not only because he’s the leader and he possesses all of the knowledge necessary to help them figure out each of their cases, BUT because of his super secret badass past. Not only is he more than proficient in magic but he’s also pretty solid when fighting hand to hand.

And in the number one spot we have the badassness that is Willow. Yes, my girl stumbled into a little magic addiction but she was also strong enough to kill the scum that is Warren. She also was strong enough to awaken all of the potential Slayers and it was amazing. She played Buffy’s adorable best friend for a really long time, it took her a few seasons to come into her own but when she did she became one of the most powerful onscreen witches ever.

I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it is one of the greatest shows of all time. The Scoobies are an iconic group and through them we got some really great and groundbreaking tv moments. Our trio; Buffy, Willow and Xander were of course the core of the show but the characters that rounded out the group did so much to add to the dynamics of the show.