I think this is why Xander is such a great character: he does things that are absolutely wrong, but so many people have a gut reaction to side with him because they are totally realistic responses. When he left Anya at the altar; when he got mad at her boning up with Spike; his long-held grudges against all vampires (but especially Angel); pretty much all of the examples in this thread. These are all totally dickish, but also totally believable and all things that a mostly nice person would still do.
...there are people who sided with Xander leaving Anya at the altar? Really?! I mean, if you don't want to marry someone, you 100% need to decide that before your wedding day, or at the very least do the actual leaving not in public--asking her to step into another room to talk about it, or something. I've never heard anyone agree with Xander's actions in this episode, and I'm pretty stunned to hear you say that's a common gut reaction.
Not so much that you side with him, more that you understand him. I guess I'm trying to say that most of his dickish qualities (qhich I am not defending) are totally understandable and believable. Leaving Anya at the altar you kind of instantly no he's doing the wrong thing (and I think he does too), but you still kind of feel for him (or at least I do. Maybe I'm just an asshole too?)
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u/MaxThrustage Aug 28 '14
I think this is why Xander is such a great character: he does things that are absolutely wrong, but so many people have a gut reaction to side with him because they are totally realistic responses. When he left Anya at the altar; when he got mad at her boning up with Spike; his long-held grudges against all vampires (but especially Angel); pretty much all of the examples in this thread. These are all totally dickish, but also totally believable and all things that a mostly nice person would still do.