It is season seven. The show is tired, the budget is stretching thin, and the "First Evil" is lurking in the shadows like a metaphor for a series that’s been on the air a year too long. Then, "Selfless" happens. This isn't just another monster-of-the-week romp. This is the episode where Joss Whedon and writer Drew Goddard decided to rip our hearts out through a very specific, ex-vengeance-demon-shaped hole. Honestly, if you grew up watching the Scooby Gang, you know that Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins was usually the comic relief. She liked money. She hated bunnies. She had zero social filters. But in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Selfless, the mask doesn't just slip; it shatters into a million jagged pieces.
Most fans remember the seventh season of Buffy as a bit of a slog. It was dark, heavy, and full of "Potentials" that nobody really cared about. But "Selfless" is a masterpiece of character study. It’s an origin story, a musical, and a tragedy all rolled into forty-four minutes. We finally see Aud—the human woman from 880 AD who would eventually become Anyanka. She wasn't always a demon. She was just a girl who gave too much, loved a literal troll named Olaf, and ended up breeding rabbits because she thought they were a nice gift for the townspeople. It’s weird. It’s quirky. It’s quintessential Buffy.
The Brutal Reality of Anya’s Choice
The central conflict of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Selfless is a bloodbath. There is no way to sugarcoat it. Anya, reeling from being left at the altar by Xander in the previous season, has retreated into her old ways. She’s a vengeance demon again. She’s Granting Wishes. When a young woman named Willow (not that Willow, just a student) wishes for the hearts of a fraternity to be ripped out, Anya obliges. Literally.
Buffy finds the room full of corpses. This is where the show gets messy in the best way possible. Usually, the lines are clear: Buffy kills the bad guys. But Anya is family. Or she was. The confrontation in the frat house isn't just a fight; it’s a philosophical debate with swords. Buffy’s stance is cold. She’s the Slayer. If there’s a demon killing people, that demon dies. She even references her own past, specifically killing Angel back in season two. It’s a "Greater Good" argument that feels incredibly harsh but technically correct.
Xander, of course, tries to intervene. It’s pathetic and heartbreaking. He’s the one who broke her, yet he thinks he can save her. The irony is thicker than the fake blood used on set. You’ve got Buffy trying to decapitate a woman who was once her bridesmaid, while Xander begs for a mercy he didn't show her at the church.
Why the Musical Flashback Matters
One of the weirdest and most brilliant parts of the episode is the flashback to "Once More, with Feeling." We get a "lost" musical number called "Mrs." It’s Anya singing about her future with Xander while she’s getting ready for her wedding. On the surface, it’s a bright, poppy show tune. But in the context of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Selfless, it’s devastating.
She’s singing about how she’ll finally have an identity because she’ll be a "Mrs." She doesn't know who she is without a man or a demon master to serve. D'Hoffryn, the head vengeance demon, knows this. He’s the ultimate toxic boss. When Anya realizes the horror of what she’s done—when the weight of the dead frat boys actually hits her—she wants to take it back.
But vengeance isn't a "ctrl+z" situation. D'Hoffryn tells her the price to restore those lives is the life of a vengeance demon. Anya agrees. She’s ready to die. She’s finally doing something truly selfless. But D'Hoffryn is a jerk. He doesn't kill Anya. He kills Halfrek, Anya’s only friend, right in front of her.
👉 See also: Why the Game of Thrones House of Black and White Still Creeps Us Out
The Evolution of Anyanka
To understand why Buffy the Vampire Slayer Selfless hits so hard, you have to look at the history of vengeance. Anyanka wasn't just a killer; she was a justice-seeker for "women scorned." For over a thousand years, she wandered the earth turning cheating husbands into dogs or worse.
- 880 AD: Aud lives in Sjornjost. She’s an outcast because she’s too honest. Sound familiar?
- 1905: Anyanka helps Halfrek (then known as Cecily’s friend) in Saint Petersburg.
- 1998: She comes to Sunnydale because Cordelia Chase has a wish.
- 2002: She loses her powers, regains them, and then realizes they are a curse.
The transition from Aud to Anyanka to Anya and back again is a cycle of trauma. In "Selfless," we see that Anya’s "social awkwardness" isn't just a quirk. It’s the result of being a literal alien to humanity for a millennium. When she tries to be human, she fails. When she tries to be a demon again, she fails at that too because she’s grown a conscience. She is stuck in a middle ground where she belongs nowhere.
The episode ends with Anya standing alone. She’s human again, but she’s stripped of her purpose, her friends, and her best friend is dead because of her choice. It’s one of the loneliest endings in the entire series. No jokes about bunnies. No witty one-liners about capitalism. Just a woman realizing that being human means hurting, and she has to do it all by herself.
Is Buffy Hypocritical?
A lot of fans argue about Buffy’s behavior in this episode. Was she too quick to try and kill Anya? She let Spike live for years despite his body count. She let Willow off the hook after "Dark Willow" nearly ended the world. So why was she so ready to put a sword through Anya?
The difference, according to Buffy, is intent. Anya chose to become a demon again. She wasn't cursed with a soul like Angel or chipped like Spike. She went back to the job. But let’s be real: Buffy was also projecting. She was tired of being the law-giver. She was tired of everyone’s mistakes. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer Selfless, Buffy is at her most "General-like," a persona that eventually leads to her getting kicked out of her own house later in the season.
It’s a complicated look at leadership and friendship. If your friend commits a mass murder, do you call the cops or help hide the bodies? In the world of Buffy, calling the cops means a broadsword.
What You Can Learn from Anya’s Journey
If you’re revisiting the series or watching it for the first time, "Selfless" serves as a reminder that redemption isn't a one-time event. It’s a constant, painful process of making better choices.
- Stop defining yourself by others. Anya spent centuries being whatever D'Hoffryn or Xander needed her to be. Her "selfless" moment was the start of her finally finding her own feet, even if the path was paved with grief.
- Actions have consequences that can't be "magicked" away. The frat boys stayed dead in the original timeline of the wish until the sacrifice was made. Even then, the cost was another life. In the real world, you can't always fix what you break, but you have to try.
- It is okay to be the "difficult" friend. Anya was never easy to love, but she was honest. In a world of secrets (looking at you, Xander and Willow), her bluntness was actually a virtue, even if it made people uncomfortable.
The legacy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Selfless is its refusal to give a happy ending. It forces the audience to sit with the discomfort of Anya’s existence. She isn't a hero yet, but she’s no longer a villain. She’s just Anya. And in the end, that was enough.
🔗 Read more: Why the Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Cast Works Better Than You Think
To truly appreciate this character arc, go back and watch "The Wish" (Season 3) and then jump straight to "Selfless." The contrast is staggering. You see the sheer amount of work Emma Caulfield put into making a one-note guest character into the soul of the show's final act. She took a demon and made her the most human person in the room.
Next Steps for the Ultimate Rewatch
To get the most out of Anya's narrative arc, watch "The Wish" (3x09) followed by "Triangle" (5x11) and "Hell's Bells" (6x16) before hitting "Selfless." This sequence highlights the slow-burn breakdown of her psyche and her desperate struggle to understand human mortality. Pay close attention to the background characters in the Sjornjost flashbacks; the attention to detail in the "Old Norse" dialogue, which the actors actually had to learn, adds a layer of authenticity rarely seen in early 2000s episodic television. Once finished, analyze Anya's final moments in the series finale "Chosen" to see how the seeds of sacrifice planted in "Selfless" finally reach their tragic conclusion.