The top five Joss Whedon characters.
Which characters feature on your top five list?
Could be wrong but I don't think we've ever done this 'best of' list before.
October 11 2009
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1. Wesley
2. Malcolm Reynolds
3. Anya
4. Spike
5. Jayne
rabid | October 11, 07:15 CET
1 Willow
2 Fred
3 Kaylee
4 Wesley
5 Faith
Djungelurban | October 11, 07:17 CET
4. Lindsey
3. Fred
2. Wesley
1. Angel
Taaroko | October 11, 07:22 CET
My love tends to go to the most evolving characters, those who end up having discovered much about themselves they didn't know they were. And also, of course, to those who I mostly related to while watching (but usually those two things coincide).
Anyway, my list would be...
Spike
Billy/Dr Horrible
Buffy
Wesley
Whiskey/Dr Saunders
With a mention of honor to: Topher, cause I think if the character keeps evolving like he seems to be, he will be in the top 5 soon. Mal: he's awesome and he's Captain Tightpants, he didn't make the list mostly because I can relate to him less than I do with my 5 picks. Lorne: I loved the mention in the article..but can't comment further cause that would get me weepy. Wash: because Alan is so awesome I would almost pick Alpha as well..!
JotheCat | October 11, 07:32 CET
Spike
Mal
Willow
Anya
trippdup | October 11, 07:37 CET
Spike
Buffy
Mal
Wes
Lorne
pollyprissypants | October 11, 07:47 CET
River
Buffy
Wesley
Illyria/Fred or Dr. Saunders/Whiskey
Hard to pick just five - Mal is my definite #1 but all the other characters could easily take spots 2-5 depending on what episode I was watching. And Amy Acker is just awesome and I had a hard time picking between her roles on Angel and Dollhouse. I think Amy was the best thing about Dollhouse and now she's gone (hoping she comes back if the show doesn't get canceled).
Oh crap - just saw that JotheCat put Billy/Dr. Horrible - damn, five spots is just not enough!!
Firefly Flanatic | October 11, 07:52 CET
5 Mal
4 Oz
3 Anya
2 Topher
1 Giles
Why aren't there more Oz's on these lists? I'm appalled. :)
lookitsjulia | October 11, 07:56 CET
River, Mal, Wesley, would certainly be on there somewhere... I'm tired, I'll do this tomorrow after I've slept. I wonder if any of the Dollhouse fellows have made it yet. Ballard or Whiskey/Saunders... maybe Topher. But I'll have a real top 5 tomorrow, though I can't promise it'll be in any order.
SteppeMerc | October 11, 07:57 CET
2. Book
3. Faith
4. Wesley
5. Topher
M | October 11, 07:59 CET
Spike
Buffy
Wesley
Billy/Dr. Horrible
Dr. Saunders/Whiskey/?
and an honourable mention for Topher who is already starting to develop on his road to the possible future we saw in Epitaph One.
If we were talking about my favourite Whedonverse characters, I would definitely include Mal on the list. :)
samatwitch | October 11, 07:59 CET
Samatwitch, wow, total agreement on the top 5 (6..and 7..:-D)..that's rare ;-)!
JotheCat | October 11, 08:09 CET
2. Faith
3. Anya
4. Mal
5. Winifred/Illyria
Hjermsted | October 11, 08:18 CET
The Mayor
Giles
Angel
Wesley
Buffy
Next time we'll do the top 100 Joss characters.
Simon | October 11, 08:26 CET
Mercenary | October 11, 08:39 CET
I want to fit Alpha and/or Captain Hammer into mine so badly but I don't think it's going to happen.
ThorpeWithoutShrimp | October 11, 08:53 CET
2.Buffy
3.Giles
4.Faith
5.Topher
and limiting to five really is hard, because this list is sorely missing my firefly favorites.
Changeling | October 11, 08:54 CET
2. Fred
3. Cordelia
4. Wesley
5. Topher
thisyearsgirl | October 11, 08:55 CET
jlp | October 11, 08:58 CET
My top 5:
Wesley
Xander
Mal
Fred
Billy/Dr. Horrible
Jor | October 11, 09:07 CET
2. Giles
3. Tara
4. Angel
5. Lorne
Berry | October 11, 09:09 CET
1. Xander
2. Fred/Illyria
3. Faith
4. Kaylee
5. River
maxsummers | October 11, 09:16 CET
2. Willow
3. Mal
4. Winifred
5. Giles
"I wish to do more violence"
"This is grief. I'm watching human grief - it's like offal in my mouth."
I could listen to Illyria talk about how the human race disgusts her for hours. Acker's delivery with those lines had such a poetic distain to them.
TOASTERslayer | October 11, 09:20 CET
2. Fred
3. Illyria
4. Faith
5. Anya
Give it some time and I think Adele will end up on that list!
aapac | October 11, 09:27 CET
2. Tara
3. Anya
4. Faith
5. Spike
Runners-up include: Dr. Horrible, Captain Hammer, Topher, Fred, Lorne, Giles, Xander, Willow, Oz, Mal, Simon.
Green Queen | October 11, 09:59 CET
Cooper: "If I were to pick my top five favorite Joss Whedon characters I'd have to say River Tam, Winnifred Burkle, Willow Rosenberg, Rupert Giles, and Wash - oh wait I forgot Topher. That'd be Topher, River, Fred, Willow, Giles, oh no I skipped Bad Horse! That'd make it Topher, River, Bad Horse, Fred, Willow.. Ooh but then I can't include Wash or Giles. I guess that means Willow has to go. But which do I pick to replace her, Giles or Wash?"
Wolowitz: "WILL YOU JUST GO TO SLEEP!??"
ZachsMind | October 11, 10:05 CET
2. Faith
3. Anya
4. Mal
5. Illyria
[ edited by ShanshuBugaboo on 2009-10-11 10:09 ]
ShanshuBugaboo | October 11, 10:09 CET
1.Spike
2.Angel
3.Giles
4.Wesley
5.Xander
sueworld2003 | October 11, 10:11 CET
2. Mal
3. Giles
4. Wesley
5. Spike
Giles'chainsawchick | October 11, 10:12 CET
4. Angel
3. Fred
2. Mal
1. Spike
The top 3 are pretty stable, but ask again next week and the others may change.
goodridd | October 11, 10:29 CET
1. Spike
2. Mal
3. Buffy
4. Wesley
5. Jayne
6. Anya
7. Giles
8. Fred
9. Willow
10. Faith
11. Wash
the Groosalugg | October 11, 10:35 CET
1. Wesely
2. Spike
3. Mal
4. Willow
5. Giles
6. Tara
7. Faith
8. Fred
9. Anya
10. Glory
angry_puppy | October 11, 11:50 CET
1. Connor
2. Riley
3. Dawn
4. Mr. Dominic
5. Justine
(Just kidding.)
marvelknight616 | October 11, 12:00 CET
1) Spike
2) Buffy
3) Topher
4) Illyria
5) Giles
[ edited by Enisy on 2009-10-11 12:03 ]
Enisy | October 11, 12:02 CET
1. Spike
2. Lorne
3. Fred
4. Wesley
5. Anya
Aah, I couldn't even fit in some Kaylee? What's wrong with me?
To repeat the general consensus, five is not enough.
Thuddles | October 11, 12:04 CET
2- Spike
3- Buffy
4- Giles
5- Dawn
Sosa Lola | October 11, 12:18 CET
1. Topher
2. Mal
3. Whiskey/Dr.Saunders
4. Billy/Dr. Horrible
5. Zoe
I was having trouble deciding between Wash, Zoe or Kaylee for that last spot. Really the entire Firefly cast and most of the Dollhouse cast are all my favorites. ;)
Edit: Oh yeah, and the entire Doctor Horrible cast as well! Naturally. Especially with Captain Hammer as a runner-up, because of the hilarity he instills. And though I have seen very little of Buffy - from what little I have seen, Giles, Anya and Xander are pretty cool.
Gorram it, can we just make a list where we attempt to order them all and describe why we love each of them in the process? It would be simpler!
[ edited by CZGoldEdition on 2009-10-11 12:31 ]
CZGoldEdition | October 11, 12:26 CET
1)Angel (and Angelus)
2)Buffy
3)Spike
4)Lorne
5)Mal
If I could go on it'd be:
6)Dru
7)Xander
8)Willow
9)Fred
10)Giles
Honourable mention to (in no particular order): Gunn, Faith, Wesley, Wash, Dr Horrible, Captain Hammer, Topher, Oz, Anya, Tara, Doyle, Jayne, Topher, Dr Saunders, Illyria, The Mayor...
I love them all, really. 5 is not enough!
Shep | October 11, 12:41 CET
1 Spike
2 Angelus, Angel was just way to boring, but send in Angelus and the show picked up.
3 Lindsey
4 Wes
5 Illyria/Fred
I know just top 5 but
6 Anya
7 River
8 Lorne
9 Mal
10 Whiskey
11 Willow
rehabber | October 11, 12:42 CET
1- Angel
2-Spike
3-Darla
4-Mal
5- Wesley
angeliclestat | October 11, 12:56 CET
1>Spike
2>Buffy
3>River
4>Wesley
5>Willow
Honorable mention to Topher, he's already on my short list. And I'm really surprised that so many others have mentioned him as well.
Also hard to leave out Darla, Fred, Lindsey and Xander. Needs to be a top 10.
EF:typo
[ edited by Shey on 2009-10-11 12:57 ]
Shey | October 11, 12:58 CET
My top 5 would be:
5. Topher
4. Illyria/Fred
3. Wesley
2. Willow
1. Mal
curlymynci | October 11, 13:09 CET
4. Inara
3. Andrew
2. Tara
1. Wesley
With Giles, Skip and Xander in a potential top 10.
redders | October 11, 13:16 CET
I will have to say though that I don't understand people grouping Fred and Illyria together. In my opinion they are completely different characters, which personally is why I found the transformation was so powerful. I love them both for COMPLETELY different reasons.
TOASTERslayer | October 11, 13:25 CET
Spike
Cordelia
Angel
Wesley
Just missing out: Xander, Zoe, Whiskey, Jayne, Mal
Strangely enough I think if it was a question of favourite actors my list might be different (not that I don't think the above acted well but the likes of Enver Gjokaj and Summer Glau would definitely be pushing for places).
Leaf | October 11, 13:41 CET
Willow
Spike
Wash
Zoe
Illyria
Topher and Claire are already in my short list though, in the top section of the ranking.
Numfar PTB | October 11, 13:41 CET
1. Buffy
2. Victor
3. Angel
4. Spike
5. Cordy (really sorry to see her arc die)
Had trouble coming up with a 5th... So many memorable charaters...
ginalee | October 11, 13:51 CET
Wesley
Lindsey
River
Faith
Not in any order, don't make me choose!
ChromeShark | October 11, 14:49 CET
Yeah, you're the first to even mention her in this thread. Atleast Eliza is more appreciated for Faith.
Here is a little list of the character most mentioned in the thread, not necessarily in lists, I suppose, but it's some indication of their popularity.
1. Mal - 28
2. Spike - 26
3. Wesley - 26
3. Giles - 25
5. Fred - 22
6. Topher - 21
7. Angel - 18
8. Willow - 17
9. Buffy - 16
10. Anya - 14
11. Faith - 13
12. River - 11
I'm really surprised how male dominated the top of the list shapes up to be so far. Especially considering the renown of Joss' strong female characters.
[ edited by the Groosalugg on 2009-10-11 15:09 ]
the Groosalugg | October 11, 15:08 CET
2. Willow
3. Wesley
4. Darla
5. Illyria
This probably changes everyday though.
danielgm | October 11, 15:20 CET
2. Buffy
3. Anya
4. Willow
5. Giles
But love so many more than that.
By the way, I noticed while on that web site that Buffy is coming to the Sci Fi channel. Did we all know this already? It says the episodes will be shown in their entirety. Good news for new fans.
http://www.scifi.co.uk/blog/buffy-the-vampire-slayer/buffy-heroes-and-villains/
[ edited by Xane on 2009-10-11 15:26 ]
Xane | October 11, 15:21 CET
1. Anya 2. Wesley 3. Buffy 4. Illyria
5. Cordelia 6. (sorry) Drusilla/Giles
Firefly/Dollhouse/Dr. Horrible
1. Mal 2. River 3. Whiskey/Saunders
4. Jayne 5. Billy/ Doc H
CaptainB | October 11, 15:30 CET
Wesley
Fred
River
Mal
Willow
The top two are constant and the other two came easy but I really struggled with the final spot, could have been any of: Illyria, Wash, Darla, Kaylee, Xander.
Aviva | October 11, 15:31 CET
4. Spike
3. Willow
2. Wesley
1. Fred/Illyira
It was very difficult. I could easily put other characters in there. Every Whedon show has great characters.
Vital | October 11, 15:42 CET
Buffy
Angel
Dr. Horrible
Firefly
Dollhouse
... What? I like 'em all.
ManEnoughToAdmitIt | October 11, 15:52 CET
2. Giles
3. Illyria
4. Jayne
5. Lorne
geratongs3000 | October 11, 16:01 CET
*cough* I meant, they could all very well be my fav depending on the scene/moment.
But, who'll always be up there:
1. Spike
2. Lorne (So much potential but painful with Andy's loss)
3. Xander
4. Jayne
4. Ethan (So much potential to be killed off!! )
5. Oz/ Angel (with "us"/and in his own show)/ Topher / Buffy / Willow (pre-KenDoll) / Cordelia (pre-blonde) ...
Mirage | October 11, 16:13 CET
4. Jayne and Wash (love them equally)
3. Anya
2. Andrew
1. Spike
With Lorne, Kaylee and Dr. Horrible warming up the bench.
Guestage Drew | October 11, 16:14 CET
JotheCat | October 11, 16:16 CET
1. Wesley
2. Spike
3. Giles
4. Willow
5. Illyria
ftloosenfanzfree | October 11, 16:34 CET
Here's a contrarian list, five whom I really like that I think haven't been getting enough love in others' top five lists:
* Tara. Ignore her relationship with Willow and her death, and she's still a really cool person. I'm shocked she's so noticeably absent.
* Boyd. I've been really liking him since DH 1.2, and I think he's got more to show us. Besides--using a revolver in 2009? That exudes self confidence in classic choices.
* Jonathan. For a damsel-in-distress (Earshot), turned incompetent badguy (s6), turned sacrifice (s7), he's had a good, yet subtle, arc. That, and Superstar is one of my favorite episodes. He's more of a "flavor" character than anything, but think about how much less BtVS would have been without him.
* Inara. She exudes sexuality and mastery of both her emotions and her destiny, yet, strangely, she's also subtly vulnerable.
* Gunn. For a multi-season regular, he's not getting a lot of love--maybe because his arc is from something most can't understand (homelessness) to something we can understand but not empathize with (lawyer) to a vampire who doesn't ever sleep with anyone. I'm liking "Angel: Only Human", and I think it's the only Angel continuuationn comic so far that is unquestionably better than simply leaving well enough alone.
jclemens | October 11, 16:54 CET
1. Buffy
2. Angel
3. Spike
4. Willow
5. tie Faith and Xander
although Oz and Giles should get honorable mentions.
zee | October 11, 17:36 CET
2. Angel
3. Xander
4. Giles
5. Illyria
Wyndam_ | October 11, 17:43 CET
2. Wesley
3. Buffy
4. Fred
5. Topher
Kinda random (off the top of my head without much deliberation) except for the first two spots which eclipse everything else in the 'verse in my opinion.
baxter | October 11, 17:48 CET
And the character I'm most excited about right now is Whiskey/Dr. Saunders.
jcs | October 11, 17:52 CET
2. Buffy
3. Lorne
4. Dawn
5. Gachnar
OK, I couldn't decide on a 5th, so our favourite little fear demon is acting as a placeholder until I do...
The top 4 are solid though, and have been for years.
safetycanary | October 11, 17:52 CET
2. Spike
After that, it's a free for all fight for 3rd, 4th, and 5th place. May the best man win!
Dr. Horrible/Billy, Jayne, Giles
Honorable mentions to Wash, Kaylee, River, Anya, and Andrew
Claudine_tVS | October 11, 17:59 CET
2. Buffy
3. Giles
4. Anya
5. Dr. Horrible
annieb | October 11, 18:23 CET
1. Wesley - Comic relief to tortured soul to ruthless company man to heartbroken hero.
2. Willow - nerd to slightly confident to confident to arrogant to broken and back to only slightly confident.
3. Cordy - waspish to slightly less waspish to losing everything to following dreams to starting the hero's journey to becoming a hero to finding her love of Angel (I won't comment after that since technically Cordy didn't exist.)
4. Angel/Spike I can't decide. They are really 4a/4b depending on how I feel during the day. Same idea done two completely different ways.
5. Paul - Down into and lost in the rabbit hole. A process started in season 1 has left a character so detached from his moral code and his own goals that he is the most enigmatic character to me. If he develops "attack of the cliche behaviour", Topher takes this spot.
I think someone mentioned Echo being absent. But as I look back at these lists, most of the leads are only mentioned occasionally anyway. Some mentioned they don't like Caroline, but that's like saying Wesley is horrible because he was a joke in Buffy S3. I just think Echo's personality hasn't been developed enough yet. Right now, it's like getting intellectually stimulated by your neighbors 12 year old child.
azzers | October 11, 18:24 CET
Anyway, in no order:
1. Giles
2. Mal
3. Spike
4. Angel
5. Wesley ("Kill them all!")
tharpdevenport | October 11, 19:41 CET
2. Fred
3. Angel
4. Buffy
5. Lorne
My 6th placed character would be Wes
Shade of Pale | October 11, 19:51 CET
2) Buffy
3) Angel
4) Mal
5) Cordelia
I don't know if this is the order I'd put them in, but hands down my favorite characters of all time.
MySerenity | October 11, 20:01 CET
2. Dr Horrible
3. Mal
4. Dr Saunders
5. Buffy
wonderflonium | October 11, 20:06 CET
1. Wesley- only wanted to do the right thing, spiraled downwards, came back up, but was corrupted from his spiral.
2. Jonathan- Not a popular choice at all, but he's the unsung hero of the Buffyverse to me.
3. Giles- evolved past the stuffy Brit stereotype into a great character.
4. Jayne- Jaynestown was an amazing character piece on Jayne, I love him.
5. Lorne- I thought he was just the funniest thing ever. Have a limited edition figure of him. :)
geratongs3000 | October 11, 20:14 CET
2. Angel
3. Spike
4. Zoe
5. Wash
Apparently, I have a thing for the bad boys.
And if I could be anyone else, I'd be Zoe. Inside this mild mannered, short, white 30-something woman is a kick a** beautiful, tall, black goddess. Or so I'd like to think.
And Wash is just funny and loveable and holds everyone together.
RiversDreams | October 11, 20:14 CET
1. Willow
2. Wesley
3. Mal
4. Buffy
5. Angelus
But fifth was very nearly Faith. If I start listing honourable mentions, there'll be no stopping. There's just so many great characters.
NotaViking | October 11, 20:34 CET
2. Jane
3. Giles
4. Angel
5. Cordy
Right. Too few numbers and too many characters.
6. Wash
7. Gunn
8. Lorne
9. Zoe
10. The Mayor
cmbackshane | October 11, 20:47 CET
2. Anya
3. Lorne
4. Badger
5. Drusilla
entwashian | October 11, 20:57 CET
2. Buffy
3. Spike
4. Captain Tight-- er, Mal
5. Angel/Angelus
filmtx | October 11, 20:58 CET
Rikardo | October 11, 21:13 CET
Oh ok, today the top five are:
Buffy
Angel
Spike
Mal
Wesley
The Do That Girl | October 11, 21:13 CET
redeem147 | October 11, 21:46 CET
2. Spike
3. Jayne
4. Buffy
5. Mal
Spike is just too big to fill just one spot...he is my favorite character from any show. I think James Marsters has something to do with it....
luvspike | October 11, 23:03 CET
Rachelkachel | October 12, 00:58 CET
AngelDiva | October 12, 01:19 CET
NotaViking | October 12, 01:44 CET
2. Buffy
3. Lorne
4. Dr. Horrible
5. Fred
discordia | October 12, 02:43 CET
AngelDiva | October 12, 02:46 CET
mortimer | October 12, 03:01 CET
From Angel my favorites are Gunn, Lorne, Fred, Lilah, Drusilla, Wes, I mean the list of favorite characters is neverending.
Xane | October 12, 04:46 CET
Captain Mel
Angel
Spike
Faith
OZ
River
Tooo hard!!!!!
treenie | October 12, 06:30 CET
DaddyCatALSO | October 12, 17:56 CET