Xander Harris - Development

Development

Cordelia: It must be really hard when all your friends have, like, superpowers; Slayer, werewolf, witches, vampires; and you're, like, this little nothing. You must feel like Jimmy Olsen.
Xander: I was just talking to... hey, mind your own business.
Cordelia: Ooo, I struck a nerve. The boy that had no cool.

One academic analysis of the series finds that Xander has much in common with the Harry Potter character Ron Weasley. The writer cites his proximity to the main character, his comparative working class status to best friend Willow (as with Weasley and Hermione), his status as an object of mockery in school. For both Xander and Ron, their comparative lack of special gifts "accentuates the loyalty and bravery... offers as a friend" given that the characters often place themselves in mortal danger. Cordelia's statement to Xander in the Zeppo, which compares him to Superman character Jimmy Olsen, is noted as another example qualifying Xander's everyman status.

Though Xander is often "the heart" of the Scooby Gang, in "The Zeppo" he is excluded from their battle against a hydra-like demon. Through the use of jump cuts between melodramatic scenes with Buffy, and for instance, informant Willy the Barkeeper (Saverio Guerra) to Xander and a gang of zombies in a drunken car journey, Xander is used as a vehicle to point out the ways in which Buffy ordinarily avoids being "over the top" by integrating Xander (as the show's source of humour) into the main narrative rather than separating the two. His loss of his virginity to Faith, for example, is musically cued as an anti-romantic parallel to the swelling, symphonic romance scene that Xander oversees between Buffy and Angel; on his departure from the carnal bed, the music is re-cued. The episode depicts Xander single-handedly saving the school, and potentially the world (given the Hellmouth beneath it) from an explosion in simultaneity against glimpses of the other Scoobies' struggles with the hydra demon. As the episode draws to a climax, the two settings begin to erode into one, as the demon breaks through walls in the basement and enters into the episode's Xander scenes.

Stevenson notes that it is fitting for the character to have his most heroic moment in the school basement, given that in season four he will be reduced to living in his parents'; Xander's fears in "Restless" explore his feeling of being "trapped" in that basement. Wilcox argues that the basement is a representation of the subconscious, and that young carefree zombie Jack O'Toole (Channon Roe) represents Xander's id, his inner desires. The episode brings to light how the basis for heroism rests in the subconscious, and also how as the two battles increasingly merge, his friends cannot hope to save the world and save others unless Xander's battle with the Self is also won. In his confrontation with Jack, just as in his confrontation with Dark Willow in season six's "Grave", Xander saves the world through his words. As the "warrior of words", Wilcox feels that this makes Xander the character who most clearly represents series creator Joss Whedon.

Throughout the series, Xander's family are seen to be highly dysfunctional and composed of alcoholics. Xander relates in "Amends" that he sleeps outside at Christmas to avoid the family quarrels. This leads him to seek a surrogate family in his friendships with Buffy, Willow and Giles. Xander lacks Giles's and Willow's academic intelligence, and Buffy's physical prowess. Cordelia is initially ashamed to be Xander's girlfriend. Throughout the series, Xander struggles to contribute meaningfully to the group dynamic. His dissatisfaction reaches a nadir in season four: Xander's physical dislocation from his college friends leads to a profound sense of being useless. In "Restless", his menial jobs and degrading habitat rise to the surface of his dream narrative. Before falling asleep, he begins to watch Apocalypse Now with Willow, Buffy and Giles, who comments, "Oh, I'm beginning to understand this now. It's all about the journey, isn't it." Xander's dream, in turn, is one of intense self-exploration. In his dream, Xander goes to use the bathroom, and is emasculated and infantilized by Buffy asking him if he needs any help: this scene shows Xander's "sense of insecurity and powerlessness". Nevertheless, he becomes lost and finds himself in his parents' basement. From there, he finds himself in his ice cream truck, where Anya asks if he knows what he is doing, underlining the aimlessness of his journey; he is in the basement once again. When suddenly he is in the army and Principal Snyder (as a character in Apocalypse Now) asks where he comes from, he says, "The basement, mostly." He fears that his military interrogator is correct in saying that he is "the whipping boy" and "set on a sacrificial stone". (This position of being less "chosen" for social inclusion and great things than his peers makes him uniquely able to comfort Dawn in season seven's "Potential".)

Although "The Replacement" sets up its narrative as an evil twin television narrative trope, its catch is that both Xanders are in fact the real Xander. In this episode, Xander uncovers that he has the power within himself to be the adult, suave and confident man whom he had spent the episode envying. "The dual Xanders", Stephens argues, "represents the duality in all of us." The episode demonstrates that Xander is not defined by his weaker personality traits but by the core personality that is a merger of his stronger and weaker traits. Xander's costume choices in various Halloween episodes show the audience his desire for macho credence: he comes, variously, as a cowboy, a soldier and as James Bond. As a soldier, he was in fact magically turned into his costume, and got to retain his macho status along with the useful military knowledge. Following this incident, his choice of costume represents explicitly whom he would like to actually become. Various episodes highlight Xander's intense bravery; for example, he faces down evil Angelus (Boreanaz) at Buffy's hospital door in the episode "Killed by Death", and he offers his life in place of Willow's in "Inca Mummy Girl". When Buffy prepares to face Angelus in the season two finale, he arrives with a rock in hand saying "Cavalry's here. Cavalry's a frightened guy with a rock, but it's here." Stephens argues that this makes up the essence of Xander's character; though powerless, he is always both loyal and brave. As his relationship with Dawn in "Potential" and his support of Buffy show, Xander finds that his real calling seems to be in his role as the "eternal supporter". One journalist describes the character as a modern-day Greek Chorus, always an outsider looking in, and a version of Joss Whedon himself. One author writes that the focus of Xander's character development has always been his quest for maturity.

While their characters were an item, Brendon was close friends with Charisma Carpenter, who portrays Cordelia. When they broke up on the show, and Cordelia transitioned to the spin-off Angel, he commented that they had hardly spoken due to being in different scenes all the time. This felt like a real-life breakup in many ways. When Xander got to become serious with Anya in season five, the actor commented that it was nice to see Xander mature after four years of playing the "nerd". Lorna Jowett feels that Xander's romances throughout the season almost seem to "make up" for the character's shortcomings, which Stafford attributes to Xander's origin as Whedon's author surrogate in the show. Anya comments that Xander is "a Viking in the sack" in "The Yoko Factor", indicating not just masculinity but also virility. Within the show, gay character Larry mistakes Xander for being gay, and Xander's unguarded comments towards Spike have led some fans who write fan fiction to depict Xander as being gay. Jowett attributes this to Xander's internal struggles (which concern a crisis of masculinity and his role amongst his friends) do not contain a readily accessible solution for viewers to hold onto. She argues that some fans see this as a "stumbling block", perhaps unconsciously, to recognising the character's masculinity and at a wider level, in constructing a notion of contemporary masculinity.

In the DVD commentary for the episode "Dirty Girls", writer Drew Goddard mentions there was talk of killing off Xander towards the end of Season Seven and having the First Evil assume Xander's appearance when conversing with Buffy for the remainder of the season. This was ultimately rejected since Xander was thought to be too important to the series, and his death occurring so late in the season would leave little time to deal with it correctly, and that throughout the series' run, Xander was the one character who never wavered, and to punish that characteristic with death would send a message the staff wasn't trying to convey. Instead of killing Xander, he was blinded in one eye.