Spike, portrayed by James Marsters on the television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, was originally born William Pratt. After being sired by Drusilla, he became an infamous vampire, known for the fact that he had killed two Slayers.
He came to Sunnydale with the intention of making Buffy the third slayer he had killed, however, this didn’t work out when his plans were foiled multiple times, and he, ultimately, ended up falling in love with her.
After sacrificing himself at the Battle of the Hellmouth in order to save the world, Spike finds himself resurrected as a ghost in Los Angeles, before joining Angel and his team in saving the world.
Spike’s character also appears in multiple comic books created around the television series, including the comic book continuations of the TV shows, and the miniseries, Spike & Dru.
Before Spike became Spike, he was born ‘William Pratt’. William was a hopeless romantic and a poet – although, not many people considered him a very good one.
In fact, he was such a bad poet, that he earned the nickname ‘William the Bloody’ – but not because he was scary – but they considered his poetry to be ‘bloody awful’.
The same goes for his nickname, Spike – Giles assumed it was because he had a preferred torture method of using railroad spikes, – it became more likely that this was not the case, however, as he might have taken inspiration from people subjected to his poetry, saying it would make you want to“stick a railroad spike through your head,”.
He was born to a woman named Anne, who would frequently sing the song “Early One Morning” to him, even when he became a young man, up until he was finally turned into a vampire in 1880 – this would cause some problems for him, later in his vampire life. They both lived together, and they were really close.
When his mother became ill with tuberculosis, she became concerned about William’s future.
Anne hoped that he would marry a woman named Cecily Addams (which later turned out to be Halfrek, a vengeance demon, and friend of Anya’s), however, his mother was the only person to enjoy William’s poetry, resulting in a harsh rejection from Cecily, in which she told him that he was “beneath her”, which stuck with him for the rest of his life – and death.
Cecily’s reaction caused William to allow a vampire, Drusilla, to sire him when he bumped into her after fleeing the party he was at. She comforted him before feeding on his blood, siring him when she fed him hers in return.
He then went home and turned his mother into a vampire, at the time, seeing it as a cure to her disease.
After she had been turned, however, her motherly affection was almost non-existent, and instead, she found William’s love for her to be annoying. She accused him of being interested in her sexually and blamed his lack of being able to find a woman on this too.
His mother was cruel when turned into a vampire, and tried to seduce him, taunting as she did. When William rejected her, she tried to kill him by attempting to stake him, using the cane she had relied on when she was sick. William then snapped this in half, before staking her in self-defense.
Understandably, this was extremely traumatic for William, and the effects of this trauma stayed with him for decades.
Spike
After Drusilla sired William for companionship, jealous of the relationship between Darla and Angelus, William became incredibly loyal to her. As well as Drusilla, he also idolized Angelus, Drusilla’s sire, explaining that whilst Drusilla might have sired him,
Angelus had made him the monster that he was. As a vampire, William could still be gentle and sensitive to Drusilla’s feelings.
He grew to consider Angelus a mentor, although they both killed for different reasons – Angelus considered killing to be an art form, whereas William would kill more so for entertainment.
William kept his romanticism until he caught Angelus and Drusilla having sex. William told Angelus that Drusilla was his destiny, and Angelus dismissed this, telling William that whilst he could have anything he wanted, he wouldn’t really ever have anything, truly.
William understood that Angelus had had sex with Drusilla to take away William’s sensitivity, however, this only ignited their decade-long rivalry.
William became Spike, taking on more of a punk-ish attitude and leaning into more of a cockney accent. Together, Spike, Angelus, Drusilla, and Darla were collectively known as the ‘Whirlwind’, and they rampaged across Europe, terrorizing entire villages in their wake.
It wasn’t long before Spike found a dark obsession – hunting and killing slayers. Although he initially found out about them when Angelus told him as a warning, Spike looked at this as a thrilling challenge.
As previously mentioned, Spike loved to kill due to the rush, so for Spike, it was a sport – and there was no better challenge for a vampire than trying to kill a Slayer.
Both Spike and Angelus ended up in chains when they came across the Immortal in 1984. The Immortal then proceeded to have a threesome with their respective lovers, which enraged the pair of male vampires, as this wasn’t something they were ever able to convince them to do.
The Immortal would later cause Spike to spend some time behind bars, due to tax evasion.
Angelus was cursed with his soul (and eternal torment as a result of his guilty conscience) after Darla kidnapped one of the Kalderash people’s favorite daughters, presenting her to Angelus.
When Angelus was cursed, the group terrorized and murdered the Kalderash people in Borsa, Romania, in 1898. Spike was unaware that Angelus had regained his soul at this point, and killed all but the elder of the Kalderash tribe, leaving Darla without any hope of negotiating to get Angelus’ soul back. Spike’s slaughter of the Kalderash people also made him an enemy of Dracula.
Spike would later refer to the fact that in 1898, Dracula apparently destroyed Spike’s copy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. According to Spike, Dracula owed him £11 as a result.
Spike killed his first Slayer in 1900, whilst the Boxer Rebellion was taking place. The Slayer he killed was named Xin Rong. Spike obtained a scar over his left eyebrow after Xin Rong cut him with her sword.
She probably would have been successful in killing Spike, as shortly after she had him pinned against the wall with her foot, a position in which she could have staked him, however an explosion outside of the Buddhist temple they were fighting in caused her to lose her leverage over him, allowing him to regain the upper hand and kill her.
Spike and Angel re-encountered each other later on in 1943 when Spike was captured on a German U-boat by Nazi soldiers, alongside Nostroyev and the Prince of Lies, as the Nazis intended on experimenting on the vampires in order to create a vampire army.
The vampires were able to break free and killed the majority of the crew in response. Angel, unbeknownst to Spike, had been forced to help recover the boat and information on experiments conducted by the Demon Research Initiative, as it also had American sailors on board, and a human would not have been able to recover the submarine.
Angel, who was acting as if he was still without a soul, was able to prevent the vampires from killing the humans leftover, explaining that they would need someone to steer the submarine.
Spike ended up destroying the notes made on the experiments done to them, which directly conflicted with Angel’s orders from the Demon Research Initiative.
Spike became a hero in 1953 – at least to one half-demon girl, named Pearl. This unexpected turn of events happened when Spike and Drusilla were both in Rome after Spike had just tracked down a Black Widower demon who owed him a debt.
The demon had just finished having sex with Pearl when Spike interrupted, beheaded the demon, and – unintentionally – rescued Pearl from being eaten, alongside her unconscious brother, Nash. Spike became a hero figure to Pearl, as a result of this event.
In 1963, two members of the Watchers Council met their deaths at the hands of Spike, whilst Roger Wyndam-Price, (Who happened to be Wesley Wyndam-Price’s father) just about managed to escape and survive.
The pair were in the midst of murdering an entire orphanage. Later that decade, in 1969, Spike had a taste of psychoactive drugs after feeding on a flower person at Woodstock.
He said that he spent the “next six hours watchin’ my hand move”, as the person he had drunk from had ingested psychoactive drugs, leading Spike to ingest them secondhand, through their blood.
Spike killed his second Slayer whilst in New York City, in 1977. This is also where he gained his characteristic black leather duster. He fought the Slayer, Nikki Wood, twice – despite giving up the first time, he fought her again whilst on a subway train, due to how much he liked her duster.
The second time, he was successful in killing the Slayer, snapping her neck. He would continue to wear her duster for the many years to come.
Both Spike and Drusilla were attacked by a mob whilst in Prague in 1997. They also tortured Drusilla to scare any other vampires away from the city. The pair arrived in Sunnydale, with Drusilla still quite weak as a result.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Season Two
When he first arrived in Sunnydale, Spike’s main obsession was with using the Hellmouth to restore Drusilla back to full health. He had heard that Buffy Summers, the current Slayer, was in Sunnydale, and was quick to make killing a third Slayer a close priority on his list.
It wasn’t long before Spike made his presence known by attacking Buffy and her classmates at Sunnydale High School’s parent-teacher night. Buffy escorted her classmates and their parents to safety while Xander was sent out to find Angel.
When both Xander and Angel returned, Angel tried to deceive Spike into thinking that he was still the Angelus that he used to know. Spike soon saw through this act, realizing that Angel was on Buffy’s side, and Xander and Angel had to run away.
He might have succeeded in killing Buffy if it wasn’t for Joyce, Buffy’s mother, who was able to help Buffy by hitting Spike with a fire axe. Spike left as a result.
Spike grew tired of the Order of Aurelis, eager to fight Buffy. He killed the Anointed One, usurping him and assuming the leadership position of the order, ruining their chances of killing Buffy on the Night of Saint Vigeous.
When Spike found out that Drusilla’s health could be restored through a vampire restoration ritual that required the blood of Angel, her Sire, Spike was prompt to kidnap Angel (with Willy the Snitch’s assistance) for this purpose.
To keep Buffy busy in the meantime, Spike enlisted the Order of Taraka, a society of human and demon assassins, to kill Buffy. Buffy killed three of their members, resulting in Spike calling off the assassination.
At the time, Kendra Young had arrived in Sunnydale, a Slayer called as a result of Buffy dying when she came head to head with the Master the year before.
With the help of a second Slayer, Buffy was able to save Angel, with the fight leading to his rescue causing Spike to be wheelchair-bound for months, paralyzed after a pipe-organ collapsed onto him.
Spike’s efforts were not wasted, however, despite his injuries, and Drusilla fully recovered as a result of the ritual.
To celebrate Drusilla’s birthday, Spike chose to reassemble the Judge, a ‘Big Bad’ that was capable of burning humanity out of anything it touched – as a result, killing the entire human race.
Whilst Spike plotted the reassembly of the Judge, collecting his pieces, Buffy and Angel happened to have sex for the first time, resulting in Angel becoming Angelus again, losing his soul after a moment of true happiness (as per the curse).
Angelus, Drusilla, and Spike had reunited once again – however, Spike and Angelus were not without their disagreements. When the Judge was finally assembled, Buffy destroyed him, avoiding the apocalypse.
Angelus attempted to seduce Drusilla again whilst the wheelchair-bound Spike was unable to do anything about it, taunting Spike with the same actions he had before.
This angered Spike, causing him to pretend to need to use his wheelchair long after he had initially regained control over his lower body. He used this time to his advantage, eventually aiding Buffy and her friends when Angelus decided to summon Acathla, causing an apocalypse.
Spike’s reasons for doing so were admirable – he wanted to save the world, as well as reunite with Drusilla after she had, once again, become enamored with Angelus.
Spike managed to get Buffy to agree to save Drusilla in order to also save Giles, provided that the vampire couple left Sunnydale after saving Giles and Drusilla. Spike then assisted Buffy in distracting Angel so that Buffy could rescue Giles.
Season Three
Drusilla resisted Spike’s attempts to ‘save’ her at first, however, this was short-lived as Spike decided to render her unconscious by knocking her out instead, before going to Brazil.
Drusilla was disgusted that Spike had supported the Slayer, causing Spike to become depressed when he found her cheating on him with a Chaos demon.
Spike found the fact that she had cheated on him with a Chaos demon, in particular, a really low blow – when recounting it, he said, “have you ever seen a chaos demon?
All slime and antlers. They’re disgusting!”. Drusilla left Spike, partially due to how much his support of Buffy repulsed her, however also because she could tell, as a result of her powers, that he would come to fall in love with the Slayer.
With nothing left for him in Brazil, a forlorn Spike returned to Sunnydale. His grief over his break-up with Drusilla caused him to kidnap Willow and Xander, with the intention of forcing Willow to cast a spell that would make Drusilla fall in love with him again.
This plan, however, did not work out – despite both Angel and Buffy tracking down all of the ingredients for the spell, and comically, Buffy’s mother allowing Spike to vent to her in a motherly fashion, Mayor Wilkins had gotten wind of the fact that Spike was back in town, attempting to dispatch him, hiring Spike’s former employees to do the dirty work as he knew that Spike could interfere in the Ascension.
Spike won the fight, however, coming away from the situation with a new outlook on how to go forward with Drusilla: he would force her to love her by kidnapping and torturing her, instead.
In much higher spirits, Spike released both Willow and Xander, before embarking on his mission to force Drusilla to love him again.
Season Four
Despite his limited success, Drusilla decided to abandon Spike for a Fungus demon, instead. Spike decided that he would find a new obsession – the Gem of Amara.
The Gem was encased within a ring and possessed powers that relieved the vampiric user of their vulnerabilities, for example, allowing them to walk in sunlight.
This required Spike to return to the Hellmouth, starting a ‘relationship’ with one of Buffy’s classmates, Harmony Kendall, who had become a vampire as a result of the events that took place on Ascension Day – however, Spike seemed to consider Harmony more of a pest, using her without really giving her anything in return.
Spike then assembled a team to mine for the Gem. Harmony, of all people, was the one to find it, unknowingly when she happened across the ring in the tomb, and found it pretty, prompting her to wear it.
Neither Harmony or Spike were aware that she had found it, until Spike decided to stake Harmony when he grew frustrated with her. She didn’t die, however, promptly healing from her wound.
Spike took the ring away from Harmony and instantly used his newfound abilities to fight Buffy, appearing during the day to take her by surprise.
Spike lost the ring in battle when Buffy took it from him (later giving the ring to Angel), however, and lost his immunity to sunlight, ultimately, losing the fight.
Spike refused to allow this to be the end, however, and (within the spin-off show, Angel) followed Oz, one of the Scooby Gang, to Los Angeles, Angel’s new place of residence, in order to get the ring back.
To do this, he recruited a sadistic vampiric torture artist, Marcus, to get Angel to reveal where he had hidden the Gem.
The torture didn’t work, so Spike decided to use Angel as a hostage to get Cordelia Chase and Francis Doyle, Angel’s colleagues, to give up the ring.
Spike was almost successful, however, this plan was also foiled when the vampire that he had hired turned out to have his own agenda, stealing the ring so that he could hunt young children during the daytime.
Angel recovered the ring, preventing Spike (and anyone else) from ever using its special powers for evil again.
‘The Initiative’ was formed by the government as an organization to both conduct research and experiments on, as well as fight, supernatural threats.
Unfortunately for Spike, the Initiative had advanced technology that allowed them to create a chip that, when implanted into the brain of a vampire, would prohibit them from feeding or hurting anyone without eliciting an intense shock throughout their brain.
The Initiative was able to implant one of these into Spike’s brain, causing him to feel pain whenever he tried to harm anyone.
As a result of this pain, Spike started to experience more empathy for others, and he grew to care about the consequences of his actions – or, at least, he cared about the pain his chip caused.
The chip, for all intents and purposes, became a sort of alternative soul for Spike. To avoid the Initiative (and starvation as a result of his inability to feed), Spike was left with no choice but to face his new conscience, and enlisted the help of Buffy Summers and her friends, in exchange for what he had been able to find out about the Initiative.
He was locked up at both Giles and Xanders house, where they could keep an eye on him. He got temporarily engaged to Buffy whilst under a spell, causing them to believe that they were in love with each other.
He later had to be stopped from trying to commit suicide by staking himself, but soon after realized that he doesn’t have to give up his addiction to violence altogether as a result of his ability to kill demons without activating his chip.
This led him to become even more of an ally to the Scooby Gang, helping them every so often – although he was not completely loyal to them.
He also continued to still put his own interests first – putting him in a difficult position, as he was rejected (and threatened) by the dark forces of Sunnydale due to his ability to kill other vampires.
Maggie Walsh, the head of The Initiative, created a “bio-mechanical Demonoid” named Adam. Unfortunately, the first thing Adam did when he gained consciousness was the first time was kill Walsh, however, this lead to an unlikely alliance when Adam and Spike make a deal – if Spike was able to drive a wedge between the members of the Scooby Gang, Adam would remove Spike’s chip.
Whilst Spike was initially successful, Buffy and her friends eventually caught on to what was happening, ultimately resulting in Buffy killing Adam.
To gain some retribution (as well as the assurance that the Scooby Gang wouldn’t slay him, also), Spike saved them from a demon, before going on to help them to rescue the soldiers of the Initiative from the demons that the organization had imprisoned – a situation orchestrated by Adam.
Season Five
By this point, Spike had made a mausoleum in Sunnydale’s ‘Restfield Cemetary’ his home, even going as far as to decorate it in an attempt to make it more comfortable.
Spike started to gain feelings for Buffy (and a bit of an obsession), after having a dream about her, in which the pair started kissing each other after Spike asked her to kill him, which led him to attempt to gain her affections in return by proving how he felt about her.
To begin with, he attempted to show his love for her by helping out more voluntarily when it came to fights – as well as privately keeping a little shrine for her in his mausoleum. Eventually, Spike told Buffy about his obsession with Slayers, detailing how he had previously killed two of them. Spike’s obsession led Buffy to tell Spike that he was “beneath her”, and that they’d never have a chance.
This eerily mimicked the time he had been traumatized by Cecily’s rejection, which caused him to become a vampire, and it caused Spike to, once again, set out to kill Buffy.
Upon his arrival at her house, however, he found her upset as she had just found out that Joyce had a brain tumor. Spike instantly gave up on killing her and instead did his best to be there for her.
Riley, Buffy’s boyfriend at the time (and previous member of the Initiative) confronted Spike about his feelings for Buffy after happening upon Spike obsessing over the scent of Buffy’s clothes.
This caused Spike to both rub in the fact that Buffy had told him about her mother’s brain tumor, as well as expose Riley’s dark side by showing Buffy the house in which Riley and others would voluntarily allow vampires to feed on them, in exchange for the euphoric high that came with a vampires bite. Riley departed Sunnydale after having a drink with Spike, in which they both spoke about Buffy.
When Dawn left Buffy’s birthday to go to the Magic Box, the Scooby Gang’s base of operations, Spike went along to make sure that she was safe.
This is when Dawn found out that she was actually the Key – she had been created from an old energy used to open the doors between different dimensions, resulting in the potential destruction of Earth.
Buffy was initially furious with Spike, however, when he explained that he was actually trying to look out for Dawn, Buffy calmed down.
Spike soon became desperate to win Buffy’s heart, and, in typical Spike fashion, even attempted to kill Drusilla in front of Buffy (after chaining Buffy up), seeing this as the ultimate romantic gesture after Drusilla tried to turn him evil again by killing his victims for him.
This caused a fight between Buffy, Drusilla, and Harmony. To little surprise, Spike’s attempt did not work, and a grossed-out Buffy rescinded his invitation into her home.
Other members of the Scooby Gang did their best to keep him at a distance until Spike left an anonymous card for Joyce in an attempt to show his respects after she died.
He assisted Dawn when she attempted to resurrect her mother, however, this only led to Joyce temporarily becoming a zombie.
Warren Mears, a previous classmate of Buffy’s, decided to make a sex robot named April, programmed to be obsessed with him, as well as obey his commands.
Despite April’s clear design-faults, such as going on a jealous rampage when Warren met an actual human that he liked, Spike asked Warren to create him a similar robot exactly like Buffy (the ‘Buffybot’), and the real Buffy, upon discovering its existence, was once again disgusted.
This didn’t last long, as Spike was kidnapped by Glory, (also known as The Beast, a goddess from a hell dimension) who suspected him to be the Key. Spike refused to reveal who the real Key was, risking his life. When Buffy realized that Spike had gone to these lengths to protect Dawn, she kissed him.
Spike grew quite protective of Dawn, with Buffy trusting him around her sister more and more as time went on. Spike further evidenced his loyalty towards the Scooby Gang when he hinted to Buffy that Willow would need more support than she realized after Glory had decided to “brain-suck” Tara, Willow’s girlfriend in an attempt to find out who the real Key was.
Spike grew to appreciate that Buffy treated him like a human, despite the fact that she wouldn’t feel the same way towards him. He was reinvited into Buffy’s home after Buffy came to the realization that Spike was one of her most valuable weapons when it came to keeping Glory away from her sister.
Later on, in an attempt to save Dawn from being used in the ritual to unlock the dimensions, Spike fell off of the extremely high tower that they were in, rendering him useless in saving Dawn, and in his eyes, contributing to Buffy’s later death.
Spike cried when he saw Buffy’s body and used his grief to motivate him, looking after Dawn as well as he could.
Season Six
When Buffy was resurrected, she found it really hard to adjust to being alive again. Throughout this process, she heavily leaned on Spike, finding it hard to discuss her issues with her second chance at life with her friends, as this would hurt their feelings.
Spike later realized that Buffy’s resurrection stopped his chip from shocking him if he tried to harm her.
This drew the two to sleep together, in complete secret, after this discovery lead them to start fighting. Within their relationship, both violence and sex would come hand in hand – the first time they have sex, they destroyed an entire building.
The pair struggled with their contrasting agendas – Spike wanted Buffy’s love and affection, whereas Buffy viewed the acts of sex as something dark that she should be ashamed of.
Spike proved how loyal he was to the Slayer, once again, when she thought that she had accidentally murdered a human woman. Spike, worried that Buffy was going to confess to killing her, disposed of the body so that she wouldn’t go to the police.
Riley made a brief visit to Sunnydale, getting his own back when he exposed Spike to be a demon egg smuggler. Buffy broke things off with Spike shortly after this, as she felt bad for exploiting his feelings for her.
This hurt Spike, and after Xander ditched Anya at their wedding, both Spike and Anya had sex at the Magic Box after getting drunk together.
Xander (alongside the rest of the gang) saw the two on camera, causing him to attempt to kill Spike, before Buffy intervened, resulting in the exposure of what Buffy and Spike had been doing behind everyone else’s backs.
Spike once again tried to have sex with Buffy after this. This time, Buffy rejected him, resulting in Spike attempting to rape her in her own bathroom. Buffy managed to fend him off, and Spike quickly came to his senses.
Disgusted at his actions, Spike left Sunnydale, traveling to Africa to undergo a set of tests known as the ‘Demon Trials’. Spike was successful in the Trials, and as a result, he regained his soul.
Season Seven
Spike, now with a soul, tries his best to redeem himself in spite of his previous actions towards Buffy. Around this time, however, the First Evil, a power that existed before even the Big Bang, started to torment Spike, using a hypnotic trigger to cause him to do things out of control – ‘Early One Morning’, the song that his mother sang him whilst he was human.
This results in Spike killing humans without realizing that he is the culprit, and upon his realization of this, he asked Buffy to kill him.
Buffy looks after Spike, as he struggled with withdrawals from human blood, as well as the control of the First, and her validation and trust in him helped him to survive the torture that the First Evil puts him through later on.
Buffy calls in the Initiative to remove Spike’s chip when it starts to work incorrectly, a further symbol of how much her trust in him had increased as a result of him gaining a soul.
Robin, the son of the second Slayer that Spike had killed, Nikki Wood, took advantage of Spike’s trigger and tried to kill him to get revenge. This, however, allowed Spike to break free of the control that the song induced after he realized that it worked due to his trauma surrounding his mother.
Unbeknownst to Wood, he had helped Spike to work through his trauma, and Spike decided to let Wood live, as a way of attempting to make up for killing his mother. Despite this, Spike still told Wood that he had no issue killing him if he caused any additional trouble, which Buffy backed him in.
When Buffy’s friends, as well as the potential Slayers, abandoned her in favor of Faith’s leadership Spike stood up for Buffy, expressing his disgust at her friends for being so quick to leave her on her own after everything.
After this, Buffy and Spike grew even closer, spending a night in an abandoned house, with Spike holding her in comfort. The next day, Spike said that it was the best night of his life, telling Buffy not to mock him.
Spike grew jealous when Angel decided to visit, as he caught Angel and Buffy kissing by way of greeting each other.
Angel had come to Sunnydale to drop of the Amulet, explaining that it was too dangerous for Buffy to wear and had to be worn by a ‘Champion’, a vampire with a soul. Buffy gave the Amulet to Spike, before the two shared yet another night together, embracing.
At the Battle of the Hellmouth, Spike sacrificed himself in order to save the world from the First Evil’s army, comprised of the old, and extremely powerful, Turok-Han vampires. The Amulet channeled sunlight through Spike’s soul, essentially turning the vampire into a sunlight gun – but allowing him to feel his soul in the process.
Spike was also responsible for the destruction of the Hellmouth, telling Buffy that she needed to get out and to leave him there, Buffy told him that she loved him, but Spike responded, “No you don’t, but thanks for saying it,”, before making sure that Buffy left before he lost control of his newfound power.
The power of the Amulet proved to be too much, and Spike’s vampire body burnt due to the sunlight being channeled through it, with Spike laughing as it did.
Angel, Season Five
Whilst Spike’s character appears in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off, Angel, after the Gem of Amara is taken to Los Angeles, the main bulk of the character’s involvement in the show happens after his death.
After Spike’s death, the Amulet was given to Wolfram & Hart, where Spike was released from the Amulet as a ghost, nineteen days after he died in Sunnydale.
Spike quickly realizes that he is unable to leave the city, and finds that he can’t rejoin Buffy and the Scoobies, choosing to instead haunt Angel until he found a way to give Spike a solid body.
Another nasty side effect of Spike’s new form was that he started dematerializing randomly, against his will – it would later be revealed that in these instances, Spike was being forced to go to Hell, temporarily.
He grew increasingly more scared about whether he was destined to go to hell as a result of all of his sins.
Spike regained a corporeal form when they realized that Matthias Payne, previously a killer that had become a ghost, had been tormenting souls bound to Wolfram and Hart, as a way of preventing himself from being sucked into Hell. Spike chose to give up his body to save Fred.
Spike slowly started to gain some control over his ghostly form and found that if he really focused, he could touch things, and therefore, he could still be an asset in combat.
Whilst this was a promising development, Spike finally regained his physical form when he opened an interesting package in the mail, a flash of light giving him his body back.
The Shanshu prophecy later revealed that both Angel and Spike needed to restore balance before they destroyed the fabric of reality, as they both had souls.
To make sure that they didn’t negatively affect the outcome of the prophecy, the two vampires went head to head to determine the stronger of the two, with the champion being given the right to drink from the Cup of Perpetual Torment, which would eventually allow the winner to become human.
Whilst fighting, Spike argued that Angel had his soul forced on him, and because of that, he would always be a monster, deep down, whereas Spike had earned his. For the first time in the entirety of their history with each other, Spike managed to win a fight against Angel, but the prophecy was later revealed to be a rouse.
Spike decided not to go after Buffy, instead deciding that he preferred her remembering him to be a hero. Lindsey Mcdonald, an adversary of Angel’s, took advantage of Spike’s good nature, and, under the guise of “helping the helpless”, manipulated Spike so that he became Angel’s biggest competition, with Spike beginning to act more similarly to the way that Angel did before joining Wolfram & Hart.
This caused him to come up against Dana. Dana was a Slayer – but before being activated, she had been abused by the same man responsible for killing her family, and as a result of her trauma, had been forced to stay in a psychiatric hospital for a large amount of her life.
When she was activated as a Slayer, all of the information that is bestowed onto the activated Slayers drove her to the point of insanity, leading her to escape the hospital, and murder multiple people.
Dana later cut off Spike’s hands, believing him to be the man that abused her and murdered her family.
Andrew Wells, a previous classmate of Buffy’s (who was now training to be a Watcher), arrived with a group of potential slayers in order to retrieve Dana, expressing that the Scooby Gang now distrusted Angel due to his employment with Wolfram & Hart, and as a result, the Senior Partners.
Spike would later grieve the death of Fred, after she is killed by Illyria, one of the old ones. This causes him to fully commit to helping Angel and his colleagues out, with Angel and Spike even further becoming a team.
The duo even traveled to Rome together to save Buffy as a result of a prank, set up by Andrew, in which he convinced Angel and Spike that Buffy had started a relationship with the Immortal, echoing Angel and Spike’s past when Drusilla and Darla had become victims to him.
Spike had also become friends with Illyria, in Fred’s body, after the two spent time together when observing Illyria’s supernatural abilities.
When Angel tells the team that they should spend their day as if it is their last before going up against the Circle of the Black Thorn in order to weaken the Senior Partners, Spike decides to perform at an open mic, finally gaining the appreciation for his poetry that he had wanted whilst a human.
After they had all carried out their parts in the plan to kill the members of the Circle of the Black Thorn, Spike, alongside the surviving members of the team, met in an alleyway, with the impending (and, almost certainly, apocalyptic) dark forces that the Senior Partners had sent, fast approaching.
Comics and Books
Spike’s character plays a part in a number of the comic books created around the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel television series, including the comic book continuations of each of the television shows, as well asthe miniseries Spike & Dru, and the novel, Spike & Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row.
Spike’s character appears in the following literature:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Classic Comic Book Series
Angel: After the Fall
Spike: Old Times
Spike: Lost and Found
Spike: Old Wounds
Spike vs. Dracula
Spike: Shadow Puppets
Spike: The Devil You Know
The Angel Chronicles, Volume 1
Out of the Madhouse
The Xander Years, Volume 1
The Angel Chronicles, Volume 2
Ghost Roads
The Angel Chronicles, Volume 3
Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row
Door to Alternity
Long Way Home
King of the Dead
Original Sins
The Journals of Rupert Giles
Crossings
The Wisdom of War
Little Things
These Our Actors
Monster Island
Blood and Fog
Chosen: The One
Cursed
Apocalypse Memories
Wicked Willow
Heat
Queen of the Slayers
Blackout
Bad Bargain
One Thing or Your Mother
The Ultimate Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift
Personality/Traits
Throughout his life, (and death), Spike’s character undergoes massive changes, due to becoming a vampire, being implanted with the chip, and then obtaining his soul.
Uniquely to Spike, even before he gained a soul, he was able to experience love and loyalty as a vampire.
Spike’s love of violence is another defining trait of his character, as this caused his obsession with killing Slayers, leading him to Sunnydale.
When he got the chip, he became depressed as a result of his inability to enjoy the thrill of violence, however, this completely changes when he realizes that he can hurt demons without being shocked by the chip, making it clearer that Spike’s priority was his ability to be violent, instead of having loyalty to a particular side. His morals are inconsistent, as Spike can engage in both acts of evil as well as good deeds.
One huge part of Spike’s personality is how prone he is to obsessing over women (or objects, or plans) – from Cecily to Buffy, Spike can become increasingly attached and desperate when he has feelings for someone.
Spike also loses his temper quite easily whilst under stress, and doesn’t find it easy to take responsibility for his actions.
Spike was known for his diversity when it came to friendships. A good example of this would be when Spike, in need of muscle, decided to hire two Fyarl demons. To do so, Spike learned their language, not only striking up a working relationship but also showing consideration when it came to communicating with them.
This inclusive, indiscriminate trait, in particular, is unique to Spike, as demons and vampires didn’t tend to get along with each other.
Spike liked giving people he was fond of (as well as the people he wasn’t) nicknames.
He also refused to let his vampiric vulnerabilities affect him more than they needed to, through driving cars with tinted windows to avoid the sunlight but allowing him to travel during the daytime.
Appearance
As a human, Spike had brown hair, which he would later bleach blonde, taking on more of a punk look as a vampire. He has a scar through his eyebrow and often wears a duster – both of which were souvenirs from when he killed the two slayers.
Spike, apparently, influenced Billy Idol’s look after Idol copied (or “stole”) Spike’s aesthetic upon meeting him.
Powers/Abilities
As well as possessing all of the typical abilities (and vulnerabilities) that come with being a vampire, such as his ability to regenerate, his immortality and enhanced senses, Spike has a small arsenal of traits that contribute to him becoming the well-loved character he has become.
Not only is Spike an exceptionally clever character, with advanced manipulation skills and the ability to analyze situations quite accurately, but he also has other skills to offer, such as his ability to speak multiple languages, or his competency with technology.
He has a decent knowledge of supernatural creatures and offers assistance when it comes to information often. He is a good lock picker, and also has the required knowledge to both pickpocket and hotwire a car successfully.
Spike is known to be impatient, as well as obsessive, both qualities taking it in turns to contribute to his downfall. Despite this, Spike can also be seen to be exceptionally patient when necessary, for example, pretending to be wheelchair-bound whilst planning to go against Angelus.
Spike, for a time after being resurrected from the Amulet, became a ghost, and as a result, had the ability to pass through solid objects. After a while, he also gained the ability to touch and interact with objects – although this would take him a lot of concentration.
Relationships
Cecily
When Spike was human, he had feelings towards the vengeance demon (and Anyas friend) Halfrek – although he thought that she was a maid named Cecily.
She humiliated Spike after he wrote her love poems, remarking that he was “beneath her,” and leading him to allow Drusilla to sire him, becoming a vampire as a result.
Drusilla
Drusilla was responsible for turning Spike into a vampire, bumping into him as he fled the party in which Cecily had humiliated him. He became completely loyal to her and stood by her even after she forced him to watch her and Angelus continue to be sexual with each other.
After a time, Spike and Drusilla became a duo, exploring their relationship up until the time that the two arrived in Sunnydale.
When Angel lost his soul, becoming Angelus, he would torment Spike with this same behavior again. Drusilla cheated on him on multiple occasions, after realizing that he would develop feelings for Buffy as a result of her visions.
Spike would later try to kill Drusilla in order to prove his feelings for Buffy.
Later, whilst at Wolfram & Hart, Spike would temporarily allow Drusilla possession of his soul – however, this proved too much for her, resulting in Drusilla’s admission to the Mosaic Wellness Center, a supernatural rehabilitation center.
Harmony Kendall
Harmony Kendall was a former classmate of Buffy’s, however she was turned into a vampire at the Ascension. After she was turned, she got involved in a relationship with Spike – however, it was evident that Spike had little interest in her, and was really only using her instead.
He tried to stake her when, unbeknownst to either of them, she was wearing the Gem of Amara. This meant that he was unsuccessful, however, Spike didn’t express any relief.
The pair had another brief fling after Spike was implanted with the chip by the Initiative, however, Harmony grew tired of his obsession with Buffy and broke things off.
Spike later needed her help when he found himself unable to feed due to the pain the chip caused him whenever he tried, but Harmony rejected him. Spike tried to seduce her, to no avail, resulting in Harmony threatening to stake him, causing him to leave.
The two would reunite on a multitude of occasions over the years, including teaming up to try to kill Buffy, and engaging in a sexual fling with each other whilst at Wolfram & Hart.
Buffy Summers
Spike’s obsession with killing Slayers drew him to Sunnydale to kill Buffy, making her his third. When Drusilla accused him of having feelings for Buffy, he denied it, however, the vampire became increasingly obsessed with her after he had the chip implanted by the initiative.
Later, Spike commissioned a Buffybot – a sex robot that looked and sounded like Buffy – to relieve his frustrations.
The characters became closer as a result of Spike’s newfound conscience, and Spike ultimately earned Buffy’s trust by protecting Dawn. Eventually, the sexual tension between the two became too much for either of them to deny it any longer.
They began to engage in a sexual relationship (that could be quite violent) with each other, however, Buffy made it clear that this would need to be concealed from her friends, otherwise, she would kill him.
Spike grew even more obsessed over time, causing him to momentarily attempt to rape her after she rejected his advances.
It wasn’t until Spike obtained a soul that the two began to repair their relationship with each other, and they spent a few nights together in the run-up to their big battle against the First Evil – one of these nights, Spike would say, was the best night of his life.
Buffy would later tell Spike that she loved him as he sacrificed herself to save the world, however, Spike did not believe her.
After his resurrection, Spike decided not to tell her that he had come back, preferring that she retained the idea of him being a hero instead.
Spike appears in both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Two
Episode three – “School Hard”
Episode six – “ Halloween”
Episode seven – “Lie to Me”
Episode nine – “What’s My Line? Part One”
Episode ten – “What’s My Line? Part Three”
Episode thirteen – “Surprise”
Episode fourteen – “Innocence”
Episode sixteen – “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”
Episode seventeen – “Passion”
Episode nineteen – “I Only Have Eyes for You”
Episode twenty-two – “Becoming, Part One”
Episode twenty-three – “Becoming, Part Two”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Three
Episode eight – “Lovers Walk”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Four
Appears in all episodes, other than episodes one, two, four, and five.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Five
Appears in all episodes, other than episode sixteen
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Six
Appears in all episodes
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Seven
Appears in all episodes
Angel: Season One
Episode three – “In the Dark”
Angel: Season Two
Episode seven – “Darla” (Flashback)
Angel: Season Five
Appears in all episodes
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Hi, my name's Alex and I'm a lover of all things Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Being a veteran binge-watcher of the series, I enjoy keeping up to speed with all things Buffy and Angel and sharing my love for the show with others.
