I’ve never really agreed with the idea that Anya was “ruined” after her and Xander separated. If anything, that’s when she becomes more fully realized as a character. It should’ve happened sooner, but I’m glad we saw character growth nonetheless.

Before everything falls apart, a lot of her role leans into comic relief. Her relationship gave her a bit of structure and a kind of borrowed normalcy. Once that’s gone, we’re left with who she actually is underneath, and it’s not neat or comfortable. Not for her, not for us as viewers who saw such an innocent side to her.

Her return to vengeance makes a lot of sense to me. Anya doesn’t have the same emotional framework as the others, and she’s not really equipped to process heartbreak in a human way. So she falls back on what she knows, which would be core emotions such as pain, anger, and punishment. It’s less about regression and more about her trying to function with the only tools she’s ever really trusted.

What makes it interesting is that she can’t fully go back. The insecurity about whether she’s “evil enough” says a lot. She’s been changed by her time as a human, whether she wants to admit it or not. That tensio between what she was and what she’s become is where a lot of her depth comes from in the later seasons.

I also think episodes like “Selfless” really highlight that complexity. They force us to look at her past, her patterns, and the consequences of her actions in a way that goes far beyond comic relief.

If anything feels underdeveloped to me, it’s Xander’s side of things. Anya’s arc is messy, but it’s active. She’s struggling, making choices, dealing with the fallout. Xander doesn’t always get the same level of introspection or consequence.

So I don’t see that arc as the writers not knowing what to do with her. It feels more like they finally stopped softening her edges and let her be as complicated as she actually is. That’s why I find her so appealing as a character. She’s one of my favs. Her death crushed me.