Spike/Xander

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Pairing
Pairing: Spike/Xander
Alternative name(s): Spander
Gender category: m/m, slash
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Canonical?: no
Prevalence: popular
Archives: The Spander Files
Other:
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Spike/Xander is the pairing of Spike and Xander Harris from the Buffyverse.

Canon

In canon, Xander and Spike have an antagonistic relationship, which started all the way back in season 2 episode "School Hard" when Angel offered Xander to Spike in order to trick the younger vampire. Xander has consistently disliked vampire characters on the show, but his mistrust of Spike was often well placed. Spike kidnapped Xander and Willow in season 3, in an attempt to force Willow to perform a love spell.

In season 4, when Spike is chipped and unable to hurt humans, he briefly lives with Xander in the basement of Xanders' parent's house. Later on the seemingly mutual dislike was fueled even more after Spike slept with Xander's former fiancee Anya and after Spike's attempted rape on Buffy at the end of season six.

Spike and Xander briefly lived together again during season 7 after Spike won his soul back and subsequently went 'bug-shagging crazy' with guilt.

Fandom

There was a small portion of the Buffy fandom shipping Spike and Xander following the second season. However this was not a common or popular ship until season 4, when there was more interaction between the characters.[1] For a time, S/X was believed to be the most popular slash pairing within the fandom. It may have been overtaken by Spangel which saw a resurgence during season 5 of Angel, however this is open to debate as the disparate nature of early online fandom makes it difficult to rank ships.[note 1] On fanfiction website Ao3, Spander has consistently being the most popular slash pairing in the fandom, but Ao3, founded in 2008, did not exist at the height of Buffy fandom and is not an accurate reflection of the number of works in this pairing or fandom.[2]

There is a lot of subtextual evidence to support a sexual relationship, or at least sexual attraction between these two. In the season 5 epiosde "Intervention", Xander describes Spike as "strong, mysterious and sort of compact", leading Buffy to say, "I am not having sex with Spike! But I'm starting to think that you might be!". Also, in the second episode of season 7, a guest character asks the Scoobies, "is there anyone here who hasn’t slept together?" and Spike and Xander share a look.

Despite their antagonistic relationship and their limited interactions in canon, this ship has remained popular and works are still been produced.

Common Tropes

  • Xander was offered to Spike by Angel in the second season episode "School Hard," and although he never formally accepted, many fanfiction authors use this as a plot device – Xander as Sire's gift and Spike returning to take what was his.
  • Hyena!Xander - In season one episode "The Pack", Xander is possessed by a hyena spirit. This resulted in a lot of fics where the hyena spirit returns/never left and claims Spike as part of pack and/or mate.
  • Basement fics - In season 4, a chipped Spike is kept tied up in Xander's basement apartment. This scenario was a jumping off point for many fics. The Spander Files even had a fanfiction category called the Basement of Doom.
  • Post-Apocalyptic AU stories sometimes feature Slave Xander. In these works, Spike often acquires or rescues Xander.
  • Time Travel - Spike or Xander can be sent back in time to relive canon events with knowledge of the future. Time Travel can also be used to introduce Xander to the human William Pratt before he becomes a vampire.
  • Post-Not Fade Away fics, set after the final episode of the Angel (TV) series.
  • Vampire!Xander works can be canon divergent where Xander becomes a vampire, sometimes sired by Spike. Other fics were set in the canon Wishverse.
  • Claiming - In fics where Spike and Xander are in a relationship, Spike may claim Xander as his consort.
  • Trapped Together - Xander and Spike may be trapped in an alternate reality, or captured by the Initiative. Given their antagonistic relationship, many authors employ tropes that force these two to work together.
  • Xander in Oxnard - Stories where Xander meets Spike over the summer holidays.
  • Magic Made Them Do It - There are many episode related fics where a spell gone wrong or a haunted house results in a sexual encounter between these two.
  • Threesome fics often paired Spike and Xander with Angel or Anya Jenkins.

Fannish Opinion

[zandra-x]

Spike/Xander fic always attracts me and I thoroughly enjoyed this essay. The point you made, "Spike and Xander attempt to use magick to solve their problems" had never occurred to be before. I love it when I get a new thought about something I've grown used to thinking about. ::little light bulb over my head::[3]

[onetwomany]

On Spander, the way I see it is that as more BNFs and established writers got into reading and writing it, more people gave it a shot and liked it. I hope I don’t offend anyone by saying this, but it’s not an intuitively appealing ship, especially for many Spike fans who either (a) don’t see Xander as particularly sexy or (b) despised him in season 6 and have had a hard time forgiving.

The first Spander stories I read were ones written by writers I admire (mpoetess, juliatheyounger and a couple of others). Modus Vivendi (which I have certainly spelt wrong) was the first one I read for the heck of it, and I was surprised to love it. Even now, though, Spander is something I read because it’s something so many good writers make work, and work well. And because many spander writers have a great gasp of Spike’s character. I guess that makes me more a fan of spander fanfic than a spander shipper, but I’m not sure whether that makes me part of the trend![4]

[catatonic1242]

it’s not an intuitively appealing ship, especially for many Spike fans who either (a) don’t see Xander as particularly sexy or (b) despised him in season 6 and have had a hard time forgiving.

I'm of the latter camp-- I love slash, I love Spike and I enjoy Spike/Andrew, but until "Dirty Girls" I just couldn't get into any Xander fic, regardless of the pairing. "Dirty Girls," made Xander's character seem more vulnerable-- not just with the losing of the eye, but also because of the speech about Buffy's heart. From that point on, I could ship Xander and just about anyone.

I guess that makes me more a fan of spander fanfic than a spander shipper

I agree with you-- I don't ship the pairing, but I completely enjoy most of the Spander fic that I've read.[5]

Notable Fanworks

Fanfiction

For a list of Spander fanfiction articles on Fanlore see Spander Fanfiction.

Meta

Fanvids

Fanart

Zines

Links & Resources

Archives

Communities & Mailing Lists

Notes & References

Notes

  1. ^ The hot new thing by Wisteria contains discussion of the sudden rise in popularity of Spander during season 4 and debates about ship rankings. It is generally accepted that Spander was the most popular slash ship in the fandom, but there was uncertainty about where it placed in overall ship rankings. It is suggested that Spander was the second only to Spuffy, but this was contested by fans who pointed to other het pairings for Spike, including Spillow. This discussion took place before the airing of Angel's fifth and final series.

References

  1. ^ Oz/Xander (BtVS) ship manifesto essay by gloss, Oct 2004, accessed 19 June 2019. Before the advent of S/X in s4, O/X was the dominant Xander-slash ship.
  2. ^ Buffy the Vampire Slayer works on Ao3, archived link.
  3. ^ "ship_manifesto Spike/Xander (BtVS)". 2004-08-27. Archived from the original on 2022-03-25.
  4. ^ "Comment posted by onetwomany on the hot new thing, a livejournal post by wisteria". Aug 18, 2003. Archived from the original on May 24, 2019.
  5. ^ "Comment posted on the hot new thing, a livejournal post by wisteria". Aug 18, 2003. Archived from the original on May 24, 2019.
  6. ^ comment by z_rayne in a slashphilosophy post by partly_bouncy, May 15, 2005: Slash Philosophy - History of slash fan fiction, Archived version
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