A Dawn Summers Appreciation Post

I have lots of controversial opinions. One of them is that I like Dawn Summers. No, really. I don't just tolerate her, I genuinely like her, and think she's a great character.

If you've never seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or have only watched the early seasons, you might be a little confused. 

''Who's Dawn Summers?'' you might be thinking.

''And why is liking her controversial?''

Dawn is Buffy's little sister, who was first introduced in Season Five, and was a series regular ever since. And people hate her. In fact, the only two characters that aren't villains, or one-episode characters who are hated as much as Dawn are Riley Finn, Buffy's cookie-cutter boyfriend who's upset that she's stronger than he is [dude, she's the Slayer. She's stronger than everyone---guy or girl], and, er, pays vampires to suck his blood, and Kennedy, Willow's girlfriend in Season Seven, who's self-admittedly a brat, and she replaced Tara, who most people love. And, sure, Dawn definitely has moments where she's super annoying, but doesn't everyone? So, I'll be taking common reasons why people hate Dawn, and writing my reasons why I like her, anyway. Who knows, maybe I'll convince you to love Dawn, too. 

Or maybe not. If you don't like her, that's perfectly fine. We all have different opinions. 

Just a disclaimer: There will be spoilers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer [mostly season five and six, but there will be some for season seven and earlier seasons, too, so read at your own risk].

Also, let's take a minute to respect how amazing Dawn's hair is. She's like Rapunzel. 

The most common reason why people hate Dawn is that she's whiny. And I'm not going to disagree. Dawn is pretty whiny, most of the time. You know who else has been whiny? Buffy, Xander, Willow, Anya, Spike, the list goes on. All of them [except maybe Tara and Giles] have been whiny at some point. Every single human being has been whiny at some point.

Also, may I add that Dawn has been through a lot at a very young age [she was fourteen and in eighth grade in Season Five]. In fact, let's go over all the stuff she's had to deal with:

-She finds out that she's the Key, which means she can destroy the world, which means Glory [Season Five's Big Bad] will be doing everything she can to try to capture and kill her [since her blood will open a portal that leads to Glory's home dimension], plus she's only been alive for six months, and all her memories are false.

-Her mom dies.

-Her older sister----who's her legal guardian now---- dies saving the world.

-Then her sister is brought back from the dead, and is very depressed, and isn't really able to properly take care of her [not that I blame Buffy for this, because it's very understandable, but it still affects Dawn]

-Pretty much everybody ignores her throughout Season Six [which, again, is somewhat understandable because of the circumstances], despite the fact that she was lonely and neglected, and didn't try to hide that.

-One of her caretakers when Buffy was gone dies, and the other turns evil, and tries to kill her.

-She's constantly getting kidnapped by villains. Sometimes it's her own fault, but sometimes it really isn't, and it sure wasn't a walk in the park. 

-She's living in Buffy's shadow. 

Buffy's the Slayer, the Chosen One, the leader. And Dawn? She's just Buffy's sister. 

Sure, she's smart, but not Willow-smart. Later on, she can defend herself, but she's not a Buffy-level fighter. She's just a normal teenage girl. And, as Xander has pointed out several times, being normal really sucks sometimes.

-Plus, even though she wasn't actually there pre-Season Five, she remembers being there. So, take the Angelus arc, for example. She would've seen all that when she was 11-12 [I mean, maybe not all of it, but in Season Seven, she remembers Faith, so I'm assuming she was there for some of it].

So, if you think about it, her whining makes a lot more sense, and is actually fairly justified. 

Another reason why people hate her is because of her frequent shoplifting in Season Six. And, for those of you who are mad at her because of it, that makes sense. However, she was just stealing. 

I'm not saying that stealing is okay, because it isn't. I'm just saying that she could've done something much, much worse. It was also pretty obviously a cry for attention. She was suffering, and she wanted someone to notice that. And she did get called out for doing that. Buffy forgave her pretty quickly, but it took the other characters [especially Anya] some time to warm up to her again.

''But, McKayla,'' you might be saying. ''Everyone else went through just as much as Dawn, and they're not whiny.'' 

And that is a good point. Dawn did have a tendency to whine, and make things all about herself. May I also point out that all of the Scoobies had flaws, not just Dawn.

Oh and they're also older. And they have each other [which is a point I'll get to later].

Readers, tell me the truth: If you were Dawn, and all of that happened to you when you were 14-15, how would you react? 

Not well, right?

The other thing is that Dawn is pretty lonely. Xander has Anya, Willow has Tara, and Buffy's usually off on her own, so Dawn has nobody. Sure, she has Spike for a little while, but then the ''Seeing Red'' incident happened, and she stopped being close to him [and he also cared about Buffy more, in my opinion, although he was fairly nice to Dawn]. And, though everybody in the Scooby Gang are nice to her, they're all 5-6 years older than her. She also doesn't hide the fact that she's in pain. She whines, she cries, and yet nobody notices, They're all too wrapped up in their own stuff. The only person who notices how much pain she's in is Halfrek, who just met her.  In fact, what she wishes for when she [unknowingly] meets a vengeance demon, is for people to stop leaving her. She just wants to spend time with the people she cares about. It's not a huge request. 

To be fair, they did all make an effort. Especially Tara. I love their friendship.

The other thing is that Dawn isn't just a whiny teenage girl. In the Season Five finale, despite everyone's best effort, her blood is spilled, and a portal to other dimensions is opened, and our world is beginning to crumble apart. 

And Dawn offers to sacrifice herself [while she was still in middle-school, which makes it even more impressive]. She may have been whiny and bratty, but when it came to choosing between saving herself and saving the world, she chooses the world in the blink of an eye. 

In Season Seven, she grows a lot as a character. 

She's always been smart [side note: in one of her earliest appearances, she mentions that she likes school, so maybe her not attending it was a way of punishing herself. Just a thought], but that's when she starts really stepping up and helping with the research. She learns to fight, and she goes on patrol with Buffy. 

At the end of the season, Buffy tries to get her to leave Sunnydale before the big fight. She has a choice to make: she can stay and fight, or she can run and be safe. 

And she chooses to stay. She chooses to fight. 

She's also capable of making hard choices when necessary----much like Buffy herself, actually.

So, if you don't like Dawn or find her annoying, that's fine. That's your opinion, and you're entitled to it. 

I just think that maybe we're a little harsh when we're judging her. Yes, she's whiny, and can be bratty, but she's also smart and compassionate, and brave, and such a big Willow/Tara shipper that she puts the rest of us to shame. She's not a Slayer, or a genius, or a witch, but, much like Xander, she works with what she has. And that's pretty admirable. 

I also think that maybe we judge IRL Dawns a little quickly, too. Think of how many people are put down for being sensitive or whiny. We don't all have a stiff upper lip, or a natural ability to look on the bright side. 

The bottom line is that I really like Dawn. Always have, always will. She may not be as strong as Buffy or as smart as Willow or as kind as Xander, but she's still a good character. She may not be the Slayer, but she's still worthy of our respect, and we should maybe think twice before we judge her.

What are your thoughts on Dawn? Who are some fictional characters you think are unfairly hated?