Buffy the Vampire Slayer has its fair share of hair-curling monsters, but some of its best villains were those adapted from real mythology. The long-running series has many terrifying original monsters to its name, such as The Gentlemen from "Hush," but it is equally entertaining to see how any show or movie adapts some of the oldest stories available. Especially for a horror series, mythology and folklore is ripe for spirits and monsters for Buffy the Vampire Slayer to choose from, all of which can be updated creatively while also grounding the series in real life and playing with a creature's historical context.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer follows the titular Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), the once-in-a-generation chosen Slayer, as she faces off against demons and monsters in Buffy's hometown during each episode. Alongside her are Buffy's mentor and her friends, all of which become proficient demon hunters in their own right as they all work through the mundane challenges of life. While Buffy the Vampire Slayer initially portrayed vampires as the main threat to the town of Sunnydale, the show quickly branched out into depicting all kinds of horrors and spirits. Here are some of the best of these creatures that were adapted or inspired by previously-established tales.
Hans and Gretta Strauss (Shawn Pyfrom and Lindsay Taylor) appear in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 3, episode 11 entitled "Gingerbread." In the episode, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland) discovers the bodies of two children while patrolling with Buffy, and when it appears that the two were killed by occultists, begins a witch hunt that ends up targeting Buffy and Willow (Alyson Hannigan). Later, Giles (Anthony Head) discovers that Gretta and Hans died hundreds of years ago, and since then, a demon has been using their forms to stir up witch hunts in Sunnydale every 50 years or so.
In "Gingerbread," Giles himself recognizes that Hans and Gretta hail from the famous fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel. In the generally accepted version of the story, Hansel and Gretel are exiled from their home by their stepmother and must escape a witch who uses her gingerbread house to entrap children. In both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the folk tale, the stories play with the theme of the collapse of the family, especially in which parents attempt to sacrifice or abandon their children, whether out of fear of famine in the original or fear of an occult murderer in the show.
Another infamous creature featured in the series is the hellhounds in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 3, episode 20, "The Prom." In the show, a student named Tucker Wells (Brade Kane), summons hellhounds to ruin prom, training the creatures to hate formal wear so that they'll attack the students at the dance. However, Buffy defends her classmates and tries to do so without their knowledge so that they can enjoy the evening, culminating in Sunnydale High awarding her the award of "Class Protector" for all her efforts to fight the supernatural during her high school career.
The hellhounds of myth and legend have a more dog-like appearance than the creatures on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But they are ubiquitous across many cultures, although they vary in purpose. Among the many representations of hellhounds in myth are the hounds that guard the Underworld in Greek mythology, the monster known as the Cadejo in Central America, the Okuri-inu spirit in Japan, or the Cwn Annwn in Welsh traditions, which are guardians and take place in the Wild Hunt. Significantly, both Cerberus and the Cwn Annwn are known as guardians, making it poetic that Buffy faces hellhounds while protecting her classmates and later receiving her "Class Protector" award.
Of course, one of the most storied monsters to appear on the show was in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 5, episode 1, called "Buffy vs. Dracula." In the series, Dracula (Rudolf Martin) arrives in Sunnydale in a box packed with dirt and proceeds to haunt and enchant Buffy and her friends. Due to his magnetism, he's able to manipulate both Buffy and Xander (Nicholas Brendon) and nearly turns Buffy into a vampire like himself. He is also famously manipulative, drawing parallels between his own dark abilities and Buffy's power.
In the original novel by Bram Stoker, Dracula was still a manipulative, captivating entity who made his way through the world via subterfuge and manipulation instead of outright violence. He did attempt to enchant and turn people into vampires like himself, notably Mina Harker and Lucy Westenra, turning the latter into a monstrous version of herself after her death. Generally, Dracula is thought to be a symbol of how the old aristocracy leeches off the lower classes, depicting how the old hierarchies had no place in the evolving world, a sentiment that is echoed once again in Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Buffy and her friends, who are thoroughly modern heroes for the time, defeat the infamous vampire.
Walking the fine line between being an original creation and an adaptation, Adam (George Hertzberg) first appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 4, episode 13 entitled "The I in Team." Adam was a creature created by the Initiative, a military organization studying and fighting supernatural creatures. Made from demon, human, and robotic parts, Adam was strong enough that Buffy could not defeat him without her friends' help, and he became the antagonist for the season when he killed his creators at the Initiative and began to try to make another 'perfect being' like himself.
Adam was certainly Buffy the Vampire Slayer's version of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and the series of episodes that Adam features in deal with similar themes as the novel. In both stories, the created monster depicts the hubris of their creators, as Frankenstein's monster and Adam both turn against those who made them. Even more so, both Frankenstein's monster and Adam want the companionship of one like themselves, both of which lead to disastrous results.
Finally, one of the oldest-known monsters appears in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 1, episode 8 called "I, Robot. You, Jane." In the episode, Moloch the Corrupter is sealed in a book, and when Giles attempts to scan the book into his system, Moloch begins to prey on teens via the internet. He manipulates several of Buffy's classmates, and even targets Willow (Alyson Hannigan) under the false name of Malcolm, tempting the students with false promises of love, glory, and power.
In reality, Moloch was not known as the Corrupter, and his role as a pagan deity, a devil, or as an act or process of sacrifice in and of itself is flexible. But he is often referred to in works of literature in the context of sacrifice, such as his description in Paradise Lost, by John Milton, and the poem "Howl," by Alan Ginsberg. However, this association with child sacrifice is similar to his use in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, drawing a parallel to his usury of Sunnydale High's students and the sacrifice of the young.