Alexander LaVelle "Xander" Harris is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Nicholas Brendon, whose twin brother Kelly Donovan occasionally appeared as his double or as a substitute actor when Brendon was unavailable. Alexander LaVelle Harris was born to Anthony and Jessica Harris in Sunnydale, California.

According to Xander, his dad once tried to sell him to some Armenians. Anthony (sometimes referred to as 'Tony') is a self-pitying drunk who first appeared in a nightmare sequence in Season Four's "Restless"; in it, he tore out his son's heart. Jessica is a fragile mess without a stove; her culinary repertoire includes a "famous phone call to the Chinese place." She's known to neglect her son and appear cheerful in front of strangers as an attempt to cover the true nature of her miserable life.

According to his Aunt Carol, the family are Episcopalians. Xander's uncle, Rory, is an alcoholic taxidermist who claims to have invented Velcro. Every Christmas, Xander sleeps outside to avoid his family's drunken arguments.

Neither parent is happy with their marriage, but they have stayed together for decades. When he was thirteen, Xander attended Willow's bat mitzvah, where his parents drank to excess. Throughout the series, Xander's family was said to be unreliable, abusive, and the main source of his insecurities.

They finally appeared at Xander and Anya's aborted wedding in Season Six's "Hell's Bells." Xander has been best friends with Willow Rosenberg since early childhood. At his sixth birthday party, which Willow attended, his parents hired a clown who chased him, resulting in his coulrophobia (a fear of clowns). He overcame this phobia in Season One's "Nightmares." When he did not get a toy firetruck for his seventh birthday, the house next door caught fire.

Xander saw real firetrucks then and believes Willow started the fire so he could see the firetrucks. Xander and Willow shared a dislike of their snobby classmate Cordelia Chase, which led them to form the "We Hate Cordelia Chase club", of which Xander was the treasurer ("Innocence").

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