28 Years Ago, Spike's Best Buffy Quote Changed Fantasy TV Forever

Spike was originally supposed to be killed off in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 2, but his best quote not only shows why he's such a fan-favorite character, but it also changed the fantasy genre as a whole. The bleach-blond vampire first appeared in the sophomore season's third episode, "School Hard," and right from his iconic introduction — driving over the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign and stepping out of his black car to light a cigarette and utter, "Home sweet home" over top punk-rock instrumentals — it was clear he would be a memorable Buffy villain.

Though Spike's rough-and-tumble demeanor was a welcome departure from season 1's cliched "old-guard" villains like the Master and the Anointed One, it was the romantic affection Spike showed for Drusilla that made him stand out and become instantly lovable. It was a conscious change that actor James Marsters made to Spike's character, and it forced the Buffy creatives to realize that the passionate vampire was meant for so much more than a five-episode arc.

From there, Spike's storylines were consistently among the most interesting in the show, as he went from a big bad to a reluctant Scooby Gang ally to one of Buffy Summers' great loves, all the while delivering some of Buffy's best quotes. Though most of his memorable lines speak to his bad-boy side — ie. "Out for a walk, b***h" — his absolute best piece of dialogue is all about love, which he arguably understood more than any other character.

Spike's "I May Be Love's B***h" Speech Forever Changed Fantasy TV

Spike doesn't factor much into Buffy season 3, but his sole appearance in episode 8, "Lovers Walk," is game-changing. Freshly dumped by Drusilla, Spike returns to Sunnydale with his tail between his legs. When he crosses paths with Buffy and Angel, whom he last saw fighting to the death at the end of season 2, Spike rightfully calls out their attempt at being friends, saying:

You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains, children, it's blood...blood screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love's b***h, but at least I'm man enough to admit it.

This speech completely strips the ideas of sweeping romance and grand gestures away from the concept of love, and exposes love as raw, brutal, and animalistic. Even though heartbreak may have rendered Spike a pathetic shell of himself in this episode, he'd rather be in that state than be a brooding shadow-dweller like Angel, too afraid of love's consequences to expose himself to it.

Spike's primal approach to love had a profound effect on the fantasy television that followed. Though traditional noble romantic heroes were still omnipresent, the dangerous antihero quickly became the favored trope, as seen with Damon Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries and Eric Northman in True Blood. Though, of course, there's a toxic dark side to these characters and their romantic relationships, their "burn the world" level of passion fit perfectly in with the heightened world of the fantasy genre, which was never the same after Spike's famous speech.

Spike's Best Buffy Quote Is Still Felt In The Fantasy Genre To This Day

Though the vampire trend of the 2000s and 2010s may have died down (for now), Spike's assertion that "Love isn't brains, children, it's blood...blood screaming inside you to work is well" has had a profound effect on the fantasy genre as we know it, particularly in the hugely popular and not going away anytime soon category of romantasy.

The morally grey romantic hero archetype that Spike popularized is on full display in romantasy's most popular series, such as A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, and Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout. Unlike the Angels of the world, these men don't apologize or attempt to quell their darkness; they revel in it. However, all will admit that they're absolutely taken to their knees when it comes to love, just like Spike.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer didn't reinvent the wheel when it came to Spike; Wuthering Heights' similarly dark Heathcliff had been "love's b***h" long before Drusilla's beau arrived on the scene. However, Spike likely wouldn't have become such a pop culture icon without his best Buffy quote, and the fact that he did had an undeniable ripple effect in the romance and fantasy genres.