Editing Anya Jenkins (section)

===Storylines as a regular cast member===
Anya becomes a regular in season 5 of the show. While playing ''[[The Game of Life]]'', she discovers her love for money and capitalism (as opposed to her belief in [[Communism]] during the early 20th century and her charitable attitude of her years as Aud). Anya's budding retail skills encourage Giles to hire her as a cashier at The Magic Box. In the episode, "[[Checkpoint (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Checkpoint]]", Anya is questioned by members of the Watchers' Council, and invents the full name Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins, and claims to have been born on the [[Independence Day (United States)|Fourth of July]] in Indiana.<ref>{{Cite web |title=05x12 - Checkpoint |url=https://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?t=8394 |website=Buffy the Vampire Slayer Transcripts |access-date=16 December 2023 |language=en-US}}</ref>

During an impending apocalypse, brought about by [[Glory (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Glory]] at the end of season 5, Xander proposes to Anya and they are engaged for most of season 6. Xander's doubts grow, however, and it is not difficult for Stewart Burns – escaped from [[Hell]] and impersonating Xander's future self – to persuade him to leave Anya at the wedding by showing him an illusionary life where Anya apparently cheats on Xander and is later killed in an argument between the two ("[[Hell's Bells (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Hell's Bells]]"). Grief-stricken, Anya is vulnerable to D'Hoffryn's coaxing, and becomes a vengeance demon again.

In the season 6 episode "[[Entropy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Entropy]]" Anya returns to Sunnydale. The audience can see her as a vengeance demon but the other characters are unaware until "[[Villains (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Villains]]". Anya cannot find anyone who wishes vengeance on Xander and so she takes comfort in sex with Spike, an act which puts her relationship and friendship with Xander and Buffy in jeopardy. Spike nearly wishes for some kind of vengeance upon Xander, but after seeing how much her actions hurt him, Anya stops him, unable to go through with it. In the season 6 finale, Willow destroys The Magic Box, leaving Anya jobless in the mortal world. Anya does not enjoy her return to being a vengeance demon—her experience as a human has led to empathy, which makes exacting vengeance too painful for her to manage. She spends a summer granting half-hearted wishes and gains a reputation among demons as "Miss Soft-Serve".

When asked what direction she would like to see Anya's character go, Emma Caulfield said she hoped that in season 7 Anya would become "kind of a badass". Caulfield said that Anya has always been strong in unorthodox ways, but "I'd like to see a more blatant display of her strength."<ref>{{Citation| last = Lee| first =Patrick| journal=Science Fiction Weekly| title =The creators of Buffy head into season seven with a lighter heart| url =http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue282/interview.html | access-date = 2007-07-18 }}</ref> Appropriately, after Halfrek encourages Anya to return to her former level of work, Anya exacts a terrible vengeance on a group of college boys by unleashing a spider-like Grimslaw demon on them. This results in a battle with Buffy, in which they are almost evenly matched. The battle is interrupted when D'Hoffryn, summoned by Willow from the Summers home, shows up. D'Hoffryn asks Anya what she wants, and she asks that her vengeance be reversed. D'Hoffryn tells her the price will be the life of a vengeance demon; Anya agrees, assuming it is she who will die, but D'Hoffryn summons Halfrek, incinerating her before Anya. "Never go for the kill, when you can go for the pain" he tells the distressed Anya, and strips her of her powers, making her once again mortal.

Anya decides that she has been too dependent on others and resolves to find an independent purpose in life for herself. She eventually rejoins the Scooby Gang as season 7 focuses on the long fight against the [[First Evil]] and eventually becomes friends with Xander; although Xander and Anya still love each other, they never officially resume their relationship.

In the [[series finale]], "[[Chosen (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|Chosen]]", Anya fights with the others in the climactic battle against the First Evil and is brutally slain from behind, bisected by a [[Bringers of the First Evil|Bringer's]] sword. Her body lies in the school's remains although Xander attempts to locate her while fleeing the collapsing building. After Sunnydale collapses into the Hellmouth, [[Andrew Wells]] comforts Xander by telling him that Anya had died saving his life, to which Xander tearfully replies, "That's my girl, always doing the stupid thing."

In an interview with ''Buffy The Vampire Slayer/Angel'' magazine #93, Emma Caulfield stated that she was okay with her character's abrupt death, stating, "She didn't get a big, maudlin send-off, it was very quick and to the point - very Anya in that respect." Although later, at [[Wizard World]] Philadelphia 2009 she said she didn't realize it was going to be abrupt and without fanfare, and would have appreciated a little something more.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igeBbGCkF3U |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/igeBbGCkF3U| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=Emma Caulfield Q&A Pt. 3 at Wizard World Philadelphia 2009|work=YouTube|date=22 June 2009 |access-date=27 October 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Joss Whedon joked at the Nocturnal convention in 2001 Anya was originally supposed to die during the season 5 finale, "[[The Gift (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|The Gift]]", but he had to keep her alive because Emma Caulfield couldn't keep still while Xander was carrying Anya's supposedly lifeless body.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://groups.google.com/group/uk.media.tv.angel/msg/519ef3ade688181d?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&rnum=1|title=groups.google.com/group/uk.media.tv.angel/msg/|access-date=27 October 2014}}</ref>