“I really miss it. Time goes by and everything drops away. All the cruelty, all the pain, all the humiliation, it all washes away. I miss my friends. I miss my enemies. I miss the people I talked to every day. I miss the people who never knew I existed. I miss ’em all. I wanna talk to them, you know? I wanna find out how they’re doing. I wanna know what’s going on in their lives.“

Played by Danny Strong

First Appearance: Inca Mummy Girl

Jonathan Levinson spent most of his time at Sunnydale High unnoticed, and when he was noticed, it was usually as the butt of a joke. Years of quiet torment culminated in Jonathan taking a shotgun into the school clock tower, intending to kill himself. Buffy intervened, explaining that people weren’t ignoring him out of cruelty but because they were overwhelmed by their own struggles. Her compassion pulled him back from the edge, and Jonathan slowly found a measure of confidence, even presenting Buffy with the Class Protector award at the Prom. During the Mayor’s ascension, he showed unexpected bravery, shielding Cordelia from the explosion that destroyed the school.

Nearly a year later, Jonathan cast a spell that rewrote reality, transforming him into a beloved national celebrity and Sunnydale’s greatest hero. The illusion unravelled when Buffy uncovered the truth, and the spell’s collapse left the town bitter and Jonathan humiliated. His longing for significance, however misguided, revealed the depth of his loneliness and the ache for recognition that had shaped his life.

In 2001, Jonathan joined Warren Mears and Andrew Wells to form the Trio, aspiring to become super‑villains who would rule Sunnydale. Jonathan had developed considerable magical skill, but as the Trio’s schemes escalated, he found himself increasingly sidelined by Warren and Andrew. When Warren murdered Tara and Willow embraced dark magic to avenge her, Jonathan wished to face justice, but Andrew convinced him to flee to Mexico. Months later, the pair returned to Sunnydale, haunted by visions of the Seal of Danthalzar and the First Evil.

While unearthing the Seal beneath the rebuilt Sunnydale High, Jonathan confessed that he missed the very people who had ignored him — that even the pain of his school years felt meaningful in hindsight. Before he could act on his regrets, Andrew, manipulated by the First, stabbed him. Jonathan died in the basement of the school he had once longed to escape. His body was discovered weeks later by Robin Wood, who ensured he received a proper burial.

Years after magic was restored, Andrew returned to the ruins of Sunnydale and recovered Jonathan’s DNA and a preserved copy of his consciousness stored on a USB drive. Unable to perform a magical resurrection, Andrew kept “holo‑Jonathan” active in his Oakland home, eventually offering him the chance to inhabit a robot body — a prospect Jonathan embraced enthusiastically, requesting to be taller. Andrew’s attempts to find a suitable body led him to a witch coven party and, later, to a dangerous bargain with the Sculptor. Believing Andrew had honoured the deal, Jonathan accepted a magically crafted new body, only to learn Andrew had double‑crossed the Sculptor. When the Sculptor was defeated and Jonathan realised his new form would soon fail, he lashed out at Andrew and fled.

Seeking purpose and power, Jonathan eventually allied himself with D’Hoffryn, their shared resentment of the Scoobies forging a natural partnership. D’Hoffryn restored Jonathan’s physical form, and Jonathan became the first male vengeance demon, granting wishes and refining D’Hoffryn’s campaign against their mutual enemies. In death, resurrection, and reinvention, Jonathan finally found the significance he had chased his entire life — though not in the way he once imagined.

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