Xander Harris Precedents

[Umbran]

As has been pointed out earlier the example of Xander is equally highly trained.

Two things:

The episode where he has "training" is a quarter of the way through the second season, so he's got quite a while without it.

That "training" only gets brought up a couple of times. He spends most of the series bumbling along like every other Joe, instead of like a Navy Seal or something. It is rather like Kitty Pryde's ninja training - only pulled out when they can't figure another way to deal with an issue.

 

[Felon]

As has been pointed out earlier the example of Xander is equally highly trained.

If you're running around having dangerous adventures, you're either gonna die, or you're gonna improve. Xander was just easy to sell short.

This is another one of those things that make me wonder where the OP is going with all of this. Does Gabrielle from Xena count? She certainly starts out with no skills, but over the course of the series she learns to fend for herself. Do skills gained in the field disqualify one?

 

[Felon]

Two things:

The episode where he has "training" is a quarter of the way through the second season, so he's got quite a while without it.

That "training" only gets brought up a couple of times. He spends most of the series bumbling along like every other Joe, instead of like a Navy Seal or something. It is rather like Kitty Pryde's ninja training - only pulled out when they can't figure another way to deal with an issue.

Well, Xander is a mortal trying to face supernatural creatures bare-handed. He doesn't have the resources to leverage special military skills. OTOH, I submit that he in fact doesn't bumble like every other Joe, because the normal course of behavior of every other Joe is to panic and cower until they're killed. He's actually grabbed normal Joes and saved their bacon by getting them out of harm's way. Again, you can't keep surviving danger without receiving the benefit of experience.

 

[DM_Matt]

Well, Xander is a mortal trying to face supernatural creatures bare-handed. He doesn't have the resources to leverage special military skills. OTOH, I submit that he in fact doesn't bumble like every other Joe, because the normal course of behavior of every other Joe is to panic and cower until they're killed. He's actually grabbed normal Joes and saved their bacon by getting them out of harm's way. Again, you can't keep surviving danger without receiving the benefit of experience.

Except Xander improved very, very, slowly over the years. Thats why I've always liked the metaphor of him being a DnD_3e Commoner. He started accruing experience at exactly the same time as Willow and was in basically all of the same battles, but Willow became enormously powerful while Xander just became serviceable, but not nearly as good as any of the other remotely trained humans in the Buffyverse. Not sure who the precedent for Xander is (Sam sounds apt), but he's the precedent for the 15th level Commoner.

 

[Mark]

Actually it isn't entirely true that Xander had no powers, there was the Halloween episode where they all became what ever costume they were wearing and Xander became GI Joe or something like that. At least some of the knowledge/skills stuck around, because it was what let them use a rocket launcher to blow up some monster that was immune to weapons "forged" by man.

Until Xander got that fight training (and it stuck with him afterward), he was little more than a "Nell Fenwick" character being tied to the railroad tracks in most episodes.

 

[Mark]

Dr. Watson (of Sherlock Holmes fame).

Dr Watson had been in the military and, as a medical man, would have also had some specialized knowledge that would give him some advantage in a physical conflict.

 

[delericho]

Until Xander got that fight training (and it stuck with him afterward...

Actually, the training didn't stay with him for long. He was able to use it later in the second season to get and use the rocket launcher, but in the fourth season he notes that it's pretty much gone. Indeed, he isn't able to repair the captured Initiative stun-gun - something Riley does in about five seconds.

 

[Umbran]

OTOH, I submit that he in fact doesn't bumble like every other Joe, because the normal course of behavior of every other Joe is to panic and cower until they're killed. He's actually grabbed normal Joes and saved their bacon by getting them out of harm's way. Again, you can't keep surviving danger without receiving the benefit of experience.

Yes, and that's kind of my point - the "military training" is not what allows Xander to get by - it is exposure and innate personal strength.

 

[Villano]

Dr Watson had been in the military

While he probably did recieve basic training, he was in the medical corps. Being an army doctor is different than being on the front lines with a gun in your hand.

If we stretch things out like this, you may as well rule out every character whose ever hunted because they're trained to use a gun (or bow, depending on the time period). We won't have anybody left then.

and, as a medical man, would have also had some specialized knowledge that would give him some advantage in a physical conflict.

Okay, that's a little silly.

"You should shoot him in the heart, it's his weak point! I know, I'm a heart surgeon!"

"Kick him in the groin, that'll stop him! Trust me, I'm a urologist!"

"If my years as an optometrist have taught me anything, it's that you can blind a man by poking him in the eyes!"

"Fellow ninja, be careful! That man is a trained pediatrician! He knows a thousand ways to kill us!"

 

[Klaus]

What about the Winchester boys, from Supernatural?

The Lone Gunmen, from X Files?

Ellen Ripley also seems apt, since she had a very run-ofthe-mill training (today's equivalent of a truck driver) that did nothing to help her through her trials.

Johnathan Harker, a simple accountant, facing Dracula.

The Swiss Family Robinson.

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.