Though Harmony doesn't have a lot of backstory - or much story at all before her death on Graduation Day - she is 'living' proof of the fact that in the Buffyverse, getting killed off is by no means the end of your character...

Second only to Cordelia in the social hierarchy of Sunnydale High, Harmony Kendall ruled the school. Vapid and pretty, she raised following the crowd from survival skill to outright art form. Harmony defended her social position with a vast arsenal of cutting remarks and put-downs, copying what everyone else did, then claiming she did it first. She was, according to Cordelia, a sheep. But she was an Alpha sheep, and to Harmony, that's what mattered.

She was Cordelia's best friend, but their friendship only went so far. Because at the first sign of weakness, Harmony was ready and willing to stab Cordelia in the back in order to claim the Most Popular title for herself. Her time at the top was always short-lived, though, because Cordelia would inevitably reclaim her place. But apparently all's fair in love, war, and high school because as long as Harmony fell back in line, "Queen C" didn't hold a grudge. Every good Queen needs her loyal subjects, after all. Or failing that, some willing followers, which Harm was happy to be.

Then came Graduation. Recruited by Xander (who had the audacity to speak to Harmony in front of other people), she stood with the rest of the Senior Class as they faced down Mayor Wilkins. When the melee erupted, Harmony was bitten by a vampire. So much for that summer trip to France. But early in S4 we found out that she wasn't just bitten - she was turned.

When Harm attacked Willow, Oz intervened to save his girlfriend, and Harmony countered that she had a boyfriend too, one who'd be mad that they'd been mean to her. That boyfriend was Spike. And he didn't particularly seem to care. In fact, he didn't hesitate to stake her when she bugged him once too often about taking her to France. Fortunately for her, she was wearing the Gem of Amara at the time. It healed the physical injury, but her little heart was broken.

When Spike came back weeks later only to leave again, she angrily burned his things. Her fighting skills were still sub-par (her epic slap fight with Xander proving that not all vamps rise with a complete knowledge of martial arts), but the self-help books she began to read did her some good because when Spike turned to her when he was unable to kill or feed, she threatened him with a stake and threw him out of the lair.

By the time we saw her in S5, Harmony was running her own gang. A pretty hapless gang with no sense of loyalty, but still. She had minions of her own and delusions of being the new Big Bad. She'd also gotten good enough at fighting to take Xander down pretty hard this time, but her planning skills were still sadly lacking. When her "kidnap Dawn to get to Buffy" scheme (or rather, Spike's sarcasticaly-suggested scheme that she pinched) blew up in her face, Harm's minions staged a coup. Not that it mattered, since Buffy came in and dusted them all anyway. But afterwards, Harmony was on the run, convinced that Buffy wanted to kill her to death. What with them being arch nemeses and all. And she took up smoking too. Because that's what bad guys do.

She found sanctuary with Spike in exchange for sex, blissfully unaware that it wasn't long before he was using her as a substitute for Buffy. Then Drusilla blew into town, and while Spike was busy trying to decide between her and Buffy, Harmony gave him a steel-tipped reminder that he supposedly already had a girlfriend. Even though things between them were obviously over, she took the opportunity to pronounce their break final.

Leaving Sunnydale, Harmony found her way to Los Angeles to visit Cordelia. After an awkward misunderstanding in which Cordy though ther friend was after her body, as opposed to just the blood inside it, Harm expressed that what she really wanted was to find some direction to her life. She made a total mess of things at the Hyperion, but after she sang for Lorne, the AI gang let her come along on a case involving a vampire food-bank pyramid scheme. Eager to prove herself, she went in ahead of the others to do some recon, but by the time the others arrived, her love of self-help rhetoric had reared its ugly head.

Easily secuded by the cult, she double-crossed the AI team, leading them into a trap, but as usual, Angel & Company decimated their attackers. Cordelia had Harmony in her crossbow sights but let her go, ordering Harm to leave her city and never return. I've actually heard rumour of a cut scene from the end of 'Disharmony' that showed her resurrecting the food-bank scheme in Mexico, but whether she left the country or not, she wasn't through with LA...

When Angel assumed control of Wolfram & Hart, his new administrative assistant was a familiar face from the secretarial pool: Harmony Kendall. Angel was... less than thrilled... but Harm approached her new job with zeal and enthusiasm (if not a lot of competence). And she was stunned to see her Blondie Bear suddenly materialize in Angel's office. Even though she was still hurt by his poor treatment of her in Sunnydale, she was happy to see him.

Much as she wanted to be considered part of the inner circle, the others didn't consider her especially important, though she and Lorne got along famously. One person, however, still coveted Harmony's position. As part of Angel's changes at W&H he instituted a zero tolerance policy on drinking human blood. Harmony had long since modified her diet, but a jealous co-worker who thought she deserved the promotion Harmony got instead, spiked her thermos with human blood and framed her for murder. Harm managed to clear her name, but she was still upset about feeling like a nobody until Spike, in a rare moment of genuine kindness towards her, pointed out that someone had wanted to kill her. Which meant she must be somebody after all. Still, Harmony couldn't fight her own nature, something Angel seemed to understand. When the final showdown started, Harmony helped one of the gang's enemies get into the building. She felt bad about it - but not bad enough to stay and fight. Angel understood and sent her on her way with a letter of recommendation.

{ back }