Buffy's Nicholas Brendon Wasn't Thrilled About Xander Losing An Eye
Out of all the members of the Scooby Gang in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (as the show's core team of heroes are adorably nicknamed), it's Xander Harris who's easily undergone the biggest reassessment since the series ended in 2003. It's no surprise either, considering Xander was the closest thing the show had to an avatar for creator Joss Whedon. At least Xander had the excuse of being a teenager for much of the series; it didn't justify his selfish behavior or the way he constantly cracked wise rather than talk through his insecurities and feelings, but there was always the hope he would grow and mature as he got older. Whedon, on the other hand, was one of those guys who got bullied when he was younger, only to become a bully himself as he gained more power and influence.
Moreover, where Whedon's misconduct was swept under the rug for years as he enjoyed greater and greater success as a writer and director, Xander was seldom rewarded for doing the wrong thing on "Buffy." There's even something of a fan theory that many of Xander's woes and grievances are the result of him being "cursed" by the universe for one of the worst things he ever did (yet was never held directly accountable for): not telling Buffy about the heroes' plan to restore her vampiric beau Angel's soul at the end of season 2. It doesn't necessarily hold water, admittedly, considering that most of the time some sorrow befell Xander, it tended to be a "Well, well, well, if it isn't the consequences of my own actions" type of situation.
Of course, despite all his mistakes, Xander certainly didn't deserve to lose an eye the way he did in "Buffy" season 7.
The life and times of Xander Harris
As I said, with the exception of the season 2 finale, Xander pretty much always endured some comeuppance for his misdeeds (especially when it came to the piping hot mess that was his love life). In season 7, however, he was only doing his part to save the day when he ran afoul of Nathan Fillion's Caleb, a cruel, women-hating priest and servant to the season's big bad — the intangible force known as the First Evil — and got a thumb driven into his left eye for his efforts. Actor Nicholas Brendon was understandably miffed when the show's creatives declined to give him a heads-up about his character's fate, too. As he once explained during a Reddit AMA:
"They didn't tell me. I read it. And I'm like 'What?' and I read it again and I'm like 'WHAT?' And yeah, wearing an eye patch sucks, but at least you get to flip it up between scenes. And — again — it looks amazing in the comics."
The "comics" Brendon referred to are the Dark Horse "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" comic books, which are canonical to the TV show and continue the story from where season 7 left things. I can't vouch for the overall quality of the comics (let's just say they go places), but they have allowed Xander to evolve beyond being a Joss Whedon stand-in and become something of a replacement for Buffy's mentor and Watcher, Rupert Giles. To be certain, he remains a deeply flawed character whose toxic tendencies can still get the best of him, but the older Xander is also someone who makes an active effort to be a better person. If only the man who created him had gone in a similar direction.