7 Scariest Buffy the Vampire Slayer Monsters (That Aren’t Vampires)

As the title suggests, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an urban fantasy television series about a young woman who protects the world from vampires. However, if the show were only about vampires, it wouldn’t be as interesting. Instead, Buffy has several great monsters who are not the blood-sucking fiends, and many of these creatures of the night are even more terrifying than the vamps who haunt Sunnydale. These monsters include everything from creatures from the Hellmouth to ancient demonic beings and even some creepy demonic children. These monsters also appeared in some of the greatest Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes in history along the way.

Here is a look at the best non-vampire monsters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

7) Hans and Greta Strauss

Hans and Greta Strauss appeared in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 3 episode “Gingerbread.” While this season was all leading to Graduation Day, Buffy’s battle with Faith and the Mayor, and the eventual move from high school to college, the 11th episode took a break to have Buffy battling two creepy little kids. Honestly, there isn’t much more creepy than little demonic children, and this episode played on those fears.

These two kids were based on the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale, but they weren’t the actual kids whom the witch tried to eat long ago. Instead, a demon uses these two dead siblings as a disguise and shows up every 50 years to create tension in a community and tear it apart with a witch hunt. It almost worked, as they even got Joyce to turn against her daughter as the mothers in Sunnydale tried to burn their own children at the stake. The demon was nowhere near as creepy as the two kids, but for much of the episode, it was an exercise in fear.

6) Sweet

Sweet was a fantastic demon villain who showed up in arguably one of the best Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes ever made. Sweet was the villain in the Season 6 episode, Once More, with Feeling. This was the musical episode, and it might be one of the best one-shot musical episodes in television history.

Sweey was a demon who caused anyone in his presence to break into song and dance numbers, which often led to spontaneous combustion. He is also a very funny demon who loves to deliver his own humorous responses to those around him, helping round out his character. Of course, in this episode, Tara sang about her love for Willow, Xander and Anya had a duet, and Buffy sang about the direction her life had taken.

5) Gnarl

While the kids were creepy and Sweet was incredibly entertaining, Gnarl was just a disgusting and horrifying creature. Gnarl showed up in the Season 7 Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode “Same Time, Same Place.”He lived in the caves in Wilken’s Grove and fed on human skin. His first victim in this episode was a boy who was found dead and skinless.

The idea of eating a person’s skin and leaving their corpse behind was terrifying. However, the look of the demon when Buffy and her friends found him in the caves was one of the scariest moments in the entire series. The entire look and habitat were similar to the horror movie The Descent, which was released three years later, and Gnarl was just as scary as the monsters in that release.

4) Der Kindestod

Appearing in the Season 2 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Killed by Death,” Der Kindestod was a creepy and very disturbing monster. This episode sees Buffy come down with the flu and end up in the hospital. However, while there, she encounters a child who brings a nightmare with him, and eventually, the arrival of Der Kindestod.

This demon killed children by sucking out their life force, making it look like they died of a fever. This made him almost undetectable since the kids he killed were already ill, so there was no reason to believe a demon was responsible. He had killed Buffy’s cousin in front of her years before, and he returned in this episode while she was in the hospital. He looked terrifying, and it was clear he scared the kids as much as he hurt them during his attacks.

3) Gachnar, Lord of Fear

Gachnar, Lord of Fear, was the self-proclaimed Dark Lord of Nightmares and the Bringer of Terror. However, as expected with someone who gives himself his own nicknames, there was a funny reason behind his arrogance. He showed up in the Season 4 episode, “Fear, Itself,” which was one of the rare Halloween Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes.

The demon causes a panic at a Halloween party, and it is up to Buffy and the Scooby Gang to stop his reign of terror. The demon causes everyone’s greatest fears to come true, which leads to pandemonium. However, the best part came when Buffy broke the demon’s symbol, not knowing it would bring the Lord of Fear to the real world. The punch line was that he was actually only a few inches tall, and Buffy stepped on him and squashed him with her shoe. It was a masterful ending to a perfect gag episode.

2) Glarghk Guhl Kashmas’nik

His name is almost impossible to pronounce, but Glarghk Guhl Kashmas’nik remains one of the best monsters to ever appear on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He appeared in the Season 6 episode “Normal Again,” which was one of the most traumatic in Buffy’s history. This was the episode where Buffy found herself in a mental hospital and was told she had been hallucinating her entire life while actually being under treatment for her delusions.

What makes this episode so controversial is that it actually ends without knowing if she is really the Slayer, or if the entire series has been a sick woman’s imagination. If taken for face value, which is as far as canon is concerned, Glarghk Guhl Kashmas’nik is the demon summoned by Andrew who makes her believe that her parents are both alive and Dawn never existed.

1) The Gentlemen

The best non-vampire monsters that ever appeared on Buffy the Vampire Slayer are from the best episode of the series. These are the Gentlemen, and they appeared in the Season 4 episode “Hush.” The fourth season was not one of the best, but it contains “Hush,” which did something amazing with the storylines and delivered an incredible story without hardly any dialogue at all.

That is because the Gentlemen are a group of demons who steal the voices from everyone in the town. Their only weakness is sound, so by stealing voices, they can gather the seven human hearts they need without fear of repercussions. These demons were bald with white skin and giant smiles etched on their faces, while wearing black suits and almost floating along. They remain the most memorable Buffy the Vampire Slayer monster in history from its most acclaimed episode.

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