Riley Finn is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Marc Blucas, and is a regular in the fourth season and the first part of the fifth season.

CHARACTER HISTORY
A native of Huxley, Iowa, Riley was Buffy Summers' boyfriend for parts of Season Four and Five. Leading a double life as part of a secret government organization known as the Initiative, but also as a regular college guy, Buffy found some normality in Riley, but she also found someone to whom she could relate. Initially, each kept the other from knowing of the secret lives, but the truth came out during the events in the Emmy-nominated episode "Hush."

Buffy and Riley fought demons together and continued saving each other's lives and the world, although Riley was never quite let into Buffy's inner circle. The Initiative was destroyed at the end of the fourth season, and Riley was relieved of his military standing. He was left at loose ends, and his behavior became reckless. Seeking thrills, Riley began to let vampires feed from him, which Buffy discovered in the episode "Into the Woods." His behavior, as well as a sense that Buffy would never truly love him, led to their breakup. Riley left Sunnydale to join another army unit fighting demons elsewhere, and left the show.

Riley returned in the Season Six episode "As You Were," in which he showed up unexpectedly, tracking a demon about to hatch eggs that could wipe out Sunnydale. However, he did not return to make up with Buffy, having recently gotten married to a fellow demon hunter named Sam. The battle done, Riley left Sunnydale, never to return again. He was, however, mentioned in Season 7 when Buffy asked for the Initiative to help Spike with his malfunctioning chip.

The opposite of both the eternally brooding Angel and the tortured "bad boy" Spike, Riley held out the possibility of normalcy in Buffy's life. He is also notable in that he is the only boyfriend of Buffy who eventually had a friendship with her usually jealous friend Xander Harris (possibly because the setting had moved on to college and Xander was in a presumably happy relationship with Anya Jenkins).

ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS

Buffy Summers — Buffy met Riley when she started at college in the episode "The Freshman". They begin a serious relationship after discovering each others' demon-fighting secret identities. Riley sacrifices his career and friends to be with Buffy, but is continually disappointed by her unwillingness to be truly open and vulnerable with him. Also Riley felt that he wasn't strong or aggressive enough to satisfy Buffy the way that dangerous vampires did. He begins drifting away, and Buffy is repulsed to discover that he has been visiting vampire prostitutes and allowing them to drink his blood to get a rush from the intoxication of the blood loss. Although Buffy ultimately tries to stop him, Riley rejoins the military, where he is able to continue demon slaying, and leaves the country, returning to Sunnydale only briefly to track down a dangerous demon, with his new wife.

Sam Finn — They met after Riley left Sunnydale and he rejoined the military. They married soon after and continued their work in the military, fighting demons together.