Spike as a character and how he changes

Someone on my flist made a post about how Spike's character developed during the series and asked what, besides love, could have made him shift from villain to hero. It's locked, so if you can't see it, you won't and if you can, you already know who that was. *g*

I started to ramble in a comment, until I realised I was going on for far too long to be polite in someone else's LJ. So I moved it all here.

( My interpretation of Spike and his personal journey... )

I could see him making the shift without falling in love with Buffy, but I think the spuffy was an accelerant, that it was the means by which he eventually destroyed his own place in the Scooby camp and that was what sent him to Africa.