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Season
One - Three |
Season
Four - Five |
Season
Six | Season
Eight

In the first few seasons, Willow was a shy,
naïve loner with a light, risqué sense
of humor. She was ridiculed by her more popular
classmates, such as cheerleaders Cordelia Chase and
Harmony Kendall. When Buffy moved to Sunnydale,
Willow became her best friend, along with Xander,
helping her out against the forces. She developed a
romantic relationship with Daniel 'Oz' Osborne, a
guitarist in the local band Dingoes Ate My Baby,
which survived Oz's revelation as a werewolf.
(BtVs:
A Stake to the Heart, The Remaining
Sunlight)
Even
before Buffy moved to Sunnydale, Willow had known
there was something supernatural about the town of
Sunnydale. When she a child, she had encountered
Mad Jack, Sunnydale's answer to Bigfoot, a demon
that stalked Sunnydale residents and fed off their
fear. Willow was not physically hurt during the
encounter, but was forever scarred from the
experience and never told anyone, not even her best
friend Xander. (BtVs:
The Blood of
Carthage)
Willow aided Buffy by researching information to
overcome various challenges, and later pursued an
interest in spell casting. In the beginning Willow
required additional assistance to perform a spell
correctly. When a Djinn attacked Sunnydale High,
Willow tried to cast a temporal fold on her own,
but couldn't control the spell and ended up
teleporting the Djinn into the past to face another
Slayer. When Sunnydale was attacked by a large
demonic bird, Willow required Buffy's Watcher
Giles' help to successfully cast an enchantment
spell to destroy the bird. Willow nearly lost her
powers when was drained by a jealous student, who
sought to use Willow's powers to gain power,
attention and respect.
(BtVs:
Broken Bottle of Djinn, Ring of Fire, Bad
Dog)
After vigorous practice and training, Willow became
more proficient with her powers and was able to
effectively teleport herself away from a vampire
attack as well as being able to cast a
trans-possession spell to remove the vengeful
spirit of the recently deceased Mayor from the body
it was occupying. (BtVs:
Haunted)

At
UC Sunnydale, Willow asserted her independence,
moving out from the shadow of Xander, her best
friend since five years old. After Oz's dramatic
departure, Willow joined the campus Wicca group, a
disappointing experience except for the presence of
Tara Maclay. Sharing a lot in common, the two got
together on a regular basis to practice magic; the
nature of their relationship eventually turning
into a romantic one. Their relationship became the
envy of a girl from their Wicca group, who became a
danger to Sunnydale when neither Buffy nor the rest
of the gang were available to help the young
couple. In an effort to prove herself to the Willow
and Tara, the girl called upon forces she could not
control, and forced Willow and Tara to clean up the
mess. (Willow
& Tara:
Wannablessedbe)
After being introduced to the rest of the Scooby
Gang, Tara had a hard time fitting in, feeling
somewhat outside of the inner circle. Though Xander
had a relationship of his own, he worried whether
Tara was good enough for Willow, while Willow
occupied similar thoughts about Xander's
girlfriend, Anya. Demon manifestations of jealousy
known as Avendschrook, ignited the couples'
emotions, and coerced the couples to flare up and
attempt to kill one another. After the
Avendschrook's influence was removed, the couples
returned to normal and settled their differences.
(BtVs:
Ugly Monsters)
After Buffy sacrificed herself to save the world,
Willow took up the role as the leader of the
Scoobies. She and Tara also moved into Buffy's home
to act as guardians for Dawn, who had now lost her
mother (to a brain tumor) and her sister. During
Buffy's absence, the Scoobies realized they needed
to ensure that the Underworld would not discover
that the Slayer was dead. If demons thought that
Buffy was alive, they would be less likely to
strike out of fear, so Willow reactivated the
Buffybot to go on patrols, an identical robot
replica of the real Buffy Summers. Still, the
BuffyBot was not enough, and Willow realized they
needed the real Buffy back.
(BtVs:
Death of Buffy)

Willow's magical skills peaked when she lead Tara,
Xander and Anya in raising Buffy from the dead.
Afterwards, she became addicted to using magic. Her
disregard for the consequences of her actions
eventually drove Tara away. With Tara's departure,
Willow was forced to face her problem and stops
using magic. When Tara was murdered by serial
killer Warren however, a grief-stricken Willow unleashed
the dark energies once more, and magically flayed him and left him to die. Willow retreated to England with Buffy's
Watcher Rupert Giles to deal with her magical
nature and her place in the universe, leaving Buffy
with one less Scooby to help her win back Sunnydale
when the town was invaded by a demon army.
(BtVs:
Withdrawal, Note from the
Underground)

Following Tara's death, Willow began dating a Slayer potential, Kennedy, but both decided to take things slowly after Kennedy suffered a month-long mystical death. After the surge in the Slayer population from two to two thousand, Willow took time away from Buffy, Xander and Dawn, finally returning when they were attacked by a rogue Amy and an army of living dead. Amy managed to kidnap Willow, and brought her to Warren, who was being kept alive by Amy's magic. Warren lobotomized Willow, but she managed to heal her injuries after she was rescued by Buffy.
(BtVs:
The Long Way Home)
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Links

Comic
Book Guide to Buffy

Tales
of the Slayers

Joss
Whedon's Fray

Comic
Monster Guide

Hellmouth
Central

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