Willow Rosenberg

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

Seasons One - Three

Willow, Season Two    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)


Seasons Four - Five
   
Willow, Season Four    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)



Season Six
   
    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)


Season Eight
   
    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)


Links

Comic Book Guide to Buffy
Comic Book Guide to Buffy

 

Tales of the Slayers
Tales of the Slayers

 

Joss Whedon's Fray
Joss Whedon's Fray

 

Comic Monster Guide
The Monster Guide

 

Hellmouth Central
Hellmouth Central


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