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I think if I do a Buffy rewatch when I finish the series, I’ll skip these episodes; Season one; Teacher’s Pet, I Robot you Jane, The Puppet Show. Plenty other episodes are skippable though. Season two; Some Assembly Required, Inca Mummy Girl, Reptile Boy, Ted, Bad Eggs, Go Fish. Season three; Nothing.
Oct 22, 2002 · Recently viewed. Selfless: Directed by David Solomon. With Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Emma Caulfield Ford, Michelle Trachtenberg. Anya's violent and deadly act of vengeance leaves everyone stunned. Buffy must put aside her feelings and take action before more people die.
- (3.1K)
- Action, Adventure, Drama
- David Solomon
- 2002-10-22
- Overview
- Biography
- Personality
- Powers and abilities
- Appearance
- Religion
- Relationships
- Behind the scenes
“The magicks I used are very powerful. I'm very powerful. And maybe it's not such a good idea for you to piss me off.”
―Willow Rosenberg
Willow Danielle Rosenberg was a witch native to Sunnydale, California, a founding member of the Scooby Gang, and the best friend and semi-official sidekick of the Slayer, Buffy Summers. Willow started out as a shy computer nerd, eventually developing her talents to become a powerful and assertive witch.
Willow was introduced to the forces of magic by attempting a complex spell to re-ensoul Angel. To her own surprise, Willow channeled into considerable power during this ritual and would come to practice witchcraft. Willow was quick to grasp basic spells and, with support from her girlfriend Tara Maclay, her powers blossomed even more rapidly. Milestones in her magical career include the enjoining spell, taking on the hell-goddess Glory and surviving, resurrecting Buffy, nearly ending the world, activating multiple Potential Slayers, and, eventually, establishing herself as Earth's greatest witch.
Early life
Willow Rosenberg was born to Sheila and Ira Rosenberg. Her mother was supercilious and distant, noticing Willow had cut her hair months after she had it cut. She had a "bad birthday party pony thing" when she was four, leaving her with a fear of ponies and horses. At some point, Willow also developed a fear of frogs and spiders. After watching Snoopy on Ice, her dad took her backstage, but she was scared and threw up on Woodstock. Willow became best friends with Alexander Harris at a young age and she attended school with him throughout all of her life. On the first day of kindergarten, Willow cried because she broke a yellow crayon. Willow was also close friends with Amy Madison during junior high, and they would eat brownies together at Willow's whenever Amy's mother Catherine was in a diet.
College
“It's just in high school, knowledge was pretty much frowned upon. You really had to work to learn anything. But here, the energy, the collective intelligence, it's like this force, this penetrating force” ―Willow In her first year of college, Willow initially enjoyed being in an environment that appreciated her intellect and further excelled in her magical abilities. Moving across town to UC Sunnydale, Willow and Buffy become roommates at room 214 in Stevenson Hall after the expulsion of Buffy's previous demonic roommate, Kathy Newman. Though her skills in magic got better, Willow did struggle in some areas in terms of control. During Halloween, the Scoobies became trapped in a frat house that was being magically altered by the demon Gachnar. Willow wanted to prove herself by locating endangered party-goers with magic despite her friends' opposition because of concerns for her safety. She ignored them and the spell she performed ending up attacking her. Willow soon reached a stage of emotional heartbreak. Oz left town after cheating on Willow with another werewolf called Veruca. Around this time Willow attempted to curse them both with magic, though stopped when Veruca arrived to kill her only to be killed by Oz who then left her out of fear of endangering her. Willow then waited but was left with a bitter attitude, writing letters to Oz but not knowing where to post them. A devastated Willow cast a spell to have "My Will Be Done," accidentally endangering her friends' lives in the process when she called Xander a "demon magnet," thus attracting real hostile demons to his location. This also made her eligible to become a vengeance demon, but she declined the offer and undid the spell. Afterward, she joined the campus Wicca group Daughters of Gaea, a disappointing experience when she found out none of the other members were actually real witches with the exception of the presence of timid, serious witch Tara Maclay. After discovering each other's magic during an encounter with the Gentlemen, they became friends, meeting each other on a regular basis to practice spells weeks before Tara was introduced to Willow's friends. From this, they eventually formed a close bond and fell in love with each other, though both remained discreet about it. Later, Oz returned, believing he had gained control over his wolf side, with hopes of continuing his relationship with Willow. This put her in a tough position, and she came out to Buffy about her feelings for Tara. Oz was unable to control his condition when he discovered that Willow and Tara were involved, so he left Sunnydale once more. Willow stayed with Tara, telling her that she was with the one she loved. Spike, in league with Adam, attempted to split the Scoobies apart. He used Willow's relationship with Tara as one of the catalysts, and her sexuality came out to everyone at this time. She later joined with the fellow essences of Buffy, Xander, and Giles to form a super being to defeat Adam. Willow acted as the "spirit" of the ensemble, using her magic skills to disarm Adam's technological advantages. Willow's power increased at a dramatic rate. Her relationship with Tara was strengthened when she discovered how Tara rose above her family's abusive lies. However, they argued when Tara voiced her concerns at how much magic Willow had been using over the past few months. Shortly afterward, Tara was "brain-sucked" by the hell-goddess Glory, and was left in an insane, babbling state. Enraged and grief-stricken, Willow ignored Buffy's warnings and attacked Glory full force in her own home, but was ultimately defeated; however, to Willow's credit, she did manage to actually injure Glory and weaken her significantly. Willow almost got herself killed after spitting directly in Glory's face in a show of pure spite, but Buffy arrived just in time to save her. When Buffy later went into a catatonic state, Willow magically entered her mind and freed her, assuring her that they would find a way to defeat Glory. In the final fight against Glory, Willow managed to slow her down by restoring Tara's mind, and disorienting the hell-god, as Willow reunited with her lover. However, Buffy was forced to sacrifice herself to save the life of her sister, Dawn. Following the battle, a devastated Willow departed to Los Angeles and visited the Hyperion Hotel to inform Angel that Buffy had died.
Addiction to magic
“The magicks you channeled are more ferocious and primal than anything you can hope to understand, and you are lucky to be alive, you rank, arrogant amateur!” ―Giles condemns Willow over her growing misuse of magic. Following Buffy's death, Willow assumed leadership of the Scoobies (at Xander's insistence) and used her magic in patrols to help keep the vampire population in check while looking after Dawn in Buffy's absence. Willow's magical skills peaked when she led Tara, Xander, and Anya in resurrecting Buffy. This had major concerns; both Tara and Xander briefly opposed the idea while Giles branded her as a "rank arrogant amateur" for delving into such deep, consequential magic. Willow developed an addiction to magic and began to use it excessively, and briefly got into an argument with Tara over it; she subsequently used magic to erase all memory of the fight from Tara's mind. After Sweet's musical spell lead to Buffy revealing that she had been in heaven and not a hell dimension as they originally believed, Willow became guilt-ridden over costing her best friend eternal happiness and suggested using magic to erase Buffy's memories of Heaven, leading to another argument with Tara; not wanting to lose Tara, Willow vowed not to use magic for a week to prove that she was not dependent on it, but almost immediately went back on her word and cast a spell to make Buffy and Tara forget about the negative aspects of what her spells did, only for it to backfire and gave the entire Scooby Gang, including herself, total amnesia, rendering them vulnerable when the Magic Box was attacked by Bro'os, a demonic loan shark trying to collect Spike's gambling debt. When the spell was broken, Tara promptly broke up with Willow. Without Tara's presence, Willow's addiction spiraled completely out of control; she finally managed to transform Amy back from a rat back into a human, and Amy began taking her to Rack, a dark magic dealer, with her more liberal use of magic contrasting with the Scoobies' attempts to encourage responsibility. Later, while attempting to take Dawn to the movies, Willow dropped by Rack's place again and left Dawn alone and unprotected in the waiting room for two hours, disregarding Dawn's fears and complaints when she emerged. Following this, they were attacked by Mandraz, a demon unwillingly summoned by Willow during her high. Willow commandeered a car using magic to escape, and the two suffered a car accident; while Willow emerged relatively unscathed, Dawn suffered a broken arm, and the two were saved from the demon by the timely arrival of Buffy and Spike shortly afterward. Faced with this, Willow was finally forced to face the consequences of her actions and cut off her contact with Rack and Amy, renouncing the use of her powers and choosing to help the Scoobies with her technical skills. Sometime later, Willow and Tara reconciled, prompting them to spend several hours in bed. Suddenly, Tara was murdered by a stray bullet from Warren Mears' attempt to kill Buffy. A grief-stricken Willow, having failed to bring Tara back, unleashed her dark side once more, absorbing every bit of dark magic from the texts in the Magic Box, causing both her hair and her eyes to become solid black, with veins protruding on her face as a result of draining Rack's life force to replenish her magic. Willow left her friends, her old self, and her morality behind, and her vengeance reached a climax when she used magic to flay Warren alive. Willow absorbed the magic and life force from Rack as she pursued Jonathan Levinson and Andrew Wells, Warren's accomplices, despite the fact that they had no involvement in Tara's death, turning against her friends in the process. Andrew Wells compared her to Dark Phoenix and later referred to her as "Dark Willow." Willow then fought Buffy, infusing herself with super-strength, declaring: "I'm the Slayer now." After having heavily beaten and nearly defeated Buffy, Willow was attacked by Giles, who abruptly returned with borrowed power of the Devon coven. Despite Giles' attempts to stop her, Willow absorbed his power as well, pushing her so far that she was overcome by all the pain she sensed in the world. She attempted to trigger the apocalypse to end it all but was thwarted by Xander who, out of love, refused to leave her alone, regardless of what she had done or was doing. The power that she had absorbed from Giles put her back in touch with her true emotions and feelings, so Xander's act eventually caused Willow to break down over her actions.
“You know Willow. She's very level-headed.”
―Buffy
Willow was a consistently sweet, trusting, gentle, intelligent, caring person. She was a somewhat naive, painfully shy nerd who was stuck with a hopeless crush on her best friend Xander. She was socially awkward on more than one occasion but had a kind heart. She became much more confident and strong-willed, capably leading the Scooby Gang twice during Buffy's absences. When Buffy died, Willow took care of Dawn to whom she represented a maternal figure. She was friendly and understanding, even with Spike, though she was not afraid to be tough. While still having an easily nervous nature, she grew more outspoken and confident.[citation needed]
Willow was also incredibly loyal and supportive to her friends, especially Buffy and Xander as she almost never openly criticized their decisions with hostility even when she disagreed, a factor in her understanding nature. She normally did not display fits of anger toward those who done her wrong, even if they were her close friends, retaining a calm and receptive demeanor. She also often spoke in strange speeches and phrases, something she shared with her best friend Buffy, which could often confuse those around her who weren't used to it. She was also greatly emotional and prone to babble when nervous (which was another similarity to Buffy).[citation needed]
Willow was also determined to get things done that she feels are important. It was sometimes hard for people to change her mind, a sign of this being her "resolve face." Willow often did not hold grudges against people. In fact, she was usually one of the first to forgive people for their mistakes, even if large ones, being incredibly forgiving. Another notable trait of Willow was her remarkable ability to put aside grudges and personal feelings to get an important task done which she had done on numerous occasions, most notably with Faith and much later, with Angel.
Willow also had a gift with computers and cracking codes, which was seen many times throughout the years. During her high school and college days, she seemed to be the only one out of the Scooby Gang that actually enjoyed going to school and doing homework as well as tutoring, much to the confusion of Buffy and Xander.[citation needed] She had a great interest in science and technology, seen with her fascination with the Buffybot.[104]
Early witchcraft
At first, Willow's major powers were her intelligence and computer skills. She aided Giles when he researched information to aid Buffy in overcoming various challenges.[106] Willow also aided in the preparation of magical materials, making her first potion to detect a witch and performing the ritual to revoke Angel's invitation to Buffy's house, but did not seriously begin practicing magic until the death of Jenny Calendar, one of her teachers. She was asked to take over teaching the class because of her high aptitude, and one day came across a floppy disk holding the Ritual of Restoration that Jenny had successfully translated to English. Though for months she believed that the ritual didn't work, Willow learned that the Ritual of Restoration was successful and performing it initiated her interest in magic.[citation needed]
Advancing
Willow's first major spell involved re-cursing Angel with a soul, a feat she later repeated years later. She learned to levitate a pencil early in her senior year, using it to stake a vampire through his heart, and her powers continued to develop until she was casting powerful spells first independently and then with the help of Tara Maclay. Soon she surpassed Tara, a more experienced witch, in skill and was able to draw enough power to even hurt the powerful hell god Glory.[citation needed] Willow demonstrated the ability to bring Buffy back to life, leaving her drained but she regained her magic in a few hours. Her friend Amy introduced her to a warlock, Rack, who gave her the ability to last longer and cast spells of more power which led Willow further down the path to the dark side of magic. Eventually, after Tara died, the magic consumed Willow and she nearly destroyed the world. At the time, Anya assumed Willow was the most powerful Wicca in the Western Hemisphere.[citation needed]
"Dark Willow"
During her corruption with dark magic, Willow was capable of flying, absorbing life and magic from others, teleportation, being impervious to physical damage, healing herself and others instantly at will, unleashing powerful energy blasts, locating people and objects at a distance (even when theoretically protected from such spells), emitting high-pitched shrieks in frequencies harmful to human ears, and exerting powerful levels of telekinesis and telepathic mind control. Additionally, she proved more than capable of going head-to-head against Buffy in a physical fight after casting a strength-enhancing spell on herself, able to show impressive strength as well as fighting skills though it should be noted that Buffy was holding back and before a decisive outcome could come about, Willow used magic.[citation needed] Even before she went dark, the immense amount of grief she dealt with affected her powers immensely; Willow caused most of the light bulbs in the Magic Box to short circuit and paralyzed Anya, who recently regained her powers, with a simple command. Finally, she was able to cast powerful spells, as she single-handedly almost brought upon an apocalypse by attempting to channel the power of the Earth and focusing it on Proserpexa's effigy to burn the world to a cinder, which was only averted by the timely intervention of Xander.[citation needed]
“Good to know you've seen the softer side of Sears.”
―Cordelia to Willow
Willow's appearance changed drastically over the years, which reflected her growing level of confidence and power. In her first year of high school, her red straight hair was long down to her chest. Initially, she dressed like a little girl, and her mother still picked out her clothes for her. After Buffy encouraged Willow to "seize the moment," her fashion sense began to reflect the growing confidence that her friendship with the Slayer granted her. She often wore dresses or sometimes a hat. In the summer of 1997, she cut her hair just below her shoulders before she entered grade 11.[citation needed]
Willow blossomed through her relationship with Oz, and her appearance reflected this. She cut her hair again shoulder-length in August 1998 before she entered grade 12; (it took her mother several months to notice this) and developed a penchant for fluffy sweaters and peculiar hats. One of her memorable outfits was her pink sweater. Feeling undervalued by her friends, Willow threatened to change her look, shortly before the arrival of the alternate universe vampiric Willow, dressed in her iconic leather outfit. Upon seeing Vamp Willow, Percy West asked her if she was "trick-or-treating," while Buffy described her as a dominatrix. Upon seeing her human alter-ego's pink sweater, vamp Willow pointed this out to her by saying, "Well, look at me. I'm all fuzzy." When she later woke up dressed in the sweater, Vamp Willow said, "Oh, this is like a nightmare." Spike admitted that he found Willow's "fuzzy pink number with the lilac underneath" to be arousing.[124]
Before college in the summer of 1999 Willow cut her hair to an even shorter layered cut to her chin, and starting on her first day of college began to wear long skirts and high shoes, which made her appear significantly taller and more confident than in her shy, wallflower years in high school. However, it was revealed through a dream that Willow felt she was only hiding her true geeky nature, with Buffy and Riley describing her normal clothes as a "costume." She found herself back in a high school classroom, where Buffy ripped off her "costume," leaving her dressed in her "softer side of Sears" outfit shortly before being attacked by Sineya.[125] In the summer of 2000, she curled her hair at the ends, which it stayed throughout the year.[citation needed]
Willow focused her grief over the death of Buffy's mother Joyce Summers on what clothes to wear while visiting Buffy at the hospital. She described her clothes as having "stupid things on them" and asked why she couldn't dress "like a grown-up."[126] After Buffy's resurrection, her hair was straight and shoulder-length again.[citation needed]
Willow was identified, ethnically and culturally, as Jewish. She referred to herself on a number of occasions as Jewish and appeared to come from a religious family, noting that she has to go to Xander's house to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas every year.[129] Also, when doing the spell to un-invite Angel from her house, she hid the crosses she nailed to the wall behind a curtain, noting that her father would have a fit if he saw them. Willow also said that the egg given to her to take care of in her junior year of high school was Jewish.[130] She mentioned multiple times that she celebrated Hanukkah and not Christmas. She also mentioned that she was "like Santa Claus, only thinner and Jewish" when she brought presents to Joyce in the hospital. Willow did not keep Kosher, although this was true of many Jews. Willow mentioned that she had a Bat Mitzvah.[131] Willow placed stones on Tara's headstone, a Jewish tradition to honor the dead.[132]
Combining her magical inclination, Willow described herself as a Jewish Wiccan.[117]
Following her first boyfriend Oz's departure, Willow secretly performed spells with fellow Wicca Tara, but there were hints that they were more than just friends. Shortly afterward, their relationship did become more intimate, and Willow would identify as a lesbian. More specifically, Willow explicitly declared herself as gay.[121][133][131][134][135] For then on, Willow only had female romantic and sexual partners: Tara, Kennedy, Aluwyn, Aura, Lake Stevens,[136] and Calliope Strachan.[137]
Her sexuality was notable when, after losing her memory, she quickly noted: "I think I'm kinda gay." As one of the many women under R.J. Brooks' love spell, she sought to transform him into a woman.[122] Also in Buffy's 1997-centric dream, she had been reminded that Willow still had a crush on Xander at that time, and told her: "Oh. That's right. You like… and you're not… Well, you probably are… but not—," referring to Willow later coming out as a lesbian;[138] as Willow described having realized her sexuality since then.[131] While at the beginning of a magical journey, Muffitt noted the symbolic presence of opening petals, instead of thrusting trees, representing Willow's sexual interest in women. She was uncertain of the use "dyke" in reference to herself, not knowing if it was "offensive" or "empowering," and preferring the use of "friend of Sappho."[135]
•She was first portrayed by Riff Regan in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer pilot before getting recast and portrayed by Alyson Hannigan. She was also portrayed by Adam Busch in the episode "The Killer in Me" and voiced by Kari Wahlgren in Chaos Bleeds and Natalie Lander in the Season Eight Motion Comic.
•According to Sarah Michelle Gellar, Joss Whedon had Melanie Lynskey in mind for the role, but there were issues with her Visa.[139] Lynskey auditioned for the role when it was to be recast after the unaired pilot, but Alyson Hannigan was ultimately cast.[140]
•Joss Whedon briefly described Willow in the shooting script for "Welcome to the Hellmouth": "WILLOW. She is shy, bookish, and very possibly dressed by her mother. The intelligence in her eyes and the sweetness of her smile belie a genuine charm that is lost on the unsubtle high school mind. It's certainly lost on Xander, though he brightens considerably to see her. The new face forgotten, at least for now."
•The character was not originally supposed to be a redhead; in 2011, Alyson Hannigan stated in an interview: "Joss [Whedon] had us all over his house. Charisma and Sarah and I all had brown hair at the time. Joss said, 'All of your hair is kind of the same shade. Does anyone want to be red?' I went for it. Eventually, Sarah got more and more blond, but it was because we all had a brownish, auburn mane."[141]
Doppelgangland: Directed by Joss Whedon. With Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, Charisma Carpenter. While casting a magic spell, Anya and Willow accidentally summon Willow's evil double from an alternate universe.
- (4.6K)
- Action, Adventure, Drama
- Joss Whedon
- 1999-02-23
"Doppelgängland" is the sixteenth episode of the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the fiftieth episode in the series. Written and directed by Joss Whedon, it was originally broadcast on February 23, 1999, on The WB network. A VAMPIRE WILLOW PREYS ON SUNNYDALE — Buffy and the real...
- 3 min
After Willow fails Tara's challenge to go for one week without performing magic, Tara leaves her, and for two episodes Willow descends into addiction that almost gets Dawn killed. Willow goes for months without any magic, helping Buffy track three geeks called The Trio who grandiosely aspire to be supervillains.
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May 21, 2002 · Grave: Directed by James A. Contner. With Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Emma Caulfield Ford, Michelle Trachtenberg. After sucking all the energy out of Giles, a powerful Willow sets off to destroy the world.
