Willow was a shy, insecure, intelligent girl who was best friends with Xander who she had a crush on, but no guts to tell him her real feelings. When Buffy entered her life, Willow began to help her with her Slaying duties by researching demons in books and on the internet, as well as occasionally hacking into secret government files. Willow became interested in magic and did her first major spell to give Angel back his soul (2.22 Becoming (Part Two)).
She met a guitarist called Oz, and the two dated and became very close. He was a werewolf and eventually had to leave Willow as he felt he was too dangerous for her (4.06 Wild At Heart). By the time he returned, fully cured, Willow had met and fallen in love with a girl named Tara, who was also a Wiccan (4.19 New Moon Rising). Willow’s interest in magic turned into an obsession, which made Tara leave her (6.08 Tabula Rasa). After an incident in which she nearly killed Dawn, Willow decided to go cold turkey on magic (6.10 Wrecked). Just as she and Tara started seeing each other again, Tara was shot by Warren and died (6.19 Seeing Red). Willow’s anger overtook her and she ingested all the dark magicks she could and became very powerful: she wanted revenge. Willow killed Warren and tried to end the world, but she was saved by her best friend Xander (6.22 Grave).
After a stint in England, training to control her power, Willow returned to Sunnydale to help Buffy fight the First. She met a new girl called Kennedy and the two started dating. In the final fight, Willow created a spell to give all potential Slayers their superpowers and she finally connected with good magics, ending a season of worrying about her power (7.22 Chosen).
Related episodes: Angel Episodes, Buffy Episodes
Comments on this trivia
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oceansoflovewi on June 22nd, 2005 at 3:49 pm
you forgot to mention not only did she connect with good magics, but she became a goddess.
Jess on June 22nd, 2005 at 4:22 pm
I don’t think she actually became a goddess, that’s just something that Kennedy said.
marvin21st on July 7th, 2005 at 12:21 pm
I always thought black hair evil witch white hair good witch or Glenda if you like Wizard of OZ.
mairceridwen on July 30th, 2005 at 10:25 pm
Some things come easier to others. Such is the nature of talent.
ant4buffy on August 4th, 2005 at 8:33 pm
It was either Xander or Willow that were rumoured to be Gay but Willow did it. I don’t think to spice up the show. Probably cos lesbianism is much easier to portray than to turn Xander into a Gay man. This way Willow could totally lose it when Tara died. It wouldn’t have been the same if it was a guy.
mairceridwen on August 4th, 2005 at 11:17 pm
I think it had more to do with using witchcraft as a metaphor for lesbianism (and later, addiction), rather than simply exploiting the witch=lesbian stereotype.
dancingbymoonlight on August 9th, 2005 at 1:41 am
I personally didn’t think that it seemed very…erm…I dunno, ‘Willow-like’ when she became gay. It just didn’t seem like Willow, but that’s probably just me.
ant4buffy on August 9th, 2005 at 7:44 am
I thought the transition from Straight to Gay Willow was extremely well done. It wasn’t at all fast and you could see it happening.
Jess on August 9th, 2005 at 9:32 am
It seemed natural for Willow to fall in love with Tara. The transition of Willow falling for Kennedy felt much more forced.
ant4buffy on August 9th, 2005 at 9:36 am
Yeh. didn’t like that
Abby M. on August 14th, 2005 at 2:15 am
Joss was going to bring Tara back in one of the very last episodes but Amber couldn’t do it for some reason. I guess he still wanted Willow to have a girlfriend but it still seemed way (and I mean way) to forced. Plus, there was something (wait, everything) about Kennedy I didn’t like.
Dawn on November 17th, 2005 at 1:47 am
thats my girl… :)
Dawn on November 26th, 2005 at 2:20 am
Jess says:
I don
MissKittyFantastico on December 30th, 2005 at 6:11 pm
Ok I too feel the need to chuck in my
two pennies worth…
The whole ‘Willow is gay.. WIllow and Tara’ story was really important to me. Willow’s transition was done amazingly well, and Joss made Willow and Tara as a couple so natural that you can’t help being over the moon when they get together.
Buffy is a hugely influencial show and people of all ages watch(ed) it. From my own personal point of view this whole storyline helped me come to terms with the fact that I wasn’t ’straight’ (something I had been struggling to accept since my teens). I’m not saying watching Willow ‘made me gay’ at all, but the way the whole thing was written and portrayed by Joss, Amber & Alyson was fantastic and helped me answer some questions I had about my own sexuality.
My ‘gayness’ aside (!!), Willow and Tara were a great couple, their relationship was always a joy to watch, and I was gutted when they got back together only for Tara to be killed in such a tragic way. Poor old Will…
noclaf on February 19th, 2006 at 12:46 am
Willow was originaly played by Riff Regan. Every one should be realy glad that Alyson got the part, ’cause otherwise I don’t think we would have Tara at all.
Abby M. on February 19th, 2006 at 3:30 am
Hmm…why? Would Regan not play a gay role or could you not see her as a gay character?
Camuel de Pompadour on February 22nd, 2006 at 5:14 am
In the epsisode “Doppelg
beagle on February 22nd, 2006 at 10:33 am
Yes Camuel, Angel was getting ready to say that but I’ve never seen where any of the writers admit that it was an intentional foretelling.
Before that, I believe in 1.12 Prophecy Girl, Xander says something to Buffy like, “But Willow isn’t trying to date you, if she is, she’s playing it close to the chest.”
Has anyone ever heard if Joss put that there on purpose? I do think Joss knew they were gonna have Willow be gay well before they did. He did that alot, having things all planned out. I think for a while he was thinking about making Xander gay but decided on Will.
DarthRosenberg on July 18th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
MissKittyFantastico, I agree every single word you said!!!! I mean: EVERY… :)
I can’t even say anything new, you wrote down everythin I was thinking. :)
DarthRosenberg on July 18th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Oh, and I have to say, that Willow is my favorite character. Her whole history is great and the character is really well-built up.
But this isn’t new as well, is it?! :D
Slayer705 on August 15th, 2006 at 2:41 am
Again about Willow turning gay: ok, it was kind of unexpected, but it wasn’t a shock as far as I remember.
As MissKittyFantastico wrote, Joss made the relationship between Willow and Tara very natural so that (most of) the viewers wouldn’t feel weird about it. (and that worked out pretty well if you ask me).
And what’s more important is that, I’d say 99% of the viewers thought that Oz and Willow were the perfect couple. And when Oz left we probably all thought that no one could replace him. (I mean, imagine Willow with this long, blonde surfdude.. come on..) So when Joss decided Willow’s next relationship would be the one with Tara, that was for the best because that was more realistic then Willow with another guy. One who wasn’t Oz.
MissKittyFantastico on August 17th, 2006 at 11:27 pm
Aw… Darth… I’m so glad, I was beginning to think it was just me who felt that way!
I’ve not been on here for a couple of months so was very pleased to see your comment :o)
The Kitty is back….
Slayer705 on August 20th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
Great that your back because there haven’t been to many people here the last couple weeks. So.. anything else to say about Willow? :P
MissKittyFantastico on August 27th, 2006 at 4:23 pm
Ummmmmm she’s lovely?!
And my fave ever Willow moment - has got to be in Chosen - Oh My Goddess…… I cry everytime I see the whole hair going white and everything - it’s just brilliant!!
Oh and my 5 month old house-bunny is white with ‘ginger’ patches - Guess what her name is??!!
clowder8 on September 16th, 2006 at 10:49 pm
I agree with just about everyone here - Willow & Tara were/are beautiful. Also - Season Six was my favorite. I love the Magic-drug addiction parallels, the wholly simple idea of 3 everyday nerds screwing around with the Slayer (the supernatural) and that power trip {also} spinning over the edge, and absolutely love The Buffy/Spike thing - how can’t you?
I would just like to input a theory. I think that “Willow” was given her name for Joss’s wife, Kai. ‘Kai’ in Navajo, means Willow Tree. If I am correct
clowder8 on September 16th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
That would be too sweet. One of the ‘verse’s favorite characters named for Joss’s beloved!!
clowder8 on September 16th, 2006 at 10:52 pm
Really the whole season was about ’spiraling out of control’ wasn’t it? All the excess youcan stand…
Mysteryend on October 9th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
Willow….
All time favourite….I cant believe I havent commented on this before…What is wrong with me?!…..Her journey through BtVS is amazing she went through alot…I love Willow….Best charcter in the verse….Best character on TV……Best Character in the history of mankind….
kitn on December 21st, 2006 at 11:04 pm
One of the best things about this show was the way the characters were allowed to evolve as people, and I think Willow is the best example of this. I’m not talking about her sexuality here, as I find that to be one of the least interesting and integral facets of her character. It’s the way she way allowed to grow up and come into her own, mature, and gain confidence as a witch and a woman, stumble and learn from her mistakes, all the while retaining the essence of who she was. It’s very real and commendable on the part of the writers.