Willow Rosenberg
Willow Danielle Rosenberg (born in 1981 in
Sunnydale,
California) is a
fictional character created by
Joss Whedon for the cult television program,
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She was portrayed by
Alyson Hannigan, who also played the character in three episodes of the show's
spin-off,
Angel. Riff Regan played Willow in an
unaired pilot that sold Buffy, and
Adam Busch played another version, thanks to a spell, as an alternate character whose personality seeped into her, in the seventh season episode "
The Killer in Me". Willow is the show's only
Jewish character.
Willow Danielle Rosenberg was the only child of Sheila and Ira Rosenberg. Her supercilious and distant mother, a
psychologist, appeared in season three's "
Gingerbread". Under the influence of a
demon, she tried to burn her daughter at the stake for being a
witch, and though she later forgot the incident, Willow did not. Willow may have inherited from her a strong sense of outrage against political injustice, especially that committed against
Native Americans. Her father, never seen, is hinted to be equally uninvolved. Her middle name was revealed in the script of season three's "
Bad Girls": "If my parents hadn't settled on 'Danielle,' Danger would be my middle name."
In the first few seasons, Willow was a shy, naïve loner with a light, risqué sense of humor. A member of the Math, Science and Computer clubs, she was the person to go to for tutoring help. She was ridiculed by her more popular classmates, including cheerleaders
Cordelia Chase and
Harmony Kendall. A fledgling
hacker, she was one of two students at Sunnydale High to be selected to be wooed by an unnamed, but very prestigious software company, and was chosen to teach computer science after
Jenny Calendar was murdered. She had a hopeless crush on her childhood friend
Xander Harris, who ignored her to pursue his equally hopeless crush on
Buffy Summers and later, a relationship with
Cordelia Chase. Before Xander developed feelings for the latter, he and Willow had been charter members of the "We Hate Cordelia" Club.
Willow soon became Buffy's best friend. When they discovered Calendar's secret project, Willow told Buffy that she had gone through her former favorite teacher's belongings, and dabbled in magic. After performing the Ritual of Restoration, she continued to learn magic even though she did not learn of her success in restoring
Angel's soul until "
Faith, Hope and Trick". She developed a more satisfying romantic relationship with
Daniel 'Oz' Osborne, a guitarist in the local band
Dingoes Ate My Baby, which survived Oz's revelation as a
werewolf and a kiss with Xander while being held hostage. She also met her demonic
alter ego in season three's "
Doppelgängland", where her vampire
Doppelgänger counterpart groped the "real" Willow as well as Xander.
At
UC Sunnydale, Willow and Buffy moved across town to Room 214 in Stevenson Hall. After
Oz's dramatic departure, Willow joined the campus
Wicca group, a disappointing experience but for the presence of
Tara Maclay. After discovering each other's
magic, they became
friends and later,
lovers and
soulmates, sharing one of the few
lesbian relationships portrayed in American
television. Some fans argue that Willow's later self-identification as a lesbian constitutes a
retcon, as she manifested a crush for Xander early on in the series and established a long-running and sexually active relationship with Oz, before
coming out as a lesbian. Others view this as a matter of
psychological repression and eventual admission of her
sexual orientation to herself and others. A simpler explanation could be that she is
bisexual.
Willow's magical skills first peaked in "
Bargaining", the season six opener. She led 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 and Buffy's sister
Dawn to the hospital. With Tara's departure, Willow was forced to face her problem and stopped using magic. When Tara was murdered by
serial killer Warren Mears, however, a grief-stricken Willow unleashed the dark energies once more, and her
vengeance reached a
climax when Willow magically skinned Mears alive. Willow absorbed volumes of magic as she pursued the other members of the Trio, Mears' accomplices, turning against her friends in the process. Her attempt to raise an
apocalypse was ended by Xander's words of friendship.
Willow retreated to England with Buffy's
Watcher Rupert Giles, but was forced to deal with her magical nature and her place in the universe. In an important
crossover, she battled
Jasmine, the then
villain on
Angel and restored Angel's soul. She returned from Los Angeles with
Faith, a reformed Slayer. Willow slowly regained control of her powers and entered a new relationship with potential Slayer
Kennedy. In the series finale, "
Chosen", Willow was able to use her powers to change the rules for the Slayer line. No longer would they fight alone against forces of darkness, as they helped Buffy fight an army of vampires.
Following "Chosen", the fifth season of
Angel continued the "
Buffyverse," mentioning Willow spending some time with
Kennedy in
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil and traveling to an unreachable plane of existence.
In Season One Willow's major "powers" were her intelligence and computer skills, as well as marked snarkiness. She aids Giles as he researches information to aid Buffy in overcoming various challenges. She also aids in the preparation of magical materials, making her first potion to detect a witch in the episode The Witch, 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 intelligence and came upon a spell to curse a vampire with a soul. Her initial interest in
Wicca lies more in the spell-casting portion rather than the faith itself; she sees magic as a way of hacking the universe, and an extension of her computer skills. This is probably because of her relationship with Ms. Calendar, who was connected to an online
pagan network.
Willow's first major spell involved re-cursing Angel with a soul in the season two finale, a feat she repeated in Angel's season 4 episode "Orpheus". She learns to levitate a pencil early in Season Three and her powers continue to develop until, at the end of Season Four, she is casting powerful spells independently and with the help of Tara Maclay. Season Five finds her surpassing Tara, a more experienced witch, in skill and being able to draw enough power to fend off a god, Glory, although Glory had been greatly diminished and the effort leaves Willow absolutely drained. In Season Six, she demonstrates the ability to bring Buffy back to life-again, leaving her drained. Her friend Amy introduces her to a warlock, Rack, who gives her the ability to go longer and do more spells, which leads Willow further down the path to the dark side of magic, and eventually, after Tara dies, magic consumes her and she nearly destroys the world. Season Seven sees her willingness to use magics greatly diminished after this event. She spends time at a coven in England with Giles where she develops a better understanding of magic, balance, etc. At this point she is so powerful her very feelings and thoughts can affect the world. Amy comments that other practitioners would have to work twice as hard to gain half of Willow's power. Despite this, Willow is largely prevented from accessing more than slight magic by The First, who attempts to corrupt her at each spell. At the end of Season Seven, her new lover, Kennedy, says that she is a goddess; while this is debatable, it is notable that Willow's eyes and hair go white, not black, when she casts the final spell of the series, imbuing all the
potential slayers in the world with Slayer power formerly reserved for one girl in every generation.
In Season Two's "
Halloween", a ghost costume charmed and sold by
Ethan Rayne made Willow an immaterial spectre. The spell was soon broken and Willow returned to normal. In Season Four's "
Something Blue", Willow cast a spell which granted her the ability to make anything she said come true. She lacked control over this ability and cancelled the spell. In Season Five's "Triangle" Willow accidentally released a troll from a crystal while trying to create a ball of sunshine to help Buffy slay vampires easily. Throughout Season Five Willow showed the ability to summon elements i.e fire and lightning. Willow also began to learn "Tactical Spells" in Season Five as a safeguard against the possible attack of Glory. In Season Six's last arc, Willow had developed the ability to drain magic from people and objects. As Dark Willow, she could fire dark bolts of energy at her foes and achieve flight.
At one point, Willow came near to destroying the world (although she did use a pre-rigged device). Near the end of the series, Buffy states that Willow alone is now more powerful than the Shadowmen, the group of ancient wizards who created the line of Vampire Slayers.
*
Xander Harris: Willow "dated" Xander until they were five, when he stole her Barbie. She continued a hopeless, unrequited crush on her lifelong friend into high school. Her moment of tenderness with Xander in the season two opener ended when Buffy popped up. The two began a brief affair in season three's "
Homecoming" when they were each involved with someone else.
*
"Malcolm Black"/
Moloch: See "
I, Robot... You, Jane".
*
Daniel 'Oz' Osborne: Willow lost her virginity in this first long-term relationship, which ended when Oz cheated on her with a female
werewolf. When he returned to Sunnydale months later hoping for a reconciliation, Willow had begun her relationship with Tara. But her feelings for him remained strong, and she told him, "I feel like some part of me will always be waiting for you."
*
Herself: Willow's vampire
alter ego expresses an attraction for her ("
Doppelgängland").
*
Tara Maclay: Willow's first lesbian relationship developed quickly and lasted about two years. Despite the obvious similarity,
Jane Espenson said in an interview with the
BBC that "In Doppelgängland... Joss didn't know that was going to pay off later, that the Willow character in fact was gay..." Tara was definitely portrayed as her true love. The relationship ended when Tara was shot and killed by Warren Mears
*
Rupert Giles: When Willow saw him sing at the Espresso Pump, her reaction was to say "Now I remember why I used to have such a crush on him." There was a hint in the high school seasons, where you could see pictures of Giles in Willow's locker, but it never went anywhere.
*
Amy Madison The two became good friends during Willow's junkie period, with possible overtones of an attraction. Their friendship ended abruptly, however, and Amy later sought retribution.
*
Winifred (Fred) Burkle: When Willow visited Los Angeles to re-ensoul Angel (
Orpheus), Willow (probably mistakenly) read Fred's excitement upon meeting her as attraction. Willow told her she was already seeing someone.
*
Kennedy: Willow continued her recovery from Tara's death as she embarked on relationship with this potential slayer. When last mentioned, they were living together in South America.
Similar characters to Willow have begun appearing more frequently in teen dramas since
Buffy, noteworthy examples include Thelma Bates in
Hex and
Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie in
Veronica Mars.
*Willow's dark turn in Season Six is an homage to
X-Men's "
Dark Phoenix Saga", of which Joss Whedon is a huge fan.
Willow has appeared in:
;
Buffy the Vampire Slayer : Willow was a series regular for all seven seasons. Buffy and Willow were the only two characters that appeared in
every episode of the show.
;
Angel : Willow made guest appearances in three episodes:
*Season 2 - "
Disharmony" (April 17, 2001); "
There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb" (May 22, 2001):*Season 4 - "
Orpheus" (March 19, 2003)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer RPG
Willow and Tara were prominently showcased in the first published adventure for the
Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG, the
The Dark Druid. The adventure features
Fionn mac Cumhail as a protagonist and ally. His battle with the
druid Fer Doirich continues into the modern age and posits that the witches
Willow and
Tara are the reincarnations of his fosters
Bodhmall and
Liath respectively.
[The Dark Druid by Brannan, Timothy S., Games Unplugged , July 2002, p.25. [1]]*Official Buffy RPG character sheets for
Willow and
Tara.
