Willow Rosenberg
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 Alyson Hannigan as Willow
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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. Alyson Hannigan also played Willow 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.
Character History
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 political injustice, reflected particularly in her attitudes towards 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."Willow was a shy geek in the series premiere, "Welcome to the Hellmouth". Her sexual naivety and light, risqué statements provided much humor in the first few seasons. A member of the Math, Science and Computer clubs, she had a reputation as the person to go to for tutoring help. She was ridiculed by her more popular classmates, including cheerleaders Cordelia Chase and Harmony Kendall. But Willow had much scientific knowledge and computer hacking skills. 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 and later, a relationship with Cordelia Chase. They had been charter members of the "We Hate Cordelia Chase" Club.
Willow soon became Buffy's best friend. When they discovered Ms. Calendar's secret project, Willow told Buffy that she had gone through Jenny'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 Oz, 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. Some fans argue that Willow's later self-identification as a lesbian consists of 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 affirming herself as a lesbian. Others, however, view this as a matter of repression and eventual admission, to herself and others. A simpler explanation is that she's bisexual but chooses to identify as a lesbian due to her relationship with Tara, one of the few lesbian couples portrayed in American television.
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, but her grief over Tara's death unleashed the dark energies once more, and her vengeance reached a climax when Willow magically skinned the killer Warren, who had intended the bullet that killed Tara for Buffy. Willow absorbed volumes of magic as she pursued the other members of the Trio, 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 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", it has been theorized that Willow is no longer purely human, much in the same manner that Buffy is a semi-mystical being, as she 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 Janiero, Brazil and traveling to an unreachable plane of existence.
Powers and abilities
In Season One Willow's major "powers" were her intelligence and computer skills, as well as marked snarkiness. She aids Rupert Giles as he researches information to aid Buffy Summers 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". It is likely that having her first spell be a curse opened her to dark power, despite her good intentions. It is also likely that her ability to perform this spell was an aberration, and it seems possible that some outside power aided her, as she must struggle to levitate a pencil early in Season Three. Although it should be noted that her latent talent for spell-casting took effect and first reared its head, as Amy herself said that Willow was powerful even when she was weak, also stating that other practitioners would kill to have even a fraction of her power. Her powers continue to develop however and at the end of Season Four, she is once again 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. She 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.
Notable Spells and Incidents
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 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 transform herself into a stormy cloud to achieve flight.
Willow's potential power appears almost limitless: she came near to destroying the world (although she did use a pre-rigged device) at one point. 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, were all together.
Romantic relationships
- 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."
- 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." But this was the only time this was expressed, and it never went anywhere.
- 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 on 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
- Amy Madison The two became good friends during Willow's junkie period, with possible overtones of an attraction. Their friendship ended abruptly. Amy later sought retribution, much like a jealous ex.
- 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.
Other Relationships
- Angel: Willow is the only member of the "Scooby Gang" who sees Angel for who he actually is, not as an evil man on a loose leash (As Xander, Giles, and later, Buffy do). She hugs him when leaving L.A. for Sunnydale, suggesting a positive acquaintance, and not just a monster that must be tucked away. Notably, she also is the one to inform Angel of Buffy's second death, as the rest of the Scooby Gang are too crushed, busy, or simply don't care about Angel knowing. She does this in person, which is not only in character for Willow (she wouldn't call with such news), but also suggests that she recognizes Angel's love for Buffy. We can speculate that she would have helped Angel during the Fred/Illyria crisis, but she was otherwise engaged (and withheld by Rupert Giles).
Character type
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.
Appearances
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. [link]
References
See also
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