All about Willow:
At the point in Canon that I am using for Willow, Willow has grown to be an incredibly confident and formidable young woman. The canon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer spans 9 seasons now, The last two changing medium from Television to Comic book. Each of the following paragraphs will break the series down into key character altering points for Willow.
In the first two seasons, Willow was a shy young girl with a heart of gold. When Buffy joined Sunnydale High, Willow was slightly in awe of the fact that she even acknowledged her existence. Her relationship with Buffy over time gave Willow the confidence to stand up for herself, gave her the confidence to experiment with girl stuff, boys, magic and fighting the forces of evil. Through Buffy, Willow was introduced to the darker elements of the world, Vampires Demons and general bad things.
Finding out the world was indeed a much darker place than she had ever imagined had a rather profound effect on the entire cast of characters in Buffy. Willow and Xander planted their flag firmly behind Buffy and worked with her on many occasions bringing their own talents to the mix. Willow’s primary role for the first two seasons was that of the braniac. She is an incredibly intelligent woman from day one and it is pretty much stated in canon that she has a genius level IQ. In the second season, her intelligence is put to the test when their computer science (I believe that’s what it’s called in America) teacher is killed and Willow is asked to take over the class. This experience leads to an interesting development for Willow, further building her confidence.
Willows intelligence and inquisitiveness however has not always been a strength. During the course of the canon, Willow’s natural ability with magic and her insatiable curiosity and hunger for knowledge led her down a slippery slope. During the 6th season, Willow becomes fully addicted to magic. Endangering her own life and the lives of all of those around her. This storyline challenged her relationship with Buffy until she quit cold turkey and eventually gave up magic for good. Well, until the thing happened.
Willow does have a somewhat selfish streak.. Her own desires can often get in the way of how she treats others. Though this selfishness is never completely blatant (Unless she’s in the middle of her magical addiction and she decides: Hey! Let’s just erase my girlfriends memory of a fight so we can snuggle!) and she often covers it up, she has been known to create awkward situations to protect her own feelings and fears. For example, she hides Kennedy away from Buffy during season 8, to the anger of Kennedy until she explains that she can't bear to have Kennedy caught up like Tara was.
Willow's mannerisms could be described as quirky as she, like the rest of the scooby gang use jokes to get through even the most dire of moments. Often choosing to make a pun or a joke in times of apocalypse. Her attention to detail is also noted as quirky, as she would during gaps in her classes, copy her notes from lectures in a 'series of different coloured pens.' She also has a tendency to flail her arms around when she either: A) cannot think of a word or B) is really excited.
Another of Willow’s flaws is her rashness. Occasionally when she’s been wronged, rational thought will fly out of the window and she’ll go for vengeance. This is most likely because she feels that magic gives her the ability to be powerful and strike back at those who have wronged her. However, there is always a clear justification for her vengeance. For example, Cheating werewolf boyfriend Oz; Hell Goddess who sucked her girlfriend of her sanity; Girlfriends Murderer. These justifications are perfectly clear for Willow and she would do each one of them again. Even ‘kill’ (He doesn’t actually die.) her lover’s murderer again.
Willow’s sexuality is something that is very key to understanding her character. Willow started out the series as a teenage girl who was straight. She had a fully functioning relationship with a werewolf named Oz who she was in love with for some time. However, during her time at high school Willow developed feelings for Xander and cheated on Oz with Xander. Xander and Willow didn’t last long at all and eventually Oz forgave Willow and they got along swimmingly. Until season 4, where Oz cheated on Willow with another werewolf Verruca. Willow’s heartbreak had a massive effect on her physically and emotionally. She became extremely depressed and found it very hard to deal with her emotions surrounding Oz. Her ability to cast spells was compromised by her hurt emotions. However, there was a light in the tunnel in the form of Tara Maclay. Tara and Willow met at a Wiccan group as the only two real witches attending the group. Over time, Willow and Tara grew closer and eventually they decided to date.
This relationship was very very healthy for a full season until they split up due to Willow’s addiction to magic. They reconciled, and hours later Tara was murdered by a stray bullet to the chest. The Impact Tara’s death and on Willow was cataclysmic. She relapsed heavily on the magic and sought revenge. Willow’s personality changed whilst under the influence of the black magics she absorbed during this time. Fuelled by grief and rage, Willow ‘killed’ Warren, Tara’s murderer and attempted to kill his accomplices. This event struck a mighty blow to Willow’s confidence.
She confesses in the 7th season that she doesn’t want to have power anymore because she believes she cannot be trusted with it. This inner turmoil is something that we explore with Willow and something that is exploited by the First Evil. She doesn’t trust in herself to cast magic because the First is capable of corrupting her whenever she tries to access the immense level of power she now holds inside. However during the events where she nearly ended the world, Willow is given the gift of the pure essence of magic, the life force that links all things. Willow is now deeply imbedded in this and it has a profound effect on her mentally and physically. She is deeply struck by guilt, especially now as she can feel the life force of every living thing she came so close to destroying.
This eventually changes though, once she is taught (handily) by Buffy that her power is a gift and that she is the only one that can cast the spell powerful enough to unlock the slayer potential for every girl in the world who was already destined to be a slayer. Another person that has a profound impact on the way she views her magic is Saga Vasuki. Saga Vasuki was Willows mentor during the gap between Seasons 7 & 8 who taught her about magic in a way that she had never been taught before. Although Saga Vasuki (or Aluwyn) was a demon, Willow respected her approach to teaching and learned to control her immense power through lessons taught by Aluwyn.
However, in day to day life Willow is a true member of the Scoobies. She is quick to crack a pun and make light of a situation because they are all well aware of what lurks in the Shadows. She’s quite goofy and snarky and is well prepared to be snarky even when the person she’s snarking too is dangerous. She is sweet and easily flustered when it comes to her personal life, but strong and capable when it comes down to it. In conclusion? My recipe for Willow would be: A pinch of Snark, a Dash of doubt, a cup of passion, a clove of intelligence and a… measurement of magic.
ABILITIES:
Disclaimer: Willow’s power level is now canononically recognised as that of a goddess. The comics kind of go crazy in terms of power level. (ITS OVER 9000!!!!) Obviously, I don’t want her to be game breaking because there is no fun in that whatsoever. So, below is a list of things that are fairly safe.
Willow's Magic
Telepathy – Willow displays the ability to read and control minds, and project her thoughts to other people often through the series.
Telekinesis – From being able to individually manipulate an arsenal of weapons, to levitating a pencil to stake a vamp Willow displays a rather alarming competency with moving objects with her mind.
Flight – As of the comics, Willow can sustain flight for not only herself, but she is shown to fly herself and Buffy a long distance with showing no signs of weariness. (Other than a “superb” landing.)
Forcefields – Willow can make forcefields of varying strength and colour.
Energy blasts – In the comics Willow displays much more battle prowess in the series, using various types of energy blasts to attack and cripple her foes.
Teleportation – Willow’s power level allows her to teleport herself and others (and a giant submarine. I’m serious.) halfway across the planet. However, this ability is a tad ridiculous. So I’m going to sort of smoosh this power into she can teleport and passengers are not allowed.
To regenerate – Willow gets partially lobotomised by Warren (The dude that killed Tara) and escapes by projecting her mind into another dimension. Once he was distracted by the slayer army, she healed herself back to full health. This ability won’t be taken nearly as far as that because obviously it involves interdimensional stuff and that’s against the rules.
Willow also knows a lot of ritualistic spells and sorts. I think it would be easier if I were to contact the mods (Should I be accepted of course!) if I was going to attempt something other than gimmicky stuff. But a few examples of this include:
Making something incorporeal solid;
Resurrection (No longer possible through stated canon means)
Turning a human into a Rat;
Combining the essences of people into one super human person;
The list goes on.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
