Name: Jennifer Brett Calendar a/k/a Janna Robia Calderash
AGE: 29
DOB: 11 July 1969
Origin:
Jenny was born as Janna Calderash in Queens, New York, a borough of New York City on the day that the first man walked on the moon. She was born into an upper middle-class family, the only child of a mother and father both of whom were direct descendants of two families from the Romani Kalderash clan. Both families migrated from Austria-Hungary in the late nineteenth century and settled in the New York City area. Her father's family built a manufacturing and repair business that specialized in the industrial equipment used in bakeries, laundries, and confectioneries. Her mother's developed a lucrative fortune-telling and numbers racketeering business in urban areas throughout the Northeast.
Janna had a wonderful childhood with her doting parents. Although her immediate family was somewhat "Americanized," Janna's mother, Terina, was very close to her family of mystics and fortune-tellers who still followed the old ways.
Gypsies, as a rule, usually tend to lap life up, drink it in and love it's gift. But Janna had always been more reserved than her other clan members. She wasn't mild by any of the more public standards, but within her family's circles, she was the one to be counted on, the one who was supposed to take on a great deal of responsibility. Gypsies are extremely family-oriented. They have tremendous admiration for their ancestors and their heritage, and the elderly of the clan occupy positions of great respect and authority. Janna learned that at an early age from her maternal grandfather Tito. The bright-eyed old man had told her stories about gypsy heroes and myths, weaving in the importance of maintaining the history and well-being of her clan when she was only six years old. Soon, Janna came to realize the weight of the entire clan members' lives rested on each individual in the clan. Perhaps realizing this fact at such a tender age made the dark eyed beauty grow up stronger and more accountable to her family.
The young girl studied hard and excelled in mathematics and algebra. When she attended high school in 1983, she found one of her life's callings when her father bought her an Apple II computer. The young girl soon became a crack computer programmer and developed a talent for hacking computer code beyond the limits of even the most senior programmers in industry. Something about her gypsy intuition honed her talents in this field to mystical levels.
At about the same time, she found another of her life's callings. She was so good at computer programming, her principal asked her to develop a curriculum for teaching personal computer programming to her fellow students. The young woman found that being a teacher was her dream job, tying into her childhood when she used to play "school" with her zillion stuffed animals and a grade book with all their names in columns and gold stars.
Janna blossomed into a trim and stunning young woman with a dancer's figure and beautiful, dark chocolate-brown eyes. After she graduated from high school in 1987, Janna attended college at the State University of New York campus in Manhattan. Janna majored in Computer Studies and soon became the top student in her class. Most of her classmates were young men who were quite taken by her beauty and her slight build. At first they thought she was a cupcake, but soon she changed their views when they saw how talented she was with computers. In addition, she'd go to monster truck rallies and football games with the guys, in a sense, becoming 'one of them.' During her time in college, young Janna also tried to maintain and deepen her Kalderash roots (her family's name was an Americanized version of her clan name) with her maternal grandfather and her mother's brother, Enyos. Enyos made certain she understood the seriousness of a clan member's responsibility to the clan. He was the one who told her about gypsy mysticism and gypsy vengeance. Her uncle had said, "To the modern man vengeance is a verb, an idea. Payback. One thing for another. Like commerce. Not with us. Vengeance is a living thing. It passes through generations. It commands. It kills." Indeed, these words would come back to haunt both himself and his niece a few years later in a small California town.
During her senior year, Janna learned how to combine the mystical abilities she inherited from her mother's side of the family with her computer skills. Using both her computer and the Internet, Janna was among the first to form an online 'cyber-coven' to enhance her practice of Wicca. She then coined the term of "technopagan" to describe herself and her coven mates.
Upon graduation, Janna obtained a Bachelor of Science in Computer Studies in June of 1991. She then moved to New Rochelle, New York for a year and worked toward her teacher's certification. After obtaining her certificate, Janna found a computer teaching position in the wealthy suburb of New Canaan, Connecticut at prestigious New Canaan High School in 1992. She commanded a healthy annual starting salary of fifty thousand dollars and was quite satisfied with her position there. Of course, the male students and faculty were also quite taken by the young and attractive computer teacher. Life was good.
Unfortunately for her at the time, it didn't last. In 1996, Janna's grandfather approached her and told her that her uncle needed her to take on a mission for the clan, one that would help ensure that its vengeance would be maintained. She was told that she needed to move to Sunnydale, California to watch a vampire who had killed a favored daughter of the clan more than a hundred years ago. At first, Janna couldn't believe her ears concerning the existence of vampires, but her grandfather assured her that the creatures did exist. Although it pained her to leave her wonderful life in New Canaan, Janna decided to uphold her responsibility to the clan. To help her blend in and hide her connection to the clan, Uncle Enyos arranged for Janna to obtain a position as a computer teacher at Sunnydale High School and worked with some underworld connections the clan had to create a new identity for Janna. So on June 1996, Janna Calderash left her position at New Canaan High School to the dismay of its principal and in August 1996, Jenny Calendar, along with a British librarian, became the newest faculty members of Sunnydale High School.
Jenny Calendar acclimated quickly to her new position and was pleased when a young red headed girl in one of her classes showed exceptional promise, along the same lines as Jenny had when she herself had attended high school. However, this young girl was far more shy than Jenny had ever been and it took a while for the teacher to bring Willow Rosenberg out of her shell.
Then in January of 1997, several deaths were reported in the high school that seemed to be attributed to rapid blood loss. Jenny knew that these deaths involved vampires and she began to carry holy water and crosses for protection.
A few months later, Jenny was called in by Willow to help the librarian with a project to scan some ancient texts into a computer database. When she realized that these texts were books dealing with the mystic arts and voiced this to the librarian, it startled him. At that point, Jenny finally took notice of the Englishman and immediately saw something she liked. She teased him about his fear of technology and enjoyed flustering him. However, a crisis soon developed concerning a demon who had inadvertently been freed by Willow into the Internet. Jenny Calendar and Rupert Giles, the librarian, worked together and drove the demon from the Internet, saving the world from certain chaos (I Robot, You Jane).
Jenny soon noted that Rupert seemed to work with her star pupil, Willow, Willow's friend, Xander Harris, and a Los Angeles transfer student named Buffy Summers to deal with mystical threats. One night, she found Angelus, the vampire she had come to California to watch in the library, meeting with Rupert concerning a threat to Buffy. At that point, Jenny decided to grow closer to the little group.
Near the end of the school year, Jenny helped an agitated Giles in his library while the man retrieved weapons from his book cage. Giles revealed that Buffy was the Vampire Slayer, a Chosen girl who could fight and destroy the vampires and the demons. He also revealed that a vampire master was due to rise that night and he intended to go in Buffy's place to face this Master. Buffy stopped Giles with a right cross and left her Watcher in Jenny's care. Later that night, Jenny and Willow were sent to try and find Buffy and saw numerous vampires approaching the school. Luckily for the computer whizzes, Cordelia Chase happened by in her car and drove them back to the school. The three women went to the library and were soon trapped inside with Giles. Then the floor opened and Tiamat, the mystical dragon-demon started to come forth from the Hellmouth. As Jenny struggled to save Willow from the demon, Giles fought it off long enough to allow Buffy to defeat the Master. Once the Master died, the demon returned to the depths of the Hellmouth. (Prophecy Girl)
At the end of the school year, Jenny stayed in Sunnydale and continued her surveillance on Angel. In September, when school started, she, Cordelia, Giles, and Willow were taken by a vampire cult that intended to resurrect the Master. Fortunately Angel, Buffy, and Xander were able to rescue them (When She Was Bad). Shortly thereafter, Rupert and Jenny went on their first date, a Sunnydale High School football game. She continued to become more attracted to the Englishman. She found his intelligence and Old World charm quite a turn on, along with his warmth and morality. She also loved her ability to get under his skin. Unfortunately, their date was cut short when the Frankenstein monster-like brother of a student tried to kill both Cordelia and Buffy; however, she promised him a second date (Some Assembly Required).
The relationship between the Englishman and the Gypsy continued to grow until the fateful night when the demon Eyghon attempted to gain its revenge against Giles and Ethan Rayne. Jenny had basically promised him he was going to get lucky that night after she teased him once again during their time between classes.
Ms. Calendar: "I just love to see you squirm."
Giles: "Yes, well, I, uh... trust I gave good... squirm."
Ms. Calendar: "Did anyone ever tell you you're kind of a fuddy-duddy?"
Giles: "Nobody ever seems to tell me anything else."
Ms. Calendar: "Did anyone ever tell you you're kind of a sexy
fuddy-duddy?"
Giles: "Well, no. Actually that part usually gets left out. I can't
imagine why."
Alas, though, it was not to be. The demon in the body of Phillip an old mate from Giles's time as Ripper, came after Giles and Ethan in the library and during the altercation, it jumped into Jenny's body. Eyghon, then tried to kill both Giles and Buffy, until Angel stopped Eyghon by throttling Jenny to the point that the demon leaped from her body into Angel, the nearest dead body. Fortunately, Angel's demon was stronger and destroyed Eyghon. However, this incident frightened Jenny so badly, she decided to withdraw both from the supernatural and Giles for several weeks because she was horrified by the forces he used to welcome inside his body during his Ripper days (The Dark Age).
Several weeks later, Jenny finally came around and forgave Giles. She saved his life during a vampire attack and the next day, the pair were seen kissing in the library by the Slayerettes (Ted). She realized that she was in love for the first time in her life after that first kiss. It wasn't chaste, like she had expected, but steamy and passionate, tongues dueling, their breaths, hot. At that point, she knew then what eventually would happen between them. Her grandfather had said that she was kissed with a touch of foresight, although she had believed it to be more just common sense. But this also raised concerns in her mind like how she was going to keep who she was from the man she was rapidly falling in love with. How was she going to keep it from the friends who were quickly becoming more dear to her than she ever had thought possible, especially the little red head?
And yet, she pushed those thoughts aside and pressed on until her Uncle Enyos visited her. He reprimanded her for getting so caught up in her life as "Jenny Calendar" that she had neglected both her gypsy heritage and her duty to see that Angel's torment was eternal. She promised him that she'd break Buffy and Angel up, but she soon realized that she was far too late when Buffy and Angel disappeared after they were supposed to send Angel out of town to dispose of the box containing the Judge's arm (Surprise).
The next day, Jenny confronted her uncle and he told her about the curse. Jenny's uncle explained that the curse was designed to prevent Angel from ever being happy, and that if he ever found even one moment of true happiness and contentment his soul would once again be gone. "We're all fools," lamented Jenny as she left. Knowing his soul was lost, Jenny returned to the high school in time to help save Willow from Angelus. Unbeknownst to Jenny at the time, she gave herself away with this course of action. Later that night, Buffy had a dream that helped her realize that Jenny knew Angel's soul was gone before he had told them so. This lead the Slayer to attack Ms. Calendar in class the next day, where she demanded answers, and much to Giles' shock and dismay, Jenny admited her real name is Janna Calderash, that she had been sent to ensure Angel's unhappiness, but that she hadn't known what would happen. Buffy demanded that Jenny curse him again, but she couldn't. Jenny decided to take Giles and Buffy to her uncle's, but unfortunately Drusilla had told Angelus where one of the gypsies were that had cursed him. So when they arrived there they found her uncle dead, killed by Angelus, who has scrawled "Was it good for you too?" on the wall in blood for Buffy to find. Later when the gang had all returned to the library to prepare to go after the Judge and Angelus, Jenny asked them what could she do to help. An angry Buffy told her to get out and Giles supported his Slayer by demanding that Jenny leave immediately (Innocence).
Although Buffy was clearly angry at Jenny for the secret she'd withheld from the group, Willow was much more forgiving. After all, Jenny had helped save her life from both Tiamat and Angelus the night after he'd lost his soul. The two women had maintained their friendship even in the face of Buffy's wrath. Jenny knew Willow thought of her as someone she'd like to be when she was older. She often had confided in Jenny when they were alone after class about her dreams, about the future. Jenny had known Willow had felt like she had betrayed Buffy sometimes when she talked with Jenny, but Willow had seemed to push past it.
Then on February 2, 1998, everything changed.
On that day, two men rescued Willow from Angelus by taking out eight vampires without breaking a sweat (Hellmouth - New Beginnings). When the gang decided to meet with the two men who seemed to be deadly vampire hunters, Giles decided that the group needed to bring Jenny back into the fold to provide another adult on their side for the meeting. Months later, Jenny found out that Buffy had not been happy with his decision and had told him so. For the first time in their relationship, Giles unleashed Ripper's temper on the Slayer, nearly scaring her out of her wits.
He told her that although he'd meant what he'd said about not being disappointed in Buffy for sleeping with Angel, he was disappointed in her for not showing Jenny any compassion. He reminded her that Jenny had not known how the curse could have been broken until it was too late and that her only crime had been maintaining the secret of her identity. He also reminder her that Jenny had lost her uncle to her former boyfriend as well. Finally, he asked Buffy if she'd wish to continue punishing him for failing her as her Watcher and for not denying her Angel by making him deny his love for Jenny. At that, a tearful Buffy relented and told him to bring Jenny in from the cold for the meeting with Steven St. Wolf and Frank Iverson.
During that adventure, Jenny acquitted herself admirably. Soon, when the entire gang moved its operations from the library to Steven St. Wolf's home, Jenny began self-defense training with the team as well as honing her talents and those of Willow in witchcraft. Shortly thereafter, Cordelia gained the attention of the Greek Goddess of the Hunt, Artemis. The Moon Goddess decided to empower Cordelia, Jenny, Willow, and Amy Madison with her blessing and made them Amazons (How Cordelia Got Her Amazon Groove). Several weeks after that, Jenny was confronted by a cousin who was an Immortal headhunter. He had been sent by the clan to avenge its honor by killing Buffy, the woman who had disturbed the curse on Angelus. Jenny, who had now become the Watcher of Buffy and Steve (via the Society of Watchers) was bound not to interfere under her Watcher's code, however, as Rupert's lover and a member of the expanded Slayerettes, Jenny could not sit by and let Buffy die. She saved the Slayer and killed her cousin. In response, her clan totally disowned her, severing all ties, with the exception of her grandfather who realized she was now allied with Two of the Nine and her parents, who still saw her as their precious baby girl.
Shortly after the incident with her cousin, Buffy and Jenny finally buried the
hatchet and became friends. A few days later, Jenny suffered from a form of
sexual excitement akin to a cat 'being in heat.' Years later, she discovered
that Artemis had already marked her as her High Priestess and that the "heat"
was the culmination of an ancient Amazon fertility rite. That night, Jenny
decided to play gypsy temptress and seduced Giles among the stacks in the
library. She so rocked his world in that one night of passion, Giles knew that
he'd found his soulmate. The next day, Jenny moved into Giles' condominium and
they both told the faculty that they'd become a live-in couple.
During the rest of 1998, Jenny's power, as an Amazon, a hacker, and a witch grew, almost exponentially. Although a beautiful young woman who was scarcely older than her charges, as time went on, she was seen as the "elder stateswoman" of the Sunnydale Amazons and the 'mistress of the keep' of St. Wolf's home whenever he was out of town on a mission with other Immortals (Slayer Run: Libyan Assault). She became an expert swordswoman, an accomplished marksman, and a formidable hand-to-hand combatant. Jenny also worked with the other witches in the group to recreate the curse that would return a vampire's soul to the undead body. Section Seven would use this spell to create undercover operatives in the vampires' ranks to help it in its campaign against the evil creatures (Slayer Run: Libyan Assault, Be Careful What You Wish For).
When Giles gained his empowerment during the summer of 1998, Jenny was overjoyed for two reasons: first, she hoped it lessened the chance of her mate being plagued with any more concussions in the future and second, she believed he needed the empowerment to keep up with her sexual proclivities. After all, it she was both a gypsy and an Amazon, a deadly combination for any normal man, even one with the stamina of a stevedore.
In September, 1998, Shaw Hunter arrived in Sunnydale and became another pupil in Jenny's computer class. The half elf cleric quickly befriended both Jenny and Giles and became one of her favorite pupils (Born to Raise Hellmouth).
In November, Jenny began to act more like a cleric even though she hadn't realized it. When the gang traveled to another dimension to battle the forces of that reality's Master, Jenny established a shrine for Artemis in their temporary base of operations (Be Careful What You Wish For).
At the beginning of 1999, Jenny and Giles finally decided to make it official. Giles proposed marriage to the young woman and she readily accepted. Then in early February, the Amazons were called to defend the Earth from a mad Elder Goddess bent on destroying all life in the solar system. After a titanic struggle both on Earth and in outer space, Jenny, who was now Artemis's High Priestess and Avatar, Gabrielle, the Battle Queen of the Amazon Nation, all of Section Seven's Amazons, the Black Widow, Queen Morgaine in her Dreadnaught Battle Armor, and a myriad of moon goddesses were able to defeat the mad goddess and save the solar system from destruction (Daughters of the Moon).
Shortly thereafter, Giles and Jenny traveled to London to establish a relationship between the Council of Watchers and Section Seven. The lovers also had to fend off attacks by an unknown force that wanted to destroy both them and their mission (The Prodigal Son's Consort). A pleasant sideline to the trip was the warm welcome Jenny received from her future father-in-law, Lord Edwin Giles.
As the school year winds down, the woman who is now known as Jenny Calendar appears to have come out the other end of her crucible for the better. She is deeply in love with Rupert Giles, has a warm and loving relationship with a girl who almost considers her as a mother, and a close relationship with several outstanding young women and Immortal Amazons. She also has a deep and intensely personal relationship with her goddess as well, one where Artemis is almost like the big sister Janna never had. She has told her parents about her engagement to a British lord. Her father is impressed, but her mother is still peeved that she couldn't find a nice gypsy Englishman to wed.
Race: Human
Description:
Jenny stands five feet, seven inches tall and weighs somewhere between one hundred eighteen and one hundred twenty-five pounds. With her dark brown hair, smoldering chocolate brown eyes and well-proportioned figure, the New York native has a body that causes men to sit up and take notice whenever she enters a room. She also has a sweet tooth and adores desserts, which creates a mystery on how she remains so thin and fit.
Sometimes Jenny dresses in short skirts that show off her fabulous dancer's legs. However, most of the time, she wears a smart blouses, attractive slacks in colors that are seen more often on the East Coast rather than in California, and stylish leather jackets. She always appears well-groomed, her face exhibiting her wide-eyed intelligence, her quick wit, and a playful, teasing sensuality that never goes too far in public. Jenny used to drive a Volkswagen Beetle, a seventies version, not one of the new ones. This, in itself, is interesting because she hates bugs, although her car is often referred to as the 'VW Bug'. She now drives a Chevy Lumina. She's also deathly afraid of sharks due to the fact that she was frightened by the movie "Jaws" when she saw it as a six year old child.
Abilities (uncommon): As an Amazon, Jenny has had most of her physical abilities (such as strength, stamina, and agility) enhanced to metahuman levels. This allows her to match power with the Slayer and any soulless vampire she comes across. Also enhanced are her fighting skills, which are currently equal to that of someone who possesses multiple black belts, or (according to St. Wolf) the equivalent to a highly skilled member of Delta Force. Her Amazon blessing doesn't limit her to unarmed combat; she is also adept at using nearly any weapon in existence, from medieval swords to the most modern assault rifles.
Even with the warrior's blessing she has received from Artemis, Jenny's first love is witchcraft. Jenny's Romani traditions go back centuries. She has mastered the power of divination and has achieved a high level of proficiency in offensive spell casting. She has become the mistress of the levin bolt, a spell that is deadly for both mystical objects and beings. She also has some capability for teleportation, and seems to be experienced enough that the spell doesn't wear her out or render her unconscious from a single casting. Finally, as the High Priestess to Artemis, Jenny was given clerical spells by the goddess and becomes more powerful at night except for the time of the new moon, when the satellite is dark. Indeed, Jenny may now be the most powerful member of Section Seven with the exception of the Eternals on the team due to her ability to cast both magical and clerical spells.
Another ability Jenny was given by Artemis is a gift often referred to as magesight. This allows Jenny to shift her perceptions a bit into the mystical realm and see how much magic a person or object possesses. This ability is raw compared to more discriminating scrying spells, but Jenny has learned how to tell certain types of magic using her special sight, usually magics that she's exposed to every day. Among those are: Hecatian magic Wicca, technopagan (her own type), Romani (her own type), White Magic (Merlin and Giles), Norse Pantheon (from examining the Fangs of Tyr), Olympian/Greek Pantheon, Finnish Pantheon (Shaw's type), Slayer magic, and fairy magic.
Abilities (learned): Jenny has a number of skills that cover a fairly wide range of fields. She has the basic education of a Bachelor Degree graduate from an American university. She is a genius in computer sciences and would have been a high level programmer at any software company or think tank if she hadn't decided to become a teacher. Jenny has knowledge of various herbs and other items and their uses in magical spells and ceremonies. Among her other talents are the ability to research arcane texts, identify magical items by examining them, and a working knowledge of a few languages. Besides English, Jenny is quite fluent in various gypsy dialects, in Latin, and French (from studying abroad in Paris). She also speaks a little bit of Greek and Celtic (self-taught with Willow and Amy). Finally, even before she became an Amazon, Jenny was an avid runner. She didn't have world class speed, but she could compete on a national level in medium to long distance events.
Current Status: Active member of the Slayerettes and Section Seven. High Priestess of the Virtual Amazon Nation. Computer teacher at Sunnydale High School. Citizen of the United States with no criminal record. Jenny is not an Immortal or Pre-Immortal.
Proficient weapons: As an Amazon warrior, Jenny is proficient with numerous weapons, including swords, staves, bows, and modern firearms (her preferred weapons being the M-16 and Uzi 9mm). Jenny is a multiple black belt, mainly in the arts she currently trains in, including karate, tae kwan do and kung fu. She also takes training in various weapon styles from both the Orient and Europe.
While Jenny has the same potential as her fellow Amazons, her current level of fighting expertise is almost on par with Cordelia's. The basic reason for this is her competitive nature and her need to protect the other witches if they need to resort to physical combat.
Current beliefs:
Jenny continues to train with the Scooby Gang, gradually growing in power and experience. She has three relationships that bear notice or watching, since they greatly influence her life (and vice versa for two of them). Those are her relationships with Artemis, Willow, and Rupert. Jenny was raised in a family that has called upon so-called "pagan" Gods for a long time. She always believed in God and Jesus, but she was never what some would call religious (like Willow with her Jewish heritage). Artemis changed that when she brought Jenny into the Amazon sisterhood. For the first time, she found a "spiritual" side. Artemis is a "hands on" Power; she has a genuine interest in her worshippers' lives (and happiness). Artemis has become a spiritual mother to all of the Slayerette Amazons, and Jenny truly basks in the love the Huntress has for her.
Her relationship with Willow continues to grow, almost to the point where Willow actually considers Jenny to be more her mother than Shiela Rosenberg. Jenny is somewhat troubled by this because she could imagine how terrible her own mother would feel if someone had come between Janna and herself, but Willow's mother has neglected her child for such a long time the damage to their relationship at this point may be irreversible.
Jenny's love for Rupert continues to grow deeper and closer despite their age differences. Finally, he has met the woman who is always a charming enigma to him and she has met a man who is gallant to a fault and satisfies any craving she may desire. Oh, and Giles finally knows where Jenny dangles her piece of corkscrew jewelry.
But he's not telling.
What is the one most important thing you can say about the character?
Robia LaMorte, the actress who played Jenny Calendar in the series, would probably be happier with her character in the Wandererverse than the Jossverse. Robia is a devout Christian who liked Season One's theme of the triumph of good over evil but was not thrilled about Season Two's darker tone and the pagan issues brought forth in that season. She was completely upset by her return in Season Three as the Great Evil in "A Buffy Christmas." She believes that evil truly exists as a presence as was disturbed to have portrayed it in the episode. Her explanation for this blunder it that she accepted the job before she had read the script and would not have done so if she had taken the time to read it.
Unlike the "fan-boys and fan-girls" who believe Joss is 'God', I have a more reasoned view of this talented, but flawed, like we 'mere mortals,' producer (witness his unmitigated disaster called "Firefly" and the lame fourth season of Buffy). Making Jenny a character who sought 'redemption' in the Second Season was incredibly lame on Joss's part for several reasons.
First, Jenny had no idea until the day of Buffy's birthday that there were any consequences concerning Angel having a romantic relationship with Buffy. Second, her uncle never told her that Buffy would be the one thing that could bring Angel true happiness, thus disrupting the curse. Third, if the gypsies wanted to punish Angelus for eternity, why the Hell would they put in a clause that would take away his soul for any reason (can we say blatant 'plot device')? Finally, Ms. Calendar was not even considered as a recurring character until the end of the first season. In "I Robot, You Jane," the group and Giles only referred to her as "Ms. Calendar." Joss hadn't decided to give her a first name and came up with the lame made-up title of "technopagan" for her (like does she pray to the computer gods or something)? It was only after seeing the onscreen chemistry between Anthony Stewart Head and Ms. LaMorte that Joss decided to bring her back on the show. He at first thought about naming her 'Nikki' but decided against it to avoid confusion between her character and Nicholas Brendon (Xander) who they called 'Nicky' on the set. Thus the 'gypsy' angle was kludged together in the second season, way after the character was first established, to serve the needs of the "Passion" story angle.
Given these problems with establishing the character in the Jossverse, Jenny, in the Wandererverse, quickly moved from seeking redemption for something that was never her fault (she never told Slutty to boink Brood Boy-Buff, Dead Boy made you, now you have to lie in the bed of your own making) to a protective big sister of the female members of Section Seven and a mother-figure to Willow Rosenberg, her young protégé in both witchcraft and computer science by the time of Midnight Visitation. We will fill in the blanks with a story in the near future.
There are several reasons why Jenny is a character that is and will be intriguing to work with.
At first, Jenny Calendar in the Wandererverse is a tragic figure that nearly lost everything to help her new-found friends in Sunnydale. She lost her favorite uncle to Angelus, she nearly lost Giles to placate a self-absorbed, guilt-ridden Buffy, and she lost her connections to her clan. However, she has found a new family in Section Seven, one that has forgiven her for keeping her secrets and far more forgiving than the one she lost. In the process, she has become a hero and an inspiration to her Amazon sisters. As the first High Priestess to Artemis in nearly two millennia, Jenny has finally recovered her sense of self that she lost when her clan (with the exception of her grandfather and parents) cut her off for her failure in her mission to maintain the curse on Angelus and for helping Buffy survive an attack of an Immortal clan member.
Another reason Jenny is fun is she's sexy, smart, and confident. The other girls see her as a role model to live up to and seek her advice. Another aspect of Jenny is that she's pragmatic. She's a computer whiz and is much more prone to surf the net to find an answer than research in dusty old books. This attitude carries over in combat as well. Jenny is more likely than the others to terminate a conflict with extreme prejudice and overwhelming firepower. Finally, being a gypsy, Jenny can hold a grudge for a real long, long time and has a wicked temper that is slow to surface, but once there, is frightening to behold. Her temper, if unleashed in all its glory, is enough to cause even Robin Goodfellow and 'Ripper' Giles to run for cover.
Favorite quote: (discussing her corkscrew jewelry with Giles when he calls it an 'earring' in "I Robot, You Jane") -- "That's not where I dangle it," she said with a coy smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes.
Nicknames: Calendar Girl, Gypsy Girl, Artemis's Witch-Priestess, J (by Faith), Gypsy Bitch (by Ethan Rayne), Janna (by her grandfather and parents), Lady Jenny, Lady J (by Faith), and Mother Superior (by Faith, of course).