Name: Willow Miriam Rosenberg

AGE:18

DOB:4 July 1980

Origin:

Willow Rosenberg, like fellow Slayerettes Xander Harris, Cordelia Chase, and Amy Madison, was born and raised in Sunnydale, California. Willow's parents are Ira and Sheila Rosenberg (Passion, Gingerbread), who brought Willow up in a strict Jewish household. While growing up, Willow embraced her family’s religious beliefs and traditions, including not celebrating Christmas, but rather the holiday Hanukah (although there was one Christmas tradition she did enjoy: Going over to her friend Xander’s house to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas Special, after which she’d watch Xander do the Snoopy Dance).

When Willow turned five, she met and befriended a fellow Sunnydale resident, Alexander Harris, who everyone called Xander. They met in kindergarten, when on the very first day; Willow broke her yellow crayon and didn’t know what to do. Xander “saved” her and took the “blame” for the mishap (Grave). During their first year, Willow and Xander started “dating,” but Willow broke off the “relationship” when Xander stole her Barbie (according to Willow, she got “most” of it back). Willow also has mentioned things from their kindergarten year that don’t involve yellow crayons, like Xander’s Aquaman Underoos, which quickly shuts him up on those rare occasions that Willow truly becomes irritated at her life long best friend (The Killer In Me). Willow was a happy child, despite the one thing she could never accomplish; getting her parents to get her a puppy (Passion, Kitty’s Tale).

In first grade, Willow saw how Xander formed an instant crush on a fellow classmate, Cordelia Chase. However, Cordelia’s treatment of him made her so “angry” that she promptly formed the “We Hate Cordelia Chase Club,” with her being the President and Xander as Secretary and Treasurer (Surprise, Innocence). As they grew older, Willow formed a crush on Xander, hoping that when he got past the stage where boys think girls are “yucky,” they might “reinstitute” their dating relationship (Prophecy Girl, When She Was Bad, Halloween).

As she grew up, Willow showed herself to be a true genius, especially in the area of computers. She showed a true aptitude for the machines, even before high school. When she and Xander entered Sunnydale High, Willow began tutoring Xander in math in addition to taking a great deal of honors courses. As her freshman year progressed, Willow made perfect 4.0 GPA’s throughout, earning her the title of “Class Nerd." She didn’t care, as she had her best friend (who she still hoped would be more) and her beloved computers. When she returned for her sophomore year, Xander introduced her to the new arrival in town, Buffy Summers. Willow was just getting to know Buffy when her lifelong nemesis, Cordelia, told Buffy that certain people were not to be associated with (after telling Willow that she was glad to see Willow embracing the softer side of Sears) (Welcome to the Hellmouth). When Buffy met her at the Bronze that night, Willow told Buffy she didn’t have to stick around with her, surprised when Buffy did want to hang. Buffy gave her advice on finding boys, and advised her that if the chance came up, to seize the moment.

Seeing a boy she was attracted to, Willow did seize the moment, and in doing so, set into motion events that would change her life. Thinking she and the boy were going to get some ice cream, the boy led her through a cemetery as a “shortcut.” The shortcut turned out to be long because he trapped her in a mausoleum, as did another vampire with her friend Jesse. Just as she witnessed their abductors’ vampiric transformations, Buffy showed up to rescue them. As Buffy tangled with a vampire named Luke, Willow and Jesse tried to get away, only to be surrounded by more vampires (Welcome to the Hellmouth). After being rescued a second time but being separated from Jesse, Willow and Xander met Buffy and the new librarian, Mr. Giles (who she really, really liked because of his accent), who explained that vampires and the like truly existed, and that Buffy was a mystical champion called the Slayer (The Harvest). Once Xander and Willow accepted their existence (and that Jesse had been turned), they wanted to help. Xander and Willow aided the Slayer and Giles in foiling the Harvest, which would have helped free the Master (The Harvest). Once this battle was over, Willow joined Xander in deciding to help Buffy and Giles fight the good fight.

Willow joined Buffy and the rest of the team in several adventures throughout the course of her sophomore year, taking major parts in two episodes in particular. The first was while helping the new computer teacher, Miss Calendar, create a computerized version of the entire Sunnydale High Library to help students with their studies. Willow found herself an online buddy named Malcolm who she was falling for. When she was put off by Buffy and Xander’s suspicions about her “invisible” boyfriend, she found herself doubting Malcolm when he mentioned things that no one could have told him. She tried to break it off but was kidnapped by one of her classmates. Waking up on a hospital gurney inside the Cybertronics Building, Willow was confronted by the true identity of Malcolm: Moloch the Corruptor, an ancient demon. Willow saw through his claims that he loved her, and helped Buffy defeat him by jamming Moloch’s robot body with a loose power cable, which zapped the demon good (I Robot, You Jane). Afterward, Buffy and Xander tried to cheer Willow up by bringing up their romantic mishaps (a Praying Mantis and a souled vampire), but their attempt fell somewhat flat.

The highlight of Willow’s sophomore year was when Buffy went to face the Master and Willow found herself helping Giles, Jenny, and Cordelia trying to stop the Hellmouth from opening. As they were fighting, Jenny saved Willow’s life. This began the deep relationship between the teacher and student, as Willow found herself wanting to be more like Jenny, who despite being a computer whiz and master hacker (like Willow herself), was very self-confident and a take-charge person (Prophecy Girl). After the school year ended, Buffy took off for Los Angeles to spend time with her father while Willow and Xander stayed at home, although Jenny and Giles tried to keep them out of the dangers of patrolling. They soon found themselves occupied with working for a traveling Shakespeare troupe and putting on performances of Shakespearean plays (Willow and Xander were stagehands and didn’t know the performers were all vampires) (How I Survived My Summer Vacation, Volume 1).

As school neared, the time they spent together made some sparks fly between Willow and Xander. One night, they were finally on the verge of locking lips for the first time when a vampire attacked them and they were bailed out by the just returned Buffy. To Willow’s immense disappointment, her best chance to have the man she loved had passed by (When She Was Bad). She didn’t know it at the time, but the failure to attract Xander’s attention (or more importantly, his hormones) was the last time she would come so close. When an exchange program brought numerous foreign students to Sunnydale High for a two-week period, Xander found himself attracted to Buffy’s temporary roommate, Ampata Gutierrez. Willow was stunned to find the attraction returned, at least until she realized that Ampata was in reality an Incan mummy who’d escaped her confinement. When the team tried to re-imprison Ampata, the Incan Princess had to choose between living and draining Xander, who’d stepped between her and Willow (refusing to let his best friend be drained). Although it broke her heart, Ampata was willing to kill Xander to stay alive, but Buffy pulled her away at the last second. Despite the fact that Ampata had tried to drain her life force, Willow saw that Ampata had truly loved Xander and felt some sympathy for the two, as did Buffy (Inca Mummy Girl).

What Willow didn’t know at the time was, although she still pined for her Xander, she had attracted someone else's attention. A few weeks later, Willow accompanied Buffy and Xander to Ethan’s, where they bought their Halloween costumes. Willow bought two, because she was too shy to let Xander or anyone else see her in her cool ass Rocker Babe costume. She threw a “generic” ghost costume over it and hid herself from Xander. When Ethan Rayne’s chaos spell took effect, Willow found herself intangible like a real ghost. Being the only member of the team who remembered who she was, Willow found herself in an unfamiliar position: She was in command of the Slayerettes. She took Xander and Buffy to Buffy’s house and told them to stay there while she went to get help from Giles. After scaring him, Willow helped Giles determine that the link to the happenings in town were the costumes purchased at Ethan's. Willow and Giles found Ethan Rayne having his Halloween fun and Giles coldly ordered Willow to run. Willow went to find the others and was giving orders to Xander to shoot Spike when Giles broke the spell. Willow disappeared, so she missed Buffy kicking Spike’s bleached blonde ass. She woke up on the porch where she’d passed out and ripped off the ghost costume. She started to put the costume back on but instead, she remembered how she’d handled the pressure of the night and threw the costume away. Walking confidently into the night, she failed to notice how someone was watching her and asking himself, “Who is that girl?” (Halloween)

The next major activity at school was Career Week, where the various students at Sunnydale filled out questionnaires to find out what careers they were suited for. Willow was stumped when she didn’t find her name on any of the lists until someone came up to her and told her that his employer, a major software firm on the West Coast, had had their eyes on her for some time. Only one other person was even being considered by them for hiring and she was escorted to a high-falootin’ room with comfortable couches and shrimp cocktails. As soon as she sat down, she saw this short, skinny kid looking at her funny. He then offered her a canapé (What’s My Line, Part 1).While Buffy, Xander, and Cordelia were being threatened by members of the Order of Taraka, Willow found herself deep in a philosophical discussion on the emotional states of characters from boxes of animal crackers with the guy named Oz. When a third assassin tried to kill Buffy later on, Oz threw himself in front of Willow and took an errant bullet that in any other circumstance, would have had her name on it. That made an impact on Willow, who found herself liking not only the guy who’d saved her life, but also the attention he gave her (What’s My Line, Part 2).

When planning Buffy’s surprise party, Willow invited Oz to join them (because he’d asked her out, she’d said yes then no, and explained why she’d said yes then no, which he found intriguing). When the surprise was somewhat ruined by vampires fighting Buffy and finding out about Drusilla’s plan to resurrect the Judge, Willow and Xander tried to explain the existence of vampires to Oz, who just took it with a shrug, surprising the pair. When Buffy and Angel turned up missing (because they were doing the nasty), Willow’s temper surfaced when she shouted at Xander and Cordelia to behave or leave her library (Surprise). It was after finding out that Angel had lost his soul (when Angelus held her hostage against Buffy) and Jenny’s role in everything, that the shy redhead found out that Xander and Cordelia were in fact now in a relationship. She condemned Xander for his feelings, despite knowing how he’d had a lifelong crush on her, because it meant that he’d rather be with Cordelia than with her. She tried to “hit back” when Oz drove them to the Sunnydale National Guard Armory to get a rocket launcher to handle the Judge, but Oz refused to kiss her, seeing how it was more emotional getting even than true feelings. She was stunned when he told her about his “freeze frame” daydreams about them kissing, only to refuse to kiss her. When she asked why, he told her it was because in those dreams, she was the one kissing him. This showed her just how attracted to her Oz was and gave her a perspective on Xander’s own feelings (Innocence).

Over the next week or so, Willow started to become frustrated with Oz’s refusal to take things more quickly (part of it was Oz’s laid back attitude and willingness to take things as they happened, but more of it was Willow wanting smoochies).While she liked him and saw the kind of good man he was, she still wanted to take things further. When she finally gathered up the courage to confront him, she found herself running for her life when Oz changed into a werewolf. After confronting a hunter who wanted Oz for his werewolf pelt, Willow herself stopped Oz by shooting him with a tranquilizer. Oz, conscious of how dangerous he could be to others every full moon, offered to break the relationship off, but Willow refused, prompting Oz to compliment her by calling her, “Quite the human” (Phases). A week or so later, after visiting Oz at his house to meet his parents for the first time, Willow was caught by Angelus and some of his cronies. He offered her a chance to live; if she could make it through Weatherly Park before his minions caught her, he’d let her live. After only thirty seconds of the two minute head start he’d promised her, the former Angel sent his lackeys after the computer whiz. Willow missed a dip in the ground and tripped, injuring her ankle. Before she could get up, two men showed up and quickly took out the three vampires tailing her. When Angelus showed up, Willow took a cross and stake from her saviors and even tried to stake Angelus for Buffy’s sake. She missed because of her injured ankle and Angelus escaped. Not able to stand up to a Q&A session from her rescuers, Willow called her Mom to come pick her up and arranged to call the men the next day.

After telling Buffy what had happened and getting some idea of who the men might be (it was Willow using her Internet skills to find out that the men had commando training and might be some kind of Special Forces operatives), Willow called the man calling himself Steve St. Wolf and arranged a meeting at the Sunndyale Mall’s food court. After the meeting, wherein Steve laid his cards on the table, Willow was amongst those thrown by the revelation that Buffy was more than a “mere” Vampire Slayer. She found out that Steve and Buffy were Immortals, who could not die unless they were beheaded. After calling in several allies to help the Slayerettes drive out Angelus and his fellows, Willow was among those who welcomed Steve to the team (New Beginnings).

The next few weeks were just as hectic as usual on the Hellmouth, especially for Willow. Besides finding out that her best friend was going to live forever, Jenny and Amy approached her and told her that they’d gotten a reading from her when they’d tried to see if anyone else on the team had the potential for magic. After overcoming her initial surprise at the news, Willow enthusiastically started her lessons under Jenny’s tutelage, which not only allowed Willow to discover a previously unknown side of herself, but also deepened the relationship between the two. Another step in Willow’s path came at the end of February when Artemis made her the offer to become an Amazon, which gave her enhanced abilities that would allow her to survive the battles that were coming and allow her to take a more direct role in fighting the vampires that plagued Sunnydale (How Cordelia Got Her Amazon Groove). The very next night, she was there for Buffy when Buffy had to come clean with Joyce about her life as a Slayer and Immortal. Willow told her side of things which gave Joyce a view on just what went on in Sunnydale. This interrupted their patrol while covering for Buffy and Steve, wherein Willow’s aggressive tendencies started to emerge for the first time, scaring Cordelia and Xander, but not Oz (Dating Blues, Dating Sunnydale Style).

Over the next few months, Willow was in the middle of events that happened on the Hellmouth, from finally getting a dog (a Spirit Guardian she named Lassie), meeting the Black Widow, finding out that their battle armor came from the Order of the Grail, to meeting some of Steve’s dragon friends and seeing Steve and Buffy finally declare their love for each other (Kitty’s Tale, Midnight Visitations, How Buffy Got Her Sword). In particular, Willow was key in tracking down and stopping the Jewish Ripper, who had brutally raped and killed twenty Jewish girls, six of whom were descendants of the last Amazon tribe. Willow's magic helped to learn enough to trace the Ripper to a synagogue in Sunnydale, where the young Wicca placed herself at risk to play the bait that trapped the killer. While driving to a place of Amazon worship in the Sunnydale National Forest, Willow’s aggressive side peeked out again, worrying some of the team but showing that if the need arose, Willow could be counted on to tap into instincts that would keep her from harm (or as Oz put it, she let her “wolf” out) (Midnight Visitations).

When Katherine Plantagenet planned her sacrifice to summon Throlog from Hell, Willow was among those who stayed at the house in Sunnydale to act as support (using her computer skills to best advantage) and keep an eye on local matters while the majority of the team concentrated on the events in the City of Angels. Willow's support duties were of invaluable aid when she and Jenny helped Melvin Frohike hijack an NRO satellite for surveillance purposes. Willow learned an important lesson from Robert Hanscombe and the Lone Gunmen, that supporting roles could play just as important a part as those on the front lines, but she also greeted two new arrivals in Sunnydale, Randi and Brian Jessup (Calling Out The Clan).

After the conflagration in Los Angeles, Willow learned some hard lessons throughout the summer. The first was that while Steve would be there for them, there were going to be instances where she and the other Scoobies could not join him, such as the mission to Libya to eradicate a mutated form of the Ebola virus. The next one was that she’d been unconsciously treating Oz as less than she should until he was given an empowerment by Robin Goodfellow, at which time he stunned her by telling her he had to retake his senior year at Sunnydale High. Willow learned her lesson and she and Oz overcame a possible stumbling block in their relationships. The last and most critical lessons came when a dual ambush by Section One and mercenaries hired by Quentin Travers. Willow had to cast a fireball to stop an incoming rocket, but unintentionally killed three Section One operatives with the backlash explosion. She started to go catatonic until slapped back to reality by Steve. Although angry and freaking out a bit, Willow knew in her heart that she’d had no choice. he found her courage but in the end, was sorely wounded by the Watcher-hired mercs because her magic failed due to the castings of a Black Mage out for Steve’s blood. Willow would have died had it not been for a Bureau 13 healer and Vampire Slayer giving up some of its power to bring her back to life (there is still some conjecture as to whether or not Willow actually died) (Libyan Assault/War of the Sections). Thus confronted with her own mortality, Willow’s self confidence might have been wrecked had Steve not ordered she, Xander, and Cordelia (who also suffered critical wounds) to see a recently hired psychiatrist. The fact that Dr. Greene was a former concentration camp survivor who understood both Willow’s upbringing and newer beliefs was a Godsend for the young hacker.

With support from Buffy, Xander, Cordy, and especially Jenny and Artemis, Willow quickly overcame her near fatal call and resumed her duties on the team in time for Section Seven to go to Endworld and get back into the thick of things (Endworld Assault). When school started up again, Willow was among the first to greet a new exchange student who appeared to be more than she seemed. While she thought Xander and Oz were off in their suspicions, she valued their judgment enough to hack into the girl’s school records, which came up clean on first glance. It wasn’t until later, while researching a prophecy due to pass, that the girl revealed her true origins. After teaming up to fight off Spike and Drusilla and witnessing the look of rage in Shaw Hunter’s eyes, Willow found herself sympathizing with the woman, having felt such aggression before and seeing it in Oz’s wolf half. Willow found herself being the one person who could understand that part of a girl who considered her a friend, simply because Willow had defended her against her friends. Once the full truth came out, Xander joined Willow as the two Slayerettes who tried to make the half-elven fighter feel welcome to Sunnydale (despite it being on a Hellmouth and all). When the prophecy was fulfilled (rather than thwarted; when’s the last time that happened?), the Scoobies added another to their number (Born To Raise Hellmouth).

Willow was somewhat worried over the next month and spent almost three days casting various spells over specific items of clothing and confusing her teammates. Willow declared that she was using all of the Wicca Mojo at her disposal to ensure that she didn’t end up walking through walls again this Halloween. Of course, things couldn’t be that easy for the Scooby Gang as a hunting cult showed up in Sunnydale for some fun, leaving the team to fall back on medieval weaponry when the cult’s hired mage cast a spell that kept any technological items from working within city limits. Willow was among the residents of Sunnydale who showed that beyond stinkin’ badges, she didn’t need no stinkin’ guns, either (Halloween Surprise).

Willow got another chance to show just how powerful she was becoming a few days later when a group of Black Mages tried to take over San Francisco by heisting several magical artifacts from Buckland’s Auction House. In an attempt to keep the Mages from kidnapping Brian and a girl he’d met, Willow’s powers added to Jenny and Amy allowed the three Slayerette witches to hold their own against more powerful Black Mages. They held the Mages back long enough for the Charmed Ones, a White Dragon (Jackie St. George), and two Bureau 13 White Mages to turn the tide and force them to retreat. In the ensuing battles, Willow found herself holding her own against more powerful, experienced witches and seeing just what her potential was, given time (Witch Hunt).

After Shaw was rescued from Ares’ plans for her (Hunter in Dark), Willow found herself the center of attention a short two weeks later (in more ways than one). A spell gone awry sent another reality’s versions of Buffy, Angel, Xander, and herself here, and the four eventually converged on the Hellmouth. After a case of mistaken identities regarding herself and Willow, the little red witch eventually found herself confronting her double, not liking the fact that this other Willow was ready, (very) willing, and able to consider bedding “herself." After kicking her double around a bit, the vampires were captured and transported to Steve’s. Willow again added her power to Jenny and Amy’s, casting a modified version of the cursing spell used on Angel a century before. The effect was a double-layered spell that allowed Angel to keep his soul without the clause about a moment of “perfect happiness." The next step was restoring the souls to her and Xander’s vampire twins, which resulted in the two being suicidal for a short time before talks with them from Angel, Shaw, Jenny, and Willow herself helped them decide to at least give the soul thing a try. The team accompanied the foursome back to their own universe, where they helped eliminate the Master and his minions. Willow stayed close to her double, watching over her and trying to help her with her feelings, but in the end, Vamp Willow had to handle things herself when it came to staking the dangerous Darla. After the battle and ensuing mop ups, which had a shadow cast over them because of the death of some of their own, Willow and Vamp Willow shared their last talk (or so they thought at the time), after which Willow gifted her twin with one of the Section’s super laptop computers (Be Careful What You Wish For).

As Christmastime came, Willow again joked about how she celebrated Hunnakah rather than Christmas, although she did spend Christmas day exchanging gifts with her extended family. A few days later, Willow found herself giving Spike and Dru “belated Christmas gifts;” their own souls. Having had yet another vacation disrupted (albeit somewhat less than previous vacations), Willow’s prime New Year’s Resolution was to get through one holiday like Halloween or Christmas with no Hellmouth hijinks (she wasn’t the only one with that resolution, either) (How The Big Bad Stole Christmas). Shortly after New Year’s, the team was informed by Spike, Drusilla, and Charlie that Angelus was indeed alive and working for a vampire named Kakistos. Willow joined the assault force bound for Atlanta, getting all techno-geeky over their ride, a Predator space ship. After checking out the “way cool alien gadgets,” Willow met the new Slayer, Faith Reilly. Seeing a bit of herself in the wild and wacky Slayer from Boston, Willow tried to make Faith feel comfortable with the rest of the team. Faith quickly saw behind the computer nerd that many people (like Andrea Parker) saw at first glance and could tell that Red had some fire in her to match her hair color. In another example of Willow’s countless accomplishments in making people feel like they could trust her, Faith found herself thinking that maybe she should move to Sunnydale if the other California kids were this cool (Faith’s Story).

February brought fun and seriousness in high doses for Willow and her family. When Buffy approached her and Amy about coming up with a spell to protect Joyce from vampires and demons, they unknowingly set into motion events that would have men all over town falling in love with Joyce as soon as they laid eyes on her. Like her best bud, Willow ended up spending a week working in Summers Art Gallery pro bono due to her attempt to use witchcraft on the Den Mother of the Scooby Gang. The major change in Willow’s life was when she and other worshippers of Earth’s moon Goddesses were targeted as part of a plan to wipe out the solar system. With aid from several of those Goddesses, their servants, and Morgaine Le Fay, the new Amazons and Slayerettes foiled the plan. Willow showed that despite her usual maturity for someone her age, she could still have flashes of schoolgirl jealousy when she met someone who outdid her both in magic and hacking (her regard for Jenny seems to negate any jealousy of her mentor). However, her feelings of jealousy were countered when Artemis declared that she was starting the process of reforming the Amazon Nation and that her mortal champions, the Sunnydale girls (in addition to Scully and Parker) were going to be instrumental in getting things going. Willow was game until she found herself being personally afforded the rank of Princess in the Nation, although she had mixed feelings about this: Cordelia was named the Warrior Princess (a rank to honor Xena, former companion of Gabrielle, last Queen of the old Nation) and Amy, based on her greater power and experience (and the fact that she called on Hecate, the Greek Goddess of Magic) was named the Witch Princess. The Bad Ass Wicca thought her title of Wicca Princess might be meant only to mollify her, but Artemis quickly explained that it was no such thing. Being a practitioner of magic that was more “nature friendly” than some others, Willow could understand that mentality in ways that Amy and Jenny, who practiced other forms, couldn't. Thus her post was just important as the others, if for different reasons (Daughters of the Moon).

Willow met another antagonist in March when three people came looking for Randi’s sword, under the mistaken impression that it was there to be found and taken away. When the high ranking nun made a nuisance of herself and went so far as to make threats against Randi and Brian, Willow snapped that the nun reminded her of the Nazis who had thrown her grandfather into a concentration camp during the second World War. That didn’t go over well with the nun (or Steve, Buffy, or Jenny, who were trying to handle things diplomatically). In the end, the nun left empty-handed, but Willow’s comment would unknowingly come back to haunt the team (Fox In The Hellmouth, Prom Night).

The first week in April, Willow was one of the Scoobies who found herself transported to another reality when a rip in the space time continuum was caused by several Black Mages attempting a demon summoning spell at Weatherly Park. In her case, Willow’s luck was both good and bad. She ended up in the Wishverse, much to the shock of the Wish Slayerettes (but happiness of Vamp Willow, who thought she’d come for a visit). Willow thought it wasn’t such a big deal until Artemis showed up and told Willow that she was stuck there for about a week, because it turned out she was mentioned in one of those “end of the world” prophecies (something involving Vamp Willow and Willow). It was there that Willow met the new members of the Wishverse Scoobies: Harmony, a Slayer summoned when Wish Buffy had died in December, and Alison, who it turned out had run away from Sunnydale a year before the Master rose, after her parents had been killed by a vampire. She mentioned that she’d been kidnapped by Unseelie elves and rescued by their Seelie counterparts, who in turn had given her pointers in fighting the undead (what Willow did not, and still does not (as of the current timeframe), know is that Wish Ali kept the knowledge of her true upbringing from Willow, in case “our” Alison had the same background; Wish Ali told the rest of the team that she does not want Willow accidentally ruining “our” Ali’s family by bringing up the fact that she might be adopted. Although reluctant, the Wish team agreed, particularly after agreements from Wish Buffy and Vamp Willow).

Willow joined the Wish Scoobies on patrols and they brought each other up to speed on events of the previous four months (We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Wishes and Desires, Class Reunion Hellmouth Style). It was while on one of these patrols that Harmony and Willow were ambushed by demons from the Sisterhood of the. Willow was able to hold her own using her Wicca powers, but Harmony was overcome and had her throat slashed. In a panic, Willow forced a healing spell down Harmony’s throat but had to perform CPR on her to revive her. Getting a sinking feeling in her stomach, she told Harmony and the arriving Ceirdwyn and Arthur what had happened, leading Harmony to groan that another Slayer might have been Chosen but thankful she wasn’t going to be an old fart like Ceirdwyn.

The new Slayer, Faith Reilly, showed up after breaking free of the control she’d been put under by a demon in San Francisco, who’d been using her as a sexual toy and assassin. She all but asked the Slayerettes to kill her, but Willow told her of her reality’s version of Faith (the Boston Bad Girl we all know and love!), and Vamp Willow and Xander told her how to deal with the guilt over what she’d done while under mind control. In the end, Willow and Vamp Willow were instrumental in foiling the Sisterhood’s plan to open the Hellmouth (they realized what the prophecy meant and despite much “eeewing” and “uuughing” on Willow’s part, the Rosenberg twins managed to save the world), and killed most of the Sisterhood before bidding good bye to each other and the new Slayer, who chose to move back to San Francisco, where she and four witchy sisters (including Faith’s girl toy) were determined to fight the good fight. Artemis arrived to take Willow back and brought her to a time only hours after she’d departed. Realizing that she was getting a week of her life back while at the same time existing in the Wishverse with her double, gave Willow a new level of Excedrin headache. One thing that Willow did bring back was news for Buffy about their “old friend,” JP Withers. Once Buffy was told, she thanked Willow and confronted JP about this news, and in this, Willow unknowingly helped both Buffy and JP (the former found her “father” again, and the demon hunter finally had his “daughter” back) (For Every Action).

The rest of April passed as hectically as the first days. Willow joined a handpicked team to journey to another dimension to retrieve a scientist who worked for the OSIR (Homecoming) and was one of the Scoobies imprisoned by Shao Kahn when he merged Sunnydale with Outworld (Immortal Kombat).  She made up for it by showing a pair of US military commandoes what she could do by frying several ninjas with a fireball and helped wipe out the foot soldiers of Kahn’s army.  After the Outworld battle was over, Willow found herself preparing for Graduation and her senior Prom, discussing dresses with Cordelia and Buffy and grossing Buffy out by thinking that Giles would look great in a tux (perhaps a leftover from her sophomore crush for the librarian).  She also received a gift in the first week of May, something from Shaw’s grandmother; a magical short sword, enchanted with extra sharpness and capable of cutting through stone like it was soft bread. Willow was thrilled with Etriel (the name of the sword) and has spent hours practicing with it. The one downside is that lately, she’s been getting this creepy feeling that she’s being watched… (Working Girl, Scooby Snacks: State of Mind, Maiden’s Sword).

Race: Human.

Description:

When one sees Willow, the word that often comes to mind is “petite." However, that really isn’t the case. Willow stands a fairly tall five feet, five inches tall, taller than many girls at Sunnydale High. She has a lean, athletic body that catches the attention of some people who don’t prefer the blonde, busty, Baywatch type. However, her overall package is just as attractive in its own right.

Gone is the shy, geeky hacker that used to wear tights, fuzzy sweaters, and sneakers after “seeing the softer side of Sears." In her place is the confident, strong-willed hacker who wears silk blouses, tight blue jeans, and hiking boots (although Oz prefers her without said stuff on). She likes to wear colors that matches or compliments her dark hair, a striking reddish auburn (although Willow sometimes dyes it a true red color). This allows her to set off her pale skin and witch green eyes, which attract the attention of a lot of boys since she dumped the “soft clothes.”

In recent months, Willow has cut her hair shorter than it used to be. What once fell far past her shoulders now rests just about shoulder length. While Oz likes the change (or any change in Willow <G>), what Willow finds frustrating is that her own mother hasn’t even noticed yet. Then again, considering that her Mom doesn’t know she’s no longer a virgin, missing a haircut is a minor thing.

Abilities (uncommon): As an Amazon, Willow has had her physical abilities enhanced to metahuman levels; her strength, speed, agility, reflexes, and stamina are all heightened to levels that allow Willow to successfully take on soulless vampires in hand to hand combat. Willow's mental faculties are also enhanced when it comes to learning various fighting skills, allowing her to progress more rapidly than normal humans when it comes to learning self-defense.

Willow also has an innate talent for witchcraft and follows the style practiced by Wicca's. Despite only having started lessons and exploring her potential since February of 1998, Willow has progressed more rapidly than most students of magic do. At present time, Willow has the same capacity for teleportation magic's as Jenny or Amy, but it still strains her somewhat. There are three main reasons for this; her excellent teaching by Jenny (who is passing on the lessons she learned from her family onto Willow and Amy); her active role in the fight against the Darkness, which means she uses magic more often and gains more experience rapidly; and her own true potential, which in fact is greater than Amy or Jenny’s eventual limits. While Amy and Jenny find this great, as Willow truly has the potential to reach those levels of magic, and trust her to follow the right path, Robin has expressed some concern about her going too far, too fast. Thankfully, most of his concerns haven’t been realized, and he himself has felt a bit sorry that he was a worrywart.

Abilities (learned): Even with her physical and magical gifts, Willow’s greatest trait is her brain. She possesses a genius level IQ and has outstanding skills in science, mathematics, and researching. However, Willow’s greatest love has always been computers. Even with her background, Willow’s talents continue to grow under Jenny’s tutelage. In late 1997, she had cracked City Records and had the Sunnydale Morgue on her list of favorite places. Nowadays, Willow is a world-class hacker and those skills have been priceless on more than one occasion (like when tracking down someone checking Steve’s records <Calling Out The Clan> to helping set up Shaw’s background records <Slayer In Black>).

Willow is also learning the “legal” end of computers as VAN Ltd’s chief computer programmer (since Jenny is the Priestess Princess, she has to split her duties between Internet services and her religious duties). Willow works with reports from other departments and sets things up on the corporation’s internal computer systems, helping to coordinate the whole shebang. Willow also plans to study Computer Science in college and is still trying to determine what she wants to do for a career when she graduates (she’s planning really long term).

Willow also has a strong grasp of ancient history and mythology, based both on her multiple research parties with that cool English librarian and her recent semester long class with the just as cool Celtic Goddess-turned-college professor who looks like Seven of Nine (Daughters of the Moon). She can easily recall basic information about various Gods and Goddesses thanks to those lessons and her photographic memory. Willow also has a good grasp of language, being able to speak perfect English and Hebrew, while also have various levels of fluency in Latin (from all those books and working magic), Greek (self-taught with Amy and Jenny), Elvish (learned from Shaw), and Celtic (from reading Wicca Charms and Wards in the original Celtic; she’s good enough at this language that she’s teaching it to Shaw).

Current Status: (include here if the person is immortal or not): Citizen of the United States with no criminal record (she’s a good enough hacker that she hasn’t yet been caught). Active member of the Slayerettes and Section Seven. Senior at Sunnydale High School, accepted to and planning to attend the University of California at Sunnydale, majoring in Computer Sciences and minoring in Ancient Studies (Willow was also accepted to Yale, Harvard, Oxford, and MIT, among others). Wicca Princess of the New Amazon Nation and member of the Board of Directors of VAN, Ltd (official title is Chief of Computer Operations). Willow is not an Immortal, but having drunk from the Holy Grail in February of 1999, has a life expectancy of three or four hundred years.

Proficient weapons: Thanks to her Amazon blessing, and partially to her work with the Scooby Gang in the year and a half before Steve showed up on the Hellmouth, Willow has become a deadly fighter with many various implements of the warrior arts, from staffs to medieval cutlery to the most modern assault weapons. Willow does have a “hidden” advantage in that in addition to her Amazon blessing making the fighting arts easier for her to learn in the first place, her genius level IQ and that pesky photographic memory (the one that would make Cordelia really, really hate her if she didn’t love Willow like a sister) totally make Willow put new meaning to the term, “learning curve.”

Willow is a multiple black belt, having the equivalent of first to third-degree black belts in Okinawan style karate, tae kwan do, Chuan Fa kung fu, Zen Sword, Philippine stick fighting, and the arts of the Slayers (as taught to her by Buffy and Giles) and Amazons (as taught to her by Gabrielle and Sonja). Willow is equally comfortable with using either swords or firearms, although she tends to rely on the former, especially since getting that cool magic-type short sword. When compared to the other Amazons and empowered guys, Willow falls somewhere in between the groups. The reason for this is simple; while not as accomplished as Xander and Cordelia (who are pure warriors and don’t need extra training in witchcraft), she’s still higher on the kung fu scale than Jenny or Amy, who instinctively tend to use magic first because of their family traditions. In this case, like Shaw and Giles, Willow is someone who truly embodies both sides of their talents, magical or martial.

Current beliefs:

As she prepares for her upcoming Graduation, Willow continues to thrive in the lifestyle she’s chosen. She's happy with her life, including her laconic musician boyfriend, her Vampire Slaying best friend, and her fellow witches, including the teacher who’s become a second mother to her. Willow's eagerly looking forward to college in the fall and working for VAN during the summer months, especially to get the New Amazon Nation off the ground (Daughters of the Moon, Working Girl, Prom Night).

While her “professional” life proceeds apace (including the whole saving the world gig), Willow’s personal life has really gone through some changes throughout her time as a Slayerette. Willow has dealt with numerous stumbling blocks in her life, from coming out of her shy shell to blossoming as a spell caster, to dealing with a merciless serial killer and her recent brush with her own mortality. Through it all, Willow has been smart enough to look for support from her extended family, especially Oz, Buffy, and Jenny.

Willow has also conquered the fears she had of Oz’s wolf side and has also come to accept the aggressive side of herself that manifests when she experiences cruelty that is beyond even what the Slayerettes normally deal with (Dating Sunnydale Style, Midnight Visitations). Ironically, it’s been her Zen-like boyfriend who’s helped her accept that part of herself, because he has to deal with something similar every lunar cycle. They’ve become even closer due to that and it’s but one of the reasons why they made the decision to move into an apartment together, and it was this side of herself that has allowed her to help Shaw and Faith deal with their own tempers (Born To Raise Hellmouth, Faith’s Story). In addition to Oz, Buffy continues to be to Willow what Willow is to many others on the team; a best friend. Ask any one of the Scoobies who their best friend is, and odds are they’ll answer, Willow. But for Will herself, Buffy provides that most precious thing, a confidante and someone to share secrets with that she can’t share with her boyfriend or surrogate mother.

Which brings us to Willow’s relationship with Jenny. From the mid-point of her sophomore year, Willow idolized Jenny, who represented everything Willow dreamed of being; confident, sassy, smart, and professional. As Jenny joined the Slayer’s circle, Willow became closer to her and Jenny unconsciously took Will under her wing. When the truth about Jenny became known, Willow continued to stick by her teacher, even though she felt pulled in the other direction because of how Buffy had been hurt. As time has gone on and the rift between Slayer and Gypsy was mended, Willow has rejoiced that she didn’t have to choose. Her close relationship with her teacher, in addition to the growing distance between her and her mother, have led Willow to see Jenny as the female role model in her life. While Jenny has experienced some worries about causing a rift in the relationship between Sheila and Willow (see Jenny’s bio file), Willow herself sees Jenny as the woman she wants to be in another five to ten years.

As for her status as an Amazon, Willow had a different path than Amy or Jenny. The latter two considered themselves believers in the Old Gods a long time ago and had little trouble in becoming willing to worship Artemis. In Willow’s case, she had a strict Jewish upbringing and has managed to combine her family’s traditions with her newfound love of her Goddess. Willow worships Artemis and considers herself an Amazon, but she still sometimes refers to herself as being Jewish. While she doesn’t actively worship God as she once did (and HE apparently has given Willow HIS blessing regarding that), she still honors the traditions and her family’s past (including a vast admiration for one of her Grandfathers, who survived a concentration camp). Unlike some people who might have a “crisis of faith” over changing religions, Willow has managed to embrace the worship that fits her soul with that of her parents with little trouble.

What is the one most important thing you can say about the character?

It’s well known that Willow is one of the CORE members of the Scooby Gang (along with Buffy, Giles, and Xander). She’s one of the originals and is one of those that all Scoobies who come later (Cordelia, Oz, Faith, Anya, et al) are compared to.

Even in Season One, we see hints of the strong woman in Willow, usually hidden behind the shyness, the brains, and the softer side of Sears clothes. In I Robot, You Jane, Willow gets ticked when she finds out her emotions have been toyed with and hits Moloch with a power cable. When Buffy and Angel are endangered, she shows that redheaded temper again by getting Xander and Cordelia’s attention where it belongs. It’s in these episodes that we see her fiery side, just waiting to be released, but only if absolutely necessary. Also, we also see Willow’s willing to deny herself happiness because her lifelong crush (Xander) wants a relationship with Buffy. She has enough loyalty to give up her chance at Xander because she wants more to see him happy. At least until Season 3, when she finds herself still attracted to Xander despite her growing love for Oz, only this time he reciprocates. In Lover’s Walk and The Wish, we see how Willow finally lets herself be tempted, as well as her guilt later on.

In the Wandererverse, Willow still has the memory of how she feels about Xander (Calling Out The Clan), but she comes to accept her feelings for Oz, as well as the fact that Xander and Cordelia are in love with each other. This leads to Willow and Cordy becoming closer, if only to compare notes on how to keep Xander’s smart mouth syndrome under control (as futile as that may be). Willow and Oz are the lovey dovey couple they were on Buffy and move in together after Graduation.

“Our” Willow is the same as the Buffyverse Willow in that she’s loyal to her friends, Buffy and Xander. In return, they see her as their best friend because she’s willing to stand by them, even if it causes her pain (again, see I Robot, You Jane, when she defends Buffy against “Malcom’s” disparaging against her best friend). And while she originally has problems with Xander loving another woman, she eventually sees that Oz is the man for her.

Favorite quotes:

“My Mommy always told me to watch out for strangers,” "Willow wants to play,” and “I’m the little Jewish girl that’s going to kill you.” (to the Jewish Ripper, after he tries to abduct her, in Midnight Visitations)

Willow’s one dip into cattiness before Cordelia and she became Amazon sisters: “What’s [Xander’s] number? Oh yeah, 1-800-I’m-dating-a-skanky-ho.” (Innocence).

“You two will stop this insanity and listen to what Artemis said to the both of you, or you both will be forcibly restrained." (telling and showing Gabrielle and Cordelia what a redheaded Amazon witch is capable of, in Libyan Assault/War of the Sections)

Nicknames: Will, Brainy Smurf, Net Girl, Knowledge Girl, Red, the Little Red Witch, Bad Ass Wicca.

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