Willow Rosenberg
Name Willow Danielle Rosenberg
Position Super Witch
Second Position Super Witch
Character Information
| Gender | Female | |
| Species | Human | |
| Age | 27 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 5'4 | |
| Weight | 125 | |
| Hair Color | Red | |
| Eye Color | Green |
Family
| Father | Ira Rosenberg | |
| Mother | Sheila Rosenberg |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | Willow Danielle Rosenberg was a witch native to Sunnydale, California and a founding member of the Scooby Gang. The best friend and semi-official sidekick of the Slayer, Buffy Summers, Willow started out as a meek and largely unassertive computer nerd, but eventually grew to be a powerful and authoritative individual. Willow was introduced to the forces of magic by attempting a complex spell to re-ensoul Angel. To her own surprise, Willow tapped into considerable power during this ritual, and would come to practice witchcraft. Willow was quick to grasp basic spells and with support from her girlfriend Tara Maclay, her powers blossomed even more rapidly. Milestones in her magical career include the enjoining spell, taking on the Hell-Goddess Glory and surviving, resurrecting Buffy Summers, nearly ending the world, activating the world's Potential Slayers and eventually, establishing herself as her dimension's most powerful witch. |
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| Strengths & Weaknesses | Her friends are both a weakness and a strength to her. When she lost her lover Tara it had broken her so much that she had gone dark. She's addicted to magic, but working to break that addiction, and use magic only when needed not for everyday activities like hacking. | |
| Ambitions | To make up for the pain she caused after the death of her lover Tara. | |
| Hobbies & Interests | Wicca and school |
| Personal History | Early Life Willow Rosenberg was born to Sheila and Ira Rosenberg. Her mother was supercilious and distant, noticing Willow had cut her hair months after she actually had it cut.[5] She had a "bad birthday party pony thing" when she was four, leaving her with a fear of ponies and horses.[6] At some point, Willow also developed a fear of frogs[7] and spiders.[8] After watching "Snoopy on Ice", her dad took her backstage, but she was scared and threw up on Woodstock.[9] Willow became best friends with Xander Harris at a young age and she attended school with him throughout all of her life. On the first day of kindergarten, Willow cried because she broke a yellow crayon.[10] She and Xander also gained another friend, Jesse McNally. Willow was also very close friends with Amy Madison during junior high.[11] In her early years in high school, Willow was a shy, naive "nerd" with a light, risqué sense of humor. A member of the math, science, and computer clubs, she was the go-to person for tutoring help. Willow was ridiculed by her more popular classmates, including cheerleaders Cordelia Chase and Harmony Kendall. She had a hopeless crush on her lifelong friend Xander Harris, who ignored her to pursue his equally hopeless crush on a new student and their eventual mutual BFF, Buffy Summers After witnessing Willow being insulted by Cordelia, Buffy quickly approached Willow as a friend despite Willow responding in fear as she saw her with Cordelia. Willow soon became Buffy’s best friend after being pursued by several vampires, whereupon Buffy arrived and fought them, leading Willow along with Xander to learn that Buffy was actually the Slayer. This revelation led Willow to dedicate herself to aiding her friend in the battle against evil. Willow’s assistance to the Scooby Gang was mostly through her computing and hacking skills as well as helping the school librarian and Buffy’s Watcher Rupert Giles on researching about demons. By the end of her sophomore year, Willow’s interest in computers got her almost killed by the demon Moloch who pretended be a teenage boy talking to her on the net. Willow initially ignored her friends' warnings but came to realize his true nature when he revealed himself in his new robotic form. After Buffy killed him, Willow felt bad for falling for a demon, thinking something was wrong with her. Buffy and Xander cheered her up by reminding her of the times they fell for someone out of the norm, Buffy’s being an ensouled vampire Angel while Xander developed a crush for a giant insect posing as their science teacher. She also witnessed the death of several students at the hands of the Order of Aurelius, affecting her emotionally. This experience gave Buffy the push to confront the Order’s leader, The Master who was prophesied to kill her. Learning this, Willow met up with Giles, Xander and Jenny Calendar, her computer science teacher and technopagan she admired. They believed that a swarm of The Master’s vampire minions would assemble at the Bronze where the school’s prom was currently being held. Willow accompanied Jenny to her car where they discovered that the vampires were actually going to the school where they were. Luckily, Cordelia arrived and rescued them with her car, having been helped the gang prior. Returning to the library, Willow fought off both vampires and a tentacle monster that spawned from the Hellmouth, awakened by the Master after he bit Buffy and left her to drown. Buffy, however, was revived by CPR and came to their need and killed the Master. Character Development The following year, just as Buffy returned, Willow was kidnapped along with Giles, Jenny, and Cordelia by the Order’s remaining members and almost killed in the ritual to resurrect the Master since they were at a close proximity to him as he died. Even though it was Buffy’s emotional irrationality that put them in danger, Willow along with the others did not express any anger to her afterward. In her junior year, Willow began to have huge advances to her persona. During Halloween when everyone literally became what their costumes were from Ethan Rayne’s Costume Shop, Buffy and Xander were given different mind-sets, leaving the ghostly Willow to take initiative and assign for Giles’ help while wearing skimpy outfit that Buffy before hence encouraged her to put on to impress Xander, though she kept it hidden a ghost costume that she abandoned while becoming a ghost. Also, when Buffy lied to Giles so she could hold off her slayer duties to attend a college frat party, Willow burst out in a fit of guilt yet also judging Giles for not allowing Buffy to have time for herself and Angel for not bothering to make time for her. After discovering Xander’s relationship with Cordelia when she caught them kissing, a heartbroken Willow angrily expressed her shock and disgust that Xander would involve himself with someone like Cordelia before her, further strengthening her assertiveness and pride. She then quickly decided to move on, starting a romantic relationship with Oz, a guitarist in the local band Dingoes Ate My Baby. The two began talking after they were selected by the "world’s leading software concern" during the Careers Fair. She later invited him to Buffy’s birthday where he witnessed his first vampire being staked. Even after the revelation that he was a werewolf and almost getting killed by him, Willow still continued to date him, even confidently kissing him at her own accord. When Jenny Calendar was murdered by Buffy’s newly soul-less boyfriend Angel who had become Angelus,[12] Willow agreed to teach her classes for the rest of the year. During this time, she went through her former favorite teacher’s belongings, dabbling in magic. After the discovery of floppy disk containing the completely translated text of the lost Ritual of Restoration, the curse used to originally ensoul Angelus hundreds of years ago, Willow took it upon herself to perform the spell if Buffy couldn’t kill Angelus as she claimed it would be the last resort. She first attempted it in the school library but failed when Angelus’ vampire minions attacked, resulting in her being taken to the hospital after a bookcase was dropped on her. Recovering, Willow then confidently performed it at the hospital with Cordelia and Oz at her side. She told Xander to inform Buffy of this but, holding a bitter hatred for Angel and vengeful of Jenny’s murder, told Buffy to kill him. At the exact climax of the ritual, a powerful burst of magic surged through her, ensouling Angel just before Buffy stabbed and killed him, sending him to hell. Learning Magic “I mean, you’ve been fighting evil here for three years, and I’ve helped some, and now we’re supposed to decide what we want to do with our lives. And I just realized that that’s what I want to do. Fight evil, help people. I mean, I think it’s worth doing. And I don’t think you do it because you have to. It’s a good fight, Buffy, and I want in.” ―Willow chooses her path in life.[src] While Buffy was away in Los Angeles, Willow continued to practice witchcraft – first starting simple through a number of pagan blessings and also once used a glamour to conceal a pimple. She even took a frightening turn when she attempted to contact the spirit world while not being ready, having found the experience to have "pulled her apart inside," as well as blowing out the power for the whole street block. Willow also took charge of the Scooby Gang through their series of unsuccessful vampire hunts. She joined a coven with fellow magic-users Amy Madison and Michael Czajak, who became the victims of a witch-hunt led by Buffy’s mother and a group called Mothers Opposed to the Occult (MOO). However, they were actually under the influence of a demon who impersonated two witch-victims; with Willow, Buffy and Amy being nearly burned at the stake before Giles revealed the demon which Buffy then slayed, breaking the spell. Willow also then kept Amy as a pet after she turned herself into a rat to escape, Willow not possessing Amy’s powers of transmogrification at that time.[5] Though she showed initial shock at Buffy’s secret relationship with Angel who had just returned, the heads of the gang were turned when Angel saved her from being killed by corrupt ex-watcher Gwendolyn Post. She and Xander discovered a growing attraction for each other, despite the fact that were each in relationships with other people. While being held hostage by Spike, Willow and Xander shared a kiss, believing that they were going to be killed. To their dismay, they were caught in the act by Oz and Cordelia, who had come to rescue them. Although Cordelia broke up with Xander for good, Oz and Willow eventually managed to work things out after some weeks. Tired of being "old reliable," Willow aided former vengeance demon Anya Jenkins in a spell, unwittingly releasing her own vampire counterpart from an alternate universe., wanting to return to her dimension, rounded up a gang of vampire minions originally employed by Mayor Richard Wilkins to kill Willow. She then used them to hold the Bronze patrons hostage in hopes of forcing Willow to send her back. After a fortunate encounter, Willow managed to trap her and was then forced to pretend to be her so the gang could kill each vampire one by one. In the ordeal, she was shocked to discover that her vampire counterpart exhibited homosexual tendencies, a foreshadowing to her very own lesbian relationships. One positive from the whole event was the encounter between vampire Willow and Percy West, a lazy, self-involved jock who Willow was forced to tutor but left Willow to do his own unfinished assignments. After meeting her vampire counterpart, a fearful Percy decided to do the work required and he started to respect her as she tutored him.[13] Despite being accepted by several colleges, including Harvard, Yale, and Oxford, Willow decided to attend UC Sunnydale so that she could continue fighting the "good fight" with Buffy after being held hostage by the Mayor Richard Wilkins and rogue Slayer Faith Lehane, where the Scooby Gang traded a key component of the Mayor’s Ascension for Willow. Fearing she would die not having experienced new depths in her relationship with Oz, she lost her virginity to him the night before graduation when the Mayor would ascend into the Old One Olvikan. During the fight against the Mayor and his vampire minions, Willow and a number of other students wielded spear guns, though this did little damage to the Mayor. Willow then survived the battle. College In her first year of college, Willow initially enjoyed being in an environment that appreciated her intellect and further excelled in her magical abilities. Moving across town to UC Sunnydale, Willow and Buffy become roommates at Room 214 in Stevenson Hall after the expulsion of Buffy’s previous demonic roommate. Though her skills in magic got better, Willow did struggle in some areas in terms of control. During Halloween, the Scoobies became trapped in a frat house that was being magically altered by a demon. Willow wanted to prove herself by locating endangered party goers with magic despite her friend's opposition because of concerns for her safety. She ignored them and the spell she performed ending up attacking her. Willow soon reached a stage of emotional heartbreak. Oz left town after cheating on Willow with another werewolf called Veruca. Around this time Willow attempted to curse them both with magic, though stopped when Veruca arrived to kill her only to be killed by Oz who then left her out of fear of endangering her.[14] Willow then waited but was left with a bitter attitude, writing letters to Oz but not knowing where to post them. A devastated Willow cast a spell to have her will done, accidentally endangering her friends’ lives in the process when she called Xander a "demon magnet," thus attracting real hostile demons to his location. This also made her eligible to become a vengeance demon, but she declined the offer and undid the spell.[15] Afterward, she joined the campus Wicca group, a disappointing experience when she found out none of the other members were actually real witches with the exception of the presence of timid, serious witch Tara Maclay. After discovering each other’s magic during an encounter with the Gentlemen,[16] they became friends, meeting each other on a regular basis to practice spells weeks before Tara was introduced to Willow’s friends. From this, they eventually formed a close bond and fell in love with each other, though both remained discreet about it. Later, Oz returned, believing he had gained control over his wolf-side, with hopes of continuing his relationship with Willow. This put Willow in a tough position, having to choose between her long-term boyfriend or a new and exciting relationship with a woman. After some serious consideration, and coming out to Buffy about her feelings for Tara, Willow chose Tara over Oz, who left Sunnydale once more, having been unable to control his condition.[17] Spike, in league with Adam, attempted to split the Scoobies apart. He used Willow’s relationship with Tara as one of the catalysts, and her sexuality came out to everyone at this time.[18] She later joined with the fellow essences of Buffy, Xander, and Giles to form a super being to defeat Adam. Willow acted as the "spirit" of the ensemble, using her magic skills to disarm Adam’s technological advantages.[19] Willow’s power increased at a dramatic rate. Her relationship with Tara was strengthened when she discovered how Tara rose above her family’s abusive lies. However, they argued when Tara voiced her concerns at how much magic Willow had been using over the past few months.[20] Shortly afterward, Tara was "brain-sucked" by the hell-goddess Glory, and was left in an insane, babbling state. Enraged and grief-stricken, Willow ignored Buffy’s warnings and attacked Glory full force in her own home, but was ultimately defeated; however, to Willow’s credit, she did manage to actually injure Glory and weaken her significantly. Willow almost got herself killed after spitting directly in Glory’s face in a show of pure spite, but Buffy arrived just in time to save her.[20] When Buffy later went into a catatonic state, Willow magically entered her mind and freed her, assuring her that they would find a way to defeat Glory.[21] In the final fight against Glory, Willow managed to slow her down by restoring Tara’s mind, and disorientating the hell-god, as Willow reunited with her lover. However, Buffy was forced to sacrifice herself to save the life of her sister, Dawn.[22] Following the battle, a devastated Willow departed to Los Angeles and visited the Hyperion Hotel to inform Angel that Buffy had died.[23] Addiction to Magic and "Dark Willow" Following Buffy’s death, Willow assumed leadership of the Scoobies (at Xander’s insistence) and used her magic in patrols to help keep the vampire population in check while looking after Dawn in Buffy’s absence. Willow’s magical skills peaked when she led Tara, Xander, and Anya in resurrecting Buffy.[24] This had major concerns; both Tara and Xander briefly opposed the idea while Giles branded her as an "rank arrogant amateur" for delving into such deep, consequential magic.[25] Willow developed an addiction to magic and began to use it excessively, and briefly got into an argument with Tara over it; she subsequently used magic to erase all memory of the fight from Tara’s mind.[26] After a demon’s musical spell lead to Buffy revealing that she had been in Heaven and not Hell as they originally believed,[27] Willow became guilt-ridden over costing her best friend eternal happiness and suggested using magic to erase Buffy’s memories of Heaven, leading to another argument with Tara; not wanting to lose Tara, Willow vowed not to use magic for a week to prove that she was not dependent on it, but almost immediately went back on her word and cast a spell to make Buffy and Tara forget about the negative aspects of what her spells did, only for it to backfire and gave the entire Scooby Gang, including herself, total amnesia, rendering them vulnerable when the Magic Box was attacked by a demonic loan shark trying to collect Spike’s gambling debt. When the spell was broken, Tara promptly broke up with Willow.[28] Without Tara’s presence, Willow’s addiction spiraled completely out of control; she finally managed to transform Amy back from a rat into a human, and Amy began taking her to Rack, a dark magic dealer, with her more liberal use of magic contrasting with the Scoobies’ attempts to encourage responsibility. Later, while attempting to take Dawn to the movies, Willow dropped by Rack’s place again and left Dawn alone and unprotected in the waiting room for two hours, disregarding Dawn’s fears and complaints when she emerged. Following this, they were attacked by a demon unwillingly summoned by Willow during her high. Willow commandeered a car using magic to escape, and the two suffered a car accident; while Willow emerged relatively unscathed, Dawn suffered a broken arm, and the two were saved from the demon by the timely arrival of Buffy and Spike shortly afterward.[29] Faced with this, Willow was finally forced to face the consequences of her actions and cut off her contact with Rack and Amy, renouncing the use of her powers and choosing to help the Scoobies with her technical skills. Sometime later, Willow and Tara reconciled, prompting them to spend several hours in bed "catching up". Suddenly, Tara was murdered by a stray bullet from Warren Mears' attempt to kill Buffy. A grief-stricken Willow, having failed to bring Tara back, unleashed her dark side once more, absorbing every bit of dark magic from the texts in the Magic Box, causing both her hair and her eyes to become solid black, with veins protruding on her face as a result of draining Rack’s life force to replenish her magics. Willow left her friends, her old self, and her morality behind, and her vengeance reached a climax when she used magic to flay Warren alive.[30] Willow absorbed the magic and life force from Rack as she pursued Jonathan Levinson and Andrew Wells, Warren’s accomplices, despite the fact that they had no involvement in Tara’s death, turning against her friends in the process. Andrew Wells compared her to Dark Phoenix and later referred to her as "Dark Willow". Willow then battled her best friend Buffy, infusing herself with super-strength, declaring: "I’m the Slayer, now." After having heavily beat and nearly defeated Buffy, Willow was attacked by Rupert Giles, who abruptly returned with borrowed power of the Devon Coven. Despite Giles’ attempts to stop her, Willow absorbed his power as well, pushing her so far that she was overcome by all the pain she sensed in the world. She attempted to trigger the apocalypse to end it all but was thwarted by Xander who, out of love, refused to leave her alone, regardless of what she had done or was doing. The power that she had absorbed from Giles put her back in touch with her true emotions and feelings, so Xander’s act eventually caused Willow to break down over her actions. Rehabilitation After her attempt at destroying the world, Giles took Willow to his home in England where she was forced to deal with her actions, her connection to magic, and her place in the universe. Under the teachings of the Devon Coven, Willow regained control of her magic, though was hesitant and careful about how much she used, fearing that she might revert to her "dark" self.[31] At the time, she met his great-aunts Lavinia and Sophronia Fairweather.[32] Upon her return to Sunnydale, Willow was nervous about how her friends would react when they saw her again and accidentally cast a spell that made her invisible to them and vice versa which ended in disastrous results as it caused her to fall victim to the demon Gnarl before the spell was ended at which point she was reunited with the other Scoobies.[33] When the First Evil began its campaign against the Scooby Gang, Willow reluctantly began a relationship with Potential Slayer Kennedy. After their first kiss, however, Willow was transformed into Warren, the result of a hex placed on her by a vengeful and jealous Amy. Kennedy saved Willow from fully becoming him by helping her to finally come to terms with Tara’s death and move on as she attempted to continue Warren’s murderous path with a gun.[2] Willow was still reluctant to use her full power, especially after the First took control of her during a minor spell. However, Willow was called to Los Angeles by Fred Burkle to re-ensoul Angel once again. While there, Willow did battle with a higher power later known as Jasmine, who had possessed Cordelia, and came out victorious. She then returned to Sunnydale with newly reformed Slayer Faith who was insisted to break out of prison to fight Angelus. With the final battle with The First drawing nearer, Buffy entrusted Willow with a very big and important task that Willow was very reluctant to perform. Despite this, Willow tapped into the essence of the Slayer Scythe (both by her computer and witchcraft prowess), and activated every Potential Slayer around the globe, euphorically overcoming her dark side and briefly turning her hair white in the process before Kennedy deified her as a goddess. Willow then passed out in a mixture of awe and tiredness, mumbling "that was nifty." Willow then escaped Sunnydale before its subsequent destruction. |
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| Powers/Abilities | - Genius-level intellect. - Expert in computer hacking and robotics. - Perform all manner of spells, rituals, and transmogrifications independently or with the aid of others - Project and perform incredible magical feats such as flight, telekinesis, telepathy, force field generation, portal-creation, photokinesis, electrokinesis, astral projection and regeneration by sheer force of will, and all to a highly advanced level. - Storm-based teleportation and lightning generation - Voice Manipulation - Able to instantly make another person fall asleep - Pyrokinesis - Mind Control - Advanced telekinesis - Self-healing - Superhuman strength and complex combative skills - Worldwide Empathy |