Does anyone else think Willow wouldn't have done that spell in Tabula Rasa if...

[JaseyRae]

... If Tara didn't kinda "trigger" it? Ok, this will take a while to explain, so if you're not for the long threads...
First of all, I don't approve what Willow did at all, I'm not defending her, what she did was awful, since it's obvious that Tara comes from an abusive family and that she had a tough life. Last thing she needs is an abusive relationship and mind rape, especially after what Glory did to her.
Yet, in "Tabula Rasa" the two of them are talking and WILLOW, not Tara, wants herself to stop magic to prove that Tara is more important to her than magic. It's Will's choice and she all in it, until Tara says "We'll see". Until that moment Willow is determined and all happy about fixing what she had done. Then she realizes that maybe Tara won't take her back even if she goes a week without magic. Then she figures that she'll make her about the WHOLE magic fight thing, so she doesn't lose her. She was so desperate to be with her, she did again what she swore she wouldn't. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Once again, I'm not defending what Willow done, I'm horrified that she could do that again after Tara clearly said that that was VIOLATING her mind, but I'm just pointing out that Tara said that maybe they need a break from each other and that made Willow do the spell again, so she doesn't risk losing her, while ironically the spell lead to exactly that. I'm saying maybe if Willow was sure Tara wouldn't break up with her after a "magic-free week" that she wouldn't do a spell and that she would go through with it.

 

[Evil Angelus 95]

I totally get what you're saying. I'm just not entirely sure that what you described was the case.

Before I even start, I too am going to say that I don't think what Willow did was right. It was a horrible thing for her to do to Tara, especially given the events of "Tough Love" and the abuse her family imposed on her.

It's shown throughout the entire series that Willow is kinda selfish. For example, she wanted Xander during Season 1 & 2. Even when she starts going out with Oz, she freaks out when she sees Xander kissing Cordy. To quote her own words "You'd rather be with someone you hate than be with me." I don't think Willow would have stopped, even if Tara hadn't said "we'll see." She was addicted to Dark Magicks at that point, and addiction makes you do strange things. It's more than possible that she would have gone back to doing them once everything with Tara was said and done. She loves Tara, but she doesn't want her to see what she was before she became a Witch.

 

[Lyri]

I get your point, but I think it's wrong.

Willow might have offered for give up magic for a week, but the thing you have to understand is that she was only willing to give up magic for ONE week. She thought that would be enough to appease Tara, which I think is ridiculous.

Tara thought that Willow was relying too much on magic, and that whole discussion was based around trying to make Willow understand that and see how far down the path she was. Tara wanted Willow to cut back, to go back to only using magic when it was absolutely necessary. Creating party decorations instead of going out to buy some is not necessary, it's pretty much the opposite, but Willow couldn't see that. As [MENTION=11631]Evil Angelus 95[/MENTION] said, Willow is a selfish person, it's been one of the most consistent things throughout the show. Even when Willow DID promise to give up magic for the week, she had no intention of following through with that promise. She was just placating Tara long enough to cast the Tebula Rasa spell.

I think Tara was completely right in what she said when she said 'then we'll see' because I think, deep down, that she knew that Willow wouldn't be able to keep her end of the deal. Either that, or she was hoping that Willow WOULD be able to do it, and then she could sit Willow down and say 'look, you went for a whole week without doing any magic, that means you don't need it, it's not something that defines you, and I love you whether you use magic or not.' But she never got the opportunity to express that, because Willow couldn't even last 24 hours.

 

[Evil Angelus 95]

It's sad but it's true. Knowing what came after, I wish Willow had had enough common sense to see how bad she had really hurt Tara. Her damn addiction to Dark Magicks & her selfishness blinded her to that.

 

[Blaze]

I agree with [MENTION=6332]Lyri[/MENTION]. Willow was so addicted that there's no way she could have stopped at that point without something to really push her to do so. We're shown how bad her addiction is when she stops a few episodes later,she gets the cold sweats, breaks down a few times, wants to rely on magic again. I don't think she would have ever stopped without some kind of events to push her over the edge and make her realize that she needed to stop.

Even Tara leaving didn't make her stop, so I don't think Tara doing anything differently would have made her stop either. What Tara did was the smartest and bravest thing to do by standing up and eventually leaving the person that she loved most in her life because she needed too, it was going to break her if she didn't stand up for herself.

 

[EVIL UU]

[MENTION=12555]JaseyRae[/MENTION]

Does anyone else think Willow wouldn't have done that spell in Tabula Rasa if If Tara didn't kinda "trigger" it?

No. She would have cast the same spell, just without the Tara part, like this:

For Buffy and Tara, this I char. Let Lethe's Bramble do its chore. Purge their her minds of memories grim, of pains from recent slights and sins. When the fire goes out, when the crystal turns black, the spell will be cast. Tabula rasa, tabula rasa, tabula rasa.

The spell is about Buffy first and foremost ( I know a spell that will make her forget she was ever in heaven ) not about Tara, her little rebellion is just an additional problem to fix, a second bird to kill with the same stone. Willow doesn't think of Tara as an equal, what Tara says doesn't really matter to her.

 

[slayer6]

... If Tara didn't kinda "trigger" it? Ok, this will take a while to explain, so if you're not for the long threads...
First of all, I don't approve what Willow did at all, I'm not defending her, what she did was awful, since it's obvious that Tara comes from an abusive family and that she had a tough life. Last thing she needs is an abusive relationship and mind rape, especially after what Glory did to her.
Yet, in "Tabula Rasa" the two of them are talking and WILLOW, not Tara, wants herself to stop magic to prove that Tara is more important to her than magic. It's Will's choice and she all in it, until Tara says "We'll see". Until that moment Willow is determined and all happy about fixing what she had done. Then she realizes that maybe Tara won't take her back even if she goes a week without magic. Then she figures that she'll make her about the WHOLE magic fight thing, so she doesn't lose her. She was so desperate to be with her, she did again what she swore she wouldn't. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Once again, I'm not defending what Willow done, I'm horrified that she could do that again after Tara clearly said that that was VIOLATING her mind, but I'm just pointing out that Tara said that maybe they need a break from each other and that made Willow do the spell again, so she doesn't risk losing her, while ironically the spell lead to exactly that. I'm saying maybe if Willow was sure Tara wouldn't break up with her after a "magic-free week" that she wouldn't do a spell and that she would go through with it.

I don't think it is either fair or valid to say that Tara triggered it. I think at that particular time Willow was entirely self serving and felt that since she was so powerful and had the ability to do these things then she had the right. It was clear she didn't even see why it was so terrible to do that which tells me she just felt it was ok to manipulate people with magic to serve her own purpose.