If Buffy had to kill Willow...

[BuffyElevated]

At the end of Season 6, imagine Xander couldn't get through to Willow and Buffy had to kill her. Do you think she could have found it in her to do it? How do you think it would have affected the show and the characters?

 

[Robb Stark]

I think she would have done it. When Anya goes nuts at the beginning of S7 and starts killing people, Buffy has a big speech to Xander and Willow that she would have killed Anya. She talked about how when push came to shove, she was forced to kill Angel, and while that totally broke her, she still had to do it.

Now, Dark Willow was a lot more powerful than Angel or Anya, so I'm not sure if Buffy even would have been able to find a way to kill her, but if she had, and the entire world was at stake, she would have done it. She's the Slayer, and that means making the toughest choices so the rest of the world doesn't have too.

I think the rest of the cast would have understood. By the final episode of S6 they've exhausted just about every option in trying to stop Willow, and she's made it clear that she was bent on destroying the world.

If she had died though, there would have been huge fallout. Almost all of the potentials would have died when the Ubervamp invades Buffy's house (remember it was Willow who puts up a shield and deflects him away), and Buffy and Faith would still be the only Slayers, if Willow was never there to unlock the potentials. Also, Angelus would never have become re-ensouled, so Angel would have been done, and seeing how badly the Angel Investigations team got played by Angelus, he would have killed off most of them in short order.

 

[Taake]

It's a rather intriguing thought, a season finale that would have been able to match the brilliance and sadness of Becoming pt2 perhaps. The more I think about it the more I think I would have liked to see it (not that I wanted Willow dead, but dead doesn't necessarily means out of the show in Whedon-land of course)

I think Buffy would have done it and I think the fall out would have been far more interesting than the Potential plot-line. Buffy's battle and victory over Willow would have been incredibly personal and intimate to the entire Scooby gang. There's a lot to think about had that come to happen.

If anything it would have been incredibly interesting to see what Buffy's and Xander's relationship would have been like after it...

 

[Xin Rong]

She would have definitely killed willow. I'm just glad she couldn't.

 

[JCoatsworth]

She probably would have killed her and then hated herself for it. After all, she killed Angel, so she probably could have done it to someone else, too. Anyway, Xander would have hated Buffy, Dawn probably too, and Giles would have made up excuses to comfort Buffy and he would have told her that it was the right thing to do etc. It also would have changed the entire seventh season. The couldn't have made the potentials to Slayers, since there was nobody who could have pulled this off, so they either would have lost or they would have found a completely different way.
But seriously, I don't think she would have been strong enough. They showed this in great detail with the scene in the Magic Box.

 

[EVIL UU]

Do you think she could have found it in her to do it?

Of course. Buffy's a murderer, she's been killing people since "The Pack", by the end of high-school she attempted to murder a fellow slayer to feed her boyfriend. Human rules don't apply.

Spoiler

Also, she actually killed Willow in season 8 so there you have it.

How do you think it would have affected the show and the characters?

Not at all? Here's what happens. Buffy doesn't give a damn, actually killing Willow feels kinda bad but mostly kinda good because it's a revenge for her resurrection. Xander and Dawn are grumpy for some time but get over it. Giles is irrelevant. The first is defeated with Spike-bomb.

 

[BuffyElevated]

It's a rather intriguing thought, a season finale that would have been able to match the brilliance and sadness of Becoming pt2 perhaps. The more I think about it the more I think I would have liked to see it (not that I wanted Willow dead, but dead doesn't necessarily means out of the show in Whedon-land of course)

I think Buffy would have done it and I think the fall out would have been far more interesting than the Potential plot-line. Buffy's battle and victory over Willow would have been incredibly personal and intimate to the entire Scooby gang. There's a lot to think about had that come to happen.

If anything it would have been incredibly interesting to see what Buffy's and Xander's relationship would have been like after it...

I completely agree. If Willow died, I think Season 7 would have had a completely different plot, and it would have been much more interesting to watch than the Potentials and the confusion that was the writers' attempt to flesh out all these characters in 1 season. I didn't love the later-seasons Willow, but that doesn't mean I would have wanted to see Buffy have to kill her; it would have so incredibly sad and horrible to watch, and Buffy's and Xander's relationship development would have been the most interesting thing to me on the show yet.

 

[Jodast]

She would have done it. She showed at the end of season 2 she can kill those she loves when the fate of the world is at stake (pardon the pun). Like others have said, the fallout from it would have been a much better season arc than what they went with. I think we would have seen Buffy withdraw into herself and close off emotionally and become a lot more like Cleveland Buffy from 'The Wish' and season 7 would have been about the fight for Buffy's humanity.

 

[ChosenOneK]

I think buffy would have totally done it. For the simple fact she puts the world first. As far as affecting her. Yes. I believe she would have done it but it would have been extremely hard on her. Season 7 most certainly wouldnt be the same without willow nor would any of the characters.