Willow Post Season Six

Willow-Tree

Your Childhood Trauma
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So, everyone's views on Willow seem to drastically change after the Dark Willow phase.

Why, exactly, is she so lessened as a character? I loved her in every seasons, and she remained by favorite character.

Your thoughts?
 
Everyone's view? I don't think so. A lot of people are still fond of Will, I'm one of them. I wish she'd have taken a different route, though. I wish she's grown stronger. S7 Willow may be a powerful witch, but as a person ...

I'd have loved to see Willow's integrity grow along with her skills from season four onwards, rather than to see her go on a power-trip and then crash.
 
Yeah I still loved Willow in season 7, I didn't have a problem with her as character it was just Killow that bothered me. I don't think that Willow ever needed her, she should of been strong enough on her own to be able to use magic again, and in Empty Places she and the others especially Anya angered me a lot...
I don't really like Willow in the comics though, she's slipped away to much from who she was on the show, she just seems so sad and empty...
 
I never hated Willow.

I loved her in the earlier seasons. From seasons 1-4, she was one of my favourite character.. but in season 6 she just became different, and not different in the good kind of way, and that caused Dark Willow.. I kinda liked her because she showed us a different side of Willow, but on the other hand she was kinda lame.. in season 7 I haven't cared about her at all.
 
I love Willow, she's awesome. I like her in the earlier seasons, but I like her better in the later seasons because she gets more interesting as a character and her styles get better too 😛.
 
Well, I do like her hair better in season 7. But my less likeness of her didn't come because of the Dark Willow phase. It came a little bit earlier, when she starts arguing with Tara, then put a spell on her, and then put a spell on her once more, after she swore she's fine. Tara was trying to help her, but Willow was a little... stupid, I'd dare. She was always the sweet nerd, and she became not very appealing in season 6. I think Tara was right in everything she said to her and about her. Willow didn't notice how bad she's gotten, and didn't listen to Tara, who at that point, was much much smarter than her. Willow let drugs (magic) control her, she almost got Dawn killed, she wasn't there for Tara all the way.

Just to note something: I don't hate Willow, I like her even. But in season 6 I couldn't stand her for her behavior. Look how she talked to Giles, how she treated Tara. The evil was already there, and that was so not her! I love Willow, and that wasn't her.
 
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TheVoid68
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prophecygrrl
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kadrikaur
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Why, exactly, is she so lessened as a character?

I loved Willow, but after Dark Willow she seemed to lack the same confidence, loyalty, backbone and determination she had in earlier seasons. IMO it wasn't so much that her character lessened as she disappeared and became a wallflower. She went from a character I loved to a character I almost forgot was there.
 
I didn't change my mind much about her at all. The only reason I got less interested was because of the freaking writers in s7. They made Willow, Xander and Giles pretty much background characters for most of it.
 
S
Spikefan31
Exactly
I like Willow in season 7. In season 8, I feel her slipping back to who she was in season 6 and it makes me nervous and quite frankly annoyed.

In season 7, I wouldn't say she's lessened as a character... yeah, she's a lot less confident... after going evil like that, i would be too. Not only that but she's grieving Tara... the only part of her character that gets lessened is how little we see her grieve Tara and how quickly she moves onto Kennedy.
 
W
Willow My Love
That has always bothered me.
I don't like Willow post season six. A large part of it is her outright abuse of Tara- wiping her mind (basically taking away her autonomy) and carrying on a relationship with someone who clearly cannot give informed consent. I hated her for that, and Tara deserved far better. Season 7 Willow is back to the sorta-insecure earlier BTVS Willow, so she's more 'likeable' again, I guess, but I don't buy it. I don't think she dealt with the consequences of everything that happened in Season 6 enough. Some of it may have taken place off-screen with the Coven and all so I grant her that, but she almost never acknowledged her horrible treatment of Tara, which really made me mad. Bleh.

Don't get me wrong though. I absolutely adore Willow as a character. In fact, besides Buffy, she's who I really identify with and in some ways aspire to be. I truly do love her because I identify with her (more than I probably should lol), but I just didn't like the way she dealt with things.
 
I like Willow in every Season. She's my favorite character.
She has changed from time to time, but that's how it's supposed to be in my opinion. Characters grow older and alter.
I also really like her after she's back from England in Season 7.
She's very powerful, but she's afraid of using her powers.

I also think that she could have beaten all the Ubervamps from Season 7 on her own, if she had had her powers under control.
I think she's the most powerful person (physically) of the Scoobies (in 2nd place Buffy), but only since Season 7 (or since the end of 6, but at that time she's not really one of the Scoobies though)
 
I don't think my opinions on Willow could every change. I loved her character since the pilot and until the end. I actually liked dark Willow and think it helped her. A character can't be the same the whole time I mean I have seen it happen but that makes the character boring. So even if she did some things I didn't like it served a purpose.
She is one of my favorites and I don't know I just can't picture the show without her.
 
I never hated Willow...I have a soft spot for her but I don't understand her behavior in season 7 when she went against Buffy in Empty Places instead of standing up for her. And Killow ruined Willow.
 
I never hated Willow. And I actually rather liked the Dark Willow twist, that said I can't say I care too much about her in s7. Mostly I think she just falls flat. Not evil, not cute old seasons Willow, she just... kind of boring. Willow-light if you will.

I wish they would have found a way to reconcile the usual Willow with getting-over-darkness Willow because it was too much of the latter for my taste. She went from strawberry flavored to cardboard.
 
Willow was a great character despite never being my favourite. I thought she was sweet, intelligent with a lot of resolve in the earlier seasons. I was always interested when Willow had a side story, and could often find myself feeling attached to her. Season 6 I enjoyed her character arc, although I couldn't connect with her.

Season 7 is an interesting season though. There were so many characters and so much happening that I don't really know how I feel about a lot of the characters. Willow didn't seem like herself, of course how could she be at that point, but I would have liked to see her retain more of her personality. What happened to the Willow that loved to learn and seeker information? We had always seen Willow as someone with a passion for knowledge and that just seemed to be gone.

Killow wasn't the nicest thing to watch. I'm not anti Kennedy at all. I don't mind her as a character, but I just didn't get the Killow thing. Not to soon, just inefectually done.

Empty Places I wanted to slap Willow. After all the danger she had put the gang in, and the terrible things she had done she had no right to behave like that. I can see where the hostility is coming from with almost all of the characters, but what the hell willow!?
 
In 'Empty Places', Willow only says she's worried about Buffy's judgment. No, she's not defending her, but hers is not an 'active' rebellion either. In fact, she was trying to tone Kennedy's aggression down (I say slapping her in the face would've done the trick).

I think the way Willow's personality is so subdued is meant to portray her guilt over her power trip and her mourning Tara's death. It's like she constantly feels guilty about being too cheery and content, like she doesn't think she deserves to have her old place in life back after all that she's done. This is why Willow literally becomes 'invisible' when she returns to Sunnydale.
 
Willow is my favorite character, but I do feel that in season seven she's turned into an insecure, sniveling child, and it really bothers me. We had FINALLY seen Willow begin to come into her own in season 5, and then season 6 happens and it resets Will completely. And then she's with Kennedy, who is kind of a slap in the face to the memory of Tara, but we won't get into that today... I don't like how quickly she jumped into bed with Kennedy, even if she did turn into Warren, and my favorite line of all time Buffy comes from that episode. Season seven went downhill to me. I remember watching it and wondering if that even was the show I had known and loved. It was taken in a completely different direction, and I didn't much care for it.
 
I do like Willow through all the seasons. I think the only times I didn't like Willow was either when she was mouthing off to Tara or Giles or when she kept saying "GAY NOW". Not what she said, but how she said it.

Season 6 took everything they had been building up since season 1 and pushed it into overdrive. Controlling Willow had always been there but so had insecure Willow. Sure, dating Oz and Tara made it seem like Willow was more confident and outgoing but that doesn't mean her insecurities went away and it probably, in fact, created new insecurities. However, because of how much screen time is given, we don't really get to see Willow still have these insecurities and to us it looks as though she's different from seasons 1-3. She really isn't however, nothing about seasons 1-3 Willow left, they just got pushed to the side for her romantic storyline or her magic storyline. When you take an insecure person and give them something that makes them not feel so much like a waste of space, bad things tend to happen. Hence, the end of season 6.

Season 7 Willow is her insecurities now being front and center all the time and I take it as years of repression trying to not let those insecurities show. She was not doing magic as heavily and so what made her feel powerful wasn't really there and hence insecure land. Had Willow continued to do magic in a responsible way (which she wouldn't hear of because she felt it would already be too much), she probably would have been more confident.

Also, I sometimes find it hard to grasp that Willow moved on from Tara too fast. I mean, if we count episodes, Willow moved on from Oz faster than she moved on from Tara, yet I don't hear a lot of people being upset with that. Willow didn't end up kissing Kennedy 5 episodes later from Tara's death, so I don't understand the "She moved on too quickly" mentality. Tara was with Willow throughout the entire season. Even when she began dating Kennedy, their first kiss it was all about Tara and how much Willow loved Tara. Sure, a breakup is different from death, but I'm assuming a lot of time has gone by before she even thinks about kissing Kennedy. Even longer to even think about sex.
 
I've ALWAYS loved Willow. I just didn't like the Dark Willow story arch and I didn't like her getting with Kennedy. She moved on from Tara WAY too freaking fast. It was sad. That had nothing to do with her as a person. I always love her. I even like some of her lines when she's with Kennedy. Just not her actually being with Kennedy. Because if someone SERIOUSLY killed my soulmate, I would definitely NOT move on that damn fast.
 
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