Willow - universally loved?

[Goby]

This must have been quite a feat for Willow considering Tara moved out before Buffy started working in the Doublemeat. She secretly built a Tarabot maybe? 😀

I think one the explanations for the relative lack of "I hate Willow" opinions is that many people who dislike S6-7 Willow are willing to explain that away with the entire show going down the drain at that time, so this "Willow" isn't really the "real" one. I know I do. On the other hand, many fans seem to be indifferent to early Willow but like S6-7 Willow. So basically there is one likeable Willow for everyone. 🙂

Hmmmm, maybe my recollection of that post and Season 6 is a bit off. lol

I like Willow from Season 1 to the very end. But I don't like what the writers did with her in Season 7. Season 7 had way too little Willow. Then they gave her Kennedy. 😡

 

[EvilBuffy]

The only time I felt any kind of personal connection to was Willow was in S5. Not before or after, only S5. Overall, I'm indifferent. If there I don't think she's universally loved though, I've met a Buffy fan who hated her and quite a few who are indifferent.

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

Mmm, I identified with Willow from beginning to end, especially more towards the end of the show. I know that makes me sound slightly creepy but Willow's darkest moments mirror my own. Maybe not killing or trying to end the world, but on a smaller scale of trying to hurt people I once cared about because of something else that I myself could not control nor undo.

I don't like how she changed when she got with Tara, not that I feel Tara made her that way, but I think there were some things Willow didn't resolve with a lot of different things that caused her to change wildly through the last seasons. Like her thing with Xander or even with Oz (even though we got that scene in New Moon Rising, I always feel like more was to be said and she didn't really deal with it because Tara made her feel good at that moment and that's what mattered most. Had Tara not been there, I think we would've seen something maybe even deeper than what we saw). Heck, even with Buffy.

So yeah, I do love her because she's me in a world with different circumstances, but our problems are practically the same.

 

[prophecygrrl]

What's weird is I LOVE her in fics. In the ones I read, you get to see her interacting with Buffy a lot more, and I think you really get to see more of her characterization that way- what power means to her, what Buffy's friendship means, etc. I really love moments where Willow is being a good friend, and now I kinda wish we saw more of that.

 

[Washburne]

Kean, Kean! Where's Kean?


Oh... She was the first one to post an answer. Never mind then. She kept it much shorter than I thought though. 😉


What I think is what's been showed in this thread. Not everyone love or even care for Willow. Fine by me. They're insane but that's fine. Says me who love Dawn and don't mind Kennedy...

---------- Post added at 09:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:02 AM ----------

Willow do show her fair share of bad behavior, especially in the later season. There's no reason denying that. So yes, you that don't lover her aren't insane. We just have different taste and how fun would it be if everyone thought the same?

 

[xaphania]

I'm not really a big Willow fan. I liked her at the start of the series, but as time went on, I found more and more to dislike.

Now, really thinking about it - I don't particularly like her character at all by the end of S7.

However like Prophecygrrl said, I like her a lot more in fics. Writers tend to either be more sympathetic towards her poorer character traits, or spend more time having her interact with Buffy in a way that a best friend should.

 

[Summerlilly]

I never thought about how there generally isn't as much Willow debate here. I really thought most were gonna say they loved her always! lol It's been a roller coaster ride with my love for Will. I loved her as innocent Willow, as Dark Willow, as geeky computer saves the day Willow, and as the Willow who helped save the world with her pure magiks by turning every potential into a slayer. And of course as Buffy's shoulder to lean on.

But occassionally Willow wasn't my favorite....in the beginning she was so fragile. And those weird funny hats! lol 🙂 Sometimes she was just too.....innocent and boring? Then she was a bitch to Buffy and didn't stand by her in part of season 7.

But in the end...well, all is forgiven because she is the beautiful red headed Witch with a pure heart even after battling her most inner evils and losing the love of her life. Most importantly she has the power and desire to help the Slayer save the day! 😀

 

[Christopher]

I hate Willow in season 1-2 because she's annoying and talks like an idiot, like her a lot from season 3 until 6, when her character is ruined by being a twat which leads to S7 where she just seems to be coasting along with no personality. Apart from people projecting themselves onto her (OMG I'm an average looking small breasted geek who doesn't fit in too!) I seriously don't get the adoration the character receives for the most part.

 

[sisterofmercy]

I'm another who liked her up to S6. I liked how she transformed as a person and as a witch, but found her irritating in seasons 6 and 7.

 

[Taake]

Thank you all, for answering, this very so interesting to read through after noticing a rather significant 'lack of Willow debate'. She seems to be a character generating a lot of like/love/indifference but not so passionate a feelings towards the negative spectrum.

I feel similarly to many of you (liking Willow a lot from the start and less with later seasons when her actions become more questionable at times) and after seeing mostly love for Willow around the boards it feels rather nice to have it clarified that she's not so universally liked as it sometimes appears. 🙂

 

[LoveLoveLovix]

I must say that I could never not like Willow. Not even in Seasons 6 and 7, and this is mainly because she is such a reflection of me. At first, she is a geek who is shy if you don't know her and talkative if you do. She is unintentionally funny, she doesn't dress or act to the norm, and she would never hurt anyone on purpose.

From Seasons 3-5, she becomes more confident in herself. She discovers things that she wouldn't have thought, and she learns to stand up a little on her own. She draws on the energy of her friends a lot, and at times her friends don't believe she can handle things on her own because they are like her protection from the world. She works hard to prove them wrong.

Season 6 is really where she becomes fed up with being the "little sister figure" and says, "this is what I can do that you can't. I know you don't think I am someone who can stand on her own. But I can." She does take it a little too far, of course, after Tara dies. But she did, in the end, achieve her goal. She proved herself, even if it had consequences she wouldn't have dreamed.

Season 7 is her really trying to figure out who she is, if she is this major girl power girly, or if she does really need protection. She tries to find her medium. And Season 8, though I haven't finished it, seems to continue with this theme. She wants to show that while she will always need the Scoobies, and she is always one of them, she doesn't NEED them. She is her own person!

I don't agree with everything she does. But to me, hating Willow in general would make me a... um, there's a word for this. It ends in -ism... means hating yourself. Oh well, short version is she's too much like me, her path is too much like mine to even think about disliking Willow.

---------- Post added at 07:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:30 PM ----------

masochism? I think?

I thought so too, but the definition I got was ENTIRELY different...

 

[Carrrrgh]

I didn't really like Willow in the later seasons :-( I liked when she was her old computer geek self the best

 

[A Flawed Fashion]

I think I'm almost leaning towards indifferent to Willow. It would feel wrong to have her ever not there, but I wouldn't say I'm a fan. She was such a huge part of the show that it almost feels wrong to say that, but I really don't love or hate her character. If she had left, I would have been sad to see her go, but on the other hand, I'm not exactly passionate about most (if any) of her arcs. I like her and I actually have have very few complaints about her and would never say I dislike her on a whole.

As for the way she behaved in season 6, by the time Tara was shot, the only two characters I could really stand were Tara and Dawn. Everyone else was driving me a little insane, so I guess I end up giving her a little more leniency there just by comparison to everyone else around her who are also doing things I don't like.

 

[LizzieRainbow]

I have always loved Willow. I loved her when i first started to watch the show and the more i watched it the more i loved. I preferred her in the first 3 seasons when she was all cute and adorable but i still loved her in the later ones.

 

[sosa lola]

I like her, but she's not in my top favorite characters. I think it's magic that killed my love for her. She became too focused on it that nothing in her life mattered but magic that I started to lose interest. I really hate how she believes that magic makes her special and without it she's not. I presonally love magic-less Willow of the early seasons more. And find her more special.