Willow's ability

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

I thought of something last night when I was watching 'Innocence.'

Is the fact that Willow is so good at magic a result of the many years of practice as she obviously had with it, or because of an innate talent for the art?

Also, do you think she would have continued to experiment with magic if the spell to re-insoul Angel hadn't worked? The success of that spell seemed to give her considerable confidence.

 

[Fredsicle]

I think that if it had gone wrong, she might not want to try it again.
The spell took a lot out of her, especially since it was her first spell, so I think she'd know what would happen, consequences, and not want to put herself in that kind of danger again.
She was confident in herself that she could perform the spell beforehand, remember? Giles didn't want her doing it but she said she may be the best to do it.

 

[Megalita]

Hmm, I am conflicted. I usually believe in the "tabula rasa" theory, meaning I would think Willow's magical abilities were somehow learned rather than being present from birth. However, I think Willow's magic ability is innate, but she just had to practice to hone them more precisely.

 

[Mumrik]

I really think it's a mixture of the two. Willow obviously isn't a witch by birth or inherited her powers from one of her parents like Amy or Tara did and she first got to magic through learning. She is a good student afterall. But she also seemed to have this natural aptitude at magic, as pointed out by Amy in the S7 episode "The Killer In Me", where she said that she, a birthright witch, has to "work twice as hard to be half as good [as Willow]".

 

[faeriegrrl27]

Well, you can have a way natural talent that comes to nothing if you don't practice and I think that's the case here. Willow is obviously very gifted: how many people are there that can restore a soul on the first try? But she did have to practice, as well, to get as deep into the magicks as she did.

 

[Willow-Tree]

I think it's mainly her practicing. This isn't like Harry Potter, where you're either born with it or not... it's you either practice or work at it or you don't, and that's really what determines your ultimate skill.

 

[Big Damn Hero]

I think it's like learning a musical instrument. Some people can pick it up really easily, others have to work hard at it. For most it's a mixture of the two. Your average person could be an amazing cellist, but only with natural talent AND hard work could they be as good as Jaqueline Du Pre 🙂

 

[electricwillow]

I think willow became really good at magic before the battle w glory when she absorbed all the dark magick out of the books in the magic box. Before this she was relatively weak and her magical ability in the series has been quite inconsistent.

 

[Lyri]

I think it's a combination of both, study and a natural-born gift or talent. It's like art. No matter how much you practise or study, if you don't have talent, you're never really going to be any good.

The restoration spell is, in my opinion, a really complicated and hard spell to cast. If Willow didn't have any talent at all, she'd never have been able to cast the spell in the first place, which is where her interest in magic came from.

 

[Foster]

I sorta think Will had some potential- and it was that potential that made her want to study it more. I mean the reason she got interested I think was because of Jenny Calendar. It was around that time that Willow started appearing interested and then she seemed to take over on the spell-front a bit when Jenny was killed. But the spell she does in Becoming (the soul spell thing....forgotten the name) only works because of something or someone that takes her over right? So that was less to do with her ability and more to do with her openness to magic and her willingness to learn that allowed that mini-posession. In my opinion anyway.

So maybe she had that potential in her but it would have remained unused if she hadn't studied to death and gone into the above and beyond category.

 

[Buffyverse Fan]

I thought of something last night when I was watching 'Innocence.'

Is the fact that Willow is so good at magic a result of the many years of practice as she obviously had with it, or because of an innate talent for the art?

Also, do you think she would have continued to experiment with magic if the spell to re-insoul Angel hadn't worked? The success of that spell seemed to give her considerable confidence.

I guess I'm in the minority, but I think it's 95% Innate. If it were simply learned, Giles or Wesley would have the edge as they were heavily trained in Magicks that had been a growing tradition since the Shadow Men chose the First Slayer.

But, while Wes and Giles given sufficient prep could go toe-to-toe with most, Willow at her peak had sufficient power to injure the god Osiris and possibly destroy the world.

Vail, who was the most powerful Wizard at Wolfram & Hart's disposal, was seemingly ancient and could "bend the fabric of reality," yet, imo, he was portrayed as far weaker than Willow.

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

I really think people are overstating how much work Willow had to do. I mean, sure, magic in the Buffyverse is accessible to everyone. I'm thinking Xander's "You can't just go 'librum incendere' and expect...", and the Tabula Rasa bunnyfest. But for some people it's hard. We know this, because Amy and Tara tell us so. But Willow never struggled. Sometimes she attempted too much, sometimes it was very complex, but she never struggled. I think it's fair to say she worked at it very hard to begin with - to break the initial barrier. She spent a LOT of time on that floating pencil. But after that, it began to come easy. And she got lazy. She abandoned the basic theories and principles in favour of the instant-fix. We don't see her return to doing things properly until Season 7, and look what she achieved when she applied herself.

I think the whole of the Season 5/6 arc of addiction had a lot to do with how easy the magic came to Willow. She got lazy with it, she could just do things without working towards them. That kind of approach meant she never really had to think about consequences. I think that's a really important element in her downfall, actually. Tara had to work really hard at it. Amy didn't. She had the same level of immediate pay-off as Willow did post season 3, and she abused it. It was only when Willow coasted past even this that Amy applied herself, and she was fuelled by jealousy. That's never going to end well.

Anyway, that's just how I see it. Willow was used to the easy ride and that's why she found the path to addiction so attractive.

 

[BillyidolwannaB]

I think its all learned. Years of practice plus the right attitude. Willow had good concentration and loved learning. For example even Xander could be a master at magic but its not like he's gonna put in all the effort and learning required.