Season One
Season Two
(All dates are extrapolations, intended as a reference, none are explicitly established in canon)
1981: Born
Father: Ira Rosenberg -- Out of town a lot. Won't let Willow watch A Charlie Brown Christmas at home, and would apparently flip out to learn she'd been hanging crucifixes on her wall.
Mother: Sheila Rosenberg -- Very distant, detached woman, also out of town a lot, not often there for her daughter. Big on statistics and pop psychology, not big on actually listening to her daughter. Was proud to learn her daughter was gay.
No siblings (that we know of)
Jewish and Wicca.
When we first meet Willow, she is a sophomore in high school. Her best friends are Xander and Jesse. She dresses in department store clothes her mom picked out for her, and she is considered a "loser" by Cordelia and the rest of the "in" crowd at Sunnydale High. She's very shy, but also very smart. Probably a major teacher's pet, she's the person everyone knows to go to for homework help, and she's practically the only student in the school who ever uses the library. She's also, of course, a whiz with computers. Her social status is low enough that she's shocked when Buffy even speaks to her.
By year two of the show, Willow is still shy, quiet, and geeky, but she's gained at least a little bit of confidence from her association with Buffy and the Scooby Gang. She meets Oz this year, of course, but at first, her most major love interest is an oblivious Xander. She's never been kissed, and is given to romantic fantasies of cafes in Paris and things of that nature, as well as dark brooding over her lack of a boyfriend. She and Oz finally begin to officially date well towards the end of the season. It is also during this year that she begins to develop her interest in magic, but mostly, at this point, in an academic sense, out of a desire to be able to better help Buffy and the group. It isn't until Becoming that she really casts her first spell, restoring Angel's soul. The spell "opens a door" and ever after, the magic is a part of her.
Willow grows up a lot during season three, and gains a lot of confidence. She begins to learn magic more seriously, ignoring the fears of her friends. She comes into her own, gaining the confidence by the end of the season to stand up to Faith and to choose her own destiny. Her relationship with Oz, while damaged by her fling with Xander, recovered and matured as the season went on, from shy and almost chaste-seeming to something more adult.
Although, of course, Willow doesn't truly find herself as a sexual being until season four. Oz leaves her, of course, and she mourns. And she gets angry, too, nearly casting a vengeful spell on Oz, and then, later, in Something Blue, casting a spell that does so much vengeful harm to her friends it catches D'Hoffryn's attention, and he offers to make her a vengeance demon. Then, of course, she recovers, and meets Tara, and her relationship with her helps Willow find herself and grow up. Willow's magic steadily improves over the course of the season, and explores and grows more comfortable with her own sexuality. She grows up in other ways, as well, continuing to improve her self-confidence, as she had in season three, and her self-esteem. She grows calmer, more self-assured, and she plays the more dominant role in her relationship with Tara, whereas, with Oz, she'd played a more submissive role.
The story of season five, for Willow, is about the beginning of her fall to dark magic. Granted, it didn't really start in season five, it started back in season two and three, when she went behind Giles's back and ignored her friend's concerns to learn more magic, and in season four, when she cast reckless spells and vengeful spells. But season five, especially as it drew to a close, was when the darker sides of her power began to show through more strongly, especially her vengeful attack against Glory after Tara was harmed. But it was also there in more subtle moments, like her inability to understand why it was wrong for Dawn to want to resurrect her mother.
And... this all, of course, majorly continues in season six, when we get the whole whack-out-on-magic Willow thing. Willow brings Buffy back to life, and learns that she tore her out of heaven. This has major, major consequences for Willow. But, instead of giving up on the magic, Willow just buries herself in it deeper. She wants to make things right, but as Tara says in Tabula Rasa, what she really wants is to make things work out the way *she'd* like them to. This is really the peak of her self-involved period. Everything's about her, and what she wants, and what she can do, and about losing herself, burying her pain in magic. She begins to recover, to regain her perspective, and even to find herself again, the person she used to be before all the magic. And then, of course, Tara dies, and Willow goes nuts, and kills Warren (and Rack). And has that sexy magic fight with Giles.
Which leads to... season seven Willow, recovering from the past few years of misused magic. The end of season six had an impact on her, changed her. She has learned, finally, the consequences of magic. She's also fragile this season, though. Has lost some of the self-confidence she gained over the years. She's a little bit like she was in seasons two or three. But sadder, and wiser. Her relationship with Kennedy is not the Great Romance as her past relationships have been. It's casual, convenient, and physical, although they do, much as I hate to admit anything good about Willow/Kennedy, seem to be nicely supportive of each other. But it doesn't seem to be love, at least, not on Willow's part, and Willow seems very cautious (understandably) about intense relationships. And the series ends with a great triumph for Willow, casting a great, powerful, and good (apparently) spell.
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Season One | Season Two |
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Season Three | Season Four |
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Season Five | Season Six | Season Seven |
Willow/Oz
Relevant Episodes: Season Two: Inca Mummy Girl*, Halloween, What's My Line?*, Surprise, Innocence, Phases*, Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered, Becoming. Season Three: All, Lover's Walk*, Amends*, Graduation Day*. Season Four: The Freshman, Living Conditions, Harsh Light of Day, Fear, Itself, Beer Bad, Wild At Heart*, New Moon Rising*.
Oz first sees Willow while she's wearing an Eskimo costume in Inca Mummy Girl, and he is instantly captivated. However, it is not until What's My Line? that the two actually meet, when both are pulled aside to meet with representatives from a big software company for career day. Later, Oz saves her from being shot, and they become friends. Willow is distracted by her unreciprocated feelings for Xander, and so at first, her main romantic interest in Oz is as a tool to make Xander jealous, especially after she catches Xander and Cordelia making out in the library. However, Oz proceeds then to say something deeply romantic and wins her heart. In Phases, after an extended period of Willow not being quite sure where the relationship is going, Oz becomes a werewolf and Willow finally gets up the nerve to kiss him. They proceed to become an extremely sappy (or adorable) couple. Things go well between them, up until Homecoming, when formal wear causes fluking between Willow and Xander, and they kiss. Their secret kissage carries on for several episodes, until they are finally caught by Oz and Cordelia in Lover's Walk. All couples involved break up for awhile. Oz tells Willow he needs space and time to think. Willow is on her best behavior afterwards, determined to get him back and missing him terribly. In Amends, Oz finally agrees to give it another go. Willow offers him her virginity, but her wants to wait for the right moment, which turns out to be in Graduation Day, as they panic together. They are still together as they go to UC Sunnydale, but then, Oz meets up with Veruca in Wild At Heart (although, technically, he first sees her in Living Conditions) and his werewolf blood proves a little too hot for him to handle. He sleeps with Veruca, and Willow catches him. She nearly does a vengeful spell on him and Veruca, but loses heart at the last moment. Then Oz, as the wolf, kills Veruca to save Willow. He decides that he isn't safe for Willow to be around and leaves to try and find a way to control himself. He then returns in New Moon Rising, but by then, Willow has met Tara and, though she does struggle with the decision, decides that she wants to be with her.
Similarities to Giles/Willow: As any Giles/Oz fan will readily tell you, the similarities between the two characters are obvious and plenty. Both are calm, quiet, and deeply intelligent. Both play the guitar, and even have similar taste in music. They are, essentially, two characters very much on the same wavelength.
Willow/Xander
Relevant Episodes: Season Three: Homecoming*, Band Candy, Revelations, Lover's Walk* (although there are more subtle moments in many, many episodes of the first three seasons)
Willow and Xander dated, briefly, when they were five, but it ended when Xander stole Willow's Barbie. Since some time after that, Willow developed an unrequited thing for him, which is still going strong at the beginning of the series. Xander is completely oblivious, although there is a near miss between them at the beginning of When She Was Bad. They nearly kiss, but then Buffy reappears, and Xander only has eyes for her. Willow continues to pine for most of the season, and is extremely upset to find Xander kissing Cordelia, of all people, instead of her. But then she falls for Oz, and everything is ok, until Homecoming, when they see each other in formal wear, and suddenly find themselves kissing each other. They continue kissing in secret until Lover's Walk, when they are caught, and after that, Willow realizes that she really wants to be with Oz, and the Xander/Willow thing ends.
Similarities to Giles/Willow: Well, it does show that it is not outside the realm of possibility for Willow to have an affair.
Willow/Tara
Relevant Episodes: Season Four: Hush*, A New Man, The I In Team, Goodbye Iowa, This Year's Girl, Who Are You*, Superstar, Where The Wild Things Are, New Moon Rising*, The Yoko Factor*, Restless. Season Five: All, Family*, Tough Love*. Season Six: All, All The Way*, Once More With Feeling*, Tabula Rasa*, Entropy*, Seeing Red*.
Willow and Tara meet in Wicca group in Hush, the only two actual witches present. They bond while using magic to move a vending machine, and proceed to have a highly subtextual relationship involving sexy magics and innuendoes. Willow doesn't introduce Tara to the Scoobies until Who Are You, because she likes having Tara to herself. She doesn't tell them about the nature of their relationship until she admits that Tara is the issue to Buffy when Oz comes back. In Yoko Factor, she brings the whole group in on the news. By season five, they are a happy couple, sharing ownership of an adorable kitten. In Family, the rest of the Scoobies finally truly accept Tara into their number. In Tough Love, Willow and Tara have their first fight (over Willow's magic and over whether Willow is gay enough for Tara). Tara's brain is then sucked by Glory, and Willow exacts bloody vengeance against the god (although, unfortunately, most of the blood is her own). Afterwards, Willow is seen caring for a brain-sucked Tara, showing devotion and maturity. Shortly thereafter, though, she restores Tara's mind in The Gift. In season six, they are still together, living in the Summers's home and taking care of Dawn and the Buffybot. After Buffy is brought back, Willow begins to use a lot more magic. Tara and Willow fight about this in All The Way, and then Willow uses a spell to erase Tara's memory of the fight. Tara finds out about the spell in Once More With Feeling, and is very upset. In Tabula Rasa, she says she will leave Willow if she can't get her magic use under control. Willow immediately promises to go a week without using any magic, and then immediately after that, tries to cast a memory spell on Buffy and Tara. The spell goes wrong, and once everyone gets their memories back, Tara leaves Willow. Willow spends much of the rest of the season trying to break the magic habit to get Tara back. Finally, they begin to makes amends, in Entropy, and Tara comes back to Willow for good in Seeing Red. And then dies. Willow goes nuts and tries to end the world.
Similarities to Giles/Willow: Like Oz, Tara shares many traits with Giles. Her magic, for one thing. Also, in season six, when Giles leaves, Tara often is the character who fills his dramatic role, counseling caution and helping hold the group together. Also, it is interesting how both Willow and Giles react in much the same way when their lovers are harmed, with Giles attacking Angelus after Jenny's death and Willow attacking Glory and killing Warren.
Willow/Kennedy
Relevant Episodes: Season Seven: Bring On The Night, The Killer In Me*, Touched*, Chosen.
Kennedy is a potential slayer. She likes Willow. She hits on Willow. She kisses Willow in The Killer In Me. Willow turns into Warren. But that isn't actually Kennedy's fault, it's partly guilt over kissing someone so soon after Tara's death and partly a vengeful Amy's (the former rat) magic. They grow closer over the course of the season, and consummate their relationship in Touched.
Similarities to Giles/Willow: No.
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