Highlights
- Willow's turn to evil in season 6 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a clear and understandable result of her addiction to magic and her relationship with Tara.
- Dark Willow is one of the most powerful beings in the series, capable of ripping Warren's skin off and defeating Buffy and Giles.
- Xander is the unlikely hero who manages to bring Willow back from her corrupted state by appealing to her heart and reminding her of his love for her.
Across seven epic seasons of television the Buffy The Vampire Slayer series saw dozens of iconic characters take the screen to battle some horrific foes. No matter how bad the horrors of the night got, the Scooby Gang always knew that if they had each other, they’d manage to pull through somehow. That is exactly why things got so intense in season 6 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer when Willow became the ultimate evil.
It’s a shock that mild-mannered and usually timid Willow had the capacity to become one of the world’s greatest threats, but thanks to the right combination of events, she did. It’s not mysterious, and it’s not confusing, Willow’s turn to the side of evil is as clear as it gets, and yet audiences still felt betrayed when the show was airing. Luckily, Willow is eventually defeated in the most surprising way.
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When And Why Does Willow Turn Evil In Buffy The Vampire Slayer?
To the shock and dismay of the biggest Willow fans, the timid witch ended up turning evil in season 6 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, thus becoming the major antagonist of the season. Much of her turn toward evil stems from her addiction to magic and her relationship with Tara. Her reliance on and overuse of magic is a major topic throughout the season, and it’s something that brings her into so much conflict with Tara that she eventually uses magic to manipulate her mind. This eventually led to the two breaking up, Willow hitting rock bottom with her magic addiction, and eventually trying to turn a new leaf.
Things seemed to be getting better for Willow for a while as she’d calmed down with the use of magic and had begun reconciling with Tara, the issue is, nothing nice comes without consequence. To everyone’s complete surprise, Tara is shot by resident Buffy-hater Warren during an attempt to murder the slayer, killing her. With Willow unable to bring Tara back, she embraces her rage in season 6 episode 20 “Villains” and becomes Dark Willow, giving Warren no hope at survival, even with a Slayer working to save him.
Season 6 really puts Willow through the worst of the worst when compared to a lot of the other characters. One of the biggest revelations is that when she brought Buffy back to life, she had actually pulled Buffy out of Heaven, something that wrecked Willow emotionally. Then there’s Willow’s addiction to magic, a plotline that most Buffy fans likely never saw coming during the earlier seasons of the show. Mix that in with relationship issues with the love of her life, and then having to watch that same love die, powerless to do anything to stop it – it is safe to say that Season 6 is the roughest patch of Willow’s entire life to that point.
How Powerful Is Dark Willow?
Dark Willow is arguably one of the most powerful beings in the entire series thanks to her mastery of dark magic. She was powerful enough to instantly rip Warren’s skin off his body without a second thought, something that put every character in the series on notice. She was also able to defeat Buffy and a magically-infused Giles with relative ease, even if one of those encounters did eventually lead to her defeat. Most obviously, Dark Willow was planning to completely destroy all life on Earth, something that makes her a lot more powerful than many of the big-bads of the series.
When keeping later materials in mind, Dark Willow only becomes more powerful. She does make a resurgence as a distant-future version of Willow, and at that point, she is capable of bringing Buffy at her most powerful through time, 200 years into the future. To be fair, Willow seemingly only does this so that Buffy can kill her, but it just goes to show that while powerful, Dark Willow’s full power is never truly fully explored.
How Does Willow Return To Her Normal Self?
Believe it or not, the character who manages to overcome the great evil of this season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer is Xander of all people (with a technical assist from Giles’ magic). While that may not sound realistic initially, the confrontation between him and Willow isn’t much of a physical or magical one, but instead one of the heart. With the way things play out, it’s made clear that Xander truly was the only character capable of stopping Willow once she had turned evil, at least at that point in time. It’s Xander’s willingness to never give up on those he loves that ultimately overcomes Willow’s corruption.
With everyone else powerless to stop Willow from destroying the world, it is the weakest of the Scooby Gang who steps in. Walking directly into the path of Willow’s magic, Xander is his usual self, something that is unusually effective for once. Despite ending up on the wrong side of her unknown magical abilities, Xander refuses to give in, constantly reminding Willow that she is his best friend that he loves her, and that if everything has to end, with her is exactly where he’d want to be. Bit by bit, Willow’s corrupted magic begins to fail her as Xander inches closer and closer, finally embracing her as she cries in his arms, the threat officially coming to a close.
Sadly, this wouldn’t technically be Willow returning to her normal self. That would take much longer, as she would go through a long rehabilitation process following these events. She would eventually be comfortable using magic again, but that would be a long road, with the fear of turning to darker magics always lingering in her mind.