Forgotten Villains: Buffy’s Vampire Willow

By Owen Quinn author

Photo copyright Mutant Enemy

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

With every shop there is a constant thread that our heroes may die or nearly die or survive to the end with some scars but essentially human or Klingon or Gallifreyan whatever nothing terminal happens to them. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer we always had the threat of our heroes being turned into vampires. Being a friend of the Slayer or simply living in Sunnydale made you a prime target for a bloodsucker upgrade. Sometimes they came close but it never happened.

However in the third season episode The Wish, a hurt Cordelia wishes that Buffy had never moved to Sunnydale. She discovered that her boyfriend Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon) cheated on her with Willow Rosenburg (Alyson Hannigan). While they had always been close friends, Willow had a crush on Xander and they finally acted upon it.

Cordelia took a risk becoming involved with Xander due to her status as most popular girl in school and him being a nerd. But when Cordelia made that wish she didn’t realise her new friend Anya was a vengeance demon. Vengeance demons grant wishes for women betrayed by men and she creates a new timeline where Buffy never came. Sunnydale is now overrun with vampires led by the Master. With no Buffy there was no one to stop him from rising at the end of season one. Now it is a hellhole where the Bronze nightclub is openly vamp where they keep in cages unfortunate victims.

Cordelia is confused at first until she meets Willow and Xander dressed strangely and soon realises they are vampires and lovers. Becoming a vamp frees all your inhibitions and they act upon their attraction which only winds up Cordelia even more. She is only saved from them by the town’s only defence the White Hats consisting of Giles (Anthony Head), Oz (Seth Green), Larry Blaisdell and Nancy.

Willow along with Xander is now part of the Master’s elite guard, the Order of Aurelius, his right hand persons so to speak. She is everything that our Willow isn’t; sensual, sexual, unafraid to speak her mind and fights like a demon. Like all vamps she is sadistic and uncaring about her victims. This Willow likes it when her victims die fighting and screaming. There is nothing human about her anymore and is a prime example of how becoming a vampire makes a person so far removed from the one you knew. Without a soul, good kind Willow is gone forever. It is a far cry from the guilt ridden one we saw earlier in the episode trying to apologise to Oz only to be rejected.

Willow’s outfit is Moulin Rouge in appearance announcing her lack of inhibitions In fear of being killed by the Master she and Xander murder Cordelia something Willow finishes with a little wave. Here Willow gets bored easily so passes her time being sadistic which she calls playing; her puppy is Angel, chained in a cell and Willow’s plaything. So good is she at torture that Xander likes to watch.

When Buffy does arrive, all hell breaks loose and there is a huge fight. Willow launches herself into it and her and Buffy battle. However ironically it is her spurned lover from this reality that kills her along with Larry by impaling her. As heroes fall, Giles stops Anya by smashing her amulet and reverses the wish.

But as we know death isn’t always permanent in this genre. In Doppelgangland, Willow and Anya try a spell to bring back Anya’s amulet. Alternate Giles destroyed the vengeance demon’s amulet to restore reality leaving Anya human in our world. She isn’t happy and desperately wants to be a demon again. Willow has begun practicing magic but is still a learner. Instead her spell creates a temporal fold that brings vampire Willow into our world.

Her world has a curfew, people do not go out once darkness falls and everyone wears dull clothes to avoid attracting vamps. Vampire Willow cannot believe humans walk the streets at night so freely and wear the most up to date fashion. She meets Buffy and Xander. She is horrified that her lover is a human and tells Buffy she hates her. When Buffy goes to stop her leaving, Willow shows her vamp face. They believe their friend has been turned only to meet her in the library as her normal self.

Vamp Willow is attacked by vampires thinking she is our Willow but she slaps them down. She then organises them to storm the Bronze where she intends to turn everyone into vampires. She kills a girl on the spot to prove her intentions. Oz is trapped there as is Anya and Angel escapes to get Buffy. Anya explains what is really going on to her telling her about her alternate self that brought her here.

Vampire Willow finds our Willow and at first wants to be sent back to her reality but comes round to the idea of a universe with two Willows. She licks her neck and our Willow is creeped out. It is the first indication that Willow is actually gay which will later come to fruition. She manages to hit her with a tranquiliser dart and lock her in a cage. Our Willow then has to impersonate her other self while swapping outfits. Camp Willow is horrified at being dressed as “fuzzy” and tricks Cordelia into letting her out but not before Cordelia nearly bores her to death with her wittering about stealing boyfriends.

After an unsuccessful attempt to kill Cordelia only to be stopped by Wesley, vamp Willow enters the Bronze as there is a free for all fight. She tries to kill our Willow by strangulation. Buffy leaps to stake her but our Willow stops her. They have to send her back to her world but still arrives at the point where she is killed by Oz.

Alyson Hannigan does a great job making the two Willows individuals and not verge into the camp exaggerated territory. It is always great to see a good guy go to the dark side but when it’s done so well as it was with these two episodes, it stands out from the crowd. Add to that the story is not just a stunt but has ripples that will echo until the end of the series.