Tara Maclay


 * See also: Tara (vampire)

"Nobody messes with my girl."

- Tara

Tara Maclay was a witch, member of the Scooby Gang and lover of Willow Rosenberg.

Early Life


Tara was born on October 16, 1980, roughly the same age as the rest of the Scooby Gang. Her family life was traumatic and she did not have many friends before meeting Willow. She lost her mother when she was 17, at which point she went through a brief rebellious period. At a young age, her abusive father told her that she was partially of demon descent on her mother's side, who, like Tara, had magic powers. She later found out this was merely a lie designed to keep control over her. She "came out" as a lesbian before her freshman year in college.

Willow
While a member of UC Sunnydale's Wicca group, she met Willow, herself a practicing witch. In many ways, the painfully shy and quiet Tara was reminiscent of Willow of seasons past. As Willow's romantic relationship with Oz caused her to bloom, it was through Tara that Willow becomes a powerful young woman and through Willow that Tara's confidence grows. Willow realized that Tara was the person she loved, choosing Tara over her ex-boyfriend Oz when he briefly returned to town.



The evil hell-god, Glorificus, sucked her mind out, leaving her in a babbling, childlike state until Willow cured her. Willow's magic addiction causes Tara to break off their relationship, although they eventually reconciled.

Tara and Willow became surrogate parent figures to Dawn Summers after Buffy Summers's death and Tara remained devoted to Dawn even after she left the Summers' house following her breakup with Willow. Since Dawn was unaware of the plan by Willow and the others to resurrect Buffy, she seemed to expect to remain in Willow and Tara's guardianship until she turned 18 and was overjoyed by their reconciliation. Tara was supportive and understanding of Willow's efforts to deal with the pressure of Scooby Gang leadership, reminding her that their bedroom was "the room where [she] don't have to be brave." Tara became more confident with great magical skills and knowledge.

Death


Tara was killed on May 7, 2002, by a stray bullet shot by Warren Mears intended for Buffy As a result, Willow, consumed by grief and rage, was propelled into a destructive and nihilistic rampage and attempted to destroy the world. Fortunately, Xander Harris was able to persuade Willow to not destroy the earth and Willow was sent to England with Rupert Giles to learn how to control her powers more efficiently.



Legacy
Willow was offered to have Tara be her guide on her journey towards improving her understanding of her powers. However, Willow surmised this would either be robbing Tara of her afterlife or an illusion, and instead chose Saga Vasuki. Tara appeared within Buffy's dream-space and was later discussed by Willow when explaining to Buffy and Kennedy that she was keeping Kennedy and herself away from Buffy because she felt guilty for her decision to resurrect Buffy, returning to the life of increased danger associated with slaying which ultimately cost Tara her life, rather than taking the opportunity of Buffy's death to be with Tara in a safer environment and she did not want to repeat the same mistake with Kennedy. In a dream, Buffy was marrying skinless Warren and Tara was by her side saying "I still blame you for my death."

Powers and Abilities


Tara was a powerful but very prudent witch who performed a wide range of spells. Tara demonstrated telekinesis, which, when she was in physical contact with Willow, was stronger than it would otherwise be, i.e., she and Willow pooled their power by concentrating on moving the same object. She displayed the unusual ability to magically know something was wrong with someone and to sense the use of mental powers, which she did by "reading" a person's aura, such as when Buffy was possessed by Faith Lehane. This ability, known as "The Sight", was one of very few that Willow did not share. Tara had a good knowledge of Latin and grew up riding horses. She rarely used the Internet because the preponderance of bad spelling depressed her.

Notable Spells and Incidents


Tara was the only one to notice that Faith's spirit was trapped in Buffy's body and was central in sending Willow to the "nether-world" in order to discover how they could reverse the soul-switching. Tara cast a defensive spell which fended off a demon by conjuring a magical "fog of protection". Tara aided Giles and Willow in an attempt to reach and reason with the residual spiritual manifestations of numerous abused children who were plaguing a fraternity house.

Tara was "borrowed" out of time and space in order to speak for the First Slayer, who was without speech.

Tara cast a spell to stop the Scooby Gang from being able to see demons so she could hide her supposed demon side. This also put the Scoobies in grave danger when Glory sent a horde of Lei-Ach Demons after Buffy, but Tara reversed it in time.

Tara used effective combat spells and was the only one that saw Buffy for what she was after she returned from the dead. For example, Tara cast a spell creating an "energy ball" that struck a demon biker attempting to kidnap Anya, thus freeing her friend Tara magically conjured a jet of flame in an attempt to intimidate the bikers' leader and she also conjured a light to help guide Willow and Xander who were lost in the forest. She cast a spell to free the trapped party goers in Buffy's house, but the spell instead freed a demon from a sword. Tara cast a spell that untied Willow and Dawn and she also magically sent a heavy shelf flying towards a demon to save her friends.

Tara made her only first demon kill when she axed a demon in the back as he tried to strangle Willow.

Romantic Relationships
"I'm under your spell"

- Tara




 * Willow Rosenberg — Tara met Willow in a Wicca group during college and began a relationship which became sexual. They were each other's "true love", shadowing Willow's relationship with Potential Slayer Kennedy. Even when the Scooby Gang fell victim to an amnesia spell, there was still a heavy attraction between Willow and Tara, reinforcing the message of true love.

Behind the Scenes

 * She was portrayed by Amber Benson.


 * Tara stated that she was allergic to shrimp in Buffy the Vampire Slayer's fifth season.


 * Tara stated that her mother was a witch as powerful as Willow. Her maternal grandmother may also have been a witch, as Tara stated that she possessed a rare Doll's Eye Crystal, which has powerful magical properties.


 * While "Seeing Red" is commonly considered Amber Benson's last appearance as Tara, she actually appears (and is credited) in the following episode as Tara's dead body.


 * Amber Benson had the shortest tenure as a main character of any character from either Buffy or Angel: one episode.


 * The first time that Tara appears in the opening credits is also the episode that she dies in. Willow_18.jpg


 * Tara has the lowest kill count of all the Scoobies: one. Also, throughout her entire time on the series on-screen, she never dusts a vampire.


 * Joss Whedon originally wanted an actress with a smaller, less voluptuous frame, but Marti Noxon saw the vulnerability in Amber Benson's portrayal of Tara and called her back after her audition.


 * Benson described her character in an interview, "She's quiet. It's mostly because she is shy, I think. I can identify with it in a sense, because I can be very shy too. It's almost like acting is an outlet for me that helps me to not be shy. I feel like Tara's the same way; her witchcraft empowers her and it forces her out of her shell."


 * Hannigan was asked how Whedon planned the Willow-Tara relationship, "I don't know if he had any idea that was going to develop the relationship the way he did. He was very hands-on in the Willow and Tara scenes.. he only does that when he really cares. But then we started reading the stuff and it's like 'OK, this is clearly going beyond the subtext here.' And he tried to stick to the 'No, no, it's just subtext' defense. Finally it was like 'Oh come on, hit-yourself-over-the-head-with-the-it' text."


 * Benson was normally credited as a guest on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, despite appearing in more episodes than other regulars Oz and Riley. This is typical of how contracts are written for the actors - Seth Green and Marc Blucas's contracts specified that since they were regular characters they had to be available whenever they were needed for an episode and were normally expected to appear in all 22 episodes in a season. (There were exceptions to give a character time off to film a movie or if the storyline didn't require that actor). In contrast Amber Benson's contract was on a per-episode basis, like Kristine Sutherland and Eliza Dushku (and James Marsters in Season 2), hence they were not in the main credits.


 * The only time Amber Benson was credited as a cast member in the opening credits was for the episode "Seeing Red," the episode in which Tara was killed. As Joss Whedon said in his commentary for "Welcome to the Hellmouth," this was something he had wanted to do from the start: kill a character listed as a regular in one of their first appearances as such. Whedon had considered listing Eric Balfour (who played Jesse) in the two-part pilot as a regular, only to surprise the audience by killing him off, but financial restrictions didn't allow for this.


 * After Tara's death, it was fiercely debated whether it constituted an example of a cliché in television that lesbian relationships usually turn out badly, often with one partner dying or turning out to be evil. Joss Whedon later explained that Tara's death had nothing to do with her being a lesbian, but it was just another plot twist designed to further Willow's personality; allegedly, if Willow had still been involved with Oz in Season Six, he would've been killed just as Tara was, so Tara was doomed not for being a lesbian but for being Willow's lover. In particular, it had become a well-known characteristic of the show that any couples tended to have their relationships brutally interrupted when they're at their closest.


 * Tara was originally set to return to the show in the Season Seven episode "Conversations with Dead People", in which she would appear as one of the many forms assumed by The First Evil, and attempt to coerce Willow into committing suicide. However, Benson was not available and the episode was already on a really tight schedule. Instead, the First appeared to Willow as Cassie Newton, claiming to speak for Tara and that Willow couldn't see Tara (unless she killed herself) as a consequence of her actions as Dark Willow.


 * While speaking at the Wizard World Chicago Convention in August 2004, Joss Whedon claimed that he had planned to bring Tara back from the dead at the end of Season Seven. According to Whedon, the episode would have centered around Buffy being granted one "life-altering" wish. Buffy would have spent the whole episode trying to decide what she wanted to do with the wish (including, possibly, restoring Angel's humanity). The episode would have ended with Buffy telling Willow that she'd just gotten a great new pair of shoes, and when Willow asked her if she used up her wish on new shoes, Buffy would have said, "No, silly!" and stepped aside to reveal Tara. It was intended to be set exactly a year after her death. However, this plan was abandoned when Amber Benson was unavailable for filming. At the 2007 Comic-Con, he referred to this idea as well. In addition the Season Eight issue 6 letters page hinted that Tara may be involved in an upcoming comic.


 * In an essay published in Salon, Stephanie Zacharek argued that "gentle and sensible" Tara - more than any other character on Buffy - quietly and sympathetically stood for the right of all people to choose their own path and make their own mistakes. Zacherek writes, "Her soft, pearlescent voice and shy, doe-like eyes didn't contrast with her resolve; they were a huge part of it."