Willow Rosenberg

"The magicks I used are very powerful. I'm very powerful. And maybe it's not such a good idea for you to piss me off."

- Willow Rosenberg

Willow Danielle Rosenberg was a witch native to Sunnydale, California and a founding member of the Scooby Gang. The best friend and semi-official sidekick of the Slayer, Buffy Summers, Willow started out as a meek and largely unassertive computer nerd but eventually grew to be a powerful and authoritative individual.

Early Life
Willow Rosenberg was born to Sheila and Ira Rosenberg. Her mother was supercilious and distant, noticing Willow had cut her hair months after she actually had it cut. Willow may have inherited from her mother a strong sense of outrage against political injustice, especially that committed against Native Americans. Willow's mother initially thought her being gay was a political statement. Then she later realized that Willow was serious about being a lesbian and became less enthusiastic about it. Her father seemed to be equally uninvolved. Willow had a fear of frogs, a fact she exploited to help Buffy.

Sunnydale High


In her early years in high school, Willow was a shy, naive nerd with a light, risque sense of humor. A member of the Math, Science, and Computer clubs, she was the person to go to for tutoring help. Willow was ridiculed by her more popular classmates, including cheerleaders Cordelia Chase and Harmony Kendall. She had a hopeless crush on her lifelong friend Xander Harris, who ignored her to pursue his equally hopeless crush on new student Buffy Summers. After witnessing Willow being insulted by Cordelia, Buffy quickly approached Willow as a friend despite Willow responding in fear as she saw her with Cordelia. Willow soon became Buffy's best friend after being pursued by vampires, where upon Buffy arrived and fought them, leading Willow along with Xander to learn that Buffy was actually the Slayer, dedicated herself to aiding her friend in the battle against evil. Willow's assistance to the Scooby Gang was mostly through her computing and hacking skills as well as helping the school librarian and Buffy's Watcher Rupert Giles on researching demons. By the end of her sophomore year, Willow's interest in computers got her almost killed by the demon Moloch who pretended be a teenage boy talking to her on the net, and she also wittnessed the death of several students at the hands of the Order of Aurelius, affecting her emotionally.

In her junior year Willow began to have huge advances to her character, during Halloween when everyone literally became what their costumes were from Ethan Rayne's Costume Shop, Buffy and Xander were given different mind-sets, leaving the ghostly Willow to take intiative and assign for Giles' help while wearing skimpy outfit that Buffy beforehance encouraged her to put on to impress Xander, though she kept it hidden a ghost costume that she abandoned while becoming a ghost. After discovering Xander's relationship with Cordelia when she caught them kissing, a heartbroken Willow angerily expressed her shock and disgust that Xander would involve himself with someone like Cordelia before her, further strengthening her assertiveness and pride. She then quickly decided to move on, starting a romantic relationship with Daniel "Oz" Osbourne, a guitarist in the local band Dingoes Ate My Baby. The two began talking after they were selected during the "world's leading softfare concern" during the Careers fair and later invited him to Buffy's birthday where he wittnessed his first vampire being staked. Even after the revelation that he was a werewolf and almost getting killed by him, Willow still continuned to date him, even confidently kissing him at her own accord.

When Jenny Calendar, a computer science teacher and technopagan who Willow admired, was murdered by Buffy's newly soul-less, vampire boyfriend Angel who had become Angelus, Willow agreed to teach her classes for the rest of the year. During this time, she went through her former favorite teacher's belongings, dabbling in magic. After the discovery of floppy disk containing the completer translated text of the lost Ritual of Restoration, the curse used to originally ensoul Angeles hundreds of years ago, Willow took it upon herself to preform the spell if Buffy couldn't kill Angelus. She first attempted it in the school library, but failed when Angelus' vampire minions attacked, resulting in her being taken to the hospital after a bookcase was dropped on her. Willow then preformed it at the hospital with Cordelia and Oz at her aid. At the exact climax of the ritual, a powerful burst of magic surged through her, ensouling Angel just before Buffy sent him to hell.

While Buffy was away in Los Angeles, Willow continued to practise witchcraft. First starting simple through a number of pagan blessings and also once used a glamour to conceal a pimple. She even took a frightening turn when she attempted to contact the spirit world while not being ready, having found the experience "pulled her apart inside", as well as blowing out the power for the whole street block. Willow also took charge of the Scooby Gang through their series of unsuccessful vampire hunts.



She joined a coven with fellow magic-users Amy Madison and Michael Czajak, who became the victims of a witch-hunt led by Buffy's mother and a group called Mothers Opposed to the Occult (MOO). However, they were actually under the influence of a demon who impersonated two witch-victims; with Willow, Buffy and Amy being nearly burned at the stake before Giles revealed the demon which Buffy then slayed, breaking the spell. Willow also then kept Amy as a pet after she turned herself into a rat to escape, Willow not possessing Amy's powers of transmogrification at that time.

She and Xander discovered a growing attraction for each other, despite the fact that were each in other relationships. While being held hostage by Spike, Willow and Xander shared a kiss, believing that they were going to be killed. To their dismay, they were caught in the act by Oz and Cordelia, who had come to rescue them. Although Cordelia broke up with Xander for good, Oz and Willow eventually managed to work things out.

Tired of being "old reliable," Willow aided former vengeance demon Anya Jenkins in a spell, unwittingly releasing her own vampire counterpart from an alternate universe. She was shocked to discover that her vampire counterpart exhibited homosexual tendencies, a foreshadowing to her own lesbian relationships. Despite being accepted by several colleges, including Harvard, Yale, and Oxford, Willow decided to attend UC Sunnydale so that she could continue fighting the "good fight" with Buffy after being held hostage by the Mayor Richard Wilkins and rogue Slayer Faith Lehane, where the Scooby Gang traded a key component of the Mayor's Ascension for Willow. Fearing she would die not having experienced new depths in her relationship with Oz, she lost her virginity to him the night before graduation when the Mayor would ascend into the Old One Olvikan. During the fight against the Mayor and his vampire minions, Willow and a number of other students wiedled spear guns, though his did little to the Mayor. Willow then survived the battle.

"I mean, you've been fighting evil here for three years, and I've helped some, and now we're supposed to decide what we want to do with our lives. And I just realized that that's what I want to do. Fight evil, help people.  I mean, I think it's worth doing.  And I don't think you do it because you have to.  It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."

- Willow chooses her path in life.

College
In her first year of college, Willow first enjoyed being in an environment that appreciated her intellect, stating "It's just in high school, knowledge was pretty much frowned upon. You really had to work to learn anything. But here, the energy, the collective intelligence, it's like this force, this penetrating force''". ''Along the comfort from having an "on-campus boyfriend", Willow further excelled in her magically abilities. Moving across town to UC Sunnydale, Willow and Buffy become roommates at Room 214 in Stevenson Hall. However, Willow soon reached a stage of emotionall heartbreak Oz left town after cheating on Willow with another werewolf called Veruca. Around this time Willow attempted to curse them both with magic, though stopped when Veruca arrived to kill her only to be killed by Oz who then her out of fear of endangering her.

A devastated Willow cast a spell to have her will done, accidentally endangering her friends' lives in the process and also made her eligible to becoming a vegeance demon, but she declined the offer and undid the spell. Afterward, she joined the campus Wicca group, a disappointing experience when she found out none of the other members were actually real witches with the exception of the presence of timid, serious witch Tara Maclay. After discovering each other's magic, they became friends, secretly meeting eachother on a regular basis to practise spells weeks before Tara was introduced to Willow's friends. From this they eventually formed a close bond then and fell deeply in love with each other, though they both remained discreet about it.. Later, Oz returned after gaining control over his wolf-side, with hopes of continuing his relationship with Willow. After some serious consideration, and coming out to Buffy about her feelings for Tara, Willow chose Tara over Oz who left Sunnydale once more, having been unable to control his condition.

Spike, in league with Adam, attempted to split the Scoobies apart. He used Willow's relationship with Tara as one of the catalysts, and her sexuality came out to everyone at this time. She later joined with the fellow essences of Buffy, Xander and Giles to form a super being to defeat Adam. Willow acted as the "spirit" of the ensemble, using her magic skills disarm Adam's technological advantages.



Willow's power increased at a dramatic rate. Her relationship with Tara was strengthened when she discovered how Tara rose above her family's abusive lies. However, they argued when Tara voiced her concerns at how much magic Willow had been using over the past few months. Shortly afterward, Tara was "brain-sucked" by the hell-goddess Glory, and was left in an insane, babbling state. Enraged and grief-stricken, Willow ignored Buffy's warnings and attacked Glory full force in her own home, but was ultimately defeated; however, to Willow's credit, she did manage to actually injure Glory and weaken her significantly. Willow almost got herself killed after spitting directly in Glory's face in a show of pure spite, but Buffy arrived just in time to save her. When Buffy later went into a catatonic state, Willow magically entered her mind and freed her, assuring her that they would find a way to defeat Glory. In the final fight against Glory, Willow managed to slow her down by restoring Tara's mind, and disorientating the hell-god, reuniting with her lover. However, Buffy was forced to sacrifice herself to save the life of her sister, Dawn.

Proceeding the battle, a devastated Willow departed to Los Angeles and visited the Hyperion Hotel to inform Angel that Buffy had died.

Addiction to Magic and "Dark Willow"
Willow's magical skills peaked when she led Tara, Xander, and Anya in resurrecting Buffy. This had major concerns as both Tara and Xander briefly opposed the idea while Giles branded her as an "rank arrogant amateur" for dwelling into such deep magic.

Willow developed an addiction to magic and began to use it excessively, and briefly got into an argument with Tara over it; she subsequently used magic to erase all memory of the fight from Tara's mind. After a demon's musical spell lead to Buffy revealing that she had been in Heaven and not Hell as they originally believed, Willow became guilt-ridden over costing her best friend eternal happiness and suggested using magic to erase Buffy's memories of Heaven, leading to another argument with Tara; not wanting to lose Tara, Willow vowed not to use magic for a week to prove that she was not dependent on it, but almost immediately went back on her word and cast a spell to make Buffy and Tara forget about the negative aspects of what her spells did, only for it to backfire and gave the entire Scooby Gang, including herself, total amnesia, rendering them vulnerable when the Magic Box was attacked by a demonic loan shark trying to collect Spike's gambling debt. When the spell was broken, Tara promptly broke up with Willow.

Without Tara's presence, Willow's addiction spiraled completely out of control; she finally managed to transform Amy back from a rat into a human, and Amy began taking her to Rack, a dark magic dealer, with her more liberal use of magic contrasting with the Scoobies' attempts to encourage responsibility. Later, while attempting to take Dawn to the movies, Willow dropped by Rack's place again and left Dawn alone and unprotected in the waiting room for two hours, disregarding Dawn's fears and complaints when she emerged. Proceeding this, they were attacked by a demon unwillingly summoned by Willow during her high. Willow commandeered a car using magic to escape, and the two suffered a car accident; while Willow emerged relatively unscathed, Dawn suffered a broken arm, and the two were saved from the demon by the timely arrival of Buffy and Spike shortly afterward. Faced with this, Willow was finally forced to face the consequences of her actions and cut off her contact with Rack and Amy, renouncing the use of her powers and choosing to help the Scoobies with her technical skills. Sometime later, Willow and Tara reconciled, prompting them to spend several hours in bed "catching up." When Tara was murdered by Warren Mears, however, a grief-stricken Willow, having failed to bring Tara back, unleashed her dark side once more, absorbing every bit of dark magic from the texts in the Magic Box, causing both her hair and her eyes to become solid black and having veins protruding on her face. Willow left her friends, her old self, and her morality behind and her vengeance reached a climax when she used magic to flay Warren alive. Willow absorbed the magic and life force from Rack as she pursued Jonathan Levinson and Andrew Wells, Warren's accomplices, despite the fact that they had no involvement in Tara's death, turning against her friends in the process. Andrew Wells compared her to Dark Phoenix and later referred to her as Dark Willow.

"Let me tell you something about Willow; she's a loser. And she always has been. Everyone picked on Willow in junior high, high school, up until college with her stupid mousy ways.  And now... Willow's a junkie.  The only thing Willow was ever good for, the only thing going for me, were those moments—just moments—when Tara would look at me and I was wonderful.  And that will never happen again."

- Willow becomes fueled by grief and magic after Tara's death.



Willow then battled her best friend Buffy, infusing herself with super-strength, saying to her, "I'm the Slayer, now." After nearly defeating Buffy, Willow was attacked by Rupert Giles, who abruptly returned with borrowed power of the Devon coven. Despite Giles's attempts to stop her, Willow absorbed his power as well, pushing her so far that she was overcome by all the pain she sensed in the world. She attempted to trigger the apocalypse to end it all, but was thwarted by Xander who, out of love, refused to leave her alone, regardless of what she had done or was doing. This eventually caused Willow to break down over her actions (partially because the power that she had absorbed from Giles put her back in touch with her true emotions and feelings).

Rehabilitation
After her attempt at destroying the world, Giles took Willow to his home in England where she was forced to deal with her actions, her connection to magic, and her place in the universe. Under the teachings of the Devon Coven, Willow regained control of her magic, though was hesitant and careful about how much she used, fearing that she might revert to her "dark" self. Upon her return to Sunnydale, Willow was nervous about how her friends would react when they saw her again and accidentally cast a spell that made her invisible to them and vice versa which ended in disastrous results as it caused her to fall victim to the demon Gnarl before the spell was ended where she was reunited with the other Scoobies.

When the First Evil began its campaign against the Scooby Gang, Willow reluctantly began a relationship with Potential Slayer Kennedy. After their first kiss, however, Willow was transformed into Warren, the result of a hex placed on her by a vengeful and jealous Amy. Kennedy saved Willow from fully becoming him by helping her to finally come to terms with Tara's death and move on as she attempted continue Warren's murderous path with a gun.

Willow was still reluctant to use her full power, especially after the First took control of her during a minor spell. However, Willow was called to Los Angeles by Fred Burkle to re-ensoul Angel once again. While there, Willow did battle with a higher power later known as Jasmine, who had possessed Cordelia, and came out victorious. She then returned to Sunnydale with newly reformed Slayer Faith who was insisted to break out of prison to fight Angelus.

With the final batte with The First drawing nearer, Buffy entrusted Willow with a very big and important task that Willow was very reluctant to perform. Despite this, Willow tapped into the essence of the slayer Scythe, and activated every Potential Slayer around the globe, euphorically overcoming her dark side and briefly turning her hair white in the process before Kennedy deified her as a goddless. Willow then passed out in a mixture of awe and tiredness, mumbling "that was nifty." Willow then escaped Sunnydale before its subsequent destruction.

"In every generation one Slayer is born because a bunch of men who died thousands of years ago made up that rule. They were powerful men. This woman is more powerful than all of them combined."

- Buffy trusts Willow to activate the Potential Slayers.

Twilight crisis
Following the destruction of Sunnydale, Willow and Kennedy spent some time in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Willow also visited the Himalayas, but was unable to aid Fred Burkle with her mystical illness because she was astrally projecting to another plane at the time.

Willow was given an opportunity to have Tara be her guide while she enhanced her magical prowess but realized that Tara would only be given to her as an illusion or that she would be ripped from her afterlife. Willow decided to study under Aluwyn, also known as Saga Vasuki, a mysterious snake-like woman. Along the way, Willow also began a sexual relationship with Vasuki. During this time, her contact with Buffy and the Scooby Gang diminished.

When Kennedy died a mystical death, Willow resurrected her a month later and they began to take their relationship more slowly. Willow also confessed that she was keeping Kennedy away from Buffy because she didn't want to lose her, believing that if she hadn't resurrected Buffy, Tara would still be alive.

Over a year after the Hellmouth battle, Willow appeared at Buffy and Xander's Scotland base, battling Amy and her army of the undead. Willow was kidnapped by a skinless Warren Mears, who revealed that Amy had revived him moments after Willow killed him. The pair had been conspiring against her ever since, and were responsible for her transformation into Warren in 2003. Warren lobotomized Willow, who took refuge in a mental plane before being rescued by Buffy, unharmed.

Sometime after joining Buffy, Xander, and Dawn in Scotland, Willow traveled to Las Vegas to assist Spike, who had been resurrected in Los Angeles after the destruction of Sunnydale, during his investigation into the new Las Vegas branch of Wolfram &amp; Hart (Spike reasoning that W&H would expect him to contact Angel's team for help and therefore called Willow to take his enemies by surprise). When Spike's soul was extracted by the homicidal sociopathic vampire John, who had been brought there along with Drusilla by Wolfram & Hart, Spike directed his soul into Drusilla to give her a chance at redemption, but ultimately had Willow transfer his soul back into himself when the guilt of a restored conscience only drove Drusilla even more insane. After committing Drusilla to the Mosaic Wellness Center, Willow agreed to keep their team-up a secret from Buffy, knowing that Spike had chosen not to reveal himself to Buffy because he believed it would cheapen his sacrifice ; however, unbeknownst to the two, Buffy had already found out about Spike's return on his own.

Willow began to settle in Scotland with Buffy and Xander, and attempted to aid Dawn who had transformed into a giant. When Buffy and Willow went on a mission to find out about more about the Scoobies' newest enemy, Twilight, the demon Sephrilian revealed the friends' secrets to each other, including the reason why Willow was keeping Kennedy away from Buffy, leaving their friendship strained. While fighting a group vampires in Tokyo, Willow met and battled a fellow student of Saga Vasuki, the witch Kumiko. The vision she received during this fight with Kumiko would later lead her to investigate a possible ripple in time in New York. When Buffy was kidnapped into the future, Willow contacted Vasuki for help during sex with an oblivious Kennedy. Saga Vasuki warned Willow not to look forward into the future when she rescued Buffy from it; Willow complied and successfully returned Buffy to the present. After Harmony Kendall unwittingly brought about a new pro-vampire, anti-Slayer world order, Willow was needed more than ever to protect the Slayers from humans and demons alike.

Along with a small team of Slayers who were also witches, Willow cast a series of powerful force fields and glamours to protect and conceal the Scottish base. Demons still attacked and defenses fell. Willow teleported out, and discovered from Saga Vasuki that Twilight was tracking them by magic. Buffy decided, after sharing concerns with Giles that Willow was heading down a dark path once again, that the group should learn from Oz how to suppress their mystical powers and natures. Buffy had Willow do one last big spell, sending everyone to Oz's retreat in Tibet. In Tibet, Willow was unhappy with the suppression of her powers which she felt were intrinsic to her identity. Furthermore, she was jealous of Oz for having a normal life, settling down with his wife Bayarmaa, and having a son, Kelden. Oz assured her she could have a normal life and learn to suppress her powers too, and also showed his trust in her by letting her watch Kelden for him. Later, Buffy admitted to Willow that she killed her in the future where she had once again gone "dark," but Willow was nonplussed and opined that the future was not fixed.

In the aftermath of the Twilight crisis, Willow was left with no magic after Buffy was forced to destroy The Seed of Wonder, the heart of all magic in this dimension. Willow broke up with Kennedy soon afterward, believing that Kennedy was drawn to her in part because she had superpowers, and also realizing that she was really in love with someone else (Aluwyn). Willow tried to find some way of restoring magic and/or contacting Aluwyn again.

World Without Magic
A few months after the Seed was destroyed, living in San Francisco along with the other Scoobies, Willow began dating Aura and started working as a computer technician. Willow attempted to warn Buffy of the consequences of destroying the Earth's "spark," and appeared to have grown to resent her best friend for destroying the Seed. However, after Buffy and Spike were nearly drained of their powers by Severin, Willow admitted that she was never angry with Buffy, and Buffy promised Willow that they would find a way to bring magic back to the world. Months later, Willow took the Scythe and left, believing it was the key to restoring magic due to advice given to her by the spirit of the First Slayer.

She subsequently arrived in London, making contact with Angel and Faith in Giles's apartment. Willow quickly deduced Angel's plan to resurrect Giles using the Tooth of Ammuk and fragments of his soul derived from magic items linked to key moments of his life, and coldly told Angel that he was selfish, stupid, reckless, and delusional to think that his attempts would not end in disaster, particularly after all of the pain and suffering she put Buffy and the rest of the gang through after Buffy's own resurrection. However, despite her misgivings, Willow decided to help Angel with his plans because she herself needed him, stating that she needed Connor to bring magic back to Earth; in order to regain her magic, she needed to travel to another dimension where magic still existed and 'soak up' the energy from there, but the only dimension that could still be accessed from this world was Quor'toth as there were never any portals to Quor'toth in the first place. Having discovered a ritual that might allow her to access Quor'toth usng the residual energy in the Scythe as a 'battery', Willow needed something from the target dimension to access it in the first place, requiring Connor due to the time he had spent in that world. Despite Angel's misgivings, Connor agreed to the plan, with Willow carving various sigils on him with the scythe and opening a rift to Quor'toth.

Possible Future
"History is all romantic adventure stories. Until you live it. Until you live long enough to be a part of it."

- Willow Rosenberg



When Buffy was transported to the 23rd century, she discovered that Willow remained youthful for centuries and eventually resumed her "dark" appearance of black hair and veins though could only wield a small amount of magic. Approximately two hundred years into the future, Willow was located in Haddyn—formerly known as Manhattan—and was the one responsible for bringing Buffy through time. Willow was allied with Harth Fray, the vampiric twin brother of current Slayer Melaka Fray. Harth considered Willow to be a "madwoman" but believed her claims that Buffy's presence in the future would cause that future to exist. However, Willow also manipulated Melaka into viewing Buffy as her enemy, telling her that if Buffy returned to her own time, Melaka's time would cease to exist. Melaka and her sister Erin captured Buffy, who was shocked to see what her friend had become. When Harth arrived at Melaka's home, both parties learned that Willow was lying to one of them. Buffy managed to escape and fought her way across Haddyn to get to a rift in time and return to the present, battling Melaka in the process. When Buffy arrived at the rift, Willow stood in her way. Before Willow could reveal her true agenda, Buffy stabbed and killed her friend with the Scythe, which had been implied was Willow's plan all along to have a best friend end her sad existances, or perhaps it was only Buffy who could end her. At that point, present Willow—blindfolded so as to avoid seeing the future—grabbed Buffy and pulled her back in time.

Traumatized by the sights of Melaka's time, Buffy began to express concern over how much she relies on Willow's powers, fearing that she may eventually go overboard again if she was pushed too far.

Personality
Willow was a consistently sweet, gentle, intelligent, caring person. She was a somewhat naive, painfully shy nerd who was stuck with a hopeless crush on her best friend Xander. She was socially awkward on more than one occasion, but had a very kind heart. She became much more confident and strong-willed, capably leading the Scooby Gang twice during Buffy's absences. When Buffy died, Willow took care of Dawn to whom she represented a maternal figure. She was very friendly and understanding, even with Spike, though she was not afraid to be tough. While still having a easily nervous nature, she grew more outspoken and confident.

Willow was also very determined to get things done that she feels are important. It was sometimes hard for people to change her mind, a sign of this being her "Resolve Face." Willow often did not hold grudges against people, in fact, she was usually one of the first to forgive people for their mistakes, even if large ones, being incredibly forgiving. Another notable trait of Willow is her remarkable ability to put aside grudges and personal feelings to get an important task done which she hs done on numerous occassions, most notably Faith and much later, with Angel. She doesn't often let personal feelings cloud her judgement, being very responsible and level-headed.

Willow also has an amazing gift with computers and cracking codes, which has been seen many times throughout the series, which is likely because of her intelligence. During her high school and college days, she seemed to be the only one out of the Scooby Gang that actually enjoyed going to school and doing homework as well as tutoring, much to the confusion of Buffy and Xander. She has a great interest in science and things involving technolgy, seen with her fasination with the Buffybot.

Despite her many good qualilities, she can also display an addictive personality to dangerous, interesting things. This was seen when Willow became addicted to magic, as it was than that she felt useful and needed, which slowly but surely spiraled out of control to the point where it had even hurt her loved ones. Willow however has since claimed that she grew up since then and is not that same "little girl" she was then, showing emotional maturity and growth. Willow also is very stubborn in her beliefs and not easily swayed from them, shown in her insistence that the world needs magic and determination to bring it back to the world.

However, on several occasions, Willow gave into fits of vengeance, especially if it involved someone she loved such as Oz or Tara. The incident with Tara made her personality, for a brief time, change drastically. She became consumed with pain and anger, lashing out at The Trio who she believed was the cause of her suffering. Willow became cold and uncaring, with little regard over her friends and no remorse over her actions. However, Willow returned to her former self thanks to Xander.

Willow is also incredibly loyal and supportive to her friends, especially Buffy and Xander as she almost never openly critizes their decisions with hostility even when she disagrees, a factor in her understanding nature. She also often speaks in strange speech and phrases, something she shares with her best friend Buffy, which can often confuse those around her who aren't used to it. She is also greatly emotional and prone to rambling when nervous(Another similarity to Buffy).

Powers and Abilities
At first, Willow's major "powers" were her intelligence and computer skills, as well as marked snarkiness. She aided Giles when he researched information to aid Buffy in overcoming various challenges. Willow also aided in the preparation of magical materials, making her first potion to detect a witch and performing the ritual to revoke Angelus' invitation to Buffy's house, but did not seriously begin practicing magic until the death of Jenny Calendar, one of her teachers. She was asked to take over teaching the class because of her high aptitude, and one day came across a floppy disk holding the Ritual of Restoration that Jenny had successfully translated to English. Though for months she believed that the ritual didn't work, Willow learned that the Ritual of Restoration was successful and performing it initiated her interest in magic.

Willow's first major spell involved re-cursing Angel with a soul, a feat she later repeated years later. She learned to levitate a pencil early in her senior year, and her powers continued to develop until she was casting powerful spells independently and then with the help of Tara Maclay. Soon she surpassed Tara, a more experienced witch, in skill and being able to draw enough power to fend off the hell god, Glory.

Willow demonstrated the ability to bring Buffy back to life, leaving her drained but she regained her magic in a few hours. Her friend Amy introduced her to a warlock, Rack, who gave her the ability to last longer and cast spells of more power which led Willow further down the path to the dark side of magic. Eventually, after Tara died, magic consumed Willow and she nearly destroyed the world. At the time, Anya assumed Willow was the most powerful Wicca in the Western Hemisphere.

Willow was capable of flying, absorbing life from others, teleportation, being impervious to physical damage, healing herself and others instantly at will, unleashing powerful energy blasts, locating people and objects at a distance (even when theoretically protected from such spells), emitting high-pitched shrieks in frequencies harmful to human ears, and exerting powerful levels of telekinesis and telepathic mind control. This mind control even extended to Anya, despite Anya's statement that vengeance demons were immune to mind-controlling magics. Additionally, she proved more than capable of going head-to-head against Buffy in a physical fight after casting a strength-enhancing spell on herself, though she largely relied on brute force rather than any martial arts skills like Buffy.

Her willingness to use magic was greatly diminished after her experience as Dark Willow. Willow spent time at a coven in England with Giles where she developed a better understanding of magic, balance, etc. At that point, she was so powerful her very feelings and thoughts could cause some sort of effect. Amy commented that other practitioners worked "twice as hard to be half as good" as Willow. Despite this, Willow was largely prevented from accessing more than slight magic by The First Evil, who attempted to corrupt her at each spell. Examples of the controlled usage of her power were her use of telekinesis to practice self-restraint, conjuring force fields, extensive telepathic conversations, opening a portal, and exerting hypnotic control. Willow also commented that she absorbed power from the things around her, one time draining some of Kennedy's life-force. Willow cast a spell that imbued all Potential Slayers on Earth with Slayer powers (formerly reserved for only one girl in every generation), temporarily turning Willow's hair crystal white in the process. Kennedy remarked on it by calling her "a goddess." During her battle with Amy, she referred to Willow as a "big all powerful earth mother witch goddess." Xander has once called her Elphaba, the name of the Wicked Witch of the West in the novel and musical Wicked.



Willow's powers greatly expanded. She could fly by force of will and regained control of her powers, and although her roots continued to go dark whenever she tapped into more power, this didn't faze her. She was able to project vast amounts of energy from her fingertips and cast aside powerful spells. She was able to heal herself rapidly from extreme injuries, at least including partial lobotomy. She was also able to heal injuries in others. Amy characterized her as a "big all-powerful earth-mother witch goddess." On two occasions she demonstrated the ability to channel part of her power through Buffy; once to help her overcome Amy and rescue Willow and again to tag-team the demon Sephrilian.

When Willow connected with the Seed of Wonder (the source of all magic in our dimension), she became so powerful that she was able to fight a whole array of demons from different dimensions. However, Buffy destroyed the Seed, disconnecting this world from magic. Willow was rendered powerless, unable to preform any magic.

When Buffy traveled nearly two hundred years into the future, she discovered that Willow was alive and youthful hundreds of years into the future, and had once again gone "dark," though she was unable to cast spells of much power.

Notable Spells and Incidents

 * A spell cast by Ethan Rayne on a ghost costume that Willow bought caused her to transform into an immaterial specter; however, while all others were literally transformed into her costume, Willow's soul and physical body were seemingly separated completely. She returned to normal immediately after Giles broke the spell.
 * Willow cast a spell to have her will done in an attempt to get over the pain of Oz's departure, but the exact wording she used caused anything she said to come true, though only when she did so inadvertently. With this ability, she rendered Giles completely blind, made Xander a literal demon magnet, and caused Buffy and Spike to become engaged. Upon discovering what she had done, Willow immediately reversed the spell.
 * Willow attempted to create a ball of sunshine in order to allow Buffy to slay vampires easily, but Anya's inability to keep quiet during the ritual instead caused the release of Olaf the Troll from the crystal in which he was trapped.
 * Willow resurrected Buffy Summers shortly after her death.
 * Willow tried to cast a memory spell to wipe Buffy and Tara's memories clean of all the negative aspects of what her spells did to them, but she was rushed to do so and carelessly left an entire package of a crucial spell ingredient right next to Buffy's fireplace, which caught fire and gave the entire Scooby Gang, including herself, total amnesia. The spell was broken when Willow unwittingly dropped a crystal she used in the spell-casting and Xander stepped on it.
 * Willow attempted to transform R.J Brooks into a woman because his enchanted jacket made Willow (along with any other girl) fall in love with him, which Willow did.
 * Willow channeled the essence of the Scythe in order to activate all the Potential Slayers in the world.

Appearance
Willow's appearance changed drastically over the years, which reflected her growing level of confidence and power. Initially, she dressed like a little girl, and her mother still picked out her clothes for her. Cordelia cruelly stating, "Good to know you've seen the softer side of Sears!" After Buffy encouraged Willow to "seize the moment," her fashion sense began to reflect the growing confidence that her friendship with the Slayer granted her.

Willow blossomed through her relationship with Oz, and her appearance reflected this. She cut her hair shoulder-length (it took her mother several months to notice this ) and developed a penchant for fluffy sweaters and peculiar hats. One of her memorable outfits was her pink sweater. Feeling undervalued by her friends, Willow threatened to change her look, shortly before the arrival of the alternate universe Vampire Willow, dressed in her iconic leather outfit. Upon seeing Vamp Willow, Percy West asked her if she was "trick-or-treating," while Buffy described her as a dominatrix. Upon seeing her human alter-ego's pink sweater, vamp Willow pointed this out to her by saying, "Well, look at me. I'm all fuzzy." When she later woke up dressed in said sweater, Vamp Willow said, "Oh, this is like a nightmare." Spike admitted that he found Willow's "fuzzy pink number with the lilac underneath" to be arousing.

By college, Willow cut her hair even shorter, and began to wear long skirts and high shoes, which made her appear significantly taller and more confident than in her shy, wallflower years in high school. However, it was revealed through a dream that Willow felt she was only hiding her true geeky nature, with Buffy and Riley describing her normal clothes as a "costume." She found herself back in a high school classroom, where Buffy ripped off her "costume," leaving her dressed in her "softer side of Sears" outfit shortly before being attacked by the First Slayer. Willow focused her grief over the death of Buffy's mother Joyce Summers on what clothes to wear while visiting Buffy at the hospital. She described her clothes as having "stupid things on them" and asked why she couldn't dress "like a grown-up."

When Willow was consumed by black magic, she subsequently took on a goth look. Dark Willow, as Andrew Wells referred to her, could be identified by her black hair, black eyes, and numerous veins over her face. Xander described Dark Willow's appearance as the "makeover of the damned," but later assured her that he loved "scary, veiny Willow" just as much as "crayon breaky Willow." Willow's hair and eyes reverted to their natural color following Xander's heroic speech, but she sometimes resumed this appearance when her powers were pushed to their limits or when angered, such as battling the Grimslaw demon, and Amy.

Willow's hair later grew slightly longer and she dressed more maturely. While performing the spell to activate the potential Slayers, her hair briefly turned white, contrasting the benevolent intent behind this spell against the black magic performed by Dark Willow.

Willow later dressed in clothing reminiscent of Tara and her hair was shoulder length again.

After the Seed was destroyed and magick was taken away from this dimension, Willow bobbed her hair with one half slightly shorter than the other. She seemed to have also stopped wearing dresses reminiscent to Tara, and took on more of a modern style of clothing.

Her future counterpart was dressed in clothing that combined elements of her vampiric counterpart from the Wishverse and Drusilla. Her future self, much like Dark Willow, has black hair, black eyes, and veins over her face. While magic left Willow ageless, her power was all but depleted and she relied on Harth's power to bring Buffy to their present time.

Religion
Willow was identified, ethnically and culturally, as Jewish. She referred to herself on a number of occasions as Jewish and appeared to come from a religious family, noting that she has to go to Xander's house to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas every year. Also, when doing the spell to un-invite Angel from her house, she hid the crosses she nailed to the wall behind a curtain, noting that her father would have a fit if he saw them. Willow also said that the egg given to her to take care of in her junior year of high school was Jewish. She mentioned multiple times that she celebrated Hanukkah and not Christmas. She also mentioned that she was "like Santa Claus, only thinner and Jewish" when she brought presents to Joyce in the hospital. Willow did not keep Kosher, although this was true of many Jews. Willow mentioned that she had a Bat Mitzvah. Willow placed stones on Tara's headstone, a Jewish tradition to honor the dead.

Willow was also described as a "Wicca." For example, Anya told her, "I heard you were a pretty powerful Wicca, so..." to which Willow replied, "You heard right, mister!"

Sexuality
Following Oz's departure, Willow secretly performed spells with fellow Wicca Tara, but there were hints that they were more than just friends. Shortly afterwards, their relationship did become more than platonic. While identifying as lesbian, Willow seemed to have a bisexual side to her. Vamp Willow displayed overt bisexuality and Willow revealed strong heterosexual tendencies early on. She also commented upon Dracula's sexiness, which was likely caused by Dracula's thrall over people and even revealed a former crush on Giles after seeing him sing with his guitar at the coffee shop. However, Willow did make her preferences clear. As one of the many women under R.J. Brooks' love spell, she sought to transform him into a woman. Discussing the conquest of best friend Xander, Willow teasingly said that even she "went in for smoochies" before reiterating "and I don't truck with the stubbly crowd."

Romantic interests



 * Xander Harris — Willow "dated" Xander when they were five until he stole her Barbie. She continued a hopeless, unrequited crush on her lifelong friend into high school. She and Xander shared a moment of tenderness that was quickly interrupted when Buffy reappeared after having been gone all summer. In their senior year, Willow and Xander begin a brief affair though they were each involved with someone else. After their trysts culminated in the two kissing and being caught by their respective others, they stopped their secret romantic liasions. Willow's bisexual vampire alter-ego also had a relationship with her universe's Xander after each of them were turned into vampires. She wrote angst filled love poems about Xander as a teen, but when she mentioned them later in life she politely told Xander, "Over you, sweetie." Willow reminisced upon having found Xander very attractive during her teen years. Ultimately, even though the two of them were not in love, they had a great deal of love for each other; this fact saved the world when Xander pointed this out repeatedly and stopped Willow from initiating the apocalypse.


 * Thomas — Encouraged by Buffy to "seize the day," Willow built up the courage to talk to this boy and go for ice cream. However, when he turned out to be a vampire and tried to kill her, Buffy had to save her, and Willow was forced to accept the existence of demons.


 * "Malcolm Black"/Moloch — Willow unwittingly awoke this ancient demon by scanning him into the Internet. He claimed to be in love with her, starting an online relationship with her under the identity of Malcolm Black. However, when Willow rejected Malcolm after discovering he is actually a murderous, demonic robot, he tried to kill her and Buffy was forced to slay him.




 * Daniel Osbourne — Willow dated Oz, a guitar playing-werewolf for almost two years, losing her virginity in the process. Willow really seemed to love Oz. However, their relationship ended when she learned of his affair with Veruca, a female werewolf. After Oz killed Veruca to save Willow from her, he left to try to find a way to control his lycanthropy. When he returned to Sunnydale months later hoping for a reconciliation, Willow had begun her relationship with Tara. However, her feelings for Oz had remained strong, and she told him, "I feel like some part of me will always be waiting for you," being teary-eyed and remorseful when he left. But the next time Willow sees Oz, he has a wife and a son to the shock of the Scoobies, but Willow seemed okay with it, showing she has moved on.


 * Vampire Willow — Willow's bisexual vampire alter ego expressed an attraction for her/ The introduction of Vamp Wilow was the first hint that Willow's sexual orientation may be something other than heterosexual. Willow found this somewhat disturbing, asking, "Would that mean we have to snuggle?"




 * Tara Maclay — Willow's first lesbian relationship initially started as a friendship but quickly developed into something more. Willow met Tara in a Wicca group during college, and began a relationship which eventually became romantic. They were portrayed as each others' soul mates. People outside of the main group of Scoobies, such as Spike, Faith, and Oz, would recognize the relationship and Willow's lesbianism almost immediately after meeting Tara, whereas close friends Willow spent most of her time with, Xander and Buffy, remained utterly oblivious until Willow came out to them. Tara briefly left Willow because of her inappropriate use of magic to erase part of Tara's memory, but they soon got back together just in time for Tara's shocking death. Tara's death hit Willow so bad that she lost all sense of morality and vengefully gave into dark magic and skinned her murderer, Warren Mears, alive. However, Willow later admitted that after Buffy died and she resurrected her, she felt that she chose Buffy over her love, which caused her death.




 * Rupert Giles — When Willow saw him sing at the Espresso Pump, her reaction wes to say, "Now I remember why I used to have such a crush on him." There were a handful of hints of this crush in high school: Giles recognized Willow in the Bronze because she was one of the few students who actually enjoyed visiting the library, there was a picture of Giles and Willow together in Willow's locker, when Buffy thought it was 'eww' that Faith thought Giles was sexy and asked who else thought it was, Willow didn't raise her hand and had an impish smile on her face. But Willow's crush on Giles never went anywhere. Normally, they shared a "mentor-mentee" relationship (different than the "daughter-father" one that both Buffy and Anya have with Giles); very affectionate, mutually respectful, but often conflictual especially when it came to Willow's usage of powerful magicks.


 * Dracula — Willow described the infamous vampire as "sexy," to Tara's surprise and mild jealousy.


 * R.J. Brooks — Under a love spell along with Buffy, Dawn, and Anya, Willow became obsessed with this male high school student, despite his "physical presence." When Anya pointed out that "his physical presence has a penis," Willow insisted that she could "work around it," invoking the goddess Hecate to transform him into a woman. Xander and Spike intervened before she succeeded, and the love spell was soon lifted.




 * Kennedy — Willow continued her recovery from Tara's death as she embarked on a relationship with this Potential Slayer. Though reluctant at first because she believed giving into her desire for Kennedy would cause her to forget Tara, Kennedy helped her to move on from Tara's death and also became her anchor whenever she performed powerful magic. After the Battle at the Hellmouth, Andrew stated that Kennedy and Willow were living together in South America. Following Kennedy's month-long mystical death, they decided to take things slow but broke up after the destruction of the Seed of Wonder. Due to the End of Magic, Willow was without her abilities and came to the conclusion that Kennedy was mainly interested in her because of her powers and felt that her skill with computers didn't "do it" for Kennedy. During the same conversation with Buffy, Willow also stated that she was in love with someone else and that it was someone she will never see again . This could be a reference to Aluwyn or even Tara as she did not name the individual.


 * Winifred Burkle — Though not technically a romantic relationship, Willow somewhat slyly inquired as to what is Fred's "story" to Wesley, indicating a possible interest on Willow's part and earning her a surprised look of pondering from Wesley. Additionally, Willow mistook Fred's excitement at seeing her, and her eagerness to spend time with her, for attraction and told her that she was already seeing someone.


 * Aluwyn - Willow first met Aluwyn when she arrived to the spirit world to look for a guide to help her control her powers. On their first meeting, Aluwyn told Willow that she was her guide and that she would help her better control the power that dwelled within her; however, Willow quickly learned that Aluwyn was not her guide and another goddess appeared and told Aluwyn to leave Willow alone. With Aluwyn gone, the other goddess offered Willow to have Tara be her guide on her journey toward improving her understanding of her powers. However, Willow surmised this would either be robbing Tara of her afterlife or an illusion, and instead chose Aluwyn. At some point during Willow's training, the two began an affair and even began to sleep together.
 * Aura - After moving to San Francisco, Willow began dating this woman. At Buffy's housewarming party, Willow seemed to avoid her much to Aura's annoyance and when Willow stayed over at Buffy's house for a 'girls night in,' she told Buffy not to tell Aura.

Enemies

 * Rack - Rack was a warlock who became Willow's black magic dealer after being introduced to her by Amy. Rack's business relationship with Willow took on frequent sexual, perhaps abusive overtones in his referring to her "taste" as being "like strawberries." Eventually, after her transformation into Dark Willow, Willow murdered Rack and stole his life force and power.


 * Amy Madison — Amy and Willow were friends from junior high through high school. Willow kept her as a pet after Amy accidentally transformed herself into a rat. The two become closer during Willow's magic-junkie period; however, their friendship ended when Amy kept enabling Willow's magic addiction and Amy later sought retribution. Amy started a romantic relationship with Willow's enemy Warren Mears, whom she had kept alive mystically since ressurecting him after Dark Willow skinned him alive. Amy then put a hex on Willow causing her to transform into Warren and later tried to assassinate Buffy on behalf of the American military. Willow intervened and engaged Amy in an airborne battle.


 * Warren Mears — Warren incurs Willow's wrath when he accidentally shot Tara while aiming for Buffy. Consumed by grief and black magic, Dark Willow tracked him down, tortured him, and eventually flayed him alive. However, unbeknownst to Willow, Warren was ressurected and kept alive by Amy Madison, and plotted revenge on the woman who tried to kill him.

Sororal
Willow's friendships and rivalries with Buffy and Anya largely reflected sisterly relationships. Each of the three shared a paternal relationship with Giles and either an animosity or extreme closeness which resembled a typical sister relationship. These patterns are commented upon when Giles attempts to stop the three from fighting, and Dark Willow comments, "Uh oh, daddy's home. I'm in wicked trouble now."




 * Buffy Summers - Buffy and Willow established a close friendship when Buffy transferred to Sunnydale High School. The two risked their lives for each other on many occasions and had an extremely tight bond. By a year and a half after the destruction of Sunnydale, they bond became so close that Willow was able to share some of her power with Buffy. Despite Buffy's lesbian experience, both women (loudly) insisted they were not attracted to each other, though this did not prevent Kennedy from becoming somewhat suspicious when she saw the duo hug after Buffy's trip to the future. Willow curiously asked Satsu what Buffy was like in bed, however Satsu refused to answer. Ironically, in the possible future, Buffy was the one to finally end Willow's life.




 * Dawn Summers - Despite Buffy's strained relationship at times with Dawn, Willow and girlfriend Tara acted as cool older friends to the young teenager despite her angsty turbulence. After the deaths of both Joyce and Buffy, Willow and Tara acted as surrogate parents for Dawn. Willow's sisterly affection for "Dawnie" continues to the point that even Buffy envies that Dawn saw Willow as a better sister than her.


 * Anya Jenkins - Their love-hate feelings towards each other provided frequent comic relief. Their relationship became more close and sisterly, which naturally led to further occasional arguments between the two. Willow was especially was offended when during the mourning of process of Joyce's death Anya explicitly asked what would happen to the body out of pure curiosity. After her rehabilitation, Willow sought out Anya's help to stop a demon as the other scoobies could see her. Ironically, Willow did offer to kill Anya to provide Spike with blood after his ensoulment.

Other

 * Cordelia Chase - Cordelia was a bully to both Xander and Willow since grade school, which caused them to form the "We Hate Cordelia" Club. This mutual hatred continued into high school, until Cordelia reluctantly began working with the Scooby Gang against various threats. After an initial disgust on Willow's part, the two formed a stronger friendship when Cordelia began dating Xander. After Willow and Xander were caught having an affair, Cordelia reverted to her former bully persona, and was cruel towards Willow and the Scoobies once again. Eventually, Willow and Cordelia made amends and the two continued to remain in touch after Cordelia left for Los Angeles. In fact, Willow seemed to be the only Scooby that Cordelia actually kept in constant contact with.


 * Angel - Angel shared affection and confidence with Willow. Willow also restored Angel's soul on two separate occasions. On several occasions, he asked for her help, looking at her as a reliable ally and friend. During his initial time in Sunnydale, after Buffy, Willow was probably Angel's closest friend in the Scooby Gang, as he only socialized with the two of them outside of combat situations, although, as with all the team, his relationship with her was somewhat strained after he came back from Hell. When Buffy died, Willow was the one who made the trip to Los Angeles to inform Angel, and is also the one who informed him of her resurrection. They hugged as old friends after Willow re-ensouled him for a second time. After Angel was discovered to be Twilight, her attitude toward him changed to open hostility, to the extent that, while fighting the invading demons, Willow momentarily turned him into a frog. After Giles' death, Faith stated that the entire Scooby Gang, aside from Buffy, wanted "Angel's head on a pike." During her quest to restore Earth's magic, Willow traveled to London, where Angel was currently based with Faith, and after criticizing him for thinking that his plans to resurrect Giles would end in anything but disaster, reluctantly decided to help him because she herself needed their help.




 * Spike - Willow and Spike maintained what could be classified as a friendly relationship. She comforted him following his break up with Drusilla even though he had kidnapped her to perform a love spell. He once offered her a choice of being sired or killed; though Willow retaliated by smashing a lamp over his head, she nonetheless seemed flattered. They maintained a friendship with Spike being respectful of her relationship with Tara. Spike understood her motives for attacking Glory and said he would have done the same. Following Buffy's death, Spike worked with Willow and Tara in taking care of Dawn. He also defended her slightly when Anya attempted to pressure her into a spell during her recovery. Following his attack on Buffy, their relationship suffered, although she turned to him for help after her return. Willow trusted Spike after his chip was removed. Almost two years later, Willow traveled to Las Vegas to help Spike out when he was having difficulties which included his soul and Drusilla. Willow and Spike were shown to have established a strong friendship, Spike even calling Willow by her nickname, "Will," and making her promise not to tell Buffy about her visit.


 * Harmony Kendall - Willow and Harmony signed each other's yearbooks, Willow stating they'd keep in touch. Despite this, Willow had a very strong dislike of Harmony, saying "she hates her with a fiery vengeance." The reason being that Harmony picked on her for about 10 years, and soon after kindly signing each other's yearbooks, Willow called her a tramp. She told Buffy that "she's just missing everything now." Willow retained her dislike for Harmony, especially after the latter became a vampire.


 * Faith Lehane - When Faith first arrived in Sunnydale, Willow was not fond of her for many reasons. One reason was that Buffy initially spent more time with Faith than with herself, causing Willow to feel left out of the "Slayer's Only Club." Their relationship became even more strained after Faith went down the path of evil. When Willow got kidnapped by the mayor, she bravely confronted Faith over her actions, stating that she did not have to become this, even going as far to say that she was too far gone to be saved. Willow once described her as "a cleavagey slut-bomb," and mocked her usage of the phrases "wicked" and "five-by-five." Willow overcame her animosity towards Faith when the two helped re-ensoul Angel and Willow then asked Faith to return to Sunnydale with her to help in the battle against the First Evil. When Buffy incorrectly told Willow that Faith tried to kill her again, Willow proceeded to say, "Faith. Never been a fan." However, when Willow contacted Faith and Angel in London, she greeted Faith pleasantly and without anger which gives reason to believe that Willow likes Faith to an extent.

Behind the Scenes

 * She was portrayed by Alyson Hannigan.


 * Willow was a regular character for all seven seasons. She, Buffy and Xander are the only characters to appear in all 144 episodes of the series.


 * With 147 television appearances, Willow is second only to Angel (who appears in 167 episodes) as the most prolific character.


 * Along with Buffy, Giles, Xander and Angel, she is one of only five characters to appear in both the pilot and series finale of Buffy: "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and "Chosen".

Gallery

 * See Willow Rosenberg/Gallery

Canonical appearances

 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer
 * All 144 episodes


 * Angel
 * "Disharmony"
 * "There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb"
 * "Orpheus"


 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
 * The Long Way Home
 * No Future for You
 * Anywhere But Here
 * A Beautiful Sunset
 * Wolves at the Gate
 * Time of Your Life
 * After These Messages ... We'll Be Right Back!
 * Predators and Prey
 * Retreat
 * Turbulence
 * Twilight
 * Last Gleaming

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine 
 * Freefall
 * Slayer, Interrupted

Angel and Faith
 * Family Reunion

Other

 * Willow & Tara
 * Wicked Willow
 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds