Amy Madison

Amy Madison was a witch. Although initially starting off as Willow Rosenberg's friend and a seemingly good-natured individual, Amy gradually grew to misuse her magic, eventually ending up as an enemy to the Scooby Gang and becoming a bona fide villain during the Twilight crisis.

Sunnydale High


Amy was a classmate of Buffy Summers' at Sunnydale High School. She and Buffy met when both tried out for the cheerleading team. Amy performed poorly in the tryouts, but a series of strange injuries to other candidates moved her up in the standings. Buffy suspected that Amy was a witch who was using her powers to harm the other girls so that she could be a cheerleader. Investigation revealed that Amy's mother, Catherine, a very powerful witch, had switched bodies with her because she wanted to relive her youth. Buffy and the Scoobies succeed in restoring Amy to her own body and (unknown to them) trapping her mother in an old cheerleading trophy.

The next year, Xander Harris realized that she had inherited her mother's powers, becoming a potent, if sometimes ineffective, witch, and blackmails her into casting a love spell for him. Although it was intended to make Cordelia Chase fall in love with him, the spell backfired instead, causing every woman in Sunnydale except Cordelia to fall for him - including Amy. In a jealous rage, she invoked the Goddess Hecate to turn Buffy into a rat. She was eventually forced by Rupert Giles to undo both of her spells.

Rat


Amy, along with Willow and Buffy, were the focus of the witch hunt that swept Sunnydale, and were nearly burned at the stake. Amy escaped by transforming herself into a rat, which became a problem because no one was able to turn her back. She lived as a rat for the next few years, cared for by Willow.

Willow cast a "I will it so" spell which allowed her to change things just by saying it. She unknowingly made demons feel attracted to Xander while commenting on his past girlfriends and saying that he was a "Demon Magnet" Willow talked to Buffy about how she was not a real witch and unknowingly turned Amy, who was on the bed behind the two of them at that time, back into a human by saying the words "first she's a perfectly normal girl," but before Amy could say anything, Willow said "then poof, shes a rat."

Human Again


Willow had become an extremely powerful witch and permanently "de-rated" Amy by simply conjuring up an incantation. The two become friends again, though Amy seemed to be drastically different than she was before. She had been involved with the warlock Rack and got Willow involved as well, leading Willow to become addicted to black magic. Later, when Willow decided to give up magic, Amy cast a spell on her, causing her to magically manipulate everything she touched for a while. Willow complained to Amy that this made her attempts to give up magic even harder. Amy responded by mocking her, implying that she did it as revenge for being trapped as a rat for years. As a result, Willow cut Amy out of her life entirely and made it clear to her that she was no longer welcome in the Summers household.



Having transformed aesthetically into Warren Mears, whom she tortured and flayed in a rage over the murder of her girlfriend Tara Maclay, Willow sought help from the UC Sunnydale Wicca Group and discovered that Amy was a member. Amy explained that she had hit "rock bottom," but was doing much better. However, Amy was in fact responsible for Willow's transformation, the result of a hex placed on her. This seemingly random event was actually part of a larger plan orchestrated by Warren, after Amy rescued him from death.

Acolyte of Twilight


Amy was discovered by the United States Army during an expedition to be living sixty feet under the Hellmouth after its collapse with her "boyfriend," an unrevealed creature whom General Voll regards with disgust. Her first words to an exploratory member were, "I'm gonna help you kill her." In exchange for their cooperation, Amy requests unlimited access to all the government's magical hardware as well as a weapons lab for her "boyfriend". If they succeed in taking Buffy down, Amy wants full immunity and release for the both of them.



Amy attacks Buffy at the Slayer's base in Scotland, putting her under a mystical sleep which only a kiss of true love can undo. Raising an army of kilted zombies to battle the Slayers, Amy battles Willow mid-air before being stepped-on by Buffy's now-giant sister Dawn Summers. As Willow magically probes Amy's whereabouts, she suddenly senses a trap and is pulled through a portal, only to be "greeted" by a saw-wielding and skinless Warren. As Warren tortures Willow, Amy faces off against Satsu and an awakened Buffy, who manages to channel enough of Willow's magic to defeat a demon which Amy conjured. Having seen her dreamspace while asleep, Buffy takes the form of Amy's worst nightmare: her mother. Distracted, Amy fails to notice a grenade thrown at her feet by Satsu, and as Buffy and Satsu charge into the room containing Willow, they see Amy appear and teleport away with Warren in her arms.



Later, in "Time of Your Life", she and Warren are shown working under direct orders from Twilight, under whom General Voll served. Together they have constructed a missile, covered in mystical runes and candles, and targeted it at the Scottish citadel where the Slayers reside. Some time after, Warren and Amy argue over the failed attack on the Castle (with Warren threatening to make a robot Amy "with no mouth").

In "Retreat", she is involved in the attack on the Slayers in Rome, summoning goat men to fight them while Amy herself is scrying from far away. This interrupts Warren's attempt to trick Andrew back to the dark side, an attempt Amy did not think would be successful. Amy magically tracks down the Slayers for Twilight after they flee to Tibet and spies on them for a time in the form of a cat.

When Twilight betrays her and Warren, they form a truce with Buffy and the rest and help fight against his forces. Amy survives the battle, but the destruction of the Seed causes her magic to dissipate, resulting in Warren's death.

Powers and Abilities
Amy is a powerful witch with abilities inherited from her mother. These powers grow throughout the series. While initially more powerful than Willow, casting a spell to become a rat that Willow cannot initially reverse, Amy acknowledges in Season Seven that Willow has surpassed her. Willow comments that Amy's newfound powers in Season Eight (which she claims has grown since the events of "Chosen") has been technologically augmented to some degree, with Amy commenting that she has grown consistently stronger stranded in the ruins of Sunnydale. In battle, Amy is able to stand up against Willow and fly by force of will.

Romantic Interests



 * Xander Harris - After a spell Amy casts which was supposed to make Cordelia love Xander goes wrong, she, along with every other woman in Sunnydale except Cordelia, falls in love with Xander. She falls in love with him to the extent of turning Buffy into a rat which is ironic considering Amy later is turned into a rat! This attraction ends after Giles gets Amy to reverse the spell.


 * Larry Blaisdell - Amy stated that she thought Larry was considering asking her to the prom, unaware he was gay and the fact that the graduation of her class occurred three years before, when Larry died.


 * Warren Mears - Amy's skinless boyfriend in Season Eight. It is revealed in "The Long Way Home" that the two had been in a relationship since "Villains", where after Warren was flayed alive by Willow, Amy saved his life. Amy refers to Warren as "sweetie", while he claims that "her magic is my skin." Amy constantly refers to Warren as her boyfriend as well.

Behind the Scenes

 * She was portrayed by Elizabeth Anne Allen.


 * Elizabeth Anne Allen appears at least once in every season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer except Season Five. Additionally, out of those seasons (with the exception of Season Six) she only appears once.


 * Elizabeth Anne Allen originally auditioned for the role of Buffy Summers but instead got the part of Amy Madison.


 * Although initially starting off as a good natured individual, Amy gradually grows to misuse magic throughout her appearances on the show, eventually ending up following in her mother's footsteps, though has recently displayed signs of wanting to change her ways.


 * After being turned into a rat, Amy-Rat is shown at random times through out the rest of Season Three as well as seasons Four, Five, and Six before finally being changed back.


 * Amy as a rat was in the room in her cage in during "Graduation Day, Part 1" when Willow loses her virginity to Oz.


 * The actress who played Amy is allergic to cheese, yet the character is mentioned to have a craving for cheese in The Long Way Home, Part One.


 * In the novel Colony, Amy is hoisted up the Sunnydale High flag pole by students under the spell of an ant demon, before being rescued by Buffy.

Appearances

 * "Witch"
 * "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"
 * "The Wish"
 * "Gingerbread"
 * "Graduation Day, Part One" (as a rat)
 * "Something Blue"
 * "Doomed" (as a rat)
 * "Triangle"
 * "Smashed"
 * "Wrecked"
 * "Doublemeat Palace"
 * "The Killer in Me"
 * The Long Way Home Parts 1-4
 * Time of Your Life Parts 1 and 4
 * Retreat Parts 2, 3, and 5
 * Twilight Parts 1-4
 * Last Gleaming Parts 1-4