A Pinch of Salt Trivia Quiz

Answer: Alyson Hannigan

The question I really want to ask is "Was Alyson Hannigan the only person to play Willow in the series"? The answer would have been "No", but you would not have known that simply by viewing the TV series, which aired for seven seasons between 1997 and 2003. The original choice for the role was Riff Regan who played Willow in the pilot episode. This, however, was never aired. The network did not enjoy Regan's performance and one of their approval conditions to Joss Whedon was that she had to go.

Enter Alyson Hannigan who, along with the title character, Buffy Summers played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, were the only two characters to feature in all 144 episodes of the show. Whedon had created Willow as an introverted, conservatively dressed geek. However, he advised (in an interview with the New York Times) that Alyson's innate sexiness took over and, eventually, turned the character into a much stronger personality.

Answer: Jenny Calendar

Jenny Calendar appeared in the episode "I Robot, You Jane" (S1 E8, April 1997). She would eventually reveal that she was a member of the Kalderash, the Romani group responsible for placing the curse (soul) on Angel. Her role was to maintain an eye on him. Her gift, or skill, with computers is what initially draws Willow to Jenny. It didn't take Willow long to identify that Jenny had some proficiency with the dark arts. Calendar denied being a witch, claiming she didn't have that sort of power. Instead, she called herself a technopagan, but did admit to "dabbling" in witchcraft.

One of the running storylines in season two of the series saw the vampire Angel lose his soul and revert to his former evil self, Angelus. Jenny advises the group that she may be able to do a restoration spell and return Angel's soul. She translates the spell onto her computer. When Angel discovers this he kills Jenny and destroys her computer. Willow is then asked by the school to take over teaching Jenny's classes. In the process she looks through some of Jenny's personal items that are linked to witchcraft, further stimulating her interest.

Answer: Restoration of Angel's soul

Also known as the "Ritual of Restoration", this is a curse created by the Romani group, the Kalderash. It is supposed to be a form of revenge that re-installs the soul into a vampire, bringing back with it all the pain and remorse of the victims they have killed. However, Willow performs the spell in the episode "Becoming, Part 2", (S2 E22 May, 1998), not as revenge, but to bring Angel back to their side.

During this season, Angel loses his soul, reverts back to being the evil Angelus and embarks on a killing spree. One of his victims was an ally of the gang, Jenny Calendar. Prior to her death, Jenny had translated this spell onto her computer system, however, Angel (Angelus) had destroyed the computer to such an extent that the information could not be extracted from it. What he hadn't realized was that he'd missed a back-up disc which had fallen down the side of Jenny's desk. This is, fortuitously, discovered by Willow who informs the group that she will attempt the ritual. A concerned Rupert Giles cautions Willow, stating that it required a depth of knowledge of magic that even he didn't have and that the magic is so potent that it might "open a door you might never be able to close".

The Hand of Corsheth is a spell used by Catherine Madison to transport a person to dark place that they could not get out of (S1, E3 "Witch", March 1997). Eligor's Respite is used to cure vampires of any injury or magical illness. It was used by Spike in season two, episode ten, "What's My Line, Part II" (S2 E10 November 1997), and Diana's Curse is a love spell used by Amy in "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" (S2 E16 February 1998).

Answer: The "Peanuts" character Woodstock

This little snippet surfaces during the episode "Helpless" (S3 E12 January 1999). Buffy is approaching her eighteenth birthday and is looking forward to spending time with her friends at the ice show with her father. This triggers a confession from Willow that she, as a child, had attended "Snoopy on Ice" with her father. He'd taken her backstage where she met Woodstock, got terrified and threw up on the bird. She had maintained that fear ever since.

During the course of the series we also find out that Willow has a fear of horses ("Where the Wild Things Are" S4 E18 April 2000), frogs ("What's My Line, Part I" S2 E9 November 1997) and spiders ("Nightmares" S1 E10 May 1997). It is Willow's best friend, Xander Harris, who has a fear of clowns. This was also revealed in the episode "Nightmares".

Answer: Mothers Opposed to the Occult (MOO)

In "Gingerbread" (S3 E11 January 1999) Willow is part of a coven with her friends Amy Madison and Michael Czajak that is seeking to cast a protection spell around Buffy as her 18th birthday approaches. Unfortunately, their timing is lousy. Joyce Summers (Buffy's mother) has decided to join her daughter on a night of "slaying" as a means of bonding. They discover the bodies of two children in the park and it appears to have been a death by witchcraft. Joyce then forms the group "MOO" with the initial aim to remove a series of "offensive" books from the school's library.

The children are, in truth, the demons Hans and Gretta Strauss, who appear in the guise of dead children every fifty years with the aim of destroying "bad girls" or witches. Under their spell the Mothers Opposed to the Occult, which now includes Willow's mother as a member, turns into a Salem type witch hunt. Willow, along with Amy and Buffy are captured, tied to poles at City Hall and are to be burnt at the stake. Amy transmogrifies into a rat and makes her escape. Giles and Cordelia concoct a scenario that reveals the demons as they truly are. Buffy awakes, snaps out of her bonds and destroys the demons.

After the spell has been broken, the parents have no memory of the events that transpired. Amy remains a rat under a spell that Willow is unable to reverse.

The Trio was made up of Warren Mears, Jonathan Levinson and Andrew Wells. They planned to become Buffy's arch "nemesis-es" and first appeared in the episode "Flooded" (S6 E4, October 2001). The Order of Aurelius were a vampire cult that worshipped the "Old Ones" and were led by The Master. They appeared in the series premiere "Welcome to the Hellmouth" in March 1997. Beta Delta Gamma were a sorority of the University of California who made one appearance in the episode "Beer Bad" (S4 E5 November, 1999).

Answer: Veruca

Willow's growth during the course of the series was beautifully documented by the writers but it took a huge leap in season three when she put her heart on the line and established a relationship with Daniel Osbourne, best known as Oz.

Oz is a member of the band Dingoes Ate My Baby that has a regular gig at the Bronze. Played by Seth Green, he made his first appearance on the show in the season two episode "Inca Mummy Baby" (E4, October 1997). On that occasion he captured the attention of Willow when she spied him wandering through the Bronze crowd wearing an Eskimo costume. On the surface, that all sounds pretty reasonable. The issue is that Oz is also a werewolf. Despite this, their relationship continues to develop during the course of season three.

Veruca appears in the season four episode "Living Conditions" (E2 October 1999) as the sultry lead singer of the band Shy. She is also a werewolf and soon identifies the same quality in Oz. Oz is drawn to her, both for her music interest and his urges as a werewolf. They have an affair and are caught out by Willow. After three episodes Veruca endeavours to kill Willow but is, instead, slain by Oz. Oz then breaks Willows heart when he decides that he has to leave both Willow and Sunnydale with a view to find a cure for his curse.

Veruca was meant to be a major storyline that would run for the entirety of season four, however, Seth Green made a sudden announcement that he intended to leave the show and the plans had to be changed.

Answer: A Wicca meeting

The episode was entitled "Hush" (S4 E10 December, 1999) where Willow is looking to explore her magics a little further. The Wicca meeting is nothing like she'd imagined noting that the girls at the meet have no knowledge of casting spells. This is borne out when Willow suggests practicing one and gets ridiculed. Tara (played by Amber Benson) tries to support Willow's suggestion, but her shyness takes over and she backs down. Toward the end of the episode, Tara finds herself with Willow attempting to escape the clutches of "The Gentlemen", who have stolen the voices of the folk in Sunnydale and assists her to cast a spell to push a vending machine against the door to keep their tormentors out. Gradually this relationship blossoms.

From the outset of the series Joss Whedon had planned to have a same sex relationship in the series and he had his sights on it being either of Willow or, her friend, Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon). As a consequence, he foreshadowed the move for either character within his storylines. In the case of Xander, this occurs in the episode "Phases" (S2 E15 January, 1998). Xander aids a macho school footballer (Larry) to come out of the closet in regard to his homosexuality. Larry mistakes Xander for being gay. In the season three episode "Dopplegangland" (E16, February, 1999) Willow's evil vampire version makes an appearance declaring "I'm so evil and skanky. And I think I might be gay".

This became one of the first same sex relationships to appear on prime-time television and the studio was understandably nervous about it. Whedon had to fight hard to win his way. Eventually Willow and Tara would share their first kiss ("The Body" S5 E16, February, 2001), however, the studio put forward strong resistance to this. It was only at the threat of Joss Whedon walking away from the series that they chose to relent.

Answer: No

The one flaw here is that, if she'd wanted to, Willow could have cast a spell that would have allowed her to sing like an angel. The truth of the matter is that Alyson Hannigan does not rate herself a singer and, when she found out that Joss Whedon was planning to write a whole episode for the show as a musical she pleaded with him not to give her a singing part.

That said, Alyson/Willow does sing some lines but the majority of her work on that episode was made up of filler lines that were spoken out. The episode, "Once More With Feeling" was episode seven of season six and it first aired November 6, 2001.

Answer: The death of Tara Maclay

During season five of the series we see two things strengthen; Willow's power and her relationship with Tara Maclay. We also witness the death of Buffy in the season's finale ("The Gift" May 2001). At the start of season six Willow's skills reach new heights, culminating in a spell that leads to Buffy's resurrection ("Bargaining Part 1 S6 E1, October 2001). This is a prelude to an addiction to using magic that will cause all sorts of issues for Willow and the gang. After repeated broken promises that she will stop, Tara has had enough and breaks off her relationship with Willow ("Tabula Rasa" S6 E8 November 2001). From this point Willow's addiction spirals out of control to the point that it nearly leads to the death of Buffy's sister Dawn ("Wrecked" S6 E10 November 2001).

Willow renounces her magic and appears to have mended her ways. This leads to a reconciliation with Tara. However, when a stray bullet fired by Warren Mears, in his attempt to shoot Buffy ("Seeing Red" S6 E19 May 2002), kills Tara, Willow snaps. She reverts to her dark side and tries to resurrect her lover. When this fails, she storms into the Magic Box and extracts all the dark magic from the text books in the store. This transforms her into "Dark Willow", veins appear on her face and both her eyes and her hair turn a solid black. She extracts vengeance on Warren by flaying him alive ("Villains" S6 E20 May 2002) but it's not enough... leading her to try an end the world. It is only the love of her best friend, Xander Harris, and the white magic that she'd previously absorbed from Giles, that causes her to break down and desist. ("Grave" S6 E22, May 2002).

Answer: Blue Fairy

In case you didn't know it, Alyson Hannigan is not a natural redhead. When the three lead ladies in the series, Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) and Hannigan turned up for pre-production, it was noted that all three were auburn haired. When asked as to which one would be prepared to change their hair colour, Hannigan raised her hand.

Willow and Xander Harris' relationship goes way back to their kindergarten. She was left in tears on the first day when Xander broke her yellow crayon (revealed in the episode "Grave", S6 E22, May 2002).

Highlighting "White Willow" was the main reason for this question. At the start of the seventh season, we find Willow in rehabilitation, in an effort to remove her addiction to the use of magic. Willow progresses well but has developed a phobia about using her skills for fear that she will lapse into her old ways. In the final battle with the First ("Chosen" S7 E22, May 2003) Buffy, knowing full well of the pain this may cause, calls on Willow to cast one last enchantment. As a favour to her friend, she agrees and casts a spell that activates a vast number of potential Slayers across the globe. In the process of it, Willow's hair turns white, for a short time. As Willow falls to the floor, exclaiming "that was nifty", her girlfriend, Kennedy, proclaims her a goddess.

The "Blue Fairy" is a dream manifestation that can turn vampires into humans. She appears in the spin-off series "Angel" in the episode "Soul Purpose" (S5 E10 January 2004).