Charmed Slayer Angel

It is A change from how shy she was in the first episode of the series

starryeyesxx

She really did come a long way, & I think that Buffy was a big part of that

Charmed Slayer Angel

Well put

FuriosityShell

Definitely. It always breaks my heart when I rewatch "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and see how timid Willow is.

Buffy: Uh, hi! Willow, right?
Willow: (looks up) Why? I-I mean, hi! Uh, did you want me to move?

The fact that Willow believes that the new girl in school is above her, and she has to move for her is heartbreaking. I love the scene where Willow stands up to Cordelia, after calling Buffy a freak.

Cordelia: [Buffy's] a psycho loony.
Willow: No, she's not.
Cordelia: What?
Willow: She's not a psycho. You don't even know her.

Willow never had the confidence or self-esteem to stand up to Cordelia when she bullied her, but she'll stand up to her if it means defending her new friend Buffy. I love Cordelia's line "Who gave you permission to exist?" In a way, Buffy gave Willow permission to exist.

starryeyesxx

I guess the way Buffy approached her & didn't care that anyone thought that they couldn't be friends, made Willow feel validated in a lot of ways

FuriosityShell

Yeah, because when you think about it, before Buffy, Willow never had a girl best friend. She never had someone she could confide in about everything. She obviously couldn't talk about her feelings for Xander TO Xander, and it seemed to me that she was something of a third wheel around Xander and Jesse.

Yeah. The fact that Buffy - beautiful, confident, strong, heroic - turned down being friends with Cordelia in order to befriend Willow definitely made Willow feel validated. I love that idea, because it speaks to the more human side of Buffy being heroic. Not only is she heroic in the sense of saving the world and fighting demons, but she's heroic because she stands up for the little guys (Willow, Amy, Jonathan).

Charmed Slayer Angel

^ Extremely well put!

starryeyesxx

Aww, that is beautiful - Buffy saved people in more ways than one!

Charmed Slayer Angel

Exactly

starryeyesxx

girls

Charmed Slayer Angel

Awww

Charmed Slayer Angel

starryeyesxx

I always think that Willow being her friend would be a good reason for Buffy to not want to put her in danger

Charmed Slayer Angel

I reckon they said it differently

starryeyesxx

I just always found that kinda strange. I get what was going on in the scene, Willow was feeling like she was being pushed out by Faith, & she wanted to be involved because she was Buffy's friend - but that phrasing always kinda made me raise my eyebrows.