Tara Maclay

Tara Maclay (born October 16, 1980 and died May 7th, 2002 in Sunnydale, California) is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the cult television program, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Tara was played by Amber Benson.

Biography

Character history

Tara was introduced in the episode "Hush", in the fourth season of the show. A member of UC Sunnydale's Wicca group, she encountered Willow Rosenberg, herself a practicing witch. In many ways, the painfully shy and quiet Tara is reminiscent of Willow of seasons past. As Willow's romantic relationship with Oz caused her to bloom, it is through Tara that Willow becomes a powerful young woman.

As the season progressed, it became increasingly clear that the pair were destined for a romantic liaison. Willow realised that Tara was the person she loved, choosing Tara over her ex-boyfriend Oz. The two thus became one of the few lesbian couples on television and the first-ever prime-time lesbian couple which included a starring character. Wicca/spells came to serve as a metaphor for lesbianism, and love.

Not much is known about Tara's past. Her family life was clearly traumatic and she had not had many friends before meeting Willow. In the episode "The Body", Tara tells Buffy that she lost her mother when she was 17, at which point she went through a brief rebellious period. In the episode "Family", it is revealed that her father had told her at a young age that she was partially of demon descent on her mother's side. After she finds out this was merely a lie designed to keep control over her, Tara's ties with her family seemed entirely severed, leaving Willow and the Scooby Gang her only remaining loved ones, her new family. In "Tough Love" Willow pointed out that Tara had been out longer than Willow had, perhaps implying that Willow was not Tara's first girlfriend.

Tara was not officially considered one of the main characters on the show, with Benson's name not appearing in the main credits, except for one episode, her final. However, through her relationship with Willow, she did play an important role in the story on several occasions, such as at the end of the 5th Season, when the evil goddess Glory sucked her mind out, leaving her in a babbling, childlike state until Willow cured her, or in Season 6, when Willow's magic addiction (by this time, magic had become a metaphor for drug use) caused Tara to leave her, although they reconciled some episodes later.

Most important of all, Tara was killed, randomly, by a stray bullet aimed at Buffy by Warren, near the end of Season 6, in the episode "Seeing Red". As a result, Willow was propelled into a destructive fury, and soon attempted to destroy the world. According to her tombstone, seen in the episode "Help" (Season 7), Tara was born on October 16, 1980, and died on May 7, 2002 (the air date of "Seeing Red"; "Family", the episode dealing with the events surrounding Tara's 20th birthday, aired slightly out of time on November 7, 2000).

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 cliche of the series that any couples in the series tended to have their relationships brutally interrupted when they're at their closest.

Benson was originally going to return to the show in the Season 7 episode "Conversations with Dead People", where Tara would appear as one of the many forms of The First Evil, and attempt to coerce Willow into committing suicide. However, Benson decided that she didn't want to return, believing that appearing as a form of the season's villain would ruin Tara's image and needlessly upset Tara's fans.

While speaking at the Wizard World Chicago Convention in August 2004, Joss Whedon claimed that he had planned to bring the character of Tara back from the dead at the end of Season 7. According to Whedon, the episode would have centered around Buffy being granted one "life-altering" wish. Buffy would have struggled 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. This plan was abandoned when Amber Benson was unavailable for filming.

Powers & Abilities

Tara was a skilled spell caster and performed a wide range of spells during her time on the show. She has successfully created fire, light, smoke, and has done minor blinding curses. She also has shown some ability of telekinesis, which, when she is in physical contact with Willow, is stronger than it would otherwise be (i.e. she and Willow pool their power by concentrating on moving the same object). An unusual ability she displayed is the ability to magically know something is 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.) 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

In Season Four Tara was the only character to notice that Faith's spirit was trapped in Buffy's body. She was also central in sending Willow to the "nether-world" in order discover how they could reverse the soul switching. In Season Five's "Family" Tara cast a spell to stop the Scooby Gang from being able to see demons so she could hide her supposed demon side. This spell almost got the entire gang killed but Tara reversed it in time. Tara was also seen casting more offensive spells in combat situations. In season Six once again Tara is the only one that sees Buffy for what she is after she returns from the dead. In "Older and Far Away" Tara cast a spell to free the trapped party goers in Buffy's house but the spell instead freed a demon from a sword.

Romantic Relationships

*Willow Rosenberg

Appearances

Tara appeared in 47 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
* Season 4, 12 episodes: "Hush"; "A New Man"; "The I in Team"; "Goodbye Iowa"; "This Year's Girl"; "Who Are You"; "Superstar"; "Where the Wild Things Are"; "New Moon Rising"; "The Yoko Factor"; "Primeval"; "Restless"
* Season 5, 18 episodes: "Buffy vs. Dracula"; "Real Me"; "Out of My Mind"; "Family"; "Shadow"; "Listening to Fear"; "Triangle"; "Checkpoint"; "Blood Ties"; "Crush"; "I Was Made to Love You"; "The Body"; "Forever"; "Intervention"; "Tough Love"; "Spiral"; "The Weight of the World"; "The Gift"
* Season 6, 17 episodes: "Bargaining, Part One" and "Part Two"; "After Life"; "Flooded"; "Life Serial"; "All the Way"'; "Once More, With Feeling"; "Tabula Rasa"; "Smashed"; "Wrecked"; "Dead Things"; "Older and Far Away"; "Hell's Bells"; "Normal Again"; "Entropy"; "Seeing Red"; "Villains"

Buffy The Vampire Slayer RPG

Willow and Tara were prominently showcased in the first published adventure for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG, the The Dark Druid. The adventure features Fionn mac Cumhail as a protagonist and ally. His battle with the druid Fer Doirich continues into the modern age and posits that the witches Willow and Tara are the reincarnations of his fosters Bodhmall and Liath respectively. The Dark Druid by Brannan, Timothy S., Games Unplugged , July 2002, p.25. [1]
*Official Buffy RPG character sheets for Willow and Tara.

References

Trivia

*Amber Benson was usually credited as a guest on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The only time she was credited as a cast member was on the credits of "Seeing Red", the episode in which Tara Maclay was killed. This was something Joss inteded to do from the start - Kill a character listed as a regular in one of their first appearances as such.

See also