Tara Maclay (Amber Benson), 20, is extremely shy and cautious. She isn't great with computers, but is very book smart. Willow first met her at a wicca group at UC Sunnydale. Willow suggested they do spells. Everyone laughed at her, but Tara appeared to want to back her up, however, she shyed away. Soon after, when everyone lost their voices, Tara, on her way to find Willow, is followed by the gentlemen, (The baddies of that episode) and runs away. Eventually, Willow joins in and they run into the laundry room together, and combine their powers to make the vending machine move against the door with their minds ("Hush"). After that Tara and Willow began doind many spells together and in the process bonding. They did a spell to their mind's synchronisity ("A New Man"). Then, they did a spell to locate demonic energy, but Tara sabatoged it, which we didn't discover why for nearly a season ("Goodbye Iowa"). All the time, though, Willow had been keeping Tara a secret from the gang, although she told her about how Buffy was the slayer. Willow wanted something that was "just hers". When Tara responded that she was, it was the first we saw of their developing relationship. But Willow felt badly and so she went to a party at the bronze and introduced Buffy (who was really Faith at the time) to Tara. "Buffy" was extremely mean to Tara, and Tara knew right away that it wasn't Buffy. They then did a spell and found out that Faith was possessing Buffy ("Who Are You"). After that, Tara was a full-time scooby, attending the meetings and everything, although still mainly hanging with Willow, and their relationship continued to evolve, as we saw another sign in the haunted frat house ("Where The Wild Things Are"). When Oz returned Willow eventually came to terms with her feelings and told Buffy about Tara, and that they were girlfriends ("New Moon Rising"). Tara appeared in a different role when the Willow, Xander, Giles and Buffy dreamed of the first slayer. Tara served as the first slayer's voice ("Restless"). Tara contined on as a scooby, although no one besides Willow knew her that well, until her 20th birthday. Her family came, and told Tara she was a demon. Tara performed a spell to hide demons so her friends wouldn't see her as a demon, but undid it when demons attacked the group. She then admitted she was a demon, explaining her actions in "Goodbye Iowa". Her family attempted to take her home with them, but the scooby gang all stood up for her, finally accepting her as one of their own and calling her family. Spike, by punching her, proved she wasn't a demon, and Tara stayed ("Family"). Eventually, Glory came to believe that Tara was the key, but when she discovered she wasn't, stuck her fingers in Tara's head, making her a shell of her former self, despite Willow's attempts to stop her. Now Tara remains only semi-conscious of her surroundings, and in this state, saw Dawn as her true key-self, saying how pure the light was, and Glory heard, thus revealing Dawn as the key ("Tough Love"). It appears she has become controlled by Glory, as she attempted to go to her, chanting "it's time". ("Spiral")
First Appearance: "Hush"
Significant Others: Willow (Seasons 4 and 5)
Defining Quote: "Um...that, that was funny if you, um, studied Taglarin mythic rites...and are a complete dork."
Episodes Appeared In: "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", "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"
