Tara's Biography

The females in Tara's family had a tendency to achieve magical power around age twenty, and the men -- in an attempt to keep their womenfolk under control -- began telling a tale that this magic arose from some evil and demonic aspect within the women. By the time Tara was born in 1980, this family myth had become so entrenched that she grew up thinking it fact, and fearing the supposed demon side of herself.

When Tara was seventeen, her mother died after a prolonged illness, leaving Tara at the mercy of her father and her brother Donny. The men in her family treated Tara (and probably also her mother, before she died) with fear and loathing which expressed itself as oppression and belittlement. This lifelong treatment led to a nearly-debilitating meekness and pronounced stutter, both markedly apparent when Willow first met Tara at UC Sunnydale.

Despite this intense family pressure, however, Tara still developed an interest and skill in magic, even before leaving home for college. She also knew that she was homosexual, though it is unclear whether her family was aware of this. It is clear, however, that if they had known, they would have disapproved in the extreme. When Tara left for college, she became estranged from her family, not contacting them for months at a time.

Tara and Willow met at a Wiccan group meeting at UC Sunnydale (Ep. 4.10), and they quickly became good friends, cooperating together in experiments with magic. It wasn't long before they were a couple (around Ep. 4.13) ... and a very sweet, loving, ultra-cute couple, at that. But Willow was shy about introducing Tara to the Scoobies, because she feared what they would think of her new lesbian relationship. Willow's hesitation hurt Tara, but she had almost no skill at standing up for herself, and so she simply waited.

During this initial awkward period, Tara and Willow faced the reappearance of Oz (Ep. 4.19), Willow's long-lost love for whom she had pined and wept. Meek Tara immediately began to back off, expecting to be rejected in favor of Oz, but in the end -- much to Tara's surprise -- Willow chose her instead. This was when their relationship began to become increasingly serious. Not long afterward, Willow finally told the Scoobies about their romantic relationship (Ep. 4.21). After some initial surprised awkwardness, the Scoobs accepted Tara, though they seemed to feel somewhat distanced by her shyness.

Tara's status within the Scooby Gang became clear when the Maclays -- apparently extremely unsophisticated, closed-minded, uneducated rednecks -- came to town for Tara's twentieth birthday (Ep. 5.06), intending to take her back "home" (against her will) where they could better control her and suppress her interest in magic. During the conversation, Spike proved definitively that Tara was not part demon, by punching her in the nose (since this caused him pain from his chip, it showed she was purely human). The Scoobies stood up to the Maclays and insisted that Tara was "family," and the Maclays turned tail and ran, leaving Tara happy in Sunnydale with people who actually accepted her.

Tara's life with Willow was quite happy ... and in the Buffyverse, that's a cue for disaster. Sure enough, the hellgod Glory brain-sucked Tara (Ep. 5.19), leaving her insane and childlike. Willow cared for her devotedly ... and sought revenge upon Glory. In the end, during their final battle with Glory (in which Buffy died), Willow was able to reverse the damage that Glory had done, and return Tara to her normal state.

After Buffy's death and Tara's return to sanity, things became somewhat more difficult between Tara and Willow. This was due, in large part, to the fact that Tara had been growing slowly more confident and less meek. She was willing to stand up to Willow and give her opinion, even when it was negative. Tara objected to Willow's increasing reliance on magic, and when Willow actually resurrected Buffy, Tara exhibited great concern over the seriousness of the powers Willow was manipulating.

After Buffy's resurrection, the magic issue slowly became more and more of a problem, and pushed Tara and Willow further and further apart, until Tara finally broke up with Willow ... something the earlier, meek Tara would most likely never have been able to do. They eventually got back together -- after Willow had worked very hard to control her reliance on magic -- but shortly afterward, Tara was hit by a stray bullet (Ep. 6.19), tragically ending her life.