What If...

[MoonyWolf]

Hey,

I have a question that I need some help with! I suppose it's research for a fic but I'm sure I've overlooked plenty of stuff, and I think I need a few more Buffy-brains in on it!

So, riddle me this: how would events in the Buffy timeline have gone if Willow had disappeared in season three? Sometime after 'Choices'. I've been trying to consider it from all points, big and small, like what difference her presence made in each episode as well as the big fights. I'm sure there's loads of little effects, and the connecting ripples that go with them.

Any thoughts?

[Jaz ♀♀]

Well....i've read a fanfic that had Willow leave during the whole season 3 story arc....this is the writers summary:

Summary You remember how Willow was in a coma and came out of it in Becoming? And how Buffy was accused of killing Kendra? Well, Willow’s parents actually took some notice of those events. That and the fact that when they got to the hospital, she had a boyfriend they had never met: a musician! So they did what any caring loving parents would do. That’s right: stay home more and pay more attention to their daughter right? Wrong! They sent her to boarding school out in the beautiful Hill County of Texas.

The story is: Season 3 Y'all

It's a Willow/Tara fic and so the story mostly revolves around Willow in Texas where she meets a girl named Tara. And it has the Buffy season 3 story in the background but pretty much everything happens in Sunnydale just like it did in season 3 but without Willow....but the story does have her helping the scoobies out via phone conversations and through the internet.

I'm not sure if this answers your question, but this is the only fic i've read that has the Willow-gone scenario in season 3.

I definitely recommend it if you like Willow/Tara pairings, but if you're interested in reading a story from the Sunnydale side, then not so much your kind of story.

[MoonyWolf]

Thanks! Yeah, it's possible the Scoobies could've handled Faith and the Mayor on their own I suppose. I was thinking about the other seasons too, and of course the longer the time period, the more complications you can run into. Like with the spell to fight Adam in Season four. And it's been while since I watched season five...

[Saturn 5]

Tara would have become involved with the scoobs much earlier and succeed in de-ratting Amy. Amy would never have gone evil and would be Tara's girlfriend. She would save Tara at the end of season 6 but everything else would work out the same

[willowsummers]

Well I don't think Xander would have stuck around as long as he did and I think Buffy would have never gotten back up and fought for Dawn, if it wasn't for Willow. Willow helped win several battles that might not have been otherwise and Angel might not have ever gotten his soul back.

[CourtneyDax]

Hm, well Buffy would be roomed with someone else for season 4 (maybe a replacement Willow-type?). Oz would never have a reason to leave the show so he'd be there till the end of the series. Tara would have never joined the cast (MEGA HUGE SADFACE!) so maybe in "Who Are You" no one would realize that Faith was in Buffy's body for a loooong time, perhaps never.
I'd assume that the Scoobies can defeat Adam without Willow's power? Oz replaces her in the final spell in "Primeval"?
In season 5, it would be Anya who gets mind-sucked and not Tara. I dunno that she'd ever become less crazy then, since there is no one to get the un-crazy back into Anya.
Season six would not have a big bad??? Warren kills Buffy who still is in Faith's body? The madness I tells ya!

So....Buffy's life pretty much sucks without Willow in the plot, cuz she potentially "loses" or dies a couple of times. Fail.

[gumgnome]

I think a starting point would have to be that Buffy would be roomed with someone else after "Living Conditions". The events of "The Freshman" and "Living Conditions" can pretty much play out as before, as Willow isn't pivotal to those eps - you'd just need an even more isolated Buffster in the first episode and generally less happy Scoobs overall, missing their Will.

After "Living Conditions", you're free to add a sympathetic character that Buffy can befriend and who can possibly enter the Scoobs. I would say that whoever she is, she shouldn't be like Willow, because that would defeat the point of removing her in the first place.You could always introduce Tara at this point, as a magic-user replacement. I wouldn't personally hook her up with Buffy, just because I don't really see Buff that way (how could I compete?!) but she could be introduced. Alternatively, you can add another character that Buffy doesn't get along well with, but who isn't trying to steal her soul in her sleep and continue Buffy's frustration with college.

One very interesting difference will be with Veruca/Oz. Without Willow, Oz is bound to be feeling disconnected and a little wayward. We see the effect that Veruca has on him even when Willow is present - maybe Oz would go off the rails and become a real threat. Buffy might even have to put him down...

Without Willow, you're also missing tech-gal, so you'll have to think about the parts of S4 when the computer's necessary, like the encrypted disks near the end.

As for the spell with Adam, perhaps Tara could replace Willow (she fits the profile of spirit, or whatever part Willow plays) but it depends how ingratiated she is with the Scoobies by then.

Sounds like an interesting project - if you have ideas to bat around, give me a holler!

[Saturn 5]

I never go for the doom and gloom predictions. Warren would never kill Faith-as-Buffy and even if she did it would be her brought back at the beginning of S6, Faith and Buffy would always reconcile, Buffy would always fight to get Dawn back (maybe The Nerds could help her?), others would step forwards to take Willow's place, probably Amy (who of course never becomes a rat) and Tara is her girlfriend.

Take a gander at this, says it better than I ever could;

www.fanfiction.net/s/3006642/1/Deadscoobies

[MoonyWolf]

Thanks for all the feedback guys! Really interesting. So assuming the Season Three finale plays out the same, more or less, we're left with Buffy and the gang - minus Oz, oops - left facing life after highschool, and a year to kill before Dawn shows up. Interesting how some thought Tara would never appear and others suggested bringing her in anyway. Amy would still be a rat, as she vanished after Gingerbread, though whether she ever turned back would be under question. Angel also has his soul, as that was Season 2, and he would probably still take off to pastures new.

What do people think would've happened if Buffy had skipped the whole college thing? After all, there would be no Willow to go with. Would she maybe go travelling with Xander or to LA with Angel for a while? What if she stayed at home - would the events at Sunnydale U still affect her?

[gumgnome]

I don't see why you necessarily need to lose Oz - he's gonna be hurting, but maybe you can use that?

It's a good point that Buffy may not have gone to Sunnydale U if Willow left at the end of S3. It really depends on how much you want the fic you're writing to be a reflection of the actual S4 plot but Willow-less, or whether you want to take it in a totally new direction. If you take the university out of the picture, the fic you write will probably look very little like the existing S4 pretty quickly. I think it would be interesting if you kept to the existing plot as much as possible and see how the characters naturally drift away from existing events with the absence of Willow, but hey - it's your fic!