This paper explores Willow's magical education at the hands of Rupert Giles and examines their relationship as one that suggests a number of father-daughter characterizations. Although other relationships have embodied this same paternal-sexual complexity (Angel and Buffy, Anya and Xander, Buffy and Giles, Riley and Maggie, etc.), Willow and Giles' bond is intensified by the transmission and sharing of occult knowledge. In the show's early seasons, Willow's growing interest in witchcraft occurs as Giles becomes romantically involved with Jenny Calendar. After her sudden death, Willow usurps Jenny's 'techno-pagan' persona and forges a unique bond with Giles that is in many ways more intense and more tender than his Watcher-Slayer relationship with Buffy. Season Six's story arc portrays what becomes of the student (Willow) whose ambition and skill transcends that of her teacher (even if only in her own mind). Seasons 5, 6 and 7 give us a Giles increasingly jaded with his own effectiveness as an advisor to the Scooby Gang: a lonely man in the throes of midlife crisis, a gallant who nevertheless longs to reawaken his 'ripper' persona. Meanwhile, Willow grows into a sexually-mature and socially-confident young woman who defies Giles' advice and authority. This classic psychological model, the conflicted father-daughter, adept-acolyte bond, manifests itself most compellingly when Giles fails to prevent or effectively cope with Willow's descent into self-indulgent malevolent magic after the sudden death of her own lover.

On Buffy the Vampire Slayer, magical practice has a direct performative effect: words and incantations lead to fantastic effects. In such an occult world, the ethics of magical practice have even more dire consequences. Throughout the life of the show, both the character of Willow and the presentation of magical practice has changed and developed, and the final season creates a more ethical and somewhat resistant identity for this practice. Viewing the series as a whole, we can collectively examine the thematic and semiotic presence of magic, both through Willow as an embodiment of the practice/practitioner and through magical symbols (both "actual" and created) and acts of magic. This paper will analyze a number of instances in the show that demonstrate how magic in the Buffyverse functions as symbol and metaphor, and as a potentially political practice resistant to dominant patriarchal paradigms.