Buffy The Vampire Slayer: 5 Reasons Dark Willow Is The True Big Bad Of Season 6 (& 5 Why It’s The Trio) – Screen Rant

Buffy The Vampire Slayer was well known for its imaginative array of villains. The monsters of the week were usually interesting enough to hook the casual viewer and the season-long antagonists (christened in-show as the Big Bads) were often extremely powerful and fascinating to watch (with the exception of Adam).

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Then came along Season 6. Following in the footsteps of a Hell Goddess is no easy feat and so rather than trying to best Glory, the production team came up with the Trio, a group of nerds using their abilities to commit crimes. However, at the end of the season, Dark Willow was introduced. But who was better? There's only one way to find out...

Ever since Willow was first introduced to magic, it was clear that she would one day become a formidable witch. She even restored Angelus's soul, a spell that is notoriously difficult to perform. From that moment on, Willow began experimenting with magic and learning how to master it, eventually becoming an accomplished witch in her own right.

However, her obsession with magic began to worry her girlfriend, Tara, and gradually the rest of the Scooby Gang. Willow's reliance on magiccreated underlying tension throughout Season 6 which raised the stakes dramatically.

The Big Bads of each season of Buffy are known that way because of the impact they have on their respective seasons. They are not just a one-off creature for Buffy to defeat with relative ease; they have long-ranging plans and are usually way more difficult to kill than your average demon or vampire.

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While the Trio are human, and don't have any particularly clever masterplans, they do appear fairly frequently throughout Season 6. Dark Willow, on the other hand, only appears for the last three episodes of the season, raising the question as to whether she truly counts as the Big Bad of the season.

Although only appearing for a limited number of episodes, Dark Willow's presence was hinted at throughout the entirety of Season 6. Willow's abuse of her powers was even mentioned late in Season 5, when she and Tara had a fight over Willow's increasing dependence on her magic, although nothing more was made of it at the time.

However, Willow's addiction soon spiraled out of control halfway through the show's sixth season, culminating in a shocking few episodes that saw Tara end their relationship, Willow getting high on magic, and Dawn almost dying in a car crash caused by a magically stoned Willow. Little did anyone know, this was merely a sign of worse things to come.

At the beginning of Season 6, the Trio were just a relatively harmless group of nerds. They used their powers and abilities to rob banks and generally cheat themselves into a more lucrative way of life but they didn't set out to harm anyone. They didn't even want to kill Buffy, as Jonathan had been saved by the Scooby Gang on multiple occasions.

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However, after their many successes, the Trio became more ambitious, especially Warren, who was the least morally sound individual of the group. Because Andrew secretly fancied Warren, he went along with some of the Trio's darker schemes, including trying to kill Buffy.

As stated earlier, many of Buffy's Big Bads possessed a higher than normal amount of power. The Trio really didn't fall into this particular category. However, Dark Willow certainly did. Even before she went all dark and murdery, Willow was still an extremely powerful witch, managing tohurtGlory in Season 5.

When Willow absorbed the dark magic from Rack and the books at the magic shop, she became almost unstoppable. Buffy couldn't fight her, and Giles's borrowed powers only lasted a short while. Willow's grief and rage after Tara's death proved to be a strong source of power indeed.

Season 6 was a polarizing run of episodes for many Buffy fans. It still had the same essence as previous seasons, but it also underwent a lot of changes. Buffy had been brought back to life by her friends, which ought to have been a good thing, but it was later revealed that Buffy had been in Heaven, only to be ripped out.

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This turn of events meant that Buffy struggled with depression for the whole of Season 6. Originally, it looked as though she could handle it but events caused by the Trio drove her to do some desperate things. They made it look like Buffy killed Warren's ex-girlfriend, and summoned a demon to convince Buffy that she was insane.

While the Trio did get incredibly dark and shocking towards the end of the season, their greatest sin was killing Tara (a horribly tragic act in itself). However, when Dark Willow arrived on the scene, no one was safe. Literally. Dark Willow committed some incredibly brutal acts, including skinning Warren alive.

Not content with simply killing Warren, Willow went after the remaining members of the Trio. When the Scooby Gang interfered, Willow simply went after her former friends too. She came incredibly close to killing Buffy until Giles interrupted. Unfortunately, his intervention convinced Willow to end the world, and she would have done so if it were not for Xander.

Considering the previous Big Bad was an almighty Hell Goddess, it was obvious that Season 6 needed a completely different kind of main villain. Enter the Trio, consisting of recurring characters Jonathan and Warren, and new character Andrew. These three individuals were unlike anything viewers had seen before.

For one thing, they were quite annoying initially. For another, they didn't appear to be that serious of a threat. However, their evolution as the season progressed was actually quite interesting to watch unfold. Warren began to display his murderous, misogynistic tendencies, while Jonathan becamewary of the Trio's increasingly nefarious activities.

For all their sinister development over the course of Season 6, the Trio just didn't present an immediate threat. It always felt like whatever they did, Buffy could just come along, give them a beating and then send them on their way. Their presence always felt more psychologically scary than physically intimidating.

Contrastingly, Dark Willow was totally and completely unpredictable. After Tara's death, Willow went off the rails in a big way. Everyone assumed that although the situation was bad, Willow would never actually kill anyone. And then she murdered Warren in the most gruesome way imaginable. From that moment, all bets were off.

There's nothing scarier than looking at something awful andseeing a part of you there that you had hidden away. Warren, Jonathan and Andrew represented everything bad about the human race. Warren was the worst offender, as his whole attitude stank even before he became a proper antagonist.

Warren was malicious, misogynistic and greedy, desiring power and fame and was reluctant to share it with Jonathan and Andrew. Andrew was no better, lusting after Warren and defending him even after Warren had murdered Katrina. Jonathan was the most morally sound, but he was still too weak to stop the others.

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Ben Pettitt is a recent English graduate of the University of Nottingham. He loves to write, read and watch Netflix. This is one of the reasons why he decided to come and display his knowledge of pop culture as a writer for Screen Rant.

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer: 5 Reasons Dark Willow Is The True Big Bad Of Season 6 (& 5 Why It's The Trio) - Screen Rant