Amy Madison was the daughter of Catherine Madison. She was a natural born witch, who lived in Sunnydale. She appeared in every season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, except for Season 5. This is because in season 5 she was still in the form of a rat.
Amy originally started out as a good-natured witch, but during the course of the show she begins to misuse her magic. This leads to becoming Willow’s enemy and an enemy of the Scooby Gang.
Biography
The Early Years
Amy has a tricky relationship with her parents. She was born to Catherine Madison, who she lived with for many years. Her father left her and her mother when she was twelve. He left them for another woman, who ends up being Amy’s stepmother in the later seasons.
For a long time, Amy was completely unaware of her mother’s supernatural powers. Whilst being brought up by her mother, she was constantly belittled and made to feel as if she wasn’t good enough.
Her weight was constantly monitored and if she dared gain an ounce of weight, she would be made to drink a special broth. Whenever, her mother was on a broth kick, which meant padlocking the fridge and only eating or drinking the broth. Amy would go to Willow’s house and they’d eat brownies.
Amy and Willow have been friends since junior high. In season 1 episode 1, Amy first meets Buffy for the first time at Sunnydale high, when they were both trying out for the cheerleading team.
It was Buffy, who thought that Amy was a witch, This is due to Amy performing poorly at the cheerleading tryouts, yet a series of strange injuries took place to the other tryouts. This then led to Amy becoming higher up in the standing to become part of the team. The only reason she tried out for the team was so she could impress her mother.
The Magic Years
After an investigation, Amy finally discovers that her mother is in fact a very powerful witch. It is also revealed that her mother switched bodies with her a few months prior, so that she could relive her youth. This now makes it clear why her mother was so obsessed with how she looked, because her mother wanted to look attractive while in her daughter’s body.
Buffy and the Scooby Gang try to help Amy get her own body back. This was done by the gang using a reversal spell. This enraged Catherine, who blamed Amy for everything and claiming she will cause her ultimate pain.
Thankfully one of Catherine’s spells backfired and she ironically ended up becoming trapped in an old cheerleading trophy. Once her mother was trapped, Amy went to live with her father. Her father tried to make up for lost time and for walking out on her.
However the following year, during season 2, Xander realizes that Amy has inherited her mothers powers. Xander ends up blackmailing Amy into casting a love spell, because he has seen her use her magic to not have to do her homework.
The spell goes wrong, and every woman in Sunnydale ends up falling in love with Xander, apart from Cordelia. Even Amy becomes under the influence of her own spell. Hence, when she gets jealous of Buffy who is also under the spell, she asks the goddess Hecate to turn Buffy into a rat. However, she was forced to undo both of her spells by Rupert Giles.
The Rat Years
In season 3, Amy, Willow and Michael began exploring the dark arts, by practising their magic together. The Mothers Opposed to the Occult, under the influence of the demon, Hans and Gratta Strauss waged a witch hunt. This was carried out all over Sunnydale, with Amy, Willow and Buffy almost being burnt at the stake.
Although Amy managed to escape being burnt at the stake by turning herself into a rat. However, no one knew how to turn her back into a human. Therefore, she spent the next few years as a rat that was taken care of by Willow in her college dorm.
In season 4, Willow casts a spell which allows her to change things just by saying it. Willow ends up talking to Buffy, how she didn’t think she was a real witch. Unknowing to them, Amy in rat form is sitting on the bed.
Thus, when Willow said “first she’s a perfectly normal girl”, Amy was transformed back into a human, yet she didn’t have enough time to say anything. So, when Willow said “then, proof, she’s a rat”, Amy was turned back into a rat again.
Over the course of all the seasons we have watched Willow grow more powerful as a witch. So in season 6, we see how powerful Willow has grown in power as she can conjure up a reversal rat transformation spell.
Human Once More
Amy wasn’t aware how much time had passed and how long she had been a rat, now that she is back in human form. She didn’t want to explain what happened to her to her father straight away. So, instead Amy and Willow go to Bronze. Amy was impressed by Willow’s use of magic and the witches caused chaos in the club.
The next morning, Amy goes back to her father. After using so much magic at the club the night before, Amy introduces Willow to the magic dealer and warlock known as Rack. It is discovered that Amy was in contact with Rack, before she turned into a rat. However, it is Rack’s magic that gets Willow hooked onto black magic.
Later, Willow makes the choice that she wants to give up on magic after becoming so addicted and causing so much damage with the black magic. Instead of accepting this decision, Amy puts a spell on Willow, which she claims is a gift. This gift allowed Willow to magically manipulate anything that she touched for a limited time.
Willow felt that this ‘gift’ was making her attempts to give up on magic harder. Amy just mocks Willow and claims that it wasn’t really a gift. It was more of an act of revenge for being trapped in the form of a rat for so long. This hurts Willow deeply and she ends up cutting Amy out of her life. She is no longer welcome at her house and their friendship is over.
In season 7, Willow transforms into Warren Mears, whom she tortured over the death of her girlfriend Tara. Willow then sought out help from UC Sunnydale Wicca group, known as the Daughters of Gaea. It is here that Willow discovers that Amy is a member of the group. Amy was here because she had hit rock bottom.
It turns out that Amy was responsible for Willow’s transformation. The Penance Malediction hex had been placed on her. It may have seemed like a random event, but this was part of a much larger place being controlled by Warren, after Amy rescued him from death.
Amy admits to Willow’s girlfriend that she was the one who put the hex on Willow, to take her down a peg. In Season 8, it is revealed that Amy has resurrected Warren and that the pair are in a relationship. However it is Amy’s magic that is giving him life and the thing that sustains him.
Although, after Buffy destroys the Seed of Wonder, the magic that kept Warren alive fades away and he dies once more.
Personality/Traits
Amy started off as a very kind-hearted character, who had a lot of emotional baggage due to her mother. Her mother made her feel insecure and that she constantly needed to prove herself. While also, she was hurt and a bit bitter that her dad managed to get away but leave her behind. Before her discovery of magic, Amy was kind and caring.
Once she discovers that she has magic, she begins to change. Especially once she starts looking into the dark arts with Willow. Once she knew about this kind of magic, Amy became a lot more reckless. She wouldn’t think about the consequences that her actions would have. Her magic began to corrupt her.
As a rat, she lived a very simple life and was well looked after. Yet once she was human again, instead of being thankful that Willow looked after her, she was jealous of the power Willow had been granted. She was outraged that Willow would want to give up magic.
Magic had become everything to Amy. Her magic and jealousy that she possesses made her do horrible things. Putting a hex on Willow, just to prove a point is something that Amy in Season 1 would never do.
In the end Amy was always persuaded by the wrong people to do things. She started off as a sweet and kind heart girl and ended up as a woman jealous of her ex-best friend and corrupted by the power magic gave her.
Appearance
Amy Madison, was a female witch from Sunnydale. During most of the run of the show she has medium length brunette hair. In the final season, this hair has changed to a short dyed blonde bob. The color palette of her clothes comes across as quite earthy colors, there were a lot of dark colors and greens.
Her appearance was quite simple and unsuspecting. There was never anything outrageous with Amy’s appearance, she could always blend in with the other people and students of Sunnydale.
Powers/Abilities
Amy is a natural born witch and she inherited these abilities from Catherine (her mother). To begin with she was a lot more powerful than Willow, but Willow surpassed her over time. This probably has something to do with the fact that Amy spent many years as a rat, while Willow continued to train and harness her magical abilities.
Yet Amy was still a very powerful witch in her own right. She managed to master resurrection spells and was able to bring Warren back to life and sustain him using her own magic.
She performed quite complex spells, such as the love spell that affected every woman of Sunnydale. This spell might not have worked as it was intended too. However Amy was powerful enough to be able to reverse this spell too.
She even managed some transformation spells, mainly rat ones. She successfully turned Buffy into a rat and turned her back. Amy also performed a transformation spell on herself and she ended up getting stuck in the form of a rat for a couple of years.
However she successfully performed a hex on Willow, which she then was able to reverse. On the quiet, Amy was a very powerful and strong witch.
Relationships
Family
Catherine Madison
Catherine was Amy’s mother. They didn’t have the best relationship, as Catherine was always judging and belittling her daughter. She made her feel insecure and that she was never good enough.
Catherine hid the fact that she was a witch. Until it was discovered that Catherine had taken over Amy’s body so that she could relive her youth. Buffy and the Scooby Gang try to get Amy back into her own mother, which enrages Catherine.
Catherine then puts this anger onto Amy and threatens to do the worst things possible to her. Instead one of Catherine’s spells goes wrong and backfires. Leaving Catherine trapped in an old cheerleading trophy.
Father
Amy’s father walked out on Amy and Catherine when she was 12 years old. However, once Catherine was trapped Amy went to live with her father. Amy’s father was very attentive and tried to make up for walking out on her.
Once she was transformed back into a human after being a rat, Amy was scared about going back to her father because she wasn’t sure how she could explain what happened to her. After a wild night out with Willow, Amy goes back to her dad the next morning and that is all we really know about him.
Friendship
Willow Rosenberg
Amy and Willow had been friends since Junior School. They weren’t that close during high school but they did practice magic together. When Amy turned herself into a rat, it was Willow that looked after her for years. She gave her a home (a cage) and fed her dailey. Willow did everything she could to make Amy human again.
Finally, once Willow had gained enough power, she could create a reversal transformation spell. Once Amy was human again, she and Willow had a rocky friendship. Willow got addicted to dark magic and then wanted to give it all up. Amy instead of understanding got revenge on Willow by making her decision harder.
After this, Amy and Willow’s friendship was never the same. Amy ended up hexxing Willow but then helping her after getting out of it. Amy and Willow’s friendship started off as strong and then started to fade and become foes by the end.
Buffy
Amy and Buffy meet during cheerleading tryouts. They were never the best of friends, but once Buffy learnt Amy had magic she tried to help. After some investigation, when Buffy learns that Amy isn’t in her body she does her best to try and help Amy get back into her own body.
Buffy and Amy have never been close, especially as Amy got so jealous of Buffy that she turned her into a rat when everyone was under her love spell to Xander.
Romance
Xander Harris
After her spell went wrong, she ended making all of Sunnydale fall in love with Xander. Everyone except Cordelia. She was also affected by this spell and fell in love with Xander too. Amy got so jealous that she even turned Buffy into a rat. However, this love ended after Giles made her reverse the spells.
Larry Blaisdell
Amy believed that Larry would ask her to prom. Yet she was unaware that he was gay, dead and that Sunnydale HIgh had been destroyed after gradution.
Warren Mears
Amy resurrected Warren and claimed that the pair were in a relationship. She kept him alive by using her magic. However, once Buffy destroyed the Seed of Wonder, the magic keeping Warren alive faded and he died.
Photos
Appearances
Amy Madison was portrayed by Elizabeth Anne Allen. Amy appeared in every season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, except for season 5.
She appeared in the following seasons and episodes:
- Season 1 Episode 3 – Witch,
- Season 2 Episode 16 – Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,
- Season 3, Episode 9 – The Wish (Mentioned Only),
- Season 3, Episode 11 – Gingerbread,
- Season 3, Episode 12 – Helpless (Mentioned Only),
- Season 3, Episode 15 – Consequences (Mentioned Only),
- Season 3, Episode 21 – Graduation Day, Part One,
- Season 4, Episode 9 – Something Blue,
- Season 4, Episode 11 – Doomed,
- Season 5, Episode 11 – Triangle (Mentioned Only),
- Season 6, Episode 9 – Smashed,
- Season 6, Episode 10 – Wrecked,
- Season 6, Episode 12 – Doublemeat Palace,
- Season 7, Episode 13 – The Killer In Me.
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