I do think one of her interesting flaws is that she knew she was wrong, and resurrected Buffy anyhow, for a mix of reasons: world security, personal safety, she was missing her friend, with a heapin' helpin' of 'because I can'.

Yeah, see, I'm more in line with billytea's assessment that she had a mishmash of denial and unsupproted certainty justifying her actions. I don't think she knew she was wrong. She's a lot closer to criminal negligence as moral crimes go.

But but but...why didn't she tell Dawn?

I get not wanting the finger wagging from Giles.

She thought Dawn was old enough to bring her own mother back from the dead, so why not tell her about Buffy?

From her experiences in Forever, Dawn's mindset probably would have been something like - "I went through this with my Mom and it's really screwed up to do this to people. Death sucks. But you just have to deal with it, like I did. Please do not screw with Buffy or with me by doing this."

Bottom line for me is that it wasn't Willow's decision to make without consulting Dawn. She knew that Dawn would have strong feelings about it and didn't care. That's cold, yo.

With all that - I'm glad Willow went dark, too. Dark!Willow kicked ass in many ways. But how she got there lacked some creativity (addiction) and how she recovered lacked a powerful story except for right at the end when she went White. YWarcMV.

There's a direct line from "the softer side of Sears" to flaying Warren.

Oh yeah. There's a really good fanvid charting this, btw - though it only goes through the begining of S6. It still ends with her on the tomb in "Bargaining" looking dark and powerful. But it could have easily ended with the flaying.

But but but...why didn't she tell Dawn?

Probably didn't want to get Dawn's hopes up in case it failed.

But but but...why didn't she tell Dawn?

What if it went wrong? (x-post)

What if it went wrong?

Right. Because it's also implied in "Bargaining" that Willow was prepared to dispose of a zombie!Buffy if things went awry.

Right. Because it's also implied in "Bargaining" that Willow was prepared to dispose of a zombie!Buffy if things went awry.

Which is something XANDER never considered until Spike hit him with it.

There's a really good fanvid charting this, btw

Transparent. Really fucking good.

What if it went wrong?

Bringing back Joyce went wrong.

She encouraged Dawn to raise her Mom from the dead by herself with no guarantee that it will turn out OK, but then wants to protect her in case Buffy comes back wrong?

I don't buy it. I think she knew Dawn would be against it and had no defense.

Whew! I've never participated in a Willow debate before. Good times.

edited to be less snarky

I don't buy it. I think she knew Dawn would be against it and had no defense.

Me, too.