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.

But it probably would've been more consistent for Oz to leave because Willow did a mind-wipe equivalent thing.

In early S4 Oz talked about thinking Willow was doing too much too fast with her magic -- in HLoD, I think. Though I don't know if that was before SG decided to leave. So I can see how Oz and Willow would have split (had Oz stayed) over her use of magic.

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

What if it went wrong?

Same reason she didn't tell Spike. Both of them would have kept a fucked-up zombie!Buffy around.

Willow seems to have the attitude w/r/t magic of It's Better to Do It and Ask Forgiveness Later Rather Than Ask Permission First.

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 think she encouraged Dawn to raise her Mom. I think she pushed Dawn towards magic because that's where she dealt (poorly) with her emotional problems.

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

I don't think Dawn would've been against it. I think Dawn would've easily been persuaded that Buffy's situation was different than her Mom's - because even by Jossiverse standards this was true. Buffy was able to come back because her death was "unnatural" - Dawn, who was miserable without Joyce and Buffy, would've grasped at just such a justification.

Bringing back Joyce went wrong.

Well, exactly. She knows there's no guarantee this is going to work, and she knows what happened last time and how it affected Dawn. So if Spike was right and Willow both knew that Buffy could come back wrong and she would have to stop her, why would she expose Dawn to that?

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 think she thought about the prospect that Joyce could come back wrong. I also think the Joyce experience is why she realised it was an issue, and why she knew it would be better not to involve Dawn. I mean, how would she bring it up? "I know it didn't work so well with your mother, but I reckon I've got the bugs ironed out now."

I have trouble seeing leaving Dawn out of the loop as an indication that she thought what she was doing was wrong. I can see why she'd be affected by Giles telling her she was going too far, as he has some knowledge and experience in such matters; but why would she be troubled by the judgment of a kid?

Willow seems to have the attitude w/r/t magic of It's Better to Do It and Ask Forgiveness Later Rather Than Ask Permission First.

Heh. Willow is never about Asking Persmission. Ever.

Dawn, who was miserable without Joyce and Buffy, would've grasped at just such a justification.

Considering that she was hugging the Buffybot for comfort, I agree.

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 never thought Willow pointing Dawn toward that book was her encouraging Dawn to raise Joyce. I thought it was giving her an answer that was more whole than "No we don't do that." The book itself wasn't enough to do it. In fact, Dawn had to find other books to tell her what to do.

Both of them would have kept a fucked-up zombie!Buffy around.

You think so? To me, the fact that Dawn tore the picture and destroyed zombie!Joyce says she would have been willing to destroy zombie!Buffy.

To me, Dawn is more capable of being unsentimental and making tough decisions when she has to than Spike.

Investigate where Buffy may be? Why? They need her back, and don't people go to hell? Don't they? Of course they do.

I won't disagree that Willow acted with arrogance, but she did have good reason to assume Buffy was in hell since Buffy died jumping into the gateway to a demon dimension.