It's notable that Willow's expertise with robotics (which may/may not have been helped by studying Ted parts) pays off in a big way with the Buffybot. The things that are scariest about Willow are also the things that make her most essential, which is pretty cool.
I think Willow is concerned with morality - she just takes it as a given. The good guys are good guys, the bad guys are bad guys, and as long as everyone knows who's who and follows the rules for their side there's no problem. It's when she learns that rules can be broken without the world ending that things start to go wrong for her - if it's really OK to walk off-campus in broad daylight, or if it's somehow wrong to resurrect Joyce, then what's to say all rules can't be discarded?
Part of what makes the shifting magic metaphor work so well is that something about the core of what magic is for Willow is consistent -- it's always about changing at least perception of reality and what is possible. "I'm so skanky and evil -- and I think I'm kinda gay!" Magic may allow the possibility that she can be evil, but magic!sex is what also allows her to be more fully herself and come out, which she wouldn't have been able to do back in "dying a virgin" stage. Which is not to say that lesbian = evil, but s1 Willow, while I think not likely to be homophobic toward *others*, sees both evil and gayness (and virginity, and yelling at a Giles-like authority figure, and...) in herself as so shameful she'd never dare go there. She starts with all these rigid categories and then by/at the end of season six she loses all of them. ("You just don't get it, do you? Nothing can hurt me now. It's all...nothing.") And has to rebuild from scratch after Xander talks her down and she has to figure out how to live and be a person again knowing what she's done.
(I know I'm preaching to the choir on this 'n' all, but it's so fun to talk about it sometimes.)
I think Willow is concerned with morality - she just takes it as a given. The good guys are good guys, the bad guys are bad guys, and as long as everyone knows who's who and follows the rules for their side there's no problem. It's when she learns that rules can be broken without the world ending that things start to go wrong for her - if it's really OK to walk off-campus in broad daylight, or if it's somehow wrong to resurrect Joyce, then what's to say all rules can't be discarded?
Part of what makes the shifting magic metaphor work so well is that something about the core of what magic is for Willow is consistent -- it's always about changing at least perception of reality and what is possible. "I'm so skanky and evil -- and I think I'm kinda gay!" Magic may allow the possibility that she can be evil, but magic!sex is what also allows her to be more fully herself and come out, which she wouldn't have been able to do back in "dying a virgin" stage. Which is not to say that lesbian = evil, but s1 Willow, while I think not likely to be homophobic toward *others*, sees both evil and gayness (and virginity, and yelling at a Giles-like authority figure, and...) in herself as so shameful she'd never dare go there. She starts with all these rigid categories and then by/at the end of season six she loses all of them. ("You just don't get it, do you? Nothing can hurt me now. It's all...nothing.") And has to rebuild from scratch after Xander talks her down and she has to figure out how to live and be a person again knowing what she's done.
(I know I'm preaching to the choir on this 'n' all, but it's so fun to talk about it sometimes.)
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