I’m not saying I would have wanted the Trio to murder Xander...

[thenewbuzwuzz]

A minor crosspost for my meta tag. This was in yesterday's Herald via tumblr.

Tumblr user girl4music made a post stating Tara's death was tragic but necessary as a catalyst for the Dark Willow arc.

I said this:

Comments

[itsnotmymind]

I'm torn between sympathy for fans who are sick of gay characters being killed off, and awareness that I would not have enjoyed the story as much with Tara talking Willow down instead of Xander. It would still be powerful, don't get me wrong, but the fact that Xander has known Willow her entire life in all her incarnations and identity issues makes the scene much stronger. I don't think reading the transcript would make me cry if it was Tara talking down Willow.

[thenewbuzwuzz]

That's very fair. I adore that scene.

[teragramm]

I'm not a big Xander fan. I would not be opposed to this scenario... at all.

[thenewbuzwuzz]

Hee! :) Valid point of view. Myself, I don't really want any of the Scoobies gone (except for Riley maybe, but even he could stay as long as he wasn't dating Buffy). But it was fun to consider whether and how an alternative to Tara could work.

[double_dutchess]

Interesting idea! Xander dying would have worked as a catalyst for Willow going dark, but I also agree with the first comment and wouldn't want to trade in Xander as the one to talk Willow down.

[thenewbuzwuzz]

*nod* Xander could have been not a good choice, but a choice. I don't think there are any really good choices for fridging Scoobies.

[enigmaticblues]

I can understand the objection based on the fact that Xander was an audience-insert, and you don't want to kill off the only non-powered person on the show. I can also understand the power of Xander being the one to talk Willow down. It was an incredibly powerful scene that underscored just how important they are to each other, and the power of friendship.

BUT (and this is an important but) you cannot look at that storyline out of context. The routine killing off of LGBT characters, plus the fact that Xander was also a Joss-insert cannot be overlooked, IMHO. You can still decide that Tara's death best served the story, and you might be right. But I don't think Xander survived just because he was Willow's best friend, or because they wanted to show the power of friendship. I think Tara died because the writers ultimately thought she was more expendable for a host of reasons.

[thenewbuzwuzz]

"But I don't think Xander survived just because he was Willow's best friend, or because they wanted to show the power of friendship. I think Tara died because the writers ultimately thought she was more expendable for a host of reasons."
Yeah. Fair point!