Tara Maclay

## Personality

Tara was shy and quiet, but through her time with the Scooby Gang she became more confident. She puts her friends and loved ones before herself.

## Family

* Mrs. Maclay (her mother)
* Mr. Maclay (her father)
* Donald Maclay (her brother)

## History

### Background

Tara Maclay was born on October 16, 1980. Her family life was traumatic, given that both her father and brother were abusive, though she had an affectionate relationship with her mother, who was a witch. At a young age, her father lied that she was partially of demon descent on her maternal side, hoping to stem any interest in magic. Tara still became skilled in the magical arts regardless.

She lost her mother when she was 17, at which point she went through a brief rebellious period of lying to her father and staying out all night. She "came out" as a lesbian before her freshman year in college. Her relationships with the other members of her family deteriorated to the extent where she moved out without telling anyone.

### The Scooby Gang

#### Original Version [This may have been changed by the events of "Tale As Old As Time"]

At college she met Willow. Willow and Tara began regularly meeting up to practice spells together. It was through Tara that Willow became a more powerful witch, and through Willow that Tara's confidence grew. Willow and Tara started to grow affectionate to each other, and Willow then felt safe to introduce Tara to her friends and she began attending meetings with the supernatural fighting group, dubbed "The Scooby Gang". Eventually Willow and Tara became open girlfriends.

On her 20th birthday, her father, brother and cousin came to return her to their home, claiming that like her mother, she would now become a demon. After discovering that she wouldn't become a demon after all, the Scooby Gang managed to convince her family to leave. This gave Tara a new found confidence.

Glory, a hellgoddess on Earth, removed Tara's sanity. This angered Willow so much that she nearly got killed taking on Glory by herself. Tara, unable to look after herself, was left in Willow's care. Even though she could be controlled most of the time, Tara was prone to random violent spasms and required to be tied down during her sleep. During the scooby gang's final battle with Glory, Willow managed to transfer some of Tara's brain energy back into Tara from Glory, which restored her sanity, as well as weakening Glory.

The following year, Tara and Willow became surrogate parent figures to Dawn Summers (sister of the recently deceased Slayer, and head of the scooby gang, Buffy). When Willow revealed that she planned to resurrect Buffy, Tara was at first hesitant, though eventually she went through with it.

Willow and Tara split up after Willow's magic usage got out of control. This motivated Willow to cut down on her magic use. Tara still though remained loyal to Dawn and was also the first person to learn of the resurrected Buffy's affair with Spike. Rather than judging her, Tara became a close confidant and supportive friend for Buffy. In time Willow and Tara's relationship mended. However, just as their relationship seemed back on track, on May 7th, 2002, Tara was hit by a stray bullet to the heart, shot by Warren Mears and intended for Buffy. Tara's last words were "Your shirt?" before she collapsed to the floor, dead.

### UNIT

Original Version [This may have been changed by the events of "Tale As Old As Time"]

(The below should be summarised)

Tara is at Shingleton Colliery, leaning against an army truck as she waits for her Captain to come and brief her. She doesn't know much about what this particular U.N.I.T. investigation is, but on arriving at Shingleton Colliery, she has seen several white rabbits lying dead nearby...also the body of a dead miner.

Captain Riley Finn comes over and briefs her. A miner had been found dead, glowing green. Local group "the wholeweal community" blame Global Chemicals and claim they are dumping waste. Investigating, Riley encountered Killer Rabbits and met Joshua, a teenage investigator. Joshua encountered one of the Rabbits before and suspected that someone called Gordon Wolfe was involved. Riley and Joshua headed to the mine, but one of his friends, Kim, had already headed down in the lift. Something went wrong and the lift started to fall. They managed to stop Kim (and another miner who she headed down with) from getting killed but then couldn't get down there themselves. There were two lifts but they were both connected - when one was up the other was down - so they had to get some cutting equipment. They got it rigged up just as Tara arrived and Joshua is down there looking for Kim.

Tara decides to follow the Gordon Wolfe lead. Her investigation leads her and Riley to the Dive. They creep inside. Soon they come to a door. Peeking through the door they see a man in a leather jacket walking back and forth across the dance floor area of the night club talking into his mobile phone. It's Gordon Wolfe, the man she's been looking for. He hangs up and puts his phone in an inside pocket of his jacket.

There's a fight and Gordon is killed whilst Tara is seriously injured.

Later, Tara is resting in the emergency wing of the UNIT HQ. Riley comes by. He takes a box out of his pocket and opens it revealing a green glowing object. It's essentially a "Draconian Katra" and he's found someone willing to bodyswap with Tara so she can complete the investigation. Tara agrees to the bodyswap with Jennifer, a member of the Magical Artifacts department in her mid-twenties with short blonde hair.

Once the swap is done Tara is free to go.

Riley tells her that the green slime that's been killing people is some kind of virus which is passed around by touch. There's loads of it in the mines as well as Kryptonite. Whilst investigating Joshua also found rabbit holes, and giant maggots.

Riley and Tara head to Global Chemicals with Local Wholeweal doctor, Dr. Jones, and Joshua.

It's not long before they are all seated in a room at Global Chemicals with Mr. Stevens, director of Global Chemicals. Stevens introduces everyone to B.O.S.S., a huge computer bank and monitor. During the ensuing conversation, BOSS reveals that he has been dumping waste and running a Kryptonite mining enterprise.

There is a fight, during which Stevens is rendered unconscious and BOSS is destroyed.

They all run away from Global Chemicals as it explodes.

## Appearances

* Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 4 - Episode 10 - Hush
* Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 4 - Episode 15 - This Year's Girl
* Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 4 - Episode 16 - Who Are You?
* Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 5 - Episode 6 - Family
* Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 5 - Episode 19 - Tough Love
* Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 5 - Episode 22 - The Gift
* Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 6 - Episode 1 - Bargaining (Part 1)
* Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 6 - Episode 2 - Bargaining (Part 2)
* Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 6 - Episode 8 - Tabula Rasa
* Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 6 - Episode 13 - Dead Things
* Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 6 - Episode 19 - Seeing Red
* Joshua Mendoza - Occult Investigator - Season 1 - Episode 5 - The Green Death