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Willow Rosenberg

Willow Rosenberg is a fictional character created for the fantasy television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003). She was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed throughout the TV series by Alyson Hannigan.

Willow plays an integral role within the inner circle of friends—called the Scooby Gang—who support Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), a teenager gifted with superhuman powers to defeat vampires, demons, and other evil in the fictional town of Sunnydale. The series begins as Buffy, Willow, and their friend Xander (Nicholas Brendon) are in 10th grade and Willow is a shy, nerdy girl with little confidence. She has inherent magical abilities and begins to study witchcraft; as the series progresses, Willow becomes more sure of herself and her magical powers become significant. Her dependence on magic becomes so consuming that it develops into a dark force that takes her on a redemptive journey in a major story arc when she becomes the sixth season's main villain, threatening to destroy the world in a fit of grief and rage.

The Buffy series became extremely popular and earned a devoted fanbase; Willow's intelligence, shy nature, and vulnerability often resounded strongly with viewers in early seasons. Of the core characters, Willow changes the most, becoming a complex portrayal of a woman whose powers force her to seek balance between what is best for the people she loves and what she is capable of doing. Her character stood out as a positive portrayal of a Jewish woman and at the height of her popularity, she fell in love with another woman, a witch named Tara Maclay (Amber Benson). They became one of the first lesbian couples on U.S. television and one of the most positive relationships of the series.

Despite not being a titular character, Willow Rosenberg holds the distinction of having the second largest number of appearances on episodes of Buffy and the spin-off series Angel. Alyson Hannigan appeared as Willow in all 144 episodes of Buffy, as well as guest appearances in three episodes of the spinoff Angel, for a total of 147 on-screen appearances over the course of both series. She is also featured in an animated series and video game, both of which use Hannigan's voice, and the comics Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight (2007–2011), Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine (2011-2013), Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten (2014-2016), Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eleven (2016-2017) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Twelve (2018) which use Hannigan's likeness and continues Willow's storyline following the television series.

Pilot and casting
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (often simplified as Buffy) was originally conceived by Joss Whedon for a 1992 feature film. However, in its development Whedon felt it lost some of the quirkiness he considered was the heart of the project, and it was not received as well as he would have liked. He began to develop for television the concept of a fashion-conscious girl named Buffy, who is imbued with superhuman abilities and attends a high school situated on a portal to hell. Whedon created a group of friends for the main character, including Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris. A half-hour pilot was filmed starring Riff Regan as Willow, but it was eventually left unaired and network executives requested that Regan be replaced. Willow's character demanded that she be shy and unsure of herself, and the casting department encountered some difficulty finding actors who could portray this effectively and still be likable. Melanie Lynskey turned down the role as she wasn't interested in TV acting at the time. After seven auditions, 23-year-old Alyson Hannigan was hired for the role. She was chosen for being able to spin the character's lines with a self-effacing optimism. She later stated in an interview, "I didn't want to do Willow as someone who's feeling sorry for herself. Especially in the first season, she couldn't talk to guys, and nobody liked her. I was like, 'I don't want to play somebody who's down on herself.'"

In the beginning of the series, Hannigan used her own experiences in high school—which she called "overwhelmingly depressing" —to guide her portrayal of Willow: "My theory on high school was, get in, get out and hopefully I won't get hurt. Basically it was a miserable experience, because you're a walking hormone in this place that is just so cruel. There were times that were OK, but it's not the little myth that high school is the best years of your life. No way." Whedon intended Willow to be realistically introverted, saying, "I wanted Willow to have that kind of insanely colorful interior life that truly shy people have. And Alyson has that. She definitely has a loopiness I found creeping into the way Willow talked, which was great. To an extent, all the actors conform to the way I write the character, but it really stands out in Willow's case."

Seasons 1–3
The Buffy television series first aired mid-season in March 1997 almost immediately earning positive critical reviews. Willow is presented as a bookish nerd with considerable computer skills, dowdily dressed and easily intimidated by more popular girls in school. She grows faint at the sight of monsters, but quickly forms a friendship with Buffy and is revealed to have grown up with Xander (Nicholas Brendon). They are mentored by the school librarian who is also Buffy's Watcher, Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), who often works closely with Willow in researching the various monsters the group encounters. Joss Whedon found that Hannigan was especially gifted reacting with fear (calling her the "king of pain") and viewers responded strongly when she was placed in danger, needing to be rescued by Buffy. Scenarios with Willow in various predicaments became common in early episodes. However, Willow establishes herself as integral to the group's effectiveness, often willing to break rules by hacking into highly secure computer systems.

In the second season when the characters are in 11th grade, Willow becomes more sure of herself, standing up to the conceited Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter), and approaching Xander, on whom she has had a crush for years, although it is unrequited as Xander is in love with Buffy. Seth Green joined the cast during the second season as Oz, a high school senior who becomes a werewolf, and Willow's primary romantic interest. The show's popularity by early 1998 was evident to the cast members, and Hannigan remarked on her surprise specifically. Willow was noted to be the spirit of the Scooby Gang, and Hannigan attributed Willow's popularity with viewers (she had by May 1998 seven websites devoted to her) to being an underdog who develops confidence and is accepted by Buffy, a strong, popular person in school. Hannigan described her appeal: "Willow is the only reality-based character. She really is what a lot of high-schoolers are like, with that awkwardness and shyness, and all those adolescent feelings."

At the end of the second season, Willow begins to study magic following the murder of the computer teacher and spell caster Jenny Calendar (Robia LaMorte). Willow is able to perform a complicated spell to restore the soul of Angel (David Boreanaz), a vampire who is also Calendar's murderer and Buffy's boyfriend. During the third season three episodes explore Willow's backstory and foreshadow her development. In "Gingerbread", her home life is made clearer: Sunnydale falls under the spell of a demon who throws the town's adults into a moral panic, and Willow's mother Sheila (Jordan Baker) is portrayed as a career-obsessed academic who is unable to communicate with her daughter, eventually trying to burn Willow at the stake for being involved in witchcraft; her father is never featured. In "The Wish" a vengeance demon named Anya (Emma Caulfield) grants Cordelia's wish that Buffy never came to Sunnydale, showing what would happen if it were overrun with vampires. In this alternate reality, Willow is an aggressively bisexual vampire. In a related episode, "Doppelgangland", Willow meets "Vamp Willow", who dresses provocatively and flirts with her.

Seasons 4–6
Willow chooses to attend college with Buffy in Sunnydale although she is accepted to prestigious schools elsewhere. Her relationships with Buffy and Xander become strained as they try to find their place following high school. Willow becomes much more confident in college, finally finding a place that respects her intellect, while Buffy has difficulty in classes and Xander does not attend school. Willow's relationship with her boyfriend, Oz, continues until a female werewolf appears on the scene, aggressively pursuing him, and he leaves town to learn how to control the wolf within. She becomes depressed and explores magic more deeply, often with powerful but inconsistent results. She joins the campus Wicca group, meeting Tara Maclay, for whom she immediately feels a strong attraction. Willow adapts to her newfound sexual identity, eventually falling in love with and choosing to be with Tara, even when Oz returns to Sunnydale after apparently getting his lycanthropic tendencies under control.

Each season the Scoobies face a villain they call the Big Bad. In the fifth season, this is a goddess named Glory (Clare Kramer) that Buffy is unable to fight by herself.

The writers of the series often use elements of fantasy and horror as metaphors for real-life conflicts. The series' use of magic, as noted by religion professor Gregory Stevenson, neither promotes nor denigrates Wiccan ideals and Willow rejects Wiccan colleagues for not practicing the magic she favors. Throughout the series, magic is employed to represent different ideas -— relationships, sexuality, ostracism, power, and particularly for Willow, addiction -— that change between episodes and seasons. The ethical judgment of magic, therefore, lies in the results: performing magic to meet selfish needs or neglecting to appreciate its power often ends disastrously. Using it wisely for altruistic reasons is considered a positive act on the series.

Through witchcraft, Willow becomes the only member of the group to cause damage to Glory. She reveals that the spells she casts are physically demanding, giving her headaches and nosebleeds. When Glory assaults Tara, making her insane, Willow, in a magical rage that causes her eyes to turn black, finds Glory and battles her. She does not come from the battle unscathed (after all, Glory is a goddess and Willow "just" a very powerful witch) and must be assisted by Buffy, but her power is evident and surprising to her friends. The final episode of the fifth season sees Willow restoring Tara's sanity and crucially weakening Glory in the process. It also features Buffy's death, sacrificing herself to save the world.

Willow and Tara move into the Summers house and raise Buffy's younger sister Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg). Fearing that Buffy is in hell, Willow suggests at the beginning of the sixth season that she be raised from the dead. In a dark ceremony in which she expels a snake from her mouth, Willow performs the magic necessary to bring Buffy back. She is successful, but Buffy keeps it secret that she believes she was in heaven.

Willow's powers grow stronger; she uses telepathy which her friends find intrusive, and she begins to cast spells to manipulate Tara. After Willow fails Tara's challenge to go for one week without performing magic, Tara leaves her, and for two episodes Willow descends into addiction that almost gets Dawn killed. Willow goes for months without any magic, helping Buffy track three geeks called The Trio who grandiosely aspire to be supervillains.

Immediately following Willow's reconciliation with Tara, Warren (Adam Busch), one of the Trio, shoots Buffy; a stray shot kills Tara right in front of Willow. In an explosion of rage and grief, Willow soaks up all the dark magic she can, which turns her hair and eyes black. In the final episodes of the season Willow becomes exceedingly strong, surviving unharmed when Warren hits her in the back with an axe. “Axe not gonna cut it,” she quips. She hunts Warren, tortures him by slowly pushing a bullet into his body, then kills him by magically flaying him. Unsatisfied, she attempts to kill the other two members of the Trio but is unsuccessful due to her weakening power. She solves this problem by killing her 'dealer' from earlier in the season and draining him of his magic. When she is confronted by Buffy they begin to fight, only to be stopped by Giles who has borrowed magic from a coven of wiccans. Willow successfully drains him of this borrowed magic, fulfilling his plan and causing her to feel all the pain of everyone in the world. She tries to ease the pain by destroying the world, finally stopped by Xander’s passionate confession of platonic familial love for her.

Season 7
The seventh season starts with Willow in England, unnerved by her power, studying with a coven near Giles' home to harness it. She fears returning to Sunnydale and what she is capable of doing if she loses control again, a fear that dogs her the whole season.

Buffy and the Scoobies face the First Evil, bent on ending the Slayer line and destroying the world. Potential Slayers from around the globe congregate at Buffy's home and she trains them to battle the First Evil. Willow continues to face her grief over Tara's death and, reluctantly, becomes involved with one of the Potentials, Kennedy (Iyari Limon).

In the final episode of the series, "Chosen", Buffy calls upon Willow to perform the most powerful spell she has ever attempted. With Kennedy nearby, cautioned to kill her if she becomes out of control, Willow infuses every Potential Slayer in the world with the same powers Buffy and Faith have. The spell momentarily turns her hair white and makes her glow—Kennedy calls her "a goddess"—and it ensures that Buffy and the Potentials defeat the First Evil. Willow is able to escape with Buffy, Xander, Giles, Faith and Kennedy as Sunnydale is destroyed.

Through the gamut of changes Willow endures in the series, Buffy studies scholar Ian Shuttleworth states that Alyson Hannigan's performances are the reason for Willow's popularity: "Hannigan can play on audience heartstrings like a concert harpist... As an actress she is a perfect interpreter in particular of the bare emotional directness which is the specialty of [series writer Marti] Noxon on form."

Comic series (since 2007)

Subsequent to Buffy's television finale, Dark Horse Comics collaborated with Joss Whedon to produce a canonical comic book continuation of the series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight (2007–11), written by Whedon and many other writers from the television series. Unfettered by the practical limitations of casting or a television special effects budget, Season Eight explores more fantastic storylines, characters, and abilities for Willow. Willow's cover art is done by Jo Chen, and Georges Jeanty and Karl Moline produce character artwork and provide alternative covers. It was followed by two closely interlinked sequels, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine and Angel & Faith (both 2012–14). Willow features at different times in both series, as well as in her own spin-off miniseries. Jeanty continues to provide Willow's likeness in Season Nine, while Rebekah Isaacs and Brian Ching are the primary pencillers of Angel & Faith and Willow: Wonderland respectively. While Season Nine and Angel & Faith are substantially less fantastical in tone than Season Eight, Willow's spin-off is high fantasy and focuses on her journey through magical alternate worlds.

Willow appears to Buffy and Xander, who are in charge of thousands of Slayers, a year after the destruction of Sunnydale. Willow reveals a host of new abilities including being able to fly and absorbing others' magic to deconstruct it. The Big Bad of Season Eight is a being named Twilight who is bent on destroying magic in the world. A one-shot comic dedicated to Willow's story was released in 2009 titled Willow: Goddesses and Monsters. It explores the time she took away to discover more about her magical powers, under the tutelage of a half-woman half-snake demon named Aluwyn. Willow is still involved with Kennedy through Season Eight, but becomes intimate with Aluwyn while they are together. She also continues to deal with grief from Tara's death, and struggles with the dark forces of magic that put her in opposition to Buffy. At the conclusion of the season, Buffy destroys an object, a seed, that is the source of the magic in the world, leaving Willow powerless. Whedon divulged that recovering her magical abilities will become Willow's "personal obsession" in a miniseries where she will be the central character.

Identities
From the inception of Willow's character in the first season, she is presented with contradictions. Bookish, rational, naive, and sometimes absent-minded, she is also shown being open to magic, aggressively boyish, and intensely focused. Willow is malleable, in continuous transition more so than any other Buffy character. She is, however, consistently labeled as dependable and reliable by the other characters and thus to the audience, making her appear to be stable. She is unsure of who she is; despite all the tasks she takes on and excels at, for much of the series she has no identity. This is specifically exhibited in the fourth season finale "Restless", an enigmatic pastiche of characters' dream sequences. In Willow's dream, she moves from an intimate moment painting a love poem by Sappho on Tara's bare back, to attending the first day of drama class to learn that she is to be in a play performed immediately for which she does not know the lines or understand. The dream presents poignant anxieties about how she appears to others, not belonging, and the consequences of people finding out her true self. As Willow gives a book report in front of her high school class, she discovers herself wearing the same mousy outfit she wore in the first episode of the show ("Welcome to the Hellmouth") as her friends and classmates shout derisively at her, and Oz and Tara whisper intimately to each other in the audience. She is attacked and strangled by the First Slayer as the class ignores her cries for help.

Long a level-headed character who sacrifices her own desires for those of her friends, she gradually abandons these priorities to be more independent and please herself. She is often shown making choices that allow her to acquire power or knowledge and avoid emotional conflict. The story arc of Willow's growing dependence on magic was noted by Marti Noxon as the representation of "adult crossroads" and Willow's inability and unwillingness to be accountable for her own life. Willow enjoys power she is unable to control. She steals to accomplish her vocational goals and rationalizes her amoral behavior. This also manifests itself in a competitive streak and she accuses others who share their concerns that she uses magic for selfish purposes of being jealous. No longer the conscience of the Scooby Gang, Willow cedes this role to Tara then revels in breaking more rules. After Tara leaves Willow, Willow divulges to Buffy that she does not know who she is and doubts her worth and appeal—specifically to Tara—without magic. Contradicting the characterization of Willow's issues with magic as addiction, Buffy essayist Jacqueline Lichtenberg writes "Willow is not addicted to magic. Willow is addicted to the surging hope that this deed or the next or the next will finally assuage her inner pain."

Vamp Willow
Vamp Willow appears in the third season episodes "The Wish" and "Doppelgangland". She is capricious and aggressive, the opposite of Willow's usual nature; her bad behavior so exaggerated that it does not instill fear into the viewer like other female vampires in the series, but indicates more about Willow's personality. Shocked upon seeing her alter ego in "Doppelgangland", Willow states "That's me as a vampire? I'm so evil and skanky. And I think I'm kinda gay!" Angel is stopped by Buffy in telling the Scoobies that the vampire self carries many of the same attributes as the human self, at which Willow says that is nothing like her. Many Buffy fans saw this as a funny Easter egg when Willow revealed herself to actually be lesbian in later seasons. As surprised as Willow is with Vamp Willow, she feels bound to her, and does not have the heart to allow Buffy to kill her. Both Willows make the observation that "this world's no fun", before they send Vamp Willow back into the alternate dimension from which she came, whereupon she is staked and dies immediately.

Dark Willow
A shadow of Dark Willow appears to fight Glory in the fifth season episode "Tough Love", but she does not come into full force until the sixth season in "Villains", "Two to Go", and "Grave". The transition from Willow into Dark Willow, precipitated by Tara's immediate death when she is shot through the heart, was ambiguously received by audiences, many of whom never foresaw Willow's psychic break. It was simultaneously lauded for being an overwhelming depiction of a powerful woman, and derided as representative of a worn cliché that lesbians are amoral and murderous. Dark Willow proved to be exceptionally more powerful than Buffy. She changes visually when she walks into the Magic Box, a store owned by Giles, telekinetically retrieves dozens of dark magic books from the shelves, and leeches the words from the pages with her fingertips. As the words crawl up her arms and soak into her skin, her eyes and hair become black and her posture "aggressively aware and confident".

Susan Driver writes that it is "crucial to recognize that never before in a teen series has raw fury been so vividly explored through a young queer girl responding to the sudden death of her lover". Dark Willow is preternaturally focused on revenge, relentless and unstoppable. Lights explode when she walks past. She forcefully takes advantage of any opportunity to further her goals. She saves Buffy by removing the bullet from her chest, but later commandeers a tractor trailer, making it slam into Xander's car while he and Buffy are inside protecting Jonathan and Andrew, the other two members of the Trio. She floats, flies and dismantles the local jail where Jonathan and Andrew are held.

She is cruelly honest to Dawn and Buffy, and overpowers everyone with whom she comes in contact. When she takes Giles' magic from him, she gains the ability to feel the world's pain, becoming determined to put the world out of its misery. She does not acknowledge her grief, and only Xander can force her to face it when he tells her that he loves her no matter what or who she is, and if she is determined to end the world she must start by killing him. Only then does Willow return, sobbing.

At Salon.com, Stephanie Zacharek writes that Dark Willow is "far from being a cut-out angry lesbian, is more fleshed out, and more terrifyingly alive, than she has ever been before. More than any other character, she has driven the momentum of the past few episodes; she very nearly drove it off a cliff." Several writers state that Willow's transition into Dark Willow is inevitable, grounded in Willow's self-hatred that had been festering from the first season. Both Dark Willow and even Willow herself state that Willow's sacrifices for her friends and lack of assertiveness are her undoing. In "Doppelgangland", Willow (posing as Vampire Willow) says "It's pathetic. She lets everyone walk all over her and gets cranky at her friends for no reason." In "Two to Go", Dark Willow remarks "Let me tell you something about Willow. She's a loser. And she always has been. People picked on Willow... and now Willow's a junkie." Vamp Willow served as an indicator of what Willow is capable of; immediately before she flays Warren in one violent magical flash, she uses the same line Vamp Willow used in the third season: "Bored now."

Following the sixth season, Willow struggles to allow herself to perform magic without the darkness within her taking her over. She is no longer able to abstain from magic as it is such an integral part of her that doing so will kill her. In the instances when she is highly emotional the darkness comes out. Willow must control that part of her and is occasionally unable to do so, giving her a trait similar to Angel, a cursed vampire who fears losing his soul will turn him evil. In a redemptive turn, when Willow turns all the Potentials into Slayers, she glows and her hair turns white, astonishing Kennedy and prompting her to call Willow a goddess.

Relationships
Willow's earliest and most consistent relationships are with Buffy and Xander, both of whom she refers to as her best friends although they have their conflicts, and Giles as a father figure. Willow takes on the leadership role when Buffy is unavailable, and her growing powers sometimes make her resent being positioned as Buffy's sidekick. Some scholars see Willow as Buffy's sister-figure or the anti-Buffy, similar to Faith, another Slayer whose morals are less strict. In early seasons, Willow's unrequited crush on Xander creates some storylines involving the relationships between Xander, Cordelia, and Oz. Willow is part of a powerful quartet: she represents the spirit, Giles intelligence, Xander heart, and Buffy strength of the Scoobies. Although they often drift apart, they are forced to come together and work in these roles to defeat forces they are unable to fight individually.

Oz
Willow meets stoic Oz in the second season. Their courtship is slow and patient. Oz is bitten by a werewolf, and just as Willow begins to confront him about why he does not spend time with her, he transforms and attacks her. She must shoot him with a tranquilizer gun several times while he is wild, but her assertiveness in doing so makes her more confident in their relationship. Oz's trials in dealing with a power he cannot control is, according to authors J. Michael Richardson and J. Douglas Rabb, a model for Willow to reference when she encounters her own attraction to evil. When Willow and Oz decide to commit to each other, Willow is enthusiastic that she has a boyfriend, and, as a guitarist in a band, one so cool. Her relationship with Oz endures the high school storylines of exploring her attraction to Xander, which briefly separates them. She worries that she is not as close to Oz as she could be. They stay together through graduation into college, but Oz is drawn to Veruca, another werewolf. He admits an animal attraction to Veruca, which he does not share with Willow. He sleeps with Veruca and leaves shortly after to explore the werewolf part of himself. Willow becomes very depressed and doubts herself. She drinks, her magical abilities are compromised, her spells come out wrong, and she lashes out at her friends when they suggest she get over it ("Something Blue").

Joss Whedon did not intend to write Oz out of the series. Seth Green came to Whedon early in the fourth season to announce that he wished to work on his film career. Whedon admitted he was upset by Green's announcement and that if he had wanted to continue, Oz would have been a part of the story. However, to resolve the relationship between Oz and Willow Whedon says, "we had to scramble. And out of the heavens came Amber Benson."

Tara Maclay

Buffy earned international attention for its unflinching focus on the relationship between Willow and Tara Maclay. Whedon and the writing staff had been considering developing a story arc in which a character explores his or her sexuality as the Scoobies left high school, but no particular effort was made to assign this arc to Willow. In 1999, at the end of the third season, the Boston Herald called Buffy "the most gay show on network TV this year" despite having no overtly gay characters among the core cast. It simply presented storylines that resembled coming out stories. In the fourth season episode "Hush", Willow meets Tara, and to avoid being killed by a group of ghouls, they join hands to move a large vending machine telekinetically to barricade a door. The scene was, upon completion, noticeably sensual to Whedon, the producers, and network executives, who encouraged Whedon to develop a romantic storyline between Willow and Tara, but at the same time placed barriers on how far it could go and what could be shown. Two episodes later, Hannigan and Amber Benson were informed that their characters would become romantically involved. The actors were not told the end result of the Willow–Oz–Tara storyline, not sure what the eventual trajectory of the relationship would be, until Hannigan said, "Then finally it was, 'Great! It's official. We're in luurrvvve.'"

Whedon made a conscious effort to focus on Willow and Tara's relationship instead of either's identity as a lesbian or the coming out process. When Willow discloses to Buffy what she feels for Tara, she indicates that she has fallen in love with Tara, not that she is a lesbian, and avoids categorizing herself. Some critics regard this as a failure on Willow's part to be strong; Em McAvan interprets this to mean that Willow may be bisexual. Scholar Farah Mendlesohn asserts that Willow's realization that she is in love with Tara allows viewers to re-interpret Willow's relationship with Buffy; in the first three seasons, Willow is often disappointed that she is not a higher priority to Buffy, and even after Willow enters a relationship with Tara, still desires to feel integral to Buffy's cause and the Scooby Gang.

Willow's progression has been noted to be unique in television. Her relationship with Tara coincides with the development of her magical abilities becoming much more profound. By the seventh season, she is the most powerful person in Buffy's circle. Jessica Ford at PopMatters asserts that Willow's sexuality and her magical abilities are connected and represented by her relationships. In her unrequited attraction to Xander, she has no power. With Oz, she has some that gives her the confidence she sorely lacks, but his departure leaves her unsure of herself. Only when she meets Tara do her magical abilities flourish; to Ford, sexuality and magic are both empowering agents in Willow's story arc. David Bianculli in the New York Daily News writes that Willow's progression is "unlike anything else I can recall on regular prime-time television: a character evolving naturally over four seasons of stories and arriving at a place of sexual rediscovery".

Not all viewers considered Willow and Tara's relationship a positive development. Some fans loyal to Willow reacted angrily as she chose to be with Tara when Oz made himself available, and they lashed out at Tara and Amber Benson on the fansite message boards. Whedon replied sardonically, "we're going to shift away from this whole lifestyle choice that Willow has made. Just wipe the slate. From now on, Willow will no longer be a Jew. And I think we can all breathe easier." However, he seriously explained his motivation, writing "My show is about emotion. Love is the most powerful, messy, delightful and dangerous emotion... Willow's in love. I think it's cool." Hannigan was also positive about the way the character and her relationship with Tara was written: "It is not about being controversial or making a statement. I think the show is handling it really nicely. It's about two people who care about each other."

Contrasting with some of the more sexual relationships of the other characters, Willow and Tara demonstrate a sentimental, soft, and consistent affection for each other. Some of this was pragmatic: the show was restricted in what it could present to viewers. Willow and Tara did not kiss until the fifth season in an episode that diverted the focus away from the display of affection when Buffy's mother dies in "The Body". Before this, much of their sexuality is represented by allusions to witchcraft; spells doubled for physical affection such as an erotic ritual in "Who Are You?" where Willow and Tara chant and perspire in a circle of light until Willow falls back on a pillow gasping and moaning. Within the Buffy universe, magic is portrayed in a mostly female realm. As opposed to it being evil, it is an earth-bound force that is most proficiently harvested by women. The treatment of the lesbian relationship as integral to magic, representative of each other (love is magic, magic is love), earned the series some critical commentary from conservative Christians. To avoid large-scale criticism, scenes had to be shot several different ways because censors would not allow some types of action on screen. In the fourth and fifth seasons, the characters could be shown on a bed, but not under the covers. Hannigan noted the inconsistent standards with the other relationships on the show: "you've got Spike and Harmony just going at it like rabbits, so it's very hypocritical". As a couple, Willow and Tara are treated by the rest of the Scoobies with acceptance and little fanfare. Susan Driver writes that younger viewers especially appreciate that Willow and Tara are able to be affectionate without becoming overly sexual, thus making them objects of fantasy for male enjoyment. Willow and Tara's influence on specifically younger female viewers is, according to Driver, "remarkable".

Academics, however, comment that Willow is a less sexual character than the others in the show. She is displayed as "cuddly" in earlier seasons, often dressing in pink fuzzy sweaters resulting in an innocent tomboyishness. She becomes more feminine in her relationship with Tara, who is already feminine; no issues with gender are present in their union. Their relationship is sanitized and unthreatening to male viewers. When the series moved broadcast networks from The WB to UPN in 2001, some of the restrictions were relaxed. Willow and Tara are shown in some scenes to be "intensely sexual", such as in the sixth season episode "Once More, with Feeling" where it is visually implied that Willow performs cunnilingus on Tara. When Willow and Tara reconcile, they spend part of the episode in "Seeing Red" unclothed in bed, covered by red sheets.

Willow is more demonstrative in the beginning of her relationship with Tara. Where in her relationship with Oz she described herself as belonging to him, Tara states that she belongs to Willow. Willow finds in Tara a place where she can be the focus of Tara's attention, not having to appease or sacrifice as she has in the past. Tara, however, eclipses Willow's role as the moral center of the Scoobies, and as Willow becomes more powerful and less ethical, Tara becomes a maternal figure for the group. Willow acts as a sort of middle child between Xander's immaturity and Buffy's weighty responsibilities. She becomes completely devoted to and enamored of Tara, and then manipulates her to avoid conflict when Tara does not conform to what she wants. Displeased with how Willow abuses her power, especially toward herself, Tara leaves Willow while continuing to counsel Dawn and Buffy. Long after Tara's death, Willow faces the choices she made: in the Season Eight issue "Anywhere But Here", Willow tells Buffy that she is responsible for Tara's death. Her ambition to bring back Buffy from the dead inevitably led to Tara getting shot and killed. In the one-shot comic, Willow is offered Tara as a guide for her mystical path to understanding her own powers, but rejects her as being an illusion, too much of a comfort, and not a guide who will force her to grow. She begins a relationship with Kennedy.

Kennedy
Following protests angry about the death of Tara, Whedon and the writing team made a decision to keep Willow gay. In 2002, he told The Advocate about the possibility of Willow having a relationship with a man, "We do that now, and we will be burned alive. And possibly justifiably. We can't have Willow say, 'Oh, cured now, I can go back to cock!' Willow is not going to be straddling that particular fence. She will just be gay." Kennedy is markedly different from Tara. She is younger, outspoken, and aggressively pursues Willow, who hesitates to become involved again. When they first kiss in the episode "The Killer in Me", Willow's realization that she let Tara go reacts with a curse put upon her by another witch named Amy Madison (Elizabeth Anne Allen), turning Willow into Warren, Tara's murderer. The spell is broken when Willow acknowledges her guilt and Kennedy kisses her again. Kennedy expresses that she does not understand the value of magic and assumes it involves tricks, not the all-consuming energy that Willow is capable of. When Willow eventually exhibits what power she has, it briefly frightens Kennedy. Willow worries about becoming sexually intimate with Kennedy, unsure of what may transpire if she loses control of herself. In season 7 episode 20, "Touched", in which practically all the main cast has sex (two by two) Willow and Kennedy take part in the first lesbian sex scene on primetime television.

In Season Eight, Kennedy and Willow are still romantically involved, but separated during Willow's self-exploration. Unlike her relationship with Tara, Willow is able to hold a separate identity while with Kennedy. When she realizes her powers have gone at the end of Season Eight, however, Willow ends her relationship with Kennedy, saying that there is someone else Willow is in love with, who she will never see again. Kennedy's role split many Buffy fans into two groups. Many viewers hated Kennedy, because they saw her as a way of saying; "Tara's dead, let's move on." and they weren't ready to. After the emotional death of Tara and Willow's reaction (nearly ending all life on Earth) many fans thought that it was ridiculous for Willow to recover and move on so quickly. Kennedy overall, has received much hate, but there is the other side who say that she was exactly what Willow needed to recover and continue a happy life.

Cultural impact
Willow's religion and sexuality have made her a role model for audiences. Whedon, however, has compared her Jewish identity to her sexuality, stating that they are rarely made a significant focus of the show. Willow at times reminds the other characters of her religion, wondering what her father might think of the crucifixes she must apply to her bedroom wall to keep out vampires, and commenting that Santa Claus misses her house every Christmas because of the "big honkin' menorah". Buffy essayist Matthew Pateman criticizes the show for presenting Willow's Jewish identity only when it opposes Christian declarations of holidays and other traditions. The New York Times, however, named her as a positive example of a depiction of a Jewish woman, who stood out among portrayals of Jews as harsh, unfeminine, and shallow. Producer Gail Berman states that as a Jew, Willow "handles herself just fine, thank you".

In Queer Girls and Popular Culture, Susan Driver states that television ascribes to viewers what lesbians look and act like, and that realistic portrayals of girls outside the norm of white, upper or middle class, and heterosexual are extremely rare. Realistic depictions of lesbians are so rare that they become strong role models and enable "hope and imagination" for girls limited by the conditions of their immediate surroundings, who may know of no other gay people. The time and space given to Willow to go from being a shy scared girl into a confident woman who falls in love with another woman is, as of 2007, unique in television; it does not occur in one flash or single moment. It is a progression that defies strict definition. Manda Scott in The Herald states that Willow's lack of panic or self-doubt when she realizes she is in love with Tara makes her "the best role model a teen could ask for".

When viewers realized that Willow was falling in love with Tara, Whedon remembered that some threatened to boycott the show, complaining "You made Willow a fag", to which he responded, "Bye. We'll miss you a whole lot." However, he also said, "For every (negative) post, there's somebody saying, 'You made my life a lot easier because I now have someone I can relate to on screen'." Gay characters had been portrayed before on television, and at the time the popular sitcom Will & Grace was on the air. Lesbian-themed HBO special If These Walls Could Talk 2 won an Emmy. Twenty-three television shows depicted a gay character of some kind in 2000. However, these other characters were mostly desexualized, none were partnered or shown consistently affectionate towards the same person. Willow and Tara's relationship became the first long-term lesbian relationship on U.S. television. Jane magazine hailed Willow and Tara as a bold representation of gay relationship, remarking that "they hold hands, slow-dance and lay in bed at night. You won't find that kind of normalcy on Will and Grace." Despite Whedon's intentions of not making Buffy about overcoming issues, he said Willow's exploration of her sexuality "turned out to be one of the most important things we've done on the show".

Although the show's writers and producers received a minimal negative reaction from Willow choosing Tara over Oz, the response from viewers and critics alike was overwhelming towards Whedon for killing Tara, accusing him of homophobia. Particularly because Tara's death came at a point where Willow and Tara had reconciled and were shown following an apparent sexual encounter, the writers were criticized for representing the consequences of lesbian sex as punishable by death. Series writer and producer Marti Noxon—whose mother fell in love with another woman when Noxon was 13 years old—was unable to read some of the mail the writing team received because it was so upsetting. To her, the pain expressed in viewers' letters was a logical reaction to the lack of realistic lesbian role models on television.

Willow's cultural impact has been noted in several other ways. Patrick Krug, a biologist at California State University, Los Angeles named a sea slug with traits of sexual flexibility Alderia willowi partly for his grandmother and partly after Willow's character. Willow was included in AfterEllen.com's Top 50 Lesbian and Bisexual Characters, ranking at No. 7. She was also ranked No. 12 in their Top 50 Favorite Female TV Characters. UGO.com named her one of the best TV nerds. AOL also listed her as the #1 TV witch of all time, and one of the 100 Most Memorable Female TV Characters.

title: Willow Rosenberg


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Snowdonia

Snowdonia, or Eryri, is a mountainous region and national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), which is 1085 m tall. These peaks are all part of the Snowdon, Glyderau, and Carneddau ranges in the north of the region. The shorter Moelwynion and Moel Hebog ranges lie immediately to the south.

The national park has an area of 823 sqmi (the fourth-largest in the UK), and covers most of central and southern Gwynedd and the western part of Conwy County Borough. This is much larger than the area traditionally considered Snowdonia, and in addition to the five ranges above includes the Rhinogydd, Cadair Idris, and Aran ranges and the Dyfi Hills. It also includes most of the coast between Porthmadog and Aberdyfi. The park was the first of the three national parks of Wales to be designated, in October 1951, and the third in the UK after the Peak District and Lake District, which were established in April and May 1951 respectively. The park received 3.89 million visitors in 2015.

Toponymy
The name "Snowdon" means "snow hill" and is derived from the Old English elements "snāw" and "dūn", the latter meaning 'hill'. "Snowdonia" is simply taken from the name of the mountain.

The origins of Eryri are less clear. Two popular interpretations are that the name is related to eryr, 'eagle', or that it means 'highlands' and is related to the Latin oriri ('to rise'). The latter is considered more correct, for eryri as a plural form means 'uplands', but it is not any direct form of the word eryr in the meaning 'eagle'.

Extent
Before the boundaries of the national park were designated, "Snowdonia" was generally used to refer to a smaller upland area of northern Gwynedd centred on the Snowdon massif. The national park covers an area more than twice that size, extending south into the Meirionnydd area.

This difference is apparent in books published before 1951. In George Borrow's 1907 Wild Wales he states that "Snowdon or Eryri is no single hill, but a mountainous region, the loftiest part of which [is] called Y Wyddfa", making a distinction between the summit of the mountain and the surrounding massif. The Mountains of Snowdonia by H. Carr & G. Lister (1925) defines "Eryri" as "composed of the two cantrefs of Arfon and Arllechwedd, and the two commotes of Nant Conwy and Eifionydd", which corresponds to Caernarfonshire with the exception of southwest Llŷn and the Creuddyn Peninsula. In Snowdonia: The National Park of North Wales (1949), F. J. North states that "When the Committee delineated provisional boundaries, they included areas some distance beyond Snowdonia proper".

National park
Snowdonia National Park, also known as Eryri National Park in English and Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri in Welsh, was established in October 1951. It was the third national park in the United Kingdom, following the Peak District and Lake District in April and May of the same year. It covers 827 sqmi in the counties of Gwynedd and Conwy, and has 37 mi of coastline.

The park is governed by the Snowdonia National Park Authority, which has 18 members: 9 appointed by Gwynedd, 3 by Conwy, and 6 by the Welsh Government to represent the national interest. The authority's main offices are at Penrhyndeudraeth.

The park authority used Snowdonia and Snowdon when referring to the national park and mountain in English until February 2023, when it resolved to primarily use the Welsh names, Eryri and Yr Wyddfa. There will be a transitional period of approximately two years in which the authority will continue to use the English names in parentheses — for example "Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon)" — where the context requires.

Unlike national parks in other countries, national parks in the UK are made up of both public and private lands under a central planning authority. The makeup of land ownership in the national park is as follows: More than 26,000 people live within the park, of whom 58.6% could speak Welsh in 2011. While most of the land is either open or mountainous land, there is a significant amount of agricultural activity within the park.

The national park does not include the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, which forms a unique non-designated enclave within the park boundaries. The town was deliberately excluded from the park when it was established because of its slate quarrying industry. The boundaries of the Peak District National Park exclude the town of Buxton and its adjacent limestone quarries for a similar reason.

Geology

The geology of Snowdonia is key to the area's character. Glaciation during a succession of ice ages, has carved from a heavily faulted and folded succession of sedimentary and igneous rocks, a distinctive rocky landscape. The last ice age ended only just over 11,500 years ago, leaving a legacy of features attractive to visitors but which have also played a part in the development of geological science and continue to provide a focus for educational visits. Visiting Cwm Idwal in 1841 Charles Darwin realised that the landscape was the product of glaciation. The bedrock dates largely from the Cambrian and Ordovician periods with intrusions of Ordovician and Silurian age associated with the Caledonian Orogeny. There are smaller areas of Silurian age sedimentary rocks in the south and northeast and of Cenozoic era strata on the Cardigan Bay coast though the latter are concealed by more recent deposits. Low grade metamorphism of Cambrian and Ordovician mudstones has resulted in the slates, the extraction of which once formed the mainstay of the area's economy.

Mountains
The principal ranges of the traditional Snowdonia are the Snowdon massif itself, the Glyderau, the Carneddau, the Moelwynion and the Moel Hebog range. All of Wales' 3000ft mountains are to be found within the first three of these massifs and are most popular with visitors. To their south within the wider national park are the Rhinogydd and the Cadair Idris and Aran Fawddwy ranges. Besides these well-defined areas are a host of mountains which are less readily grouped though various guidebook writers have assigned them into groups such as the 'Arenigs', the 'Tarrens' and the 'Dyfi hills'.

Snowdon's summit at 1085 m is the highest in Wales and the highest in Britain south of the Scottish Highlands. At 905 m Aran Fawddwy is the highest in Wales outside of northern Snowdonia; Cadair Idris, at 893 m, is next in line.

Rivers and lakes
Rivers draining the area empty directly into Cardigan Bay are typically short and steep. From north to south they include the Glaslyn and Dwyryd which share a common estuary, the Mawddach and its tributaries the Wnion and the Eden, the smaller Dysynni and on the park's southern margin the Dyfi. A series of rivers drain to the north coast. Largest of these is the Conwy on the park's eastern margin which along with the Ogwen drains into Conwy Bay. Further west the Seiont and Gwyrfai empty into the western end of the Menai Strait. A part of the east of the national park is within the upper Dee (Dyfrydwy) catchment and includes Bala Lake, the largest natural waterbody in Wales. A fuller list of the rivers and tributaries within the area is found at List of rivers of Wales.There are few natural waterbodies of any size in Wales; Snowdonia is home to most. Besides Bala Lake, a few lakes occupy glacial troughs including Llyn Padarn and Llyn Peris at Llanberis and Tal-y-llyn Lake south of Cadair Idris. Llyn Dinas, Llyn Gwynant, and Llyn Cwellyn to the south and west of Snowdon feature in this category as do Llyn Cowlyd and Llyn Ogwen on the margins of the Carneddau. There are numerous small lakes occupying glacial cirques owing to the former intensity of glacial action in Snowdonia. Known generically as tarns, examples include Llyn Llydaw, Glaslyn and Llyn Du'r Arddu on Snowdon, Llyn Idwal within the Glyderau and Llyn Cau on Cadair Idris.

There are two large wholly man-made bodies of water in the area, Llyn Celyn and Llyn Trawsfynydd whilst numerous of the natural lakes have had their levels artificially raised to different degrees. Marchlyn Mawr reservoir and Ffestiniog Power Station's Llyn Stwlan are two cases where natural tarns have been dammed as part of pumped storage hydro-electric schemes. A fuller list of the lakes within the area is found at List of lakes of Wales. In 2023, the park standardised its Welsh language lake names, to be also used in English.

Coast
The national park meets the Irish Sea coast within Cardigan Bay between the Dovey estuary in the south and the Dwyryd estuary. The larger part of that frontage is characterised by dune systems, the largest of which are Morfa Dyffryn and Morfa Harlech. These two locations have two of the largest sand/shingle spits in Wales. The major indentations of the Dovey, the Mawddach and Dwyryd estuaries, have large expanses of intertidal sands and coastal marsh which are especially important for wildlife: see. The northern tip of the national park extends to the north coast of Wales at Penmaen-bach Point, west of Conwy, where precipitous cliffs have led to the road and railway negotiating the spot in tunnels.

Settlements
There are only three towns within the park boundary, though there are several more immediately beyond it. Dolgellau is the most populous followed by Bala on the eastern boundary and then Harlech overlooking Tremadog Bay. More populous than these is the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, which is within an exclave, that is to say it is surrounded by the national park but excluded from it, whilst the towns of Tywyn and Barmouth on the Cardigan Bay coast are within coastal exclaves. Llanrwst in the east, Machynlleth in the south and Porthmadog and Penrhyndeudraeth in the west are immediately beyond the boundary but still identified with the park; indeed the last of these hosts the headquarters of the Snowdonia National Park Authority. Similarly the local economies of the towns of Conwy, Bethesda, and Llanberis in the north are inseparably linked to the national park as they provide multiple visitor services. The lower terminus of the Snowdon Mountain Railway is at Llanberis. Though adjacent to it, Llanfairfechan and Penmaenmawr are less obviously linked to the park.

There are numerous smaller settlements within the national park: prominent amongst these are the eastern 'gateway' village of Betws-y-Coed, Aberdyfi on the Dovey (Dyfi) estuary and the small village of Beddgelert each of which attract large numbers of visitors. Other sizeable villages are Llanuwchllyn at the southwest end of Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid), Dyffryn Ardudwy, Corris, Trawsfynydd, Llanbedr, Trefriw and Dolwyddelan.

Roads
Six primary routes serve Snowdonia, the busiest of which is the A55, a dual carriageway which runs along the north coast and provides strategic road access to the northern part of the national park. The most important north–south route within the park is the A470 running from the A55 south past Betws-y-Coed to Blaenau Ffestiniog to Dolgellau. It exits the park a few miles to the southeast near Mallwyd. From Dolgellau, the A494 runs to Bala whilst the A487 connects with Machynlleth. The A487 loops around the northwest of the park from Bangor via Caernarfon to Porthmadog before turning in land to meet the A470 east of Maentwrog. The A5 was built as a mail coach road by Thomas Telford between London and Holyhead; it enters the park near Pentrefoelas and leaves it near Bethesda. Other A class roads provide more local links; the A493 down the Dovey valley from Machynlleth and up the coast to Tywyn then back up the Mawddach valley to Dolgellau, the A496 from Dolgellau down the north side of the Mawddach to Barmouth then north up the coast via Harlech to Maentwrog. The A4212 connecting Bala with Trawsfynydd is relatively modern having been laid out in the 1960s in connection with the construction of Llyn Celyn. Three further roads thread their often twisting and narrow way through the northern mountains; A4085 links Penrhyndeudraeth with Caernarfon, the A4086 links Capel Curig with Caernarfon via Llanberis and the A498 links Tremadog with the A4086 at Pen-y-Gwryd. Other roads of note include that from Llanuwchllyn up Cwm Cynllwyd to Dinas Mawddwy via the 545 m high pass of Bwlch y Groes, the second highest tarmacked public road in Wales and the minor road running northwest and west from Llanuwchllyn towards Bronaber via the 531 m high pass of Bwlch Pen-feidiog.

Railways

 * The double track North Wales Coast Line passes along the northern boundary of the park between Conwy and Bangor, briefly entering it at Penmaen-bach Point, where it is in tunnel. Stations serve the communities of Conwy, Penmaenmawr, Llanfairfechan and Bangor.
 * The single-track Conwy Valley Line runs south from Llandudno Junction, and enters the park north of Betws-y-coed, which is served by a station, then continues west up the Lledr valley by way of further stations at Pont-y-pant, Dolwyddelan and Roman Bridge. After passing through a tunnel, the passenger line now terminates at Blaenau Ffestiniog railway station, where it connects with the Ffestiniog Railway.

 * Before 1961 the route continued as the Bala and Ffestiniog Railway via Trawsfynydd to Bala, joining another former route along the Dee valley which ran southwest via Dolgellau to join the still extant coastal Cambrian Line south of Barmouth.

 * The Pwllheli branch of the Cambrian Line splits from the Aberystwyth branch at Dovey Junction and continues northwards via stations at Aberdovey, Tywyn, Tonfanau, Llwyngwril, Fairbourne and Morfa Mawddach to Barmouth where it crosses the Mawddach estuary by the Grade II* listed wooden Barmouth Bridge, a structure which also provides for walkers and cyclists. Continuing northwards, further stations serve Llanaber, Tal-y-bont, Dyffryn Ardudwy, Llanbedr, Pensarn and Llandanwg before reaching Harlech. Tygwyn, Talsarnau and Llandecwyn stations are the last before the line exits the park as it crosses the Dwyryd estuary via Pont Briwet and turns westwards bound for Pwllheli via Penrhyndeudraeth, Porthmadog and Criccieth.

Many sections of dismantled railway are now used by walking and cycling routes and are described elsewhere. The Bala Lake Railway is a heritage railway which has been established along a section of the former mainline route between Bala and Llanuwchllyn. Other heritage railways occupy sections of former mineral lines, often narrow gauge and are described in a separate section.

Buses
The national park is served by a growing bus network, branded Sherpa'r Wyddfa (formerly Snowdon Sherpa). Together with the TrawsCymru network of buses this provides a car-free option to tourists and locals wishing to travel across the National Park.

The network was relaunched in July 2022 with a new brand, Sherpa'r Wyddfa, to reflect the National Park's new push for the promotion of Welsh place names. As such the publicity and websites for the newly branded service only use these Welsh names, even for English language users.

Climate
Snowdonia is one of the wettest parts of the United Kingdom; Crib Goch in Snowdonia is the wettest spot in the United Kingdom, with an average rainfall of 4473 mm a year over the 30-year period prior to the mid-2000s. (There is a rainfall gauge at 713 mon the slopes below Crib Goch.)

History
The earliest evidence for human occupation of the area dates from around 4000–3000 BC with extensive traces of prehistoric field systems evident in the landscape. Within these are traces of irregular enclosures and hut circles. There are burial chambers of Neolithic and Bronze Age such as Bryn Cader Faner and Iron Age hillforts such as Bryn y Castell near Ffestiniog.

The region was finally conquered by the Romans by AD 77–78. Remains of Roman marching camps and practice camps are evident. There was a Roman fort and amphitheatre at Tomen y Mur. Roads are known to have connected with Segontium (Caernarfon) and Deva Victrix (Chester) and include the northern reaches of Sarn Helen.

There are numerous memorial stones of Early Christian affinity dating from the post-Roman period. The post-Roman hillfort of Dinas Emrys also dates to this time. Churches were introduced to the region in the 5th and 6th centuries. Llywelyn the Great and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd had various stone castles constructed to protect their borders and trade routes. Edward I built several castles around the margins including those at Harlech and Conwy for military and administrative reasons. Most are now protected within a World Heritage Site. Some of Snowdonia's many stone walls date back to this period too. In the Middle Ages, the title Prince of Wales and Lord of Snowdonia (Tywysog Cymru ac Arglwydd Eryri) was used by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd; his grandfather Llywelyn Fawr used the title Prince of north Wales and Lord of Snowdonia.

The 18th century saw the start of industrial exploitation of the area's resources, assisted by the appearance in the late part of the century of turnpike trusts making it more accessible. The engineer Thomas Telford left a legacy of road and railway construction in and around Snowdonia. A new harbour at Porthmadog linked to slate quarries at Ffestiniog via a narrow gauge railway. At its peak in the 19th century the slate industry employed around 12,000 men. A further 1000 were employed in stone quarrying at Graiglwyd and Penmaenmawr. Mining for copper, iron and gold was undertaken during the 18th and 19th centuries, leaving a legacy of mine and mill ruins today. Ruins of the gold industry are found at Cefn Coch on the Dolmelynllyn estate.

The Snowdonia Society is a registered charity formed in 1967; it is a voluntary group of people with an interest in the area and its protection.

Amory Lovins led the successful 1970s opposition to stop Rio Tinto digging up the area for a massive mine.

Natural history
The park's entire coastline is a Special Area of Conservation, which runs from the Llŷn Peninsula down the mid-Wales coast, the latter containing valuable sand dune systems.

The park's natural forests are of the mixed deciduous type, the commonest tree being the Welsh oak. Birch, ash, mountain-ash and hazel are also common. The park also contains some large (planted) coniferous forested areas such as Gwydir Forest near Betws-y-Coed, although some areas, once harvested, are now increasingly being allowed to regrow naturally.

Flora
Northern Snowdonia is the only place in Britain where the Snowdon lily (Gagea serotina), an arctic–alpine plant, is found and the only place in the world where the Snowdonia hawkweed Hieracium snowdoniense grows.

One of the major problems facing the park in recent years has been the growth of Rhododendron ponticum. This fast-growing invasive species has a tendency to take over and stifle native species. It can form massive towering growths and has a companion fungus that grows on its roots producing toxins that are poisonous to any local flora and fauna for a seven-year period after the Rhododendron infestations have been eradicated. As a result, there are a number of desolate landscapes.

Fauna
Mammals in the park include otters, polecats, feral goats, and pine martens. Birds include raven, red-billed chough, peregrine, osprey, merlin and the red kite. The rainbow-coloured Snowdon beetle (Chrysolina cerealis) is only found in northern Snowdonia.

Conservation designations
Snowdonia has a particularly high number of protected sites in respect of its diverse ecology; nearly 20% of its total area is protected by UK and European law. Half of that area was set aside by the government under the European Habitats Directive as a Special Area of Conservation. There are a large number of Sites of special scientific interest (or 'SSSIs'), designated both for fauna and flora but also in some cases for geology. Nineteen of these sites are managed as national nature reserves by Natural Resources Wales. The park also contains twelve Special Areas of Conservation (or 'SACs'), three Special Protection Areas (or 'SPAs') and three Ramsar sites. Some are wholly within the park boundaries, others straddle it to various degrees.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest
There are numerous SSSIs within the park, the most extensive of which are Snowdonia, Migneint-Arenig-Dduallt, Morfa Harlech, Rhinog, Berwyn, Cadair Idris, Llyn Tegid, Aber Mawddach / Mawddach Estuary, Dyfi, Morfa Dyffryn, Moel Hebog, Coedydd Dyffryn Ffestiniog and Coedydd Nanmor.

National nature reserves
The following NNRs are either wholly or partly within the park: Allt y Benglog, Y Berwyn (in multiple parts), Cader Idris, Ceunant Llennyrch, Coed Camlyn, Coed Cymerau, Coed Dolgarrog, Coed Ganllwyd, Coed Gorswen, Coed Tremadog, Coedydd Aber, Coedydd Maentwrog (in 2 parts), Coed y Rhygen, Cwm Glas Crafnant, Cwm Idwal, Hafod Garregog, Morfa Harlech, Rhinog and Snowdon.

Special Areas of Conservation
The twelve SACs are as follows: Snowdonia SAC which covers much of the Carneddau, Glyderau, and the Snowdon massif, Afon Gwyrfai a Llyn Cwellyn, Corsydd Eifionydd / Eifionydd Fens (north of Garndolbenmaen), the Coedydd Derw a Safleoedd Ystlumod Meirion / Meirionydd Oakwoods and Bat Sites -  a series of sites between Tremadog, Trawsfynydd, and Ffestiniog and Beddgelert and extending up the Gwynant. It also includes many of the oakwoods of the Mawddach and its tributaries. Afon Eden – Cors Goch Trawsfynydd, Rhinog, Cadair Idris (in 2 parts), Migneint-Arenig-Dduallt, River Dee and Afon Dyfrdwy a Llyn Tegid (Wales), Mwyngloddiau Fforest Gwydir / Gwydyr Forest Mines (north of Betws-y-Coed) and a part of the Berwyn a Mynyddoedd De Clwyd / Berwyn and South Clwyd Mountains SAC. The Pen Llyn a'r Sarnau / Lleyn Peninsula and the Sarnau SAC covers the entire Cardigan Bay coastline of the park and the sea area and extends above the high water mark at Morfa Harlech, Mochras and around the Dovey and Mawddach estuaries.

Special Protection Areas
The three SPAs are Dovey Estuary / Aber Dyfi (of which a part is within the park), Berwyn (of which a part is within the park) and Migneint-Arenig-Dduallt.

Ramsar sites
The three designated Ramsar sites are the Dyfi Biosphere (Cors Fochno and Dyfi), Cwm Idwal and Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake).

Economy
The area's economy was traditionally centred upon farming and from the early 19th century increasingly on mining and quarrying. Tourism has become an increasingly significant part of Snowdonia's economy during the 20th and 21st centuries.

Hill farming
The extensive farming of sheep remains central to Snowdonia's farming economy.

Forestry
Significant sections of the park were afforested during the 20th century for timber production. Major conifer plantations include Dyfi Forest, Coed y Brenin Forest between Dolgellau and Trawsfynydd, Penllyn Forest south of Bala, Beddgelert Forest and Gwydyr (or Gwydir) Forest near Betws-y-Coed which is managed as a forest park by Natural Resources Wales.

Slate industry
The region was once the most important producer of slate in the world. Some production continues but at a much reduced level from its peak. The park boundaries are drawn such that much of the landscape affected by slate quarrying and mining lies immediately outside of the designated area.

Energy production
Construction of a nuclear power station beside Llyn Trawsfynydd began in 1959 with the first power produced in 1965. The site was operational until 1991 though it continues as an employer during its decommissioning phase. Pumped storage hydroelectric schemes are in operation at Llanberis and Ffestiniog.

Tourism
Research indicates that there were 3.67 million visitors to Snowdonia National Park in 2013, with approximately 9.74 million tourist days spent in the park during that year. Total tourist expenditure was £433.6 million in 2013.

Hiking

Many of the hikers in the area concentrate on Snowdon itself. It is regarded as a fine mountain, but at times gets very crowded; in addition the Snowdon Mountain Railway runs to the summit.

The other high mountains with their boulder-strewn summits as well as Tryfan, one of the few mountains in the UK south of Scotland whose ascent needs hands as well as feet are also very popular. However, there are also some spectacular walks in Snowdonia on the lower mountains, and they tend to be relatively unfrequented. Among hikers' favourites are Y Garn (east of Llanberis) along the ridge to Elidir Fawr; Mynydd Tal-y-Mignedd (west of Snowdon) along the Nantlle Ridge to Mynydd Drws-y-Coed; Moelwyn Mawr (west of Blaenau Ffestiniog); and Pen Llithrig y Wrach north of Capel Curig. Further south are Y Llethr in the Rhinogydd, and Cadair Idris near Dolgellau.

The park has 1479 mi of public footpaths, 164 mi of public bridleways, and 46 mi of other public rights of way. A large part of the park is also covered by right to roam laws.

Recreational routes
The Wales Coast Path runs within the park between Machynlleth and Penrhyndeudraeth, save for short sections of coast in the vicinity of Tywyn and Barmouth which are excluded from the park. It touches the park boundary again at Penmaen-bach Point on the north coast. An inland alternative exists between Llanfairfechan and Conwy, wholly within the park. The North Wales Path, which predates the WCP, enters the park north of Bethesda and follows a route broadly parallel to the north coast visiting Aber Falls and the Sychnant Pass before exiting the park on the descent from Conwy Mountain. The Cambrian Way is a long-distance trail between Cardiff and Conwy that stays almost entirely within the national park from Mallwyd northwards. It was officially recognised in 2019, and is now depicted on Ordnance Survey maps.

Use of Eryri in English
The use of the English names for the area has been divisive, with an increase in protests against their use since 2020; these led to the national park authority deciding to use Welsh names as far as legally possible in November 2022. An early example of pressure to deprecate Snowdon and Snowdonia was a 2003 campaign by Cymuned, inspired by campaigns to refer to Ayers Rock as Uluru and Mount Everest as Qomolangma.

In 2020 an e-petition calling for the removal of the English names was put forward to the Senedd, but rejected as responsibility lies with the national park authority. In 2021 an e-petition on the same topic attracted more than 5,300 signatures and was presented to the national park authority.

On 28 April 2021 Gwynedd councillor John Pughe Roberts put forward a motion to use the Welsh names exclusively, calling this a "question of respect for the Welsh language". The motion was not considered, but was deferred, as the national park authority had already appointed a "Welsh Place Names Task and Finish Group" to investigate the issue. Of course the park authority cannot compel other bodies or individuals to stop using the English names, and the proposals have faced some criticism.

In May 2021, following the dismissal of the motion, YouGov conducted a poll on Snowdon's name. 60% of Welsh adults supported the English name Snowdon, compared to 30% wanting the Welsh name Yr Wyddfa. Separating by language, 59% of Welsh speakers preferred the Welsh name, but 37% of these still wanted Snowdon to be used as well. 69% of non-Welsh speakers firmly supported Snowdon as the Mountain's name. The proposals to rename Snowdon are usually accompanied with proposals to rename Snowdonia.

On 16 November 2022, Members of the Snowdonia National Park Authority committee voted to use the Welsh names Yr Wyddfa and Eryri to refer to the mountain and the national park, rather than the English names, in materials produced by the authority. The national park authority described the decision as "decisive action" and the authority's head of culture heritage stated that Welsh place names were part of the area's "special qualities" and that other public bodies, English-language press and filming companies have used the Welsh-language names. Before the decision the park had already prioritised the Welsh names by using them first and giving the English names in parentheses. The name "Snowdonia" cannot be abandoned entirely, as it is set in law and so must be used in statutory documents. The authority announced a review of the authority's branding in 2023 to adapt to the new approach to Welsh place names.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Snowdonia


text:
Jeff Minter

Jeff Minter (born 22 April 1962) is an English video game designer and programmer who often goes by the name Yak. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and has created dozens of games during his career, which began in 1981 with games for the ZX80. Minter's games are shoot 'em ups which contain titular or in-game references demonstrating his fondness of ruminants (llamas, sheep, camels, etc.). Many of his programs also feature something of a psychedelic element, as in some of the earliest "light synthesizer" programs including Trip-a-Tron.

Minter's works include the music visualisation program Neon (2004) which is built into the Xbox 360 console, and the video games Gridrunner, Attack of the Mutant Camels, Tempest 2000, and Polybius.

Pre-commercial career (early years)
Minter began programming computers at a young age. He wrote the game Deflex for the Commodore PET in 1979. However it would not be until a long illness during a university year that Minter's talents would develop in any meaningful way. Following a three-month stint due to a sudden eruption of pericarditis, in which Minter was restricted to lying on his back and was confined to his bed between November 1981 and January 1982, boredom led him to take up computer programming in earnest to pass the time.

Upon recovery, Minter teamed up with Richard Jones, a fellow pupil, and together they started writing their own games on their school's Commodore PET. They soon parted ways. Jones went on to commercial projects, some of them in the software market (e.g., Interceptor Micros).

Commercial 8-bit games
In 1981 Minter started independently writing and selling video games for the ZX80, the first machine he owned. Some were made for software company dk'tronics. These titles were sold as a package but this was not available for very long, as Minter left the company following a royalties dispute. He formed a partnership with his mother, Hazel Minter. Together they developed and commercially produced 20 games for the ZX81, VIC-20, Atari 8-bit computers, ZX Spectrum, and Commodore 64. Having been studying physics at the University of East Anglia, success in the programming industry prompted him to drop his studies and take up video game development full-time.

The following year, he founded the software house Llamasoft. His first Llamasoft game was a Defender clone for the VIC-20 called Andes Attack (US version: Aggressor). In Andes Attack, little llamas advanced upon and attacked the player instead of the spaceships from Defender. As a fan of Defender, Minter would remake it again as Defender 2000. Through the Brighton-based software house, Salamander Software, Minter had his games written for the Spectrum and other home microcomputers. It was Mr S.A. Tenquist who was responsible for the ZX Spectrum 16K version of Gridrunner. The conversion was released and published for Christmas 1983 by Quicksilva Ltd., UK. Jeff Minter's original Commodore version was written in a week and marked his first commercial success both in the UK and in the US.

Minter went on to develop a number of games for the Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit computers, and Atari ST which were marketed by word of mouth and magazine advertisements. These included Gridrunner, Abductor, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, Hellgate, Hover Bovver, Attack of the Mutant Camels, Revenge of the Mutant Camels, Return of the Mutant Camels, Laser Zone, Mama Llama, Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time, Sheep in Space, Voidrunner, and Iridis Alpha.

Post 8-bit work

In 1989, Minter helped in the production of the Konix Multisystem console.

Minter worked for Atari and VM Labs. For Atari he produced Tempest 2000 (1994) on the Jaguar. It was a remake of Dave Theurer's 1981 Tempest. He followed it with Defender 2000 (1995) on the Jaguar, a remake of the 1981 arcade game. Listing Minter in their "75 Most Important People in the Games Industry of 1995", Next Generation called him the Jaguar's "leading developer". Minter also produced the Virtual Light Machine (VLM-1) for the Jaguar CD add-on. For VM Labs he created the VLM-2 and Tempest 3000.

Minter then wrote games for the Pocket PC platform, some of which also have Windows conversions: Deflex, Hover Bovver 2: Grand Theft Flymo (a reinterpretation of his own 1984 game, Hover Bovver), and Gridrunner++.

In 2002, he began work on a music video game for the GameCube to be called Unity. Using the newest version of his VLM, the VLM-3 or Neon, Unity was to combine the two main threads of Minter's prior career: light synthesis and classic arcade style shooting. Minter was involved in writing this game for Lionhead Studios throughout 2003. The project was cancelled in December 2004. Neon has since been reprogrammed and significantly expanded and is used in Xbox 360 media visualisation.

In 2007 Minter released Space Giraffe, an action video game with similarities to Tempest. Space Giraffe was released for Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Arcade.

In 2008 it was announced at the Tokyo Game Show that designers at Llamasoft were working on the visualisation aspects of the Xbox 360 version of Space Invaders Extreme. The game was released in 2008. In December 2008 Space Giraffe was released for Windows.

In September 2009 he released Gridrunner Revolution for Windows as a digital download.

The Minotaur Project
In 2010, frustrated with the delays surrounding the release of his titles, Minter was keen to return to a style of game development where games could be produced and released quickly. The iOS platform was chosen and Llamasoft announced that a series of games would be produced under the banner The Minotaur Project. The idea behind the series is that Llamasoft would develop a game in the style of a past computer or console but without the constraints of the original hardware.

On 5 January 2011 he released Minotaur Rescue for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Touch (3rd generation), iPod Touch (4th generation), and iPad.

On 2 March 2011 Llamasoft released their second iOS game, Minotron: 2112. Minotron: 2112 is a remake of the Atari ST / Amiga game Llamatron (which was inspired by the coin-op video game Robotron: 2084). An iOS version of Deflex was also released although this was not specifically labeled as being part of the Minotaur Project.

On 17 September 2011, Llamasoft released GoatUp, their first platform game.

On 27 January 2012 Caverns of Minos was released followed on 24 March by Gridrunner iOS.

Super Ox Wars, a shoot-em-up based on Ikaruga, was released in July 2012; the final game in the series, GoatUp 2 was released in March 2013, unique in that it is the only Llamasoft title to feature a level editor.

Minter then announced his intention to abandon mobile development due to lack of discoverability, low turnover, and the dominance of free-to-play and video game clones; he ultimately declared that, after accounting for his time, the Minotaur Project made a net loss. Minter stated on Twitter than "Returning to iOS would be like returning to the scene of a mugging" and "I would advise any dev valuing integrity and sanity to just get the hell out". As a result, the Minotaur Project games were not updated for 64-bit versions of iOS and were removed from the App Store while existing copies became unplayable on updated devices.

The code framework for the Minotaur Project games enables them to be rebuilt for both Mac and PC versions. Gridrunner was released for the Mac in August 2012.

Return to console games
In April 2013 it was announced that Llamasoft had signed a deal with Sony Computer Entertainment to create a tube shooter for the PlayStation Vita called TxK. The game would be Llamasoft's fourth tube shooter in two decades and was described as the spiritual successor of 1994's Tempest 2000 for the Atari Jaguar. As Minter explained in his development blog the project goals were to create a more traditional, straightforward and accessible tube shooter than Space Giraffe, to improve on the flaws from Tempest 2000 and Tempest 3000, and to evoke the neo-retro aesthetic without being cheesy. TxK was released on 11 February 2014, by digital download through PSN.

At the beginning of 2015, Minter was threatened with legal action by Atari, claiming that TxK was too similar to Tempest 2000 - a game that Minter himself wrote, but Atari owned the rights to. This raised several issues, including Atari claiming that Minter that had illegally copied material from his own source code and violated design copyrights on his own design traditions. Sony was unwilling to support Minter and as such future versions of TxK were blocked from release, although the PS Vita version remains available.

Minter and Zorzin's first publicly available game for a modern home console, Polybius, was released on the PlayStation 4 on 9 May 2017. The game features extensive support for the PlayStation VR headset, based on Minter's experience building the unreleased VR version of TxK. Shortly after release, Llamasoft were contacted by Trent Reznor of the band Nine Inch Nails, asking to use visuals from Polybius as the basis for the music video for the song "Less Than"; the video was released on 13 July the same year.

In August 2017, Atari, SA issued a press release, announcing a partnership with Llamasoft to develop Tempest 4000 on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One video game consoles and Windows-based personal computers. It was released in July 2018.

In March 2018, Minter announced that the framework for the Minotaur Project had also been ported to the PlayStation 4 and stated an intention to release enhanced versions of the Minotaur Project games as console games in bundles under the name Minotaur Arcade. In December 2018, Llamasoft released Minotaur Arcade Volume 1 on Steam. This contained much enhanced versions of GoatUp and Gridrunner with support for playing on the Oculus Rift but also playable in 2D. A PlayStation 4 version of Minotaur Arcade Volume 1 was released in October 2019.

Minter revisited the enhanced Minotaur Arcade framework to produce an original game, Moose Life, released on Steam in August 2020 and on Playstation 4 in February 2021.

In December 2022, Minter announced that he had been contracted to produce a complete and up-to-date version of Atari's abandoned 1982 prototype arcade machine Akka Arrh, the original version of which had become available to the wider public as part of the recently published collection Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. In 2023, Digital Eclipse announced that they would be compiling 42 of Minter's games and releasing them as Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, the second entry in their Gold Master Series.

Other appearances
Minter appeared in the interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, released in December 2018. The film is based around the 1980s video game industry in the United Kingdom; Minter played Jerome F. Davies, the author of the titular Bandersnatch novel, who murdered his wife.

Minter also contributed to the documentary film From Bedrooms to Billions.

Minter appears extremely briefly as a background character in Ashens and the Polybius Heist.

Personal life
In online forums and informal game credits pages Minter usually signs as "Yak", which is, in his own words "a pseudonym chosen a long time ago, back in the days when high score tables on coin-op machines only held three letters, and I settled on Yak because the yak is a scruffy hairy beast – a lot like me ;-)."

Since 2015, Minter has used the name "Yak" relatively rarely, usually signing as "Stinky Ox" or "Jeff Minotaur".

He lives in Wales with his partner Ivan "Giles" Zorzin, four sheep, two goats, two llamas and a dog. Although Minter is synonymous with Llamasoft, Zorzin is jointly responsible for the recent titles.

Minter likes Indian food, particularly chicken vindaloo. Sheep are his favourite animal; he has kept them as pets for many years.

Second- and third generation games

 * Deflex (VIC-20, Commodore PET)
 * Centipede (ZX81, 1982)
 * 3D Labyrinth (VIC-20, 1982)
 * Abductor (VIC-20, 1982)
 * Andes Attack (VIC-20, 1982) a.k.a. Defenda
 * Bomb Buenos Aires (VIC-20, 1982; Atari ST, 1988) a.k.a. Aggressor, Bomber, Blitzkrieg
 * City Bomber (ZX Spectrum, 1982)
 * Gridrunner (VIC-20, Atari 8-bit, ZX Spectrum, 1982; C64, 1983)
 * Matrix: Gridrunner 2 (VIC-20, 1982; Atari 8-bit and C64, 1983; C16, 1986)
 * Rat Man (VIC-20, 1982)
 * Rox III (VIC-20/ZX Spectrum, 1982)
 * Super Deflex (ZX Spectrum, 1982)
 * Turboflex (Atari 8-bit, 1982)
 * Attack of the Mutant Camels (Atari 8-bit and C64, 1983) a.k.a. Advance of the Megacamel
 * Headbangers Heaven (ZX Spectrum, 1983)
 * Hover Bovver (C64, 1983; Atari 8-bit, 1984; Galaxians/Scramble hardware, 2022 )
 * Laser Zone (VIC-20/C64, 1983; C16, 1986)
 * Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time (VIC-20, 1983; C64, 1984) a.k.a. Meta-Llamas
 * Revenge of the Mutant Camels (C64, 1983)
 * Rox 64 (C64, 1983)
 * Traxx (VIC-20/ZX Spectrum, 1983)
 * Ancipital (C64, 1984)
 * Hellgate (VIC-20/C64, 1984)
 * Psychedelia (VIC-20/ZX Spectrum/C64/MSX, 1984), light synthesizer.
 * Sheep in Space (C64, 1984)
 * Batalyx (C64, 1985)
 * Colourspace (Atari 8-bit, 1985), light synthesizer.
 * Mama Llama (C64, 1985)
 * Yak's Progress (C64, 1985) - compilation of eight previously released titles.
 * Iridis Alpha (C64, 1986)
 * Made in France II (C64, 1987)
 * Return of the Mutant Camels (C64, 1987; Atari 8-bit, 1988) a.k.a. Revenge of the Mutant Camels 2
 * Voidrunner (C64/MSX, 1987)

Fourth generation games

 * Trip-a-Tron (Amiga/Atari ST, 1988)
 * Super Gridrunner (Amiga, 1989; Atari ST, 1991)
 * Defender II (Amiga/Atari ST, 1990)
 * Photon Storm (Amiga/Atari ST, 1990)
 * Llamatron: 2112 (Amiga/Atari ST, 1991; PC, 1992)
 * Revenge of the Mutant Camels (Amiga/Atari ST, 1991; PC, 1994) enhanced re-release
 * Hardcore (Atari ST, 1992)

Fifth generation games

 * Tempest 2000 (Atari Jaguar, 1994)
 * Virtual Light Machine (Atari Jaguar, 1994) a.k.a. VLM-1
 * Defender 2000 (Atari Jaguar, 1995)
 * Llamazap (Atari Falcon, 1995)
 * Tempest 3000 (Nuon DVD, 2000)
 * VLM-2 (Nuon DVD, 2000)
 * Gridrunner++ (PC, 2002)
 * Hover Bovver 2: Grand Theft Flymo (PC, 2002)

Sixth generation games

 * Unity (GCN, Cancelled)

Seventh generation games

 * Neon (Xbox 360, 2005) a.k.a. VLM-3
 * Space Giraffe (Xbox 360, 2007; PC, 2008)
 * Space Invaders Extreme (Xbox 360, 2009)
 * Gridrunner Revolution (PC, 2009)

The Minotaur Project

 * Minotaur Rescue, (2011) Represents the Atari 2600.
 * Minotron: 2112, (2011) Represents the Mattel Intellivision.
 * GoatUp, (2011) Represents the ZX Spectrum.
 * Caverns of Minos, (2012) Represents the Atari 8-bit computers.
 * Gridrunner iOS, Represents arcade games of Namco System 86 era. First Minotaur Project title to be released on the Mac.
 * Five A Day
 * Super Ox Wars, Represents the Namco Galaga platform. Llamasoft's first vertical scrolling shooter.
 * Deflex, Puzzle game and a remake of one of Llamasoft's earliest titles.
 * GoatUp 2, Sequel to GoatUp. Platform game with level editor built-in.

Eighth generation games

 * TxK (PlayStation Vita, 2014)
 * Minotaur Rescue VR (Oculus Rift, Windows, 2014)
 * Polybius (PS4, PlayStation VR, PC, Oculus Rift, 2016)
 * Tempest 4000 (PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Atari VCS 800)
 * Minotaur Arcade Vol. 1 (combines voxel-based remakes of Gridrunner iOS and GoatUp) (PC, PS4)
 * Moose Life (PC, PS4)
 * Akka Arrh (PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Atari VCS 800)

title: Jeff Minter


text:
True lover's knot

The term true lover's knot, also called true love knot, is used for many distinct knots. The association of knots with the symbolism of love, friendship and affection dates back to antiquity. Because of this, no single knot can be labeled the true "true love knot".

In practical terms, these knots are generally shown as two interlocked overhand knots made in two parallel ropes or cords. The variations are in the ways in which the overhand knots interweave and in the final arrangement of the knot or knots.

The true lovers' knot is a motif in several British folk songs, including "Barbara Allen", "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet", "Lord Lovel", and "Fair Margaret and Sweet William". The knot, made of a rose growing from one lover's grave and a brier from the other's, is described at the end of the ballad. It symbolises their fidelity in love even after death.

Modern Western knotting literature has the name for these related knots deriving from stories or legends in which the knots symbolize the connection between a couple in love. Many examples feature sailors separated from their beloveds. Ashley notes that it was once a common style in sailors' wedding rings, where gold wire was wrought to incorporate the "true lovers" knot, creating a ring containing two tori, inseparable, yet flexible and able to move about each other.

Examples in literature

 * "A Love Knot"; a short story about Bengali Hindus featuring a goldsmithed love knot.
 * A “love-knotte” is mentioned in the prologue to the Canterbury Tales.
 * In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (line 612), Gawain's neck-support is embroidered with "trueloves"
 * In The Highwayman, a poem by Alfred Noyes, Bess is “plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.”

title: True lover's knot


text:
Blancmange

Blancmange (, from blanc-manger ) is a sweet dessert popular throughout Europe commonly made with milk or cream and sugar, thickened with rice flour, gelatin, corn starch, or Irish moss (a source of carrageenan), and often flavoured with almonds.

It is usually set in a mould and served cold. Although traditionally white (the literal English translation of the name is "white eat"), blancmanges are frequently given other colours.

Blancmange originated at some time during the Middle Ages from the older Middle Eastern muhallebi, and usually consisted of capon or chicken, milk or almond milk, rice, and sugar;

Similar desserts include French chef Marie-Antoine Carême's Bavarian cream, Italian panna cotta, Turkish Tavuk göğsü, Chinese almond tofu, Hawai'ian haupia and Puerto Rican tembleque.

History
The origins of the blancmange have long been believed to lie in the introduction of rice and almonds in early medieval Europe by Arab traders. Recently, it has been shown that there have been similar Arab dishes from that period such as muhallebi. Muhallebi or another similar dish from the medieval Islamic world, spread to Europe under closely related names and variants, including blanc-manger in France, biancomangiare in Italy and manjar blanco in Spain. Additionally, related or similar dishes have existed in other areas of Europe under other names, such as the 13th-century Danish hwit moos ("white mush"), and the Anglo-Norman blanc desirree ("white Syrian dish"); Dutch calijs (from Latin colare, "to strain") was known in English as cullis and in French as coulis, and was based on cooked and then strained poultry. The oldest recipe for blancmange is from the oldest extant Danish cookbook, written by Henrik Harpestræng, who died in 1244, which dates it to the early 13th century at the latest. The work may be a translation of a German cookbook, which is believed to have been based on a Latin or Romance vernacular manuscript from the 12th century or even earlier.

The "whitedish" (from the original Old French term blanc manger) was a dish consumed by the upper-classes and common to most of Europe during the Middle Ages and early modern period. It occurs in countless variations from recipe collections from all over Europe and was one of the few truly international dishes of medieval and early modern Europe. It is mentioned in the prologue to Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and in an early 15th-century cookbook written by the chefs of Richard II. The basic ingredients were milk or almond milk, sugar, and shredded chicken (usually capon) or fish, often combined with rosewater and rice flour, and mixed into a bland stew. Almond milk and fish were used as substitutes for the other animal products on fast days and Lent. It was also often flavoured with spices such as saffron or cinnamon and the chicken could be exchanged for other fowl, such as quail or partridge. Spices were often used in recipes of the later Middle Ages since they were considered prestigious.

On festive occasions and among the upper classes, whitedishes were often rendered more festive by colouring agents: the reddish-golden yellow of saffron; green with various herbs; or sandalwood for russet. In 14th-century France, parti-colouring (the use of two bright contrasting colours on the same plate) was especially popular and was described by Guillaume Tirel (also known as Taillevent), one of the primary authors of the later editions of Le Viandier. The brightly coloured whitedishes were one of the most common of the early entremets: edibles that were intended to entertain and delight through a gaudy appearance as much as through flavour.

In the 17th century (1666), the durian fruit was compared to blanc-mangé by Alexandre de Rhodes: "il est plein d'une liqueur blanche, épaisse & sucrée : elle est entierement semblable au blanc-mangé, qu'on sert aux meilleures tables de France; c'est une chose fort saine, & des plus delicates qu'on puisse manger [It is full of a white liquor, thick and sweet, which is entirely similar to blanc-mangé, served at the best tables in France; it is a very healthy thing, and one of the most delicate things one can eat]."

In the 17th century, the whitedish evolved into a meatless dessert pudding with cream and eggs, and later, gelatin. In the 19th century, arrowroot and cornflour were added, and the dish evolved into the modern blancmange.

Etymology
The word blancmange derives from Old French blanc mangier. The name "whitedish" is a modern term used by some historians, though the name historically was either a direct translation from or a calque of the Old French term. Many different local or regional terms were used for the dish in the Middle Ages:

 * English: blancmanger, blankmanger, blank maunger, blomanger, blamang
 * Catalan: menjar blanch, menjar blanc, menjablanc
 * Portuguese: manjar branco
 * Italian: mangiare bianco, biancomangiare, blanmangieri, bramangere
 * Spanish: manjar blanco
 * Dutch/Flemish: blanc mengier
 * German: Blamensir
 * Latin: cibarium album

Though it is fairly certain that the etymology is indeed "white dish", medieval sources are not always consistent as to the actual colour of the dish. Food scholar Terence Scully has proposed the alternative etymology of bland mangier, "bland dish", reflecting its often mild and "dainty" (in this context meaning refined and aristocratic) taste and popularity as a dish for the sick.

title: Blancmange


text:
Melody

A melody, also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of pitch and rhythm, while more figuratively, the term can include other musical elements such as tonal color. It is the foreground to the background accompaniment. A line or part need not be a foreground melody.

Melodies often consist of one or more musical phrases or motifs, and are usually repeated throughout a composition in various forms. Melodies may also be described by their melodic motion or the pitches or the intervals between pitches (predominantly conjunct or disjunct or with further restrictions), pitch range, tension and release, continuity and coherence, cadence, and shape.

Function and elements
Johann Philipp Kirnberger argued: "The true goal of music—its proper enterprise—is melody. All the parts of harmony have as their ultimate purpose only beautiful melody. Therefore, the question of which is the more significant, melody or harmony, is futile. Beyond doubt, the means is subordinate to the end."

- Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1771)

The Norwegian composer Marcus Paus has argued: "Melody is to music what a scent is to the senses: it jogs our memory. It gives face to form, and identity and character to the process and proceedings. It is not only a musical subject, but a manifestation of the musically subjective. It carries and radiates personality with as much clarity and poignancy as harmony and rhythm combined. As such a powerful tool of communication, melody serves not only as protagonist in its own drama, but as messenger from the author to the audience."

- Marcus Paus (2017)

Given the many and varied elements and styles of melody "many extant explanations [of melody] confine us to specific stylistic models, and they are too exclusive." Paul Narveson claimed in 1984 that more than three-quarters of melodic topics had not been explored thoroughly.

The melodies existing in most European music written before the 20th century, and popular music throughout the 20th century, featured "fixed and easily discernible frequency patterns", recurring "events, often periodic, at all structural levels" and "recurrence of durations and patterns of durations".

Melodies in the 20th century "utilized a greater variety of pitch resources than ha[d] been the custom in any other historical period of Western music." While the diatonic scale was still used, the chromatic scale became "widely employed." Composers also allotted a structural role to "the qualitative dimensions" that previously had been "almost exclusively reserved for pitch and rhythm". Kliewer states, "The essential elements of any melody are duration, pitch, and quality (timbre), texture, and loudness. Though the same melody may be recognizable when played with a wide variety of timbres and dynamics, the latter may still be an "element of linear ordering."

Examples
Different musical styles use melody in different ways. For example:
 * Jazz musicians use the term "lead" or "head" to refer to the main melody, which is used as a starting point for improvisation.
 * Rock music, and other forms of popular music and folk music tend to pick one or two melodies (verse and chorus, sometimes with a third, contrasting melody known as a bridge or middle eight) and stick with them; much variety may occur in the phrasing and lyrics.
 * Indian classical music relies heavily on melody and rhythm, and not so much on harmony, as the music contains no chord changes.
 * Balinese gamelan music often uses complicated variations and alterations of a single melody played simultaneously, called heterophony.
 * In western classical music, composers often introduce an initial melody, or theme, and then create variations. Classical music often has several melodic layers, called polyphony, such as those in a fugue, a type of counterpoint. Often, melodies are constructed from motifs or short melodic fragments, such as the opening of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Richard Wagner popularized the concept of a leitmotif: a motif or melody associated with a certain idea, person or place.
 * While in both most popular music and classical music of the common practice period pitch and duration are of primary importance in melodies, the contemporary music of the 20th and 21st centuries pitch and duration have lessened in importance and quality has gained importance, often primary. Examples include musique concrète, klangfarbenmelodie, Elliott Carter's Eight Etudes and a Fantasy (which contains a movement with only one note), the third movement of Ruth Crawford-Seeger's String Quartet 1931 (later re-orchestrated as Andante for string orchestra), which creates the melody from an unchanging set of pitches through "dissonant dynamics" alone, and György Ligeti's Aventures, in which recurring phonetics create the linear form.

title: Melody