a character exits: professor walsh

I debated combining Professor Walsh's post with Adam's post. It made sense to me since Walsh was the big bad up until Adam killed her and turned her into a zombie. And, when it came down to Angel's big bad post I did combine him with Darla, Drusilla, and Spike. However, like I said, Adam did kill her and turn her into a zombie so...

Professor Maggie Walsh is a psychology professor at UC Sunnydale. She is also a scientist for the Initiative. She leads Riley and his friends (including Forrest and Graham) and works on the secret project of 314, which is an attempt at making a human/demon/cyborg super solider. Walsh is closest with Riley and clearly views him as a surrogate son. Riley, initially, returns these feelings.

Buffy is a student of hers and initially Walsh is fine with Buffy being in Riley's life. But the revelation of Buffy being the slayer, Buffy's chosen one mentality, Buffy's determination to discover what is really going on at the Initiative, and Buffy's sway over Riley quickly sours Walsh's relationship with her. Ultimately Walsh tries to have her killed. Her plan backfires, but she loses Riley because of it. She escapes to her secret project, only for Adam to kill her. Adam, who does view Walsh as his mother, revives her - but only as a zombie. The professor Walsh that can think and scheme for herself is dead.

Professor Walsh is a bit of a counterpoint to Giles. Giles is Buffy's father figure and represents Buffy's past, her ties to high school/teenagehood, and her ties to the council and the belief that she only has the future of a slayer before her. She goes off to college and all of that gets thrown out. Where Giles is an old, stuffy librarian with no direction in his life, professor Walsh is a modern, feminist scientist with a very clear goal. She comes to surpass Giles and represent a different sort of parental figure to Buffy along with representing Buffy's future, her ties to college/adulthood, and her ties to a real life outside of being the chosen one. However instead of embracing this and guiding Buffy, Walsh lets her jealousies consume her. Her single-mindedness loses her Riley and gets her killed by her own creation. In the end she is left as a mindless zombie. Adam won't kill her, as he does view her as his mother, and he appreciates her goals and vision for him. But he won't make her into something more like he does with Forrest. He leaves her an empty shell of the brilliant scientist that she once was.