General Hospital Character Recap: Willow Tait

Willow Tait – if there were ever a candidate for Sainthood, it would be this perpetually put upon General Hospital heroine. She has only been in Port Charles for a short time but has experienced so much already.

Who Is Willow Tait?

Born Kali Miller, Willow is the only child of Douglas and Loraine “Harmony” Miller. Throughout her childhood, Willow was shuttered from ashram to swami to commune by her spiritualist parents. But it was with a collective known as Dawn of Day that the family finally found peace and fulfillment – though only for a short time.

Douglas eventually tired of the strong-armed tactics of the group’s charismatic leader David Henry Archer, AKA Shiloh. After extricating himself, Douglas attempted to do the same for his daughter, only to be murdered on orders issued by Shiloh.

Harmony, by then an already entrenched DOD follower, responded to Douglas’s death by doubling down in her devotion to the cause’s founder and she even participated in a ceremony that saw him rape and brand Willow!

For months, Willow lived as a virtual prisoner in Shiloh’s abode. However, once she learned that she was pregnant with the madman’s child, Willow enacted a daring escape.

Upon changing her name, Willow found employment as a school teacher and gave birth to a baby boy. But mother and son would soon be parted. Desperate to put as much distance between father and son as humanly possible, Willow placed her newborn up for adoption.

Willow’s selfless act weighed heavy on her conscience – and drove her to attend a bereavement support group – though her job at Port Charles Elementary and her discovery that her son was to be raised by local residents gave her peace of mind.

Making Her Presence Known

Though she dreaded doing so, Willow eventually requested a meeting with Elizabeth Webber and Franco Baldwin to discuss the recent troubling behavior she had noticed in the former’s youngest child.

Further investigation eventually revealed that young Aiden was being bullied by a fellow classmate, Charlotte Cassadine, and Willow felt it behooved her to step up and try to defend the boy’s honor – first to Charlotte and then to girl’s father – Valentin – and his lover, Nina Reeves.

While Elizabeth and Franco were thankful for her intervention, Willow bore the brunt of Valentin and Nina’s wrath as both parties refused to believe the girl capable of such actions. Even after Charlotte made her wrongdoings clear, a rivalry still persisted between Willow and Nina.

Parallel to her difficulties at the school, Willow found herself drawn to fellow mourner Michael Corinthos, who lost his newly born son soon after Willow had handed over hers.

A deep kinship was born and even though she worried Michael would be angry with her once she revealed her child was not actually dead, he instead insisted that she was entitled to her grief just as much as he was.

Even though a romance seemed possible between the two, Willow soon found herself courted by PCPD Detective Harrison Chase – a romance that was nearly shuttered thanks to the appearance of Willow’s abuser, Shiloh.

The pervert masquerading as a prophet had opened a chapter of Dawn of Day in Port Charles, and his presence instigated Willow’s innate flight response. However, she bravely chose to stay and admit her sad, sorry tale to DOD’s newest inductee Kristina Davis.

Willow was also emboldened enough to reveal her identity as the mother of Shiloh’s child – despite being unaware that the toddler being raised by Lucas and Brad was not actually the offspring in question but was in fact Michael and Nelle Benson’s child.

Rather than tell Shiloh anything about his son, Willow accepted a prison sentence and later she delighted in listing Shiloh’s various misdeeds when he was finally arrested for his multitude of crimes.

When the criminal was shot dead by Sam McCall, it was Willow who positively identified the body.

Willow Tait – Moving Forward

With Shiloh nothing but a memory, Willow was sure her future was secure – that is, until she learned the truth about her baby’s fate. The resulting trauma strained her relationship with Chase but their love proved strong enough to weather the storm.

But now that Harmony is out on parole – and working for kingpin Cyrus Renault – and Michael is facing a custody battle opposite Nelle, Willow is finding herself in quite the quandary.

Does she do her utmost to assist Harmony in breaking away from yet another villain? And should she actually entertain Sasha’s hairbrained suggestion that she marry Michael to provide a stable home for Wiley? Only time will tell. General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings for airtimes.