10 TV Characters Who Changed In Unexpected Ways
8. Willow (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)
Imagine the same principle as Katara, but done over 7 seasons instead of just 3, and there being absolutely no evidence that she had the capability for the power she gains later on. That's Willow, and she is the best.
Starting off as the emotional and moral center for the group - keeping Buffy's confidence from mutating into arrogance, and keeping the rest of the team grounded - as the seasons wore on, Willow became more and more fascinated with the occult and witchcraft. This coincides with a much more shocking (for the time) revelation: that Willow is gay.
Sure her sexuality is a very 90's interpretation of what gay women are like (and her girlfriend is brutally murdered in a later season but if I go off on my feelings about that we'll be here all day), but while other shows like Superman TAS' Maggie Sawyer were only lightly implied to be gay, this was one of the first shows to outright say it and do so in a way that wasn't outright disrespectful.
Willow's development was not that which the audience predicted it would be at the time, but we wouldn't have it any other way.