Willow

"Hmmm. I wonder if these will burn."

Willow is the first unlockable character (160 XP, see Experience for more information on how to unlock her). She is immune to Fire damage. When she is at low sanity, she starts a fire at her feet before. However, this fire can spread and burn resources unintentionally and cause trouble when collecting resources. She also comes equipped with Willow's Lighter, which is an infinite source of light, and can be used to light things on fire. Willow also has a lower sanity, but this is compensated by her regaining sanity when near a fire.

Special Power
Willow's Special Power is her lighter. When you first start a game as Willow you will start with Willow's Lighter in your inventory. The lighter is basically a Torch with infinite durability and a lower light radius. It can be used to set objects on fire and provides light that can be used to survive the Night without being attacked by The Grue.

(See Willow's Lighter for more info)

Buff
Objects that are set on fire, or things such as a Fire Pit or Camp Fire, will increase Willow's Sanity when stood by. The larger the fire that more sanity is gained. Players must stand quite close to a fire to gain this buff, but as Willow is immune to fire there is no risk in doing so.

Debuff
When Willow is at low Sanity levels (About 60 or less Sanity, enough for screen distortion and the ability to see passive Horrors) she will light a small fire at her feet and say "Tee Hee", "I made a fire!", or "Oops". This is unavoidable and is triggered randomly when at low sanity. The small fire created is capable of starting forest fires and setting important player structures and objects on fire. Caution is advised when at low Sanity with Willow.

The fire that is made from this, like any other fire, is capable of raising Willow's Sanity when stood by. When the fire goes out it will leave a pile of Ash, similar to a Camp Fire.

Strategy
Willow is generally considered a "beginner/intermediate" character due to the nature of her special item. This is most likely why she is the first unlockable character.

She is meant to help new players that may have trouble adapting to the Light mechanics of Don't Starve. Players that are unaware of the necessity to gather Logs and Cut Grass during the first Day-Night Cycle in order to survive the Grue will be happily granted access to Willow after surviving a cumulative total of only 8 days as Wilson.

Typically, when more experienced players plan for a day of scavenging away from their camp, they will always bring ample Logs and Cut Grass, or ensure they bring an Axe so a Campfire can be made to survive the night without relying on Willow's special lighter.

Furthermore, Willow's immunity to Fire damage is negligible at best. The reason is twofold: One advantage to her Fire immunity is in the event of a lightning stike near the player while in an area with combustable objects; the player won't have to worry about any damage. Again, lightning is rather unpredictable and this advantage also falls under situational.
 * When a player is standing in Fire, there is a built in 1-2 second delay before damage is actually calculated. The screen will glow with flames on the bottom providing an extremely obvious visual cue to move in order to avoid damage. Even while standing in flames for extended periods, the damage is still negligible if even one piece of Armor is currently worn.
 * Fire simply isn't a common threat for the majority of the game. Unless the player is deeply immersed in heavy Forest while it is burning, avoiding fire damage is trivial. Spiders, Tentacles, Hounds, and Killer Bees all provide much greater threats to the player on the higher survival days than Fire does. It is basically almost never an obstacle to the player, and when it is, it is almost always subject to a very unique and uncommon circumstance, making Willow's Fire immunity bonus very situational at best.



Willow will be of the most use when the player, for some unexpected reason, is caught in Night with no source of light, and no way of making any. This can obviously happen for several reasons, like when Night Hands begin stealing the flames of the player's campfire, if Frogs happen to remove the items necessary to make a fire from the player's inventory, or if the player just plain forgets to plan for it. During these unforeseen circumstances, Willow's lighter will definitely be an undeniable advantage. However, these situations are again very circumstantial and usually only apply to newer players that haven't quite experienced every threat that awaits the player in the wilderness, helping further justify the fact that Willow is a character tailored for aiding against the threats that tend to plague beginners more than advanced players.

Advanced Strategy
Although Willow is regarded as a beginner character, there are some unique advanced strategies she can pull off. Most notably, Willow can provide probably the most efficient start as of The End of the Beginning update, second only to Wickerbottom. This is due to her lighter, which allows her to freely travel at night (though rather blindly). She is capable of scavenging useful resources all night, foraging for Blue Mushrooms, working through the night chopping trees, and even has a natural advantage for shaving Beefalo with a Razor at night. Couple all of this with the fact that you will have higher exploration potential and resource gathering, which are arguably the most important things to do during the first 10 days, and Willow can make for a very strong start since little productivity is lost at Night with her.

Willow also can easily restore sanity by standing next to a fire, even during the night. This is an easy way for the player to stay sane.

Trivia

 * Willow's voice is sounded by a flute.
 * She appears to have a mental illness called pyromania. Pyromaniacs experience obsessive urges to start fires.
 * Willow is based on "The Firestarter" novel from Stephen King
 * Willow has a skull.
 * Based on her examination of the tent, Willow was a Girl Scout, and she earned all  the patches.
 * Willow's previous perk, before the Strange New Powers update, was to light fires at her feet during the darkness - like she does when low on sanity now.
 * Willow seems to hate rabbits according to her quotes when examining them.