Spoiler Slayer

Caught this at the Kitten Board, the poster (MabbyJen) has been reliable from what I remember in the past. It does echo my own sentiments that Tara might very well end up on 'Ripper'. I also agree that she might not be on the show for at least a while. I could be wrong, but it does fit with past actions of other characters (I would point to Riley, Oz and Angel as prime examples, the others are really iffy at best).

*amber is contracted for 16 episodes
*amber is not a regular (though she should be!!)
*there are no guarantees for supporting characters (or even regular characters), especially after a breakup (condsider: Oz, Angel, Riley, all of poor Xander's bug women and other girlfriends, Jenny, Owen, Parker, Jesse, Amy...until next week...Faith, etc)
*joss may be thinking *cough*that the Ripper needs another well-known character from buffy*cough*

*tara's mind was violated by glory...one of the most harsh, scary, demeaning things that could have happened to her.
*willow "violated" tara's mind with the forget spell
*tara decided that she needed some space, to see how she felt; she initiated the break up
*willow apparently delves further into the "dark" side, as opposed to being repentant and seeking out tara again