Angel (Buffyverse)
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Angel (born 1727 in Galway, Ireland) is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television programs, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. The character is portrayed by David Boreanaz.
Contents |
Biography
Character history
Angel was born as Liam, to an Irish merchant, in 1727. By 1753, at the age of 26, he had developed a taste for alcohol, women and sloth. Though not a bad man, Liam was a hedonist whose only real ambition lay in seeing the world. For the lazy Irishman that seemed a laughable dream, especially after he was expelled from his father's household, but he had caught the eye of an affluent woman — actually a vampire — named Darla. She lured him into an alley, and, promising him a world full of excitement and travel, transformed him into a vampire.
The loss of his soul meant Liam no longer possessed any restraint over his darker impulses. On the night he rose from his grave, and in response to Darla's claim that he could have anyone in the village, he set about slaughtering the entire community. When he came to slaughter his own family, he found no problem in entering, his little sister inviting him in without hesitation or suspicion. Before killing his father, he would tell him mockingly, "[My sister] thought that I'd returned to her. An angel. She was wrong."
For generations Darla and Liam, now known as Angelus, terrorized humankind, murdering and torturing anyone who crossed their path. Angelus sired the vampires Penn (who indulged his blood lust by becoming a serial killer), and Drusilla, a young woman driven insane by Angelus before he finally sired her. Drusilla, in turn, sired Spike, for whom Angelus largely served as a mentor and "role model." Spike would go so far as to call the elder vampire his "Yoda".
According to Angel in the episode "City of", he had been around for 14 wars. And "Vietnam doesn't count."
Re-ensoulment
In 1898, Angelus slew the favorite daughter of a tribe of Gypsies, the Kalderash Clan. To avenge her death, they cursed him by restoring his human soul, thus afflicting him with a conscience and condemning him to an eternity of remorse. He tried and failed to resume his life with Darla. After he was unable to kill a baby to prove himself to Darla, Angelus fled (presumably to America). There he lived an isolated life avoiding humanity, and the temptation to feed, living in a dark apartment.
During WWII, Angel was recruited by The Initiative who sunk him to the bottom of the ocean to rescue an American Submarine crew from Nazi vampires (including Spike).
In New York during the 1970s Angelus came upon a robbery at a doughnut shop. After the robber killed the employee and fled, Angelus stayed with the man as he died. Unable to resist the urge to feed from a warm human, Angel fed on the man and then grew disgusted with himself. He exiled himself to a life of homelessness, living in alleyways and feeding off of stray rats.
A shadow of his former self, a reclusive and emotionally tortured Angelus eventually met a demon named Whistler in 1996, who persuaded him to join the fight against the evil that had corrupted him and to help the newly called Vampire Slayer, Buffy Summers. When he and Buffy finally met in Sunnydale, CA, he introduced himself not as Angelus, but as Angel.
Over time, Buffy and Angel fell in love. Though they tried to deny their feelings, they could not resist the passion growing between them. When they finally consummated their relationship, Angel experienced the one moment of pure happiness needed to break his curse. Without the humanity and conscience that was instilled by his soul, Angel quickly returned to his former, evil self.
After Angel transformed back into Angelus, he allied himself again with Spike and Drusilla, who had recently settled in Sunnydale. Angelus found immense pleasure in tormenting Buffy and her friends. He went on to kill Jenny Calendar, who had been a core member of Buffy's group, just after she had managed to successfully decipher the lost Gypsy curse which would restore Angelus' soul. He then attempted to awaken the demon Acathla in an attempt to bring about the apocalypse. Buffy, however, was determined to stop him despite their deeply emotional history. Fighting him in one-on-one combat, Buffy was able to overcome Angelus, but before Acathla consumed him, Angel was cursed again by Buffy's friend and comrade Willow Rosenburg, his soul restored moments before Buffy had to kill him and, in doing so, save the world.
Los Angeles
Less than a year later, Angel was unexpectedly released from Hell, reappearing in his mansion in a feral state. Buffy aided him in secret, fostering his rehabilitation. Having regained his senses, Angel realized that his return from Hell was not accidental, and that he must be meant to serve some higher purpose. He made the difficult decision to leave Sunnydale and Buffy, in an effort to protect them both and lend whatever normalcy to Buffy's chaotic life he could. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he would attempt to redeem himself in the service of others. He found support from Doyle, a half-demon sent by The Powers That Be, and Cordelia Chase, a former classmate of Buffy's who had moved to L.A. to find wealth and fame. The trio formed Angel Investigations, a shoe-string operation with the mission statement of protecting those who cannot defend themselves and helping lost souls find their way.
Doyle, Angel's trusted friend and sole connection to the Powers, was killed in the line of duty, leading Angel to become even more protective of those he held dear. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, who had briefly served as Watcher to both Buffy and Faith in Sunnydale, arrived in L.A. working as a "rogue demon hunter," but stayed to assist Angel and Cordelia in their mission. A few months later, they were joined by lifelong demon fighter Charles Gunn. The AI Team also enlisted the help of demon karaoke bar-owner Lorne, known initially only as The Host, an Anagogic demon who could read the futures of humans and demons when they sang.
As Angel continued to help the helpless in Los Angeles, his good deeds began to disrupt the plans of the evil interdimensional law firm, Wolfram & Hart. In an attempt to control him, W&H resurrected his sire and former lover, Darla, but brought her back as human rather than vampire. W&H then brought forth Drusilla, who turned Darla into a vampire once again, causing Angel to feel that he had failed to save her. He then fired his crew and embarked on a bitter, ruthless vendetta against W&H (going as far as consciously allowing the murder of a very large group of W&H employees) and the newly reunited Darla and Drusilla. In a moment of perfect despair, Angel attempted to remove his soul by having sex with Darla, but instead found a moment of clarity following the desperate act, realizing his purpose was still for good. Horrified at Angel's epiphany, Darla fled Los Angeles. After a difficult reconciliation that involved Wesley taking over the official position of leader for the group, the AI team then found themselves transported to Lorne's home dimension, Pylea. Eventually they returned with a new team member, Winifred Burkle, in tow and to the news that the love of Angel's life, Buffy, had died.
Despite Buffy's miraculous resurrection a few months later, Angel found that his previously platonic love for Cordelia had grown to be romantic. Before he had a chance to confess his feelings, however, Darla returned, pregnant with his son, to be named Connor. False prophecies, time travelers and betrayal led to Angel losing his infant son to an old enemy, Holtz, who abducted Connor soon after his birth, taking him to a hell dimension (Quar'toth) where time moves differently. When Connor returned months later, he was a young man who was raised by Holtz to believe that Angel was a soulless monster. Connor vowed to make Angel pay for the suffering he had once caused and he acted out his retribution by sending him to the bottom of the ocean in a steel coffin. Just then, Cordelia ascended to a higher plane, the feelings shared between her and Angel still left unspoken.
Rescued by Wesley from his watery prison, Angel's relationship with Connor was strained. It was complicated further by the return of an amnesiac Cordelia. When a very powerful demon known only as the Beast arrived and began an attempt to bring forth an apocalypse, Angel's worst fears were realized when he had to strip himself of his soul and revert to his evil alter ego in order to defeat it. Angelus did indeed overcome the Beast, and was also deft enough to realize that the Beast was a mere "flunkie" serving an even deeper evil. Although he was momentarily free to wreak a little havoc of his own, Angel was recaptured and re-ensouled with the help of Faith (who almost died in her quest to capture Angelus) and Willow. After his soul was restored, Angel figured out that the enemy he was battling was a little closer to home than the group had previously considered, realizing that whatever the Beast's "boss" was, it was using Cordelia's body to carry out its plans. After battling and defeating the divine being known as Jasmine, Angel was offered the L.A. branch of W&H on the grounds that he ended world peace, despite the fact that "world peace" meant no free will and the sacrifice of thousands of lives at the hands of Jasmine, who had to literally devour people to stay alive. Angel acted against all of his instincts and made a deal with his sworn enemy, in exchange for W&H erasing Connor’s memories and giving him a normal life.
Angel's year spent running W&H was one marred with challenge and self-doubt. Trying to battle evil from within the belly of the beast proved to be more difficult than even imagined, with the lines of good and evil becoming ever more grey with every action taken.
Shortly after Angel assumed control of the law firm, matters were further complicated when Spike appeared as a ghost, emerging from a familiar amulet sent to Angel in the mail. Sharing a complicated history of murder and mayhem, they had spent more than a century as rivals in everything. Now both possessing souls, and both still in love with Buffy, they had evolved into very different heroes in the war against evil. Forced to co-exist, they waged a protracted, insidious battle of wits, ending when they finally came to an understanding and acceptance of their unique brotherhood on their journey to redemption.
Angel finally understood that he would never be able to completely stop the forces of evil, but that he could sever the Senior Partners' hold on Earth (which, if continued, would give them the power to, seemingly successfully, bring forth the Apocalypse). Together with his comrades, Angel set into motion his final stand against the forces of evil, walking bravely into battle.
"The Curse" establishes that Angel survived the battle.
Powers & Abilities
Angel has the usual powers and weaknesses of a vampire, along with some abilities which may be unique to him. Some of his vampiric powers are greater than average, because of his age and perhaps his bloodline. His talents may be divided into three main categories: physical, sensory, and mental. He is also skilled in a number of different areas.
Angel’s entire physiology is of superhuman quality. His strength, though ill-defined, is far beyond that of normal humans: he can punch through wooden walls, leap 15 feet straight up, rip apart bicycle chains, and so forth. His motor skills and reflexes far surpass those of humans. His durability is also impressive; he once jumped down from a four-story rooftop without sustaining any apparent injury, and has described being shot as feeling “like a bee sting.” Nonetheless, Angel is not indestructible. He has all the vulnerabilities of a Buffyverse vampire: direct sunlight will cause combustion that would eventually kill him if he stays out in the sun's rays for for more than a few seconds. A stake through the heart and decapitation would instantly kill him. In addition, certain objects of religious significance to Christians — specifically Bibles, crucifixes, and holy water — can burn his flesh. He can be rendered unconscious by poisons and tranquilizers, though he has survived dosages that would be fatal to a human. Also, Angel, like all Buffyverse vampires, can not enter a person's home unless he's invited by one of the occupants, though this rule does not extend to the home of non-human entities, public facilities, and temporary lodging like a motel room.
At least two of Angel’s senses — his smell and hearing — are also superhumanly acute. On many occasions he has tracked people through the streets (or even sewers) of Los Angeles by smell alone; his olfactory talents are apparently superior to dogs, as he does not need to sniff the ground to track in this manner. Like all Buffyverse vampires, Angel can also smell fear. His hearing is so sensitive that he once was able to eavesdrop on a conversation happening in the lobby of a hotel while confined in the hotel’s basement. As vampires are primarily nocturnal, his sight may also be of superhuman quality, though this is less certain; he has been noticed using night-vision goggles, for instance. Through Angel and Spike, the viewer learns the differences between human and vampire senses of taste: while the episode I Will Remember You reveals that a vampire's ability to taste conventional human food is dulled, we also learn that vampires can easily taste subtleties in blood, (fear makes a person's blood taste pleasantly salty, Slayer blood is an aphrodesiac, cold, hot, and warm blood all have different tastes, human blood is preferable to otter blood, which in turn is preferable to pig blood, etc.).
Angel possesses at least two superhuman cognitive abilities. One is a photographic memory; he is able to recall visual impressions in great detail and fidelity (it is unclear whether this ability is unique to Angel; it is possible that he possessed it as a human being and it carried over into his unlife, or it could be one of the effects of the Gypsy curse designed for him to suffer for his past sins). Angel also possesses a “psychic connection” to vampires he has sired, causing him to experience their activities as dreams, though this ability isn't as developed contexually.
Angel is a highly skilled combatant. Generally he prefers to fight unarmed, using a style that seems to blend several different disciplines and to take advantage of his superhuman strength and speed. However, he has mastered many varieties of weapons, favoring the broadsword and axe. As Angelus, he once demonstrated proficiency with a shotgun; it’s not clear whether Angel’s ensouled persona also possesses this skill. His arguably greatest asset as a combatant is his self-confidence and determination.
He also possesses some skills in magic, on several occasions demonstating impressive ability in spells and wizardry.
Angel vs. Angelus
The majority of the above assumes that Angel and Angelus are separate beings (the former being a human soul, and the latter being a demon), yet the decision of the writers to make a sharp separation between the characters for Season Four was seen as a violation of continuity by some fans. Though the early seasons of Buffy expressed the view that when a human becomes a vampire "You die, and a demon sets up shop in your old home; it walks like you and it talks like you - but it's not you" (Lie to Me), all previous seasons of Buffy and Angel had the relationship between Angelus and Angel far more intertwined. Angelus frequently referred to (and referring to himself) as "Angel" during Seasons 1 and 2 of Buffy. It would seem that even before he was ensouled, "Angel" was something of an 'affectionate' nickname that Angelus was known by (or indeed a mere translation; before being cursed he had traveled in many countries and it is likely that he was generally known by the equivalent of Angel in the local language). Similarly, Angel had almost always said "I" when speaking of Angelus; and it is noteworthy that he never resumed the name of his human original, Liam (except while amnesiac in Spin the Bottle).
This, in addition to the fact that Rupert Giles, a Watcher well versed in vampire lore, still held Angel responsible for his deeds as Angelus, has led some fans to believe that the "demonic possession" line (always touted by humans, and mildly contradicted by Angel in Doppelgängland) is actually mythology perpetuated by the Watcher's Council so as to remove any moral objection to the Slayer's role as "vampire executioner." However, Giles' holding Angel responsible for the actions of Angelus may be more due to his own personal involvement than anything else.
Further evidence for this theory developed with the handling of Spike's character arc, which implied that a soul was not the "person" but rather just that person's humanity and conscience; suggesting that Angel and Angelus are not different beings, but rather opposing egos of the same person. Angel hints at this when he tells Buffy that it's not the demon in him who is responsible for his acts. Darla also states that Angelus' evil was innate, suggesting that Liam initially had a far greater potential for darkness than was first apparent.
- Angel: Look, I'm weak. I've never been anything else. It's not the demon in me that needs killing, Buffy. It's the man.
(Episode 3.10 (Buffy) Amends)
- Angel: ...there is no guilt, there is no torment, no consequences... It's pure. I remember what that was like. Sometimes I miss that clarity.
- Cordelia: But not the trying to kill your friends and family part, right? Just checking!
(Episode 1.21 Blind Date)
- Cordelia: What I remember when I was a higher being... I remember seeing you. Your past. When you were Angelus.
- Angel: I've never tried to hide who I was. Or what I've done. You already knew.
- Cordelia: Knowing's different than living it. When I was up there, I could look back and see everyting you did as Angelus. More than see. I felt it. Not just their fear and pain. I felt you. And how much you enjoyed making them suffer...
(Episode 4.07 Apocalypse, Nowish)
In the context of the primary theme of the Angel series, redemption, this makes the most sense, which is possibly the reason for the writers returning to the "blurred" relationship between Angel/Angelus in Angel Season Five. It would also explain Angel's occasional lapses into darkness while still retaining Angel's brooding nature instead of reverting to Angelus's sadism, notably in Season 2 where he condones the massacre of Wolfram & Hart employees at the hands of Darla and Drusilla, and Season 3 where he attempts to smother Wesley Wyndam-Pryce with a pillow for abducting his son.
Therefore, some fans consider it best to think of Angel and Angelus as different sides of the same person - rather than thinking of one as "the Demon" and the other as "the Soul". When ensouled, the ego that has come to be known as "Angel" is dominant; without his soul, he reverts to his id, the Angelus persona. Both personas are controlled by his own thoughts, emotions, and actions, however, making him just as responsible for what Angelus does as he is for his actions as Angel. This is also supported by the fact that both personas do battle for Angel's mind before his soul can be restored in Orpheus.
Other fans prefer the view that they are indeed separate beings but, having a single shared memory, have strong feelings of having been the other at the times when the other was dominant.
Although Angelus' bodycount was vast, his capacity for psychological intimidation was not substantially above contemporary real-life serial killers. He also had a weakness in that he was prone to excessive talking, and had a need to attempt to psychologically destroy his victims before physically killing them. This sometimes gave potential victims time to either possibly escape or attempt to fight back.
Romantic Interests
- Darla
- Drusilla
- Spike. Spike mentioned in the fifth season episode, Power Play, that he "was never intimate with Angel... except for that one time". Whedon has confirmed in numerous interviews and forum posts the possibility at least a one night stand between the pair. In the DVD commentary to the episode Hole In The World explicitly states: "Are you telling me that they were hanging around for a hundred years together in Europe and had never done it?"
- Buffy Summers
- Kate Lockley
- Rebecca Lowell
- Cordelia Chase
- Gwen Raiden — Angel shared a kiss with Gwen after she gave him an electro-shock that temporarily reawakened his heart.
- Nina Ash
- Eve — a one-time encounter at Wolfram & Hart's Halloween party. She remarked, "It's not as if this is the first time I've had sex under mystical influence. I went to UC Santa Cruz."
Appearances
Angel has appeared in:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Angel became a series regular in the show's second and third seasons, although he did not appear in Inca Mummy Girl. He appeared in 56 episodes in all, including guest appearances in the episodes:
- Season 1 (1997) - Welcome To The Hellmouth; The Harvest; Teacher's Pet; Never Kill a Boy on the First Date; Angel; Out of Mind, Out of Sight; Prophecy Girl.
- Season 4 (1999, 2000) - Pangs; The Yoko Factor.
- Season 5 (2000, 2001) - Fool for Love (flashbacks); Forever.
- Season 7 (2002, 2003) - End of Days; Chosen
Angel — As the star of the series, Angel appeared in all 110 episodes of five seasons.
Trivia
- Angel was supposed to be a one-time character until David Boreanaz was found. [1]
- In the Angel season three episode Carpe Noctem, in which Angel was victim of a bodyswitch, he was played by Rance Howard.
- Angel has a tattoo on his shoulder-blade of a griffin, with the letter 'A' underneath it. [2]
- The first time Angel was planned on losing his soul, Joss Whedon was doubtful of David Boreanaz being capable of portraying the cruelty of Angelus.
![[2]](http://www.cityofangel.com/council/faqs/angelTattoo.jpg){kind=link}