Angel
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- For other uses, see Angel (disambiguation)
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- "You have no idea what it's like to have done the things I've done... and to care."
- ―Angel[src]
Angel was one of the most famous vampires legendary for both his villainy and heroism. Born Liam in 1727 in Galway, Ireland, he was sired by Darla in 1753 and became known as Angelus and was dubbed The Scourge of Europe, earning notoriety for being one of the most sadistic and brutal demons in history. Both The Master and the First Evil recognized how purely evil Angelus was. He was also called The Demon with the Face of an Angel or The One with the Angelic Face due to his physical beauty. However, in 1898, Angelus was cursed by gypsies as vengeance for killing a member of their clan. They returned his soul, forcing him to live for eternity in guilt over the countless crimes he committed. In the late 20th century, Angel, as he began calling himself, became an ally and lover of the current Slayer, Buffy Summers. Realizing they could never be together, Angel left Buffy and moved to Los Angeles, where he became a Champion of the Powers That Be and dedicated himself to "helping the helpless" in the hopes of achieving atonement, though he nonetheless returned to Sunnydale several times to aid Buffy whenever she needed it.
Contents |
Biography
Liam
- "For a hundred years I offered an ugly death to everyone I met. And I did it with a song in my heart."
- ―Angel[src]
In 1753, at the age of 26, after a night of drunken debauchery and trying to seduce Anna, the family's only maidservant, that morning, he was expelled from his home by his father, who labeled him a "terrible disappointment". During a tavern brawl, the drunken Liam caught the eye of an affluent woman named Darla. One night, after being kicked out of the tavern and plotting to steal his father's silver, Darla lured him into an alley, and, promising him a world full of excitement and travel, transformed him into one of the cruelest vampires who ever lived. The price was the loss of his human soul, along with his conscience, creating a demon that would act upon Liam's darkest impulses.[1]
Angelus
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. First, however, he murdered his own family; he found no problem in entering his former house, as his little sister Kathy invited him in without hesitation or suspicion; according to Liam, "She thought that I'd returned to her. An angel". Liam's own mother was the next victim. Upon killing his father, Liam told him how he had made something of himself after all. However, when he gloated over his victory, Darla cruelly deflated him, claiming that it was in fact his father who had won because his disapproval would haunt Liam for the rest of his life.[2]
- "You told me I wasn't a man. You told me I was nothing. And I believed you. You said I'd never amount to anything. Well, you were wrong. You see, father? I have made something of myself after all."
- ―The vampire Liam to his father[src]
Liam took the name "Angelus", presumably inspired by his sister's mistaken belief that he was an angel. He was later described in historical volumes as "the one with the angelic face"[3] and "the demon with the face of an angel".[4] After leaving Ireland, Angelus and Darla cut a bloody swath through Wales and northern England, before finally reaching London in 1760. During Angelus' first meeting with Darla's sire, the Master, he openly mocked the older vampire despite his power and authority, showing no fear despite his greater age, and confronted Darla about her decision to remain underground when she could be traveling the world with him. Won over by his words, Darla chose to live with Angelus, abandoning the Master's leadership.[5]
In May 1764, Angelus and Darla killed the family of vampire hunter Daniel Holtz.[6] Holtz devoted himself to capturing Angelus and Darla, chasing them across Europe. Angelus and Darla had a near miss in Arles after making too much noise by ordering room service and eating the waiters. Darla fled to Vienna, abandoning Angelus in a burning barn and riding off on their only horse. After meeting again in Vienna and eating a troubadour in Madrid, Angelus and Darla sired the vampires James and Elisabeth. In 1767, Holtz tracked them down in Marseilles and managed to put numerous arrows in Angelus.[7] After voyaging to Morocco, Holtz briefly lost them in northern Africa, only to track Angelus to Rome in 1771. After a torture session with Holtz and Monsignor Rivalli, Darla finally came to the rescue with a horde of vampires. Instead of killing Holtz, Angelus and Darla realized they had come to view him "like family" and made a sport of ruining his life. Holtz abandoned his hunt and retired to York until in 1773 when a demon named Sahjhan offered to take him to the future where he could continue his revenge.[8]
In 1786[9], Angelus sired a Puritan by the name of Penn, who mimicked Angelus by wreaking havoc on his father and killing his family. Over time, he began copying Angelus' "signature" of the time, carving a cross-shaped mark on the face of his victims in order to spite God.[4]
In 1789, a lone Angelus encountered The Beast in Prussia, standing in a field of bodies, who sought Angelus' aid in killing the Svear Priestesses, a group who wished to banish the Beast and who could be killed by a vampire. but not by the Beast. When he declined to join with the Beast, Angelus was met with violent reprisal, but a group of Svear priestesses banished the Beast while he was passing out.[10].
On Christmas Eve in 1838, Angelus took his winnings by killing a man named Daniel in Dublin, Ireland after an unfortunate card game. Daniel was to be married the next day.
In 1860, a young woman called Drusilla from London, England, caught the attention of Angelus. Drusilla was "cursed" with the "sight," something her mother saw as "an affront to the Lord". Drusilla and her sisters were all noted to be virgins, and Drusilla was described as having been "sweet, pure and chaste." While posing as her priest to torment her, Angelus killed her family, which caused Drusilla to flee to a convent. On the day she was to take her holy orders, Angelus massacred the convent. After having sex with Darla right in front of Drusilla, Angelus finally pushed her over the edge, driving her insane before he finally sired her. Drusilla was Angelus' "masterpiece," an everlasting example of his finest cruelty, as her immortality meant that her torment would never end.[11][1][12]
Drusilla, in turn, sired a poet named William, for whom Angelus largely served as a mentor and role model.[13] William, who later became known as "Spike," went so far as to consider the elder vampire his sire.[14] Angelus taught William about the art of mass slaughter, including an incident during a wedding party where Angelus beat the groom to death with his own arm. When he realised how much Spike cared for Drusilla, Angleus had sex with her just to hurt him, an action Spike would never forgive.[15]
In 1883, Angelus killed a female servant named Margaret during a wealthy Christmas party in London. The woman had a little boy.
In 1890, Angelus attended a production of Giselle by the Blinnikov, a Russian ballet troupe run by Count Kurskov. Despite being evil, he was moved to tears during the performance.[16]
In 1894, Angelus and Spike were captured in Rome, Italy by henchmen of the Immortal, a mysterious and seductive being with whom they both had a fierce rivalry. The two male vampires were tortured while the Immortal had a threesome with Darla and Drusilla, something that, incidentally, the female vampires never allowed Angelus and Spike to do. Angelus and Spike attempted to take revenge on the Immortal, but failed miserably.[17]
Curse and soul
- "You don't remember. Everything you've done. For a hundred years. In a moment, you will. The face of everyone you have killed—our daughter's face—they will haunt you and you will know what true suffering is."
- ―Gypsy Man to Angel[src]
Angel fled and lived in self-imposed isolation, controlling the temptation to feed by avoiding humans altogether. He traveled to the United States, arriving in New York via Ellis Island in 1902. By the 1920s, he spent some time in Chicago, where he saved a little dog from being ran over by a car; however, he was tempted to feed on the dog's owner, a young woman who tried to seduce Angel, only to be harshly rejected.[19] He spent time in Missoula, Montana during the Great Depression.[20] Decades later, during World War II, Angel was coerced to undertake a secret mission by the Demon Research Initiative, who sank him to the bottom of the ocean to rescue an American submarine crew from three Nazi-captured vampires: Spike, Nostroyev and The Prince of Lies. After the American crew captured the German submarine, the vampires had escaped their bonds, and murdered most of the crew; a remnant survived behind a locked hatch. After the submarine suffered damage from a depth charge, Angel was forced to sire a mortally wounded Ensign Sam Lawson, as he was the only person who was able to repair the damage.[21]
In 1952, Los Angeles, Angel was a resident at the Hyperion Hotel. During this time, Angel attempted to stay to himself, avoiding interaction with other residents and patrons. Despite the numerous strange incidents, murders and suicides running rampant throughout the hotel, he looked the other way when his help would have made a difference. After finding a young woman named Judy Kovacs hiding in his room, Angel tried to preserve his isolation, first by disarming and removing the man chasing her, then by immediately ejecting Judy herself. However, her repeated attempts to interact with him allowed the two to build a lukewarm—very surprising and rare for Angel—relationship. Meanwhile, hotel staff and residents, including Judy, continued to become corrupted and, although he didn't understand why, Angel felt compelled to help. He discovered the presence of a Thesulac Demon, a paranoia demon affecting the humans in the hotel, but by the time Angel learned how to defeat it and obtained the items required, the entire hotel was overcome with pathological paranoia. Mad with demon-induced fear, the hotel residents and staff turned on Judy as their exemplar of the Outsider. To save herself, Angel's new friend betrayed him to the mob. With rabid fury, they ambushed Angel, beat him, and then hanged him. Crushed and embittered by the consequences of becoming close to a human, Angel abandoned Judy and everyone else. Instead of destroying the Thesulac as it was in his power to do, he allowed the vicious demon to prey upon and ravage them unhindered.[22]
In New York during the 1970s, Angel witnessed a robbery at a doughnut shop. After the robber shot the employee and fled, Angel stayed with the man as he died. Unable to resist the sight and smell of the clerk's still-warm blood, Angel helplessly succumbed to the overwhelming urge and fed on the body. Deeply disgusted by his own weakness, Angel fled the shop, and then exiled himself to a life of homelessness, living in alleyways and feeding on rats.[19]
Two decades later, a shadow of his former self, the reclusive and emotionally tortured Angel was sought out in 1996 by a demon named Whistler, who persuaded him to join the fight against the evil that had corrupted him and to help the newly-activated Slayer, Buffy Summers. Angel traveled to Hemery High School in Los Angeles where he witnessed Buffy being called as the Slayer and her initial training under her Watcher, Merrick, as well as her emotional suffering over her new duties and her parents' deteriorating marriage. Filled with a new purpose in life, Angel resolved to help the Slayer, with whom he had fallen in love. The following year, when he and Buffy finally met in Sunnydale, he introduced himself, not as Angelus, but as Angel.[1]
- "I want to help her. I want to become somebody."
- ―Angel[src]
Sunnydale
Angel fell in love with Buffy the first time he saw her on that fateful day in L.A. when she first was called. However, Angel didn't show himself until after her move to Sunnydale, and after her first day at Sunnydale High. Buffy did not realize Angel was a vampire until several weeks later, but by then the damage was done - she had fallen in love with him in turn. Though they tried to deny their feelings, they could not resist the passion growing between them and began dating. Angel gave Buffy a physical token of his love, a claddagh ring, as was traditional in Ireland. When they finally consummated their relationship, Angel experienced one moment of pure happiness, which broke the Gypsy curse and lost him his soul. Angel instantly reverted to his former evil self, Angelus, who had no humanity left in him and despised that Buffy forced him to endure her love for Angel.
Angel, now Angelus, allied himself once again with Spike and Drusilla, who had recently settled in Sunnydale. Resenting the humiliation he felt because Buffy had made Angel feel like a human being, Angelus took immense pleasure in tormenting the Slayer and her friends. First, he helped Spike and Dru deploy a powerful demon known as the Judge. After Buffy destroyed the Judge, Angelus embarked on a guerrilla campaign, lurking in the shadows, preying on Buffy's classmates, sending her gruesome messages, even drawing pictures of her as she slept and leaving them in her bedroom.
Before the Ascension, Faith shot Angel with a poisoned arrow whose only cure was the blood of a Slayer. The poison made Angel feverish and caused him to hallucinate; it eventually would have killed him. Having failed to bring a dead Faith to Angel to cure him, Buffy forced Angel to feed from her. Angel rushed Buffy to a hospital where he stopped the grieving Mayor from smothering Buffy.
Angel promised Buffy he would stay until Sunnydale High's Graduation Day, to help avert the Mayor's Ascension. He also warned her that, if they survived the ordeal, he would leave without saying goodbye, as it would be too painful to do so. They survived, and Angel, with a last, long look at the Slayer, kept his final promise and departed for Los Angeles.
Los Angeles
Angel Investigations
In L.A., Angel spends a few months alone, patrolling dives and dark alleys, battling vampires who hunt there and fighting his blood lust after feeding from Buffy by not getting close to the humans he's trying to help. Soon enough, he receives support in his attempts to redeem himself in the service of others. First, Doyle, a half-demon and fellow Irishman, is sent by The Powers That Be. Almost immediately thereafter, Angel runs into Cordelia Chase, a former classmate of Buffy's who has moved to L.A. to find wealth and fame. The trio form Angel Investigations, a shoestring operation whose mission statement is to "Help the Helpless."
Later Doyle, Angel's trusted friend and sole connection to the Powers, sacrifices himself to save others, after failing before to help his demon race, leading Angel to become even more protective of those few he holds dear. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, who had briefly served as Watcher to both Buffy and Faith Lehane in Sunnydale, arrives in L.A., claiming to be a "rogue demon hunter," a lone wolf sort who only works solo. After their first case, however, Wesley is eager to stay and assist Angel and Cordelia in their mission. A few months later, they are joined by lifelong demon fighter, Charles Gunn. The Angel Investigations team also enlists the help of demon karaoke bar-owner Lorne, known initially only as The Host. Both prescient and empathic, Lorne can sense the futures of humans and demons when they sing. During this time, three young Wolfram & Hart associates, Lindsey McDonald, Lee Mercer, and Lilah Morgan, attempt to have Angel killed by the rogue vampire slayer, Faith. Angel defeats Faith, however, but refuses to kill her, having discovered that Faith only wants help. Even as Buffy, the Watchers' Council, and the L.A.P.D. pursue Faith, Angel continues to try to help her, even going as far as to lash out at Buffy, both verbally and physically, during a subsequent argument when Faith voluntarily gives herself up to the police.
As Angel continues to help the helpless in Los Angeles, his good deeds begin seriously to disrupt the plans of the evil inter-dimensional law firm, Wolfram & Hart. In an attempt to control him, the firm resurrects his sire and former lover, Darla, who comes back as a human rather than as a vampire. Wolfram & Hart then summon Drusilla, who turns Darla into a vampire again. Angel feels such deep anguish at his failure to save Darla, and such intense fury at Wolfram & Hart for their machinations, that he fires his crew and embarks on a bitter, ruthless vendetta against both the law firm and the newly reunited Darla and Drusilla. At his darkest moment, Angel helps Drusilla and Darla to slaughter a core group of Wolfram & Hart employees. In spiritual agony beyond even his endurance, Angel attempts to shed his soul by having sex with Darla, but instead of happiness, finds despair. A moment of clarity follows the desperate act, and Angel realizes that his purpose is still to do all the good he can, even if he can't do all the good he wants. Having hoped to get her boy Angelus back, Darla is horrified and infuriated by Angel's epiphany, and flees Los Angeles. The group finally reconciles, and Wesley is appointed the official leader (though Angel is still unofficially in charge). Nonetheless, Angel's relationship with his teammates, particularly Cordelia, is strained, though things improve rather quickly.
Shortly after the death of Buffy's mother, Angel returns to Sunnydale to comfort her after the funeral, and the two spend the majority of the night discussing how life will continue after Joyce's death. Angel assures Buffy that she is strong and will find her way over time, and offers to stay in Sunnydale as long as she wants him, though she knows that he cannot stay for long.
Afterwards, Cordelia is sucked Lorne's home dimension of Pylea, and the A.I. team follows her. Eventually, after Angel defeats the undefeated Champion of Pylea, the Groosalugg, they return with a new team member, Winifred "Fred" Burkle, in tow, and to the news that the love of Angel's life, Buffy, has died.
Fatherhood
Devastated by Buffy's death, Angel spends several months mourning for her in a Tibetan monastery in Sri Lanka, returning despondent and believing that he had betrayed Buffy by continuing to live while she had died, though Cordelia assures him that he is in fact honoring her memory by continuing the job that Buffy started. Despite Buffy's miraculous resurrection a few months later, Angel finds that his previously platonic love for Cordelia has grown to be romantic. Before he has a chance to confess his feelings, however, Darla returns, pregnant with his son, to be named Connor. False prophecies, time travelers and betrayal lead to Angel losing his infant son to an old enemy, Holtz, who abducts Connor soon after his birth, taking him to the hell dimension Quor'toth, where time passes differently. Wesley, who, though unknowingly, brought about the kidnapping, ends up having his throat slit and gets fired from Angel Investigations. When Connor returns days later, he is a young man who has been raised by Holtz to believe that Angel is still a soulless monster. Holtz takes his own life in such a way that Connor is led to believe he was killed by Angel and vows to make Angel pay for the suffering he had caused Holtz. That same night, Connor sinks his father to the bottom of the ocean in a steel coffin and Cordelia ascends to a higher plane, the feelings shared between her and Angel still left unspoken.
Soon after the events in Los Angeles, Angel travels to Sunnydale to give Buffy an amulet that he obtained from Wolfram & Hart because he is told that it plays a role in the upcoming battle with The First Evil and has to be worn by someone with a soul, but more than human-a champion. He saves Buffy from getting killed by Caleb, but she insists that she finishes the fight on her own. After the fight concludes, they share a kiss and are unknowingly being watched by Spike, along with The First Evil. He wishes to fight with her in the battle, but Buffy tells him to go prepare his crew for a second front in case the Scoobies fail to stop the First. Angel then discusses with Buffy about Spike, the return of his soul, her feelings for him, and about the future and if he has a place in it. She tells him that it will be a long time, if ever, but Buffy tells Angel that sometimes she sees a future with him. Accepting, Angel returns to Los Angeles to prepare the second front, hoping he will not have to use it, and tells Buffy, "I ain't getting any older."
Wolfram & Hart
Angel's year spent running Wolfram & Hart is one marred with challenge and self-doubt. Trying to battle evil from within the belly of the beast proves to be more difficult than even he imagined, with the lines of good and evil becoming ever more gray with every action taken, and he soon discovers that his friends and allies in the Scooby Gang have deemed him untrustworthy. Shortly after Angel assumes control of the law firm, matters are further complicated when Spike appears 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 wage a protracted, insidious battle of wits, ending when they finally come to an understanding and acceptance of their unique brotherhood on their journey to redemption.
Fall of Los Angeles
- "All this time, I did what I did because of the Shanshu Prophecy. Well. Time to start doing what I do despite it."
- ―Angel[src]
A new beginning
- "Back to the beginning. Back when I used to do some good."
- ―Angel[src]
As his friends went their separate ways, Angel reunited with Kate Lockley for the first time in over three years. Kate had changed dramatically since their last meeting and invited herself to join the new Angel Investigations alongside Connor. Angel's new-found fame proved difficult for the agency, with many potential cases turning out to be just people who wanted to see Angel. Angel also had to put up with constant assassination attempts from the Demon Lords, who had been resurrected in the restoration of L.A.[37] One of these assassins, the feline shapeshifter Dez, quickly became an ally to the team.[38] Angel also befriended James, a Potentate who abandoned his fellow warrior angels when they began killing humans.[39] One of Angel's missions took him to the San Diego Sci-Fi Festival, a comic book convention where he viewed a preview of Last Angel in Hell, a Hollywood adaption of the Fall of Los Angeles. Angel was disappointed by the inaccuracy of the film, in which his character, Angel Cartwright, was played by Nicholas Cage.[40]
Appearance
Angel has a very distinct appearance and style of dress, traditionally wearing full-length, black wool dusters or a shorter leather jacket, black trousers and black dress shoes. Although his dress shirts tend to vary in color, they are often in gem tones and other dark colors. While he initially wore untucked white button down shirts with black dress jackets and a black leather bomber jacket which he gave to Buffy, he began wearing white undershirts, white and black wife beaters, a red velvet shirt, gray and black soft pullovers and long-sleeved dress shirts in colors such as blue and red. The notable exceptions to this rule were in "Sense & Sensitivity", when Angel wore a Hawaiian shirt while undercover, a cream pullover identical to his darker ones to make a customer more comfortable in "I Fall to Pieces", an uncharacteristic white and yellow striped dress shirt while under Jasmine's thrall and a loud Italian sports jacket in "The Girl in Question" (although this last was only because his usual clothes were damaged by a bomb planted by the Immortal and there was nothing else available for him to wear). Angel's most readily identifiable characteristic is his hair, which, although it varies somewhat in length, is consistently spiked upward at the front with styling product (a fact that he was apparently unaware of, due to his reaction upon seeing his reflection in a mirror during a trip to Pylea). Virtually the only times in either series that Angel is not shown with some variation of this trademark hairstyle are during flashback sequences where he often sports either long, shoulder-length hair (either in a loose ponytail or down) or a short style slicked with a side part. During Season 2 of Buffy, Angelus was fond of wearing black leather pants and black eyeliner.
Powers and abilities
Angel has the standard powers (albeit at much higher levels) and vulnerabilities of a Buffyverse vampire. He has demonstrated enhanced speed in episodes such as "Blood Money", "Reprise", "Release" and "That Vision Thing", crossing several meters in the blink of an eye. He is a highly skilled combatant and generally fights unarmed, using circular attacks such as spinning kicks and back hands. In addition to his proficiency in many forms of martial arts, he has mastered many varieties of weapons, favoring the axe and the broadsword. Angel also possesses some cognitive abilities; he has a photographic memory ("Habeas Corpses") and has displayed a psychic connection to those he has sired on at least one occasion ("Somnambulist"). In "Power Play", he reveals that Cordelia passed on her visions to him earlier that season in "You're Welcome". However, he believes that this was a "one-shot deal", suggesting that this ability is not permanent. Because of his age, Angel has immense knowledge of both demonology and history (on occasion rivaling that of Giles and Wesley), and has some experience in witchcraft and sorcery, though his natural aptitude for it is only average, much less than that of Willow. As Angelus, he displays considerable skill in manipulating others' emotional states and has driven his victims insane, as seen with Drusilla. With or without his soul, he is shown to be an expert in torture, having tortured Giles as Angelus ("Becoming, Part Two") and Linwood as Angel (cf. "Forgiving").
As well as his supernatural abilities and fighting skills, Angel displayed a number of other talents. He apparently has "very nice handwriting" and is a gifted artist, first seen in the episode "Passion", using charcoal crayon and China ink to draw portraits. He can drive, owning a black 1967 Plymouth GTX convertible in Angel seasons one to four and a Dodge Viper, along with an entire garage full of other cars, in season five; while he mentions in "Conviction" that he owns a helicopter, it is unknown if whether or not he piloted it to the school where he confronted Wolfram & Hart's Black Ops team. He can speak several languages, including English, Korean, Tibetan, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, Russian, Romanian, German, and in "Harm's Way" tries to learn the language of the Vinji and Sahrvin demons via an instruction tape. Angel is competent, but uncomfortable, with using modern technology; he frequently struggles to understand cellphones (once claiming that they must have been invented by a "bored warlock") and confuses computer terminology such as "chatty rooms." He is shown changing diapers, but claims to be more familiar with pins than the "new-fangled fasteners" of disposable brands ("Dad"). He is a convincing improvisational actor, as seen in the episodes "Enemies", "Five by Five", "The Shroud of Rahmon", and "Power Play", but is not very talented at singing (as seen in the episode "Judgement", amongst others). He also seems to be aware of how skilled he is, once telling a demon, "If you're lucky, you'll last ten minutes, tops. Really lucky, you'll be unconscious for the last five."
Following "Not Fade Away", Angel: After The Fall reveals that Angel is no longer a vampire. His new limitations are unclear, but he clearly retains enough of his old strength to go up against Illyria and do some damage, although he lacks his old healing abilities while in combat. In issue #4, it's revealed that Angel did in fact become human during the battle in "Not Fade Away" as a result of the Senior Partners attempting to deprive him of his strength when he most needed it, and is using various enchantments to keep up the appearance that he is still a vampire despite the potential risks involved in a human using the spells he relies on to imitate his old healing abilities for a prolonged period.
Angel's powers have since returned after Wolfram & Hart reverts time back to the final battle in "Not Fade Away".
Relationships
Romantic interests
- Darla: Angel was sired by Darla. The pair were lovers until Angelus' transformation into Angel drove them apart, although he briefly tried to redeem himself in her eyes. Because Darla sired Angel, he sees her as something of a a maternal figure. During Darla's brief moments of humanity - when she is resurrected by Wolfram & Hart - Angel goes above and beyond in trying to help her atone. When Darla becomes pregnant with her and Angel's son, Connor, Darla tells Angel that their son is "the only good thing" that they ever did together; she then stakes herself in order to allow Connor to be born.
- Buffy Summers: When Angel first sees Buffy, he realizes that he wants to be someone and his faith in humanity is inspired. When they sleep together for the first time, Angel loses his soul, becoming Angelus. Buffy is forced to kill him, to save the world, even though Willow has just ensouled him. After he returns from Hell, he and Buffy still love each other, and attempt a relationship. After realizing this relationship is unfair to Buffy and he needs to begin his path to redemption, he leaves. Buffy comes to L.A., and for a brief time, Angel becomes human. He has to rewind the day, because being human will eventually lead to Buffy's death and that the Powers That Be have not released him from his atonement, nor offered him "forgiveness". After Buffy dies in the fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel spends months away at a monastery in Asia. He comes to help Buffy in the Buffy series finale and provides aid to Buffy in the final fight against Caleb. He gives her an amulet that proves important in the final confrontation with the First. He goes to seek Buffy out in Italy during the last season of Angel, albeit unsuccessfully. Angel and Spike's relationships with Buffy are left on even grounds with Andrew saying Buffy loves them both. Buffy stated in "Selfless", "I loved Angel more than I will ever love anything in this life." She also expresses that she sometimes still thinks about a future with Angel in "Chosen", but it will be years, if ever.
- Kate Lockley: Kate serves as Angel's contact in the police force as he starts his private detective business. The strong possibility of a relationship is hinted at, but ultimately doesn't materialize as she is unable to accept her discovery of his vampire nature, blaming him for the death of her father when her father was killed by vampires and wouldn't invite Angel in to help. The two eventually reconcile when Angel saves her life after she attempts to commit suicide after losing her job at the L.A.P.D.
- Rebecca Lowell: A short-lived love interest introduced in the episode "Eternity," Rebecca is an actress who hires Angel as her bodyguard. Learning about his vampire nature, she tries to convince him to sire her, not wanting to become old and unattractive, but her attempts only result in Angel briefly reverting to Angelus when she drugs his drink, inducing a feeling of bliss. After this, she leaves the office and is never seen again.
- Cordelia Chase: Friends for years, Angel and Cordelia eventually realize that they have fallen in love with one another, only to be torn apart by her ascension and transformation and his imprisonment underwater by Connor before they can tell each other. Upon their subsequent returns, they do not pursue the relationship; Cordelia instead, under the control of Jasmine, forms a relationship with Angel's son, which results in her falling into a coma when Jasmine uses her body to create an independent host for itself. In Angel's perfect day dream-sequence, Angel ends it by consummating the relationship, but calls out "Buffy!" as he is losing his soul. Later, Cordelia returns to put Angel back on track to stopping the Apocalypse. She does this and just before she dies, Cordelia and Angel share their first and only real kiss. In doing so, one last vision (which is only a one-shot deal) showing Angel that the Circle of the Black Thorn are the Senior Partners' most powerful agents on Earth, is passed to him, helping him to stop the Apocalypse from the inside.
- Nina Ash: A werewolf who Angel saves from being eaten, she develops feelings for Angel and he is eventually convinced to give a relationship a shot. This relationship establishes that Angel is able to have positive sex (unlike his "perfect despair" moment with Darla) and still keep his soul. The two break up when Angel attempts to send her away to save her from the Senior Partners' inevitable revenge.
Intimate liaisons
- Drusilla: Angelus tormented the human Drusilla, sired her and kept her on as a companion afterwards; Angelus regarded her as his greatest work. The two might have resumed a sexual relationship in Season Two of Buffy after Angel loses his soul.
- Spike: Spike mentions in the fifth season episode, "Power Play", that "Angel and me have never been intimate. Except that one--" Whedon has confirmed the possibility of a sexual encounter, and in the DVD commentary for the episode "A Hole In The World", he says: "You know, um, I just wanna say Angel and Spike, they were hanging out, uh, for years and years and years, they were in, you know, all kinds of deviant, they were vampires... Are we thinking they never...? Come on, people! I'm just sayin'. I'm just sayin'. You know, they're open-minded guys. They may be evil but, you know, they're not bigoted or closed-minded."
- The Transuding Furies: The Furies are the three beautiful, powerful beings who cast the anti-demon-violence spell on Lorne's bar, Caritas. When Angel needs the spell removed to fight Gunn's rogue former gang, the Furies tell Cordelia that they will require 'payment' for such an act, and only Angel is 'equipped' to repay the debt (whenever he is mentioned, all three of them say, "Mmmm... Angel"). The general tone seems to imply a past sexual relationship between the Furies and Angel.
- Gwen Raiden: A thief with command over electricity, Angel shares a kiss with Gwen after she gives him an electro-shock that (temporarily) reawakens his dead heart. He subsequently flirts with her to make Cordelia jealous while they are trying to protect the Ra-Tet from The Beast, but later seems to develop a slight affection for her; he almost appears jealous when she asks for Gunn's help over his.
- Eve: Angel's liaison to the Senior Partners, she and Angel have a one-time encounter at Wolfram & Hart's Halloween party, when Lorne loses control of his empathic powers and he begins to unintentionally write destinies instead of reading them (he tells Angel and Eve to "get a room", saying that "you could cut the sexual tension with a knife"). When Angel thinks they should talk about it, Eve remarks, "It's not as if this is the first time I've had sex under mystical influence. I went to UC Santa Cruz". After this, however, their relationship becomes increasingly hostile due to Eve's relationship with Angel's old foe Lindsey, particularly following her attempt to infect Angel with a dream-inducing parasite.
Other
- Faith Lehane — When Faith first crosses the line by killing a man, Angel is the first person to attempt to rehabilitate her. However, he is interrupted when Wesley tries to hand her over to the Watchers' Council. While working for Mayor Wilkins, Faith attempts to remove Angel's soul by seducing him. At this point, Faith harbors a sexual interest to Angel, but this is likely out of jealousy toward Buffy. In order to gain inside information about the Mayor's plans, Giles has a dark shaman fake the removal of Angel's soul and Angel as "Angelus" pretends to become romantically involved with Faith. Weeks after the exposure of this ruse, Faith's last act in the Mayor's employ is to shoot Angel with a poison called the Killer of the Dead, and it is this that leads to her near-fatal confrontation with Buffy - the only cure being the blood of a Slayer. After awakening from her coma and fleeing Sunnydale, Faith goes to Los Angeles. Shortly after her arrival, Wolfram & Hart hire Faith to kill Angel. After torturing Wesley, Angel confronts Faith, and during the fight he realizes what Faith really wants; she wants Angel to kill her. He refuses, and again tries to help her, defending her from both Buffy and agents of the Watchers' Council. Thanks to Angel's help, Faith starts down the path to redemption by confessing to her crimes and going to prison. He visits her to make sure she is alright and prison is where she stays for several years. She later breaks out, but only because Angel needs her help, due to Angelus having been restored. Despite the difficulties involved in such a task, Faith makes sure he is brought in and protected so he can be re-ensouled by Willow, even defeating Connor to prevent him from staking his father. The two share a strong bond based on their mutual desire for redemption; Faith also states that Angel is the one person that has never given up on her, a factor that doubtless plays an important role in her decision to fight so hard to save him.
- Willow Rosenberg - Angel shares deep affection and mutual confidence with Willow, and not just because she restored his soul not once, but twice; in several occasions he asks for her help, looking at her as a reliable ally and friend. During his initial time in Sunnydale, after Buffy, Willow was probably Angel's closest friend in the Scooby Gang, although, as with all the team, his relationship with her was somewhat strained after he came back from Hell. At the end of episode "Orpheus" (the last time they meet onscreen), they hug as old friends.
- Winifred Burkle: When Angel saves Fred from Pylea, he "vamps out", but rather than his face changing as usual, the demon inside of him comes out completely. After killing two guards, it tries to kill Gunn and Wesley - until Fred, her right hand soaked in blood, lures the demon back to her cave. Fred cares for Angel as he recovers, and remains the only person who wasn't scared by Angel's demon after learning about his vampire nature. When Angel brings Fred back to L.A., he takes her in and is the only member of the group who doesn't seem unnerved by her state of mind. She has a crush on him for a time after her arrival, often saying "handsome man saved me from the monsters", but eventually gets over it when she learns about the curse on his soul. Though their relationship isn't romantic, Fred did kiss him once to fool passerbys into thinking they were just a random couple when they were on the run from Jasmine's followers. When she asked if he thought they bought it, he replied "I did".
Gallery
 Liam as a baby. |
Angel in a Buffy season 2 promo shot. |
 Angel in his true demon form. |
 Angel as a human. |
Appearances
Angel has made more appearances in canon Buffyverse programs than any other character. He appeared in:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Angel became a series regular in the show's second and third seasons (although does not appear in "Inca Mummy Girl"). He appeared in 57 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) - "The Freshman" (imagined); "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.[41] David had already been cast at the time of the Unaired Buffy pilot, but did not appear.
- 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 from The Book of Kells[42], with the addition of the letter 'A' beneath it.
Angel's tattoo
- The first time it was planned that Angel would lose his soul, Joss Whedon was doubtful of David Boreanaz being capable of portraying the cruelty of Angelus; however, Whedon would later come to state that David scared him in "Becoming, Part Two".
- David impressed Joss Whedon so much playing Angelus possessed by the spirit of Grace Newman, a woman, in I Only Have Eyes for You, that he was given his own show.
- Angel is a "Fanilow" (a fan of Barry Manilow), particularly loving the song "Mandy". As he quotes, "I think it's kinda pretty."
- Angel has appeared in by far the most episodes in the Buffyverse, for a total of 167 episodes. Buffy and Willow are next, with 146 and 147 episodes respectively. He has also appeared in the most seasons of the Buffyverse (all seasons of Buffy and Angel except for Buffy season 6) for a total of 11. He is also the only character to appear in the pilots and finales of both Buffy and Angel.
- Angel is a fan of ice hockey (we see him watching the game in "Life of the Party") and he hoped Connor would grow up playing ice hockey, one of the reasons being that it is a sport where most games are played indoors, and at night (allowing for vampires to spectate).
- Angel's human name, Liam, is the Irish form of the name William.
- While it is established that, as a vampire, Angel doesn't age and is always physically 26, Liam's age at death stated in "The Prodigal", it's obvious across Buffy and Angel that David Boreanaz ages from 27 to 34.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Becoming, Part One"
- ↑ "The Prodigal"
- ↑ "Angel"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Somnambulist"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Darla"
- ↑ "Quickening"
- ↑ "Heartthrob"
- ↑ "Offspring"
- ↑ The year comes from the episode's shooting script
- ↑ "Soulless"
- ↑ "Lie to Me"
- ↑ "Dear Boy"
- ↑ "Fool for Love"
- ↑ "School Hard"
- ↑ "Destiny"
- ↑ "Waiting in the Wings"
- ↑ "The Girl in Question"
- ↑ "Five by Five"
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Orpheus"
- ↑ "City of"
- ↑ "Why We Fight"
- ↑ "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been"
- ↑ Angel: After the Fall #8
- ↑ Angel: After the Fall #4
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 Angel: After the Fall #12
- ↑ Angel: After the Fall #1
- ↑ Angel: After the Fall #3
- ↑ Angel: After the Fall #5
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 Angel: After the Fall #9
- ↑ Angel: After the Fall #10
- ↑ Angel: After the Fall #11
- ↑ Angel: After the Fall #13
- ↑ Angel: After the Fall #14
- ↑ Angel: After the Fall #15
- ↑ Angel: After the Fall #16
- ↑ Angel: After the Fall #17
- ↑ Angel: Aftermath #18
- ↑ Angel: Aftermath #19
- ↑ Angel: Aftermath #22
- ↑ Angel: Boys and Their Toys #26
- ↑ Marcia Shulman - Must be an angel
- ↑ Angel's tattoo
