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The Fall of Los Angeles[1] was a term to describe the period when Los Angeles was sent to a hell dimension by the Senior Partners of Wolfram & Hart.[2]

History[]

After Team Angel succeeded in murdering Marcus Hamilton and the members of the Circle of the Black Thorn, the Senior Partners punished their betrayal by sending a demon army to fight them.[3] During the battle, the Partners sent Los Angeles and everyone in it into a hell dimension, turning the city into an apocalyptic battlefield full of demons.[2] They also punished Angel for his betrayal by transforming him into a human to deprive him of his strength and abilities when he needed them most.[4] To make matters worse, Gunn was transformed into a vampire with delusions of heroism.[5]

During this time, many low-level demons took advantage of the chaos to become "Demon Lords," each one ruling over a different section of Los Angeles.[2] Lorne, Spike, and Illyria also became Demon Lords themselves, with Lorne trying to remain a neutral party[4] and Spike and Illyria using their position as a cover to rescue innocents and evacuate them into the care of a safe house[6] ran by Connor, Nina, and Gwen.[2]

Aided by Wesley — then transformed into his new Liaison to the Senior Partners —,[2] Angel was able to use various spells and objects from Wolfram & Hart's archives to heal his injuries and create a glamour that he was still a vampire.[4] Angel and Wesley used this position — and a a dragon Angel befriended in the first fight — to protect the innocents of Los Angeles, sending them to Connor's safe house for protection.[2] Eventually, Angel declared war on the Demon Lords, challenging them to a battle to liberate the city;[6] together with his friends, Angel tricked the Lords into killing themselves with the Hagun shafts and successfully defeated their champions.[7] Shortly afterwards, Gunn attacked Angel and undid the magic Angel had cast on himself to simulate vampire abilities, leaving him on the brink of death.[8]

In his dying moments, Angel received a vision of a battle in which he fulfilled the Shanshu Prophecy, revealing that his role in the apocalypse would be one of evil.[9] Angel chose to resign himself to death rather than let these events come to pass, but Connor and Cordelia assured him that Angel would never allow himself to become the man he had seen in the vision.[10] As Angel's friends healed his injuries, Gunn caused Illyria to revert to her original form in hopes of using her to undo the Fall, but Illyria attempted to destroy reality itself.[11]

To stop her, Angel had Betta George telepathically force Spike and Wesley's memories of Fred into Illyria's mind. Distracted, Illyria was taken down by the Senior Partners' forces. Meanwhile, Gunn mortally wounded Connor, who died in his father's arms.[12] Realizing that the Senior Partners needed him alive for their plans, Angel provoked Gunn into beheading him with the flaming sword, forcing the Partners to rewind time to the original battle in the alleyway, thus undoing the Fall.[13]

Legacy[]

Despite the temporal fold, all of Los Angeles retained their memories of the Fall, thus making the existence of the supernatural public knowledge and making Angel and his associates city-wide heroes and celebrities.[13] Though still preferring to remain inconspicuous, Angel took advantage of his celebrity status to rename a wing of the Los Angeles Public Library in honor of the late Winifred Burkle and Wesley Wyndam-Pryce.[14] Furthermore, the Wolfram & Hart building vanished from existence, and the location became the construction site of a Doublemeat Palace restaurant.[13]

The fear of the entire world suffering a similar situation as the Fall of Los Angeles was what convinced Angel to bring about Twilight.[15] He later told Faith that he had eventually become the only one who could remember the Fall.[16]

Appearances[]

References[]

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