Buffyverse Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Buffyverse Wiki
Note: This article is about the vampire. For other uses, see Harmony.

You just can’t stand the fact that I'm my own person now. There comes a time in a woman's life when she realizes she has to take that next step. I've taken it. I've found the real me, and I like her.
―Harmony Kendall[src]

Harmony Kendall was a former Sunnydale High School student turned vampire[2] and later Angel's secretary at Wolfram & Hart.[3] Being one of the few able to escape before the fall of Los Angeles,[4] Harmony became an international celebrity after publicly revealing the existence of vampires around the world.[5] As such, she led the movement of Reform Vampirism and advocated for the "Harmony rules" so vampires could coexist in human society.[6]

Biography[]

Sunnydale High[]

Harmony attended Sunnydale High School, where she was a member of Cordelia Chase's popular clique, the "Cordettes." Harmony was particularly disdainful and cruel with Willow Rosenberg and Alexander Harris who consider her just a nuisance. Harmony often accompanied Cordelia Chase who formulated a disparaging opinion of Buffy after Cordelia blackened her possible popularity after a misunderstanding at the Bronze nightclub, which Harmony was a witness to.[7]

Harmony season 1

Harmony at Sunnydale High.

Harmony, along with Cordelia and the rest of the Cordettes, caused fellow Sunnydale High student Marcie Ross to become invisible by their negligence of her: it caused Marcie herself to believe she was invisible, and that state of mind, along with the ever-growing mystical energy emanated from the Hellmouth, made her become actually invisible. Marcie then attempted to kill Harmony as part of a plot of vengeance against Cordelia. Whilst Harmony was conversing with Cordelia at the school quad, Marcie pushed Harmony down the stairs in hopes of causing her to break her neck from the fall; however, Harmony only sprained her ankle as a result.[8]

When Cordelia began dating Xander Harris, Harmony shunned her from their clique and usurped her position as leader of the group. Ironically, she was also momentarily "in love" with Xander, like all other women of the city except Cordelia, because of a spell invoked by Amy Madison.[9] After Cordelia and Xander's breakup, Harmony tricked Cordelia into thinking that she had been re-admitted into the clique, only to humiliate and reject her. She tried also to become friends with the new student, Anya Jenkins. However, this last was bored by her superficiality. After Anya revealed herself to be a vengeance demon and granted Cordelia's wish that Buffy Summers had never arrived in Sunnydale, the alternate reality had a Harmony version more subdued, but still part of the Cordettes.[10]

Vampire[]

Harmony's a vampire? She must be dying without a reflection.
―Buffy Summers[src]
Harmony BS4 01

Harmony as a vampire.

In the Graduation Day battle against mayor Richard Wilkins during his Ascension, Harmony was sired by one of Wilkins' vampire minions.[11] She rose as a vampire, having retained her characteristic pettiness, susceptibility to stronger-willed people, and affection for unicorn figurines. Harmony began a relationship with Spike, whom she called her "blondie bear." Neither Spike nor Harmony were satisfied with their relationship; Spike was frustrated by Harmony's ignorance and clinginess, while she was exasperated with his endless broken promises and repeated attempts to kill Buffy.[2] They separated, although she agreed to rekindle their relationship after Spike escaped from the Initiative. Harmony quickly regretted this decision after she recognized Spike's renewed campaign against the Slayer, even chasing him out of her lair with a stake when he sought her help.[12]

After separating from Spike, Harmony wanted to be a strong vampire who could get by on her own; accordingly, she gathered her own gang and made her own attempt to kill Buffy by kidnapping her sister Dawn. The plan ended in an embarrassing defeat, especially when both Buffy and Xander considered the very thought of Harmony having minions to be amusing. However, her insistence on taking their time rather than attacking them directly and even letting them feed became too much for their minions, who eventually turned against her when she refused to let them feed on Buffy's sister, whom they kept hostage until the Slayer's arrival.[13]

Her minions slain, Harmony returned to Spike for protection, and even agreed to aid him in his attempt to remove his chip by kidnapping a doctor.[14] Spike then realized he was in love with Buffy and used Harmony to live out his fantasies with her, making Harmony think he was merely appreciating her.[15] Harmony was then swiftly thrown out when Spike reunited with Drusilla, a notion Harmony strongly protested. When Spike had both Buffy and Drusilla chained up, before making his declaration of love for the Slayer, Harmony intervened and tried to kill Spike with a crossbow as a form of liberation. She then escaped.[15]

Los Angeles[]

Thought this was a good time to finally check out the L.A. nightlife.
―Harmony[src]
A02 17

Cordelia and Harmony in Los Angeles.

Having departed Sunnydale, Harmony visited her old friend Cordelia in Los Angeles, without telling her that she had become a vampire. Harmony tried to connect with Cordelia, but had difficulty controlling her demon side. She entered Cordelia's bedroom at night, driven by blood lust, but apologized for her actions and intentions when Cordelia woke up. Cordelia misunderstood her explanation, believing her to be a lesbian until the matter was cleared up by Willow Rosenberg via a phone call.[16]

Cordelia insisted on giving Harmony a chance, despite the rest of the team growing increasingly frustrated with such habits as her popping gum or tearing pages out of books, and her references to her continued thirst for human blood did little to endear her to Angel either. Harmony accompanied the Angel Investigations team on a mission to investigate a new vampire cult — Wesley Wyndam-Pryce reasoning that she would be more likely to infiltrate the cult as some vampires could sense Angel's soul —, but soon betrayed them to their enemies. Cordelia nearly killed Harmony after the team managed to escape, but, out of some respect for the friendship they once shared, allowed her to leave.[16]

Wolfram & Hart[]

Several years later, Harmony tried to make a life for herself in Los Angeles. She gained employment at the Wolfram & Hart Los Angeles branch, as a member of the secretarial pool. Harmony joined in part due to the building's windows being outfitted with necro-tempered glass (which prevented vampires from being killed by sunlight), as well as the firm's non-judgmental workplace culture and dental plan.[3]

A few weeks into her employment with the firm, Wesley picked her out of the secretarial pool to be Angel's new personal assistant, after Angel and his staff were given control of that branch of Wolfram & Hart. Wesley apparently thought that a familiar face would be good for Angel. Angel reluctantly agreed, on the strict condition that Harmony refrained from drinking human blood. She noted at the time that she had already been off human blood for several months.[3]

Harmony was reunited with Spike when he returned, first as a ghost and then in corporeal form. She tried to connect with him initially, hoping to renew their relationship since he had a soul. Spike showed no interest in Harmony until he regained his corporeal form and immediately proceeded to seduce her, resulting in a brief fling interrupted when Harmony became possessed while they had sex.[17]

Harm's Way Harmony 01

Harmony at Wolfram & Hart.

Harmony then felt isolated and alone. She knew that she was incompetent as an evil vampire, but her struggle to lead a more normal life was hindered because she lacked a soul. Angel often treated her with distrust and barely-masked hostility, and her input, ideas, and presence were generally ignored by his team. Harmony also experienced an inability to connect with her co-workers, who resented her quick rise to the position of the CEO's secretary. She was framed for murder by Tamika, another vampire secretary who wanted her job, by substituting her otter blood for human blood to make it appear as though Harmony drank from the victim. She cleared her name and ironically saved a demon summit by staking her scheming rival on a conference table with a pair of chopsticks.[18]

Despite her incompetence, Harmony managed to prove a "sort of" asset to the team, "torturing" Eve to get information, arguing that she was willing to do it given her "evil" status, although the "torture" just consisted of her hitting Eve in the face a few times.[19] Harmony also helped Wesley search for information about Knox's plans, even consoling him after Fred's death by pointing out that the girl of his dreams loving him back was more than most people got. She also aided Lorne in protecting Eve from Marcus Hamilton, her replacement as their liaison to the Senior Partners. She started a brief friendship with Fred Burkle and, like most of Fred's friends, had a very frosty relationship with Illyria, the demon who later seized control of Fred's body.[20]

Harmony ultimately betrayed Angel, revealing his plans to go after Archduke Sebassis to Marcus, with whom she had a sexual relationship. Angel, however, always expected her to betray him at some point, so he had only confided information that he wanted her to reveal. After her betrayal, which Angel blamed on her lack of a soul and she blamed on his lack of confidence in her, he fired her, but not before providing her with a letter of recommendation (which he had already written and signed, in anticipation of her disloyalty). As Angel and Hamilton prepared to fight each other, she ran off with the letter, wishing them both luck: "May the best man win!"[4]

Harmony later read Angel's letter of recommendation and was inspired by it to keep pursuing her own self-worth.[6]

Celebrity[]

B08-31a

Harmony Kendall, celebrity.

Harmony caused vampires to be exposed to the world at large when she bit comedian Andy Dick in an alley and was photographed in vampire face by a paparazzo. Afterward, she became the star of a reality show Harmony Bites. She also caused a major public perception problem to Slayers after one of them, a new, lone Slayer called Soledad tried to dust Harmony during a party. Harmony killed the Slayer, but used the media attention to drive the public against Slayers and becoming a spokeswoman of sorts for vampire rights. She was interviewed by Anderson Cooper later on and declared Slayers a threat to society.[5] Keith Olbermann was later mentioned to have given Harmony his support.[21]

Harmony began a new pro-vampire, anti-Slayer world order which was plaguing the Slayer Organization. In a later interview by Stephen Colbert, Harmony gave away her motive of bringing about the end of magic, seemingly in line with Twilight's master plan.[22] Although Harmony's reality show was cancelled, the vampire craze continued. Harmony later became a contestant on Dancing with the Stars,[23] though she eventually lost.[6]

She owned several dogs, including the Pomeranian Queen Puffles.[5]

In time, Harmony became known as a major advocate of Reform Vampirism, which entailed only sucking blood with consent and never enough to kill anyone, and never siring new vampires. Sometime later, Harmony moved to Kensington in London and became a judge on Britain's Got Talent. Harmony was later blackmailed with a video of her siring a lover, and Harmony — fearing that the exposure would lead vampires to abandon the Reform Vampirism cause — turned to Angel and Faith Lehane for help. In exchange for his help, Harmony offered to help improve Angel's image, seeing as, thanks to his actions during the Twilight crisis, he was even more loathed and feared than Buffy.[6]

When Spike briefly relocated in London to aid Angel and Faith, Harmony saw him again and had a casual fling with him once more, Angel arranging the meeting to help Spike get over Buffy.[24]

After the return of magic, Harmony visited Buffy to strike up a deal regarding how what new rules they should set for the new vampires. Harmony proposed that they shouldn't allow them to use their shapeshifting powers during the day. She then stole the Slayer Handbook by distracting Spike. Harmony intended on using it to make herself the most beloved person on Earth, but Clem argued that deserved to be loved for herself rather than making people love her. However, he did use the handbook to make unicorns exist, much to Harmony's joy.[25]

During the Supernatural Crisis Act, Harmony went on an international tour and stayed out of the United States, becoming expatriate.[26] She was last seem in Paris with Clem, blissfully ignoring the events across the ocean.[27]

Harmony would be then found by the Scooby Gang in their time travel to the 23rd century Haddyn. Harmony, who was then known as "the Queen," greeted the group amicably at her own throne room. Having survived this far, she was able to help them narrating the fate of the Scoobies, albeit based on what she heard from other vampires.[1]

Personality and traits[]

You're a sheep. All you ever do is what everyone else does, so you can say you did it first.
―Cordelia[src]

Beyond her shallow yet perky personality, Harmony's defining characteristic, from her high school years up to her employment at Wolfram & Hart, was that she always tried to associate herself with what she perceived to be the most powerful and/or popular (Cordelia, Spike, Angel Investigations, Doug Sanders, Wolfram & Hart) in order to ensure her own social status and, later on, survival. She also believed herself to be a great villain and constantly irritated when the Scoobies did not take her seriously, especially when both Buffy and Xander were greatly amused by the very thought of her having minions.[13]

Another one of Harmony's strengths was her knack for survival. She was never perceived as a major threat, just little more of a nuisance than anything else. Harmony also struggled to be a villain[13] and "good" while a soulless vampire.[18]

Harmony had an affinity with unicorns, keeping a collection of themed items.[13] While living with Spike in his underground liar, she hung up posters of unicorns along with many other unicorn paraphernalia.[12] When she led her own gang, one of her minions, former boyfriend Brad Konig, took the liberty of bringing her a 10-inch ceramic unicorn figure imported from Thailand priced at $12.95. She also possessed a wooden carousel unicorn which Buffy used to kill another minion of Harmony's.[13] While working at Wolfram & Hart, Harmony decorated her desk with unicorns as well as having unicorn stickers on her blood thermos.[18] To please her, Clem made these creatures real, a joyful surprise to her.[25] After this, she rode an unicorn for her arrival at VampCon.[28] Her throne room in the 23rd century was also decorated with unicorn and Pomeranian motifs.[1]

Harmony was also responsible for the uneasy truce between vampires and Slayers, making a list of rules for vampires to follow that reduced casualties on both sides. The rules include that vampires could only feed on the willing and without killing them or siring.[6] Harmony also came up with the idea of reducing the new breed of vampires' powers in daylight; demonstrating a decent level of competency on her part.[25]

Harmony was also cunning enough to have survived centuries, as Buffy and her allies meet her after going into the future, at the time being known as "the Queen." During this event, Harmony greeted them amicably and even revealed the fate of many of the Scooby Gang. Despite the passing of years, Harmony retained most of her personality with no sign weariness.[1]

Powers and abilities[]

I've done a lot of reading, and, and I'm in control of my own power now.
―Harmony[src]
HarmonyLiftsCabinet

Using her vampire strength to locate a shoe.

Harmony had the standard powers and vulnerabilities of a vampire. She was immortal, had accelerated healing, drained human blood to survive, and possessed superhuman physical attributes. Like all vampires, she was vulnerable to holy items and sunlight, could be killed by decapitation or a stake to the heart, and could not enter the home of a living human without being invited by someone who lived there first. Due to her relative youth, she was far weaker than older vampires, such as Angel and Spike.

Unlike most vampires that seemed to possess natural defensive abilities, Harmony had poor fighting skills during her first year as a vampire, equally matching up against the human Xander in a fight.[29] Over time after her first break-up with Spike, Harmony eventually began honing her potential, holding her own in fights against Riley,[14] Spike,[15] and fellow Wolfram & Hart employee Tamika which was probably her best display of combat, displaying accurately timed strikes, blocks and flips.[18] Additionally, she also killed an inexperienced Slayer, Soledad, and dusted another vampire, Justin, by striking them with the very stake they attempted to use on her.[5][30]

For several minutes, Harmony wore the Gem of Amara, a mystical ring that made vampires invulnerable. Thanks to it she was able to survive being staked by Spike.[2]

In addition, Harmony possessed large political influence as a celebrity and spokeswoman for vampires around the world.[28]

Relationships[]

Friendship[]

Romantic[]

  • Alexander Harris — Like all the Cordettes, Harmony tended to demonstrate arrogant and derisive behavior with Xander. After Amy Madison performed a magic spell to make Cordelia fall madly in love with Xander just so he could break up with her and hurt her because she rejected him under Harmony's ultimatum, it backfired and made every woman (Harmony included) in Sunnydale except Cordelia fell in love with him; as a result, Cordelia was nearly killed by Harmony and the others Cordettes who were resolved to kill her for reject Xander. After that the spell was cancelled, Harmony maintained her arrogance towards Xander.[9]
  • Cody Weinberg — He was a popular student, with a 350 SL. A night, he called Harmony at her home thinking of taking her to the pledge dance party. However, there's just two other girls he's gonna ask first and if they refuse, Harmony was invited. It's unknown if it was the case.[9]
Harmony Spike 1

Spike and Harmony.

  • Spike — After becoming a vampire, Harmony began a relationship with fellow vampire Spike. However, he saw her as nothing more than a sexual play toy and a nuisance, rather than a true girlfriend like he had acted with Drusilla or later Buffy. While looking for the Gem of Amara, Harmony became so frustrating to the extent that Spike staked her, thinking it would kill her, but when he did so he was unaware Harmony was actually wearing the Gem so the stake didn't kill her.[2] They broke up when Spike was captured by the Initiative, only for it to reignite again when he returned to her. Harmony was initially angry and weakly resistant to his charms, but gave in and slept with him once more. She became angry with his obsessive desire to kill Buffy instead be with her and in a fit of frustration, took some of Spike's stuff outside and burned them, including his Sex Pistols albums.[29] Starving from a lack of blood due, Spike returned to Harmony once more. Angry, Harmony immediately told him to get out and that they were over. As usual, Spike attempted to seduce her again and nearly succeeded only for her to resume her resistance. She pulled out a stake and called him "mean," preparing to kill him like he had nearly killed her. Unsurprisingly, a weakened Spike left.[12] Their relationship ended when Spike dumped her to reunite with Drusilla, however he didn't have as strong feelings for Drusilla or Harmony as he did for the Slayer, Buffy Summers. It was always known Harmony had a strong hatred for Drusilla by referring to her as "Morticia" and "Dorkus." After this occurrence, Spike and Harmony break up for good.[15] The two were reunited at Wolfram & Hart where they have a brief but disastrous sexual fling. Later on, they were able to have a civil, humorously heart-to-heart conversation in which Spike alleviates some of Harmony's insecurities.[18] A year and a half later, when Buffy mockingly called him "Blondie Bear," Spike told her to not do so, as it reminded him of Harmony, who, according to him, completely ruined Dancing with the Stars and was a "moron."[23] However, Angel later arranged for the two to have a casual hook up in London when Spike was depressed over Buffy.[24] A year after, Buffy explored Spike's memory and was irritated by knowing about their affair.[31] Harmony had demonstrated to support their relation in her manner, wishing that Buffy, Angel, and Spike would be reunited in a polyamorous relationship.[25] Later, she and her associate Vicki plotted to break their relation by trying to discourage them.[28]
  • Brad Konig — Before being sired by Harmony, Brad Konig had been one of the popular students in Sunnydale High, as well as a member of the Sunnydale Razorbacks. He was known for beating weaker students in gym class and had also stood up Harmony in tenth grade. As a vampire, Brad constantly tried to please Harmony by getting her unicorns, for which fellow minion "Peaches" referred to him as "sire-whipped." However, when the gang decided to turn against their leader, while not actively voting in favor, he did not obey Harmony when she ordered him, Peaches, and Cyrus to kill Mort. However, they were all dusted by the Slayer.[13]
  • Tobias Dupree — In personal crisis, Harmony spend a night with this demon rights activists. Toby was murdered by the vampire Tamika in an attempt to frame Harmony and procure her position at Wolfram & Hart.[18]
  • Justin — Justin was a vampire sired by Harmony. However, he hated not being able to go out during the day, for which he tried to stake her. Harmony blocked his attack and dusted Justin with his own stake.[30]

Antagonistic[]

  • Marcie Ross — Harmony, along with the rest of the Cordettes, caused fellow Sunnydale High student Marcie Ross to become invisible by their negligence of her. Marcie then attempted to kill Harmony as part of a plot of vengeance against Cordelia. Whilst Harmony was conversing with Cordelia at the school quad, Marcie pushed Harmony down the stairs in hopes of causing her to break her neck from the fall; however, Harmony only sprained her ankle as a result.[8]
  • Buffy Summers — Harmony, being part of Cordelia's clique, had a natural disdain for Buffy.[7] Upon turning into a vampire after Graduation, Harmony attempts to be more independent after leaving Spike and tried to be Buffy's arch-nemesis. Buffy viewed Harmony as a nuisance, even bursting out laughing when finding out Harmony had minions and wanted to kill her. However, she became much more serious when Harmony kidnapped Dawn, but was quickly thwarted by Buffy, taunting her by saying she being bad as a head cheerleader, being really bad at homecoming queen, but completely sucking by trying to be evil.[13] Harmony also hated Buffy for being the object of Spike's obsession/affections, shown to be very disgusted when hearing about him being involved with Buffy.[32] However, Harmony had actually developed a certain respect for her rival. In her attempt to change the magic rules, one of her wishes was to convert the Slayer into a three-way partnership with Angel and Spike.[25] After discovering about the brief sexual encounter in London between Harmony and Spike, Buffy was somewhat disgusted and jealous, although this fact was before their reconciliation.[33]
  • Tamika — Tamika was another vampire secretary who wanted her job, and, for this, she framed Harmony for murder by substituting her otter blood for human blood. Harmony cleared her name by staking her scheming rival on a conference table with a pair of chopsticks.[18]

Gallery[]

Buffyverse The Harmony Kendall article has a Photo Gallery.


Behind the scenes[]

  • She was portrayed by Mercedes McNab.
  • Mercedes McNab originally auditioned for the role of Buffy Summers.[34]
  • Harmony holds the record for the longest a character has been in the televised Buffyverse, being the only character to appear in both the Buffy unaired pilot and the Angel series finale ("Not Fade Away"). Counting only aired episodes, she is second to Angel as the longest-serving character (Angel first appears in the first Buffy episode and she in the second, both appear in the Angel finale).
  • She also holds the record for longest "wait" to become series regular, what with her only finally becoming a regular right towards the end of the final season of Angel. She is also the only character to go from being a co-star (credited only at the end of an episode), through to guest-star and then ultimately star.
  • She is one of the four characters, with Buffy, Darla, and Angel, to have two episodes named after her, "Disharmony" and "Harm's Way." This trend has continued in the comics, with Harmonic Divergence, "Harmony Bites," "Harmony Comes to the Nation," In Perfect Harmony, and Day Off (or Harmony in My Head).
  • Along with Angel, Cordelia and Darla, she is one of only four characters to appear in both the first season of Buffy and the final season of Angel.
  • Christos Gage, who would often bring the guest character during the seasons he wrote, have multiple times mentioned Harmony as his favorite character to write: "It's such a blast to write someone who is completely and utterly self-absorbed."[35]

Appearances[]

Canonical[]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel


Other[]

References[]

Advertisement