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Btvs Although this article is based on canonical information, the actual name of this subject is conjectural.
Angelwings

I'm ashamed to call you my son. A lay-about and a scoundrel. You'll never amount to anything more than that.
―Liam's father to his son.[src]

The father of Liam, who would become known as Angel, was a silk and linen merchant from Galway in the 1750s.

Biography[]

Liam's father was a moderately wealthy silk and linen merchant who lived in Galway in the 1750s. He had a wife and two children; a son named Liam and a younger daughter half Liam's age named Kathy. His son was a source of great disappointment to him. Liam's father dismissed him as a layabout, who spent his days getting drunk and cavorting with women. Despite constantly berating his son, Liam's father does appear to have cared for him, as he tried to set his son straight and was visibly deeply wounded by his son accusing him of not caring about him.

His strained relationship with his son came to a head one day when Liam was returning from a night out. Upon being berated by his father once more, Liam snapped and angrily retorted that he was no more than what his father had turned him into, blaming his father's low expectations and lack of caring for his lifestyle and demeanor. Liam's father was visibly hurt by the accusations, and tried to reach out to his son, telling him that he had never been in his way. When Liam stormed out, his father angrily called out to him that if he went in search of trouble, he would surely find it, before slamming the door shut on the brink of tears. Liam's anger at his father and his wish to travel the world drove him into the arms of Darla that night. Unbeknownst to Liam, Darla was in fact a vampire, and she sired him on the spot, leaving his corpse on the street.

Laim's father-dead

Liam kills his own father.

While everyone else at the funeral was in tears, Liam's father stood silently over the grave long after everyone else had left, weeping only when he was alone and departing only as night set. Later that night, Liam rose from his grave as a vampire and began feeding off the village, killing its inhabitants one by one before eventually arriving at his old home. His sister Kathy invited him in, naively believing him to have returned to her as an angel. Mocking his father's inadequacy in the face of his new vampiric strength, Liam smugly informed his father that he had made something of himself after all before proceeding to kill him. However, Darla ultimately deflated Liam, stating that in the end, Liam's victory over his father had lasted for minutes, whereas his father's victory over him would last for all of eternity, as he would never approve of his son.[1]

Legacy[]

When Angel Investigations took over Wolfram & Hart Los Angeles branch, Angel attempted to comfort Wesley, who was traumatized over having shot down a cyborg duplicate of his father, by recounting how he murdered his own father.[2]

Archaeus — the Old One that originated the Aurelius bloodline — attempted to take control of Angel, Spike was able to distract him acting like his own controlling father, which made him fight against the demon's control.[3]

Personality[]

Liam's father was a strict man, expecting his son to respect and obey him. He was relatively pious, and tried to teach his son to fear the lord. Despite this, Liam claimed to know that his father "had his fair share of sinning" in his youth.

Despite his very hard and disciplinary demeanor, Liam's father appears to have genuinely cared for his son. He desperately tried to correct what he felt was destructive and dangerous behaviour in his son the only way he knew how, in order to save him from meeting a bad end. He was visibly hurt when Liam tried to leave their house, and when Liam accused him of never seeing him as more than a failure.

After Liam's death, his father was racked by grief, and stood weeping at his son's gravesite long after the funeral had concluded, proving that he had truly loved his son and was not as cruel as Liam believed.

Behind the scenes[]

  • He was portrayed by J. Kenneth Campbell.
  • Historically, at the time when Liam was alive, the cotton industry was taking off and far surpassing the silk and linen trade. Combined with the anti-Catholic laws of the time, this would have made it increasingly difficult for Liam's father to earn a living, thus prompting Liam's increased disinterest in his father's way of life.
  • Additionally, despite his threats, Liam's father could not legally disown him. The British rulers of Ireland had passed the Penal Laws according to which all sons had an equal claim on their father's inheritance if the father was Catholic.

Appearances[]

References[]

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