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Note: This article is about the demon. For other uses, see Lorne.
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Angelwings

It's like a song. Now, I can hold a note for a long time. Actually, I can hold a note forever. But eventually that's just noise. It's the change we're listening for. The note coming after and the one after that. That's what makes it music.
―Lorne[src]

Krevlornswath "Lorne" of the Deathwok Clan, also known as The Host, was a peace-loving demon from the Deathwok Clan native to Pylea. On Earth, he was the owner and founder of the demon karaoke bar Caritas, later a member of Angel Investigations and the head of Entertainment Division in the Wolfram & Hart Los Angeles branch, and eventually the Lord of Silver Lake during the fall of Los Angeles.[citation needed]

Biography[]

Pylea[]

Your father was right. We ate the wrong son.
―Mother of the Vile Excrement[src]

Lorne was born as Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan in the demonic dimension of Pylea. He had two brothers: one that was at some point devoured by their parents, and Numfar of the Deathwok Clan. Lorne, as he preferred to be called, was not like his fellow demons of his clan, bloodthirsty "champions" constantly undertaking quests against evil. He was a gentle soul who did not share his kin's prejudice against humans (or "cows" as they were called in his world).[citation needed]

Lorne would rather flirt with the females and enjoy life than train to be a fighter, claiming that he had little inclination to train how to fight because he saw both sides of the argument, reasoning that he didn't have it in him to fight a man when he partially agreed with his opponent's point of view. He also enjoyed beauty, art, and even music, which was difficult considering his world had no music. Lorne refused to train his innate mystical senses to learn to hunt beasts and was considered the shame of his clan.[citation needed]

Caritas[]

In 1996, Lorne happened upon a dimensional portal and was sucked through it, unknowingly trading places with his future friend Winifred Burkle in the process. It would be revealed years later that this event was the doing of Jasmine as part of her larger plan. He landed in Los Angeles, and discovered music and culture like he never imagined. Lorne learned to hone his mystical senses to read people's auras, but found it easiest to do so when they sang, baring their souls. He decided to open up a karaoke bar on the same spot that he arrived on Earth, an old abandoned building. Lorne contracted the Transuding Furies to cast a sanctuary spell on the spot, which stopped any demon violence from occurring on it. He named the bar Caritas, the Latin word for "mercy."[citation needed]

Caritas became a success in the morally ambiguous Los Angeles underground scene, with many beings visiting to sing for Lorne to be told their futures. To most who visited the bar, Lorne was simply called "The Host." He later stated that he didn't use the name "Lorne" in this dimension, because his striking green skin prompted people to make Lorne Greene jokes. Firmly believing that anyone, whether good, evil, or "morally ambiguous," could turn their lives around if given sufficient guidance, Lorne opened his bar to humans and demons alike, even Baby-killer demons; the only time he ever banned someone from Caritas was an incident involving Orpheus dealers.[2]

Lorne was always reluctant to help Angel and his friends, preferring to maintain a neutral stance and simply provide a peaceful place for all demons, but his essential goodness usually won out over his reticence. He started off by giving the characters advice and encouragement, but as time went on, he became more directly involved in the cases of Angel Investigations — even asking for Angel's help to avert the end of the world when Angel had severed ties with the rest of the group after Darla's resurrection — and his many contacts in Los Angeles' magical underworld prove useful. Lorne somewhat reluctantly joined the team in their mission to Pylea to rescue Cordelia Chase, discovering that he could incapacitate the natives by singing songs and causing them to cower from "the strange noise." Upon leaving, he decided that returning to Pylea had been good for him as it had reaffirmed that he did not belong there and was right to stay away.[citation needed]

Angel Investigations[]

Caritas was raided by Charles Gunn's old gang and was temporarily put out of action, finally being completely destroyed by Daniel Holtz. After that, Lorne decided to move into the Hyperion Hotel with the Angel Investigations team; his skills in diplomacy and aura reading were of great use to them, and he also often looked after the infant Connor while Angel was on business. Eventually, he left to start a singing career in Las Vegas, but left after a crime lord, Lee DeMarco, forced him to use his empathic abilities to locate audience members with promising futures so he could steal them. During the ensuing fight, Lorne himself smashed the item holding everyone's destinies and returned them to their rightful owners. Back in L.A. after being rescued by Angel, Gunn and Fred, Lorne helped restore Cordelia's lost memories and was part of the fight against the resulting Jasmine crisis.[citation needed]

Wolfram & Hart[]

When Angel took over Wolfram & Hart, Lorne found himself the new head of their Entertainment Division, at first fitting into the job with relative ease and making various business deals in the film industry, as well as organizing the Wolfram & Hart Halloween party (although this event was nearly disrupted due to Lorne's subconscious manifesting as a dangerous monster after he had his ability to sleep extracted to cope with the demands on his time). As time went on, his kindness was slowly replaced by a growing cynicism and self-loathing of his position of "cheerleader" for Angel and his friends, particularly when Gunn was abandoned in Wolfram & Hart's Holding Dimension to recover Lindsey McDonald because Lindsey could possess information they needed; Lorne had always assumed that they didn't leave anyone behind.[citation needed]

When his close friend Fred was murdered and her body usurped by the Old One known as Illyria, Lorne became filled with despair which he kept secret from the rest of his equally heartbroken friends. He finally announced that he planned to leave Los Angeles after carrying out his part in Angel's plan to destroy the Circle of the Black Thorn. When Lorne learned what his part was to be, he told Angel that he would do so for him and for their friendship, but afterwards, he would not be joining in the resulting battle against an army of demons, and Angel and the others would most likely never see him again.[citation needed]

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Lorne shoots Lindsey dead.

After assisting Lindsey in destroying the Sahrvin Clan, Lorne remarked that he had already heard Lindsey sing and that he would never be part of "the solution." As his "one last job," he then shot Lindsey dead with a silenced pistol. In his last words, Lindsey muttered the unfairness of having been killed by a "flunky" rather than his longtime rival Angel. Lorne dropped the gun and walked away.[3]

Lord of Silver Lake[]

Lorne, depressed after killing Lindsey, wandered the streets of L.A. when the entire city was banished to hell by the Senior Partners in retaliation for the deaths of Marcus Hamilton and the Black Thorn. He simply fled in a demonic taxicab instead of assisting against the resulting demonic invasion. However, the cab was destroyed, and Lorne found himself watching civilians in Silver Lake fighting back. Inspired, he assisted them with his vocal powers. Though they were soon joined by a sorceress, many Silver Lake residents died before a permanent demon-free area was established. The people elected Lorne as their leader, and he went to great lengths to make his territory a heaven in hell.[citation needed]

Lorne tried to remain neutral as Angel battled the various Demon Lords that had overtaken the rest of Los Angeles. However, he soon changed his mind and threw in fully with his old friends, reforming the Angel Investigations team when Angel faced the other Demon Lords' champions. The Demon Lords were slain and Lorne became the chosen ruler of all of L.A (although he admitted that he had only been given the job because Angel felt that he wouldn't be good at it, despite even Lorne considering Angel the better candidate).[citation needed]

Eventually, Angel tricked the then-vampiric Gunn into killing him, forcing the Senior Partners to create a temporal fold and undo the Fall, returning Los Angeles to Earth. Nonetheless, everyone retained their memories of the Fall, and Lorne, along with the rest of Angel Investigations, quickly became a city-wide celebrity and hero. In the aftermath, Lorne began the process of putting his life back together.[citation needed]

Post-Twilight[]

After the Twilight crisis and the end of magic, Gunn told Angel of what the other members of Angel Investigation had been up to since he last saw them, with Gunn remarking that he didn't need to tell Angel what happened to Lorne because he already knew.[4]

Powers and abilities[]

When you sing you bare your soul and he can see into it.
―Wesley Wyndam-Pryce[src]
3x02TVT1158

Lorne attempts to read Cordy.

Lorne was a Deathwok demon and possessed a number of abilities unique to his own species:

  • Aura reading: He was capable of reading people's auras, as well as their futures, while they were singing, humming or whistling. He used this power to set them on their path in life. although he had an ability to read basic details about auras even without the need for singing and could read detailed information about people who were in extreme emotional distress without them singing.[citation needed]
  • Telepathy: When people sang, hummed, or whistled, Lorne could also read their thoughts and emotions when he did this. His powers did not require conscious effort, as he was capable of sensing Holtz's plans to blow up Caritas just by hearing him whistle,[5] as well as Wesley's plans to kidnap Connor by hearing him hum a lullaby.[6] Regardless, his ability was not infallible, and could be fooled by magic and substances such as calendula.[citation needed]
  • Superhuman hearing: Lorne had excellent hearing, and could hear outside the normal human range, going as far as to tune into transmission frequencies.[citation needed]
  • Enhanced vocal cords: He could also generate vocal tones in frequencies harmful to human ears and adjust it to different effects, from shattering glass and damaging light bulbs to destroying demons.[citation needed]
  • Contaminant immunity: Like the rest of his species, Lorne was immune to the intoxicating effects of normal alcohol, but could be affected by certain magical brews. Nonetheless, Lorne regularly consumed alcohol to the point of being an alcoholic, favoring Sea Breeze cocktails.[citation needed]
  • Amputation survival: Like the rest of his people, Lorne had the ability to survive the complete removal of his limbs and even beheading, unless his body was mutilated after the dismemberment.[citation needed]
  • Musical abilities: Lorne was capable of tolerating music, which to the rest of his species caused agonizing pain. He also claimed to be able to hold a note indefinitely.[citation needed]
  • Regenerative healing factor: When his horns were damaged or removed, they regenerated back within a matter of days. Additionally, he seemed to heal faster than humans, and could also reattach detached body parts without any surgical assistance.[citation needed]
2x22TNPLPG0152

Lorne's still-living disembodied head.

Sleep deprivation[]

When Lorne's ability to sleep was removed, his powers were altered:[7]

  • Suggestive telepathy: Instead of sensing destinies, he began to write them, granting him a sort of suggestion power. He inadvertently altered Spike's cynic personality into optimistic and super-positive, made Wesley and Fred act drunk despite having had very little alcohol, made Gunn literally "stake out his territory" by urinating all over the Wolfram & Hart building, and influenced Angel and Eve to have sex with each other.[7]
  • Magical construction: As well as this, his subconscious, unable to cope with the conflicts Lorne usually handled in his sleep, then manifested as a physical projection which possessed superhuman physical attributes, the manifestation attacking those that caused Lorne's anger, including himself. These powers were lost when Lorne's ability to sleep was returned to him.[7]

Personality and traits[]

In direct contrast to his Deathwok brethren, Lorne was a peaceful being and preferred to simply relax and enjoy life rather than fight. Above all else, he believed in the inherent goodness of all beings and believed that anyone could turn their lives around if given enough guidance, as shown in his willingness to even let baby-eating demons come to Caritas. His favorite drink was Seabreeze, a mixture of cranberry and grapefruit juices with vodka. He insisted that the ones sold in Caritas always be made with freshly-squeezed grapefruit juice rather than canned.[citation needed]

Nonetheless, Lorne did have a vicious side rarely shown; when Fred was dying from her infection with Illyria's essence, while he, Angel, and Spike were investigating Lindsey's home for any evidence connecting him to the incident and found Eve, Lorne punched her in the face and warned her that if she was involved in any way, he would personally kill her before Angel and Spike could have a chance to.[citation needed]

Gallery[]

Buffyverse The Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan article has a Photo Gallery.


Behind the scenes[]

  • He was portrayed by Andy Hallett.
  • He appeared in 76 episodes in total: 46 as a guest and 30 as a regular character.
  • In 2012, the writer Christos Gage talked about Lorne the uncertainty of the character's future: "Joss [Whedon] said he wasn't going to be doing anything with Lorne because the loss of Andy Hallett was still too painful, but that I was welcome to if I came up with a good story for him. But no such story presented itself, so I left it at Gunn's cryptic comment to Angel, 'I don't have to tell you about Lorne' [in Family Reunion, Part One], which you could take as confirmation that the IDW story in which he moved on to a higher plane [Lorne: The Music of the Spheres] is the definitive take on what happened to him, or as a hint that there has been some further development. I like to think that he came back somehow, and now that magical beings are publicly known, he is a famous crooner, touring with Barry Manilow, but really, whatever you want, go with that."[8]
  • Lorne had four Angel action figures based on him: "Lorne," "Judgement Lorne," "There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb Lorne," and "The House Always Wins Lorne."

Appearances[]

Canonical[]

Other[]

References[]

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