Soul
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A soul is an incorporeal, insubstantial "essence" that constitutes part of the definition of an individual. Humans and some demons possess souls, whereas other creatures such as most demons do not, which is supposed to account at least partially for their nature and behaviour.
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Origin of souls
It is never explicitly stated from where or at what point in time one's soul originates. However, in the case of Connor, the fetal Connor is presented with a soul some time before birth, although it was not made clear whether or not this was due to Connor's special status as the child of two vampires, or whether this is the usual case.
Good and evil
- "When you become a vampire the demon takes your body, but it doesn't get your soul. That's gone! No conscience, no remorse... It's an easy way to live. You have no idea what it's like to have done the things I've done... and to care."
- ―Angel[src]
Souls are commonly associated with good whilst soullessness is associated with evil. However, this is fallacious, as many ensouled creatures are still capable of evil acts while many soulless individuals are capable of both acts of good and sacrifice. What is evident, however, is that a number of soulless creatures such as vampires are typically evil in nature, but have been known to become appalled by their own evil actions once a re-ensoulment has taken place. Hence, the return of a soul is often traumatic for vampires with a long history of evil acts, as witnessed in the cases of Angel, Spike and Darla (returned to life as a human with a soul, then later also affected by the soul that would come to be associated with Connor). The soul also can determine whether or not a creature is capable of fully appreciating the evilness of their own actions, with ensouled individuals tending to rationalise or deny their evil deeds, whilst creatures such as vampires can kill without care or remorse.
Death
- Xander: "We saw her body, Will. We buried it."
- Willow: "Her body, yeah. But her soul ... her essence ... I mean, that could be somewhere else."
- — Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg[src]
When something ensouled dies, or a human becomes a vampire, the soul leaves their body and goes to another, unknown plane, originally referred to by Jenny Calendar as the "ether". Where the soul goes to and if the actions done by the creature in life determine where it goes is still undecided, but it is confirmed that when Buffy died her soul went to a heavenly dimension and that Cordelia began acting as a Power on a higher plane after her death. It is also possible that a soul displaced from the body after turning into a vampire is in a floaty state of limbo on this plane, as such souls are so much more easily recalled and there is no evidence of such a soul having "moved on".
Resurrection
A soul is also the necessary part of any resurrection. As Spike said, the body is "just the tip of the theological [iceberg]" ("Shells"). The body can either be magically recreated (such as with Darla) or restored (such as with Buffy) but without a soul, there is no resurrection, just a zombie.
