Sign in or 
Share this
Angel
"Real" Name: Sean O'Conner
Room: M2
Roommate: Dean Winchester
Age: 247 (human age and 100 years in hell not counted); appears 26
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Height: 6'1"
Note: For information regarding the specifics of Angel's soul and the nature of Angelus, see here.
Other Characteristics
Physical:
For all reference images, see his profile.
Abilities/Magical Stuff:
Backstory
Unlike Spike who gains his soul on his own and unexpectedly becomes the reluctant hero, Angel has never been a wildcard. His destiny is laid out in scrolls and prophecies and a form of divine intervention has "rescued" him not once, but twice so that he could continue to live in order to follow his path. The Powers That Be pretty much picked him to be their Champion. Many things that happen to him starting from the moment he gains his soul (or possibly even the moment Darla turned him into a vampire) are essentially predestined.
Angel was originally born as Liam (his last name is never specified) in Galway, Ireland in 1727. His father was a linen merchant. The family only had one servant, so it's likely they weren't overly wealthy, but it can be assumed that as a merchant, his father made enough money to be somewhere in the middle class—there was certainly enough money, anyway, for Liam to live a rather hedonistic life: drinking, sex, gambling, brawling. Liam never got along with his father, feeling as though his father always disapproved of him (for good reason—he was lazy to the extreme, noting once that he isn't afraid of anything except an honest days' work, and on the last day of his life, he'd been plotting to steal his father's silver in order to pay his way into a whorehouse) but he did have one dream: to travel the world. He considered this dream as nothing more than that until the night he met a beautiful woman named Darla in an alley. Enticing him with promises that she will take him places he'd never been before, Darla succeeded in turning him into a vampire.
His family buries him, but he wakes up as a vampire later that night, pushing his way out of the coffin and dirt to find Darla awaiting him by the grave. He immediately decides to "take the village," starting with his family. His younger sister Kathy lets him in because she thinks he is an angel coming back (which is one explanation for how he later gets his name Angelus, Latin for "angel"; an alternate reason lies in the fact that he is said to be a "demon with the face of an angel"). Angelus proceeds to kill Kathy, then his mother, and last his father. It's clear during this killing that he has a very deep resentment of his father. His satisfaction at finally ridding himself of the man who has disapproved of him his entire life is shaken when Darla says that although Angel will never be disapproved of again, he will also never be able to gain his father's approval, either. After this, he and Darla slaughter the entire village. She also later takes him to meet The Master, the head of the Order of Aurelius, Angelus's bloodline. Angelus scoffs at the Master for the Order's rule stating that vampires are to live underground and not associate themselves with humans. He arrogantly turns down membership into the Order, and Darla—when given the choice—chooses to break off ties with the Master and run off with her new creation.
They travel throughout Europe together, killing as they go. Angelus eventually earns the title "The Scourge of Europe" and a reputation to match. They find their next noteworthy victim, a man named Holtz, in 1764. They massacre his entire family, inspiring Holtz to hunt them obsessively for a number of years. He comes close to getting his revenge several times (including one incident in which Angelus is left behind in a burning building while Darla heartlessly flees) but ultimately fails. Angelus also sires a Puritan named Penn sometime in the mid- to late-1700s, who returns in Season 1 of Angel, only to be staked by Angel after one episode. Also around this time, Darla and Angel sire James and Elizabeth, two vampires who are in love . James returns later on in the series, and is killed as well.
Angelus appears to especially be attracted to those who are "pure." He revels sadistically in the destruction of the actual person, enjoying tearing apart both their mind and body. This is especially notable in his fixation on nuns. The most significant of these innocents is Drusilla. A gentle and chaste woman, Drusilla has the ability to see the future, particularly when tragedies are about to occur. After he kills her entire family in 1860, she flees to a convent to take her holy vows. On that very day, he slaughters the entire convent in front of her, then makes her watch as he has sex with Darla. Unable to cope with such traumatic events, Drusilla is driven mad. Angelus finally turns her, preserving his masterpiece for all of eternity. To this day, Angel regards as either his greatest sin or his finest work, depending on whether he's soulless or not.
Following this, the three vampires go on together to cause even more destruction. In 1880, Spike (known back then as William) is added to their family. It is strongly suggested that although Drusilla is his official sire (i.e. the one who bit him) it's Angelus who fulfills the responsibilities of that role, as Drusilla does not have the mental capacity to do so. Spike calls Angel "sire" (and in the same episode, "my Yoda") upon first seeing him, and flashbacks reveal that Angelus acted as his mentor of sorts. Their relationship is something of a love-hate sort and Spike has confirmed that he and Angel were intimate "that one" time.
His life takes a sharp turn in 1898 when Darla offers him a gypsy girl from the Kalderash clan as a present for his birthday. Unfortunately, she is the wrong girl to eat. Upon finding out what he'd done, the gypsies curse him with a soul, condemning him to an eternity of suffering and remorse over the crimes he has committed. Darla finds him later tortured over those he has killed and close to insanity. She throws him out of the house, disgusted that he has a "filthy human soul." Because she cannot get the man to reverse the curse, she, Spike, and Drusilla proceed to kill the entire tribe. In the earlier stages, Angelus appears to still be able to kill certain people (such as the men who insult him), but cannot bring himself to kill as heartlessly as he used to.
He disappears for awhile, returning later to China during the Boxer Rebellion. He tries to rejoin Darla by killing again, but she notices that he only kills rapists, murderers, and other such violent criminals. When she brings him a baby to eat in order to test him, he finds he cannot do so and flees instead, leaving Darla behind for good.
After this, there're are number of gaps in his history, but it can be safely concluded that he was mostly brooding over his past crimes and trying to come to terms with his soul. It's known that in 1902 he went to New York, and that sometime during WWII, he was contacted by The Initiative (a government organization of sorts that is focused on demons) to rescue a submarine crew that was carrying three vampires (one of them being Spike). Angel refuses to go, but is eventually forced to do so when the Initiative threatens him. He manages to save the crew, but in the process, has to turn a man named Sam Lawson, who had been fatally wounded but is needed to save the crew. Lawson returns later in Season 5 to take revenge on Angel. He's an interesting case because he was the only person Angel turned while he had a soul, and during the episode in which he returns, Lawson states that he does not feel anything when he kills a person. He doesn't enjoy it nor does he feel remorse for it, suggesting that Angel's soul may have an effect on the person being turned.
We know he was in Missouri, Montana during the Depression, but then there's another gap, during which we can again assume that he was isolating himself and doing more brooding, until 1952. During this time, Angel is in L.A, staying at a hotel called the Hyperion Hotel (which later becomes the base for Angel Investigations). Angel becomes involved when people at the hotel begin committing murder or suicide. He discovers that this is a result of a Thesulac demon, which feeds on fear, residing in the hotel. Although Angel initially tries to save these people, he becomes fed up with the human race after Judy—the woman he'd been helping—turns on him, resulting in the hotel's occupants trying to lynch him. He walks away, allowing the demon to take everyone inside the hotel.
Angel returns to New York in the 1970's. He witnesses a robbery in a doughnut shop, and feeds on a man who died in the incident. He immediately becomes revolted by his own actions. It is at this point that he goes to the streets, living in alleyways and feeding on rats for close to two decades. His life takes another major twist in 1996 when a demon named Whistler (a good demon, sent by "The Powers That Be") seeks Angel out and sends him to L.A. to see Buffy Summers, who has just been made aware that she is to be a Vampire Slayer. Angel decides at last that he wants to "be someone" and agrees to go help her. He doesn't contact her until she moves to Sunnydale, however, where he introduces himself as "Angel."
Buffy is unaware that Angel is a vampire until several episodes later. She flips out, but later comes to terms with the fact that he has a soul. They eventually fall in love as he aids her in her fight against the demons and vampires of Sunnydale. These demons include the Master and Darla, both of whom end up killed.
Angel's relationship with Buffy blossoms in the episode "Surprise" when, after having sex with her, he experiences a moment of perfect happiness, thus breaking the curse and causing him to lose his soul. The curse breaks because the whole point of Angel having a soul is to torment him; the second he suffers no torment whatsoever, the curse is no longer effective and is therefore lifted. It's important to note that it's only sex with Buffy that has this effect—other people don't give him that feeling of perfect happiness, so he can (and later on does) have sex if he wants.
After losing his soul he reverts back to his evil self and returns to what remains of his former family, Spike and Drusilla. Both are thrilled to see him at first, but as Angelus begins to make moves on Drusilla, Spike begins to resent him. Angel continually taunts Spike, who is confined to a wheelchair at the time due to severe injuries, and makes it very clear that he is fully aware of Spike's centuries-long love for Drusilla, and simply doesn't care.
Angel at first has fun with The Judge (who can kill anyone with humanity in their soul), but when Buffy blows the demon up with a rocket launcher Angelus begins to torment her in more personal ways, as was his pattern before the gypsies cursed him. He leaves a drawing of Buffy's mother on her pillow, to prove he has been watching her family, and terrorizes Buffy's friend Willow by, among other things, mailing her the dead bodies of her own pet goldfish. He later kills Jenny Calendar, Giles' girlfriend and a computer teacher at Sunnydale High. Jenny is one of the few remaining members the Kalderash gypsy clan (there's also her uncle, whom Angelus also kills). She dies right after she manages to translate the original spell that could restore Angel's soul, but before she can tell anyone. Willow only finds out later when she discovers the disk with the spell on it on the floor. At this point in time, Angelus has his sights set on sucking the entire world into hell by awakening a demon called Acathla. Buffy finds an unexpected ally in Spike who, driven by his appreciation of this world and his resentment of Angel, wants to help her stop Angel's plans. While Buffy is fighting Angelus, Willow manages to restore Angel's soul, but does it too late: the demon is awakening and the only way to stop it is to shed the blood of the one who awoke it on the first place. She shares a last kiss with Angel before stabbing him and sending him to hell, closing the vortex in the process.
His century in hell is never detailed, but he suffers enough that by the time he is unexpectedly returned to this world he is little more than a snarling animal. Buffy hides his return, secretly trying to coax him back into being himself . He eventually recovers and is soon haunted by the First Evil (referred to as "the First"). The First claims that it brought Angel back from Hell, though whether or not this is actually true is never explicitly stated. Either way, it's clear to Angel that his return is no random event, but something done for a purpose. The First taunts Angel by transforming into the various people he'd killed and tries to get him to sleep with Buffy again so he can revert back to Angelus. Angel, refusing to go down that path again, tries to kill himself instead before the temptation to free himself from his soul takes over, but another power intervenes and causes a rare snowfall in Sunnydale which blocks out the sunlight. Although he attempts to resume a relationship with Buffy, he soon realizes that giving her a normal life would be impossible because of what he is. In Season 3's finale, Angel leaves Sunnydale for good with the intention of shutting himself off from the world ("no more love, no more pain, no more demons"). He ends up going to Los Angeles, which is where the spinoff Angel picks up.
When we first meet him in L.A., Angel is slaying vampires and demons on his own. In the very first episode he meets Doyle, a half-demon who receives visions from The Powers That Be, guiding him to people who are in danger. Angel takes his first case to rescue a waitress/aspiring actress from a vampire. Along the way he runs into Cordelia, who used to be a catty, rich, popular cheerleader back at Sunnydale High and is now completely broke due to her parents being caught evading taxes. Her sudden poverty hasn't changed her attitude, though. The girl he was trying to save dies, but Angel does manage to save Cordelia from the same vampire. She and Doyle join up with Angel to form "Angel Investigations" where Angel poses as a PI of sorts. At the end of the episode, Angel also meets Lindsey McDonald for the first time, a prominent lawyer for the demon-serving law firm Wolfram & Hart. Taking the stereotype of "evil lawyers" to new heights, Wolfram & Hart is to become one of the major antagonists of the series.
Angel initially relies on Doyle's visions to help him find those in need but as word of Angel Investigations spreads some people do start to seek him out on their own. In the third episode he is tortured by Marcus, whom Spike has hired to discover the whereabouts of the Gem of Amara. The Gem allows a vampire to become truly immortal by rendering them immune to stakes and sunlight. Angel eventually kills Marcus, but Spike escapes. Much to Doyle's dismay, he destroys the ring and gives up his chance to walk in the sun (although he does watch the sunset one last time).
Soon after, Angel runs into a demon that has regenerative powers. When its blood mixes with his, he becomes a human again for the first time. At first, he's quite excited, eating food and going back to Buffy (they can finally have sex again without him going evil), but he quickly discovers that he can't protect her—or anyone—as a human. He visits the Oracles and asks them to turn back the time. They agree and Angel goes back when he kills the demon before it can turn him human. Only Angel carries the memory of that one day, but he later tells Doyle about it.
In the tenth episode, Doyle sacrifices himself to save the others. Before he dies, he passes on his visions to Cordelia, and from then on, she becomes Angel's connections to the Powers. Angel feels Doyle's loss deeply. It makes him very protective of the few friends he has left, but it also sends him into a bit of a retreat, as he's been shown just how dangerous it can be for those who get involved with him.
Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, a Watcher ("Watchers" serve as guides for the Slayer) last seen back in Sunnydale, soon shows up claiming to be a "rogue demon hunter" (and looking absolutely ridiculous in leather pants). It turns out he was fired from the Watcher's Council. He and Angel work together for one case, and Wesley quickly agrees to continue working for him. Angel forms a fairly close relationship with Cordelia and Wesley, the two becoming the closest thing he has to friends or family. He finds another ally in the form of Charles Gunn, a self-proclaimed vampire hunter, who later plays a larger role as a member of Angel Investigations starting in Season 2. He also occasionally works with a cop named Kate at first, but she later turns on him when vampires kill her father.
There is a brief arc where Angel runs into Faith, who is on the run as a rogue slayer after killing a human she mistook for a vampire and then aiding the main antagonist (the Mayor) back in BtVS Season 3. Angel had tried to help Faith at the time, but he failed and she ended up in a coma until BtVS Season 4/Angel Season 1. She's hired by Wolfram & Hart to kill Angel. Against the wishes of almost everyone around him, Angel persists in trying to rehabilitate her, understanding what it feels like to want to seek redemption. This is as much about him as it is about Faith; if she can be "saved," then maybe that means he can be, too. Buffy is understandably infuriated that he would help Faith after all the damage she has done, and she and Angel argue, parting ways on bad terms, although Angel later goes to Sunnydale to make up with her. At the end of it all, Faith agrees to turn herself into the police. Later on, Angel nearly manages to reform Lindsey, too, who helps save some children. Lindsey falls under the sway of power, though, when he is offered a position as a Junior Partner at the firm.
Near the end of the season, the team stumble upon the Scroll of Aberjian, which contains the Shanshu ("reward") Prophecy. Wesley initially translates it to mean that Angel will die, to which Angel simply shrugs. Cordelia is unnerved by this and demands to know why it is that Angel doesn't seem to feel like he has anything to live for. Things escalate when a demon opens her mind to all of the people who need help around the world (she's supposed to just get visions of the ones in L.A. ), causing her to have painful visions non-stop which puts her into the hospital. Wesley goes back to rescue the prophecy scroll, but the building blows up, and he ends up hospitalized, too. Angel goes on a mission to hunt down the demon, which he succeeds in doing. He recovers the scroll, chopping off Lindsey's hand in the process—but not before Wolfram & Hart is able to complete a major spell.
Wesley revisits the Shanshu Prophecy and with a decided "oops" lets Angel know that what he initially translated as "death" could actually mean "life" because in the language it was written in, life and death are considered the same thing, all part of a circle. He concludes that the prophecy states that "a vampire with a soul" will play a major role in the Apocaylypse and for his efforts, will "live and die", i.e. become human as a result.
And then he wakes up at Landel's.
Personality
Angel starts out as a very isolated figure. He purposely cuts himself off from society, choosing only to step out of the shadows when he absolutely must. Buffy does seem to link him to humanity a bit, but she also increases his feeling of isolation in the sense that Angel sees how comfortable she is with her circle of friends—something he can never have. It's clear that he's not only ashamed of his past misdeeds, but also of what he is now, as when he tells Buffy that he doesn't want her touching him when he's in his vampire form. Angel spends most of his time struggling with his feelings for Buffy. He doesn't think himself worthy of her, but he also sees her as something like his salvation. After he realizes he can never be with her or give her the life she needs, he retreats back into isolation. Buffy is, after all, what gave him a purpose: he was there to help her. When he no longer had that, Angel's mission, his reason for being, was shaken.
When we first see him in L.A. he is going through the motions, saving people for the sake of saving them. He's taking to heart what Buffy told him about how he has to keep on fighting no matter how hard it is, but he doesn't know what he's fighting for. It isn't until the end of the season that Angel stops carrying the notion that his entire existence is to suffer. The remorse for his crimes remains, but he is no longer guilty over being a vampire and a certain sense of self-worth, however shaky it may be, returns. It's a confidence that still slips from time to time, but he nevertheless manages to hold onto it. He's also grown away from Buffy. Although she remains his first and only love (and in some ways, he's still longs for her) he's come to reluctantly accept that she's simply something he can't ever have.
It's important to note that the guilt for his past crimes makes up only half of the equation; the demon still in him plays an equally significant role, if not more so. It's suggested that Angelus is "trapped" within his mind, meaning that simply because he has a soul doesn't mean the demon inside him is gone. His cruelty and sadism remains; the only difference is that with his soul, he has a conscience and therefore forces himself to not act upon his most primal, demonic instincts. He himself admits that sometimes he "misses that clarity" of killing without remorse and later tells Cordelia that he liked the dreams he had of killing people. Angel spends most of his time trying to distance himself from Angelus and his repression is likely what resulted in the strange Angel/Angelus split he seems to have. He's never actually dealt with his demon, just locked it away, which is what separates him from Spike, whose demon changed for the better even before the soul.
Furthermore, even with a soul, Angel can still give in to his darker temptations, particularly when things start getting personal for him. He might be "the good guy" in general in that he works to save the world/other people, but he walks a very fine line. The one thing he seems to really fear is the loss of his soul and becoming a monster again. This is why the Shanshu Prophecy—that promise of being human—is so important to him because being human is the only way he can truly free himself.
Despite all of his issues, though, none of it is something that's obvious to most people who meet him, especially not at first. He's fairly private and guarded, preferring to keep a lot of what he's feeling under wraps, so he often comes off as just distant, cryptic, and occasionally somewhat intense. Definitely not the approachable type. He does sometimes open up a little, however, when he gets to know someone better. He clicks well with people he can relate to—those who don't belong anywhere or are trying to find their way.
Still, he's not made up solely of skulking and mystery, and he does have the ability to crack a joke, including at the expense of himself, though it's almost always in a very deadpan sort of way. He shows this part of him more once he breaks away from Buffy and begins working independently from her. His sense of humour is rather dry; a little on the dark side, even, at times, and his emotions are often quite subtle in revealing themselves. They're there, though—it's not totally impossible to get a smile out of him on a rare occasion. When he's not discussing anything that's overly serious/depressing (and sometimes even when he is), there's often a little bit of an ironic undercurrent to his tone
Angel doesn't always take himself seriously, either, and he can come off fumbling a little, particularly when it comes to human interaction. He's socially awkward, but not antisocial so if someone happens to strike up a conversation with him, he does his best to be friendly back unless he's really distracted by something crisis-worthy or they prove themselves to be particularly annoying. His hesitation to make light conversation with others is most likely because he's not comfortable revealing anything about him, which is probably why the awkwardness only comes out when he's interacting as himself. When he's playing an entirely separate role for undercover purposes, he pulls it off surprisingly well.
It's also revealed that he likes Barry Manilow, but he can't carry a tune or dance to save his life. He has a deep appreciation for ballet, likes classical music, enjoys Spike's (terrible) poetry, and is a fan of hockey. His one talent in the fine arts seems to be his drawing skills—at one point, he sketches a near-accurate image of a demon from Cordelia's description of it alone.
In some ways, Angel can be immature, too, although this part of him tends to show mostly when he's around Spike (particularly the newly souled Spike of Season 5), who seems to have the ability to suck Angel into ridiculous little arguments. Witness, too, his clear jealousy over Spike's soul, over Lindsey's ability to sing better, and over Buffy's new boyfriend: Angel is not above being petty. Despite being almost three centuries old, he doesn't always match that in terms of his maturity. Spike accuses him once of having a flare for drama, which is true to some degree. At times, it seems like he's purposely trying to make an impression. That, and he's got a small streak of vanity. Appearances are important to him: he might like to skulk in the shadows, but his car is still a shiny convertible, his hair is always fixed nicely, and his clothes are far from shabby. Both of these things might be the influence of Angelus, who can be pretty flashy and likes to put on a show of sorts for his victims. Angel's also prone to the occasional speech or two.
He also takes well to the role of a leader, a role that's sort of been thrust upon him in a sense and one that he's come to accept. He doesn't hesitate to take charge in a crisis and can be quite assertive if the situation calls for it (plus, as Angelus, he was pretty much the alpha male of their vampire family). Cordelia and Wesley might be his friends and they might be able to push him over on certain topics, but he doesn't hesitate to pull the "who's the boss here?" card if they start questioning his decisions when working a case.
Most of the time, he keeps a pretty even temper, but that's not to say he doesn't have one. The quick way he often resorts to violence to get what he wants/needs from those who don't particularly matter or those whom he doesn't especially like suggests his patience is not innate; it's more something he consciously tries to maintain around the people he cares about, mainly so he doesn't scare them off or make them think he's gone evil again. Even around his friends, violent outbursts, while extremely rare, can occur under the right conditions (just watch him hurl the phone against the wall in "Blind Date."). Any real, true anger from him, though, is the kind that burns slowly beneath the surface until he finally snaps—and his moral compass can get significantly skewed when that happens. But it takes a lot to push him that far.
At Landel's
See the thread tracking post here.
Room: M2
Roommate: Dean Winchester
Age: 247 (human age and 100 years in hell not counted); appears 26
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Height: 6'1"
Note: For information regarding the specifics of Angel's soul and the nature of Angelus, see here.
Other Characteristics
Physical:
- appears entirely human when not in vampire form (so no fangs).
- has a tattoo on his right shoulder blade.
- is cool to the touch (but not ice cold).
- keen observers may notice that he can be unnaturally silent/still due to the fact that he does not breathe.
- has no reflection.
- crosses/holy water burn to the touch.
For all reference images, see his profile.
Abilities/Magical Stuff:
- immortal for the most part, but can be killed by: beheading, wooden stake to the heart, and being set on fire.
- exception: sunlight would normally set him on fire, but has no effect at Landel's for two reasons: a) in canon, vampires do not burn in sunlight from "other dimensions"; and b) it would be impossible for him to do anything during outdoor activities otherwise, nor would he be able to get anywhere within the institute since he wouldn't be able to go through the Sun Room.
- his mind is a telepathic blank.
- healing, strength, speed, hearing, and the like are all above average, but not at the level outside of Landel's (a little above human, but below vampire; a well-trained/physically powerful human could potentially take him on).
- his instincts are fairly sharp, both due to years (or centuries, really) of experience and the somewhat animalistic aspects of a vampire. He's highly capable in combat and can handle pretty much any weapon.
- extremely silent, even for a vampire; he has the unique (and somewhat unsettling) ability to appear and vanish seemingly out of nowhere.
- sense of smell is the keenest part of a vampire, especially when it comes to detecting blood. It allows him to tell humans apart from demons and differentiate between individuals by scent. This is dampened in Landel's, too, so he can't track anyone blocks away just by catching their scent in the air like he usually could, and overall, it's just not as strong.
- if your character and their roommate is a full human, Angel cannot enter their room unless he is invited in. Only the first invitation is required.
- has a photographic memory, but it's by no means perfect, and it's suggested he doesn't always possess it to the extent that we see in one episode where he was able to recreate the exact layout of an auditorium from memory alone. However, it seems to help him in his navigation through L.A.'s sewer systems and his ability to create accurate sketches from only one glimpse of a person.
- speaks a wide variety of languages (listed in his profile), although this is really less due to any sort of great intelligence and more just because he's lived for almost two and a half centuries, during which he travelled extensively—so naturally, he's picked up some foreign languages over the years.
- an obvious point, but Angel has a soul, which isn't natural for a vampire in his world. This may or may not make a difference to certain other characters; not sure who can sense these things or not or whether they'd care, but if they can and do, there it is.
Backstory
Unlike Spike who gains his soul on his own and unexpectedly becomes the reluctant hero, Angel has never been a wildcard. His destiny is laid out in scrolls and prophecies and a form of divine intervention has "rescued" him not once, but twice so that he could continue to live in order to follow his path. The Powers That Be pretty much picked him to be their Champion. Many things that happen to him starting from the moment he gains his soul (or possibly even the moment Darla turned him into a vampire) are essentially predestined.
Angel was originally born as Liam (his last name is never specified) in Galway, Ireland in 1727. His father was a linen merchant. The family only had one servant, so it's likely they weren't overly wealthy, but it can be assumed that as a merchant, his father made enough money to be somewhere in the middle class—there was certainly enough money, anyway, for Liam to live a rather hedonistic life: drinking, sex, gambling, brawling. Liam never got along with his father, feeling as though his father always disapproved of him (for good reason—he was lazy to the extreme, noting once that he isn't afraid of anything except an honest days' work, and on the last day of his life, he'd been plotting to steal his father's silver in order to pay his way into a whorehouse) but he did have one dream: to travel the world. He considered this dream as nothing more than that until the night he met a beautiful woman named Darla in an alley. Enticing him with promises that she will take him places he'd never been before, Darla succeeded in turning him into a vampire.
His family buries him, but he wakes up as a vampire later that night, pushing his way out of the coffin and dirt to find Darla awaiting him by the grave. He immediately decides to "take the village," starting with his family. His younger sister Kathy lets him in because she thinks he is an angel coming back (which is one explanation for how he later gets his name Angelus, Latin for "angel"; an alternate reason lies in the fact that he is said to be a "demon with the face of an angel"). Angelus proceeds to kill Kathy, then his mother, and last his father. It's clear during this killing that he has a very deep resentment of his father. His satisfaction at finally ridding himself of the man who has disapproved of him his entire life is shaken when Darla says that although Angel will never be disapproved of again, he will also never be able to gain his father's approval, either. After this, he and Darla slaughter the entire village. She also later takes him to meet The Master, the head of the Order of Aurelius, Angelus's bloodline. Angelus scoffs at the Master for the Order's rule stating that vampires are to live underground and not associate themselves with humans. He arrogantly turns down membership into the Order, and Darla—when given the choice—chooses to break off ties with the Master and run off with her new creation.
They travel throughout Europe together, killing as they go. Angelus eventually earns the title "The Scourge of Europe" and a reputation to match. They find their next noteworthy victim, a man named Holtz, in 1764. They massacre his entire family, inspiring Holtz to hunt them obsessively for a number of years. He comes close to getting his revenge several times (including one incident in which Angelus is left behind in a burning building while Darla heartlessly flees) but ultimately fails. Angelus also sires a Puritan named Penn sometime in the mid- to late-1700s, who returns in Season 1 of Angel, only to be staked by Angel after one episode. Also around this time, Darla and Angel sire James and Elizabeth, two vampires who are in love . James returns later on in the series, and is killed as well.
Angelus appears to especially be attracted to those who are "pure." He revels sadistically in the destruction of the actual person, enjoying tearing apart both their mind and body. This is especially notable in his fixation on nuns. The most significant of these innocents is Drusilla. A gentle and chaste woman, Drusilla has the ability to see the future, particularly when tragedies are about to occur. After he kills her entire family in 1860, she flees to a convent to take her holy vows. On that very day, he slaughters the entire convent in front of her, then makes her watch as he has sex with Darla. Unable to cope with such traumatic events, Drusilla is driven mad. Angelus finally turns her, preserving his masterpiece for all of eternity. To this day, Angel regards as either his greatest sin or his finest work, depending on whether he's soulless or not.
Following this, the three vampires go on together to cause even more destruction. In 1880, Spike (known back then as William) is added to their family. It is strongly suggested that although Drusilla is his official sire (i.e. the one who bit him) it's Angelus who fulfills the responsibilities of that role, as Drusilla does not have the mental capacity to do so. Spike calls Angel "sire" (and in the same episode, "my Yoda") upon first seeing him, and flashbacks reveal that Angelus acted as his mentor of sorts. Their relationship is something of a love-hate sort and Spike has confirmed that he and Angel were intimate "that one" time.
His life takes a sharp turn in 1898 when Darla offers him a gypsy girl from the Kalderash clan as a present for his birthday. Unfortunately, she is the wrong girl to eat. Upon finding out what he'd done, the gypsies curse him with a soul, condemning him to an eternity of suffering and remorse over the crimes he has committed. Darla finds him later tortured over those he has killed and close to insanity. She throws him out of the house, disgusted that he has a "filthy human soul." Because she cannot get the man to reverse the curse, she, Spike, and Drusilla proceed to kill the entire tribe. In the earlier stages, Angelus appears to still be able to kill certain people (such as the men who insult him), but cannot bring himself to kill as heartlessly as he used to.
He disappears for awhile, returning later to China during the Boxer Rebellion. He tries to rejoin Darla by killing again, but she notices that he only kills rapists, murderers, and other such violent criminals. When she brings him a baby to eat in order to test him, he finds he cannot do so and flees instead, leaving Darla behind for good.
After this, there're are number of gaps in his history, but it can be safely concluded that he was mostly brooding over his past crimes and trying to come to terms with his soul. It's known that in 1902 he went to New York, and that sometime during WWII, he was contacted by The Initiative (a government organization of sorts that is focused on demons) to rescue a submarine crew that was carrying three vampires (one of them being Spike). Angel refuses to go, but is eventually forced to do so when the Initiative threatens him. He manages to save the crew, but in the process, has to turn a man named Sam Lawson, who had been fatally wounded but is needed to save the crew. Lawson returns later in Season 5 to take revenge on Angel. He's an interesting case because he was the only person Angel turned while he had a soul, and during the episode in which he returns, Lawson states that he does not feel anything when he kills a person. He doesn't enjoy it nor does he feel remorse for it, suggesting that Angel's soul may have an effect on the person being turned.
We know he was in Missouri, Montana during the Depression, but then there's another gap, during which we can again assume that he was isolating himself and doing more brooding, until 1952. During this time, Angel is in L.A, staying at a hotel called the Hyperion Hotel (which later becomes the base for Angel Investigations). Angel becomes involved when people at the hotel begin committing murder or suicide. He discovers that this is a result of a Thesulac demon, which feeds on fear, residing in the hotel. Although Angel initially tries to save these people, he becomes fed up with the human race after Judy—the woman he'd been helping—turns on him, resulting in the hotel's occupants trying to lynch him. He walks away, allowing the demon to take everyone inside the hotel.
Angel returns to New York in the 1970's. He witnesses a robbery in a doughnut shop, and feeds on a man who died in the incident. He immediately becomes revolted by his own actions. It is at this point that he goes to the streets, living in alleyways and feeding on rats for close to two decades. His life takes another major twist in 1996 when a demon named Whistler (a good demon, sent by "The Powers That Be") seeks Angel out and sends him to L.A. to see Buffy Summers, who has just been made aware that she is to be a Vampire Slayer. Angel decides at last that he wants to "be someone" and agrees to go help her. He doesn't contact her until she moves to Sunnydale, however, where he introduces himself as "Angel."
Buffy is unaware that Angel is a vampire until several episodes later. She flips out, but later comes to terms with the fact that he has a soul. They eventually fall in love as he aids her in her fight against the demons and vampires of Sunnydale. These demons include the Master and Darla, both of whom end up killed.
Angel's relationship with Buffy blossoms in the episode "Surprise" when, after having sex with her, he experiences a moment of perfect happiness, thus breaking the curse and causing him to lose his soul. The curse breaks because the whole point of Angel having a soul is to torment him; the second he suffers no torment whatsoever, the curse is no longer effective and is therefore lifted. It's important to note that it's only sex with Buffy that has this effect—other people don't give him that feeling of perfect happiness, so he can (and later on does) have sex if he wants.
After losing his soul he reverts back to his evil self and returns to what remains of his former family, Spike and Drusilla. Both are thrilled to see him at first, but as Angelus begins to make moves on Drusilla, Spike begins to resent him. Angel continually taunts Spike, who is confined to a wheelchair at the time due to severe injuries, and makes it very clear that he is fully aware of Spike's centuries-long love for Drusilla, and simply doesn't care.
Angel at first has fun with The Judge (who can kill anyone with humanity in their soul), but when Buffy blows the demon up with a rocket launcher Angelus begins to torment her in more personal ways, as was his pattern before the gypsies cursed him. He leaves a drawing of Buffy's mother on her pillow, to prove he has been watching her family, and terrorizes Buffy's friend Willow by, among other things, mailing her the dead bodies of her own pet goldfish. He later kills Jenny Calendar, Giles' girlfriend and a computer teacher at Sunnydale High. Jenny is one of the few remaining members the Kalderash gypsy clan (there's also her uncle, whom Angelus also kills). She dies right after she manages to translate the original spell that could restore Angel's soul, but before she can tell anyone. Willow only finds out later when she discovers the disk with the spell on it on the floor. At this point in time, Angelus has his sights set on sucking the entire world into hell by awakening a demon called Acathla. Buffy finds an unexpected ally in Spike who, driven by his appreciation of this world and his resentment of Angel, wants to help her stop Angel's plans. While Buffy is fighting Angelus, Willow manages to restore Angel's soul, but does it too late: the demon is awakening and the only way to stop it is to shed the blood of the one who awoke it on the first place. She shares a last kiss with Angel before stabbing him and sending him to hell, closing the vortex in the process.
His century in hell is never detailed, but he suffers enough that by the time he is unexpectedly returned to this world he is little more than a snarling animal. Buffy hides his return, secretly trying to coax him back into being himself . He eventually recovers and is soon haunted by the First Evil (referred to as "the First"). The First claims that it brought Angel back from Hell, though whether or not this is actually true is never explicitly stated. Either way, it's clear to Angel that his return is no random event, but something done for a purpose. The First taunts Angel by transforming into the various people he'd killed and tries to get him to sleep with Buffy again so he can revert back to Angelus. Angel, refusing to go down that path again, tries to kill himself instead before the temptation to free himself from his soul takes over, but another power intervenes and causes a rare snowfall in Sunnydale which blocks out the sunlight. Although he attempts to resume a relationship with Buffy, he soon realizes that giving her a normal life would be impossible because of what he is. In Season 3's finale, Angel leaves Sunnydale for good with the intention of shutting himself off from the world ("no more love, no more pain, no more demons"). He ends up going to Los Angeles, which is where the spinoff Angel picks up.
When we first meet him in L.A., Angel is slaying vampires and demons on his own. In the very first episode he meets Doyle, a half-demon who receives visions from The Powers That Be, guiding him to people who are in danger. Angel takes his first case to rescue a waitress/aspiring actress from a vampire. Along the way he runs into Cordelia, who used to be a catty, rich, popular cheerleader back at Sunnydale High and is now completely broke due to her parents being caught evading taxes. Her sudden poverty hasn't changed her attitude, though. The girl he was trying to save dies, but Angel does manage to save Cordelia from the same vampire. She and Doyle join up with Angel to form "Angel Investigations" where Angel poses as a PI of sorts. At the end of the episode, Angel also meets Lindsey McDonald for the first time, a prominent lawyer for the demon-serving law firm Wolfram & Hart. Taking the stereotype of "evil lawyers" to new heights, Wolfram & Hart is to become one of the major antagonists of the series.
Angel initially relies on Doyle's visions to help him find those in need but as word of Angel Investigations spreads some people do start to seek him out on their own. In the third episode he is tortured by Marcus, whom Spike has hired to discover the whereabouts of the Gem of Amara. The Gem allows a vampire to become truly immortal by rendering them immune to stakes and sunlight. Angel eventually kills Marcus, but Spike escapes. Much to Doyle's dismay, he destroys the ring and gives up his chance to walk in the sun (although he does watch the sunset one last time).
Soon after, Angel runs into a demon that has regenerative powers. When its blood mixes with his, he becomes a human again for the first time. At first, he's quite excited, eating food and going back to Buffy (they can finally have sex again without him going evil), but he quickly discovers that he can't protect her—or anyone—as a human. He visits the Oracles and asks them to turn back the time. They agree and Angel goes back when he kills the demon before it can turn him human. Only Angel carries the memory of that one day, but he later tells Doyle about it.
In the tenth episode, Doyle sacrifices himself to save the others. Before he dies, he passes on his visions to Cordelia, and from then on, she becomes Angel's connections to the Powers. Angel feels Doyle's loss deeply. It makes him very protective of the few friends he has left, but it also sends him into a bit of a retreat, as he's been shown just how dangerous it can be for those who get involved with him.
Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, a Watcher ("Watchers" serve as guides for the Slayer) last seen back in Sunnydale, soon shows up claiming to be a "rogue demon hunter" (and looking absolutely ridiculous in leather pants). It turns out he was fired from the Watcher's Council. He and Angel work together for one case, and Wesley quickly agrees to continue working for him. Angel forms a fairly close relationship with Cordelia and Wesley, the two becoming the closest thing he has to friends or family. He finds another ally in the form of Charles Gunn, a self-proclaimed vampire hunter, who later plays a larger role as a member of Angel Investigations starting in Season 2. He also occasionally works with a cop named Kate at first, but she later turns on him when vampires kill her father.
There is a brief arc where Angel runs into Faith, who is on the run as a rogue slayer after killing a human she mistook for a vampire and then aiding the main antagonist (the Mayor) back in BtVS Season 3. Angel had tried to help Faith at the time, but he failed and she ended up in a coma until BtVS Season 4/Angel Season 1. She's hired by Wolfram & Hart to kill Angel. Against the wishes of almost everyone around him, Angel persists in trying to rehabilitate her, understanding what it feels like to want to seek redemption. This is as much about him as it is about Faith; if she can be "saved," then maybe that means he can be, too. Buffy is understandably infuriated that he would help Faith after all the damage she has done, and she and Angel argue, parting ways on bad terms, although Angel later goes to Sunnydale to make up with her. At the end of it all, Faith agrees to turn herself into the police. Later on, Angel nearly manages to reform Lindsey, too, who helps save some children. Lindsey falls under the sway of power, though, when he is offered a position as a Junior Partner at the firm.
Near the end of the season, the team stumble upon the Scroll of Aberjian, which contains the Shanshu ("reward") Prophecy. Wesley initially translates it to mean that Angel will die, to which Angel simply shrugs. Cordelia is unnerved by this and demands to know why it is that Angel doesn't seem to feel like he has anything to live for. Things escalate when a demon opens her mind to all of the people who need help around the world (she's supposed to just get visions of the ones in L.A. ), causing her to have painful visions non-stop which puts her into the hospital. Wesley goes back to rescue the prophecy scroll, but the building blows up, and he ends up hospitalized, too. Angel goes on a mission to hunt down the demon, which he succeeds in doing. He recovers the scroll, chopping off Lindsey's hand in the process—but not before Wolfram & Hart is able to complete a major spell.
Wesley revisits the Shanshu Prophecy and with a decided "oops" lets Angel know that what he initially translated as "death" could actually mean "life" because in the language it was written in, life and death are considered the same thing, all part of a circle. He concludes that the prophecy states that "a vampire with a soul" will play a major role in the Apocaylypse and for his efforts, will "live and die", i.e. become human as a result.
And then he wakes up at Landel's.
Personality
Angel starts out as a very isolated figure. He purposely cuts himself off from society, choosing only to step out of the shadows when he absolutely must. Buffy does seem to link him to humanity a bit, but she also increases his feeling of isolation in the sense that Angel sees how comfortable she is with her circle of friends—something he can never have. It's clear that he's not only ashamed of his past misdeeds, but also of what he is now, as when he tells Buffy that he doesn't want her touching him when he's in his vampire form. Angel spends most of his time struggling with his feelings for Buffy. He doesn't think himself worthy of her, but he also sees her as something like his salvation. After he realizes he can never be with her or give her the life she needs, he retreats back into isolation. Buffy is, after all, what gave him a purpose: he was there to help her. When he no longer had that, Angel's mission, his reason for being, was shaken.
When we first see him in L.A. he is going through the motions, saving people for the sake of saving them. He's taking to heart what Buffy told him about how he has to keep on fighting no matter how hard it is, but he doesn't know what he's fighting for. It isn't until the end of the season that Angel stops carrying the notion that his entire existence is to suffer. The remorse for his crimes remains, but he is no longer guilty over being a vampire and a certain sense of self-worth, however shaky it may be, returns. It's a confidence that still slips from time to time, but he nevertheless manages to hold onto it. He's also grown away from Buffy. Although she remains his first and only love (and in some ways, he's still longs for her) he's come to reluctantly accept that she's simply something he can't ever have.
It's important to note that the guilt for his past crimes makes up only half of the equation; the demon still in him plays an equally significant role, if not more so. It's suggested that Angelus is "trapped" within his mind, meaning that simply because he has a soul doesn't mean the demon inside him is gone. His cruelty and sadism remains; the only difference is that with his soul, he has a conscience and therefore forces himself to not act upon his most primal, demonic instincts. He himself admits that sometimes he "misses that clarity" of killing without remorse and later tells Cordelia that he liked the dreams he had of killing people. Angel spends most of his time trying to distance himself from Angelus and his repression is likely what resulted in the strange Angel/Angelus split he seems to have. He's never actually dealt with his demon, just locked it away, which is what separates him from Spike, whose demon changed for the better even before the soul.
Furthermore, even with a soul, Angel can still give in to his darker temptations, particularly when things start getting personal for him. He might be "the good guy" in general in that he works to save the world/other people, but he walks a very fine line. The one thing he seems to really fear is the loss of his soul and becoming a monster again. This is why the Shanshu Prophecy—that promise of being human—is so important to him because being human is the only way he can truly free himself.
Despite all of his issues, though, none of it is something that's obvious to most people who meet him, especially not at first. He's fairly private and guarded, preferring to keep a lot of what he's feeling under wraps, so he often comes off as just distant, cryptic, and occasionally somewhat intense. Definitely not the approachable type. He does sometimes open up a little, however, when he gets to know someone better. He clicks well with people he can relate to—those who don't belong anywhere or are trying to find their way.
Still, he's not made up solely of skulking and mystery, and he does have the ability to crack a joke, including at the expense of himself, though it's almost always in a very deadpan sort of way. He shows this part of him more once he breaks away from Buffy and begins working independently from her. His sense of humour is rather dry; a little on the dark side, even, at times, and his emotions are often quite subtle in revealing themselves. They're there, though—it's not totally impossible to get a smile out of him on a rare occasion. When he's not discussing anything that's overly serious/depressing (and sometimes even when he is), there's often a little bit of an ironic undercurrent to his tone
Angel doesn't always take himself seriously, either, and he can come off fumbling a little, particularly when it comes to human interaction. He's socially awkward, but not antisocial so if someone happens to strike up a conversation with him, he does his best to be friendly back unless he's really distracted by something crisis-worthy or they prove themselves to be particularly annoying. His hesitation to make light conversation with others is most likely because he's not comfortable revealing anything about him, which is probably why the awkwardness only comes out when he's interacting as himself. When he's playing an entirely separate role for undercover purposes, he pulls it off surprisingly well.
It's also revealed that he likes Barry Manilow, but he can't carry a tune or dance to save his life. He has a deep appreciation for ballet, likes classical music, enjoys Spike's (terrible) poetry, and is a fan of hockey. His one talent in the fine arts seems to be his drawing skills—at one point, he sketches a near-accurate image of a demon from Cordelia's description of it alone.
In some ways, Angel can be immature, too, although this part of him tends to show mostly when he's around Spike (particularly the newly souled Spike of Season 5), who seems to have the ability to suck Angel into ridiculous little arguments. Witness, too, his clear jealousy over Spike's soul, over Lindsey's ability to sing better, and over Buffy's new boyfriend: Angel is not above being petty. Despite being almost three centuries old, he doesn't always match that in terms of his maturity. Spike accuses him once of having a flare for drama, which is true to some degree. At times, it seems like he's purposely trying to make an impression. That, and he's got a small streak of vanity. Appearances are important to him: he might like to skulk in the shadows, but his car is still a shiny convertible, his hair is always fixed nicely, and his clothes are far from shabby. Both of these things might be the influence of Angelus, who can be pretty flashy and likes to put on a show of sorts for his victims. Angel's also prone to the occasional speech or two.
He also takes well to the role of a leader, a role that's sort of been thrust upon him in a sense and one that he's come to accept. He doesn't hesitate to take charge in a crisis and can be quite assertive if the situation calls for it (plus, as Angelus, he was pretty much the alpha male of their vampire family). Cordelia and Wesley might be his friends and they might be able to push him over on certain topics, but he doesn't hesitate to pull the "who's the boss here?" card if they start questioning his decisions when working a case.
Most of the time, he keeps a pretty even temper, but that's not to say he doesn't have one. The quick way he often resorts to violence to get what he wants/needs from those who don't particularly matter or those whom he doesn't especially like suggests his patience is not innate; it's more something he consciously tries to maintain around the people he cares about, mainly so he doesn't scare them off or make them think he's gone evil again. Even around his friends, violent outbursts, while extremely rare, can occur under the right conditions (just watch him hurl the phone against the wall in "Blind Date."). Any real, true anger from him, though, is the kind that burns slowly beneath the surface until he finally snaps—and his moral compass can get significantly skewed when that happens. But it takes a lot to push him that far.
At Landel's
See the thread tracking post here.
Melanthe |
Latest page update: made by Melanthe
, Jan 10 2009, 1:29 AM EST
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by Melanthe
3 words added 3 words deleted view changes - complete history) |
|
Keyword tags:
Angel
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
character
More Info: links to this page
|
There are no threads for this page.
Be the first to start a new thread.
