Angel is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt for the television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. He is played by actor David Boreanaz. Angel is a vampire who is cursed with a soul, a punishment designed to make him suffer for his past evil. Like many characters in the Buffyverse, Angel goes through drastic changes, starting out as a reluctant hero who stayed in the shadows, and ended up an altruistic champion of mankind, seeking to voluntarily atone for his sins.

Fictional character biography

Liam and Angelus

Angel's story before he met Buffy unfolds in flashbacks scattered among numerous episodes of both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, presented out of chronological order.

Born in 1727, Liam (no surname given) was born to a middle-class linen merchant in Galway, Ireland. By 1753, at the age of 26, he develops a taste for alcohol, women and sloth. Liam is a hedonist whose only real ambition lies in seeing the world. For a drunken layabout, this seems a laughable dream, until he is expelled from his house by his disapproving father. While engaging a drunken tavern brawl that evening, he catches the eye of Darla, a vampire disguised as a noblewoman. Upon being tossed out of the tavern for causing trouble, Liam is lured into an alley by Darla, who promises to show him the world, then transforms him into a vampire. The price is the loss of his human soul, along with his conscience, freeing Liam to act upon his darker impulses.

On the night he rises from his grave, Liam sets about murdering the entire community, culminating in an attack on his own house. He first kills his little sister, Kathy, who unknowingly invited the demon in, believing that Liam had come back to her as an "angel", subsequently killing his parents. Kathy's belief that he was an angel was likely the inspiration for his vampire name, "Angelus" (the Latinate for "Angel"). He is later described in historical volumes as "the demon with the face of an angel" ("Somnambulist"). After leaving Ireland, Angelus and Darla cut a bloody swath through Wales and northern England, before finally reaching London in 1760. During Angelus' first meeting with the Master in the city sewers, he openly mocks the older vampire despite the power and authority, showing no fear despite the Master's greater age, and confronts Darla about her decision to remain underground when she could be traveling the world with him. Won over by his words, Darla chooses to live with Angelus, abandoning the Master's leadership.

In May 1764, Angelus and Darla killed the family of vampire hunter Daniel Holtz. Holtz devoted himself to capturing Angelus and Darla, chasing them across Europe. Angelus and Darla had a near miss in France, after making too much noise by ordering room service and eating the waiters. Darla flees to Austria, leaving Angelus in a burning barn and riding off on their only horse. After meeting again in Vienna, Angelus and Darla sire the vampires James and Elizabeth. In Marseilles, 1767, Holtz tracks them down and manages to put numerous arrows in Angelus. Holtz briefly lost them in northern Africa, only to track Angelus to Rome, Italy in 1771. Instead of killing Holtz, Angelus and Darla realize that they have come to view him "like family" and make a sport of ruining his life. Holtz abandons his hunt and retires to York, England, until in 1773 a demon named Sahjhan offers to take him to the future where he may continue his revenge.

Angelus later sires a Puritan by the name of Penn, who mimics Angelus by wreaking havoc on his father and killing his family. Over time, he begins copying Angelus' 'signature' of leaving a cross-shaped mark on the face of his victims in order to spite God. In 1789, Angelus - apparently alone for reasons unknown - encounters The Beast in Prussia, standing in a field of bodies, who seeks Angelus' aid in killing the Svear Priestesses, a group who wish to banish the Beast and who can only be killed by a vampire. When he declines to join with the Beast, he is met with violent reprisal, but a group of Svear priestesses banish the Beast while Angelus is passing out.

In 1860, Drusilla from London, England, a young woman "cursed" with the "sight," something her mother saw as "an affront to the Lord," catches the attention of Angelus. Drusilla and her sisters are all noted to be virgins, and Drusilla is described as having been "sweet, pure and chaste." While posing as her priest to torment her, Angelus killed her family, which caused Drusilla to flee to a convent. On the day she was to take her holy orders, Angelus massacred the convent (he had an obsession with nuns, including a massacre of those at "Our Lady of Lochenbee"). After having sex with Darla right in front of Drusilla, Angelus finally pushed her over the edge, driving her insane before he finally sired her. Drusilla is Angelus' "masterpiece," an everlasting example of his finest cruelty, as her immortality means that her torment shall never end.

Drusilla, in turn, sires William the Bloody, for whom Angelus largely served as a mentor and "role model". William, who later becomes known as "Spike," goes so far as to call the elder vampire his "Yoda". Angelus taught William about the art of mass slaughter, including an incident during a wedding party where Angelus beat the groom to death with his own arm. Angelus threatens to stake Spike in a London mine shaft in 1880, as punishment for putting the vampire quartet on the run after attracting too much attention. Angelus introduces Spike to the existence of the Slayer as a cautionary tale, but Spike takes it as a challenge.

In 1890, Angelus attended a production of Giselle by the Blinnikov, a Russian ballet troupe run by Count Kurskov. Despite being evil, he is moved to tears during the performance (Angel refers to this incident in an episode, saying that he "cried like a baby, and I was evil!"). In 1894, Angelus and Spike are captured by the Immortal's henchmen in Rome, Italy and hung from a ceiling while the Immortal had a threesome with Darla and Drusilla. After the henchman free them with little explanation, the vampire duo are enraged when their respective consorts wax about the Immortal's actions. Both vow vengeance against the Immortal, but don't get close to him again until 2004, in the midst of a case for Angel Investigations. Darla and Angelus were also present at an earthquake in Budapest, Hungary around the turn of the century, where Angelus was a particularly "bad boy".

Cursed

In 1898, while in Borşa, Romania, Angelus tortured and murdered the favorite daughter of a tribe of Kalderash Gypsies, apparently a birthday present from Darla. To avenge her death, the Kalderash gypsies curse him by restoring his human soul, thus afflicting him with a conscience and condemning him to an eternity of remorse for the crimes he has committed. Darla finds Angel huddling in their apartment muttering about all the atrocities they have committed. Repulsed by his "filthy human soul", Darla tries to coerce the father of the dead Gypsy girl to reverse the curse; an overeager Spike kills the rest of the tribe while Darla is busy negotiating with the man. Seeing her leverage has been wasted, a frustrated Darla snaps the father's neck and leaves. Angelus is left homeless and scavenging the streets for rats. He attempts to kill a woman, but finds that he cannot bring himself to do so.

During the Boxer Rebellion in Beijing, China, the ensouled vampire, now known as "Angel", tries and fails to resume his life with Darla. To satisfy her, he starts killing humans again, but Darla notices that he is only hunting rapists and murderers, never targeting innocents. Darla catches Angel trying to hide a group of Christian missionaries from her. When Angel goes to feed on rats down at the waterfront, Darla kills the missionary family and brings back their infant child as a test for Angel. Unable to kill it, Angel flees with the baby and separates from Darla for good, stating that he can't continue to be something he's not.

Angel arrives in New York City, New York through Ellis Island in 1902. Some time later, during the Great Depression, he traveled through Montana. During World War II, Angel is coerced by The Demon Research Initiative into undertaking a secret mission: he must rescue an American submarine crew from three vampires (including Spike) who were captured by the Nazis as part of an experiment to create super-soldiers. During the mission, Angel is forced to sire a fatally-injured Sam Lawson in order for him to repair the submarine's engine, which was damaged during a German attack. Angel later claims to have known Bugsy Siegel around this time, in the early days of Las Vegas, Nevada.

In 1952, while in Los Angeles, California, Angel was a resident at the Hyperion Hotel, the future base of Angel Investigations. Although he tried to isolate himself, Angel was sought out by Judy, who had fled her home town after stealing a sum of money from her job when it was revealed that she had a black mother and a white father. Things quickly deteriorate when a string of murders and suicides gripped the hotel, and the guests become increasingly paranoid. As Angel learns, this is the result of a Thesulac demon, a demon living off fear. Although he initially tried to kill the demon, the guests at the hotel turn against him, and Angel is lynched. Surviving the hanging, and disgusted with the humans, Angel freely allows the demon to consume everyone inside the hotel.

Angel claims to have known the Rat Pack and to have been present during Elvis Presley's wedding reception after his marriage to Priscilla Ann Beaulieu in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 1, 1967.

In New York during the 1970s, Angel witnesses a robbery at a doughnut shop. After the robber shoots an employee and runs away, Angel stays with the man as he dies, and then proceeds to feed on him. Disgusted with himself, Angel then exiles himself to the alleyways, where he spends another 20 years homeless and feeding on rats.

Two decades later, a shadow of his former self, the reclusive Angel is sought out by a demon named Whistler in 1996. Whistler persuades Angel to join the fight against evil. He then brings Angel to meet the newly-called Vampire Slayer, Buffy Summers in Los Angeles. The following year, when he and Buffy finally meet in Sunnydale, he introduces himself, not as Angelus, but as Angel.

Sunnydale

Although Angel already sees Buffy while she is still in L.A., he does not introduce himself to her until after her move to Sunnydale, and after her first day at Sunnydale High. The two fall in love, but Buffy does not realize Angel is a vampire until several weeks later in the episode "Angel", when he unintentionally vamps out after kissing her. Though they try to deny their feelings, they cannot resist the passion growing between them, and the two begin to date after Angel helps to save her from a demonic frat party. When they finally consummate their relationship in "Surprise", Angel experiences one moment of pure happiness, which breaks the Gypsy curse, and loses his soul. Without the compassion and conscience instilled by his human soul, Angel instantly reverts to his former evil self, Angelus, in the following episode.

Angelus allies himself once again with Spike and Drusilla, who have recently settled in Sunnydale. Resenting the humiliation he felt because Buffy had made Angel feel like a human being, Angelus takes immense pleasure in tormenting the Slayer and her friends. First, he helps Spike and Dru deploy a powerful demon known as the Judge. After Buffy destroys the Judge, Angelus embarks on a guerilla campaign, lurking in the shadows, preying on Buffy's classmates, sending her gruesome messages, even drawing pictures of her and her mother as they sleep and leaving them in her bedroom.

He proceeds to murder Jenny Calendar, which serves him in two ways; first, he eliminates an enemy (Jenny was born Janna of the Kalderash clan) and destroys her work just as she manages to successfully decipher the lost Gypsy curse which could be used to restore Angel's soul. Second, Angelus uses Jenny's death to viciously torment Rupert Giles, Jenny's paramour and the person on whom Buffy depends most. After this, Angelus widens his focus and begins a scheme to awaken the demon Acathla and bring about the end of the world. Buffy is determined to stop him despite their history, and is able to overcome him in combat. Just as she prepares for the finishing blow however, Willow Rosenberg is able to restore Angel's soul. Since Acathla can only be stopped by the blood of the individual who activated him, Buffy is forced to sacrifice Angel to save the world. Impaled on the Slayer's enchanted sword, Angel is sucked into Acathla's vortex which suddenly snaps closed.

Angel returns to Earth in "Faith, Hope & Trick". Because time moves differently in Acathla's dimension, he has experienced several hundred years of torment, and when he reappears in his mansion, he is in a feral state. Buffy finds him and helps restore him to sanity, but he begins to suspect that whatever force returned him from his Hell has a purpose of its own. He begins to experience what he believes to be hallucinations of his many past victims, most notably Jenny Calendar, taunting him to kill Buffy. He discovers that the First Evil is not only apparently responsible for his return to Earth, but is responsible for the "hallucinations" (The First has the ability to take the form of anyone who has died, and to make itself visible only to whom it wishes). He resists, choosing instead to commit suicide by staying outside when the sun rises, but a sudden, unexplained snow clouds the Sun.

Angel and Buffy attempt to resume their relationship, but Angel begins to doubt that he will ever be able to give Buffy a remotely human life. When Buffy's mother and even the season's "Big Bad", Mayor Richard Wilkins, tell him that he cannot give her a real future, he tells Buffy that he is leaving Sunnydale after they stop Wilkins, although they share a last dance at her prom. In an attempt to distract Buffy, rogue slayer Faith Lehane shoots him with an arrow coated with poison that can only be cured with the blood of a Slayer. When Buffy is unable to bring him the body of Faith, she tells him to drink from her. He is cured, but nearly kills her in the process when he gives in to his instincts, although he manages to get her to the hospital in time to save her life. He tells Buffy that he's just going to leave without saying goodbye; when they win the fight against Wilkins, Angel and Buffy share a look, and then he leaves for Los Angeles.

Angel Investigations

In L.A., Angel spends a few months alone, patrolling dives and dark alleys, battling vampires who hunt there. Soon enough, he receives support in his attempts to redeem himself in the service of others. First, Doyle, a half-demon and fellow Irishman, is sent by The Powers That Be. Almost immediately thereafter, Angel runs into Cordelia Chase, a former classmate of Buffy's who has moved to L.A. to find wealth and fame. The trio form Angel Investigations, a shoestring operation whose mission statement is to "Help the Helpless."

Doyle, Angel's trusted friend and sole connection to the Powers, sacrifices himself in the episode "Hero" to save others, leading Angel to become even more protective of those few he holds dear. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, who had briefly served as Watcher to both Buffy and Faith in Sunnydale, arrives in L.A. claiming to be a "rogue demon hunter," a lone wolf sort who only works solo. After their first case, however, Wesley is eager to stay and assist Angel and Cordelia in their mission. A few months later, they are joined by lifelong demon fighter, Charles Gunn. During this time, three young Wolfram and Hart associates, Lindsey McDonald, Lee Mercer, and Lilah Morgan, attempt to have Angel killed by the rogue vampire slayer, Faith. Under Angel's influence, the deeply troubled Faith starts along her own path to redemption, ultimately turning herself in to the police as the first step toward making amends for her crimes.

As Angel continues to help the helpless in Los Angeles, his good deeds begin to seriously disrupt the plans of the evil inter-dimensional law firm, Wolfram and Hart. In an attempt to control him, the firm resurrects his sire and former lover, Darla, who comes back as a human rather than as a vampire. Wolfram and Hart then summons Drusilla, who turns Darla into a vampire again. Angel turns to a darker side of himself, fires his crew, and embarks on a vendetta against both the law firm and the newly reunited Darla and Drusilla. During this time, Angel refuses to prevent the slaughter of a very large group of Wolfram & Hart employees at the hands of Dru and Darla, although he later aids the Host in averting the end of the world when an attempt to stop time goes wrong. After a devastating spiritual defeat by Holland Manners, who tells him that the evil of Wolfram & Hart simply comes from humanity rather than demons, Angel attempts to shed his soul by having sex with Darla, but instead of happiness, finds despair. A moment of clarity follows the desperate act, and Angel realizes that his purpose is still to do all the good he can, even if he can't do all the good he wants, because, in a world where there's no grand final plan, a single act of kindness can make all the difference in the world.

Having hoped to get her boy Angelus back, Darla is horrified and infuriated by Angel's epiphany, and flees Los Angeles. After a difficult reconciliation that involves Wesley taking over the official position of leader of the group, the Angel Investigations team find themselves transported to the demon dimension, Pylea in the episode "Over the Rainbow" when an attempt to vanquish a demon goes wrong and results in Cordelia being sent into the other dimension. Eventually, after Angel defeats the undefeated Champion of Pylea, the Groosalugg, they return with a new team member, Winifred Burkle, in tow, and to the news that the love of Angel's life, Buffy, has died. During this time, the Angel Investigations team also enlists the help of demon karaoke bar-owner Lorne, known initially only as The Host.

Fatherhood

Despite Buffy's miraculous resurrection a few months later, Angel finds that his previously platonic love for Cordelia has grown to be romantic. Before he has a chance to confess his feelings, however, Darla returns, pregnant with his son, to be named Connor. False prophecies, time travelers and betrayal lead to Angel losing his infant son to an old enemy, Holtz, who abducts Connor soon after his birth, taking him to a hell dimension (Quor-Toth) where time passes differently. When Connor returns days later, he is a young man who has been raised by Holtz to believe that Angel is still a soulless monster. Holtz takes his own life in such a way that Connor is led to believe he was killed by Angel, and vows to make Angel pay for the suffering he had caused Holtz. That same night, Connor sinks his father to the bottom of the ocean in a steel coffin and Cordelia ascends to a higher plane, the feelings shared between her and Angel still left unspoken.

Rescued by Wesley from his watery prison three months later, Angel's relationship with Connor is strained. It is complicated further by the return of an amnesiac Cordelia, who prefers to stay with Connor because he told her the truth while the others lied to her (albeit because they thought it was for her own good). When a very powerful demon known only as the Beast arrives and begins an attempt to bring forth an apocalypse, Angel's worst fears are realized when he has to strip himself of his soul and revert to his evil alter ego in order to defeat it. Angelus does indeed overcome the Beast, and is also deft enough to realize that the Beast was a mere "flunkie" serving an even deeper evil; the Beast he knew was only interested in smashing and slaughter, and it was unlikely that the Beast would have become smarter since Angelus fought him.

Although he is momentarily free to wreak a little havoc of his own, Angelus is recaptured and re-ensouled with the help of Faith (who almost dies in her quest to capture Angelus) and Willow, culminating in a brief but violent mental battle between Angel and Angelus. After his soul is restored, Angel figures out that the enemy he has been battling is a little closer to home than the group had previously considered, realizing that whatever the Beast's "boss" is, it is using Cordelia's body to carry out its plans. After battling and defeating the divine being known as Jasmine, Angel is offered the L.A. branch of Wolfram & Hart on the grounds that he ended world peace. Angel acts against all of his instincts and makes a deal with his sworn enemy, in exchange for Wolfram & Hart erasing Connor’s memories and giving him a normal life, and trying to find a way to cure Cordelia, who fell into a coma after Jasmine was born.

Wolfram & Hart

The lines between good and evil blur as Angel moves into Wolfram & Hart, and they challenge Angel's perceptions of himself and his destiny. Matters are further complicated when Spike appears as a ghost, emerging from a familiar amulet sent to Angel in the mail. Sharing a complicated history of murder and mayhem, they have spent more than a century as rivals in everything. Now both possessing souls, and both still in love with Buffy, they have evolved into very different heroes in the war against evil. Forced to co-exist, they wage a protracted, insidious battle of wits, ending when they finally come to an understanding and acceptance of their unique brotherhood on their journey to redemption.

In the episode "Destiny," when they prepare to do battle over the Cup of Perpetual Torment, Spike tells Angel "You had a soul forced on you. As a curse. Make you suffer for all the horrible things you've done. Me, I fought for my soul, went through the demon trials, almost did me in a dozen times over, but I kept fighting. Because I knew it was the right thing to do. It's my destiny." Although the Cup turns out to be fake, Angel's defeat at the hands of Spike is a source for inner turmoil in the following episodes, as he left wondering if he is still the vampire champion of the prophecy. Most of these events turn out to be the machinations of Lindsey McDonald, a returning nemesis, and after he is defeated, Angel grows more confident once more.

This defeat coincides with a last visit from Cordelia, who passes along a single vision to Angel. Now finally understanding that he will never be able to completely stop the forces of evil, Angel decides that temporarily severing the Senior Partners' hold on Earth is enough. Together with his comrades, Angel prepares to suicidally incur the apocalyptic wrath of the Senior Partners as a way of going out in a blaze of glory. They assassinate the members of the Circle of the Black Thorn, the Senior Partners' instruments on Earth for pulling all the political and economic strings. In this effort, Gunn is badly wounded, and Wesley Wyndam-Pryce is killed. Lorne is instructed to kill Lindsey, temporarily an ally, after they've completed their mission, and he does so, leaving behind Angel and his team afterwards. Gunn manages to make it to the meeting point, the alley behind the Hyperion Hotel, where he, Angel, Spike and Illyria engage in battle with the dark armies that the Senior Partners have sent against them. The last words spoken on screen are Angel's, "Let's go to work."

After the Fall

Angel has been picked up for a canonical "season 6" comic-book series, written by Brian Lynch and plotted by Joss Whedon, a sixteen issue arc titled "Angel: After The Fall." Both Angel and Spike are known to have survived the showdown with Wolfram & Hart's forces on Earth. Season Six is kicked off showing an overall loss for Team Angel after the battle. In retaliation to Angel's stance Wolfram & Hart has seemingly moved the city of Los Angeles to a hell dimension, turning it into a Post-Apocalyptic territory filled with demons. In an attempt to deprive him of his strength and immortality when he needed it most, the Senior Partners have also turned Angel into a human, forcing Angel and Wesley to rely on mystical enchantments to provide Angel with at least a measure of his old abilities.

Angel is still based at the demolished Wolfram and Hart building and is under the watch of the Senior Partners' newest liaison, Wesley. Angel is however planning to take the fight to the Senior Partners and free Los Angeles, first by destroying all of the demon lords of Los Angeles (Spike appears to be one of these, but it is later revealed that this is a cover to allow him to move humans to safety). While preparing for the war, though, he rescues citizens in peril and sends them, anonymously, to his son Connor who has set up a safehouse with Nina and Gwen. Angel is not alone, however. With him is his newest friend and companion, the dragon that was closing in on him in the final scene of the Angel series finale. After befriending the dragon in the alley, they had joined forces to make a powerful team. Having learned the truth about Spike, Angel declares to the demon lords of Los Angeles that he shall free all their human slaves, and arranges to meet them in two days to restore Los Angeles to Earth.

Having used his rituals to heal his wounds, Angel contacts Lorne, now the lord of the Silver Lake area, to confirm his old friend's neutral status in the upcoming struggle against the demon lords, and is reunited with the Groosalugg, who offers his services to Angel in the upcoming battle just before Gunn, now a vampire, destroys the Wolfram & Hart building as part of his revenge against Angel. When Angel goes up against the champions of the Demon Lords, he initially stands alone in his fight. Unknown to him, Lorne went around and rallied all of Angel's friends to come join him in his fight. After the fight is over and the Demon Lords defeated, Angel and crew head back to their old home base: the Hyperion Hotel. Later, shortly after killing a nest of vampires, Illyria reveals to the group that Angel is no longer a vampire. Connor gets angry with Angel for being lied to and takes off. If that wasn't enough, Angel and company then run into Gunn, who is now a vampire.

Upon seeing what has become of Gunn, Angel tells Gunn that he's sorry. Gunn remarks that he figured he would say that, and proceeds to show Angel his base of operations (Angel goes along with it knowing that it is a dangerous situation). Gunn even proceeds to ask for Angel's help in saving L.A. (he clearly has become insane). Angel lies, saying that he will help him even though he is pulling out a stake from behind his coat. He thinks to himself that Angelus would be proud of his deception, but he hates himself even more for it. Gunn is able to beat him in a fight, and proceeds to use a mystical item to remove the magics keeping Angel alive. Gunn leaves him there to die.

Powers and abilities

Angel has the common powers and vulnerabilities of a Buffyverse vampire, though he is considerably stronger than most other vampires and demons. He has demonstrated enhanced speed in episodes such as "Blood Money", "Reprise", "Release" and "That Vision Thing", crossing several meters in the blink of an eye. He is a highly skilled combatant and generally fights unarmed, using circular attacks such as spinning kicks and back hands. In addition to his proficiency in many forms of martial arts, he is quite skilled in the usage of a variety of weapons. He typically favors the axe and the broadsword. Angel also possesses some cognitive abilities; he has a photographic memory ("Habeas Corpses") which is triggered on occasion, and has displayed a psychic connection to those he has sired on at least one occasion ("Somnambulist"). In "Power Play", he reveals that Cordelia passed on her visions to him earlier that season in "You're Welcome". However, he believes that this was a "one-shot deal", possibly meaning that this ability was only temporary. As Angelus, he displays considerable skill in manipulating others emotional states and has driven his victims insane, as seen with Drusilla. With or without his soul, he is shown to be an expert in torture, having tortured Giles as Angelus ("Becoming, Part Two") and Linwood as Angel ("Forgiving"). Angel seems to be aware of how skilled he is in a fight, once telling a demon, "If you're lucky, you'll last ten minutes, tops. Really lucky, you'll be unconscious for the last five."

In addition to his supernatural abilities and fighting skills, Angel has displayed a number of other talents. He apparently has "very nice handwriting" and is a skilled artist, first seen in the episode "Passion", using charcoal crayon and China ink to draw portraits. He is fluent in several languages, including Korean, Italian, Spanish, French, Latin, Greek, Belarusian, Romanian, German, Irish. In "Harm's Way", he tries to learn the language of the Vinji and Sahrvin demons from an instruction tape. He can also drive, owning a 1967 Plymouth GTX for the first four seasons of the show and a Dodge Viper, along with a whole garage full of other cars, in Season Five. Likely because of his age, he has displayed incredible knowledge of demonology and history rivaling (or perhaps even surpassing) that of Giles and Wesley, and has some skill in witchcraft and sorcery, but his natural aptitude for it is only moderate, far below that of Willow's. Angel is competent, but uncomfortable, with using modern technology; he frequently struggles to understand a cell phone (once commenting that they must have been made by a "bored warlock") and confuses computer terminology such as "chatty rooms". He is a convincing improvisational actor, as seen in the episodes "Enemies", "Five by Five", "The Shroud of Rahmon", and "Power Play". Also, Cordelia comments in "Parting Gifts" that "for someone that's on a liquid diet, he's a good cook."

Following "Not Fade Away", After the Fall reveals that Angel is no longer a vampire. His new limitations are unclear, but he clearly retains enough of his old strength to go up against Illyria and do some damage, although he lacks his old healing abilities when in combat. In issue #4, it's revealed that Angel did in fact become human during the battle in "Not Fade Away" as a result of the Senior Partners attempting to deprive him of his strength when he most needs it, and is using various enchantments and glamours to keep up the appearance that he is still a vampire despite the potential risks involved in a human using the spells he relies on to imitate his old healing abilities for a prolonged period.

Characterization

Boreanaz said that when he auditioned for the role of Angel, the role was described to him: "He may get hit, but he'll always come back. He has the grace and movements of a boxer, and he's mysterious". Originally, Angel was supposed to be a one-time character until David Boreanaz was found. However, when it was planned that Angel would lose his soul, Joss Whedon was doubtful of David Boreanaz being capable of portraying the cruelty of Angelus. Joss changed his mind after he saw David performing Angelus and said that he never saw anyone creeping him out like that.

Appearance

Although Angel is meant to be an immortal, and thus never physically age, Angel's appearance does change in accordance with David Boreanaz's age. When Boreanaz first appears in Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Angel, he is 27 (filming started in the summer of 1996). By the air date of the last episode in 2004, he is 35 (34 when last filmed). This element of the fictional universe calls for a suspension of disbelief, although it has been a source of humour on DVD commentaries. Consistently though, along with his trademark messy-spiky hairdo and three quarter length leather coats, Angel has a tattoo on his shoulder-blade of a griffin from The Book of Kells, with the addition of the letter 'A' beneath it.

Character traits

Angel was born in Ireland, and in flashbacks his Irish accent is extremely strong. By the time of his first appearance on Buffy, Angel has developed an American accent, having lived in the country for close to a century (however in "Calvary", Angelus once stated that he still could speak in an Irish accent if he wanted). During the 1970s while in America, Angel becomes somewhat of a "Fanilow" (a fan of Barry Manilow), particularly loving the song "Mandy". As he quotes, "I think it's kinda pretty". During his mental battle with Angelus, his demon stated that he particularly hated Angel's visits to Manilow's concerts. He also stated in Season 5 that he enjoyed William the Bloody's poetry, to which Spike dismissively retorts "You like Barry Manilow." He and Connor performed an altered version of the song about Jasmine in "The Magic Bullet". He is also a fan of Charlton Heston and he and Fred once went to a double feature of Soylent Green and The Omega Man.

Given that he cannot age and the fact he has lived in the United States for over a century, Angel says (in the series premiere) that he had seen over fourteen wars (not including the Vietnam War, on the grounds that "They never declared it.")

In contrast to his youthful counterparts, Angel is rather calm and level-headed in moments of crisis due to his advanced age and extensive fighting experience. Nevertheless, he is fiercely protective of the people he cares about most (i.e. Buffy and Cordelia). Angel has almost no social life and little humor, although this somewhat improves over the course of Angel, to the extent that he attends a show in Las Vegas with Gunn and Fred and even goes so far as to date werewolf Nina Ash. His brooding attitude is frequently mocked by Spike and once by Wesley.

Other preferences include, according to the character Cordelia Chase, a "thing" for petite blondes. She most likely drew this conclusion from his romantic relationships with Buffy Summers and Darla, with the attitude being continued in his relationship with Nina (although his bond with Cordelia is an exception to this 'rule'). Angel is also a fan of ice hockey (he watches the game in "Life of the Party") and he hopes Connor will grow up playing the game, one of the reasons being that it is a sport where most games are played indoors, and at night (allowing for vampires to spectate).

Over the course of the show, Angel has been able to do things that a normal vampire cannot. Angel once insisted, "There are three things I don't do: tan, date, and sing in public," but he has broken all of those rules on occasion; he sang in Caritas, dated Nina and Buffy, and endured sunlight by various methods. During "In the Dark" he possessed the Gem of Amara, allowing him to go to the beach during the day; in "I Will Remember You" he was temporarily restored to human life; he was unaffected by the sun of Pylea; and throughout Season 5, he had an office protected by "necro-tempered" glass that prevented the sun from affecting him.

Similarly, although Angel is technically dead, he has experienced a heartbeat on three separate occasions; once when he was temporarily resurrected by the blood of a Mohra demon ("I Will Remember You"), when he was temporarily transferred into the body of an old man with a heart condition ("Carpe Noctem", which resulted in him suffering a heart attack before he was returned to his original body), and when his heart was briefly restarted during a fight with Gwen ("Ground State").

The character's villainous streak as Angelus has been well-received and documented. In Buffy & Angel: Official Yearbook 2006, Angelus was voted number two by fans as "Best Buffyverse Villain", with Glory as number one and the Mayor as number three.

Angel vs. Angelus

A hybrid of man and vampire, Angel constantly deals with vampiric urges, as well as a human conscience which prevents him from ever forgetting his past misdeeds. The early seasons of Buffy express the view that when a human becomes a vampire, "You die, and a demon sets up shop in your old home; it walks like you and it talks like you - but it's not you" ("Lie to Me"). However, later seasons of Buffy and Angel show the relationship between Angelus and Angel as more intertwined. They share the same memories, and Angel never resumed his original human name, Liam (except while amnesiac in "Spin the Bottle"). Also, in "Eternity", Angel reverts back to his evil self without even losing his soul, after he is drugged and enters a state of 'bliss' that allows Angelus to regain control.

Angel: 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.

(Episode 1.07 (Buffy) "Angel")

Angel: ...there is no guilt, there is no torment, no consequences... It's pure. I remember what that was like. Sometimes I miss that clarity.

(Episode 1.21 (Angel) "Blind Date")

The relationship between Angel and Angelus has been depicted in numerous ways. Both personas are shown battling for control inside Angel's mind in the episode "Orpheus". In Season Four, Jasmine threatens Angelus by telling him that she will lock him away inside Angel forever, where he will be forever watching, unable to escape his prison. Angelus particularly resents Angel's two decades of eating rats after an incident where he succumbed to temptation and fed from a murder victim. As seen in "Becoming, Part One" and "Becoming, Part Two", it takes a few moments for Angel to remember the crimes he has committed after the curse comes into effect.

Before making a kill, Angelus takes great pains to terrorize his victims (as in the case of Jenny Calendar) or damage them psychologically beyond repair (as in the case of Drusilla). Spike admits in "Damage" that he never looked at the victims faces, and only killed to satisfy his lust for brawling and blood. Angel, on the other hand, recalls that he relished the look of panic and fear on his victims' faces and shamelessly engaged in killing sprees to indulge his sadistic urges. He is prone to brutal displays of what he would see as affection, such as nailing a puppy to a tree. Another example of Angelus' grisly acts of "kindness" can be seen when he brought Drusilla a still-warm human heart on Valentine's Day. Angelus is obsessed with elevating murder to an art form. In "Fool for Love", he chides Spike for his love of senseless brawling. "A good kill takes pure artistry. Without that, we're just animals," he growls. He delights at the prospect of torturing a bound Giles in "Becoming, Part Two," mentioning that the last time he tortured someone, they hadn't even invented the chainsaw. In the episode "Amends", The First Evil reminds a guilt-ridden Angel how he killed a man's three children, then propping them up in bed so that they appeared to be sleeping. It was only after the father kissed one of them good night that he felt how cold they were. This is mirrored in a prior episode when Angelus places the recently-slain body of Jenny Calender in Giles' bed, making Giles believe she had set up a romantic evening for them.

Angelus' Achilles heel is his own narcissism. His tendency to gloat and relentlessly taunt opponents while fighting is sometimes exploited by his adversaries to seize the upper hand in battle. Spike once observes, "you bloody well talk them to death before you kill them!"

Angelus is often referred to as 'Angel,' the former typically being used to distinguish the two if necessary.

Aliases and nicknames

His original human name was "Liam," presumably given to him by his upper-middle class parents. He was later known as "Angelus," signifying his reputation of being "the demon with the face of an Angel," during his 150 year reign of terror with his partner Darla. Sometime after his re-ensoulment, he simply went by "Angel".

After being summoned by "The Powers That Be," he was often called their "Champion," and served as the Champion for a pregnant woman protecting her holy daughter. In the early days of Angel Investigations, Cordelia would refer to him as "the Dark Avenger" and "the Dark Revenger". By Angel's third year in Los Angeles, Cordelia, his liaison to The Powers That Be, considered him to be "The World's Champion". Angel's team has often referred to him as their Champion.

His rival Spike refers to him as, "Captain Forehead," alluding to his prominent forehead. In their earlier years, Spike called Angelus his "Yoda," due to the fact that Angelus trained Spike in the ways of evil (it should be of note that in Spike's first appearance on Buffy he refers to Angel as his sire, but this point was later dropped). Spike has also been known to refer to Angel as "Peaches" or "The Poof", as well as "Grand Sire" or "Grandaddy Sire", with reference to that fact that Angel, as Angelus, sired Drusilla, who in turn sired Spike.

Lorne also calls him various names, including "Angel Hair" and "Angel Cakes".

In both the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the media tie-ins, Xander refers to Angel as "Dead Boy".

Relationships

Romantic interests

• Darla: Angel was sired by Darla. The pair were lovers until Angelus' transformation into Angel drove them apart, although he briefly tried to redeem himself in her eyes. Because Darla sired Angel, he sees her as something of a maternal figure. During Darla's brief moments of humanity - when she is resurrected by Wolfram and Hart - Angel goes above and beyond in trying to help his "mother" and lover atone. When Darla becomes pregnant with her and Angel's son, Connor, Darla tells Angel that their son is "the only good thing" that they ever did together and to make sure he (Angel) never forgets it; she then stakes herself in order to allow Connor to be born. In the Angel episode "Dear Boy", Darla brutally accuses Angel of finding not love with Buffy, but simply something new that resembled Darla. Angel never denies this assertion.
• Buffy Summers: When Angel first sees Buffy, he realizes that he wants to be someone and his faith in humanity is inspired. When they sleep together for the first time, Angel loses his soul, becoming Angelus. Buffy is forced to kill him, to save the world, even though Willow has just ensouled him. After he returns from Hell, he and Buffy still love each other, and attempt a relationship. He tells Buffy in "Earshot" when she questions his feelings for her that in 243 years, he's loved exactly one person: Buffy. However, he realizes this relationship is unfair to Buffy and by being with her, he is unable to give her a "normal" relationship. He breaks up with her in "The Prom" telling her, "You need someone who can take you into the light. Someone who can make love to you." He needs to begin his path to redemption and leaves Sunnydale. Buffy comes to L.A., and for a brief time, Angel becomes human. He has to rewind the day, because being human will eventually lead to Buffy's death and that the Powers That Be have not released him from his atonement, nor offered him "forgiveness". Their relationship suffers in "Sanctuary", when Buffy comes to Los Angeles for revenge against Faith for her actions in Sunnydale after her coma under the guise of protecting Angel, only to discover that Angel is protecting Faith; in the final scenes of the episode, at the end of the argument, Buffy uses her new relationship with Riley Finn as verbal ammo against Angel, to which he reminds her that he cannot move on from their past relationship and angrily orders her to go back to Sunnydale. The two do reconcile when Angel comes back to Sunnydale to apologize for the way he treated her in L.A. After Buffy dies in the fifth season finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel spends months away at a monastery in Asia. He comes to help Buffy in the Buffy finale and provides aid to Buffy in the final fight against Caleb. He gives her an amulet that proves important in the final confrontation with the First. He goes to seek Buffy out in Italy during the last season of Angel, albeit unsuccessfully. In the book "Angel: The Case Files Volume One" their relationship is summed up as: "Buffy Summers is, was, and will always be Angel's soulmate. She knows it, and he knows it."
• Kate Lockley: Kate serves as Angel's contact in the police force as he starts his private detective business. The strong possibility of a relationship is hinted at, but ultimately doesn't materialize as she is unable to accept her discovery of his vampire nature, blaming him for the death of her father when her father was killed by vampires and wouldn't invite Angel in to help. However, they achieve a certain reconciliation after Angel helps Kate investigate zombie cops that are attacking people, although Kate subsequently attempts suicide after Angel's attack on the cop who summoned the zombies cost her her job. After Angel saves her life, she begins to accept that there is more out in the world than they know, because she never invited him into her apartment.
• Rebecca Lowell: A short-lived love interest introduced in the episode "Eternity," Rebecca is an actress who hires Angel as her bodyguard. Learning about his vampire nature, she tries to convince him to sire her, not wanting to become old and unattractive, but her attempts only result in Angel briefly reverting to Angelus when she drugs his drink, inducing a feeling of bliss. After this, she leaves the office and is never seen again.
• Cordelia Chase: Friends and comrades for years, Angel and Cordelia eventually realize that they have fallen in love with one another. They bond over the infancy of his son Connor, but before they can admit their feelings they are torn apart by her ascension to a higher plane and his imprisonment underwater by the aged Connor. Upon their subsequent returns, they do not pursue the relationship; Cordelia, possessed by and under the control of Jasmine, forms a sexual relationship with Connor in order to create a unique, permanent body for the powerful entity. When Jasmine is born, Cordelia is thrust into a coma from which it is said she will never awaken. In Angel's perfect day dream-sequence, Angel consummates his relationship with Cordelia, but calls out "Buffy!" as he is losing his soul. As she is dying, she returns via the Powers to put Angel back on track toward stopping the Apocalypse. Moments before she must leave forever, Cordelia and Angel share their first and only real kiss. In doing so, she transmits to him a single vision illustrating who the true power holders are, helping him to stop the Apocalypse from the inside.
• Nina Ash: A werewolf who Angel saves from being eaten, she develops feelings for Angel and he is eventually convinced to give a relationship a shot. Nina is angered when Angel tries to send her away in the series penultimate episode "Power Play", in an attempt to protect her from the Senior Partners' inevitable retribution. In issue #2 of Angel: After the Fall, Angel refers to her as an ex-girlfriend.

Intimate liaisons

• Drusilla: Angelus tormented the human Drusilla, sired her and kept her on as a companion afterwards; Angelus regarded her as his greatest work.
• The Transuding Furies: The Furies are the three beautiful, powerful beings who cast the anti-demon-violence spell on Lorne's bar, Caritas. When Angel needs the spell removed to fight Gunn's rogue former gang ("That Old Gang of Mine"), the Furies tell Cordelia that they will require 'payment' for such an act, and only Angel is 'equipped' to repay the debt (whenever he is mentioned all three of them say, "Mmmm... Angel").
• Eve: Angel's liaison to the Senior Partners, she and Angel have a one-time encounter at Wolfram & Hart's Halloween party, when Lorne loses control of his empathic powers and he begins to unintentionally write destinies instead of reading them (he tells Angel and Eve to "get a room", saying that "you could cut the sexual tension with a knife"). When Angel thinks they should talk about it, Eve remarks, "It's not as if this is the first time I've had sex under mystical influence. I went to UC Santa Cruz". After this, however, their relationship becomes increasingly hostile due to Eve's relationship with Angel's old foe Lindsey, particularly following her attempt to infect Angel with a dream-inducing parasite.

Other

• Gwen Raiden: A thief with command over electricity, Angel shares a kiss with Gwen after she gives him an electro-shock that (temporarily) reawakens his dead heart. He subsequently flirts with her to make Cordelia jealous while they are trying to protect the Ra-Tet from the Beast.
• Faith — When Faith first crosses the line by killing a man, Angel is the first person to attempt to rehabilitate her. However, he is interrupted when Wesley tries to hand her over to the Watchers' Council. While working for Mayor Wilkins, Faith attempts to remove Angel's soul by seducing him. At this point, Faith harbors a sexual interest to Angel, but this is likely out of jealousy toward Buffy. Faith subsequently comes close to fatally poisoning him in the run up to Graduation Day. After awakening from her coma and fleeing Sunnydale, Faith goes to Los Angeles. Shortly after her arrival, Wolfram and Hart hire Faith to kill Angel. After torturing Wesley, Angel confronts Faith, and during the fight, he realizes that Faith wants him to kill her. He refuses, and again tries to help her, defending her from both Buffy and agents of the Watchers' Council. Thanks to Angel's help Faith starts down the path to redemption by confessing to her crimes and going to prison. She later breaks out, because Angelus had been restored. Despite the difficulties involved in such a task, Faith makes sure he is brought in and protected so he can be re-ensouled by Willow, even defeating Connor to prevent him from staking his father. The two share a strong bond based on their mutual desire for redemption; Faith also states that Angel is the one person that has never given up on her.
• Willow Rosenberg - Angel shares mutual confidence with Willow, and not just because she restored his soul not once but twice; on several occasions he asks for her help as an ally and friend. During his initial time in Sunnydale, after Buffy, Willow was probably Angel's closest friend in the Scooby Gang, although, as with all the team, his relationship with her was somewhat strained after he came back from Hell. At the end of episode "Orpheus" (the last time they meet onscreen), they hug as old friends.
• Winifred Burkle: When Angel saves Fred from Pylea, he "vamps out" but rather than his face changing as usual, the demon inside of him comes out completely. After killing two guards, it tries to kill Gunn and Wesley - until Fred, her right hand soaked in blood, lures the demon back to her cave. Fred cares for Angel as he recovers, and remains the only person who wasn't scared by Angel's demon after learning about his vampire nature. When Angel brings Fred back to L.A., he takes her in and is the only member of the group who doesn't seem unnerved by her state of mind. She has a crush on him for a time after her arrival, but eventually gets over it when she learns about the curse on his soul. Though their relationship isn't romantic, Fred did kiss him once to fool passersby into thinking they were just a random couple when they were on the run from Jasmine's followers. When she asked if he thought they bought it, he replied "I did".

Appearances

Canonical

Angel has been in 175 canonical Buffyverse appearances (167 Buffy/Angel episodes). Buffy the Vampire Slayer:Angel/Angelus was a series regular in Seasons Two-Three (1997–1999), although he did not appear in "Inca Mummy Girl". Angel was both in the first and last episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and his own series Angel. He appeared in 57 episodes in all, including guest appearances in:

• Season 1 (1997) - "Welcome to the Hellmouth"; "The Harvest"; "Teacher's Pet"; "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date"; "Angel"; "Out of Mind, Out of Sight"; "Prophecy Girl".
• Season 4 (1999, 2000) - "The Freshman" (Buffy thinks she sees Angel's side-profile at the Bronze); "Pangs"; "The Yoko Factor"
• Season 5 (2000, 2001) - "Fool for Love"; "Forever"
• Season 7 (2002, 2003) - "End of Days"; "Chosen" Angel : Angel/Angelus was a regular in all five seasons (1999–2004), and is the only character to appear in every episode, 110 overall. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight: He appears in one issue so far with a cameo appearance in Buffy's dream sequence.
• "The Long Way Home Part 3"Angel: After the Fall
• After the Fall #1
• After the Fall #2
• After the Fall #3
• After the Fall #4
• After the Fall #5
• After the Fall #8
• After the Fall #9
• After the Fall #10

Other stories featuring Angel which are considered canonical include "Numb", from the 2004 comic mini-series Tales of the Vampires.

Non-canonical

Angel has also appeared in many of the Buffy/Angel expanded universe material. He appears as a main character in most of the Angel comics and novels, as well as some of the Buffy comics and novels.

References

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 1997-2003, created by Joss Whedon.
• Angel, 1999-2004, created by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt.

Notes

See also

• Vampire (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

External links

• A site examining the relationship between Angel and Angelus
• Angel-us.com