Angel

“For a hundred years I offered ugly death to everyone I met, and I did it with a song in my heart.”

Also known as Angelus; Liam
Played by David Boreanaz

First Appearance: Welcome to the Hellmouth

Born Liam in 1727, Angel crossed the path of the vampire Darla in 1753 and was transformed into the vampire Angelus. For centuries, Angelus, Darla and their companions Spike and Drusilla swarmed throughout the known world, killing and torturing innocents on their travels. The Master once described Angelus as the “most vicious creature” he had ever met. In 1898, fate intervened and Angelus fed on a gypsy girl whom Darla had brought to him. As punishment for killing the girl, her clan cast a spell on Angelus, cursing him with a soul that would make him feel every evil thing he had ever done to another living being. Cast out by vampires and rejected by Darla, Angelus – or Angel, as he now preferred – began scouring from city to city until, in 1996, the demon Whistler approached him. Whistler showed him Buffy Summers’ calling as the Slayer, and Angel elected to help her.

In 1997, the pair worked together against the forces of the Master and fell in love, even after Buffy had discovered his true vampiric nature. Eventually, they consummated their relationship, which activated another clause of the gypsy curse: one moment of true happiness would remove his soul and he would become evil again. With Angelus determined to destroy the world and torture Buffy, she was forced to send him to Hell in order to win. When he returned re‑ensouled, the pair could never rekindle their epic romance, and Angel left for Los Angeles, where he was approached by the human–demon hybrid Doyle. Doyle received visions from the Powers That Be that aided Angel and his allies in finding and saving the people who needed them.

For four years they continued this mission, and Angel fell in love again, this time with Cordelia Chase. A moment of passion with Darla brought forth a son, whom he named Connor. Connor was aged to an adult after a stay in a Hell dimension, and after a year of clashing with his son – both as himself and as Angelus – Angel had Wolfram & Hart wipe Connor’s memories and place him with a new family. Angel took over Wolfram & Hart’s offices in Los Angeles and became disillusioned, until Cordelia’s final moments gave him his own vision of a new evil: the Circle of the Black Thorn. Angel and his allies worked to defeat the Circle and, finally, as the apocalypse drew closer, Angel raised his sword to continue his fight.

In the aftermath of that final stand, Angel found himself in a Los Angeles literally dragged into Hell. Stripped of the anonymity he once relied upon and burdened with the knowledge that his rebellion had triggered the city’s damnation, he fought to protect its people street by street. Cut off from the Powers That Be and wrestling with the consequences of his choices, Angel forged uneasy alliances with old friends and former enemies alike. His struggle through the ruined city became a crucible, forcing him to confront the cost of heroism, the weight of leadership, and the question of whether redemption can survive when the world itself has fallen. Even in Hell, Angel refused to surrender, carving a path back toward hope for those trapped alongside him.

When Angel died in Hell, the Senior Partners reversed time, restoring Los Angeles to reality, with their memories intact. Angel was then approached by Whistler. It was here that Twilight took him.

And as Twilight, Angel killed Rupert Giles.

Angel relocated to London, where he crossed paths with Faith Lehane. Haunted by his role in Giles’s death and determined to atone, Angel became fixated on restoring the Watcher to life, even if the path to doing so blurred the line between redemption and obsession. Faith, herself no stranger to guilt and second chances, agreed to stand beside him – sometimes guiding him, sometimes restraining him, always challenging him to face the truth of what he was becoming. Together they navigated the shadows of the magical fallout left in the wake of Buffy’s destruction of the Seed, confronting rogue Slayers, resurrected threats, and the consequences of Angel’s choices. Their partnership became a study in uneasy grace: two damaged warriors holding each other to account while fighting to protect a world still reeling from loss.

APPEARANCES

Buffy SEASON 1