Angel

Angel's History

Much of Angel's past life is revealed through various flashbacks during both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel's spin-off series. Angel was born with the name of Liam. Liam led an unremarkable life, a failure to his parents and a drunk. Everything changed for him after he met and was sired a vampire by Darla. He then adopted a new name, Angelus. He became one of the most notorious vampires in the world. But one day he killed the wrong girl, a gypsy girl. The gypsy family curses Angelus with a soul (something removed from a human being after they are sired). The weight of his actions hits him but he attempts to continue to to live his life with Darla. He is unsuccessful in this, however, and leaves for America. Generally while in America he keeps to himself, and by the last few decades of the 1900's he was homeless and living off rats. He was then visited by a demon Whistler, who sent him to go watch over the new vampire slayer, Buffy.

Forbidden loves have endlessly plagued the pages of history and literature. For every Juliet there is a Romeo. Angel's role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer became Buffy's Romeo, her forbidden true love. He begins his role in the Buffyverse by observing the young Slayer fighting the good fight. Inspired by her actions he introduces himself as a friend and begins helping Buffy on numerous occasions. A romance soon sparks between the two. Even after Buffy finds out that Angel is a vampire, she still is interested in him. The gypsy's curse that burdens Angel with a soul shall be lifted if he is to experience one true moment of complete happiness. When Buffy and Angel have sex in the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this moment of happiness occurs and thus Angelus, the murderous beast returns.

Angelus uses Angel's relationship to the slayer against her, as well as bringing pain to her friends. He even tortures her watcher Giles, and kills Giles' girlfriend Jenny Calendar. He killed Jenny both because she was working on a way to put his soul back and because she was a decedent of the gypsy family cursed him. Buffy's friend Willow finds what Jenny was working on and realizes she was attempting to give him his soul back. Meanwhile, Angelus has decided to destroy the world. Buffy goes to stop him, and during their fight Willow restores his soul. Confused and bewildered, Angel looks at Buffy unsure of whats going on. Unfortunately, Angelus had already opened the portal to destroy the world, and this process can only be stopped by finishing off Angel. So Buffy kisses Angel and then must stab him.

Angel spends a hundred years in a Hell dimension until he is brought back for initially unknown reasons. Due to the harsh environment of a Hell dimension, Angel returns wild and feral. Buffy helps him him recover from this state, and while the two intend to have some sort of relationship, but the burden of knowing that they can never be happy together without causing Angelus to return again is too great for them and Angel decides it would be best to leave town (much to the heartache of Buffy). Angel then embarks on his own supernatural adventures in L.A. on his own spin-off series, Angel.