LIAM
In 1727, Galway, Ireland a strapping young boy by the name of Liam was born to a moderately rich family with one servant. He grew up into a strapping young man, but to the disappointment of his father, he didn’t amount to much. A womaniser and a layabout he was mostly to be found in the local taverns.
It was in one of these taverns that the vampire Darla first laid eyes on him in 1753 and, enticing him into an alley, turned him into the vampire that would become, Angelus
ANGELUS
For 150 years he and Darla roamed the world causing mayhem and havoc as they went, earning Angelus the infamous title, the Scourge of Europe. His rampages took him to England and her he came across the vampire hunter Daniel Holtz and his band who chased the pair through Europe. Angelus is eventually caught and tortured by Holtz, but Darla comes to the rescue and in revenge they feast on Holtz’ family, turning his young daughter into a vampire.
In 1860 Angelus finds and becomes obsessed with a young and virtuous girl by the name of Drusilla, killing her family and all those around her, he drives her first insane and then to a nunnery where he finally sires her. The pair become a triplet for twenty years until Drusilla, bored of being third wheel and wanting a mate of her own, she finds herself an unsuspecting young poet named William to sire and the three become four.
Angelus and William become friends for a while, until William finds Angelus, in the absence of Darla, taking his pleasures with Drusilla. Still the four of them remain together for some years, finding themselves in Italy in 1894. Here Angelus and William, now calling himself Spike, fall foul of The Immortal who captures them and keeps them in the ‘room of pain’ while he seduces Darla and Drusilla.
The fun ends for Angelus in 1898 when Darla brings him a young Gypsy Girl to feed on, unfortunately she was the darling of her clan and, being all out of boils and blinding torment, they curse Angelus by returning his soul, forcing him to live for eternity remembering all the evil things he had done and actually caring. After wandering the streets and feeding on rats he returns to Darla in 1900 and tries to become the Angelus that he once was, but his conscience in the form of a soul, won’t let him do it and he leaves her again.
In 1902 Angelus arrives in America and spends the next ninety odd years wandering the states. The 1920s sees him in Chicago and in 1943 he finds himself unwillingly helping an American Government Agency, The Initiative, to save a German U-Boat which had been captured by the Americans and taken over by vampires. In 1952 he stays for a while in a hotel possessed of a paranoia demon. Here he, again unwillingly, befriends a young girl hiding there and almost fights the demon, getting his first taste of what it might be like to be a hero. He is betrayed, however, and leaves her and the rest of the residents to the paranoia demon.
He spends the next 40 years skulking around the Americas ending up on the streets of New York where he is found by the demon Whistler in 1996. Whistler, working for the Powers That Be, shows him how he can become someone and make a difference. Taking him to LA he shows him a vulnerable 15 year old high school cheerleader, about to be told she is the next in a line of vampire Slayers. Watching her he sees the heart beneath the cheerleader and falls in love for the first time. Smartening up his act he heads to Sunnydale to wait for her and becomes Angel.
ANGEL
After a rocky start, involving Buffy discovering the truth about Angel, his old flame and sire Darla trying to kill Buffy and him staking her, the two embark on the greatest love story since Romeo and Juliet. Unbeknownst to Angel though, there is a catch to his curse. If he should find just one moment of true happiness his soul will be taken from him, turning him back into the evil Angelus. When Buffy and Angel finally consummate their love on her 17th birthday, he finds that one moment of true happiness with her lying in his arms.
Back as Angelus he wreaks havoc with his once friends, killing Jenny Calendar, Giles’ girlfriend and a descendant of the gypsy clan that cursed him, and teaming up with old playmates Spike and Dru to destroy the world by restoring the demon Acathla. There is hope for a distraught Buffy though, Jenny has left behind the details of the original gypsy curse and budding witch, Willow believes she can cast the spell again. She does so from her hospital bed, but it is too late, Angelus has already awakened the demon Acathla and Buffy has to send the man she loves to hell in order to save the world.
After 100 years in a hell dimension (only a matter of months on earth) Angel returns and, though they try to remain friends, Buffy and Angel cannot be kept apart. Realising that their relationship is doomed and will only bring heartbreak to the one he loves, Angel decides to leave Sunnydale after he has helped saved the world from the latest big bad.
Angel moves to L.A. where, joined by budding actress Cordelia and half demon Doyle, he sets up Angel Investigations, a private investigation service for those that the police can’t help. Doyle hs been sent to him by The Powers That Be and has the gift of mind crunching visions that show him people in trouble and leave him with a blinding headache.
Doyle soon has a vision of Buffy in trouble and Angel returns to Sunnydale to help her without her knowledge. Discovering what he has done, Buffy pays a return visit to L.A. and together they fight a Mohra Demon. Affected by the demon’s blood, Angel becomes human and he and Buffy spend a wonderful day and night together. But Angel realises that he is still a pretty useless human being and only a hindrance to Buffy. Seeking the The Powers That Be he finds The Oracles and asks them to turn him back, they oblige by resetting the day, in order that the same events will not happen again, only Angel will remember the time he and his one true love spent together.
It’s not long after this that Doyle’s past catches up with him and, repentant for a time when he shunned his kind, he takes Angel’s heroic place and dies in the effort to save harmless, half demons. Before he does, he indulges in a kiss with Cordelia , unknowingly passing on his gift of the visions, and Cordelia takes over as Angel’s link to The Powers That Be. One time watcher turned rogue-demon hunter, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce takes Doyle ‘s place in the office if not in their heats.
On his arrival in L.A., Angel almost immediately gets on the bad side of evil layer firm, Wolfram and Hart who’s client base includes a large number of demons. Although he is a thorn in their side, the Senior Partners want him kept alive as he is a key player in a forthcoming apocalypse they are looking forward to. In order for their apocalypse to go as planned they need Angel on side, which means evil, and to this end they remove his friends and blow up his business premises to keep him distracted while they get on with the business at hand: resurrecting Darla.
Wolfram and Hart’s plans to drive Angel mad appear to be working as he tries to save the now human Darla’s soul but is foiled when they bring Drusilla in to turn her back into a vampire. Wolfram and Hart don’t realise what they are messing with and when Darla and Drusilla invite themselves to Holland’s wine tasting, Angel leaves them to it. They spare only Lindsey and Lilah.
Returning to his new premises, the Hyperion Hotel, Angel fires the team and enters a dark phase seeking out Darla and Drusilla and trying to kill them. Eventually he no longer cares for his soul and tries to lose it in Darla. But what he had with Buffy he could never achieve with Darla and instead of losing his soul, he achieves a moment of clarity: an epiphany. Realising the error of his ways, he rejoins Angel Investigations which has carried on with Wesley in charge.
The other members of his team, Cordelia and new recruit Gunn, find it hard to accept Angel back into the fold, but he soon wins them around. While on the trail of a missing girl from one of Cordelia’s visions, they manage to open a portal to the Karaoke bar owner and empath demon, Lorne’s, home dimension and out pops a beast, followed by Lorne’s cousin Landok. The beast vanquished, they send Landok back home, but the portal sucks Cordelia in with him. The team follow her and, to his glee, Angel finds that in Pylea, he can walk in the sun and see his reflection, however a much worse version of Angel surfaces when he vamps out.
After much adventure the gang rescue not only Cordelia but the missing girl they were seeking, Winifred ‘Fred’ Burkle, who has been trapped in Pylea for five years. When they return to L.A. they find Willow waiting for them with the news of Buffy’s death.
To get over the death of the love of his life, Angel spends some time in Tibet, he returns, feeling refreshed and angry at himself that he has seemingly managed to get over Buffy so easily and that he seems to be falling for Cordelia. Before his feelings can take hold, his other old flame, Darla, arrives heavily pregnant. Their night together has conceived the impossible, a child. As the pregnancy progresses they learn that the child has a soul and Darla, having the soul inside her, becomes more human. Fearing that she will lose her soul, and therefore, her love of her child, once it is born, Darla stakes herself, leaving Angel with a baby boy, Connor
A child born of two vampires is highly sought after merchandise and Angel finds himself fighting off many foes, including Wolfram and Hart, and an old enemy Holtz, to protect his son. All his efforts are to no avail when Wesley is tricked by a fake prophecy which reveals that Angel will kill his son. Believing he is doing the right thing, Wesley kidnaps Connor, but is intercepted by Holtz and his gang who in turn kidnaps the child and escapes to another dimension, Quor’toth, with him.
In his grief and anger, Angel tries to kill Wesley and desperately tries to find his son. It takes some time, but he has finally accepted that Connor is gone from him forever when he returns, a 16 year old boy with a grudge against his father. He is not the only one who has returned, Holtz has followed his adopted son. On seeing the resemblances between the father and son who appear to be coming to an understanding he takes his ultimate revenge on Angel. Asking his ally, Justine, to kill him, making it look like a vampire attack, he arranges for Connor to find him dead. Believing Angel to have murdered the man he has grown up calling father, Connor traps Angel in a large metal box and sinks him to the bottom of the ocean, doomed to live there for ever. That same night, Cordelia, who was due to meet Angel and declare her love for him, ascends from this plane and becomes a higher being.
For three months, Angel suffers hunger and hallucinations in the depths of the ocean, until Wesley finds him and revives him with his own blood. Back at the hotel, Angel learns that Cordelia has also disappeared and finds Connor living with his two remaining friends, Fred and Gunn. After ensuring that his son had nothing to do with Cordelia’s disappearance, Angel tells him he will always love him and kicks him out. The search for Cordelia begins.
Again, just as he has accepted that a loved one is gone forever, Cordelia returns but with no memory of who or what she was. Angel and crew make the mistake of hiding the scary truth from her, but Connor gains her trust by being honest with her and she decides to stay with him. A spell (that of course goes wrong) restores her memory and with it the memory of all she had seen as a higher being, including Angel’s dark past. After a terrible vision, she returns to live with Connor. Angel soon has other worries, in the form of Cordelia’s vision; a seemingly unkillable demon known as The Beast bringing with him a rain of fire and trashing Angel and co in the process. As they believe the world is coming to an end, Angel watches Connor and Cordelia in each other’s arms.
Their battle with The Beast continues as they learn that their new foe is planning on taking out the sun for good, which he does. They also learn from Cordelia that Angel has known The Beast when he was Angelus and the only way to defeat The Beast and prevent the coming apocalypse may be to bring back Angelus. Reluctantly, they perform a ceremony to remove Angel’s soul, releasing the beast within. Their interrogation of Angelus leads them on a wild goose chase in which The Beast seems to have always been one step ahead. With a little help from The Beast’s master, otherwise known as Cordelia, Angelus escapes and starts doing what he does best; causing mayhem.
With Angelus roaming free and The Beast still at large, Wesley turns to Faith as the only person he can trust to help bring Angel back, and breaks her out of prison. Meanwhile, never one to follow orders and thwarting Cordelia’s plans, Angelus discovers a way to kill The Beast and does so, bringing the sun back to L.A.. Learning that the ‘other’ slayer is in town Angelus first toys with her before being duped by her and drinking her drugged blood. In a trance-like state, Angel fights Angelus watched by a comatose Faith, while at the Hyperion the team have called on Willow, who battles with Cordelia to restore Angel’s soul.
Soul restored, Angel reveals that Cordelia is The Beast’s master and Cordelia reveals that she is heavily pregnant with Connor’s child. Angel and co have Cordelia surrounded when Connor comes to her rescue, not understanding why they have turned against her.
Now very near to term, Cordelia gives birth to a glowing light that turns into a full grown woman, as the woman is born, the mother slips into unconsciousness. The ‘newborn’ takes the name Jasmine and the people, Angel and crew amongst them, bow down before her and worship her. She brings about peace and happiness to L.A. and the world, but at the expense of the human lives that she needs in order to survive. Only those that have been in contact with Jasmine’s blood can see her true, hideous form. Fred is the first to break the spell and soon convinces all but Connor, who has been able to see her true face all along and can overlook her faults as she is the closest thing he has ever had to real family and happiness.
Travelling to another dimension, Angel learns how to break Jasmine’s spell and the world returns to it’s normal, unharmonious ways, destroying the peace that Jasmine had brought. Disillusioned, Connor kills Jasmine and, taking the still unconscious Cordelia, holds up a sports shop, threatening to kill himself and everyone in it.
Meanwhile, destroying world peace has earned Angel some Wolfram and Hart brownie points, the senior partners decide to offer him and his associates the L.A. branch of the inter-dimensional law firm. The team are dubious at first, but when they see what is on offer, full control of Wolfram and Hart and all the funds and resources that they have, the offer starts to become more appealing. Angel finally caves when he is offered the means to save his son, (by altering reality and placing him in the stable, family home he craves, where he and the rest of the world, will have no memory of his real life, only Angel will remember him) and of helping Buffy save the world one more time.
His work in L.A. done, Angel leaves for Sunnydale, and, after a passionate reunion with Buffy, he hands her the information that will help her defeat The First. As grateful as she is for his help, Buffy sends him back to L.A. with a glimmer of hope that they may, one day, be together again.
Angel
Angel returns to L.A. and commences the job of running Wolfram and Hart. The problems start on the first day, a package is delivered containing the amulet he gave to Buffy. As the amulet falls to the ground, it resurrects the ghost of Angel’s old ally and recent enemy, Spike. Angel struggles to deal with his day to day work at Wolfram and Hart, finding it hard to compromise between good and evil whilst dealing with Spike too. Another package arrives, this time for Spike, opening it Spike finds that he is once more corporeal and, the world now having two vampires champions with a soul, turmoil ensues. Angel and Spike are sent on a mission to find and drink from the Cup of Perpetual Torment to decide who will fulfill the Shanshu Prophecy, become human and set the world to rights again. Spike wins the fight but on drinking the from the cup finds it to be a fake.
Having lost the fight and feeling that he did so because he just didn’t care enough, Angel decides to quit Wolfram and Hart. However before he can do so Cordelia wakes from her coma and, although her visitation is in spirit only, she helps to set Angel back on the right path, helping him to believe that he can achieve redemption. He also discovers that another old enemy, Lindsey MacDonald was not only the person behind bringing Spike back, he was also behind the fake mission they were sent on. Before Cordelia’s final visit is over, she helps him defeat Lindsey and give him up to the Senior Partners.
More pain is in store for Angel than Cordelia’s death, Fred is next, her body being taken over by an ancient being that the efforts of even Spike and Angel cannot stop. Connor soon arrives back on the scene to take Angel’s mind off things. Connor’s alternate reality parents bring him to Wolfram and Hart when they discover that he has great strength. Although Angel at first refuses to help his son, he soon finds himself saving Connor’s new family from a bunch of demons and his team are on the case. Their research leads them to a warlock named Cyrus Vail who created the alternate reality Connor has been living in and has brought him to Wolfram and Hart to fulfill a prophecy and kill the demon Sahjhan. The prophecy which Sahjhan discovered and tried to prevent by re-writing to read that Angel would kill Connor.
While Angel and Connor take on Sahjhan, Wesley’s research leads him to the discovery that reality was changed on the day that they took over Wolfram and Hart. Confronting Angel he brings back both his own and Connor’s memories. Connor, however, opts to stay with his new family.
A run in with Illyria and a vain search for Buffy in Italy (who has teamed up with The Immortal) leaves Angel believing he can defeat Wolfram and Hart once and for all. Leading the Senior Partner’s and his crew to believe that he has once more turned to the dark side, Angel manages to invade the real power and becomes a member of the Circle of the Black Thorn, signing away his claim the the Shanshu Prophecy in the process. From the inside, he and the rest of his team take each member on one by one, not all survive and the remaining team must face the apocalypse, dragons included, alone…
