Angel/Characters

For tropes from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, see the respective character page

Angel, née Liam (David Boreanaz)
""The thing about atonement is you never run out of chances. But you gotta take 'em.""

Angel is a vampire, one of the worst recorded, and the main character of the show. He was sired in 1753 by a vampire named Darla and, adopting the name "Angelus," wreaked havoc across Europe for almost 150 years until he angered a Gypsy clan by killing one of their beloved daughters and the Gypsies cursed him by returning his soul, filling him with remorse for his crimes.

After a century of living in shame and feeding off rats to survive, Angel is recruited by the Powers That Be and sent to watch over Buffy Summers, the newly-called Slayer. Angel grows close to her and the two begin a relationship, but when they sleep together, the other part of the Gypsy curse is revealed: Should Angel achieve even a moment of perfect happiness, the curse will be lifted—their code of vengeance holds that it was better for him to become evil again than to have anything that would ease his suffering.

Angel loses his soul and reverts to the monstrous Angelus, terrorizing Sunnydale until his soul is once again restored. Realizing that he's a danger as long as he's around Buffy, he leaves Sunnydale for Los Angeles, where he continues to fight demons as a form of penance for his crimes.

""So...how was your summer? Mine was fun. Saw some fish. Went mad with hunger. Hallucinated a whole bunch.""
 * The Antichrist: According to the comics, the jury's still out on whether the Shanshu prophecy spells doom for mankind in general. (In Angel's last season, at least one character hinted that Angel is "more dangerous than you realize.")
 * Anti-Hero: Default state is Type II, but spends time as Type III on occasion. The presence of Darla can cause a change to Type IV, although that is very temporary.
 * The Anti-Nihilist: "If nothing we do matters... then all that matters is what we do."
 * The Atoner
 * Atonement Detective
 * Bad Dreams: With such regularity, you wonder how he sleeps without pharmaceutical assistance.
 * One more example of Blessed With Suck: Vampires share a Psychic Link with their kin. When a vampire he sired 100 years ago starts killing people locally, Angel feels it.
 * In Season Two, Angel starts having 'dreams' about his maker. It turns out that Darla is dosing him with magic to drive him nuts.
 * Badass in Distress: Spent an entire Season hiatus in this state.

"Magev: Why not a personalized license plate that says "IRONY"?"
 * Badass Longcoat: ...Joss likes this one.
 * Cultured Badass: A skilled artist, voracious reader, fluent in multiple languages (including demonic ones), and a ballet enthusiast (even from his days as the evil Angelus).
 * Beast and Beauty: With Cordelia.
 * Berserk Button: Do not mention coffins—or vampires sleeping in said coffins. It is an offensive stereotype popularized by hack writers and ignorant media.
 * Blue Oni: To Spike's red. Spike's embrace of punk music, as opposed to quieter, more emotive music (Angel is a closet Fanilow as well as an ex-RatPack groupie) is indicative of his personality as the foil to brooding intellectuals like Angel.
 * Bruiser with a Soft Center: Ah, Angel. Brooding, angsty vampire trying to fight the good fight, within LA and himself. Who'd ever think that he dug Mandy and Barry Manilow, or had a fear of dancing (yet a secret desire to despite how awful he is at it?). Or, y'know, go on about how much he loves Buffy when pretending to be drunk?
 * Butt Monkey: A rare example of the main protagonist as one. The fact that he's broody and serious while his companions are all highly snarky might have something to do with all the jokes at his expense.
 * Or that one time he turned into a puppet.
 * Can't Have Sex Ever: With any woman he actually loves.
 * Subverted when he realizes he can have sex with women he likes, so long as it's not "perfect happiness". Most people have to be satisfied with "reasonable happiness" anyway.
 * The Comically Serious
 * Cool Car: A black Plymouth convertible. ..In sunny LA.
 * Cool Car: A black Plymouth convertible. ..In sunny LA.

"Cordelia: This is totally like him. Doing the mystery dance with some cheap blonde.
 * This, along with a whole fleet of luxury cars (with necrotempered windows™) after he becomes Wolfram & Hart's CEO.
 * And a helicopter.
 * The Cowl: Very consciously and deliberately, and occasionally lampshaded.
 * Cursed with Awesome
 * Determined Defeatist: Though there is the occasional reprieve, at heart, Angel suspects that he will never stop paying for his crimes.
 * The Dreaded: Angelus.
 * Emotions vs. Stoicism: Angel and Wesley locks horns over the best way to handle cases.
 * Enemy Within
 * Epiphany Therapy: Having exhausted his resolve fighting Wolfram & Hart, Angel attempts to shed his soul by having sex with Darla; but instead of a moment of perfect happiness, he found perfect despair. An epiphany follows, and Angel realized that his purpose was still to do all the good he could, even if he couldn't do all the good he wanted to.
 * Even the Guys Want Him: "Maybe I'm a little attracted."
 * Everyone Loves Blondes: Has a thing for petite blondes - Darla, Buffy, and Nina Ash.

Fred: Brunette. She was a cheap brunette.

Cordy: (alarmed) You're right. This isn't like him."

"Angel: You know, I started it. The whole "having a soul". Before it was all the cool new thing. Buffy: Oh my god. Are you twelve?"
 * Subverted with Cordelia. Then again, as Lorne points out, Angel also has a thing for ex-cheerleaders.
 * Everything but the Girl: The Groosalugg called dibs.
 * Evil Is Hammy: Angelus' five-episode spree in Season Four. Good lord, man, switch to decaf.
 * Expansion Pack Past
 * Foe Yay: With Spike. Joss himself has joked (kind of) that they're his One True Bromance.
 * The Fog of Ages: By the last episode, Angel has forgotten what it's like to be human.
 * For Happiness: Most definitely not.
 * Forehead of Doom
 * Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Arguably both Trope Codifier and Trope Namer. If you've ever wondered what a redeemed vampire would look like, Angel is pretty much the best example around.
 * From Nobody to Nightmare: He was just a jobless, drunken, 18th-century Eurotrash lout before Darla sired him.
 * Freudian Excuse: Wesley, of all people, chastises Angel for hiding behind his gyspy curse so he doesn't have to face having actual relationships with women. Angel actually acknowledges he is completely right.
 * Goal In Life...er, Death: To fulfill the Shanshu Prophecy and become human.
 * Angel sometimes deviates from this, for various reasons, among them a belief that his mission is being clouded by self-interest. By the fifth season, his faith wavers to the point of dismissing the Prophecy entirely.
 * In the Series Finale,.
 * In the comic continuation, the Senior Partners finally give him a glimpse of the Shanshu Prophecy: . (Of course, the Partners could just be dicking with him again; they like that.)
 * Gollum Made Me Do It: Angelus is shown here as a distinct personality with a mind of his own. This is a slight departure from Buffy, in which Angelus was just Angel with his Restraining Bolt removed.
 * The Gump: He likes to name-drop. He inspired the Baudelaire poem "Le Vampire", and used to hang with Sammy Davis Jr.
 * Hero Protagonist
 * Byronic Hero
 * Celibate Hero: "I'm not a eunuch!"
 * Hurting Hero
 * Tragic Hero
 * Heroes Love Dogs: Played for Laughs when Gunn assures him that he'll get along fine with The Conduit—as long as he likes cats. Whoops.
 * Heroes Prefer Swords
 * Heroic BSOD: Practically Once a Season.
 * Hollywood Tone Deaf: Wang Chung will never recover.
 * Hopeless with Tech: Never really gets the hang of cell phones.
 * Hunk: By Season 5, he was essentially Seeley Booth in Matrix-wear.
 * Hunter of His Own Kind
 * I Am a Monster: Shouted in Romanian while being dragged off into an alley to be beaten. This was in 1898, shortly after Angel was cursed.
 * I Can't Dance: He proved quite adept at slow dancing in Sunnydale. But when invited to a party for hip twentysomethings, he imagines himself flailing about like a spaz.
 * I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Inverted with Darla; Angel definitely holds some animosity toward her, yet maintains an almost filial devotion.
 * Inverted again with Connor, who is, ironically, human. (Well, mostly).
 * Spike has a cathartic moment when he confronts Angel for fashioning him into the monster he is. Drusilla was merely his sire; Angelus was his Yoda.
 * I Was Quite a Fashion Victim: Angel in the '70s. There's a big downside to not being able to see your reflection sometimes.
 * Immortal Immaturity

"Spike: Heat of battle. Wasn't time."
 * Immortal Life Is Cheap: To the point where Spike doesn't bother aiming around Angel to hit a target; Spike just stabs right through him. In all fairness, that was Spike...

"(examining head) "Why didn't anyone tell me about this?""
 * Immortality Hurts: Try spending it at the bottom of the Pacific. Gives you some perspective. Kind of an M. C. Escher perspective.
 * In a Single Bound
 * Instant Fanclub: Angelus' groupies, Karl and Paco.
 * It Sucks to Be the Chosen One
 * Kind Restraints: Voluntarily chained up or thrown behind bars whenever he feels the bad side coming on.
 * Knight Templar: Turns against his friends for a brief time as he goes on a crusade of punishing the guilty (Wolfram & Hart), rather than helping the helpless.
 * Knight in Sour Armor
 * Leitmotif: A heroic sounding anthem, later phased out in the third season. Brought back intentionally for a moment in Season 5 when Angel is in desperate need to rediscover his orginial mission statement of helping the helpless.
 * Like a Badass Out of Hell: Not only did he get paroled from Hell, he was willing to travel back into it and take out the Senior Partners.
 * Man of Wealth and Taste: Angelus was always coiffed in the old days.
 * Martyr Without a Cause
 * The Movie Buff: A fan of Charlton Heston movies, particularly The Omega Man. What a surprise.
 * He's seen enough vampire flicks to formulate opinions on which ones are more accurate.
 * Denzel? Everyone loves Denzel.
 * Mr. Fanservice
 * No Sense of Humor
 * The Nose Knows
 * Not Good with People: Type 1. "I have two modes: Bite and avoid."
 * Arguably the catalyst for the series, since Doyle pressures Angel to get more involved in his clients' lives. As is seen in later episodes, Angel does not cope well under solitude.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Angel is fond of playing this role, often as a Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist. On set, the shorthand for this became "Herb Saunders" (Angel's alias in "Sense & Sensitivity")
 * Offing the Offspring: An ancient scroll prophesied that Angel is doomed to do this.
 * Omniglot: He's had a lot of time to practice, and after a while places run out of people to murder, so you move to the next one and learn another language there.
 * Open-Heart Dentistry: Angel has shown himself able to dig bullets out of his own body when pressed for time.
 * Open Says Me: Angel fights the good fight—against doors.
 * Papa Wolf: Towards Connor. It took an entire episode before anyone was allowed to even approach him.
 * Power Loss Makes You Strong: The Senior Partners, upon sending L.A. to Hell (After the Fall), simultaneously turn Angel human at the least convenient time possible.
 * Promethean Punishment
 * Real Men Wear Pink: He's fond of Barry Manilow.
 * Riches to Rags: Angelus never had trouble maintaining a nice pad, expensive clothes, or box theater seats. ("I just ate the people who had 'em.") Once cursed and jilted by Darla, he spent years as a homeless bum.
 * Running Gag: His hair. His singing. His "caveman brow." The leather pants he wore when he was evil. And his occasional pettiness despite his advanced age.
 * Scarily Competent Tracker: Not only can Angel sniff the air and tell if the soil beneath him has been disturbed, he can glance at a spot of blood and immediately determine who it belongs to.
 * This sort of blood hyper-analysis appears to be common to vamps. Spike mentions that you can tell if someone's evil by tasting their blood (it tastes like pennies).
 * Self-Made Orphan: "My parents were great. Tasted a lot like chicken."
 * Sink-or-Swim Fatherhood
 * Spiky Hair: Lampshaded on more than one occasion. Angel seems shocked when he views his reflection for the first time in Pylea, implying that his hairstyle is some sort of tragic accident.

"Angel: Haven't heard much of you, ever."
 * Stages of Monster Grief: Buffy previously flashed back to Angelus getting re-ensouled; Angel covers everything that happened before and after. It should be noted that this is an inversion of the trope as well, since Angel identifies more with Angelus than with with his original self, Liam - who, by the end of the show, he barely remembers being. It could be said that his grief was more over losing his freedom as a vampire by regaining his humanity than having been a human who was turned into a vampire. With his stages being:
 * Denial: His attempts to continue his life as a vampire despite his re-ensoulment.
 * Defiance: Angel never got to properly experience this stage, since Darla killed all the gypsies who re-ensouled him. He instead took it out on himself during his self-imposed 100 year exile from humanity and vampirekind. Angelus, however, did get to kill Jenny Calendar and an older male relative, both descendants of the gypsies who re-ensouled him.
 * Acceptance: After he met Whistler and Buffy.
 * Betrayal: Either after making love to Buffy and losing his soul, or....well, stay tuned...
 * Stealth Hi Bye
 * Suddenly Always Knew That: Photographic Memory, Super Reflexes, ultra-sensitive hearing and sense of smell in the later seasons. When you re-watch the earlier seasons, you can't help but notice countless situations where, in retrospect, they inexplicably fail to help him.
 * Angel mentioned that he can't control his photographic memory; it just "kicks in on instinct."
 * Team Dad: Lampshaded early on, in which Angel addresses to a bickering Cordelia and Wesley as "children."
 * The Teetotaler: After a fashion. Word of God states that Angel's abstinence from human blood is a metaphor for this.
 * Vegetarian Vampire: Exclusively drinks pig's blood, which turns off some people. As Wolfram & Hart's CEO, he can afford to keep himself in otter blood.
 * Thicker Than Water: Like it or not, Darla is the closest thing to family he's got. Even his team comes second.
 * In the Season Four finale, Angel agrees to mind wipe his team (and, in fact, the world) . Wesley is rightly steamed when he uncovers this.
 * Think Nothing of It: Much-ridiculed by Spike, who sees it as a cheap act to impress women.
 * Torture Technician: He does have some experience in this area. The mere threat of this is enough make people talk.
 * Unholy Matrimony: Notoriously with Darla. Cordelia compares them to an undead Bonnie & Clyde.
 * Uptight Loves Wild: His blossoming feelings toward Cordy.
 * Vampires Are Sex Gods: "Mmm, Angel! ♥"
 * Though the Immortal ended up out-performing in this regard, as usual.
 * Villain Cred: "Used to be quite the terror back in the day. Haven't heard much of you lately, though."


 * Villainous BSOD: Basically, Angel's curse.
 * Warrior Poet
 * Where I Was Born and Razed: "I thought I'd take the village."
 * Who Wants to Live Forever?
 * The Worf Effect
 * You Need to Get Laid: But, as he's constantly reminded, he can't. (Well, he shouldn't. He's physically capable and everything, it's just - look, he's not a eunuch!)

Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter)
""I think it, I say it. That's my way.""

Cordelia was the rich and popular queen of Sunnydale High, until her parents were busted for tax evasion, subsequently losing everything. She moves to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career and joins up with Angel, encouraging him to set up a detective agency as a way to make ends meet (for her). Cordelia undergoes a huge amount of Character Development during the series, going from a spoiled, selfish brat to a kind-hearted, heroic individual whose major concern is doing good.

"Doyle: ... My part of England?"
 * Action Girl
 * All Women Love Shoes
 * Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: During the Season Three hiatus, though she came back. (She was bored.)
 * : In her Season Five appearance.
 * Bad Bad Acting: Enough to make Angel nostalgic for Hell.
 * Later subverted as the show progresses. Cordelia evolves into a capable actress; unfortunately, her read-throughs are invariably spoiled by a vision.
 * She's often shown as being a fairly poor actress but, conversely, is an excellent liar and capable of fooling even Angelus.
 * Badass Abnormal
 * Blessed with Suck: The visions which show people in trouble at the cost of extreme migraines that.
 * Book Dumb: "Oh, yesterday your cousin called, with one of those names from your part of England."

"Cordelia: (upon receiving a necklace from Angel) Oh my gosh, it's gorgeous! And look how it bring out my breasts! (Wes, Gunn, and Angel glance around awkwardly) Cordelia: You know you were all thinkin' it."
 * Break the Haughty: A process that began on BtVS, and continues from there.
 * Brutal Honesty
 * Buxom Is Better: A secretary has to have a big set of, uh...responsibilities.
 * Buxom Is Better: A secretary has to have a big set of, uh...responsibilities.

""All I could think about was: if this wimp ever saw a monster he'd probably throw a shoe at it and run like a weasel! Turns out the shoe part was giving him too much credit.""
 * The Consigliere: Doyle originally played this role. Wesley tries to assume it after Cordelia is gone, but by that time his relations with Angel are strained, to say the least.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Especially towards Doyle in the first season.
 * The Eponymous Show: Cordy!, her sitcom in the Skipverse. Also an In-Joke at Charisma Carpenter's resemblance to Mary Tyler Moore.
 * Everything's Better with Princesses: True to form, she ascends the throne of Pylea within 48 hours.
 * The Face: Played with. She's the secertary for Angel's detective biz but she can't even use the phone properly. On the other hand, she's the only link to the people he really needs to be in touch with. Checked out the subtropes.
 * The Chick
 * Girl Friday: Though initially confined to the office, Cordelia becomes more proactive in cases after receiving the visions, which are often vague and require her to examine clues to make sense of it.
 * The Heart: Increasingly so as time passes, especially after the first-season finale "To Shanshu in L.A." Fred actually calls her this at one point.
 * Fainting Seer: Her visions are something akin to "having my skull cracked open and hot lava poured in."
 * Fallen Princess
 * Feminine Women Can Cook: Type 2. Her brownies could qualify as nuclear waste.
 * A God Am I: Cordelia ascends to a higher plane of existence and actually becomes a godlike being. But she was chosen for the job because she had proved that the power wouldn't go to her head, and not once does she call herself a god. However, she is promptly fired when she does actually use her powers to help the gang.
 * Good Is Not Nice: Not quite as tactless and rude as she was in her Buffy days, but she could still be very sharp-tongued.
 * Gold Digger: Thwarted by Doyle's gallantry, which starts making her dating pool look rather pathetic. It isn't helped by her date (a stock broker), who cannonballs into his Beamer and races off at first sight of a vamp.
 * Gold Digger: Thwarted by Doyle's gallantry, which starts making her dating pool look rather pathetic. It isn't helped by her date (a stock broker), who cannonballs into his Beamer and races off at first sight of a vamp.

"Angel: Well, I know she can't type or file. Until today, I had some hope regarding the phone."
 * Hidden Depths
 * Heroic Fatigue: As a human, Cordelia was not meant to shoulder the responsibility of Doyle's visions ("a big cosmic whoops", as Skip calls it). She secretly takes powerful painkillers and undergoes CAT scans that indicate.
 * Yet when presented with the opportunity to pass her visions onto someone else (the gallant Groosalugg, and later Angel in an alternate reality), Cordelia refuses, stating that the visions are a part of her and make her who she is.
 * Important Haircut: Several. The most notable one is her blonde makeover, which remains even after her return from the afterlife (possibly a Call Back to Buffy's return from heaven on BtVS) -- soon to darken back to its original color when
 * Lady of War
 * Law of Inverse Fertility: This, so much.
 * Living Bodysuit: Revealed in Season 4 to be.
 * Mama Bear
 * : In Season 4.
 * Money Fetish: She can literally smell money. "Hide some in the office sometime, and watch her. It's uncanny."
 * She also gets aroused by a software geek peddling financial advice.
 * Morality Chain: A peek into an alternate timeline shows what would happen to Angel if he didn't have Cordy around. He goes insane.
 * New Powers as the Plot Demands: Season 4, after
 * No Badass to His Valet: Probably the only person Angel can't intimidate.
 * Resigned to the Call
 * Samaritan Syndrome
 * Sarcastic Devotee
 * Screaming Woman: Less so in later seasons, after she toughened up.
 * Second Love: Ironic, since Angel used to find the noblewomen of his era (of whom Cordelia is a modern avatar) to be a horrific bore. Cordelia immediately had a crush on him on Buffy though, so it's keeping in continuity.
 * : Since the visions were intended for demons, they begin to . Skip circumvents this by turning her.
 * Team Mom: Not-so-subtly lampshaded once a baby enters the picture.
 * The Thing That Would Not Leave: Cordelia in "Rm w/a Vu". Within a few hours, Angel's basement is covered wall-to-wall with Cordelia's trophies, there's peanut butter on his bed, his leather chair is ruined, and Cordelia is busily cutting up his linoleum floor to examine the hardwood.
 * Took a Level in Badass: On Angel.
 * Trash of the Titans: Her first apartment.
 * Try to Fit That on A Business Card: The Venerable Monarch of Pylea, General of the Ravenous Legions, Eater of Our Enemy's Flesh, Prelate of the Sacrificial Blood Rites, and Sovereign Proconsul of Death.
 * Ultimate Job Security: You can't fire her. She's Vision Girl. *sticks out tongue*

"Doyle: I think it's refreshing to see a woman living like this, you know. It means you're not so uptight, you live for the moment-- (steps in a bowl of oatmeal) You're disgusting."
 * Justified in that Cordelia is a direct line to the Powers That Be, making her utterly indispensable to Angel's mission. Angel is rudely awakened to this fact after he does fire her.
 * The Vamp:, Cordy plays this trope to the hilt.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With Wesley.
 * Waiting for a Break: In the first and second seasons.


 * Weakness Turns Her On: The possibility of intimacy doesn't comes up until Cordelia glimpses a world in which she never joined the agency. This results in Angel inheriting Doyle's visions instead, causing him to go mad.
 * Weirdness Magnet: Possibly caught the condition living in Sunnydale.
 * Woman in Black: While under.
 * Woman in White: After being ascended.

Allen Francis Doyle (Glenn Quinn)
""One of us has been drinking, and I'm sorry to say it's not me.""

A human-demon hybrid, Doyle is chosen as the messenger of the Powers That Be, and sent to help Angel in LA. Doyle receives "visions" from the Powers, described as splitting great migraines with pictures that warn of people in trouble. Doyle has a shady past and is seemingly a coward, but the visions and his numerous underworld sources make him a valuable asset, and he becomes good friends with Angel. Together with Cordelia, the three of them form the nucleus of Angel Investigations.


 * All Genes Are Codominant: And how. He didn't even know about his father's demonic lineage until he turned twenty—presumably because of the spikes ejecting from his face. He prefers to pass as human, something pure-blood Bracken demons can't do.
 * Blessed with Suck
 * The Chooser of the One: ..While complaining that the Chosen One doesn't stock beer in the fridge.
 * Dogged Nice Guy: To Cordelia.
 * Fainting Seer
 * Foot-Dragging Divorcee: Inverted; Doyle finally comes around to blessing the new union, only for Harry's fiancee to try to eat his brains.
 * Freak-Out: He didn't take the news of his demonic heritage well, and ended up boarding himself up in an aprtment and chain-smoking all day.
 * Half-Human Hybrid/Human Mom, Nonhuman Dad: "As it happens, I'm very much human... (sneezes and turns blue with spikes) ...on my mother's side."
 * Hidden Depths: He used to be a school teacher. Lampshaded by Cordelia.
 * Iconic Item: A brown (or black) leather jacket.
 * : Transfers his visions to Cordelia via their Last Kiss.
 * Echoed in Season Five, when Cordelia's visions pass on to.
 * Last-Name Basis
 * Lineage Comes From the Father
 * My Greatest Failure: Refusing to lend aid to a group of pacifist Brachen demons who were trying to escape The Scourge. Later that night, Doyle experienced his very first vision—that of the entire Brachen clan being slaughtered.
 * Nice Hat: A porkpie hat, similar to the one worn by Whistler in Season 2 of BtVS (on whose character Doyle is based).
 * The Obi-Wan
 * : "'You never know your strength until you're tested.' I get that now."
 * Oireland
 * Oops, I Forgot I Was Married: To Harriet Doyle, a demonologist. They eventually parted ways amicably, through Harry called off her new engagement.
 * Percussive Prevention: When he to disarm The Scourge's weapon.
 * Plucky Comic Relief
 * Sad Clown
 * The So-Called Coward
 * Stages of Monster Grief: Doyle coped poorly with the revelation of his demon side, and his marriage to Harriet soon crumbled. However, the point is made that is demonic heritage probably wasn't the only reason their marriage broke up. Upon learning about demons, Harriet found the thought of studying an entirely new set of cultures and pastimes intriguing, whereas Doyle just wanted to pretend his demonic side didn't exist.
 * Super Mode: Bracken demon mode.
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute/Expy: In a way. He was in the cast from the beginning, but was originally intended to be the demon Whistler; the character Doyle was created with very similar traits when Max Perlich, who played Whistler on Buffy, turned out to be unavailable. In "City of" Doyle even wears a hat similar to Whistler's iconic hat.
 * That Man Is Dead: "It's Doyle now. Just Doyle."
 * , in part due to Actor Existence Failure: Doyle was written out after 9 episodes, as Joss had always wanted to have a, though Real Life Writes the Plot was also in play due to Glenn Quinn's drug addiction. Whedon wanted to bring him back later, but Quinn died of a drug overdose in 2002.
 * That Man Is Dead: "It's Doyle now. Just Doyle."
 * , in part due to Actor Existence Failure: Doyle was written out after 9 episodes, as Joss had always wanted to have a, though Real Life Writes the Plot was also in play due to Glenn Quinn's drug addiction. Whedon wanted to bring him back later, but Quinn died of a drug overdose in 2002.

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (Alexis Denisof)
""Sorry. I think my sense of humor is trapped in a jar somewhere.""

Another crossover character from Buffy, Wesley was the Watcher of both Buffy and Faith. He was fired after the former turned rogue and the latter turned evil. At a loose end, he became a "rogue demon hunter" himself, his travels eventually leading him to LA, where he joined Angel Investigations. As a former Watcher, Wesley is the resident demon expert. As the series progresses, he slowly becomes more assertive, confident and...well, let's say it, Badass. Maybe after that one episode where he impersonated Angel, his face got stuck like that.

""Ah, Kungai demon. Couple of years ago.""
 * Abusive Parents: His father used to lock him in the cellar.
 * The Alcoholic
 * An Arm and a Leg: His avatar in the Skipverse is missing an arm. His fencing skills are still formidable, though.

""I avoided the main arteries.""
 * Badass Biker: Subverted in his first episode. Those leather pants chafe something awful.
 * Badass Bookworm
 * Badass Normal: He's possibly the most badass human on the series. One feels he could take on Angel with little problem if he were so inclined.
 * Handicapped Badass: A zombified cop's bullet lands Wesley in a wheelchair for a while, but you don't need legs to load a shotgun!
 * Heartbroken Badass: I don't think can be any doubt about this one.
 * Took a Level in Badass: In Buffy, he was a bumbling, stuffy guy who never disobeyed the rules. In his first episode of Angel, he wore a leather jacket and called himself a "Rogue Demon Hunter." Of course, he was still bumbling and didn't really become Badass until —which also explains why he stopped shaving.
 * British Stuffiness
 * Chekhov's Skill: Specifically, darts.
 * Cruel to Be Kind
 * Cunning Linguist: With mixed results. You try arguing prophecy with a giant hamburger.
 * Dating Catwoman: Lilah.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Very Britishly so.
 * Dogged Nice Guy: As creepily as the show can manage. When he's not being turned into a misogynist rage monster and attacking Fred, he's casually dropping death threats to Gunn, his romantic rival.
 * Drowning My Sorrows: Descends into alcoholism in the aftermath of 's death. He is seldom entirely sober.
 * Dynamic Character: We see glimpses of his dark side in Pylea (Season 2) and in an alternate universe where the team soldiers on without Cordelia (Season 3). His near-death experience changes him for good.
 * Embarrassing Nickname: He was "Head Boy" at Academy.
 * Wesley seems blissfully unaware of the connotations - which is understandable, as Head Boy (and Head Girl) is an extremely normal title in British schools.
 * Emergency Impersonation: In the episode "Guise Will Be Guise", where he is forced to impersonate Angel.
 * Exalted Torturer: He's awfully good with a knife. Or scalpel. Or arrowhead.
 * Exalted Torturer: He's awfully good with a knife. Or scalpel. Or arrowhead.

"Lorne: You mean he actually says "Eureka"?"
 * Eureka Moment: Lampshaded by Angel.

"Cordelia: What's a rogue demon?"
 * Fan Service Pack
 * Fatal Flaw: Mistrust of others, and compulsively hoarding every secret to himself.
 * Fate Worse Than Death:.
 * Fire-Forged Friends/Salt and Pepper: With Gunn in Season Two.
 * Genius Bruiser
 * The Glasses Gotta Go
 * Good Is Dumb: The least trustworthy member on Angel's team is also the smartest. What are the odds?
 * Good Is Not Soft: Demonstrated this more and more as time went on, but there are hints as early as his appearances in Buffy.
 * The Gunslinger: Type C: The Woo. Wes is generally the guy with guns, though Gunn and Fred occasionally use them. The showy moves are strictly his department, however.
 * Lampshaded in "Lineage". We cut from slo-mo Wesley firing two pistols in mid-air to Fred, in real time, sighing, "Yes, thank you, Wesley, I'd love a gun."
 * Guttural Growler: Justified in the aftermath of his throat-slitting. His voice stays in the low register for the remainder of the show, and the scar remains visible for a long time.
 * Hazy Feel Turn: Stealing Angel's, then going solo for a while.
 * Hollywood Healing: Averted. It took a very long time for the scar on his throat to heal.
 * Impossibly Cool Weapon: Collapsible wrist-mounted swords.
 * Insistent Terminology: In his first appearance, wants to make sure everyone knows that he's a rogue demon hunter.

"Willow: Oh, and it's the Marlboro man."
 * : In the comic, he is permanently-bound to one of his old Buffy-era suits. Wesley surmises the Senior Partners are just finding new ways to torment him some more, since the suit and glasses are a reminder of his past self that he left behind.
 * Klingon Promotion : Became Illyria's de facto consort after shooting the first one.
 * The Klutz: In his early post-Buffy appearances. For the love of god, don't let him near an ax.
 * Jaded Washout: In slow-motion. Wesley is basically the same guy from before the Watcher's Council fired him. On the other hand, he's not eager to rejoin those officious windbags, even when bribed. Over the course of years, he grows so detached from his old values that the total destruction of the Council doesn't even shake him up.
 * The Lancer: When Fred is playing the Smart Guy role.
 * Morality Chain: Resigns himself to helping Illyria be a good citizen, despite being a pretty lousy role model himself.
 * Mr. Exposition: He's an ex-Watcher, seems to come with the territory.
 * Nothing Up My Sleeve: Again -- Collapsible wrist-mounted swords.
 * He's even got room for a Grappling Hook Pistol under there.
 * : Brought back in After the Fall by the Senior Partners. This is doubly ironic, as Wesley is bound to a . Furthermore, he now serves as liaison to the Senior Partners, taking over from Hamilton (whom Angel killed in the series finale).
 * Perma-Stubble: After he Took a Level in Badass.

"Wesley: I have no idea where Angel is, Lilah, or what happened to him. And I really couldn't care. Lilah: Wow. That was cold. I think we're finally making progress. Come on. Doesn't it bother you just a little bit? The not knowing? Wesley: That part of my life is dead. Doesn't concern me now."
 * Properly Paranoid: Wesley is never entirely at ease with a vampire boss, and is always preparing countermeasures against Angel's heel turn. His background as a former Watcher ensures this kind of thinking.
 * Scars Are Forever: It takes approximately one Season for that neck scar to disappear.
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Wesley and Spike seemed to be shaping into this by the time the show was canceled.
 * Shotguns Are Just Better: His trusty Mossberg 12-gauge. Manages to land only one hit with it, alas.
 * The Smart Guy
 * Spot of Tea: "You know, there's something about brewed tea you simply cannot replicate with a bag."
 * Stalker with a Crush: Fred.
 * Stalking Is Love:
 * : In her final scene with Wesley, Illyira allows one selfless gesture by taking Fred's shape, then consoling Wesley that they will be together.
 * Subverted (of course) in After the Fall, wherein Wesley is stuck.
 * TV Genius
 * Turncoat
 * Weak but Skilled
 * We Used to Be Friends:


 * Subverted:
 * Double Subverted:
 * Welcome Back, Traitor

Charles Gunn (J. August Richards)
""Lived my whole life in L.A., now I find out there are mountains. A brother should be told.""

Orphaned at a young age, Gunn finds himself living on the streets of LA and fighting vampires to survive, eventually forming his own crew of youths from similar backgrounds. After Angel helps the crew out in a turf war against a gang of vampires, Gunn in turn helps Angel and co. in a number of situations, slowly moving away from the streets and becoming a part of Angel Investigations. Street-wise and an accomplished fighter, Gunn nevertheless harbours insecurities that he is nothing more than 'dumb muscle.'

""I got no problem believin' that The Man is messin' with us!""
 * 90% of Your Brain: Gunn clarifies that his mental capacity wasn't "enhanced" when Wolfram & Hart made him a lawyer; the Senior Partners just "revved up some idling brain cells."
 * An Axe to Grind: His trademark weapon in the early seasons is a makeshift axe built out of a sharpened hubcap. Ghetto fabulous.
 * : sometime between the TV series finale and After the Fall. A Reset Button Ending restores Gunn to human form - but he retains the memories of.
 * Angry Black Man: If "Spin the Bottle" is any indication, Gunn was one militant little tyke.

""Heh, what'd you think, I was prematurely bald? (beat) I wasn't.""
 * Awesome McCoolname: Even Faith agrees.
 * Badass Normal: Very, very Badass Normal. In the spin-off comics, Angel states outright that Gunn could have beaten him in a fight if he ever got angry enough. He's probably the toughest character without supernatural powers in Buffy/Angel canon.
 * Took a Level in Badass: The reverse of Wesley. While Wesley became a tougher and more capable combatant, Gunn, already a Badass Normal, took the reverse; his head is filled with the knowledge of all laws, demonic and human. He becomes a point man in a tense demonic negotiation, not to mention heightened deductive abilities (maybe a literal case -- ).
 * Bald Black Leader Guy: To his own gang. At Angel Investigations, he's more like "Bald Black Big Guy". Subverted when he grows his hair out in the fifth season.

"(grumpily) "I was cool before I met y'all.""
 * : In After the Fall.
 * The Berserker: As a result of Survivor Guilt and blaming himself for Alonna's death. Negated when he fell in love with Fred, giving him a new lease on life.
 * The Big Guy: Even called himself "the muscle" in one episode.
 * Black and Nerdy: He references Daredevil #181 as part of a Perp Sweating and later name-drops several versions of The Flash.
 * Conveniently an Orphan
 * Dead Little Sister: Alonna, who got sired by vampires on his watch.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Deal with the Devil: Sold his soul for a truck. Yep. And there were still strings attached.
 * Repeated with his brain upgrade.
 * Dumb Muscle: Fears being this, but it's mostly unfounded.
 * Flowers for Algernon Syndrome: In the last season.
 * Genius Bruiser: Even before his "brain-boost", Gunn showed himself to be extremely cunning, savvy and perceptive, sometimes bordering analytical.
 * Hero of Another Story: Before he joined the cast proper.
 * I Just Want to Be Special: Angel suspects that Gunn's neural implant is corrupting him. He's half-right; it's not the implant that destroys Gunn, but the fear of losing it.
 * Justified Criminal: Before the show begins, Gunn has formulated a gang of homeless youths who swipe food and defend their ghetto from intruding vampires.
 * Last-Name Basis: Only Fred calls him "Charles." Others address him by that name during serious moments.
 * Let Me Get This Straight...
 * Men Are Uncultured: Gets dragged kicking and screaming to the ballet... then discovers he absolutely adores it. Meanwhile, Cordelia is snoring.
 * As part of his legal upgrade, Gunn has complete mastery of Gilbert and Sullivan (to help with diction).

"Fred: Oh, Charles. Your soul wasn't worth air conditioning?"
 * My God, What Have I Done?: When he realizes that the form he signed in exchange for the return of his brain upgrade gave entry to Illyria's sarcophagus, which ultimately.
 * Non-Indicative Name: He is never seen using a gun in the entire run of the series (Pistols were more Wesley's thing).
 * Scars Are Forever: Gunn from the Skipverse has a prominent facial scar.
 * Scary Black Man: Most of the time, he's friendly and loveable. But if You threaten Fred...
 * Screw Learning, I Have Phlebotinum: Instantly upgraded to über-lawyer thanks for Wolfram & Hart's surgeon. The procedure makes him an expert on human and demonic law within a few hours.
 * Street Smart
 * Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: When pressed, Gunn confesses he can never be friends with Angel, his natural enemy.
 * Token Minority
 * The Watson: Gunn and Fred juggle between this role, with Gunn showing irritation whenever he meets another vampire he's not allowed to kill.
 * What a Piece of Junk!: His pickup truck. "Don't you be dissin' my girl!"


 * Where Da White Women At?: Went steady with Fred for a year, followed by a brief (but very satisfactory) dalliance with Gwen Raiden.
 * Why Did It Have To Be Rats?

Winifred "Fred" Burkle (Amy Acker)
"(flips through fashion magazine) Why do girls want to look like that? I spent years in a cave starving, what's their excuse?""

Fred was attending college in Los Angeles when she was sucked into a portal and ended up in a demon dimension where humans are slaves. She's there for five years and rather insane before Angel and crew rescue her. Staying with them, she slowly re-adapts to life and becomes a valued member of the team, her incredible intelligence causing her to serve as the brains of the outfit.

""My family used to go to The Nutcracker every Christmas, and I had my first sexual dream about the Mouse King!""
 * A-Cup Angst: Played with. In one episode when the cast was mentally regressed back to early high school, she seems disappointed with how much she's "filled out" in her adult body. She never comments on it again.
 * Action Girl
 * Adorkable
 * Badass Bookworm
 * Beware the Nice Ones
 * Beware the Quiet Ones: Cordelia lampshades this in "That Old Gang of Mine."
 * Big Eater: Capable of eating her own body weight in waffles.
 * Bored with Insanity
 * Brainy Brunette
 * The Chick
 * Cloudcuckoolander: When she first returns from Pylea. She gets better.
 * Cute and Psycho: These tendencies are never completely gone; just dormant.
 * Former Teen Rebel: "It'd be cooler if we could score some weed, though!"
 * Geeky Turn On: You have no idea. (Probably too many to list.)

"Fred: The halberd could work. Acting like I'm all addle-brained talking about other dimensions. (mocking) Pylea? Never heard of it! (angry) Right. How 'bout a flail-whipping? Would that take a nice long time?
 * Gibbering Genius: Though she's good-natured enough to backpedal a bit in her speeches. Even when describing how she's about to kill someone!
 * Girl with Psycho Weapon: The writers seemed to be competing with each other to see what loony item Fred holds next. Crossbow? Automatic scythe trap? Sniper rifle? Flamethrower?

Angel: Hours, if you do it right. --Not that you should do it at all. (takes whip from her) Ever."

"Fred: Are - are you sure about that? Cordelia: Trust me. Tacos everywhere. ...And soap."
 * Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Feigenbaum, the "Master of Chaos"!
 * Good Parents: Who doesn't love Roger and Trish?
 * Good with Numbers: Which once almost resulted in her brain being stolen.
 * The Heart: She holds the crew together emotionally. It...eventually breaks her Stepford Smiler facade.
 * Hot Librarian / Hot Scientist
 * Ill Girl: "A Hole in the World".
 * The Ingenue
 * Is This What Anger Feels Like?
 * Meganekko: Whenever she dons the glasses.
 * Minored in Asskicking
 * Moe Stare: See picture.
 * Ms. Fixit
 * No Social Skills: She did live in Pylea for a few years.
 * Omnidisciplinary Scientist: She's a physicist by trade; she just happens to also be good at anything else. In Season Five, she is elevated to The Coroner, because why not?
 * The Pollyanna
 * Robinsonade: "I've been trying to make an enchilada out of tree bark."
 * Room Full of Crazy: The astrophysics formulas on her cave wall, and later hotel room. Lampshaded ever-after by Gunn and Wes, who never quite let Fred live it down.
 * Ship Tease: Developed a schoolgirl-like crush on Angel, but later got past it.
 * Shrinking Violet
 * Stepford Smiler: Cheery is her default mode, but after 5 years in Hell, her friends falling apart and all the responsibilities falling on her...she starts to break apart until she snaps in "Ground State" when Gunn almsot dies and again in "Supersymmetry" when she finds the one responsible for her 5 years in Hell. She decides as soon as she finds out that he has to die.
 * The Smart Girl
 * Southern-Fried Genius
 * Token Good Teammate
 * Tomboyish Name
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Tacos. (One notable difference about Pylea is its conspicuous absence of Tex-Mex.)
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Tacos. (One notable difference about Pylea is its conspicuous absence of Tex-Mex.)


 * Weak but Skilled: Happens only rarely, but when Fred pulls a fast one, her ingenuity will leave you dizzy.
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist
 * Wrench Wench
 * : Verified by Illyria in the Season Six comics. There's nothing left no matter how much everybody (including, oddly, the God-King herself) wishes..
 * : See below, re:
 * Unkempt Beauty: It takes her a while to rediscover civilization.
 * : See below, re:
 * Unkempt Beauty: It takes her a while to rediscover civilization.

Illyria ()
""I'd like to keep Spike as my pet.""

Illyria is an Old One, one of the ancient demons that walked the earth before the coming of man. Killed millions of years ago ago, she is reincarnated  and intends to rule once again...only to find her army long dead and her temple turned to dust. With nowhere else to go, she remains with the group, seeking to learn how to live in this strange, new world. Still incredibly powerful even in her diminished form, Illyria is a mighty ally to have; but she see human affairs as beneath her and the crew can never be quite sure that she's on their side.

"Illyria: This fate is worse than death. Condemned to live out existence in a vessel incapable of sustaining my true glory. How am I to function with such limitation?
 * Action Girl
 * A God Am I
 * Aloof Ally: One can never predict when she'll assist Team Angel, or why. At one point, Illyria rescues Gunn from a torture dimension just so she can throttle him in front of Wesley, apparently to play the You Owe Me card.
 * Blue and Orange Morality: Starts off holding zero value for human life, empathy or social conventions. But she is incredibly rigidly honorable - though even her code of honour is hard to grasp.
 * Curiosity Causes Conversion
 * Defrosting Ice Queen
 * Demonic Possession: She not only.
 * De-Power: She's less powerful than she was in her original form.
 * Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: "Take your best shot, little girl."
 * Doomy Dooms of Doom: Armies of Doom. She used to have them.
 * Double Consciousness: 's personality and memories (which, in a very real sense, is what humans are) are part of Illyria's "shell" as Illyria comments several times.
 * Drives Like Crazy: Referenced in the comic continuation; During her road trip with Gunn, Illyria asks for another turn at the wheel. Gunn flatly refuses, saying that the last time Illyria attempted to drive, she sent twelve cars flying off the freeway. Illyria states that if she can rule the earth, she can learn to master driving.
 * Eldritch Abomination: One of the few (non-parodic) sympathetic unspeakable horrors from the beyond in fiction.
 * Humanoid Abomination: As we see her in the series, due to her possession of Fred's body.
 * Emotionless Girl: Though she seems to have a firm grasp on 'Consternation'.
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water
 * Flight, Strength, Heart: She has Super Strength, can manipulate time, and can talk to plants.
 * Although in that case, they probably didn't answer back.
 * Ghost Memory: She has Fred's memories, but not her soul.
 * Glacier Waif: Fast enough to use Waif Fu, but doesn't really need to.
 * Glory Days: Illyria often talked about the world of her time and how everyone was afraid of her and her kind.
 * God-Emperor: Her role before the creation of the world. Coming down to blue-haired Waif Fu wielder was an adjustment, to say the least.
 * Hair-Trigger Temper
 * Hero with an F In Good: In the comics, her road to heroism hits a few roadblocks. To prevent a demon from leeching off of Jeremy's energy, she dutifully punches a hole clean through Jeremy's chest. Ouch.
 * In the climax of After the Fall, she reverts to her primordial demon form due to the machinations of and starts wrecking Los Angeles. The Senior Partners fix her so she returns to 'normal'.
 * How the Mighty Have Fallen: How she sees herself when she first comes back, when to the others she's still terrifyingly powerful. Then she gets depowered again, to the degree that she can be defeated by Hamilton, a minion of entities she once considered barely worth noticing.
 * Hugh Mann
 * Intercontinuity Crossover: It's been announced that Illyria is slated to appear in the first issue of Fallen Angel: Reborn.
 * The Juggernaut: Before having her powers sapped by Wesley's black hole gun.
 * Kick Chick
 * Kuudere
 * Lack of Empathy: Wesley gets roped into becoming her instructor in this regard. In an ironic twist, Illyria discovers her sense of empathy all too well --.
 * Living Relic
 * Marionette Motion: When she first takes control of her new body.
 * Muscles Are Meaningless: Subverted; she can hold her own against weaker baddies, but on a level playing field, a bruiser like Hamilton spells trouble.
 * My Biological Clock Is Ticking: Revealed in the Angel comic series to have a once-in-a-millenium mating cycle, signaled by Illyria going 'into heat'.
 * No Social Skills: Can't talk to me during your meeting? Then I'll kill everyone at the meeting.
 * Noble Demon
 * Physical God
 * Power Incontinence: Her physical form proves to unstable to contain her essence. She's forced to power down permanently, or else explode.
 * Puny Earthlings: Her habit of likening people to vermin, apes, plankton, amoebas, slime...
 * Quizzical Tilt: It usually means you're in for a beating.
 * Sealed Evil in a Can: Well, a coffin.
 * Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can:
 * Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can:

Lorne: Have you ever tried a Sea Breeze?"

"Illyria: So much power here! And you quibble at its price. If you want to win a war, you must serve no master but your own ambition."
 * Sensei for Scoundrels: Can't believe Angel is actually wangsting over being the head of a multi-billion dollar conglomerate. Illyria sets him straight with this speech.


 * Soul Jar: Her sarcophagus, although closer to a Magic Jar.
 * Power Crystal: Gem-encrusted too.
 * Sour Supporter: "The intricacies of your fates are meaningless."
 * Spock Speak
 * Spy Catsuit: With an impressive range of movement. Maybe it's the bootlegs.
 * Straw Vulcan
 * Superpower Lottery: Before she got depowered, she was probably the single strongest character in the series. And even afterwards, she was still way more powerful than any of the heroes and most of the villains.
 * Take Over the World: Wes predicts that Illyria will never quit her pursuit of this.
 * Thou Shalt Not Kill: In exchange for helping her navigate present-day Earth, Wesley makes her swear an oath not to kill people. The rest of Team Angel has a hard time digesting this, mostly assuming that she is somehow plotting instead of keeping her promise.
 * Time Master: Shares Sahjan's ability to traverse other dimensions. In "Time Bomb", she starts tripping through our timestream, though it turns out to be a side-effect of her exploding in the near future.
 * Token Evil Teammate: Oh, the irony...
 * Villainesses Want Heroes: Exploits her ability to to make failed advances at Wesley, who ironically replaced Knox as her right-hand man. It is kept vague whether she is purely interested in probing Wesley's brain, or if  are manipulating her feelings toward Wes—or both?
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting: Able to alter her physical appearance at will (she is capable of mimicking, right down to the clothing she wears.
 * Waif Fu: Somewhat subverted. Illyria certainly doesn't look like she should hit hard, but her fighting style is mostly Mighty Glacier as opposed to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
 * Who Wants to Live Forever?: Illyria pushes the outer bounds of why immortality might not be all that great. Nearly every Required Secondary Power imaginable including reincarnation—and her main reward was outliving even her presumably immortal army and pocket dimension temple.
 * You Can't Go Home Again: She debates the idea of traveling to her home dimension, or any world besides this one. In her human form, however, her old buddies would eat her alive.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Causing a drunken Wesley to call her a smurf.

Connor (Vincent Kartheiser)
""You must be Angel's handsome yet androgynous son."

"It's Connor."

"And the sneer's genetic, who knew?""

- Willow and Connor

Against all laws of the universe, and the result is Connor, who is super-strong, agile, has enhanced senses and healing and is, by all appearances, human. Taken away to another dimension, the Quor-Toth, as a baby, Connor returns a few months later. Of course, due to time flowing differently there, he is now seventeen years old, and an incredible fighter. Harboring a deep hatred for Angel's true nature, Connor is at odds with Angel Investigation just as often as he is fighting alongside them.

""I knew she was a lie. Jasmine. My whole life's been built on them. I just - I guess I thought this one was better than the others.""
 * Abusive Parents: It wouldn't be a stretch to say Holtz wasn't sweet and gentle while fashioning Connor into a weapon. And when it looked like Connor might have a happy life with Angel, Holtz actually  to set Connor against his real father, thus abandoning him in a world he knew nothing about with nothing left to live for except revenge.
 * Antagonistic Offspring: Towards Angel and especially Angelus. Being raised by Holtz will do that to a guy.
 * Anti-Anti-Christ: It was touch and go there for a while..
 * Avenging the Villain: When kills himself in such a way as to implicate Angel.
 * Ax Crazy: Was there ever any doubt it would come to this?
 * Back for the Finale: "You stop by for a cup of coffee and the world's not ending? Please."
 * Badass Adorable: As Connor Reilly. A polite, good-natured and boyishly handsome young man, but shy, innocent and somewhat awkward. And also he could pull your spine out through your mouth.
 * Badass Long Hair
 * Berserk Button: For reasons that are easily grasped (being tossed into a giant hell portal as an infant), he really doesn't like magic.
 * Bad parenting. He talks a suicidal cop off a ledge, only to discover a family photo in his wallet. He then proceeds to turn the cop's face into hamburger.
 * The kicker, though, is when Connor admonishes a hostage to hug their daughter properly. You mean the daughter you're planning to blow up? Ok, gotcha.
 * The Berserker: He tries to commit Suicide by Cop after Jasmine's defeat, and doesn't care if the Cop has to be Angel.
 * Black and White Insanity: The sad fact is that Connor never really adjusts to our world. Angel is a killer; therefore, he should die. The world is harsh and cruel; Jasmine made it a paradise, so she must be good.
 * He considers himself above Angel Investigations in this respect, accusing them of fighting empty battles and helping to maintain the status quo.
 * Brainwashing for the Greater Good: The Senior Partners offer to do this when he becomes too crazed to control. It comes at a price: Angel has to go join Wolfram & Hart.
 * Creepy Souvenir: There was that time he ripped a guy's ear off.
 * Cute Bruiser: All the strength of a vampire, packed into a skinny-ass teen.
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
 * Conditioned to Accept Horror: He did spend his formative years in a hell dimension with Holtz as a dad.
 * Consummate Liar
 * Deus Angst Machina
 * Dhampyr: Though he was born to two vampires. He's only mostly human, whatever he is. A good description would be, he has all the strengths of a vampire and all the weaknesses of a human.
 * They get to play around with the implications of a vampire with a human son. Connor isn't averse to many uniquely vampiric weaknesses, and so can go places and do things that Angel can't, but he can die from things that won't kill a vampire, like suffocation or loss of blood. In one of his first episodes back from Quor-toth, Angel loses Connor when he can't follow him into the sunlight, and later has to shield him from a hail of gunfire.
 * The Dragon: To the Beastmaster (AKA ) and later Jasmine.
 * Dragon Ascendant: Bitterly played with. After all, he's, and there's no longer any pod people to rule. He acts as an extension of 's Motive Rant, declaiming that the human race was undeserving of her love.
 * Double Consciousness: After Wesley inadvertently restores his old memories.
 * The Dreaded: The demons of Quor-Toth were terrified of him. They called him things like "the bringer of torment".
 * Emo Teen: Gets accused of this a lot.
 * Fake Memories: . Even once his original memories are restored, he's a lot more grounded.
 * Fantastic Racism: Being raised by Holtz has caused him to be prejudiced against demons. At one point, he openly referred to Lorne as "filthy demon". Katheiser even likened him to a kid who was raised by a racist.
 * Give Him a Normal Life: Connor at the end of season four. (Jesus, they ran the gamut with baby tropes and this kid, didn't they?)
 * Good Is Dumb: Connor, with every flip-flop of his so flip-floppy heart, personified Redemption Demotion. As a conflicted character, he was constantly switching sides; when fighting at his father's side, he was a bit slower than Angel and not as agile, but when he fought against the good guys, he was like Spider-Man with a cause, decking multiple foes with each blow and always one step ahead.
 * Heel Face Revolving Door
 * Holy Child: Inverted, as only evil demons view him as one. Sahjhan let slip that Connor has a "big future", but in what sense, we don't know yet.
 * I Have Many Names: Connor Angel, Connor Reilly and Holtz named him Steven Franklin Thomas.
 * I Just Want to Be Loved: Angel? Gave him up to be sucked into a Hell portal. Darla? Staked herself so she wouldn't try to eat him later. Holtz? Raving maniac who used him as a tool to punish Angel. ? Completely and utterly mind-screws him into committing betrayals, patricide, and murder. Jasmine? ..You get the picture.
 * It Runs in The Family: "A weakness for Slayers. You're definitely his son."
 * Jumped At the Call: Wheter his usual or alternate self, he seems pretty enthusiastic about being a superhuman.
 * The Lancer
 * Laser Guided Tykebomb: Has a family more tangled than a ball of rubber bands. Jasmine, who requires a paradox of sorts to birth herself into our world, is responsible for Darla's pregnancy and Connor's later romantic interlude with.
 * Leeroy Jenkins: Good luck trying to control him.
 * Like a Badass Out of Hell: He terrifies the beasts of Quor-toth so much, they flee to Earth just to be rid of him. After that, it's as easy as following the bread crumbs...
 * Likes Older Women: Self-confessed. Targets of his Longing Look include, Faith, and Illyria.
 * Loss of Identity: Not only does.
 * Made of Iron: He is able to shrug off getting hit by a van with little to no problem.
 * Muscles Are Meaningless: Looking at the picture, you'd be forgiven for not thinking he could kick your ass. You're wrong; he could kick your ass and then hand it to you on a silver platter with a singing telegram.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: In Quor-Toth, he was called "the Destroyer."
 * Nietzsche Wannabe: He's not overly fond of our reality. Considering he grew up in a hell dimension, that's really something.
 * Noble Bigot: Connor was brought up to hate demons and magic by the Obliviously Evil Holtz, but has no intention of hurting humans (at first). Wesley even uses this as an excuse for not cluing Fred and Gunn in about him in "Deep Down".
 * No Man of Woman Born: The prophecy said, "There will be no birth." What it meant was that Darla can't deliver a baby, so the only alternative is to stake herself and turn to ash. Hence, no birth.
 * Not Brainwashed: Due to their blood relation, Jasmine's powers never worked on him. He was just so jaded and messed up by that point that her "peace at the cost of free will" plan seemed like a good deal, even if he never actually felt the same bliss everyone else did.
 * Not Brainwashed: Due to their blood relation, Jasmine's powers never worked on him. He was just so jaded and messed up by that point that her "peace at the cost of free will" plan seemed like a good deal, even if he never actually felt the same bliss everyone else did.


 * Only I Can Kill Him: Which is why is so anxious to be rid of him.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: The reason he defended Angel from Linwood's commandos in "Tomorrow".
 * Plot-Relevant Age-Up
 * Psycho Supporter: To the Jasmaniacs.
 * Sanity Slippage: With every emotional disaster dumped on him, his stability goes down a tick.
 * Scarily Competent Tracker: You can thank Holtz for tying Connor to a tree in the middle of nowhere, then leaving him to escape his ropes and find his way home all on his own. "One time, it only took me five days."
 * Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: After already getting a Plot-Relevant Age-Up, Connor was later also a victim of Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome when they changed his age from sixteen to eighteen to make his relationship with 22-year-old Cordelia less squicky.
 * This is especially amusing considering that, due to the circumstances of Connor's rapid aging, nobody, including Connor himself, can really be sure of exactly how old he is. That doesn't stop several characters from explicitly stating that he's "eighteen", for the first time, in that very same episode, all apparently just to keep the media watchdogs at bay.
 * Given that he's stated to be sixteen the previous season they could simply have made Connor seventeen, the same age Buffy was when she lost her virginity with 243-year old Angel, but well...
 * Son of a Whore: His mother was one before being sired.
 * Tangled Family Tree: Like a ball of rubber bands. Angel conceived him with Darla, who was able to carry him to term with Jasmine's influence. Connor then impregnated so she could give birth to Jasmine.
 * Tyke Bomb: Angel spends the end of season three and all of season four trying in vain to defuse him.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: With Holtz, not Angel.
 * Welcome Back, Traitor
 * Wild Child

Krevlornswath "Lorne" of the Deathwok Clan, also known as The Host (Andy Hallett)
""Always leave 'em wanting more, kiddo. That's the rule.""

Born in another dimension, Lorne rejected its Proud Warrior Race Guy culture, which branded him an outcast. He was overjoyed, then, when he fell into a portal and found himself in Los Angeles. Setting up a karaoke bar on the spot, he brands it a sanctuary, where violence between demons is impossible. Lorne is an empath, who can read people's destinies when they bare their souls—that is, when they sing. He uses this to help people by setting them on their true path. Lorne tries to maintain a neutral stance, but finds himself being drawn into Angel Investigations and eventually becomes a full-fledged member of the team.

""Slays 'em every time.""
 * Amazing Technicolor Population: Green skin with red horns. He is from another dimension.
 * Anything That Moves: Something of a G-rated version of this trope; he flirts shamelessly with guys and girls alike, but never appears to have a genuine romantic or sexual attraction to anyone.
 * Bizarre Demon Biology: Mentions that his heart is located in his rear.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: He darkens quite a bit when is put in jeopardy. To say nothing of his final scene.
 * Bi the Way: Lorne seems to fit this (or Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?). He's definitely into girls; however, he also is fond of the thought of Angel in leather pants, and freely refers to him as "lover", "sweetie" and scores of other romantic endearments. Lorne also is interested in fashion, culture, art, music and Elton John. He also has a somewhat flamboyantly, stereotypically gay personality. However, his sexuality has never been addressed directly in the show, and the actor considered the character asexual.
 * Black Sheep: To the rest of his clan.
 * The Character Died with Him: Following Andy Hallet's death, his character was retired in a self-titled, one-shot comic.
 * Cleopatra Nose
 * The Confidant
 * The Dandy: To paraphrase Mayor Wilkins on Buffy: That is one exciting suit!
 * A Day in the Limelight: "Life of the Party"
 * Dark Is Not Evil
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Defictionalization: Lorne headlines a Las Vegas show in one episode. This was done by having Lorne headline a show in Las Vegas, and filming it.
 * Drink Order: "More Sea, less Breeze."
 * Embarrassing First Name: His full name is "Krevlornswath" in his native dimension, and even he isn't too fond of the shortened nickname. (He has green skin, which apparently made some people think of Lorne Greene from Bonanza).
 * The Empath: And about as reliable as a cheap fortune cookie.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He was originally just called "The Host."
 * Fun Personified
 * Have I Mentioned I Am a Dwarf Today?: Averted; Lorne doesn't mind it at all if people mistake his green skin for makeup. Especially if it gets him into Caesar's Palace.
 * The first time this happens, he accidentally runs into a librarian who stammers, "You're--...you're--!!" before sighing, "...from the children's reading program!" At this, Lorne actually considers dropping by and reading some Harry Potter.
 * : by leaping into the Music of the Spheres, thereby restoring balance to the universe..
 * I Need a Freaking Drink: Our Lady of the Perpetual Sea Breeze.
 * Immigrant Patriotism: As soon as he heard Aretha Franklin's voice, he knew he was home.
 * Incredibly Long Note: Once claimed he can hold a note for literally forever.
 * Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: On Pylea, for not wanting to be a warrior.
 * Losing Your Head: He can survive decapitation and being cut apart, but only if his body parts aren't mutiliated.
 * Lorne keeps this small detail about himself secret, apparently so as to gauge his friends' grief-stricken reactions to his 'death'. (He isn't impressed with any of them.)
 * Lounge Lizard
 * Meaningful Name: On Lorne's homeworld, they drink "Flib liquor," humans are "cows", and they clean out "flehegna" stables. Maybe his nickname was apt.
 * Mentor: Sort of.
 * Mr. Exposition
 * Musical Assassin: He can make stuff explode by hitting just the right note.

"(to Gunn) Who's Fluffy? Are you Fluffy?"
 * My Species Doth Protest Too Much
 * Nice Guy
 * OOC Is Serious Business: Lorne's the smiling, happy, carefree member of the team. When he begins to crack in Season 5, it's a sign that everything's about to fall apart. He never really recovers.
 * Opt Out: In the series finale.
 * Out of Focus: In Season Five, Andy Hallett probably spent more time in the makeup chair than he did in front of the camera. On the upside, Lorne did get his own episode (see above) and was featured in the final stretch.
 * Paper-Thin Disguise: An overcoat and a trilby, which looks dashing in a Humphrey Bogart-sort of way, but about as inconspicuous as a Ninja Turtle.
 * A baseball cap and sunglasses are enough to disguise him in broad daylight.
 * Person as Verb: Originally known simply as "The Host."
 * The Power of Rock: Karaoke is the only way to put things right!
 * Promotion to Opening Titles: At long last partway into Season Four.
 * Psychic Powers: He can read people's futures. Allegedly only when they sing, but there have been plenty of occasions when he's read people who aren't singing. Each time he brushes it off as them broadcasting unusually strongly because of their emotional state. It happens frequently, however. He can also mystically sense when Cordelia is about to receive a vision and has the ability to surf her connection to the Powers That Be and tap into her visions as a result. He needs to be touching Cordelia to do this latter but he's even able to tell when Cordelia's being sent fake visions from an earth-based psychic and indicates that it requires genuine skill to be able to work that out as the fakes were very convincing.
 * Red Baron: Ends up becoming one the more benign demon "lords" of L.A. after it is . Lorne is elected the Lord of Silver Lake, and does his very best to make his territory "a Heaven in Hell". (After the Fall)
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: He's got red eyes because he's a demon, but in an aversion, he's actually a gentle soul who's pretty sweet and fun company.
 * Sad Clown: His perpetual comic persona starts turning into this in Season Five, mostly after . He even gets a whole scene talking about this in "Underneath."
 * Sensor Character
 * Shipper on Deck: Leads the movement to pair off Angel and Cordelia. You can't fight love, Cinnamon Buns!
 * Some Call Me... Tim
 * Soundtrack Dissonance: You are my sunshine, my only sunshine... ♪
 * Spiky Hair
 * Took a Level in Badass: His last scene. Interestingly, it is obvious that Lorne finds the act disgusting and demoralising; afterwards, he walks out on the team without so much as a goodbye.
 * The Unfavorite: His cousins use their empathic powers to hunt. Lorne used his to read peoples' destinies, and was considered a freak. He preferred music over hunting, even though music doesn't really exist in his dimension.
 * Verbal Tic: Whenever Lorne finishes a sentence he refers to the person he's talking to as some kind of endearment, often a foodstuff: Pumpkin, Angel cakes, Kiwi, Sweet potato, Muffin.
 * "And stop calling me pastries!
 * This extends to curses, as well. "Aw, fudgesicle!"
 * Back on Pylea they used to call him "fragrant tuber".
 * Backfires when Lorne telephones a coded message for help ("Say 'hi' to Fluffy for me!"), which Fred interprets as just another nickname for someone in Angel's group.

""I had to come back here to find out I didn't have to come back here. I don't belong here, I hate it here! You know where I belong? L.A. You know why? Nobody belongs there. It's the perfect place for guys like us.""
 * Or Harmonica/Harmonita, in Harmony's case.
 * You Can't Go Home Again: Parodied when Angel drags him kicking and screaming to Pylea. Learns nothing, accomplishes nothing, goes back home. The end.

Spike, né William Pratt (James Marsters)
""Here you are, finally living a piece of the high life - new clothes, new cars, my old tumble fetching you tasty snacks - and what's your gripe? "I feel disconnected." You want to feel disconnected, try being a bloody ghost for a bit!""

Spike is an infamous vampire, having killed two Slayers in his time. Angel is his "grand-sire", and the two were running buddies back in Angel's evil days. Spike arrived in Sunnydale and set his sights on Buffy as his third Slayer, but after numerous failed attempts, he had a run-in with a high-tech demon fighting unit and was implanted with a chip that left him unable to harm humans. With killing demons the only outlet for his aggression, he took to working with Buffy and slowly fell in love with her, going as far as to have his soul restored for her. After, he is magically transported to LA, mystically bound to the place, and spends his days alternately helping and annoying Angel.

"Cordelia: Heard you weren't evil anymore. Which kinda makes the hair silly."
 * Anti-Hero: Was a Type V bet recently staggered to a Type IV
 * Back from the Dead
 * Badass
 * Badass Decay: Reversed a bit in the last season.
 * Badass Longcoat
 * Big Fancy House: In After the Fall, Spike takes over the Playboy Mansion and uses it as his residence after dusting a vampirized Hef.
 * Book Ends: In his earliest canonical appearance, Spike (under his human identity, William) recites a bad poem to his crush and gets shot down ("Fool For Love", Buffy S5). Spike delivers the same performance at a poetry slam in the Series Finale; this time, the whole audience applauds and cheers.
 * Deadpan Snarker: His parody of a conversation between Angel and a Damsel in Distress in "In the Dark" is awesomely hilarious.
 * Expansion Pack Past
 * Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Unlike Angel, he gets roped into saving people by a fork-tongued Lindsey.
 * Good Is Not Nice: Saves a woman from a vampire in a dark alley in "Soul Purpose", and then chews her out for being dumb enough to walk through an alley alone at night.
 * Iconic Item: Subverted (for about a minute) after his original trenchcoat gets burned to tatters. Wolfram & Hart immediately supplies him with eleven exact duplicates of the coat.
 * The Lancer
 * Laughably Evil: "In the Dark." When he we next see him four seasons later, he's reformed his ways.

"Spike: I had a plan! Angel: You, a plan? Spike: A good plan, Smart plan! Carefully laid out! ...But I got bored."
 * Layman's Terms: This pretty much became his gimmick during the series' expository speeches.
 * Leeroy Jenkins:

"Spike: Think I'm hot, do ya?
 * Mr. Fanservice
 * The Nicknamer: Spike's names for Illyria include "The Leather Queen", "Fred Sonja", "Little Shiva", "Babe the Blue Ox", and "Blue Meanie".
 * Angel is "Ol' Broody-pants" and "Captain Forehead".
 * Noble Demon
 * The Not Love Interest: Season 5 focuses a lot on his relationship with Angel
 * Our Ghosts Are Different: Subverted when Fred determines that Spike's aura is radiating heat - unusual for a ghost.

Fred: ...Lukewarm."


 * Rebel Relaxation: When you're a ghost, there's not much else to do but kick back and snark at people.
 * Red Baron: When Hell-A is split up between various demon "Lords", Spike crowns himself Lord of Beverly Hills. (After the Fall)
 * The Rival
 * Unexplained Recovery: Lampshaded by Spike himself. "Flash-fried in a pillar of fire saving the world. I got better."

The Senior Partners
""So what's the big plan, Angel? Destroy the Senior Partners, smash Wolfram & Hart once and for all?""

- Holland Manners

The "Wolf", "Ram" and "Hart" are a mysterious cabal of ancient demons. Following mankind's triumph over the demon hordes on Earth, the "Senior Partners" (as they're now called) continued to exert influence through political connections and corruption, unlike their Ax Crazy contemporaries such as Illyria. In the present day, their organization goes by the moniker Wolfram & Hart and is puppeted by the Partners themselves, who reside in a separate dimension.

"Lilah: Remember when Robert Price let the Senior Partners down and they made him eat his liver?"
 * Amoral Law Firm
 * Animal Motifs
 * Army of Lawyers
 * As Long as There Is Evil: Without evil residing in the hearts of every human alive, the firm could not exist.
 * Bad Boss: The firm is known for its unforgiving treatment of its employees.

""Can we really change the world? At Wolfram & Hart, We're Counting On It.™""
 * Bambification: Hart's sigil is, of course, a stag.
 * Bigger Bads: Angel spends the whole show and all his strength just trying to grind their operation to a halt, even if it's just for a moment. And that's being optimistic.
 * Body Surf: The Partners are apparently unable to inhabit our dimension while in their native form.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executives: Of a sort.
 * Destination Defenestration: No sooner does a Partner materialize in front of its employees, that Angel lunges for its throat and tackles it through a window.
 * Dimension Lords: The monks of Pylea are hinted to be acolytes.
 * Eldritch Location: Euphemistically known as the "Home Office."
 * Evil, Inc.: The patent holder of cancer is a client.
 * Evil Virtues: Honesty. At Wolfram & Hart, the deal is king—they never break an agreement.
 * Extranormal Institute
 * I Have Many Names: "The Inquisition" and "Khmer Rouge" being among them.
 * It's not even certain if Wolf, Ram & Hart are just pseudonyms. Lilah reports on having met with a "Mr. Suvarta" right before she.
 * I Want Them Alive: Killing Angel is strictly off-limits. That doesn't stop a bunch of their subordinates from trying, though.
 * In the Hood
 * Just the First Citizen
 * Law Enforcement, Inc.: Have their own special ops outfit.
 * Literal-Minded: In one instance, several employees were reported to have been sacked with actual sacks, and Knox mentioned that on at least one occasion they literally fired an employee.
 * As mentioned by Harmony, there are also non-Human resources.
 * Mega Corp: Although ostensibly a law firm, they also maintain departments of real estate, entertainment, transmutational science, and Interment Acquisitions (read: Grave Robbing).
 * Mouth of Sauron: The Conduit. An assortment of Wolfram & Hart brass also fill this role, most notably Marcus Hamilton and Holland Manners (following his death). It's in this capacity that Holland gives his Reason You Suck Speech.
 * No Body Left Behind
 * Occult Law Firm: Of the nefarious variety.
 * The Omniscient Council of Vagueness
 * Resignations Not Accepted: Lee was rudely awakened to this policy while attempting to jump ship to a rival firm.
 * Every employee signs a "perpetuity clause" in their contracts, meaning that once they die, they continue to serve the firm in Hell.
 * Rule of Three: The Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart.
 * Screw the Rules, I Have Money: As CEO, Angel offhandedly remarks that they kinda, sorta... "own" the police.
 * Shadow Dictator
 * Took a Level in Badass: Granted, it took them potentially millions of years; Illyria was aware of the original Wolf, Ram and Hart in her own time - but they were to ultimate evil as vampires are to them in the present day. It's immediately pointed out to her that things have rather changed in the intervening aeons.
 * Ultimate Evil: Never properly seen (or heard) on-screen, due to the writers' belief that nothing could match whatever the viewer's imagination conjures up. That said, a Senior Partner does briefly manifest in the body of a lower demon during the company's annual "review" meeting in "Reprise."
 * Villain Cred: Even Sahjhan is familiar with the firm's reputation, being as it exists in other dimensions, as well.
 * Villain with Good Publicity: While many of their clients are rich or powerful, the firm is also known to work some cases pro bono, especially when it has an ulterior interest in the client. Lilah even gave the keynote speech at a public school just to get close to a telepath.
 * Holland's division sponsored a high-profile charity event with the intention of stealing upwards of 95% of the funds raised.
 * Holland's division sponsored a high-profile charity event with the intention of stealing upwards of 95% of the funds raised.

The Circle of the Black Thorn
The agents of the Senior Partners on Earth, the Circle are their direct representatives and thus perhaps singularly the most powerful evil force on the planet. Only the most vile of creatures are accepted into their ranks; given the firm's interest in having Angel on their side of the apocalypse, seeing him corrupted enough to be worthy of the Circle is a fond wish. Individual members appear throughout the fifth series, though it is not until near the end that their commonality is actually revealed ahead of the final confrontation.


 * Affably Evil: Izzerial, who comes across as an upwardly-mobile professional involved with networking. Listen to the character without looking at him, and, aside from the occasional reference to death, you'd be pushed to guess he's a demon.
 * Big Bad: As a whole, they are this of series 5.
 * Cosmopolitan Council: They're a varied group, incorporating demon royalty, vampires (once Angel joins), sorcerors, and even a few humans.
 * Corrupt Politician: Senator Helen Bruckner is naturally this, given that she's actually a demon who's taken over a human body (quite probably, Magnus Hainsley was responsible).
 * The Dragon: To the Senior Partners, a role they apparently share to some extent with Marcus Hamilton (though the Circle has more power, since Hamilton is just the liason).
 * Expy: Izzerial ("Izzy") the Devil, a very obvious one for Satan. Aside from the name, he's a red demon with a forked tail.
 * Evil Sorceror: Cyrus Vail, a frail, elderly, incredibly powerful warlock.
 * If You're So Evil Eat This Kitten: It's not directly specified whether it was Angel's idea or the Circle's (the trope being invoked if the former, played straight if the latter), but their torturing and his murdering so pure and noble a warrior as  is this trope.
 * The Illuminati
 * Initiation Ceremony: Angel's is the murder of.
 * No Name Given: The human members of the Circle are unnamed.
 * Omniscient Council of Vagueness: That they're incredibly powerful and evil is made clear, what specifically their role as Wolfram & Hart's "agents on earth" entails is not. Basically, they seem to make the world progressively more unpleasant to live in.
 * Red Herring Shirts: Angel encounters each one separately throughout Season Five.
 * Secret Circle of Secrets: Naturally. They even have chants and Venetian robes.
 * Spikes of Villainy: Their logo.
 * Trojan Horse: How the Circle are defeated.

The Conduit to the Senior Partners (Kay Panabaker) (J. Augustus Richards)
""I like trouble. But I hate chaos." -- Mesektet "I am not your friend. I am not your flunky. I am your Conduit to the Senior Partners." -- The Big Cat in Gunn's form"


 * Appearance Is in the Eye of the Beholder: The second Conduit. It reverts to Gunn's shape after Gunn unknowingly arranges the death of.
 * Cats Are Mean: "Big Cat."
 * Creepy Child: Mesektet.
 * Eldritch Location: The "White Room."
 * Go Mad from the Revelation: Lilah's timid about entering the White Room, mostly because of one employee who went in there and ended up in an asylum.
 * Grade School CEO
 * Little Miss Badass: Mesektet.
 * Little Miss Snarker: Once again, as Mesektet.
 * Made of Evil: Nuclear evil.
 * Missing Floor: The White Room is opened by hitting a specific sequence of elevator buttons.
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: On Gunn.
 * Panthera Awesome: The "Big Cat" form.
 * Readings Are Off the Scale: Gunn borrowing a 'whisker.'
 * Really 700 Years Old
 * Replacement Goldfish: The second Conduit.
 * Spell My Name with a "The"
 * Scary Black Man: DoppelGunn.
 * Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Blithely instructing Angel to snap Lilah's neck... which he happily obliges, until she giggles and calls him off at the last second.
 * Villainous Rescue: Mesektet's last act was saving Angel and Co. from The Beast during its attack on Wolfram and Hart.

Lindsey McDonald (Christian Kane)
""You're either with the one with power or you're powerless!""

A young up-and-coming lawyer at Wolfram & Hart, Lindsey finds himself crossing paths with Angel a number of times. Intelligent and amoral (almost), Lindsey comes to see himself as Angel's rival...even if Angel doesn't.

""YOU kill me? A flunky?! I'm not just--! ...Angel kills me. You-- Angel...""
 * An Arm and a Leg: After threatening Cordelia's life in front of Angel. Bad idea.
 * The shamans at work grafted a (pre-owned) hand onto his stump.
 * Blood Spattered Innocents: In Blind Date. He's hardly innocent, but he does look appropriately traumatized when the man next to him is shot and it is one of the rare occasions he's trying to do the right thing.
 * Bodyguard Betrayal: By in the series finale.
 * The Cast Showoff: Kane picked up some swordfighting skills in Secondhand Lions, and was probably happy to get more use out of them.
 * And of course singing "L.A. Song" in "Dead End"."
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Dirty Business: He waffles a bit, though.
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Lindsey is wooed by Darla, to the point of confessing he wouldn't "mind" if she were the one to kill him.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Why he leaves Wolfram & Hart. And why he helps stop Ax Crazy Psycho for Hire Vanessa Brewer from killing three children.
 * Evil Hand: Subverted. It's not actually evil; just suicidal.
 * Famous Last Words:


 * Freudian Excuse: His dirt-poor childhood. Lindsey resolved never to end up like his father, grovelling to the repo men as he was being evicted.
 * Gender Blender Name
 * Heel Face Revolving Door: Until it slams in his face.
 * Hijacked by Ganon: Works alongside his lover, Eve, to play Angel and Spike against each other, with the hope of usurping Angel's position at the firm and (if we're aiming high) buying his way into the Circle of the Black Thorn.
 * Iconic Item: The fleur-de-lis bracelet that Lindsey wears throughout the show. It's a keepsake that Christian Kane wears to remind him of his mother, who is from New Orleans.
 * Ignored Epiphany: Is truly appalled by Wolfram & Hart's plot to murder a trio of child seers, and assists Angel in thwarting them. Subverted when Holland dangles a fat paycheck over his head.
 * Lindsey resigns for good in Season Two, ironically after having earned a top position and a replacement hand to boot; he leaves Los Angeles, burying the hatchet with Angel for good. ...Or not. Actually, he was studying for years on how to join the elite Circle of the Black Thorn.
 * It's Personal: Develops this for Angel.
 * Look What I Can Do Now!: Returns from Nepal with some cool martial arts tricks, materializing swords out of thin air, and using The Force to...well, close doors. But the point is it looks cool.
 * Lorne makes an offhand reference to Lindsey's "demon-strength", though it isn't elaborated on. This would explain how he's able to keep up with Angel.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Appears to have picked up a couple of Holland Manners' tricks.
 * Minion Shipping: Some occasional sexual tension with Lilah, including a parting ass grab when he leaves L.A.
 * Mr. Fanservice
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Inverted. Lindsey's kind of upset when  kills him. It was supposed to be Angel!
 * Put on a Bus: And then came back.
 * The Rival: Angel unwittingly provokes Lindsay's wrath at every turn, from ruining his court cases, to stealing his would-be girlfriend (Darla), to having the entire firm handed to him on a silver platter. ..And then Angel has sex with Lindsey's new girlfriend, Eve, under the influence of spell—and oblivious to Lindsey's connection to her. When Lindsey consoles himself that Eve is one of the only things in his life that Angel "never got his mitts on", Eve wisely holds her tongue. A good thing, too, because otherwise his brain might have imploded.
 * Southern-Fried Genius: His exact origin is ambiguous, though he has an Oklahoma license plate on his pickup truck. Angel dismissively calls him a "tiny Texan" at one point; this could be an in-joke directed at Christian Kane, who hails from Dallas.
 * Tattooed Crook: Post-Tibet Lindsey had super magic stealth tattoos that let him hide from the Senior Partners.
 * Took a Level in Badass: Between Seasons 2 and 5, he apparently learned a bunch of kung-fu and.
 * Unknown Rival: He comes to view himself as the Arch Enemy to Angel. Angel doesn't.

Lilah Morgan (Stephanie Romanov)
""Funny thing about black and white, you mix it together and you get grey. And it doesn't matter how much white you try and put back in, you're never gonna get anything but grey.""

Another Wolfram & Hart lawyer, she is the rival of Lindsey, the two often vying with each other internally, when they're not trying to make Angel's life miserable. After Lindsey's departure, she begins to climb up the ladder at W&H, bringing her into conflict with Angel time and time again.

"Gavin: From what I hear, bumping uglies with an old man that body-jumped into a vampire is the closest thing you've had to a meaningful relationship in years."
 * Action Survivor: The Beast slaughters -- except Lilah. She escapes the building with Wesley's help, then later turns up in the sewers, sans stylish clothes and shampoo.
 * Ambition Is Evil: Arguably, the reason she outlasts the other lawyers is because of her sex. She's had to be "quicker, smarter, faster" than any man at Wolfram & Hart.
 * Back from the Dead: An interesting case, since her contract with Wolfram & Hart.
 * Becoming the Mask: She cheerfully admits to this.
 * Big Damn Heroes:
 * Character Development: Starts out as a Smug Snake who's utterly useless compared to Lindsey, and is constantly afraid of Angel. Over the course of season 2 and 3, she develops into a much stronger character, stealing Lindwood's position, being able to stare Angel down as an equal, and even shows a more sensitive side with her relationship with Wesley.
 * Christmas Cake: A season 2 episode (don't remember what) she made a crack about how she should have listened to her mother and had kids so she can sacrifice them to a demon for luck.
 * Co-Dragons: With Lindsey. And later his off-brand substitute, Gavin.
 * Dating Catwoman: Things get awfully complicated between her and Wesley. More complicated than either of them had ever really imagined it getting.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Reaches tremendous levels
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: It's suggested at a few points that she's fallen in love with Wesley. This is ironic, since the whole point of Lilah's seduction was to lure Wesley over to Wolfram & Hart. Their liaisons end up transforming him into a bone fide Ice King, while Lilah's true feelings go unreciprocated.
 * The Dog Bites Back: Linwood manages to ride out the humiliating defeats of Season Three, even threatening to throw Lilah to the wolves if it comes to that. Lilah knows a good example when she sees it and, once Linwood pops up again in Season Four, she finks on him to a Senior Partner, who.
 * Emotionally Tongue-Tied: She never does manage to blurt out her feelings..
 * Enemy Mine: Joins with Angel Investigations
 * Even Lawyers Love Their Mamas: She has mentioned that her mother has Alzheimer's and is in a nursing home; in one episode they have a phone conversation, during which the mother apparently starts crying when she's told Lilah can't visit that day.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Her point-blank execution of Billy Blim, one of her own clients.
 * Foil: To Angel.
 * Deadly Change-of-Heart: Her short-lived alliance with Angel Investigations.
 * Hello, Attorney!
 * Klingon Promotion: Elevates herself to senior management by.
 * Laser-Guided Karma: Decapitating during a board meeting, therby assuming his position. In due course, Lilah is, obliging Wesley to  rather than risk her coming back as a vampire.
 * Married to the Job: The quintessential career woman—and judging by quick she was to jump Angel's bones (under the influence), it's not for lack of desire.


 * Not So Different: She's met her match in Cordelia.
 * Please Keep Your Hat On: Following her, Lilah develops a preference for scarfs. She still wears them in the comic.
 * Signed Up for the Dental: Her salary goes toward paying her sick mother's medical bills.
 * (Well, and shoes.)
 * Smug Snake: Seasons 1-2; prior to Lindsey leaving, she tended to be rather weak and ineffective.
 * The Starscream: Sorry, Linwood. You can only theaten a gal's life so many times before she takes preemptive action.
 * The Vamp

Holland Manners (Sam Anderson)
""Actually, the world isn't that complicated: it's designed for those who know how to use it.""

A high-ranking executive at Wolfram & Hart, later promoted to head of its Special Projects Division, i.e. the "Screwing With Angel's Head" division. Holland's not the last to hold this office, given its high turnover rate. Basically a re-tooled Mayor Wilkins from Buffy.

""It's not about good or evil. It's about who wields the most power. And we wield a lot of it here -- and you know what? I think the world's better for it.""
 * Above Good and Evil

""Our firm has always been here. In one form or another. The Inquisition. The Khmer Rouge. We were there when the very first cave man clubbed his neighbor. See, we're in the hearts and minds of every single living being. And that — friend — is what's making things so difficult for you. See, the world doesn't work in spite of evil, Angel. It works with us. It works because of us.""
 * Affably Evil
 * Ambition Is Evil: Symbolized by him.
 * Big Bad: Meets the criteria for the Big Bad of season 1 and the first half of season 2; his machinations leave a lasting impression with Angel throughout the remainder of the season and, arguably, the rest of the series.
 * Card-Carrying Villain: A literal case.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive
 * Evil Mentor: For Lindsay and Lilah, although less so for her (of course, she's a rotten apple from the start).
 * Evil Old Folks
 * The Corrupter: Very arguable, but his interaction with Lindsay does sometimes give this vibe.
 * Magically-Binding Contract: With him is that we first see the effects of how truly binding working with Wolfram and Hart can be.
 * The Man Behind the Man: In Season 1.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Tempts Lindsey with power and succeeds triumphantly.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: One of the show's most triumphant example.


 * Villain with Good Publicity
 * Villainous Breakdown: When he realizes that Angel won't be saving him from Darla and Drusilla.

Lee Mercer (Thomas Burr)
""It's my ass on the line here. I don't want you to make me look bad.""


 * Characterization Marches On: He started out as The Stoic but evolved into Lilah's Butt Monkey rival.
 * Department of Redundancy Department: His assassin rant. "This is getting ridiculous. The first assassin kills the second assassin - sent to kill the first assassin - who didn't assassinate anyone until we hired the second assassin to assassinate her!"
 * Dirty Business
 * Finding Judas: A villainous variation.
 * Killed Off for Real: Unceremoniously executed for embezzling W&H fees. Naughty boy.
 * No Social Skills: According to Lilah.
 * We Hardly Knew Ye: Not that we really needed to.

Gavin Park (Daniel Dae Kim)

 * Everything's Deader with Zombies: What he becomes after he is killed by The Beast.
 * Professional Butt-Kisser
 * No Honor Among Thieves: If Gavin and Lilah can be said to cooperate at all, as both are vying for Linwood's approval. Once Lilah takes over the firm, Gavin is downgraded to her lickspittle.
 * Obstructive Bureaucrat: His insidious plan to destroy Angel: Drown him in red tape! (No one else is impressed.)
 * Unknown Rival: Gavin believed himself to be the next Lindsey McDonald, a Magnificent Bastard who could arguably be called Angel's Archenemy (well, he would argue that he could), but he just wasn't the man, lawyer or villain that he'd replaced.

Linwood Murrow (John Rubinstein)
""This is outrageous! Are you actually telling me that you went over my head?""


 * Adult Fear: Both his sons were taken by the Senior Partners.
 * The Chessmaster: What he thinks of himself. He really is not.
 * Custom Uniform: Unlike other W&H toadies, Linwood doesn't like to wear a tie.
 * Dirty Coward: The reason why he provides Angel the code to enter the White Room. And why when Angel's trapped under the sea he does nothing to find him, even though a trapped Angel also works against the firm's plans for the vampire.
 * Evil Old Folks
 * The Last of These Is Not Like the Others: Cares very little for Angel and is willing to kill the vampire if he becomes too troublesome, a direct contrast to the plans the Senior Partners have for him. This comes to bite him in the ass, very hard.
 * Terms of Endangerment: Angel congratulating him on becoming Connor's godfather—with the added stipulation that, should any harm befall the baby, Linwood will suffer the same injury.
 * Would Hurt a Child
 * Would Hurt a Child

Eve (Sarah Thompson)


The first "liaison" to the Senior Partners assigned to Angel. Later revealed to be a child of the Wolf, Ram, and Hart, created to do their bidding.


 * Consummate Liar
 * How Do You Like Them Apples?: Eve's entrance (given her name, it's practically obligatory).
 * Kissing Under the Influence: With Angel in "Life of the Party."
 * Older Than They Look: Hinted at. Eve also enjoys using condescending terms like "kid" and "princess" to refer to Angel and co.
 * The Power of Love: Caused Eve
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: A fairly-obvious Lilah 2.0, so much so that Cordelia lampshades it.
 * Unholy Matrimony: With Lindsey.
 * What Could Have Been: Morena Baccarin was originally considered for the part of Eve, which would have upped the total of Firefly alums to four (with Torres, Baldwin, and Woodward). FOX vetoed it due to Baccarin's involvement in another pilot show at the time. The pilot never aired.
 * What Could Have Been: Morena Baccarin was originally considered for the part of Eve, which would have upped the total of Firefly alums to four (with Torres, Baldwin, and Woodward). FOX vetoed it due to Baccarin's involvement in another pilot show at the time. The pilot never aired.

Knox (Jonathan M. Woodward)
"You think I'd have my God hatched out of some schmuck?"

": I don't just care about Fred - I practically worship it. Gunn: You said "it". Gunn: Not "her". You said "'I worship it".
 * Affably Evil: Up until his Moral Event Horizon where we become far too disgusted with him to be considered this.
 * Beneath the Mask: "I just mix the potions, y'know?" Sure, you're real humble.
 * Consummate Liar: Managed to slip past Lorne's employee screening (read: a capella singing).
 * He likely used the same trickery as Dr. Royce ("Unleashed") and ate calendula to prevent Lorne from scanning his aura.
 * Expecting Someone Taller: Illyria reacts this way when Knox announces that he is her high priest.
 * Killed Mid-Sentence: While Angel is monologuing about how they're the good guys so they have to protect any member of humanity, Wesley kills Knox.
 * The Lab Rat
 * Misanthrope Supreme: He criticizes humans for being deceitful bastards, and (as happens often), Illyria is surprised that a human can take a position like identifying against his own race rather than with it. Knox's reply amounts to agreeing that yes, he does identify with demonkind rather than humanity.
 * No Name Given
 * Please Keep Your Hat On: As per "the ancient ways," Knox stitched a bunch of occult items just over his heart. The scar is messily stitched together.
 * The Renfield: A follower of the ancient demon Illyria before he resurrects her and even more of a slavish follower after her resurrection. Having been dead to that point Illyria had no direct contact with him to that point.
 * Saying Too Much: From Angel 5.15 "Shells":
 * What?
 * (smirking) Oops."


 * In this context, "it" refers to
 * Villainous Crush: On Fred.
 * Wrong Guy First
 * You Look Familiar: Woodward previously played Holden Webster, an Affably Evil vampire who offers to psychoanalyze Buffy before they duel. ("Conversations With Dead People")

Marcus Hamilton (Adam Baldwin)
""It's a business, boys. Not a Batcave.""

The replacement liaison for Eve following her collusion with Lindsay to kill Angel—a big no-no as far as the the Senior Partners are concerned. Like Eve, Hamilton shares a direct line with the Partners, though he is vastly more powerful.

""Oh, we go way back.""
 * Badass in a Nice Suit: Try to imagine an M-1 tank in Armani.
 * Corporate Samurai: He's equally at home busting down walls or glad-handing clients.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: His brutal beatdown of Illyria.
 * The Dragon: To the Senior Partners themselves.
 * Establishing Character Moment: Spending an entire episode hunting down Eve, slaughtering anyone in his way... just to offer her a pen to sign away her duties and privileges to him.
 * Evil Cannot Comprehend Good
 * The Consigliere: To Angel
 * The Dragon: To the Circle of the Black Thorn in general, and the Senior Partners in particular.
 * Faux Affably Evil: Only Hamilton could chat about torture devices and sound like Martha Stewart.
 * Genius Bruiser
 * Humanoid Abomination: Like Eve, he's a Child of the Senior Partners.
 * The Juggernaut: His cred is established when he walks into the foyer of W&H and serenely puts his fist through a security guard trying to waylay him, then continues on without so much as a change in expression.
 * Load-Bearing Boss: Wolfram & Hart's offices immediately crumble the moment he bites the dust.
 * Nigh Invulnerability: "Terminator in Armani" was used to describe him, and it is apt.
 * Really 700 Years Old: Is acquaintances with Drogyn, an immortal swordsman who's been alive for at least 1000 years.


 * Red Herring: During the whole episode “Underneath” one is led to believe that Marcus actually is a Senior Partner, thanks to Eve's reaction to him. This is not the case.
 * Supernaturally Delicious and Nutritious: Hamilton makes the grave mistake of telling Angel, a vampire, that great power flows through his veins. Angel immediately decides to find out if this is literally true. It is. Whoops.

Harmony Kendall (Mercedes McNab)
""Creatures of the night ... unite??""

One of Cordelia's high-school posse, Harmony is turned into a vampire after graduation. Upon moving to LA, she seeks out Cordelia once more, but her vampire instincts means it's not long before she tries to kill the crew. At some point after this, she gets a job at Wolfram & Hart, and when. She's still evil, but thankfully, she's very bad at it.

"Spike: Keep it simple, Harm. It suits you."
 * Affably Evil
 * Particularly noteworthy in that Harmony actually became more pleasant to be around after being turned into a soulless vampire, at the same time she became more evil. Human-Harmony never actually tried to hurt anyone but was incredibly catty and annoying, while Vampire-Harmony was perky, cheerful, and polite but has repeatedly (if unsuccessfully) tried to kill the cast in cold blood.
 * All Girls Like Ponies: Her passion for unicorn figurines has not diminished.
 * Amusingly invoked in 'Harm's Way'. Harmony is fighting to the death with rival vampire Tamika over her place in the secretarial pool and ends up pinned and on the ropes... until Tamika gloats to her helpless victim that "The first thing I'm going to do when I take over your desk? Smash all those stupid, ugly-ass unicorns!". Cue an immediate jump cut to Harmony dragging a struggling Tamika down the hallway.
 * Ascended Extra: Harmony was never popular enough in either series to be an Ensemble Darkhorse, but she was eventually promoted to title credits in the fifth season.
 * Mercedes McNab as Harmony had the longest run of any actor in the Buffy/Angel series, having appeared in both the original, unaired pilot episode for Buffy (which didn't include Angel), and the final Angel episode.
 * Brainless Beauty
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Angel lampshades it in the final episode.
 * A Day in the Limelight: "Harm's Way".
 * Dumb Blonde

"Gunn: (irritated) Don't we kill 'em anymore?"
 * Evil Counterpart: To Cordelia.
 * Harmless Villain: She is far too brainless to present a real threat.
 * Heel Face Mole: Not once -- twice. All those resisted urges to stake her, to no good end!

""The secret ingredient is otter!""
 * I Fight for the Strongest Side: Inverted more than once. Harmony is in Angel's employ for less than a day before defecting to a Vampire cult that she was supposed to be investigating.
 * Three years later, she's back working for Angel again—but only after he's become Wolfram & Hart's CEO. at the earliest opportunity (again) by bedding, who is incidentally higher on the totem pole than Angel is.
 * Hollywood Tone Deaf: Murdering "The Way We Were" onstage at Cartas.
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain
 * Karma Houdini
 * Lovable Traitor
 * Lower Deck Episode: In "Harm's Way."
 * Mandatory Line: Usually by highlighting her total stupidity.
 * Meaningful Name: Subverted the second she starts singing; Lorne actually takes to calling her "my little Cacophony" for a while, considering it more appropriate.
 * Though Wesley does note her nickname "Harm" to be pretty fitting.
 * Mistaken for Gay: She was actually trying to explain that she had become a vampire. Cordelia got confused.
 * : Poor Sahjhan. He probably thought that by tossing into Hell, all his worries were over.
 * Not Helping Your Case: Harmony fails a blood screening in "Harm's Way", and dumps half the company in a maintenance closet as she tries to clear her name.
 * Perky Female Minion
 * Pink Means Feminine
 * Promotion to Opening Titles: Though she rarely ventured outside of Garfunkel territory. This was indeed intentional, as well as lampshaded.
 * Punny Name: Harmony. Wesley lampshades it when she uses a page ripped out of one of his antique books to wrap up her bubble gum.
 * Replacement Flat Character: Word of God states that Harmony is intended as "Cordelia without the life lessons."
 * Sexy Secretary: In Season 5.
 * Super Loser
 * Took a Level in Badass: In "Harm's Way" in which she stops a war between two demon races and finds and stakes the vampire who set her up for murder.
 * Unholy Matrimony: With.
 * You! Get Me Coffee!: Or in this case, blood served in a mug which says "#1 Boss".

Billy Blim (Justin Shilton)
""I don't hate women. I mean, sure, you're all whores who sell yourselves for money or prestige. But men are just as bad. Maybe worse. They're willing to throw away careers or families or even lives for what's under your skirt.""

While appearing to be a normal young man, he was actually a half-demon with contagious, vicious misogyny, and had the power to turn any man he touched or who came in contact with his bodily fluids extremely savage and brutal toward anyone female. And he had no real reason to do this, other than his personal amusement.


 * Ax Crazy
 * Child by Rape: According to Word of God, they personally believe that Billy was conceived when a demon woman - a good demon woman - was raped by an evil human male. This is just as screwed up as it sounds.
 * The Dreaded: By his own family.
 * Entry Pimp: The reason he's even in this list. He appears in only two episodes but is by far one of the most controversial and memorable villains in the series.
 * Faux Affably Evil
 * Hate Plague: His power to bring out the "primal misogyny" of any man who touched him or came into contact with his body fluids (sweat, blood, etc.).
 * He-Man Woman Hater: Up to Eleven.
 * Psychotic Smirk
 * Screw the Rules, I Have Connections: He's the nephew of Senator Blim, patriarch of one of the most powerful families in the United States. Like any family, the Blims prefer to keep their 'black sheep' out of the public eye.
 * The Sociopath: Among Angel's villains of the week, it's hard to top Billy Blim for clearly falling into this category. The fact that it was actually the normally very cold and amoral Lilah who took him out says volumes as to how horrible he was.
 * Straw Misogynist: Apparently all men are these. Billy doesn't turn men into brutal woman bashers, he just removes their inhibitions.
 * Although the characters that say so are villains. Fred disagrees when trying to console Wesley.
 * Vigilante Execution: Liah unloading her pistol at him on an airstrip.

Darla (Julie Benz)
""Do you think I ever hesitated when I wanted something? Life's too short. Believe me. I know. Four hundred years, and still too short.""

Darla is Angel's sire, the one who turned him into a vampire. The two are together for 150 years, but after Angel is re-ensouled, she kicks him to the curb. The two meet again in Sunnydale, and Angel kills her in defense of Buffy. Years later, Wolfram & Hart bring her back to un-life, hoping she will tempt Angel over to the dark side. Eventually, due to Jasmine's meddling, she becomes pregnant with Connor, her son with Angel, and stakes herself because she can't give birth.

"You're hurting me. I like it!"
 * Action Mom
 * Anti-Villain
 * Back from the Dead: Interesting in that she was staked on Buffy, came back on Angel as a human, killed again and made a vampire by Drusilla, staked herself as a vampire, and then came back as a ghost. Once you've worked for Joss Whedon, you'll always have a job, even if it means dying four times.
 * The Baroness: Though she quickly rebels.
 * Being Evil Sucks: She'll break your heart, and rip it right out again...still beating.
 * Big Bad Wannabe: After Darla is re-sired as a vampire, she and Drusilla are positioned as the Big Bads of Season Two...for about two episodes. Angel sets the pair of them on fire, then calls it a day.
 * It could be said that Angel's true opponent in Season Two is (unwittingly) himself.
 * Blondes Are Evil
 * The Chanteuse: Everybody gets a turn at the mic at Caritas. Julie Benz does her own singing for the song "Ill Wind" by Ella Fitzgerald.
 * Characterization Marches On: She's a lot more charismatic and dangerous when she reappears on Angel.
 * Death by Childbirth: The one that stuck.
 * Deliver Us From Evil
 * Depraved Bisexual
 * Dying Alone: By the time the Master turned up at her doorstep.
 * Evil Counterpart: Like Angel, she was resurrected but she finds no value in the second chance given her and wanted to be a vamp again.
 * The Fog of Ages: Darla, being even older than Angelus, can no longer remember her human birth name.
 * Deadly Change-of-Heart: Just when it seems she's finally accepted her humanity and resolved to do some good with the little time she had left, Drusilla walks in and sires her.
 * Heroic Sacrifice
 * High-Class Call Girl: Implied to have once been a well-to-do prostitute in colonial Virginia. She even had property, which is almost unheard of.
 * Hot Mom
 * I Can Change My Beloved: Four years later, she's still out to drag Angel back to his evil roots.
 * Ill Girl: She was dying of syphilitic heart disease. When resurrected as a human, she was still dying from it.
 * Ironic Nursery Tune: Her theme music.
 * Lady in Red
 * Woman in White: After gaining a soul (and later as a ghost).
 * Law of Inverse Fertility
 * Nay Theist: "God never did anything for me."
 * Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Darla "looked everywhere" for that gypsy girl as a birthday present for Angel. An attempt to reverse the curse went south when Spike prematurely ate the whole clan.
 * Pregnant Badass: Actually even tougher in this state; the fetus causes Darla to crave blood all the time, driving her into an unstoppable frenzy.
 * Too Kinky to Torture


 * Tsundere: It's very entertaining to watch her switch from Angel's supposed soulmate to, "Just because we had a thing for 200 years, don't think you know me!"
 * The Vamp: Juggling Lindsey and Angel as lovers. She seemed to show interest in Lilah, too.
 * Victorian Novel Disease: An advanced case of syphilis closed the book on Darla's human life. Upon being revived by Wolfram & Hart, she is shocked to learn that her resurrection as a human came part and parcel with the disease. As she put it, she was dying, and not "someday, but now. Right now."
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: During the Victorian era, authors connected syphilis and vampirism. Vampirism was believed to be contagious and spread in much the same way as syphilis (except via biting instead of sexually). Due to wide-spread panic in society over syphilis a lot of people were accused of vampirism and sentenced (ie, murdered/executed) accordingly. For Darla to have been "saved" from syphilis by becoming a vampire (twice) one might think the authors had done their research, although given the historical unlikelihood of Darla being an established courtesan in Virgina in 1609, the chances are it's coincidence.

Drusilla (Juliet Landau)
See "Antagonists" under Buffy

Daniel Holtz (Keith Szarabajka)
""I don't 'want' anything. My family's gone. My only desire here is to discover if a thing such as yourself can be made to pay for its sins.""

Holtz is an vampire hunter from 18th-century Britain whose family was slaughtered by Angelus and Darla. In the past, Holtz briefly caught up with them, but the couple escaped after Holtz took his sweet time in killing Angelus (he views killing the vampire more of a blessing than punishment). A demon named Sahjhan travels back in time and offers to bring Holtz with him to the present day, on the condition that he take Angel out of the equation. Sadly for Sahjhan, he should've studied up more on his new partner, because killing Angel is the farthest thing from Holtz's mind...


 * Abstract Apotheosis: An embodiment of all of Angelus' past victims.
 * Anti-Villain
 * Badass: See below.
 * Badass and Baby / Badass and Child Duo: He had to be in that hell dimension, until Connor became old enough to be Badass himself.
 * Badass Longcoat
 * Badass Normal
 * Fridge Brilliance pushes it Up to Eleven. Remember those AK-47-toting Mooks he wipes out after showing up in the present? He did that without knowledge of what guns could do, or even what they really were.
 * Beard of Evil: Lampshaded by Justine who comments that his goatee rounds out "the creepy stalker look". Holtz discovers razors soon afterward.
 * Best Served Cold: "I swore that I would show no mercy. And I won't." His vengeance took centuries, but it was only more potent from the wait.
 * The Captain: Referred to as "Captain" by his old hunting party.
 * Church Militant: He's cozy with some Inquisitores; so much so that he hires a Cardinal to flay Angelus for a while. Also hinted to be a deeply religious man, despite sounding like Satan.
 * Create Your Own Villain: Angelus and Darla lured him away from his home and brutally murdered his family to get back at him for hunting them. They...come to regret this.
 * Cruel Mercy: Somewhat of a speciality.
 * Determinator: Hell didn't stop this guy. Time, demons, modern-day weapons, deliberately withheld intelligence, unreliable underlings...nothing stops him, only misdirects him, and he'll always adjust.
 * Evil Counterpart: The Justine/Holtz relationship is darkly reminiscent of a Slayer's tutelage under her Watcher.
 * Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: "You'll find your references to popular culture are somewhat lost on me."
 * Evil Genius: A rare and terrifying mix of an unstoppable badass with a first-rate mind and nothing to lose.
 * Evil Mentor: To Justine.
 * Evil Old Folks: After spending a few weeks in scenic Quor-toth.
 * Evil Sounds Deep: Lampshaded by Wesley. "Maybe it's the low, scary voice that's giving me trouble."
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water: Subverted. It doesn't even slow him down much.
 * Good Is Not Nice: Bear in mind that, from his own time, the only thing he did that could reasonably be called evil was.
 * He Who Fights Monsters
 * Heel Realization: His last words reveal that he knows he's headed to Hell for his actions. And he doesn't give a damn.
 * Hell-Bent for Leather
 * : His last request to Justine, to make Angel look like the culprit.
 * Ironic Nursery Tune: Holtz comforts his vampirized daughter by singing 'Ar Hyd y Nos' (All Through the Night), a Welsh song that later became widely used as a lullaby in England. Holtz can be heard ominously singing it to himself every now and then; it's probably most noticeably played up when he comforts his one surviving daughter by singing to her - then realises she's vampiric and casts her into sunlight to burn.
 * It's Personal: Personified.
 * Jumping Off the Slippery Slope
 * Knight of Cerebus: Holtz's reemergence is a wake-up call that Angel's quest for redemption may be Unwinnable by Design.
 * Knight Templar: He definitely has shades of this but is not a pure example. He has high moral standards, and he will avoid harming others if he can. While he does not view those who associate with Angel as evil, he does think them misguided. He even expresses dislike for Justine's black and white viewpoint.
 * Last-Name Basis: Only Justine gets away with calling him 'Daniel'.
 * Manipulative Bastard: One of the best.
 * Jasmine spent millenia with god-like power manipulating events to come to Earth, lasted less than a week, and died at the hands of her most loyal servant. Wolfram & Hart spent five seasons with nigh-limitless resources trying to corrupt Angel and all they accomplished in the end was letting him know who to kill. Meanwhile, Holtz had no powers whatsoever, was out of his own time, and had no allies but those he created for himself. And, in half a season, he managed to convince to kidnap Angel's son, then escaped into a hell dimension with him, raising him to be Angel's worst enemy. Then his assisted suicide actually made things worse between them.
 * Not Even Bothering with the Accent
 * Not-So-Harmless Villain: Played with. Angel and Darla were always afraid of him but still didn't think of him as that much of a threat. When Holtz reappears, Angel and Darla realize just how scary he is.
 * Pay Evil Unto Evil
 * Plot-Relevant Age-Up: In conjunction with Connor, Holtz ages into a ghastly, traumatized old man - a shell of his former self.
 * Though his mind is still as sharp as ever, as Angel discovers horribly.
 * The Power of Hate: Attributes it to his own longevity inside a Hell dimension.
 * Prophetic Name: Holtz means "wood" in German.
 * Protagonist-Centered Morality: Completely subverted. Holtz is a reminder that just because he's the title character, Angel does not and should not get to wave off what he did in his past.
 * Spock Speak
 * Staking the Loved One: His dealing with his daughter.
 * Revenge Before Reason
 * Revenge by Proxy: Family killed? No problem; Holtz redresses the balance by manipulating into helping steal Connor, thereby raising Angel's son as his own.
 * Holtz's revenge comes to fruition, but not in the way he expected: not only did Angel lose his son, but he also had to in a way that echoes Holtz killing his vamped daughter.
 * Sympathy for the Devil: Angel has the utmost respect for Holtz and feels genuine remorse for what he did, never condemning Holtz for what he does. Holtz, however, views Angel as a beast that needs to be put down.
 * Tranquil Fury: You could count the times Holtz raises his voice (or emotes at all) on one hand, but after the centuries pass and his trip to Hell, his rage is the only thing he has left.
 * Vampire Hunter
 * Van Helsing Hate Crimes: More justified than most, but still there.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Subverted. It's made abundantly clear that Holtz only cares about revenge.
 * We Have Reserves: Poisoning his demon bodyguards; completely and utterly deceiving his human soldiers, treating them as mere tools to get to Connor, and even Connor himself is not immune. (Holtz did move to snap his little baby neck until Angel called him off.)
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Given what he went through, it's damn near impossible not to feel sorry for him.
 * Would Hurt a Child: He killed his last child. And if pushed, you know he'll do it again.
 * Would Hurt a Child: He killed his last child. And if pushed, you know he'll do it again.

Sahjhan (Jack Conley)
""I'll take you to them. Two centuries into the future." "Through black magic and sorcery?" "No, on a mule cart. Of course through black magic and sorcery. I'm a demon!""

- Sahjhan and Holtz

An intangible demon who seems to harbor a mysterious grudge against Angel. He is a surviving member of the Granok, a race of warriors who reveled in carnage and death and were generally bad dudes. However, they were deemed too chaotic by Mesektet and Wolfram & Hart, who removed their ability to interact with the physical world.


 * Badass Long Hair: Sahjhan owes this to his inability to hold scissors.
 * Blood Knight: Comes from a whole species of them.
 * Covered with Scars: "Hey, do I look like I need more skin problems?"
 * Deadpan Snarker: He is quite the sarcastic fellow.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: For him, being turned intangible; he can't do anything fun.
 * Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: This particular Sword of Damocles is —Angel's, to be precise. Ironically, Cyvus Vail ends up feeling the same way about Sahjhan once he gets corked into a jar.
 * Glamour: Capable of switching to his "street face" (actually, Jack Conley without makeup) to blend in public.
 * Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: His introductory scene shows him standing around being ominous and demonic...and then lighting up a smoke and looking at his watch impatiently, establishing Sahjhan without a word.
 * Hidden Agenda Villain
 * Laughably Evil
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: "Have a nice summer."
 * Made of Iron/Super Strength: The moment he's made corporeal Sahjhan is run over by a two-ton pickup truck. He lifts it off him and walks away.
 * Off with His Head: He looks baffled right before it happens, too. All that work, to no good end?
 * Our Wormholes Are Different: Contrary to their name, Timeshifters do not manipulate time per se. They can move between time and dimensions.
 * Red Baron: "The Timeshifter."
 * Thrown Down a Well: ends up trapping him in a magic urn.
 * Time Master
 * The Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer: Despite his outdated getup (he can't exactly shop for clothes), Sahjhan is right at home in cushy, image-conscious L.A.
 * Wrote the Book: Boasts that he invented daylight savings time.
 * You Can't Fight Fate: His attempts to circumvent his prophesied death.
 * You Look Familiar: Conley previously played Gib Cain, a werewolf hunter of dubious morals, in the Buffy episode "Phases".
 * You Talk Too Much: Angel recognizes this as Sahjhan's tactic for disarming his opponents.

Justine Cooper (Laurel Holloman)

 * Badass Normal
 * Biker Babe: At least, she dresses like one.
 * Bound and Gagged: By Weasley at the beginning of season 4
 * Broken Bird
 * Creepy Twins: Her twin sister was murdered by vamps, heralding Justine's decent into violence and apathy.
 * Dark Action Girl
 * Dead Little Sister: Julia Cooper, who smiled more and wore less leather.
 * The Dragon: To Holtz.
 * Drowning My Sorrows: After her sister's death.
 * Evil Redhead
 * Impaled Palm: Holtz does this to Justine to test her loyalty.
 * Knight Templar
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The genesis of the character came from Elizabeth Röhm's departure from the show.
 * Vampire Hunter
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: Wesley flings a set of handcuff keys at Justine and tells her to get lost, and so she does - it's the last we see of her.

The Beast (Vladimir Kulich)
""We could rule this world. Why do you oppose me?"

"Rain of fire. Blocking out the sun. And you just kinda piss me off.""

- The Beast and Angel

A large, stony fellow who is reportedly the herald of the apocalypse. Surprisingly crafty—a trait which is met with much suspicion from his old pal Angelus, who never knew The Beast to be so well-organized. In due course, he's revealed to be a mere foot solider of Jasmine.


 * Achilles' Heel: To the point that Angelus is disgusted it worked.
 * The Brute
 * Disc One Final Boss: In Season 4
 * Dumb Muscle: The Beast even having a plan is a sign that he's working for someone else.
 * The Dragon:
 * Evil Sounds Deep
 * Hellish Pupils
 * Hero-Killer: Toodles.
 * Hoist By Their Own Petard: A knife carved from his "unworthy flesh" as a gift to his Master. Should've gotten a toaster.
 * In a Single Bound
 * I Want Them Alive: One clue that Connor is somehow linked with these events is that on several occasions The Beast beats him, but declines to finish him off. He does the same to Angel in their first fight.
 * Immune to Bullets: Even a point-blank shotgun blast to the face. Oh dear.
 * The Juggernaut
 * Technicolor Death: The Beast in season 4 dies this way, with sunlight exploding out of him after Angelus punctures his rocky hide.
 * To Create a Playground For Evil: Shrouding Los Angeles in permanent night, allowing vampires a twenty-four hour buffet.
 * Nigh Invulnerability
 * Spell My Name with a "The"
 * Unperson: Before his arrival, any record or memory of The Beast is erased from history. Only Angelus is unaffected, as he was technically replaced by Angel at the time the spell was cast.
 * We Can Rule Together: He tried to pull this with Angelus in 1789. It did not work.

Skip (David Denman)
""How come he's not screamin' in pain?" "Oh, he is. My will prevents him from bein' heard. I mean, there's only so many, "Oh, my God! The pain! Please make it stops..." you can listen to, before it starts to bug the crap out of you.""

- Angel and Skip


 * Affably Evil
 * Attack Its Weak Point: After Angel tears off his horn, Wesley shoots him in the brain, which turns out not to be immune to bullets.
 * Bad Samaritan
 * Blade Below the Shoulder: An extendable wrist-blade.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Subverted. At first it looks like he is the epitome of this. Then comes the 4th season reveal
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Distaff Counterpart: In After the Fall, Angel is forced into mortal combat with a "She-Skip".
 * Even Evil Has Standards: It depends in the fact that he was working with Jasmine all along. But if he was, even he thinks Billy Blim as monstrous.
 * Famous Last Words: "...Well, that ain't right."
 * Faux Affably Evil
 * Fluffy the Terrible
 * I Let You Win: According to him, he took the fall during the first encounter he had with Angel. Their second fight does lend credence to this.
 * Immune to Bullets: While his exoskeleton is too tough for bullets, his squishy insides aren't.
 * Improbable Aiming Skills: Not him, but how he is undone by Wesley's uncanny marksmanship. In his battle against Angel, the vampire had torn off one of his horns, leaving a tiny hole in the side of his head. Weasley later takes advantage of this and shoots at that hole, killing him in one hit.
 * The Jailer
 * Large Ham: Intentionally. In “Birthday” when Cordelia meekly asks him if he is Death, here to take her away, he gives an epic Evil Laugh only to later cheerfully and calmly tell her that he's joking.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: "I love a story with scope!"
 * The Mole: He is working with Jasmine, the Big Bad of the 4th season.
 * The Nose Knows: Subtle, but he is able to determine Angel works for TPTB by sniffing the air.
 * Pop-Cultured Badass
 * Professional Killer: "I'm just a merc. I go where the deal is."
 * Punch Clock Villain: He commutes.
 * Skeletons in the Coat Closet
 * Spikes of Villainy
 * Spirit Advisor: For Cordelia
 * Tempting Fate: "Do those EVER work? I mean really."

Jasmine (Gina Torres)
""Every moment that passes, I grow closer to my followers. I feel what they feel. I see what they see. We're fusing together, like the cells of a single body. They're my eyes, my skin, my limbs -- and if need be, my fists.""

A "Power-That-Was" who fell from grace after meddling in the affairs of lower beings, attempting to raise herself to godhood. Several millennia later, she's still at it, using Cordelia as a vessel to 'birth' herself into our world. Jasmine (as she is currently known) possesses a mystical aura which inspires love and servitude within anyone who lays eyes on her.

""There are no absolutes, no right and wrong. Haven't you learned anything working for The Powers? There are only choices. I offered paradise; you chose this!""
 * Above Good and Evil

"Lorne: Uh huh, and how'd that work out for them? Jasmine: (Beat) It was a trial run."
 * Achilles' Heel: Her blood—or more specifically, the blood of anyone in her 'family' line, Connor and included. This explains why Connor is aware of.
 * Assimilation Plot
 * Badass Boast: "I was forged from the inferno of creation, vampire!"
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Bringing peace to the world. With mind control.
 * Bodyguard Betrayal: Is all set to double-team against Angel with —who immediately turns on her, killing her instantly. Especially cold given that Jasmine was elated to see him again, having had everyone else turn against her.
 * The Chessmaster: Orchestrated every major event in the heroes' lives—Lorne and Fred swapping places in Pylea, Cordelia getting the visions, Wesley sleeping with the enemy, Connor's conception—meaning that she's the reason this show exists.
 * Dark Messiah: She attempts to bring peace to the world... by employing global-scale mind control to disguise her appearance and make demands regarding worshipping her, eating scores of people along the way.
 * Death by Irony:, her meat puppet and truest minion.
 * Diabolus Ex Nihilo: All we know of her backstory is the happy fable she repeats to everybody.
 * Dimension Lord: She originally hails from the Bug World. They were a test drive, apparently.
 * Egopolis: Los Angeles being declared "the First Citadel of Jasmine." Also, a palace would be nice.
 * Eldritch Abomination/Humanoid Abomination: Take your pick. Jasmine regularly shapeshift into a luminescent, tentacled form in order to feed. In the moments following her 'birth', this is the first shape we see. However, Jasmine prefers to remain in humanoid form for most of the time, even while engaging in hand-to-hand combat. (Maybe her gooey form lacks mobility.)
 * Enemy to All Living Things: Do not let Jasmine touch you, under any circumstances.
 * Evil Laugh
 * The Evils of Free Will: She firmly believes this.
 * Evilutionary Biologist: Before crossing over to Earth, Jasmine first attempted to conquer a race of insectoids. Her chosen followers were evolved into scaly humanoids with telepathic powers.

""Yes. I murdered thousands... to save billions!""
 * Facial Horror: Her real face is hollowed out and infested with maggots.
 * Once everyone is freed from her thrall, Jasmine's face erupts with boils and lesions.
 * Fallen Angel: According to Jasmine, she used to belong to the PTB, but was ejected for interfering in mortal affairs. Methinks they had good cause for kicking her out.
 * Flower in Her Hair: Three guesses as to which. (Clue: she named herself after it.)
 * A Form You Are Comfortable With: Her body tends to reflect the species she wishes to control. This is evidenced by her statue on Bug World, which depicts her with pincers and crab legs. Apparently her true form - which she employs to feed is a luminiscent Starfish Alien Eldritch Abomination
 * Glamour: To hide the Facial Horror.
 * Healing Factor
 * Hidden Villain: Turns out to have pulling strings as far back as Season One. Or so she claims.
 * Hidden Agenda Villain
 * Hive Queen
 * Hoist By Their Own Petard: Angel removes Jasmine's cloaking spell during her televised broadcast to the world. How embarrassing.
 * Horror Hunger: Needs to eat people to replenish her energy. At first, it's just small potatoes; within a few episodes, however, she's eating dozens of people at a time.
 * Hot God: She's played by Gina Torres. Also, she is often lit in such a way as to make her glow or glimmer softly and wears flowing, flattering clothes.
 * I Am Legion: The "Jasmaniacs".
 * I Have Many Names
 * I Just Want to Be Loved: Implied to be her true motivation for enslaving the human dimension. When Angel breaks her hold over mankind, she's visibly saddened when her once-devoted worshipers flee her in revulsion and panic.
 * I Know Your True Name: The only method of breaking Jasmine's mind control. In order to find it, Angel journeys (literally) to Hell and back.
 * Just Trying to Help: She claims.
 * Kill the God: But only can harm her physically.
 * Knight Templar
 * Last Villain Stand: After her brainwashing powers are lost, Jasmine declares that if she can't rule the world she's going to destroy it. She shrugs off everything Angel tries to throw at her, but she doesn't get to enjoy her spree for long because.
 * Lie to the Beholder
 * Light Is Not Good
 * Love Hungry: Her Glamour forces all who see her to love her unconditionally.]]
 * Lovecraftian Superpower: Reverts to a giant, tentacled blob in order to eat.
 * The Man Behind the Man
 * Mass Hypnosis: One of her abilities.
 * A Million Is a Statistic: The atrocities committed by her cronies are shrugged off as "birth pains."

"Connor: Always the same, Dad. I get a girl, you gotta make a play for her."
 * Motive Rant: And a pretty persuasive one, all told.
 * Naked on Arrival
 * Omnicidal Maniac: With her powers stripped and followers gone, she decides to take up Angel's offer of helping him make the world a better place... One body at a time.
 * Physical God
 * Principles Zealot
 * Redemption Rejection: Even after all she's done, Angel still tries for a reconciliation. Jasmine clobbers him in response.
 * But it still says a lot about Angel's consistency; he will even offer a fallen God a chance at redemption!
 * Sickly Green Glow: Her aura while devouring people en masse.
 * Spell My Name with a "The": On Bugworld, she is candidly known as The Devourer.
 * Starbucks Skin Scale: Angel once described Jasmine as "mocha".
 * "Take That!" Kiss: Plants one on Angel during their final confrontation. Considering all those oozing pustules... ew.


 * Terms of Endangerment: Jasmine tends to call her minions things like 'sweet boy' and 'my love,' something she may have inherited from her grandmother Darla (who called both Angel and Conner 'my darling boy').
 * Utopia Justifies the Means
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist
 * Words Can Break My Bones: Her Achilles' Heel. Any utterance of her true name breaks her hold over her minions.
 * Your Head Asplode: puts a fist through her head. Splat.

Kate Lockley (Elisabeth Röhm)
"" Well, you see, the thing about "detectives" is, they have résumés. And business licenses. And last names.""

A member of the LAPD, Kate first encounters Angel when both are on the trail of a serial killer with Kate unaware that the killer is a demon. After this, she becomes Angel's friend on the force, though relations turn frosty when she finds out what he's fighting and exactly what he is. Leaves in the second season but returns and joins Angel Investigations in the comics.

""Scully's the skeptic. (Beat.) Mulder's the one who wants to believe. Scully's the skeptic." "...Scully's the chick, right?""
 * Agent Scully: Before graduating to a full-fledged Mulder (this is lampshaded by her dull-witted partner).


 * Badass Normal
 * Cowboy Cop: Warrant? What's that?
 * Economy Cast: The show eventually got around this by turning Kate Inspector Javert. It's mentioned that she spends all hours of the night listening to the police scanner, which would explain why she's always first on the scene.
 * Fair Cop
 * Friend on the Force
 * Happily-Failed Suicide: In the second-season episode "Reprise."
 * Inspector Javert
 * Occult Detective
 * Parental Abandonment
 * Put on a Bus: After Röhm left the show to join Law and Order.
 * She quit fighting supernatural crime in the West Coast to fight normal crime in the East Coast.
 * The Bus Came Back: In the comic, at least.
 * Reassigned to Antarctica: Lampshaded by Kate after her superiors take exception to her growing interest in the macabre. She's later bounced off to the filing room, or something.
 * Turn in Your Badge: ...With this as the ultimate result.
 * Supercop
 * Undercover Cop Reveal: In her first appearance ("Lonely Hearts").
 * What Could Have Been: Kate was originally supposed to be undercover cop posing as a prostitute. And a drug addict. Because why not? Executive Meddling led to this grimdark script - the episode called "Corrupt" - being shelved and rewritten into the much Lighter and Softer "Lonely Hearts."
 * Kate's bitterness at her father's death was to have led to her becoming Holtz's disciple. Once Röhm was unavailable, Kate's fate was changed; her backstory and thirst for vengeance was transplanted onto Justine.

Merl (Matthew James)
"Jesus, man! I mean, can't you, you know, knock? You don't make that funny expression when I knock. Or if you do, I don't see it."

- Merl and Angel

An unlucky snitch who hangs around Lorne's bar, Caritas. Instead of giving Merl monetary payment, however, Angel frequently intimidates Merl into giving him the necessary information, similar to how Willy the Snitch was regularly beaten up by Buffy for information.


 * Bloody Hilarious: Merl was eventually killed by members of Gunn's gang who had gone out of control and started killing demons indiscriminately. When Gunn asks where Merl's body is, Angel casually points at assorted splotches throughout the room.
 * Butt Monkey
 * Dude, Where's My Respect?
 * Knowledge Broker
 * Lovable Traitor: Angel's lack of respect towards Merl is somewhat justifiable given that in his first appearance, Merl tricked him into killing a pregnant woman's demon guardian so that she'd be vulnerable to bounty hunters.
 * The Scapegoat
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here
 * Sound-Only Death

Groosalugg (Mark Lutz)
""Angel, you and I have fought side by side on more than one occasion. Fellow warriors, shoulder to shoulder. By now, my counsel must assuredly hold weight, so I beseech you to heed my words: Pomegranate Mist is the wrong color for this room.""

A battle-hardened champion of Pylea and other-world equivalent of Angel. Though technically of Lorne's species, his mixed bloodline has manifested in "Cow" (read: humanoid) traits, making him an outcast among his kind. Once Cordelia ascends the throne, the Groosalug (or "Groo" for short) is assigned as her mate. However, Cordelia does not want to consummate their relationship because she fears losing her visions, which Groo would immediately inherit. At Cordy's urging, rulership of Pylea passes to Groo, who installs a set of sweeping reforms. He is soon dethroned, however, and ends up in Los Angeles—unknowingly edging out Angel as the city's hero.

"Angel: He's wearing my clothes!"
 * The Ace: Aside from being a bit dim, he really is Just That Good.
 * Always Someone Better: Can do everything Angel can, and in the daylight.
 * All Genes Are Codominant: He's basically a pink-skinned variant of Lorne's species, with navy blue eyes.
 * All of the Other Reindeer: His "cow blood" ensured a lifetime of loathing.
 * Badass Normal: One of the only non-powered humanoids to thoroughly beat Angel.
 * Badass Long Hair
 * Barbarian Hero
 * Bungled Suicide: Shunned by his people, Groo left to fight monsters until one would inevitably kill him. He laments that he couldn't even do that right, as he won every time.
 * The Bus Came Back: He returns in After the Fall, long hair and all.
 * The Cape (trope): Angel grumps about how he's better at being one than Angel himself.
 * The Cutie: Albeit a sword-wielding one.
 * Costume Copycat: Cordelia giving him an L.A.-style makeover, right down to the...spiky hair... --Hey, wait a minute...!

"Angel: (Watching the Groosalugg stick his hand in open flame to prepare for battle) This guy - he doesn't feel pain?
 * Death Is Cheap
 * Deathbringer the Adorable: Cordelia is initially horrified that she's expected to mate with a "Groosalugg."
 * Dumb Is Good: He eventually wises up to this and lets the rest of the team do the planning.
 * Fail O'Suckyname: Inverted—Groosalugg means "brave and undefeated." That's right, his name advertises the fact that he never loses.
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water: Upon following Cordy to Los Angeles.
 * Hopeless Suitor
 * Hunk
 * I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Summoned from "the Scum Pits of Ur."
 * Knight in Shining Armor: Except for the armor part.
 * Leeroy Jenkins: At first. He realizes it and gets better.
 * Made of Iron: Part of his Badass Normal-ity.

Fred: Oh, he feels it, but - he's the Groosalugg. He overcomes all things. Good luck!"

"Groosalugg: Hello. We welcome your telephonic-- (hangs up, picks up) Hello. Many thanks for telephoning-- (hangs up, looks around, picks up) Hi. This is Groo. I can't make it to the phone right now, but if you'll leave a message, I'll get back to you as soon as I can. (shakes his head, hangs up again) Their speaking path is so odd."
 * Master Swordsman
 * Nice Guy
 * Reluctant Ruler: About the only thing Groo fails at is running a country; He became bored with the committees, and was deposed pretty quick.
 * Shout-Out: A mighty, good-hearted and rather dumb warrior nicknamed Groo?
 * Spock Speak: "Hail, potential client!"
 * Subverted in one (unfortunately cut) scene, where he's trying to record a message for the team's answering machine.

Faith Lehane (Eliza Dushku)
See "Recurring Characters" under Buffy.

Gwen Raiden (Alexa Davalos)
""[Realizing Angel has no reflection] OK. After I kick your ass, I'm gonna ask about that""

Gwen was born with the ability to generate and control electricity, with the downside being that she can't turn it off, and thus can't make contact with another person. She uses her power to work as a thief for hire, and runs into the gang when hired to steal a mystical artifact. A thief by nature, she shows up when she needs help, but always leaves before things get too hairy.


 * Awesome Yet Practical: Her latex clothing, aside from adding to her sex appeal, stops her from accidentally electrocuting people.
 * Berserk Button: Being called a freak. "That's my word. And I get cranky when people like you use it."
 * Blessed with Suck
 * Classy Cat Burglar
 * Corporate Samurai
 * Fake American: Alexa Davalos is French.
 * Femme Fatale
 * Hello, Nurse!: Definitely invoked during Gwen's entrance.
 * This behavior is, however, Freudian, given that her powers ensure that she is a virgin - as she admits in "Players".
 * I Just Want to Be Normal
 * Meaningful Name: Raiden is a Japanese god of thunder and lightning. Not a pseudonym, as her parents were addressed as "Mr. and Mrs. Raiden" in her Backstory. It's also a pun on "Gone Raiding."
 * Nature Abhors a Virgin: In her third appearance, Gunn realizes that, because of her powers, she's never had sex. After they steal LISA (an experimental biometric control system), he's kind enough to help her with this.
 * Power Incontinence
 * Shock and Awe
 * Spy Catsuit
 * Steven Ulysses Perhero
 * Stripperiffic

Anne Steele (Julia Lee)
""You're not afraid of me." "Well, I've seen worse things since. I've seen a fourteen-year-old girl sitting in her own blood after a rough trick and dozens of people just walking right by, so no, vampires, demons, even lawyers pretty much don't impress me.""

- Angel and Anne

Ex-vampire groupie whose romanticism came to an abrupt end during a run-in with Spike & Drusilla. After migrating to L.A., she adopted the name "Anne"—in honor of her two-time rescuer, Buffy Anne Summers—and opened a teen shelter, which is how she came into acquaintance with Gunn and his boys. Herself a teenage runaway, Anne is passionately (some might say stupidly) idealistic in her job. She represents an 'on the street' parallel to Angel's mission.

"Buffy: I like it. I feel like a "Joan.""
 * Ascended Extra
 * Back for the Finale
 * Characterization Marches On
 * Conditioned to Accept Horror
 * Damsel in Distress: Twice over on Buffy. She's a good deal tougher on this show.
 * Dumb Blonde: Not the sharpest knife in the drawer in her early years.
 * The Determinator
 * Embarrassing Nickname: After discovering that "Chantarelle" is a type of fungus.
 * Hair of Gold
 * Have We Met?: Averted. In "Blood Money", neither Angel nor Anne recognize one another, despite having met briefly three years earlier.
 * Writer Mere Smith explains: "Joss was like, 'Do you remember everybody you met three years ago, and shared three sentences with?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, fine, use logic.’"
 * With Angel's stint in Hell, which lasted longer from his perspective than on Earth, it's been even more than that for him.
 * In addition to the fact that she was using a different name, different hairstyle, different look entirely, and was part of an incident that Angel found extremely tiresome and was probably quite happy to forget as soon as possible. Anne meanwhile would be even more eager to forget that night, as it involved life-threatening horror as well as significant personal shame.
 * I Have Many Names: As a teen, she became attached to a cult led by a "loser preacher" who dubbed her "Sister Sunshine". Afterward, she reinvented herself as "Chantarelle" and became a regular at the Sunset Club. Next, she drifted to Los Angeles and took on the name "Lily Houston". It was during this time that she ran into Buffy, who was herself a runaway and going by an alias: "Anne." Buffy's heroism so inspired her that she decided to adopt Buffy's middle name as her own.
 * The shooting script for "Lie to Me" gives her birthname as Joan Appleby, but this didn't make it into the cut. Ironically, not only did Anne take her name from Buffy, but Buffy briefly and unwittingly takes her name from Anne after becoming amnesic ("Tabula Rasa").


 * Little Hero, Big War
 * Naive Everygirl
 * Of Corsets Sexy: As "Chanterelle."
 * Only Known by Their Nickname: We've never found out her actual name.
 * Perky Goth: Used to be a regular at The Sunset Club, a gothic night club for vampire poseurs and wannabes. However, most members had never actually seen a real vampire, and thus they naively believed them to be gentle, misunderstood beings, referring to them as the "Lonely Ones."
 * The Runaway
 * Shout-Out: When Angel examines her driver's license, Anne's address is listed as "Willoughby Ave." Anne Steele and John Willoughby are characters in Sense and Sensibility.
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist