Harmony Kendall

Played byMercedes Alicia McNab4Zitateto listen to

Sunnydale

Harmony Kendall appeared in the unaired pilot as a a member of Cordelia Chase's clique, the "Cordettes". She subsequently appears in the first episode of Season 1 "The Harvest", and makes minor appearances throughout the first three seasons. When Cordelia begins dating Xander Harris, Harmony shuns her from their clique and usurps her position as leader of the group. After Cordelia and Xander's breakup, Harmony cruelly tricks Cordelia into thinking that she has been re-admitted into the clique, only to humilate and reject her. After a vengeance demon grants Cordelia's wish that Buffy had never arrived in Sunnydale (The Wish), Harmony appears in the alternate, hellish reality as a more subdued version of herself, again a follower of Cordelia's "Cordettes".

In the final showdown with the Mayor during his Ascension ("Graduation Day"), Harmony is killed by a vampire. She reappears in Season 4 ("The Harsh Light of Day") as a vampire, having retained her characteristic pettiness, susceptibility to stronger-willed people, and an affection for unicorn figurines (which, in Season 5 of Angel, is undiminished). She begins a sexual relationship with Spike, her "blondie bear". Neither Spike nor Harmony are satisfied with their relationship; Spike is frustrated by Harmony's ignorance and clinginess while she is exasperated with his repeated attempts to kill the Slayer. They separate, although she agrees to rekindle their relationship after Spike escapes from the Initiative ("The Initiative"). She quickly regrets this decison after recognizing Spike's renewed campaign against the Slayer, and even chases him out of her lair with a stake when he desperately seeks her help ("Pangs").

Spike's ambition to kill the Slayer apparently rubs off. After separating from Spike, Harmony wants to be an independent, strong vampire who can get by on her own; accordingly, she gathers her own gang and makes her own attempt ("Real Me") to kill Buffy, which ends in disaster. Her minions destroyed, Harmony returns to Spike for protection until it became clear that Spike's infatuation with Buffy has become an obsession ("Crush").

Los Angeles

Harmony was next seen in the Buffy spinoff Angel, in Season 2 ("Disharmony"). Harmony visits her old friend Cordelia in Los Angeles, not telling Cordelia that she has become a vampire. Harmony tries to connect with Cordelia, but has difficulty controlling her demon side. She enters Cordelia's bedroom at night, driven by bloodlust, but apologizes for her actions and intentions when Cordelia wakes up. Cordelia misunderstands her explanation, believing her to be a lesbian until the matter is cleared up by Willow via a phone call. Harmony accompanies the Angel Investigations team on a mission, quickly betraying them to their enemies.

Several years later, Harmony kicks her addiction to human blood and tries to make a life for herself in L.A. She gains employment at the L.A. branch of the evil law firm Wolfram and Hart, as a member of the secretarial pool. She joins in part due to the building's windows being outfitted with necro-tempered glass (which prevents vampires from being killed by sunlight), as well as the firm's non-judgmental workplace culture and dental plan. A few weeks into her employment with the firm, in Angel's fifth season premiere, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce hires her out of the pool to be Angel's new personal secretary, after Angel and his staff (minus Cordelia, who had fallen into a coma at the end of the previous season) are given control of that branch of Wolfram and Hart. Angel reluctantly agrees, on the strict condition that Harmony refrains from drinking human blood (she notes at that time that she has already been off the human blood for several months). Harmony is reunited with Spike when he returns, first as a ghost and then in corporeal form. She tries to connect with him, and initially hopes to renew their relationship now that he has a soul. He shows no interest for her until he becomes corporeal; he seduces her into a brief, disastrous fling, after which neither of them puts any effort into rekindling their tumultuous relationship.

At this point in her unlife, Harmony feels isolated and alone. She knows that she is incompetent as an evil vampire, but her struggle to lead a more normal life is hindered because she lacks a soul. Angel, her boss, often treats her with distrust and barely-masked hostility, and her input, ideas, and presence are generally ignored by his team. She also experiences an inability to connect with her co-workers, who resent her quick rise to the position of the CEO's secretary. In the episode "Harm's Way", she is framed for murder by another vampire secretary who wants her job. She clears her name and ironically saves a demon summit by staking her scheming rival on a conference table with a pair of chopsticks. She strikes up a brief friendship with Winifred "Fred" Burkle, though her relationship with Illyria, the demon who later inhabits Fred's body, is quite frosty.

Harmony became a member of the regular cast starting with season five's "Underneath". In the series finale ("Not Fade Away") she betrays Angel by telling his plans to Marcus Hamilton, the Senior Partners' new liaison, with whom she has a sexual relationship. Angel, however, always expected her to betray him at some point, so he had only confided information that he wanted her to reveal. After her betrayal (which Angel blames on her lack of a soul, and she blames on his lack of confidence in her) he fires her, but not before providing her with a letter of reccommendation (which he had already written and signed, in anticipation of her disloyalty). As Angel and Hamilton prepared to fight each other, she ran off, wishing them both luck: "May the best man win!" Her current whereabouts are unknown.