Angel: The backstory

He was a monster. Then he got his soul back. Now he fights for the helpless.

What Angel is about

The vampire with a soul

Angel

Liam is born in Galway, Ireland, in 1727 and squanders his youth in taverns – until Darla turns him into a vampire in 1753. As Angelus he becomes “the Scourge of Europe”, the cruellest vampire of his time. In 1898 he kills a Romani girl, and her clan, the Kalderash, curses him with the worst possible punishment: they give him back his soul. From then on he feels the guilt for every one of his crimes. Almost a century later the demon Whistler shows him a young Slayer in Los Angeles – Buffy Summers – and Angel decides to make something of his life again.

A new start

Los Angeles

After three years in Sunnydale Angel realises that he and Buffy have no future together, and leaves for Los Angeles. There he meets the half-demon Doyle, who receives visions from the Powers That Be: people in danger whom Angel is meant to save. Together with Cordelia Chase, who is trying her luck as an actress, they open a detective agency – “Angel Investigations”. Its motto: “We help the helpless.”

The team

Wesley, Gunn, Fred and Lorne

Doyle dies a hero’s death, but the team grows: the former Watcher Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, street fighter Charles Gunn, the physicist Fred, whom they rescue from the demon world Pylea, and the green-skinned Lorne, who reads people’s souls when they sing. Later Spike joins them as well. Each of them fights demons of their own – and together they become a family.

The enemy

Wolfram & Hart

Behind much of the evil in L.A. stands the law firm Wolfram & Hart, the earthly branch of the demonic Senior Partners. They bring back Darla, Angel’s sire, and her return leads to the impossible: a son, Connor. Holtz, Jasmine and the Beast follow – and in the fifth season Angel accepts the offer to run Wolfram & Hart’s Los Angeles office himself, hoping to change it from within.

The prophecy

The Shanshu

An old prophecy says that the vampire with a soul will become human again once he has played his part in the apocalypse. Angel does not know if it means him. In the end he decides to strike the Senior Partners where it hurts: the team wipes out the Circle of the Black Thorn, and the series ends in a rainy alley in the middle of the final battle. The story continues in the comic “After the Fall”.

Episode guide

Five seasons, 110 episodes – from “City Of” to “Not Fade Away”

Characters

All characters and their actors

Timeline

Angel’s life from 1727 to today

Comics

The story continues as a comic

Angel

Los Angeles

Wesley, Gunn, Fred and Lorne

Wolfram & Hart

The Shanshu

Where to go next