History Characters / Angel

* KnightOfCerberus: His introduction sets up Wulfram & Hart as the BigBad of the entire series rather than the shadowy ManBehindTheMan they were in the first half of Season 1, which is what initially moves the show to arc-based storytelling from the episodic structure it had before. He also introduces the Darla/Connor arc that dominates more than half of the series.

* BadassNormal

* EvilCannotComprehendGood

* SoulJar: Her sarcophagus, although closer to a [[DungeonsAndDragons Magic Jar]].

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Morena Baccarin was originally considered for the part of Eve, which would have upped the total of ''{{Firefly}}'' alums to four (with GinaTorres, AdamBaldwin, and Woodward). FOX vetoed it due to Baccarin's involvement in another pilot show at the time. [[ExecutiveMeddling The pilot never aired]].

!!Marcus Hamilton (AdamBaldwin)

* HaveIMentionedIAmADwarfToday: Subverted; 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, "...[[WeirdnessCensor from the children's reading program!]]" At this, Lorne actually considers dropping by and reading some ''HarryPotter''.

* TheNicknamer: Spike's names for Illyria include "The Leather Queen", "[[RedSonja Fred Sonja]]", "Little [[HinduMythology Shiva]]", "[[PaulBunyan Babe the Blue Ox]]", and "[[WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine Blue Meanie]]".

!!Drusilla (JulietLandau)

* RunningGag: His hair. His lousy singing. His "caveman brow." The leather pants he wore [[BuffyTheVampireSlayer when he was evil]]. And his occasional pettiness despite his advanced age.

** FridgeBrilliance pushes it UpToEleven. 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''.

* AffablyEvil: Or possibly [[FauxAffablyEvil]], part of Holland's allure is that the audience is never ''quite'' sure....

* AffablyEvil

* ManipulativeBastard: Shares his alter-ego's talent for deception and manipulation, but rarely makes use of it. But when he does...

--->"Ten minutes if you're lucky. Really lucky and you're unconscious for the last five."

* BruiserWithASoftCenter: 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 [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]] when pretending to be drunk?

* GoodIsNotNice: He actually is a nice guy most of the time but he can switch to ruthless at the drop of a hat. Its also not a good idea to go after people he cares about.

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.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Not his guy; Angel would rather be human again.
* TheWorfEffect: if someone's going to get punched across the room, it will be the immortal, super-powered protagonist.

* BadBadActing: Enough to make Angel nostalgic for Hell.

** She's often shown as being a fairly poor actress but, conversely, is an excellent liar and capable of fooling even Angelus.

* FaintingSeer: Her visions are something akin to "having my skull cracked open and hot lava poured in." In fact, she's probably better described as Shrieking, Twitching And ''Then'' Fainting Seer.

* Adorkable: When he's in a good mood.

--->"You'll last ten minutes if You're lucky. Really lucky and You'll be out for the last five".

* BeingGoodSucks: "Atonement's a bitch".

* DarkIsNotEvil

* {{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.

* LimitedWardrobe: Even after becoming incredibly wealthy and having access to a limitless wardrobe, he still just wears black all the time.

* MrFanservice
* NoSenseOfHumor
* TheNoseKnows

* SinkOrSwimFatherhood

* TortureTechnician: He does have some experience in this area. The mere threat of this is enough make people talk.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever
* TheWorfEffect

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

-->'''Spike:''' ''I'' had a plan!

-->'''Spike:''' A good plan, Smart plan! Carefully laid out! ...But I got bored.

* TheNotLoveInterest: Season 5 focuses a lot on his relationship with Angel

* {{Bigger Bad}}s: 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.
* BodySurf: The Partners are apparently unable to inhabit our dimension while in their native form.

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Lilah's timid about entering the White Room, mostly because of one employee who went in there and ended up in an asylum.

** And for trying to poach W&H clients and jumping to another firm. hat's right, [[FridgeHorror there's another evil law firm out there]].

-->'''[[spoiler:Knox]]:''' I don't just ''care'' about Fred - I practically worship it.

-->'''[[spoiler:Knox]]''': What?

-->'''[[spoiler:Knox]]''': (''smirking'') Oops.

->''"Creatures of the night ... unite??"''

* HarmlessVillain: She is ''far'' too brainless to present a real threat.

* TheSociopath: 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.

* EvilCounterpart: Like Angel, she was resurrected but she finds no value in the second chance given her and wanted to be a vamp again.

* AffablyEvil: Even if he's manipulating you, he'll still be polite, friendly and not above offering guests tea. He has genuine respect for the team and their reasons for helping Angel.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Subverted. At first it looks like he is the epitome of this. Then comes the 4th season reveal

* CostumeCopycat: Cordelia giving him an L.A.-style makeover, right down to the...spiky hair... --Hey, wait a minute...!

-->'''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.

* HaveWeMet: [[DefiedTrope Defied]] In "Blood Money", neither Angel nor Anne recognize one another, despite having met briefly three years earlier. For Angel, who spent years in a Hell dimension inbetween, it's been even longer than that. 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.’"

* TheComicallySerious
* CoolCar: A black Plymouth convertible. ..In sunny LA.

* ExpansionPackPast

* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne

* MartyrWithoutACause
* MistakenForGay: Another RunningGag

* PatrickStewartSpeech: Often lampooned. Jasmine keeps turning his own ultimatums against him (Like ''you've'' never eaten people!), and Lindsey confesses he just zones out when the yapping starts.

* ThickerThanWater: Like it or not, Darla is the closest thing to family he's got. Even his team comes second.

* FaintingSeer: Her visions are something akin to "having my skull cracked open and [[ItGotWorse hot lava poured in]]."

* GoldDigger: 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.

* TheChooserOfTheOne: ..While complaining that the Chosen One doesn't stock beer in the fridge.

* OopsIForgotIWasMarried: To Harriet Doyle, a demonologist. They eventually [[AmicablyDivorced parted ways amicably]], through Harry called off her new engagement.

* AbusiveParents: His father used to lock him in the cellar.

'''Wes:''' Well, I--! ...[-[[LastSecondWordSwap wouldn't know]]-].

* DrowningMySorrows: Develops an obsessive need for the juice to counter the melancholy of [[spoiler:Fred]]'s death. He is seldom entirely sober, as Spike sniffed out.

* JadedWashout: 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 demolition of the Council building doesn't even shake him up.
* KlingonPromotion : Became Illyria's de facto consort after shooting the first one.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: 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 [[spoiler: killed Fred]].

* ScaryBlackMan: Most of the time, he's friendly and loveable. But if You threaten Fred...

* HotLibrarian / HotScientist

* HairTriggerTemper
* HeelFaceTurn

* TokenEvilTeammate: Oh, the irony...

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Able to alter her physical appearance at will (she is capable of mimicking [[spoiler:Fred's persona closely enough to fool Fred's parents]], right down to the clothing she wears.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder

* DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou: Holtz is perfectly plain about Connor's origins -- almost sinisterly so. Although Connor has been drilled to think of his parents as monsters, he is, at heart, angry at them for abandoning him. Angel is obviously torn up about it, and makes a final attempt to reason with him, but Connor is too fargone to hear it.

* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor

* IJustWantToBeLoved: 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. [[spoiler:Cordelia]]? Completely and utterly mind-screws him into committing betrayals, patricide, and murder. Jasmine? ..You get the picture.

'''Lorne:''' ''(dishearted)'' Sounds like ma.

* IncrediblyLongNote: Once claimed he can hold a note for literally ''forever''.

* LosingYourHead: He can survive decapitation and being cut apart, but only if his body parts aren't mutiliated.

* NobleDemon: There's plenty of benign demons in the Buffyverse, but Lorne goes above and beyond the call of duty. His club, Caratas (Latin for "sanctuary") was specifically designed to bring human and demonkind together.

* VerbalTic: Whenever Lorne finishes a sentence he refers to the person he's talking to as some kind of endearment, often a foodstuff: Pumpkin, [[IncrediblyLamePun Angel cakes]], Kiwi, Sweet potato, Muffin.

* Anti-Hero: Was a Type V bet recently staggered to a Type IV

* RebelRelaxation: When you're a ghost, there's not much else to do but kick back and snark at people.

-->"'''YOU''' kill me? A flunky?! I'm not just--! ...[[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou Angel kills me]]. You-- Angel..."

* UnknownRival: He comes to view himself as the ArchEnemy to Angel. Angel doesn't. [[spoiler:Lindsey's indignant reaction to getting offed by ''Lorne'', of all people, is simultaneously somewhat sad and deeply, hilariously pathetic.]]

* TheCorrupter: Very arguable, but his interaction with Lindsay does sometimes give this vibe.
* MagicallyBindingContract: With him is that we first see the effects of how truly binding working with Wolfram and Hart can be.

* DepartmentofRedundancyDepartment: 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!"

* AffablyEvil: Even if he's manipulating You, he'll still be polite, friendly and not above offering guests tea. He has genuine respect for the team and Their reasons for helping Angel.

* BadassAndBaby / BadassAndChildDuo: He had to be in that hell dimension, until Connor became old enough to be BadAss himself.

** EvilMentor: To Justine. [[spoiler: And Connor.]]

* GradeSchoolCEO

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Blithely instructing Angel to snap Lilah's neck... which he happily obliges, until she giggles and calls him off at the last second.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: 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.

* LoveHungry: Her {{Glamour}} forces all who see her to love her unconditionally.]]

* BuxomIsBetter: A secretary has to have a big set of, uh...responsibilities.
-->'''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.

* SouthernFriedGenius: 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.

* IconicItem: 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.

** 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.