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The Big Bads of Angel.

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    Wolfram & Hart 

    Darla 

Darla

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/074163922597be52944f88eda8f2eda2.jpg
"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."

Played By: Julie Benz

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.


  • Action Mom: Being pregnant doesn't stop her from kicking ass.
  • Anti-Villain: At first, she's fully evil and villainous; her time carrying Connor to term gives her a soul (albeit a temporary one, which she's sharing with the boy); she immediately begins to feel regret for all of the horrors she's done and grieves for the fact that she won't be able to love Connor once he is born (and takes the soul away from her), making her ultimately sympathetic.
  • 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: The classy, sadistic, and ruthless dragon to the Master. This actually applies better in Angel, mostly in flashbacks or when she is revampified. She and Drusilla even attempt to build a gang/army to take the city under their command.
  • Big Bad: In Season 2.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: In Season 2 with Drusilla.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Character Development: She started out as one of the Master's lackeys who relished being evil and ended up finding redemption, ultimately sacrificing herself for her and Angel's child.
  • Characterization Marches On: In "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and "The Harvest", she's whiny, cowardly, not particularly smart or capable, and seemingly not even all that important in the Master's hierarchy (Luke, for one, clearly outranked her). She's a lot more charismatic and dangerous in "Angel" and the spinoff.
  • Combat Pragmatist: One of the few vampires to remember that a slayer was still human. When Buffy comes trying to stake her, Darla whips out a pair of guns.
  • Death by Childbirth: She dies during Connor's birth; but in a twist, it is because she stakes herself, allowing Connor to live since she was physically incapable of delivering a child.
  • Deliver Us from Evil: By all means, the fact that her unborn child had a soul meant that technically so did she for the duration of the pregnancy-but she became a lot nobler than she was for most of the time she possessed a soul of her own. Well apart from craving specifically innocent blood, but that stage passed. Creepiest example of Wacky Cravings ever?
    • When she realizes that once the baby is born she'll no longer be able to love it without a soul and may even try to kill it, and that it probably won't be born at all as her vampire body is failing to go through labor properly, she makes Angel promise to tell their son how much she loved him and then stakes herself, turning to dust and leaving behind only her (living) son. Did we mention it's pouring rain?
  • Depraved Bisexual: It's heavily implied that all of the Fanged Four have had trysts with each other, including Darla and Drusilla, who definitely had a threesome with the Immortal in Rome.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: Her final death had Darla stake herself while being held by Angel.
  • Dying Alone: By the time the Master turned up at her doorstep.
  • Ethereal White Dress: After gaining a soul, she posthumously appears to Connor in a white gown, contrasting the black-clad Cordelia/Jasmine, symbolically trying and failing to act as her son's conscience.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite her cruelty and evil nature, she genuinely loved Angelus and later their son Connor.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Due to being a soulless vampire, she was disgusted by Angelus soul and desperately tried to get rid of it and bring "her boy" back.
  • Evil Counterpart: Like Angel, she is resurrected, but she finds no value in the second chance given her and wants to be a conscienceless, monstrous vamp again.
  • Faux Affably Evil: As a vampire, Darla keeps up a sweet, charming demeanor that hides the vain, cruel, child-killing monster beneath.
  • The Fog of Ages: Darla, being even older than Angelus, can no longer remember her human birth name.
  • Good Wears White: Darla makes a Heroic Sacrifice to give birth to Connor. When she returns as a ghost, she is wearing white and is trying to stop Connor from killing an innocent girl. This is contrast to Cordelia who has been possessed by evil and is wearing black.
  • Guy on Guy Is Hot: In a flashback, she seemed pretty excited at the thought of Angelus and Spike "driving their poles through each other."
  • Heel–Face Door-Slam: Just when it seems she's finally accepted her humanity and resolved to do some good with the little time she has left, Drusilla walks in and re-sires her.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Darla stakes herself to give birth to Connor.
  • 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.
  • I Can Change My Beloved: Four years later, she's still out to drag Angel back to his evil roots.
  • I Love You, Vampire Son: Darla's affection for Angel(us) has been fairly constant (albeit often volatile) from the day she sired him.
  • In Love with Your Carnage: Angelus' unparalleled savagery was one of the things Darla loved most about him.
  • Insistent Terminology: With a few exceptions (usually when's she ensouled), she consistently refers to Angel as Angelus, even his post-Heel–Face Turn modern incarnation.
  • Ironic Nursery Tune: Her theme music.
  • It's All About Me: She would place her own safety over others, as seen when she left Angelus with a murderous mob and fled with the only horse.
  • Lady in Red: A lot of her wardrobe consists of the color.
  • Law of Inverse Fertility: She realizes - after spending months demanding an end to her pregnancy - that she loves her son.
  • Love Redeems: Her maternal love for Connor is what prompts her Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Nay-Theist: She scoffed at religion even while alive and was displeased when the Master appeared at her deathbed disguised as a priest.
  • 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.
  • No Name Given: "Darla" ("dear one") is a name bestowed on her by the Master. Her birth name is long forgotten, even by Darla herself.
  • Pregnant Badass: Actually even tougher in this state; the fetus causes Darla to crave blood all the time, driving her into an unstoppable frenzy.
  • Really 700 Years Old: She's well over 300 years old.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Her last heroic action before she can lose her soul to childbirth is to stake herself so Connor can be born. Sure enough, her sacrifice and death as a hero allows the Powers to send her spirit to Connor in a last-ditch effort to redeem him. It doesn't work.
  • Slap-Slap-Kiss: Her relationship with Angelus included a fair amount of violence and backstabbing (she left him at Holtz's mercy to save herself, smacked him around over a lover's spat (which Angelus noted that he'd repay when they inevitably reunited), and cheated on him with the Immortal and Drusilla) on top of their insatiable desire for one another.
  • Super-Strength: She had the standard powers and vulnerabilities of a vampire. Additionally, she was stronger than most vampires because of her age and possessed a higher resistance to holy items. When Monseigneur Rivalli tried to ward her off with his cross necklace, Darla tossed him aside without a care (she was around 200 years old at that point). It appears that Darla did not suffer a reduction in her powers after being re-born, as she was able to easily overpower Angel moments after re-awakening as a vampire (possibly meaning that the second time she was sired she was imbued with the same demonic essence she was imbued with the first time she was sired).
  • Too Kinky to Torture: Darla is a fan of pain.
    You're hurting me. I like it!
  • Tsundere: To Angel.
    "Just because we had a thing for 200 years, don't think you know me!"
  • Undying Loyalty: To the Master. As much time as she spent with Angelus, Darla would always return to her sire's service.
    Angelus: Her precious Master sent for her. You know Darla; Master's pet.
  • The Vamp: She often used her beauty and sexuality to lure unsuspecting prey. Unlike her more aggressive male counterparts (Angelus and Spike), she was rarely seen hunting; her prey willingly approached her, never suspecting their fate until it was too late.
  • 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."
  • Wicked Cultured: She had a taste for luxury, classical music, and places with a view.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Never averse to feeding on children, Darla becomes especially driven to do so late in her pregnancy, as she finds herself craving purer blood to nourish her own child.

    Holtz 

Daniel Holtz

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e0a33c08071d9b3751b91987c2ccde6e.jpg
"I swore that I would show no mercy. And I won't."

Played By: 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: Holtz is an embodiment of all of Angelus's past victims.
  • Accuser of the Brethren: His vendetta towards Angel runs so deep, he actually goes as far as to erase Angel's heroic acts from recorded history, and his Evil Plan was to keep Angel from truly redeeming himself.
  • Affably Evil: Holtz might be a manipulative killer, but he's polite, soft-spoken and may even offer you tea. He has a sense of honor and genuinely respects Angel Investigations.
  • And Your Little Dog, Too!: He starts out by getting revenge on Angelus - by harassing the souled Angel. Initially, Angel responds with sympathy and guilt with what his soulless self did to the troubled man - and tries to simply reason with him. When Holtz starts to threaten Angel's (innocent) friends, that's when Angel realizes that more drastic action needs to be taken.
  • Anti-Villain: It's hard not to feel sympathy for him. He was a hero once, after all, driven to evil by hatred and grief.
  • Arch-Enemy: He fits this trope better then any other villain that Angel has faced. They both have long turbulent pasts with each other and have both performed deeds that make it personal, from Angelus's killing of Holtz's wife and child to Holtz's kidnapping of Connor and eventually causing a giant rift to form between them. They also become foils for each other as Angel is a vampire that attempts to atone for his past deeds for the greater good while Holtz is a human driven to revenge instead of justice.
  • 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: A holdover from the 18th century.
  • Badass Normal: Competes only with Gunn and maybe Wesley for the title of most Badass Normal in the Buffyverse. According to Wolfram & Hart's records, he's the most successful non-mystical vampire hunter in history, with over three hundred dustings to his credit. He also survived Quor'toth, just as Connor did, and without the benefit of superhuman powers.
  • Beard of Evil: Lampshaded by Justine who comments that his goatee rounds out "the creepy stalker look". Holtz discovers razors soon afterward.
  • Becoming the Mask: He admits this regarding Connor, whom he kidnapped and raised to be his ultimate weapon with which to claim vengeance on Angel. In a private conversation with Justine, he claims that despite Connor's parentage, he came to honestly love the kid over the years they spent together.
  • 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.
  • Big Bad: The most persistent, impactful, and competent antagonist in Season 3.
  • The Captain: Referred to as "Captain" by his old hunting party.
  • The Chessmaster: Gradually, he turns everyone, even his own surrogate son, into his pawn.
  • Church Militant: He's cozy with some Inquisitores; so much so that he hires a Cardinal to flay Angelus for a while. He's also a deeply religious man, despite sounding like Satan.
  • Cool Shades: He wears a very nifty pair.
  • Combat Pragmatist: So Caritas is a sanctuary that prevents violence of any kind within its walls, right? How do you get past that? Here's how: you stand outside, and throw things in - things like grenades and fuel drums.
  • 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 specialty.
  • Deal with the Devil: And the man manages to screw over the devil. In this case, Sahjhan. Holtz plays this role himself, and Wesley knew full well what he was walking into. Wes can only hope that he'll see the inevitable back-stab coming. And he did... kind of. Holtz misdirected Wesley while Justine, pretending to be wounded, slit Wesley's neck.
  • 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 and Connor.
  • Evil Old Folks: After spending a few weeks in scenic Quor'toth.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: Lampshaded by Mutant Enemy, of course. Gunn even poked fun at his short stature at one point.
    Holtz: You don't trust me?
    Wesley: Hm, I dunno, could be the low, scary voice that's giving me trouble.
  • Fallen Hero: He started out as a force for good who hunted vampires to protect people, but Angelus and Darla turned him into a revenge-driven monster.
  • Fish out of Temporal Water: Holtz is a resident of 18th-century England who was made a Human Popsicle and woke up in 21st-century Los Angeles. He manages to adapt fairly well, making sure to study up on all the history he's missed, but remains largely unfamiliar with most modern applications and ideas, referring to a computer as a box, thinking a styrofoam cup was made of cotton, and informing Justine that her references to popular culture were lost to him.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Bear in mind that, from the perspective his own time, the only thing he did that could reasonably be called evil was his suicide.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: Holtz once killed vampires as a force of good, but becomes a manipulative bastard willing to do anything in the search of evil. He even realizes this, but he's too far gone.
  • Heel Realization: His last words reveal that he knows he's headed to Hell for his actions. And he doesn't give a damn.
  • Implacable Man: 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.
  • Impromptu Tracheotomy: His last request to Justine, to make Angel look like the culprit.
  • Ironic Nursery Tune: Holtz comforts his daughter by singing 'Ar Hyd y Nos' (All Through the Night), a Welsh song that later became widely used as a lullaby in England - then realizes she's been made a vampire and casts her into sunlight to burn. He can be heard ominously singing it to himself every now and then.
  • I've Come Too Far: He's well aware of how far he's fallen, judging by his last words to Justine... but he sees no reason to turn back.
    Holtz: Come on, Justine. I'm not asking you to follow me into Hell. Just help send me there.
  • It's Personal: Angelus and Darla ruined his life and slaughtered his family.
  • Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: It comes after he realizes that Angel not only has a soul but a son, and has been through plenty of torment already. He decides to just go ahead with a vengeance so dark and cruel that it can only be called evil.
  • Knight of Cerebus: Holtz's reemergence is a wake-up call that Angel's quest for redemption may be doomed to fail.
  • 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'.
  • Literal Genie: Just how badass is Holtz do you ask? This is the man who makes a deal with a demon, and it's the demon who gets screwed over!
  • Manipulative Bastard: One of the best. Jasmine spent millennia 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 Wesley to kidnap Angel's son, then escaped into a hell dimension with him, raising him to be Angel's worst enemy. He pushes Connor to be closer to Angel, pretending he wants them together so that his assisted suicide, made to resemble a vampire attack, make things even worse between them.
  • Meaningful Name: 'Holtz' is a variant spelling of the German 'Holz', meaning "wood". As in a stake.
  • No Sense of Personal Space: Has a tendency to get all up in people's bidness during conversation.
  • 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 dangerous he really is.
  • Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Discussed between Wesley and Justine in "Sleep Tight":
    Wesley: Holtz talks about "justice" and it's stirring, but what he wants is revenge. He's driven by it, blinded by it, and if you, me, or anyone else gets in his way, he'll kill for it.
  • One-Man Army: Literally, as he took down a squad of mercenaries Wolfram & Hart sent in by himself. The mercs were fully armed to the teeth, from assault rifles to grenades. Holtz had a sword and they didn't even scratch him. And this was mere hours after waking up in modern time.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: His whole schtick.
  • 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 his own longevity inside a Hell dimension to it.
  • 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.
  • Revenge Before Reason: To his last breath, he only cares about getting revenge on Angel for what he did to him, and doesn't care what he has to do to get it done.
  • Revenge by Proxy: Family killed? No problem; Holtz redresses the balance by manipulating Wesley 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 kill Connor in a way that echoes Holtz killing his vamped daughter.
  • Shut Up, Kirk!: Does this to Angel when he and Connor return to Earth from Quor'toth. Angel furiously calls Holtz out on taking Connor; Holtz retorts that he kept Angel's son alive, while Angel murdered his own in cold blood.
  • Staking the Loved One: His dealing with his daughter.
  • The Stoic: Holtz is, almost without fail, soft-spoken and calm at all times.
  • 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.
  • Thanatos Gambit: His final act is to commit suicide in a manner that simulates a vampire attack, thus leading Connor to believe that Angel killed him.
  • Tragic Villain: Holtz was once a good man, a warrior for the cause of righteousness. Then Angelus and Darla paid a visit to his family. After that, he was a hollow, vengeance-driven shell of a man willing to do anything to avenge his loss. In the end, vengeance and hate are all Holtz has left, with even the love he feels for his adoptive son being overshadowed by his desire to hurt Angel. He's well aware of how far he's fallen by the time he enacts his final plan, but he sees no reason to stop anymore.
  • 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.
  • The Unfettered: With his family gone, nothing prevents Holtz from seeking his revenge. The intervening centuries, Angel having a soul, even Holtz growing to love Connor all utterly fail to dissuade him from taking as cruel a revenge on Angel as he can. Holtz even kills himself and uses his death to manipulate his beloved adopted son, all for the sake of his own vengeance.
  • Vampire Hunter: He was a professional vampire hunter back in his own time. In the present day, he narrows his focus to Angel, though his acolytes train by fighting captured vampires.
  • Van Helsing Hate Crimes: More justified than most, but still there.
  • Villains Blend in Better: Like Angel himself he comes from the 18th century and is transported to modern day. Unlike Angel (who unlike Holtz even lives through the different time periods), he seems to have no trouble to adapt to modern times. It helps that he's only focusing on his revenge with no real interest in getting a life. However, later in the season, after spending many years in a hell dimension, it's implied he managed to survive it with ease too and raised Connor in a relativly normal way.
  • We Have Reserves: Poisoning his demon bodyguards; completely and utterly deceiving his human soldiers, treating them as mere tools to get to Connor; even Connor himself is not immune. (Holtz did move to snap his little baby neck until Angel called him off.)
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: With the possible exception of Drusilla, what Angelus and Darla put Holtz through was perhaps their most monstrous act (that's seen on-screen). He was a noble vampire hunter, a force of good, but Angelus and Darla broke him completely. They raped and murdered his wife, killed his infant child in its crib and perhaps worst of all, turned his young daughter into a vampire. Holtz was forced to dust his beloved daughter while she screamed for mercy.
  • Would Hurt a Child: He killed his daughter after Angelus turn her into a vampire. And if pushed, you know he'll do it again.

    Jasmine 

Jasmine

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bfa3d107f5b20f45e2b70b9e3e71b666.JPG
"There are no absolutes. No right and wrong."

Played By: Charisma Carpenter (possessing Cordelia), Gina Torres (own body)

"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.


  • Above Good and Evil: Her ultimate claim.
    "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!"
  • Achilles' Heel: Her blood — and the blood of her "parents," Connor and Cordelia. This explains why Connor is aware of Jasmine's maggot face from the start. This also means that not only can they easily kill her, she can't harm them.
  • Assimilation Plot: Her goal is to assimilate all beings on Earth who aren't inherently evil. Not just humans, but also good demons like Lorne.
  • Badass Boast: She makes rather prideful boasts about her abilities from time to time.
    "I was forged in the inferno of creation, vampire! Do you really think a little electricity would destroy me?"
  • Big Bad: Of Season 4. Although she presents herself as a Big Good.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Bringing peace to the world. With mind control.
  • Blue-and-Orange Morality: It's unclear to what degree she's motivated by genuine interest in humanity's wellbeing as opposed to her own selfishness, but her stated goal is to build a world without disease, war, or poverty (which she actually seems to do), which isn't an evil goal in itself. Unfortunately, she does it by turning people into subservient drones who have no choice but to be happy and nice and loving to each other and will also commit violence if she tells them to.
  • Bodyguard Betrayal: Is all set to double-team against Angel with Connor — 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.
  • Brought Down to Badass: Even without her godly might, Jasmine claims that she has more than enough strength to kill everyone on Earth. Based on how she smacks Angel around, tanks his blows and a well-placed power line, and heaves a car at him, she's probably right.
  • 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. However, this is mitigated by the Unreliable Narrator making the claim and the Writing by the Seat of Your Pants nature of the fourth season generally, so she may not be quite the master manipulator she claims to be.invoked
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Angel poses exactly no threat to her in a physical confrontation, even after having her powers drained. It required Connor, the only person around who could ignore her invulnerability that wasn't in a coma, to stop her.
  • Dark Messiah: She attempts to bring peace to the world... by employing global-scale mind control to disguise her appearance and make humanity come together in worshiping her, eating scores of people along the way.
  • Death by Irony: She's killed by Connor, her meat puppet and truest minion.
  • Demonic Possession: She's introduced having taken over Cordelia's body so that she can create one of her own, having hitched a ride back with her from the higher plane.
  • Destructive Saviour: The atrocities committed by her servant the Beast to prepare the way for her physical manifestation are shrugged off as "birth pains."
  • Diabolus ex Nihilo: All we know of her backstory is the happy fable she repeats to everybody.
  • Dimension Lord: She previously ruled 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: Jasmine regularly shapeshifts 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 Cannot Comprehend Good: Even after all of the horrible things she's done, Jasmine is unable to understand why Angel hates her so much. Angel promptly tells her why:
    Angel: Let's run down the list, huh? Rain of fire, blotting out the sun, enslaving mankind, and... yeah, oh, yeah. Hey, you eat people!
  • Evil Laugh: When she realizes her influence over her minions is so deep she not only can see through their eyes remotely possess them, but also share their wounds and injuries.
  • The Evils of Free Will: She firmly believes this.
  • Evilutionary Biologist: Before crossing over to Earth, Jasmine first conquered a race of insectoid demons. Her chosen followers were evolved into scaly humanoids with telepathic powers.
    Lorne: Uh huh, and how'd that work out for them?
    Jasmine: (Beat) It was a trial run.
  • 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. As anyone can guess, they likely had very good cause for kicking her out.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Jasmine's benevolence is a very convincing façade, but as her behavior while possessing Cordelia shows, she has a nasty spiteful side (her jealousy of Faith, callous manipulation of Connor, and brutal murder of Lilah), and she sent her minions to kill Team Angel when they fell out of her power. She also abandoned the insectoid demons who initially worshiped her, dismissing them as a trial run, and after losing control over her thralls, she ultimately decides to wipe out humanity one body at a time. Basically, she only acts pure and radiant when she thinks she has no real obstacles.
  • 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 luminescent Starfish Alien.
  • Glamour: To hide the Facial Horror.
  • Healing Factor: Her wounds heal almost instantly
  • Hidden Villain: Turns out to have pulling strings as far back as Season One. Or so she claims. She even claims that she was responsible for Lorne arriving on Earth in 1996.
  • Hive Queen: Her influence over her thralls soon evolves to allow her to remotely possess them, speaking through them and seeing through their eyes.
  • 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 Body Jasmine. Or less flatteringly, "Jasmaniacs".
  • I Have Many Names: Among them the Blessed Devourer.
  • 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 distraught and lonely when her once-devoted worshipers flee her in revulsion and panic.
  • I Know Your True Name: The only method of removing Jasmine's ability to mind control. In order to find it, Angel journeys (almost literally) to Hell and back.
  • It's All About Me: As much as she may believe in her goal of bringing about world peace, it's hard to ignore that Jasmine's idea of the perfect world is one where she's the center of everyone's lives.
  • Kill the God: But only her parents can harm her physically.
  • Knight Templar: Her ultimate goal is to bring everlasting peace to earth. By removing free will and periodically devouring a dozens of people.
  • 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 Connor, whose immunity to her powers apparently stretches to ignoring her invulnerability, swoops in and kills her.
  • Light Is Not Good: She wears white.
  • Love Hungry: Her Glamour forces all who see her to love and serve her unconditionally.
  • Lovecraftian Superpower: Reverts to a giant, tentacled blob in order to eat.
  • The Man Behind the Man: To the Beast. And to Skip.
  • Manipulative Bastard: She has been manipulating the events of A.I.'s lives for years, starting with Lorne's arrival on Earth, in order to be brought forth. Or so she claims.
  • Mass Hypnosis: Her signature ability: anyone who sees or hears her falls under her thrall and becomes part of her Hive Mind. She did it once with another dimension, and she's planning on doing it again on Earth.
  • Messianic Archetype: She had an impossible birth, and appears after an apocalyptic series of tribulations (at the hands of a demonic creature called "the Beast") to establish a seeming paradise on Earth.
  • A Million Is a Statistic: How she justifies her... uh, humanist diet.
    "Yes. I murdered thousands... to save billions!"
  • Motive Rant: And a pretty persuasive one, all told.
  • Naked on Arrival: After her body is given birth by Cordelia.
  • Narcissist: Jasmine's idea of a perfect world is one where everyone is so obsessed with bowing to and worshipping her that they can't war amongst themselves. She tries to be at least a little humble about this, but can't resist asking for a temple to be built as a shrine to her magnificence.
  • No Name Given: Her actual name is unpronounceable by humans, and she fibs to the enthralled Angel Investigations that she doesn't have one. In fact, she needs to them to give her a name on Earth because she's unable to do it herself for some mystical reason. They name her Jasmine because she's fond of the flowers' scent.
  • Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: She claims to want to save the world, but her methods of doing so are very brutal; along the way, she killed several thousand innocents, conjured a rain of fire over LA, and unleashed Angelus once again just as a distraction. Not only that, but her idea of a perfect world is an Assimilation Plot that completely removes free will and makes everyone on Earth mindless drones who worship her endlessly. When Angel thwarts her plans, she decides that if she can't rule the world, she's going to destroy it.
  • 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.
  • Omniglot: She's fluent in at least English, Spanish, and Mandarin. As she puts it, mastering a language isn't that hard when she's as long lived as she is.
  • Physical God: She's one of the Powers That Be — or so she claims, anyway. At the very least, she has a ludicrously powerful roster of skills to use, such as mass hypnosis and invulnerability (to all but her "parents," Connor and Cordelia).
  • Psychopathic Womanchild: After her power is broken, Jasmine throws a tantrum at Angel, childishly asking him "why do you hate me?" and deciding to kill everyone on Earth out of spite.
  • 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.
  • Slowly Slipping Into Evil: She first presents herself as a benevolent actor who's kind and magnanimous to her followers. As things progress, it starts to slip as she begins to eat people, becomes obsessed with defeating Fred (and the rest of the heroes after Fred frees them) to prevent her hypnosis from ending, and becomes more and more megalomaniacal and violent as they challenge her rule. Even in the end, Angel still tries to offer her a chance to join his team - she refuses, deciding that if things can't go her way, she'll just end the world.
  • Spell My Name with a "The": On Bugworld, she is candidly known as The Devourer.
  • Starbucks Skin Scale: Angel once described Jasmine as "mocha."
  • Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: After Angel breaks her hold over L.A., Jasmine vows to use what power she has left to destroy humanity rather than give free will a chance.
  • Superpower Lottery: Part and parcel of being a Power That Was, she easily won it - aside from her mass hypnosis, she has extreme magical and physical strength (enough to challenge Willow and easily dwarf Angel), invulnerability, and can heal from almost any wound. The only people who can kill her are Connor and Cordelia, since they're her "tethers" to the world (and similarly, are invulnerable to her attacks).
  • "Take That!" Kiss: Plants one on Angel during their final confrontation. Considering all those oozing pustules... ew.
    Connor: Always the same, Dad. I get a girl, you gotta make a play for her.
  • Terms of Endangerment: Jasmine tends to call her minions things like 'sweet boy' and 'my love.'
  • Time Abyss: Was "forged in the infernos of Creation," meaning she either was created in or is older than the Big Bang.
  • Unreliable Expositor: Jasmine claims, as does Skip, that she was responsible for every significant event in the lives of the Angel Investigations team. Given the wildly random nature of some of these events, and the fact that we only have the word of two villains who have already lied repeatedly, this is a rather difficult claim to swallow.
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: Her ultimate goal is to make earth a paradise.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: She spent years manipulating Angel, Cordelia, and the rest of Angel Investigations so that she could be born on Earth and bring about a golden age. Of course, in the process, she killed several thousand innocents, conjured a rain of fire over L.A., and unleashed Angelus once again. Not to mention that she eats people and her idea of a "golden age" is an Assimilation Plot that completely removes free will. Even so, Angel and co. are uncertain if they did a good thing or a bad thing by taking her out, especially when their arch-enemies, Wolfram & Hart, actually praise them for ending world peace.
  • Words Can Break My Bones: Her Achilles' Heel. Any utterance of her true name breaks her hold over her minions.
  • Your Head Asplode: Connor puts a fist through her head. Splat.

    Marcus Hamilton 

    Circle of the Black Thorn 

    Charles Gunn 

    Whistler 

Whistler

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/buffy_whistler.jpg
"My name is Whistler. Anyway, lately it is. My real name is hard to pronounce unless you're a dolphin."

Played By: Max Perlich

"Bottom line is even if you see 'em coming, you're not ready for the big moments. No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does. So what, are we helpless? Puppets? No. The big moments are gonna come, can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are. You'll see what I mean."

A balancing demon sent by the Powers That Be. Whistler guides Angel into meeting Buffy, and also tries to assist her in stopping Angelus. Later reappeared during the Twilight crisis and its aftermath.


  • Balance Between Good and Evil: What he seeks to maintain.
  • Big Bad: Steps into this role for Angel & Faith.
  • Born of Heaven and Hell: He is the product of an Interspecies Romance between a female pure-blood demon and an agent of The Powers That Be (basically an angel, although not depicted with wings). The Powers and the demons banded together to kill his parents for their transgression, but the Powers spared Whistler to serve as an agent of balance.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Seemed like a pretty harmless 'spiritual advisor' type, but come Season Nine and he's showing off sufficient power to leave Nash and Pearl quivering in fear and punching holes through Angel.
  • Cryptic Conversation: Pretty much all he ever says.
  • Deadpan Snarker: He's quite a sarcastic fellow.
  • Don't Make Me Destroy You: When Angel makes it clear that he will not support Whistler's methods, Whistler loses his temper, puts his fist through Angel's gut, and comes dangerously close to staking him before managing to stop himself, remarking that even after everything that's happened, Angel is still his "favorite kid" and he doesn't want to kill him. However, he nonetheless departs while warning Angel to stay out of his way or he would be forced to.
  • Face–Heel Turn: In Season 8 and full blown in Season 9
  • Greater-Scope Villain: He is behind the whole Twilight thing in season 8.
  • I've Come Too Far: After releasing a magic plague over London, causing people to painfully mutate into monsters, Angel forces him to look at what he's done to innocents in an attempt to get through to him. While he is briefly swayed and appears unsure, Whistler brushes it off, telling Angel that no matter what, he's come too far in his plans to stop now.
  • Older Than They Look: Whistler is thousands of years old.
  • One-Winged Angel: He can take after his demonic parent too, if he feels like it... becoming a Horned Humanoid
  • Precognition: Although it is "all outta whack" after the destruction of the Seed of Wonder.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Gets to realize the error of his ways after his connection to magic is restored. Tries to contain his own magic bomb, which results in his death.
  • Sanity Slippage: Angel bluntly tells him that he believes that being separated from The Multiverse and the Powers since the Seed was destroyed have made him crazy. And he may have a point.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: In Season Nine.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: His plan to restore magic, as well as the Twilight arc, would have and will kill billions, but he legitimately believes it's the only way to save the rest of the world.
  • What Could Have Been: Whistler was originally supposed to appear in Angel. Drafts of the script of the first episode have Whistler instead of Doyle. Joss Whedon stated that schedule conflicts prevented this from happening.
  • Wild Card: He will favor "good" or "evil" depending on which side is getting the upper hand.

    Archaeus 

Archaeus

An ancient demon that sired the Master.


  • Big Bad: For the first half of Buffy Season 10, and the second half of Angel & Faith.

Alternative Title(s): Angel Big Bads

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