Connor Angel: The Heroic Blackguard - 73%
On the television show, Angel, the son of the main character, named Connor, is often interpreted as a villain. While most of his actions can be viewed as very knavish, there is a lot of evidence that can either prove his hero status or explain away his misdeeds.
When Connor was just a small child, he was kidnapped into Hell by a man named Holtz. For eighteen years, Connor was trained to fight off demons and he never had a proper childhood. He knew of no childhood friends and his only human contact was his step-father. He grew up being taught by Holtz that his father, Angel, was a monster and that people on Earth are not to be trusted, even disposable. He was a victim of uncontrollable events and it warped him. To live in such a harsh environment and under such a cruel man, Connor turned into a cold-hearted, somewhat homicidal, teenager.
Connor is trained by his step-father to kill his father and once he returns to Earth spends most of his time trying to accomplish this, by following instructions given to him by Holtz. This situation would be very similar to ‘Macbeth’, in Act 1, when Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to kill King Duncan, but she does nothing to help out. This notion of murdering his dad was forced into his head but was not his own conscious thought. He was once again a victim of circumstance.
Due in much part to his upbringing, Connor had trouble relating to people on Earth. His only human contact for his entire life was his step-father, Holtz. After Holtz’s murder, Connor has nobody to trust, not even his father or most of his father’s friends. Connor lived for several months alone and friendless in a strange new world. He suffers emotionally and socially because of the situation.
Fortunately, Cordelia was in a similar predicament after suffering from amnesia. She no longer trusted Angel’s team of good guys and chose instead to seek Connor’s help and shelter. They quickly bonded into something much more than friends. If Connor were truly a villain, he wouldn’t have taken Cordelia, his father’s love interest, into his home in the first place. When given the opportunity to do good, Connor’s morality and sense of justice often won out, and this is one of the defining characteristics of a hero.
After Angel’s alter-ego, the diabolical Angelius, is brought forth and trapped in a cage, Connor has the decency not to kill him. If Connor were to kill the caged Angelius, his father would also be permanently removed from the picture. But Connor doesn’t take advantage of this situation, despite the fact that he would like nothing better than to kill his father. This proves that he is an honourable man, honor being another trait of a hero.
Connor does nothing aggressive towards Angelius, until Cordelia instructs Connor to slay his father. Only after the woman bearing his child pleads with him to kill Angel, Connor accepts with much reluctance. He felt that it would be unfair and ‘dishonest’ to kill his caged, sleeping father, which a villain would have little to no qualms about. Connor finally accepts the task, after Cordelia begins to question his manhood. This is the same situation as before, where Connor (Macbeth) is being told to kill his dormant father (the sleeping King Duncan), by his wife (Cordelia). At first, Macbeth refuses. “We will proceed no further in this business:” (Macbeth, Macbeth, 1.7.33) He believed that murder would be a bad decision. Eventually, he went along with it anyways because Lady Macbeth told him to and questioned his manhood. “But screw your courage to the sticking-place/And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep-” (Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, 1.7.67-68)
One could very easily make an argument that Connor is a villain. Here is a list of some of his crimes, all of which seem to go unpunished: Connor continually tried to murder Angel, he once sunk Angel to the bottom of the ocean in a coffin, he seduced Angel’s love interest, Cordelia, he had a hand in starting the apocalypse, and Connor rigged up a shopping centre full of people to incinerate at the touch of a button. But I blame all of this on environment, and family (or lack there-of). Who knows how he might have turned out, if he had grown up with Angel, a good father figure, and his friends of one singer, two geniuses, and both a mother and a sister-figure.
Overall, Connor is a good guy who has a high sense of morality and justice, is very honourable, and tries very hard not to be dishonest. He is frequently faced with choices of morality, to choose good or bad, and depending on who is pushing him to do what, oftentimes determines his course of action. He was made into a victim by fate, but he fights very hard to be the best person that he can be. Occasionally, he may screw up, and do the wrong thing or series of things, but Connor is not a villain. He is a hero, one that should cause inspiration and self-reflection amongst his viewers.
return, once more, to the marsh from which you hail from...