authored and donated by Justin Alexander
Buffy s2e3

Giles says that a slayer and a vampire being in love is rather poetic; that’s true, but must the poem be a tragic one? Angel and Buffy whisper helplessly to each other that their relationship could never work out, yet they are still drawn together. So could there plausibly be a happily-ever-after for them? In attempting to answer that question, I’m going to focus on who/what exactly Angel is, and investigate what that implies in the light of the mythology underlying the series. In piecing together these musings I’m making the assumption that the series is self-consistent, in other words that information given in one episode does not contradict information elsewhere (taking into account the reliability of the speakers).

Many of the standard elements of the vampire genre feature in Buffy, but Joss Weldon has clearly given them a unique spin. For one thing the symbol of the cross, although one of the traditional weapons used against vampires, is unusually prominent in BTVS. This seems to suggesting a mythology underling the show with important Christian overtones. There is the hanging question of who chooses the slayer (through the Watchers) and gives her superhuman powers, and a deity would be an obvious candidate. Of course there do appear to be some differences with traditional theology, for example the account of pre-history is that "Contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons demons walked the Earth".

A very interesting bit of information appears in the episode School Hard. When Spike first arrives in town, a vampire is saying to the Anointed One, "This weekend, the night of St. Vigeous, our power shall be at its peak. When I kill her, it'll be the greatest event since the crucifixion. And I should know. I was there." However the Christian understanding is that the crucifixion was not actually a triumph for evil, as it might initially appear, but in fact the decisive victory against it. So does the vampire’s statement contradict my suggestion that Buffy is set in a roughly Christian context? I don’t think so, since if this were the case there would be no reason why a cross (such as the one Angel gave Buffy to wear when they first met) should burn and repel vampires, being really a symbol of one of their greatest victories. What the quote does reveal is that the crucifixion of Jesus was a real and important event in Buffy’s world. As for the vampire bragging of it as a victory, well, on the night of the crucifixion it probably did indeed seem to be a great victory for the demons - the person whom they recognised as the Christ had failed to defeat them and instead had been executed. However what the vampire fails to add is that their celebration was cut abruptly short on Easter morning - it would probably be a major faux pas to mention the resurrection in polite vampire society!

The question of the implicit theology of BTVS is particularly relevant to the key issue of what could become of Angel. The necessary condition for there to be a happily-ever-after with Buff & Angel walking hand in hand into the sunset, is that he becomes human. And not just for the obvious reason that vampire Angel would fry in the romantic sunlight! Willow’s painful comment in the Bronze to Buffy during Angel’s eponymous episode makes the problems clear: "it is kinda novel how he'll stay young and handsome forever, although you'll still get wrinkly and die, and... Oh, and what about the children? [Buffy looks at her] I'll be quiet now."

So what exactly is Angel? Giles, responding to Buffy’s questions about Angel, is quiet clear, "A vampire isn't a person at all. It may have the movements, the memories, even the personality of the person that it took over, but it's still a demon at the core, there is no halfway." Furthermore, in ‘The Harvest’ Giles tells Xander that the vampire Jesse is not his friend but rather "the thing which killed him". Angel adds, "When you become a vampire the demon takes your body, but it doesn't get your soul. That's gone! No conscience, no remorse... It's an easy way to live." But the Gypsies gave/restored a soul to Angel - what the effect of this was depends on the difficult question of personal identity.

Where exactly is a person’s identity ‘at the core’ located? Is it in their physical body, their memories, their personality, their ‘soul’ (whatever that is), in a combination of these or somewhere else? In many traditions an immaterial soul is thought of as the carrier of identity, hence Hindu theories of reincarnation and Plato’s ideas about ‘transmigration of the soul’. However, if this were the case in BTVS, then the effect of the Gypsies’ curse would have been to remove a demon’s soul from Angel’s body and replace it with the soul of an innocent human who, 140 years beforehand, had been killed by Darla. This would have been incredibly unfair on this human who would be pulled out of whatever afterlife he had been inhabiting and placed in a vampire body, inheriting the appalling memories of it murdering his family and friends. This all suggests that in BTVS the word ‘soul’ probably doesn’t mean ‘the carrier of identity’ but merely something like ‘conscience’, which would fit with Angel’s quote in the previous paragraph. So my conclusion is that our Angel is in fact a demon who, rather uniquely, now cares. In fact cares rather deeply. Perhaps this interpretation may be supported by the intriguing symmetry suggested by Angel’s name: a demon is a fallen angel, while Angel is a fallen (or perhaps risen) demon!

So Angel is actually a demon - that’s a fairly hefty blow for his would be sweetheart Buffy! However I think the correct diagnosis may clear the way for a cure for his condition. If my reasoning so far is correct, then the question is if, and how, a demon can receive redemption. Now, accepting my premise that BTVS shares at least a significant part of Christian theology, then I’m pretty sure the answer is that, yes, he can. Redemption, so my dictonary says, is ‘deliverence from sin and damnation’. Now poor old Angel has sinned quite severely, and is living (or perhaps unliving is more correct) in a state of damnation. As far as I can see there is no reason why he shouldn’t be eligible for deliverence - the whole point of redemption seems to be that the ammount of sin that a person has committed is quite irrelevant to the issue.

I’m suggesting that Angel the demon could receive Christian-style redemption (which I’ve argued is appropriate in Buffy’s reality). Now that would involve something like these elements. Firstly a suitable sacrifice needs to have been made in proxy for him, and the crucifixion does indeed appear to have been a real and significant event in Buffy’s world. Another element is recognition of his sin (this is precisely what the Gypsies gave to Angel through cursing him with a soul) leading to a realisation that he cannot overcome his own sinfulness ("I can walk like a man, but I'm not one. I wanted to kill you tonight" - Angel says after fighting Buffy). The final element would be for Angel, repentant yet unable to conquer his vampirism, to accept the death of Jesus as a substitution for himself, freeing him from the just punishment he deserved. This would include freedom from his blood hunger and from his vamparic nature (just as redemption for humans involves freedom from their ‘sinful nature’). So Angel could indeed become human, paving the way for Buffy and him to walk off into the sunset, happily-ever-after as the stories go. Of course, this is probably not what Joss has in mind - in fact I have heard dark rumours of what happens actually with Angel in future (for us Brits) episodes - but I offer it as a suggestion of one way it could have been.


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Mike Dickinson 24/4/00
Interesting essay. I'm really not sure about the 'cure' you suggest partly because I think the soul of Angel may be repentant, but the body in which it must reside is still damned. The innate demonism of Angel - the sheer fact that he is un-alive makes it impossible for him to become human. That chance was taken away from him the moment he was sired. His human self was killed, and even though his old sould has been returned, if he was to revoke totally his demonic nature he would die a mortal death, both body and soul.


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Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: The Series are the property of the WB Network or perhaps Fox, maybe both. I'll leave them to work it out and contact me with the result. This web site, its operators and any content on this site relating to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" are not authorized by Fox. No copyright infringement intended. This site is for entertainment purposes only and does not profit in any way.

The picture was taken from The Slayer Show and is © the WB.

The Above the Law banner is an altered form of a screen-cap taken from the The Slayer Show, the original screen-cap is © the WB.