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Split personality, anyone?
I am on a roll at the moment! It's fun, but I'm afraid it means that all fic writing is delayed.
This week![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
peasant_ is discussing the Angel/Angelus conundrum. (Why do I have a feeling that having her on my flist is going to get me even *more* obsessed?) Anyway, she was proposing two theories:
A: Angel is basically one vampire who behaves in two different ways.
B: Angel and Angelus are two distinct personalities, distinct beings.
I've always gone with A, alhtough there are a few - or more precicely ONE BIG - problem. As she put it:
I was perfectly happy accepting the integrated model A, assuming Cordy was just deluded in maintaining Angel and Angelus were separate, right up until AtS4 when episodes like Awakening (why does Angel not remember something that Angelus does?) and Orpheus threw a right spanner in the works.
I'm not going to deal with Orpheus - he's under the influence of a magical drug and chatting with Faith somewhere in his own brain. It can all be taken as a metaphor or something. No - it's the other thing:
Why can't Angel remember the Beast, but Angelus can? It would seem the definitive proof of model B. Except... I think I've worked it out! And hey - IT ALL MAKES SENSE! *does somersaults*
(ETA: I'm sure loads of you have thought of this already btw.)
First of all, Season 4 of Angel is the big ret-con season. Skip claims that Jasmine had a hand in pretty much everything since Angel came to LA (maybe even before?). Also - nothing is as it seems. It plays on people, this season. The entire thing is one big giant enormous complicated plot. Now in the light of this, lets examine what we know:
-Jasmine wiped away *every* knowledge of The Beast in an entire dimension, except for a tiny unimportant fragment, somehow hidden where souled-Angel couldn't access it. Rather sloppy, don'tcha think?
- The Beast (who barely speaks 3 words in its entire time on screen), bothers to greet Angel by name, after having met him once for 5 minutes a few centuries before.
- Cordy/Jasmine is the one who manipulates Angel into having his soul removed - and being the Beast's Master she knows full well what took place between him and the Beast, and that it is of NO importance.
- Angelus is (somehow) crucial to Jasmine's plan.
So - I propose that the whole thing was an elaborate plot to enable Cordy/Jasmine to steal Angel's soul:
- She made the big forgetting spell *specifically* so there would somehow be a bit 'hidden' in Angel's head. (If the military can make a chip sensitive enough to sense whether someone is human or not, then I'll happily buy that a Power gone awry can design a spell like that.)
- She instructed the Beast to speak to Angel, which was the only way they'd begin to puzzle things out. Once they worked out that it might be 'Angelus' who was the key to the whole thing, they began wondering about removing Angel's soul and boy howdy but Cordy/Jasmine did a good job of making Angel doubt himself.
- Once the soul had been extracted (and after she had stolen it) - Cordy/Jasmine made Angelus an offer she knew she wouldn't have to go through with. He promptly told the truth, making everyone scratch their heads, since y'know - nothing happened when Angelus met the Beast. Anyway, now they needed to re-soul him, since they had no further use for Angelus.
- Then - when the soul was (gasp!) gone - she got her "vision" that lead to the fake souling spell. Once Angel(us) had convinced everyone that he was souled again (my personal take is that it was a localised spell that made him act souled as long as he was in the cage), Cordy/Jasmine could safely let him out, knowing that the others wouldn't blame her.
- Finally, Cordy/Jasmine now had one Angelus running free in LA, ready to be blackmailed into doing her bidding.
And there you have it! As far as I can remember, it's only Cordy who keeps nattering on about the Angel/Angelus split. ETA: About Cordy - I think she's very aware that she's 'the main girl' in Angel's life, and that if he loses his soul, she'll be pretty much top of the list. Which can't be a nice thought...
Anyway, all you have to do it piece it together backwards and it all makes sense. It was a ret-con that took place before our very eyes!!!! :)
And because I thought it'd be nice to get a lighter layout for summer, and because I've had this header sat in a folder for far too long, I did up my LJ and it now features lovely Angel. :)
This week
peasant_ is discussing the Angel/Angelus conundrum. (Why do I have a feeling that having her on my flist is going to get me even *more* obsessed?) Anyway, she was proposing two theories:A: Angel is basically one vampire who behaves in two different ways.
B: Angel and Angelus are two distinct personalities, distinct beings.
I've always gone with A, alhtough there are a few - or more precicely ONE BIG - problem. As she put it:
I was perfectly happy accepting the integrated model A, assuming Cordy was just deluded in maintaining Angel and Angelus were separate, right up until AtS4 when episodes like Awakening (why does Angel not remember something that Angelus does?) and Orpheus threw a right spanner in the works.
I'm not going to deal with Orpheus - he's under the influence of a magical drug and chatting with Faith somewhere in his own brain. It can all be taken as a metaphor or something. No - it's the other thing:
Why can't Angel remember the Beast, but Angelus can? It would seem the definitive proof of model B. Except... I think I've worked it out! And hey - IT ALL MAKES SENSE! *does somersaults*
(ETA: I'm sure loads of you have thought of this already btw.)
First of all, Season 4 of Angel is the big ret-con season. Skip claims that Jasmine had a hand in pretty much everything since Angel came to LA (maybe even before?). Also - nothing is as it seems. It plays on people, this season. The entire thing is one big giant enormous complicated plot. Now in the light of this, lets examine what we know:
-Jasmine wiped away *every* knowledge of The Beast in an entire dimension, except for a tiny unimportant fragment, somehow hidden where souled-Angel couldn't access it. Rather sloppy, don'tcha think?
- The Beast (who barely speaks 3 words in its entire time on screen), bothers to greet Angel by name, after having met him once for 5 minutes a few centuries before.
- Cordy/Jasmine is the one who manipulates Angel into having his soul removed - and being the Beast's Master she knows full well what took place between him and the Beast, and that it is of NO importance.
- Angelus is (somehow) crucial to Jasmine's plan.
So - I propose that the whole thing was an elaborate plot to enable Cordy/Jasmine to steal Angel's soul:
- She made the big forgetting spell *specifically* so there would somehow be a bit 'hidden' in Angel's head. (If the military can make a chip sensitive enough to sense whether someone is human or not, then I'll happily buy that a Power gone awry can design a spell like that.)
- She instructed the Beast to speak to Angel, which was the only way they'd begin to puzzle things out. Once they worked out that it might be 'Angelus' who was the key to the whole thing, they began wondering about removing Angel's soul and boy howdy but Cordy/Jasmine did a good job of making Angel doubt himself.
- Once the soul had been extracted (and after she had stolen it) - Cordy/Jasmine made Angelus an offer she knew she wouldn't have to go through with. He promptly told the truth, making everyone scratch their heads, since y'know - nothing happened when Angelus met the Beast. Anyway, now they needed to re-soul him, since they had no further use for Angelus.
- Then - when the soul was (gasp!) gone - she got her "vision" that lead to the fake souling spell. Once Angel(us) had convinced everyone that he was souled again (my personal take is that it was a localised spell that made him act souled as long as he was in the cage), Cordy/Jasmine could safely let him out, knowing that the others wouldn't blame her.
- Finally, Cordy/Jasmine now had one Angelus running free in LA, ready to be blackmailed into doing her bidding.
And there you have it! As far as I can remember, it's only Cordy who keeps nattering on about the Angel/Angelus split. ETA: About Cordy - I think she's very aware that she's 'the main girl' in Angel's life, and that if he loses his soul, she'll be pretty much top of the list. Which can't be a nice thought...
Anyway, all you have to do it piece it together backwards and it all makes sense. It was a ret-con that took place before our very eyes!!!! :)
And because I thought it'd be nice to get a lighter layout for summer, and because I've had this header sat in a folder for far too long, I did up my LJ and it now features lovely Angel. :)
no subject
I can't really comment on your Angel/Angelus theory, because I'm ashamed to say lack of Spikey goodness has lead me to not bother watching AtS up until now. However - I'm going to put that right over the summer :) It sounds very neat, though.
I've always had a problem with Angel/Angelus versus souled!Spike/souless!Spike. I guess I've tended to concentrate on the Spike side of things - Spike is an anomoly for some undefined reason (William's nature and some deep strength of character that carries over to Spike or whatever), whereas Angelus is a particularly nasty version of your standard vampire; particularly nasty partly because his template is Liam. Where this falls down is why is Angel such a good guy (mostly)? Why doesn't his Liam persona shine through here, too? I've heard it suggested that the soul that he was cursed with wasn't, in fact, Liam's. So - he got a better one? Hmmm. We know Spike got his soul back, because Lurky said "we will give you back your soul" or whatever. But Angel? Which gets us into what is a soul in the Buffyverse at which point my brain fries.
Oh, now look what you did - got me rambling on something I really know nothing about! Sorry about that. Hopefully, with your thoughts in mind, I'll understand things more when I watch AtS!
no subject
not bother watching AtS up until now
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! That is bad! Veeeeery bad! But - there is SO much good stuff waiting for you. :) (Like S3 of Buffy has almost no Spike, but Faith and The Mayor are totally brilliant!) Prepare yourself for falling for Angel - because he is so much better on his own show!
About the Angel/Angelus thing... well I'm kinda in the middle of writing this huge giant post thing about souls and redemption (6000 words and counting. *headdesk*), so I won't go into it too much. Basically I think that he created 'Angel' as a defense mechanism against 'Angelus' - getting he soul was obviously hugely traumatic, and this was how he tried to manage. I'm sure it was his own soul - Liam - and watching him on his own show, you actually get a much better sense of that. Partly he's had time to grow up, and also Angel can be vain, daft and dorky (which I think is his Liam side coming out) - as well as ruthless, funny, manipulative, broody... ah well, just watch it! :)
I happen to have a house to tidy...
no subject
Looking forward to this, to:
(6000 words and counting. *headdesk*)
Umm... has anyone ever mentioned the word 'obssessed' to you? ;)
*hides the pile of WIPS and Spike-related musings under the sofa*
I happen to have a house to tidy...
Me too. But palying with the pretty toys is so much more fun :)
no subject
My husband - every day? *g* Although a lot of those words are quotes and stuff. If anyone makes it to the end I should give them a sticker or something!
Alas, no more pretty for me - I must go pick up children from school...
no subject
no subject
Absolutely! To me, Angel seemed something of a cipher on BtVS, his primary action to be Buffy's love interest. That's one of the reasons I love the Angelus arc in Season 2 because it takes him out of the traditional boyfriend/love interest mold and gives him something else to do -- while still remaining locked in this emotional dance with Buffy. When he's not Angelus on BtVS, well, I think Xander's view of him and Buffy in "The Zeppo" is actually a pretty accurate one.
On his own show, however, he has a sense of humor, he has foibles, he snarks about things and gets frustrated and he's a bit clueless about some things in a way that's a great character flaw. I fell for Angel as a character when he told Doyle that the Cordettes were like the Soviet Secret Police except that they cared for shoes.