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Connor (Angel)

Connor is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon and Tim Minear for the television series Angel. The character is portrayed as an infant by the triplets Connor, Jake, and Trenton Tupen and as a teenager by Vincent Kartheiser. Connor has a recurring role in season three, becomes a regular in season four, and has his last television appearance in the series finale as a guest star. He continues his story in the canonical comic book series Angel: After the Fall.

Connor is the superhuman son of the title character Angel, who is a vampire. Introduced in the third season as a newborn, Connor is kidnapped and taken to a hell dimension in an act of revenge against his father. He returns as a battle-hardened, disturbed teenager who has been raised to hate Angel. His consequent violent and estranged relationship with his father and increasing internal conflict make him shift alliances between protagonists and antagonists forms the storyline for his character. Towards the end of season four, events take their toll on Connor's sanity, and his memories are rewritten to give him a normal life. The next time he appears in season five, Connor is a well-adjusted person. At the return of his memories, Connor finally reconciles with Angel in the series finale. The comic book series follows Connor accepting his abilities and role of a hero in addition to maintaining a normal life as a college student.

Created to give Angel a paternal bond, the infant Connor was used to develop other characters. After he grows up, he initially becomes a tragic figure and foil for the protagonists before eventually evolving into a protagonist himself. Connor has received attention in academic texts related to family studies and masculinity in fiction. The character proved to be controversial among fans, while critics have given mixed views.

In a seemingly impossible event, vampires Angel and Darla had a child, the end result being Connor, a human with superhuman abilities. Connor is introduced in the episode "Lullaby," when Darla sacrifices herself to give birth to him, by staking herself in the heart. Darla's sacrifice for their son allows Angel to make peace with her, and welcomes Connor into his life with hope for their family's future, especially since Angel is prophesied that he eventually become human again and thus one day a normal life with his son by his side. For the first few months of his life, Connor is jointly raised by Angel and his team, including Wesley Wyndham-Pryce and Cordelia Chase, though he is constantly targeted by different factions. Connor is prophesied to destroy the time-shifting demon lord Sahjhan. In attempt to negate the prophecy, he travels through time and rewrites the prophecy to read "The father will kill the son" in reference to Angel and Connor, and recruits Angelus's nemesis Daniel Holtz whose family the vampire killed centuries ago with Darla. Wesley kidnaps the baby in a misguided effort to save his life from Angel, conveniently leading him into the hands of Holtz. Holtz steals the baby and is forced to escape to the hell dimension Quor'Toth: Darkest of the dark world.

Holtz raises Connor as his son and instills him with a deep hatred of Angel, although revealed later that he also occasionally abuses Connor when training him out of his hatred towards Connor's parents. As time runs more quickly in Quor'Toth, Connor ages at an accelerated rate in relation to time on Earth. Surviving the hell, a teenage Connor returns with the goal of avenging the Holtz family by killing Angel. After failing in his first attempt on Angel's life, Connor tentatively begins to reconcile with him. Fearful of the development, Holtz has himself killed by Justine Cooper in a manner that frames Angel for the action. In the finale "Tomorrow", an enraged Connor seals Angel in a metal box and sinks him to the bottom of the ocean.

The opening episode "Deep Down" picks up three months after last season. Angel returns, and Holtz' deception is revealed. Relations are shaky as Angel kicks Connor out of the house in punishment for sinking him, but secretly keeps a protective eye on him from afar. Stricken by the betrayal of his adoptive father and the apparent abandonment by his real one, Connor seeks solace in Cordelia's arms. When an all-powerful demon lord The Beast rises from the ground at the place he was born, Connor feels responsible. As The Beast causes fire to rain from the sky in an apparent apocalypse, Cordelia sleeps with Connor to give him some happiness before the end. While an apocalypse does not occur, Angel (also in love with Cordelia) doesn't take kindly to the development, causing another rift between him and Connor. Unbeknownst to all, Cordelia is possessed to be with Connor by a cosmic entity, Jasmine, looking to give herself birth in this world through their union. As Cordelia becomes pregnant and manipulates Connor into helping her sacrifice an innocent girl for their child, his inhuman actions begin conflicting with his inner good, accelerating his already deteriorating mental health.

Jasmine arrives as a grown woman and immediately bewitches everyone to bask in immense joy and do her bidding. Connor is the only one left in misery because of sharing a blood link with her, which results in his further isolation. As Jasmine enacts her plans for world domination, Angel and his team break free from her spell. Caught between his father and daughter, Connor initially supports Jasmine against Angel, but this conflict, combined with the belief that neither truly cares about him, eventually makes him completely snap. Connor kills Jasmine after Angel manages to break her hold over the city but fails to kill her. An emotional wreck and attempting suicide, Connor wires himself, a comatose Cordelia, and shop full of innocent people to explosives. The season finale ("Home") shows Angel desperate to save his son. Angel agrees to take over Wolfram & Hart in exchange for Connor's life. As per the agreement, Connor is to have a whole new existence as an ordinary boy who is raised in a happy family. Other than Angel, everyone's memories are rewritten to accommodate this new reality.

A few months after the events of season 4, episode "Origin" shows Connor as the son of Laurence and Colleen Reilly. Connor crosses paths with Angel when the demon warlock Cyvus Vail draws him out to make him fulfill his destiny of killing Sahjhan. Angel informs Connor of his special abilities and helps prepare him for the fight, but he does not reveal that he is Connor's real father. As the duel with Sahjhan begins, Connor is outmatched due to having forgotten his formidable fighting skills. Meanwhile, Wesley discovers Angel's deception of altering reality. Distrusting Angel, Wesley shatters the Orlon Window, which restores Connor's, Wesley's, and Illyria's memories. Remembering his old self and discovering that Sahjhan is directly responsible for all the pain he has endured, Connor slips to his original persona of 'demon-killer' and dispatches Sahjhan with ease.

In "Not Fade Away" the finale of the series, Angel visits Connor for coffee on the eve of his final battle with the Circle of the Black Thorn. Connor reveals that he remembers that Angel is his father. He tells Angel he is grateful for all he has done for him, but he prefers to leave it at that. When Angel fights Marcus Hamilton, Connor shows up to fight by his father's side (knowing that Angel wouldn't do something so innocuous unless the world were about to end), saving Angel from being staked by Hamilton and helping him gain the upper hand. As the Senior Partners begin to exact their vengeance, Angel tells Connor to go home to his foster parents and assures him that as long as Connor is safe, the Partners can never destroy Angel.

The comic series Angel: After the Fall picks up immediately after the events of the television series. Connor is shown sprinting home as ordered by Angel. He debates going back but gets drawn into the battle when the whole city is sent to hell by the Senior Partners. A veteran of hell, Connor takes it upon himself to provide sanctuary to humans and good demons. Along to help him are the benevolent werewolf Nina Ash, the mutant Gwen Raiden, and the vampire Spike. Connor also becomes much closer to Angel as he joins his newest battle to wrestle back control of the city from Demon Lords. Part of the story centers on Connor and Gwen's romance, which ends when he discovers Gwen has betrayed the team.

Following the event, Gunn reverts Illyria to her demonic form, after which, Illyria decides to wholly collapse time and all existence. In an attempt to prevent Angel and his team from stopping Illyria, Gunn mortally wounds Connor. Connor pleads with Angel not to let the Senior Partners win and assures him that he is a good person despite being a vampire. Connor then dies in Angel's arms. He is restored to life when Angel provokes Gunn into killing him, forcing the Senior Partners to turn back time to the moment of the original alleyway fight in the television finale. All those who died since the city was sent to hell come back to life and have their memories of the intervening time intact.

Spike: After the Fall, a companion piece to Angel: After the Fall, shows how Connor came about to form his alliance with Spike shortly after Los Angeles went to hell. Connor appears when Spike and Illyria are in a violent showdown with a group of demonic women. Catching the demonic leader off-guard, he rescues the last human hostage and then has to be rescued by Spike. On their second encounter, the two strikes up a connection immediately leading to their joint crusade of saving the remaining humans. Connor is set to appear in the arcs of Angel and Faith.

Connor appears in the Family Reunion arc of Angel & Faith. Willow, on a quest to restore magic to herself and the world asks Angel and Faith to travel from London to LA with her so she can use the residual magic in Buffy's scythe and Connor's connection to Quor'toth to reopen the tear in reality at the Hyperion Hotel to get to a dimension that has magic. Angel & Faith agree to this in order to gain the piece of Giles's soul in the scythe, but will only help reopen the tear and go to Quor'toth if Connor agrees to it. Connor is living a normal life as a college student studying social work with a girlfriend. Though initially disappointed Angel ignored his attempts to contact his father, Connor is glad to have Angel in his life and realizes that his normal life is precious, but he still wants Angel to be a part of it. Angel is genuinely proud of the man his son has become. Connor agrees that magic needs to be returned to the world as the most vulnerable in society are already starting to lose hope without it.

Once in Quor'toth, Connor briefly falls back into more aggressive behavior before he is able to shake off the negative influences of the dimension. His fake magical memories of the childhood Wolfram & Hart created for him have faded since magic was taken from the world, but he has made enough real memories of a happy life to not fall back into his unstable behavior. Dog-like demons of Quor'toth came to fear and respect "The Destroyer" and overheard Holtz telling Connor about love. Generations of these demons expressed love and compassion in Connor's name and were slaughtered for it. Connor, Angel, Faith and Willow are able to rescue the last few of these demons while fighting off the Old One that rules Quor'toth and Willow sends the dog-demons to a peaceful dimension.

Angel obtains the piece of Giles's soul. Angel, Faith and Connor return to the Hotel just as the tear closes while Willow goes off on her own to find a new source of magic for Earth. Connor accepts Angel has important business to do in England, and wishes his father well. Angel agrees to spend a week in LA with his son before going back to London.