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Darla is a recurring fictional character created by Joss Whedon and played by Julie Benz in the first, second, and fifth seasons of the American supernatural television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character later appeared in the Buffy spin-off series Angel, making at least one appearance in every season. She made her last television appearance in 2004, appearing as a special guest star in the fifth and final season of Angel.
Darla is introduced in "Welcome to the Hellmouth", the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in 1997. It is revealed early on that she is a vampire, initially in league with the Master, Buffy Summers' primary antagonist in the first season. Darla's backstory is disclosed in the episode "Angel", where it is revealed that she is Angel's sire (the one who turned him into a vampire) and former longtime lover. The character appears in numerous flashback episodes, until she receives a significantly expanded role in Angel. In Angel, she is resurrected by the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart in an attempt to weaken Angel. She later becomes intertwined in many of the story arcs in the second and third season. Darla becomes pregnant, a unique occurrence for a vampire. She sacrifices herself in order to give birth to her and Angel's human son Connor, ending her run on the series. However, Darla continues to appear in flashback episodes during the next two seasons.
The character was well-reviewed by television critics, with Eric Goldman of IGN saying "Not even dying (twice!) could keep Darla from being an important part of the story behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the spinoff series Angel."
Darla is born in the late 16th century in the British Isles. Her birth name is never revealed in either series, and Darla herself eventually forgets it. As a young prostitute, she emigrates to the Virginia Colony in North America and becomes independently wealthy but also contracts a fatal case of syphilis. By 1609, Darla lies dying in the luxurious house she owns. She scoffs at a "priest" who comes to her deathbed before he reveals his true identity: The Master, a very old and powerful vampire and the leader of an elite cult of vampires known as the Order of Aurelius. Darla despises the clergy and religion, a trait that follows her as a vampire. The Master turns her into a vampire and renames her "Darla," meaning "dear one" in early modern English ("darling").
Darla spends four centuries killing civilians, often accompanied by Angel (until his soul is restored), before appearing in Sunnydale. Her first appearance is in "Welcome to the Hellmouth", the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which aired in 1997. She breaks into Sunnydale High School with a student who goes there. Darla first toys with the youth, then her face morphs into that of a vampire and she bites the boy. Darla later appears in the episode "The Harvest", where she participates in the attempted ascension of the Master. Darla's role in the series is more prominent in the episode "Angel", where it is revealed that she is Angel's sire and former lover. Darla bites an unsuspecting Joyce Summers (Buffy's mother), making it look as if Angel did it. She then attempts to shoot Buffy but Angel intervenes and stakes Darla. She later appears in numerous flashbacks, illuminating her involvement not only with Angel, but also with Spike.
Darla's role in the franchise increased dramatically after her resurrection by the law firm Wolfram & Hart in the final episode of Angel's first season, titled "To Shanshu in L.A." In the second season opener, "Judgement", Wolfram & Hart lawyers Lindsey McDonald and Lilah Morgan question Darla about her past. She talks of how she can feel Angel, and slowly her memory begins to return. In the episode "First Impressions", Angel begins having romantic dreams about his maker, which sap his strength. In "Dear Boy", Angel is shocked to see Darla walking the streets. When he tells his partners, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce and Cordelia Chase, they think he is starting to lose his sanity. During the course of a stakeout by Angel Investigations of a woman suspected of having an affair, Angel confronts the woman, who looks exactly like Darla. She claims she is DeEtta Kramer. When she runs away from him, she walks outside into the sunlight, meaning Darla has not only been resurrected, but is now human. However, Darla and Lindsey's plan to convert Angel back to evil fails. In the end, Wolfram & Hart bring in Drusilla to make Darla a vampire again after her syphilis returns and she starts to die. Ironically, she is turned back into a vampire as she accepts her fate after a failed attempt by Angel to save her. Drusilla and Darla unsuccessfully attack Angel and leave Los Angeles.
Knowing that Angel has been cursed so that if he ever experiences pure happiness, he will once again lose his soul, Darla later returns and sleeps with him, but her plot fails; being with her only brings Angel despair, as well as providing him with a new understanding of his role as a champion. Their one-night stand leads to an unexpected development for the both of them: Darla reappears in season three, pregnant with Angel's child, despite the fact that vampires cannot normally conceive. Her pregnancy allows Darla to experience emotions that had previously been lost to her in the presence of the human soul of her unborn child. Admitting that creating life with Angel was the only good thing they ever did together, Darla makes sure Angel will relay that to their child before she stakes herself through the heart, sacrificing her life so their son, Connor, can be born. Darla turns to dust, but the baby remains. Darla later appears as a spirit, trying to persuade her son in an effort to save him from the renegade deity Jasmine's manipulations, as the latter's actions are bringing Connor into the same path both Darla and Angel had taken.