Connor

"You gotta do what you can to protect your family. I learned that from my father."

- Connor

Connor, also known as Connor Angel, Steven Franklin Thomas Holtz, The Destroyer, and Connor Reilly, was the half-demon son of the vampires Angel and Darla and a member of Angel Investigations.

Connor was conceived when his father, Angel, made love with Darla while going through a dark phase. After several failed attempts to abort her pregnancy, Darla returned to Los Angeles seeking Angel's help. In order to allow for the baby to be born, Darla staked herself, leaving Connor alive and unscathed.

However, shortly afterwards, Connor was kidnapped by Daniel Holtz and taken to the hell dimension Quor'toth, where he was raised, trained, and conditioned to hate Angel. Holtz's brutal training regimen, combined with constantly fighting for his life in Quor'toth, left Connor mentally and emotionally unstable.

Upon his return to Los Angeles, Connor set about trying to kill Angel, eventually trapping him at the bottom of the ocean when Holtz committed suicide in a manner simulating a vampire attack as part of his plan. Upon Angel's return, the two began to reconcile, only for the subsequent Jasmine crisis to drive Connor over the edge. As part of a deal with Wolfram & Hart, Angel had the Senior Partners alter reality to give Connor a normal human life and family with no memory of the Angel Investigations team.

However, Connor's memories of the original reality were restored when Wesley Wyndam-Pryce destroyed an Orlon Window used in the original spell. With his new family granting him the emotional stability he once lacked, Connor rejoined Angel Investigations, even taking over leadership in Angel's absence.

Infancy


Connor was born in November 2001 in Los Angeles, California. He was a "miracle" child; a superhuman born of two vampires, Angel and Darla. His existence was brought on by his father enduring trials to win a new life for his mother who was, at the time, dying. Unfortunately, it was for naught as Darla had already gotten a second chance at life, though thanks to a night of passion the two vampires shared together, Angel's prize did not go to waste. Darla, unable to physically give birth, killed herself to save Connor. Darla drove a wooden stake through her own heart to leave the newborn Connor more or less unscathed. For the first few months of his life, Connor became a part of the Angel Investigations family, jointly raised by the entire group at the Hyperion Hotel. At the hospital where he was brought after birth, he was officially registered as "Connor Angel," as his father was given the alias "Geraldo Angel." However, being the "miracle child" sired by two vampires, Angel Investigations speculated that the Order of Phillius, Beltar the Cremator, Frank, Piper Beast, and the Scourge were potential threats against the baby.

Connor was prophesied to destroy the time-shifting demon lord, Sahjhan. In an effort to negate the prophecy and save his own life, Sahjhan traveled back and forth through time and rewrote the prophecy to read "The father will kill the son," in reference to Angel and Connor. Shocked and worried for the baby's safety, with his concerns ever growing when Angel grew increasingly violent when Lilah Morgan spiked Angel's food with Connor's blood, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce kidnapped the baby and planned on taking him away from Angel permanently. However, before Wesley had the chance to leave Los Angeles, Daniel Holtz ordered his follower, Justine Cooper, to slit Wesley's throat and take Connor as vengeance for Angel's murder of his own family centuries earlier. It was Holtz's intent to raise Connor as his own son, renaming him Steven Franklin Thomas Holtz. However, several factions wanted the baby Connor for different reasons, ultimately resulting in nearly no one getting what they really wanted. The lawyers at Wolfram & Hart wanted the miracle baby to dissect and analyze it, Sahjhan wanted the baby killed, Holtz wanted to escape and raise the baby as his own, and Angel just wanted his son returned. In an intense power play, Holtz ran into a portal to the hell dimension called Quor Toth, opened by Sahjhan, with baby Connor in his arms.

Quor-Toth and Holtz
"Couple of weeks ago he was wearing diapers. Now he's a teenager?"

- Gunn



Since time ran more quickly in Quor'Toth, Connor aged at an accelerated rate in relation to the time on Earth. He was forced to constantly fight for his life in the violent, demonic dimension. Holtz raised Connor as his son, Steven, trained him to fight and hunt vampires, and told him tales about Angelus, Angel's soulless vampiric persona - especially what Angelus did to Holtz's family, as well as a slightly biased version of what Angel had become since regaining his soul. This effectively turned Connor against his true father and Connor grew to despise him. Though Holtz's full training regimen is unknown, one such session involved Holtz tying Connor to a tree and then running away, leaving Connor to free himself and track Holtz down in the wilderness of Quor'toth; while looking back on those days, Connor proudly remarked to Angel that once, it "only took [him] five days" to find him.

Mere days after his disappearance from Los Angeles, Connor, called "The Destroyer" by beings in Quor'Toth, suddenly returned as an eighteen year old. He punched a rift out of the dimension and was transported into the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel with one goal: to kill Angel. Conflict and confusion were abundant as Connor adjusted to life in Los Angeles and he was further manipulated by Holtz, who had followed him back into this reality. Eventually, under his own plan, Holtz was killed by his loyal follower, Justine, in a manner that framed Angel for the action. Enraged, Connor, with help from Justine, sealed Angel in a metal box and sunk him to the bottom of the ocean, where he could survive indefinitely due to his vampiric nature.

Angel Investigations
Afterward, Connor seemingly joined Angel Investigations, who, at that point, consisted of Charles Gunn and Winifred Burkle, who acted as his guardians. During that time, their primary mission was searching for clues around the disappearance of both Angel and Cordelia Chase, though Connor went out of his way to ensure that Angel's whereabouts remained hidden from them, even going so far as to kill the only witness to his deed. When the truth was revealed, Gunn and Fred attacked him, and Fred went so far as to torture him with a stun gun and accuse him of disposing of Cordelia as well, though the returned Angel deduced that Connor was not responsible for Cordelia's disappearance. Proceeding this, relations between Angel and Connor were quite shaky, yet slowly improved. Connor even started to call Angel "Dad." Due to his difficult upbringing, Connor found it difficult to develop emotional attachments to people, yet, once she returned, he forms a close bond with anmesiac Cordelia.



When a seemingly all-powerful demon known as The Beast rose from the ground in the very same place that he had been born, Connor felt responsible. As fire rained from the sky, Connor sought solace in Cordelia's arms. Unknown to him, and to everyone else, was the fact that Cordelia was under the control of a powerful cosmic entity who sought dominion over the human race, and who had been orchestrating events for years in order to be fully brought forth into the world. Connor's night of passion with Cordelia had serious repercussions as it allowed the arrival of this very being, later named "Jasmine." Connor's very existence was orchestrated in order for this event to occur. Thanks to using Cordelia's body to have sex with Connor, she became pregnant and told Connor that his new family was special. Later, when they were forced to break Angel's curse in order to destroy the Beast, Connor openly supported killing Angelus rather than attempting to re-ensoul him, and even attempted to stake an unconscious Angelus on the orders of "Cordelia," while Willow Rosenberg was attempting to re-ensoul him once more, though he was stopped by Slayer Faith Lehane. Once Cordelia was exposed as the one responsible for the terrible things that had been going on, she and Connor went on the run, Cordelia having convinced Connor that Angel and his team were trying to murder their child because they didn't understand it. When Cordelia asked Connor to murder an innocent girl so her blood could anoint their child, the Powers That Be sent Darla to stop him. Though he was initially skeptical, Darla nearly got through to Connor before Cordelia arrived and shunned his mother's presence as nothing more than a magic trick. Connor told Darla that she was not really his mother and proceeded to allow the innocent girl to be sacrificed, allowing Cordelia to give birth to Jasmine.

"I know she's a lie. Jasmine. My whole life's been built on them. I just... I guess I thought this one was better than the others."

- Connor



Unfortunately, while everyone basked in the glory of Jasmine, who caused immense joy and peace for whomever was in her presence, Connor did not feel the same inner peace and was left with untold loneliness and isolation, going along with the 'lie' of Jasmine simply because he did not know what else to do, feeling as though his entire life had been based on lies and merely hoping that the lie of Jasmine was better than the others. Struggling with his inner demons and weary from the constant fighting, both for and against Angel, all he wanted was to rest. This ultimately lead him into a desperate situation where he was willing to hurt not only himself, but others as well. When Angel broke Jasmine's hold over Los Angeles by revealing her true name to them in a live broadcast, Connor killed her himself and then, an emotional wreck, attempted to kill the comatose Cordelia and himself by wiring them and a shop full of innocents to explosives. In a final act of love, Angel agreed to take over the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram & Hart in exchange for his son's life. As per the agreement, Connor was to have a whole new existence as an ordinary boy raised by a happy family, with no memory of his kidnapping, his childhood in Quor-Toth with Holtz, and the subsequent year after his return. Connor died at Angel's own hand so that he could be "reborn" into his new life, technically fulfilling the once false prophecy that "the father will kill the son." Other than Angel, and some special cases like Cordelia and Eve, everyone's memories were rewritten to accommodate this new reality.

New Life
In his new reality, Connor became Connor Reilly, the son of Laurence and Colleen Reilly, with new, normal memories of a traditional life, with his most traumatic memory being getting lost in a store when he was five. However, he was destined to cross Angel's path again. A few months after Angel took over Wolfram & Hart, Laurence and Colleen brought Connor to the office in order to get some answers about their son. Connor had been hit by a van, but suffered no injuries. Angel sent the family away, saying that there was nothing that he could do for their situation. Soon after, Connor's family was attacked by demons, and in the struggle, Connor displayed an amazing feat of strength, much to everyone's surprise. Having no other choice, Angel informed Connor of his special abilities, but left out the fact that he was his father or the source of his powers. However, the attacks were not random occurrences. Cyvus Vail, an elderly demonic sorcerer and the architect of Connor's new life, drew Connor out on purpose. Vail demanded that Connor fulfill his destiny and kill Sahjhan, who Vail considered an enemy. When Angel resisted, Vail threatened to return Connor's memories. Connor agreed to the fight, but was outmatched since his formidable fighting skills had been erased. Meanwhile, Wesley discovered Angel's deception thanks to Illyria's revelation that Fred's memories had been altered, and confronts him at Vail's. No longer trusting Angel, and wondering if 'restoring' reality would bring Fred back, he shattered the Orlon Window, a magical artifact holding the memories of Connor's original existence, which upon breaking, restored the memories of those present when the window broke, thus allowing Wesley and Illyria to remember the original course of events and enabled Connor to kill Sahjhan. Even though his memory was restored, Connor said goodbye and returned to the Reilly family, not mentioning the truth about his restored memory to his father, although a brief comment he made about his father teaching him to do what you have to in order to protect others hinted at his awareness and acceptance of what Angel had done to him.

"Come on. You drop by for a cup of coffee, and the world's not ending? Please."

- Connor to Angel



On the eve of his final battle with the Circle of the Black Thorn, Angel visited Connor for coffee. Connor revealed that he knew Angel was his father and was grateful for all he had done for him, but preferred to leave it at that. Later, when Angel fought Marcus Hamilton, Connor showed up to fight by his father's side, saving Angel from being staked by Hamilton. The two fought together, but even with Connor's help, Angel was no match for Hamilton, and Connor was knocked out. However, shortly afterward, Angel finally defeated Hamilton when the latter accidentally exposed his own weakness. As the Senior Partners began to exact their vengeance, Angel told Connor to go home and that as long as Connor was safe, the Partners could never destroy him.

Fall of Los Angeles
After the Senior Partners sent Los Angeles to Hell, Connor provided humans and good demons sanctuary with the help of the benevolent werewolf Nina Ash and the mutant Gwen Raiden, who he had begun a relationship with. He also partnered with Spike and Illyria, who posed as the Demon Lords of Beverly Hills. During their time in hell, Spike worked with Connor in saving people and they built what Connor described as a relationship between a boy and a weird uncle. Spike often spoke to Connor about his battles, seemingly training him and becoming someone who Connor went to for relationship advice.



Connor actively killed multiple demons, sometimes alongside his father. After the team moved back into the Hyperion Hotel, Illyria told the others that Angel was no longer a vampire. Angry with his father for being lied to, Connor left and was forced to pit Angel's dragon against Gwen when he realized that she was loyal to Charles Gunn, who was now a vampire. Gwen subsequently gave her life to hold off Wolfram & Hart's army. Connor returned after Angel had been mortally wounded in a fight with Gunn and kicked Gunn out of a window before convincing a dying Angel to trust in himself and keep fighting to live. After Gunn caused Illyria to revert to her true form, Connor, the wounded Angel, and Spike were the only champions left standing. Connor was mortally wounded by Gunn when Gunn tried to prevent Connor, Angel, and Spike from stopping Illyria. He died in his father's arms, but not before reassuring Angel that he was a good person regardless of whether or not he was a human or a vampire.

"I need you to promise me something. And you gotta do it, because it's like, a last request. No matter what happens, Angel, don't let them win. You're a good man.  Vampire or not - you're a good man."

- Connor's final words.



After Angel died and time was restored, Connor arrived at the hospital and reunited with a tearful Angel. Connor remarked how cool it was that Angel was a celebrity, despite Angel's hesitation.

Back on Earth
Connor became a full-time member of Angel Investigations, even assuming unofficial leadership of the group during Angel's abduction with Illyria's support. Illyria compared the team to a "kingdom" with Connor as the "heir" to Angel's "throne." After Illyria discovered Angel being held captive by a corporation seeking to duplicate his status as an immortal with a soul, she announced that she was approaching a once-in-a-millennial breeding stage, and asked his permission to "court" Connor to be the father of her offspring. Unfortunately, Gunn quit the team during Angel's captivity by Innovation Labs after an argument with Connor. Connor was dissatisfied with Gunn's occasional rebellions, such as undermining his authority during the interrogation of recently-turned vampire Felicia Valentine while searching for information about Angel, not to mention that Connor was still wary about Gunn's actions in Hell. Gunn objected to Connor's resentment of his actions as a vampire while Connor's own actions while in control of himself had never come up after his return to the fold. While leaving the Hyperion, Gunn stated that he would return when Angel did, but in the interim, he preferred to form a new crew and do things his way. Although Illyria attempted to seduce Connor, the moment of conception passed without anything taking place due to Connor's uncertainty about the situation.

While out on patrol, Connor was captured by the Sisterhood of Jaro Hull, a group of demonic women who regard him as an unspecified "savior." The Sisterhood cut him open and drank some of his blood in order to gain greater strength. Although they claimed that Connor had yet to achieve his "full potential," after their departure the apparently-deceased Connor was healed of his injuries, suggesting that his powers went beyond the obvious. With the demons defeated&mdash;apparently falling into dust simply when Connor was cut in the arm&mdash;Connor admitted that he felt a need to find his own way. Angel agreed with Connor's need to find his own purpose and left him in charge of Angel Investigations while Angel took a brief vacation. Connor was contacted by a representative of Wolfram & Hart looking for Angel the day after his father left. Despite his doubts, Connor and Laura Weathermill visited Wolfram & Hart for information about "James," learning that he was a god-level entity seeking to unleash a wave of demons on Earth for an unspecified purpose, unaware that Gunn, based on information from Polyphemus, was planning to kill Connor before he could "evolve" into a James-level entity and threat. The crisis was resolved when James was defeated by Connor.

Post-Twilight
Following Angel's time as Twilight, he relocated to London and cut off ties with Connor despite Connor's attempts to call him, reasoning that Connor was better off without him in his life due to the damage that Angel had caused him in the past. Later, after hooking up with Angel and Faith in London during her quest to reverse the end of magic, Willow claimed that she needed Connor to actually do so; in order to regain her magic, she needed to travel to another dimension where magic still existed and 'soak up' the energy from there, but the only dimension that could still be accessed from this world was Quor'toth as there were never any portals to Quor'toth in the first place, and a ritual that she had found requiring something from the target dimension to access it in the first place, requiring Connor due to the time he had spent in that world. Despite Angel's misgivings, Connor agreed to the plan, with Willow carving various sigils on him with the scythe and opening a rift to Quor'toth.

Powers and Abilities
Connor possesses the typical abilities of a vampire: superhuman strength, speed, durability, recuperation, and heightened senses. However, his abilities and status are more comparable to those of a Slayer; he is unaffected by traditional vampire weaknesses such as sunlight and holy items, has no need to drink blood and can subside on normal human food, and cannot assume a vampire's "game face." He has been bested in battle by both Faith and Angel, but he is still stronger than most vampires and some forms of demons. As he lacks the vampires' undead nature, there is a limit to just how much damage his living body can endure and heal. Though stab and gunshot wounds can prove life-threatening to Connor, he is still incredibly resistant to blunt force trauma:


 * After his first encounter with the Beast, the Jasmine-possessed Cordelia discovered a large bruise on his upper torso and assumed it to be broken ribs, to which Connor remarked that he had never broken a bone before and didn't even know he could.


 * Later, when the Beast threw him out of a sixth-story window while the sun was being blocked out by the Ra-Tet eclipse spell, Connor asked Cordelia if things were supposed to go dark when someone loses consciousness, implying that he had never done so before.

Connor was abducted by the Sisterhood of Jaro Hull, a demonic group who appear to believe that Connor's powers go beyond those already seen. Although the precise nature of these claims was unrevealed, Connor demonstrated a previously unforseen ability to heal rapidly after the Sisterhood apparently bled him to death to drink his blood, his body being covered by a white light after the Sisterhood's departure before returning to normal.

Connor's apparent power potential was further referenced by Willow, who believed him to be the key to undoing the end of magic.

In addition to his innate powers, Connor was trained by his foster father, Daniel Holtz, in hunting and in both unarmed and armed combat. However, unlike the technical skills displayed by the Slayers and Angel, Connor generally relies more on a brute force approach, his usual combat strategy based around hitting his opponents fast and beating them into submission, leaving him at a disadvantage when faced with more sophisticated combatants. Although he once defeated Angel in a fight, it should be noted that he was using a taser at the time, and also had the advantage that Angel wasn't expecting him to attack. During a later fight, Connor was defeated by Angel even when his father had lost his memories and thought he was a teenager, and was fighting on instinct. Connor's subsequent victory over Sahjhan was only aided by the fact that he took Sahjhan by surprise with the sudden return of his original memories. Following his return to Angel Investigations, he had begun to develop into a more competent leader, although he still lacked Angel's experience.

Romantic Relationships

 * Sunny — A teen runaway and a heroin addict, she was the first female human Connor had ever met since being taken to Quor-Toth and with whom he shared his first kiss after protecting her from a drug dealer named Tyke, although she subsequently died of an overdose after providing him with new clothes.


 * Cordelia Chase — Connor developed an affection for Cordelia when they lived together after Cordelia returned from the higher planes with total amnesia. After she regained her memories, a possessed Cordelia seduced Connor and he loses his virginity to her; as a result, the pair became the "parents" of the being known as Jasmine, 'Cordelia' exploiting Connor's emotionally-unstable psyche to turn him against his father. After regaining his memories, Connor reflects on how disturbing it was that his first time was with his surrogate mother.


 * Faith Lehane — Connor was instantly attracted to Faith's toughness and fighting skills, but her refusal to give up on Angel clashed with his willingness to stake Angelus, culminating in the two of them coming to blows when Connor was tricked into nearly staking Angelus before Willow could restore his soul.


 * Tracy - Connor's new dad made reference to a girl named Tracy and asked if they were going to the same college, suggesting the two were romantically involved. One of his siblings commented (by way of an insult) that she was a vegan.


 * Illyria — When the two met, Illyria sensed that Connor was lusting after her, prompting Connor to claim he'd always had a thing for older women, to which Angel mumbled "they were supposed to fix that" under his breath. Later, Illyria revealed to Angel that she was interested in mating with Connor as she was approaching a once-in-a-millennium breeding phase, having selected Connor to be the father of her potential offspring, although Connor's uncertainty about the situation caused the moment to pass, Illyria subsequently admitting that she had no interest in Connor for purely recreational sex.


 * Gwen Raiden - Dunrg Los Angeles' time in Hell, Connor began dating Gwen, although with problems because of Gwen's electric nature. This relationship came to an end after Los Angeles returned to Earth, due to her betrayal of the team for Gunn.

Behind the Scenes

 * He was portrayed by Vincent Kartheiser and earlier by Connor, Jake, and Trenton Tupen.


 * Between "Home" and "Origin," the only people known to remember that Angel had a son were Angel, Lilah Morgan, Eve, Hamilton, Cyvus Vail, the Senior Partners, and Cordelia; after this, Wesley and Illyria definitely knew who he was, with the other members of Angel Investigations learning his true identity when Los Angeles was in Hell. The move of L.A. to Hell seemed to affect the memory-altering spell; as Connor remarked, nearly everyone he met knew he was Angel's son.


 * It's unknown whether Buffy ever had knowledge that Angel had a son. Although both Willow and Faith knew of and met him- Willow expressing knowledge of Connor's identity just after hearing his name, although Faith had to learn about him from Wesley-, they are never shown mentioning him to anyone back in Sunnydale. In fact, when Buffy asked how Angel was doing back in L.A., Faith completely omitted Connor from her run down of events.


 * Connor could be considered a dhampir, or human-vampire hybrid, as he possessed powers similar to vampires, but not their weaknesses, and was known to be half-demon. Although dhampirs were usually the children of a vampire (the father usually) and a human (the mother usually), Connor was the child of two vampires.

Appearances
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 * content = === Angel Season 3 ===
 * "Lullaby" (As an infant)
 * "Dad" (As an infant)
 * "Birthday" (As an infant)
 * "Provider" (As an infant)
 * "Waiting In The Wings" (As an infant)
 * "Couplet" (As an infant)
 * "Loyalty" (As an infant)
 * "Sleep Tight" (As an infant)
 * "The Price"
 * "A New World"
 * "Benediction"
 * "Tomorrow"

Angel Season 4

 * "Deep Down"
 * "Ground State"
 * "The House Always Wins"
 * "Slouching Toward Bethlehem"
 * "Supersymmetry"
 * "Spin the Bottle"
 * "Apocalypse, Nowish"
 * "Habeas Corpses"
 * "Long Day's Journey"
 * "Awakening"
 * "Soulless"
 * "Calvary"
 * "Salvage"
 * "Release"
 * "Orpheus"
 * "Players"
 * "Inside Out"
 * "Shiny Happy People"
 * "The Magic Bullet"
 * "Sacrifice"
 * "Peace Out"
 * "Home"

Angel Season 5

 * "Origin"
 * "Not Fade Away"

Angel: After the Fall
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 * After the Fall #1
 * After the Fall #2
 * After the Fall #3
 * After the Fall #5
 * After the Fall #6: First Night Part I
 * After the Fall #7: First Night Part II
 * After the Fall #9
 * After the Fall #10