Darla

This article is about the vampire Darla, for the episode see Darla (episode).

Darla was a vampire and a former member of the Order of Aurelius. She was portrayed by Julie Benz.

Early History
Darla was born in the late 16th century in the British Isles. Her birth name has never been revealed and she eventually forgot it. As a young prostitute, she immigrated to the Virginia Colony in North America and became independently wealthy, but also contracted a fatal case of syphilis. By 1609, Darla was dying in her luxurious house. She scoffed at a priest who came to her deathbed until he revealed his true identity: The Master, leader of the elite cult of vampires known as the Order of Aurelius. Darla despised the clergy and religion – a trait that would follow her as a vampire. The Master sired her and gave her the name "Darla," meaning "dear one" in early modern English.

As a vampire, Darla enjoyed luring male victims by appearing as a seductive and mysterious yet innocuous woman. Many examples would prove Darla as a predator who preferred using her good looks instead of hunting to obtain victims. She's not as sadistic as Angelus nor as violent as Spike.

By 1753, Darla was out exploring the world and wreaking havoc during which time she entered a village in Galway, Ireland. There she found a handsome young man named Liam, who was drinking and whoring his way through a rather uneventful life. Admiring him from afar, Darla lured Liam into an alley where she sired him and he became Angelus. She waited for him atop his grave and gave him his first lessons in being a vampire. As he slaughtered his entire village and killed his family Darla explained that this was a way to react to his father's disapproval. After cutting a bloody swath across Wales and England, Darla brought her new consort back to The Master in London, but Angelus had no interest in The Master, the Order of Aurelius, or anything other than living a decadent life of pleasure and sadism with Darla by his side. Darla chose Angelus over The Master. Over time, Darla and Angelus would make their way throughout Europe and North Africa, occasionally sparring with each other but constantly tormenting the vampire hunter Daniel Holtz.

Back in London, Darla and Angelus' "family" grew when Darla lured Angelus to Drusilla in 1860; the addition of Spike in 1880 would complete the vampire foursome. Throughout their adventures, Darla always demanded a room with a pretty view. It was during this time that Spike first heard about Slayers from Angelus while Darla and Drusilla watched them spar.

Finding themselves in Borsa, Romania, in 1898, Darla brought Angelus a gift: a Roma girl with whom Angelus could have his way, so long as Darla watched. Soon after, the family of the girl, the Kalderash Clan, cursed Angelus with the restoration of his soul. Darla sensed the restored soul in her beloved and banished Angelus from her sight. She tracked down the Clan Kalderash alongside Spike and Drusilla and massacred the village. Though, she met with the girl's father, one of the Kalderash Elders, and offered to spare his other daughters in exchange for the removal of Angelus' soul. However, Spike had already killed the daughters of the elder. In turn, Darla killed the elder without compunction or restraint.

By 1900, Darla took Spike and Drusilla to China, but never told them about the restoration of Angelus' soul. The trio wound up in the midst of the Boxer Rebellion, where Angelus found her. Angelus tried to convince Darla that she could still be with him despite his soul, but she soon realized that it could never work because Angelus could not bring himself to injure innocents.



Sunnydale
Little is known about Darla's activities between the Boxer Rebellion and 1997, but at some point she rejoined The Master and the Order of Aurelius and came to Sunnydale, California. Buffy Summers wound up in the same town and Darla met her in a mausoleum entrance to the dungeon, this discovery displeased The Master. After several failed attempts to have the Slayer killed, Darla finally volunteered to kill Buffy herself. Darla pretended to be a school friend of Buffy's and got Buffy's mother, Joyce, to invite her into the house. Darla bit Joyce but cleverly set it up so that it appeared that Angel was the culprit. After a tense three-way confrontation in The Bronze, Angel finally staked a gun-toting Darla, turning her into dust.

Los Angeles
Nearly three years later, Darla was resurrected, in human form, by Wolfram & Hart as a way to both torture Angel and reawaken his alter ego, Angelus. During her short time as a human, Darla found it increasingly difficult to live with a soul and desperately wanted to be a vampire again. She also seemed to become close to Wolfram & Hart lawyer Lindsey McDonald. Angel, through acts of bravery and nobility, finally convinced Darla to live out her remaining days as human (she was dying from syphilis as she would have if she weren't sired the first time) and reassured her that he will help. In a cruel twist of fate, Wolfram & Hart bring in Drusilla to sire Darla.

Darla and Drusilla began fighting, with Darla initially being upset over becoming a vampire again. However, she embraced it once more. In a cruel and ironic twist, Darla and Drusilla gave Wolfram & Hart what they wanted, "a massace", by slaughtering most of their staff who was attending a party. The only two survivors were Lindsey McDonald and Lilah Morgan.

Aftarwards, Darla went on another killing rampage with Drusilla that nearly ended when Angel, after descending into a dark state, set her and Drusilla on fire, but this failed to kill them. Abandoned by Drusilla, Darla hid in Lindsey's appartment to recover and hide from Wolfram & Hart. It is possible she was also exploting Lindsey's romantic interest in her.

Angel's life perspective grew darker when he was told that nothing he does apparently matters. He went to Darla to help him "not care." Angel and Darla had sex, the expectation on Darla's part being that he will lose his soul as a result of "a moment of perfect happiness," but the next morning, Angel still had his soul; sex with Darla was perfect despair, rather than perfect happiness. Surprised, angry and upset, Darla left Los Angeles, supposedly forever.

However, the unthinkable has happened: Angel had impregnated Darla. Darla visited every shaman in the Western Hemisphere, all of whom told her that her pregnancy was inherently impossible, but also impossible to abort. With nowhere else to turn, Darla went to Angel. Various theories emerged about the child; from a cult of vampires who worshiped it as a miracle, to the fear that it is the evil spoken of in the Tro-Clon prophesies. It turns out the child is simply a healthy human baby boy, with whom Darla is sharing a soul. This does not matter to Daniel Holtz, who had been brought through time by the demon Sahjhan to kill Angel and Darla. Darla realized that she would lose her soul after giving birth and thusly be unable to love her child. Additionally, her undead body was becoming increasingly unable to sustain the life of her unborn child in time for it to be born. After telling Angel to make sure that their son knows that he was the one good thing the two vampires ever did together, Darla stakes herself in the alley behind Caritas, leaving behind a pile of dust and a crying, but healthy, infant. In a final moment of redemption, Darla ended her 400+ year life in exchange for the life of her son, whom Angel named Connor. Sometime later, Darla's spirit appears to a now-teenaged Connor when he is being tempted by the Jasmine-possessed Cordelia Chase to murder an innocent teenage girl. Claiming to have been sent by the Powers That Be, Darla pleads with her son not to commit murder. Seemingly moved by his mother's words, Connor begins to untie the girl, but Cordelia chastises him for allowing himself to be swayed by Darla's spirit, whose presence she can sense. Cordelia and Darla (the former clad completely in black, the latter in white) compete for Connor's soul, with Darla telling Connor to listen to his heart, and Cordelia telling him that Darla is not really there, that she is just an illusion created by Angel's team using magic in order to trick Connor. Connor tells Darla, "You are not my mother!" and drags the terrified girl to Cordelia, who promptly kills her. Darla disappears, but when Connor looks at the dead girl, he briefly sees Darla's face in place of hers. Connor never mentions their conversation to anyone.

Darla has not been seen since (except in flashback).

Powers and abilities
Darla has the standard powers and vulnerabilities of a vampire, though, with a greater lust for blood and destruction than most. Additionally, she is stronger than most vampires. Darla is vulnerable to holy items and sunlight, and can be killed by decapitation and a stake to the heart. She cannot enter the home of a living human without first being invited by someone who lives there.

Psychologically, Darla acted in a self-responsible and conscious way. She generally did not blame others for who or what she was or for her actions; most evidence suggests that she was who she was entirely due to her own choice.

Darla is also capable of sensing the presence of a soul in others, as she did when Angelus was cursed for the first time. This could be incidental with the fact that she sired him and was extremely close to him or it could be an ability that all vampires possess (it is often mentioned that they can sense who is human and who is a vampire, so perhaps this is one way by which they know).

Darla often used her beauty and sexuality to lure unsuspecting prey. Unlike her more aggressive male counterparts (Angelus and Spike), she is rarely seen hunting; her prey willingly approaches her, never suspecting their fate until it is too late.

Appearances
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Buffy Season 1

 * Welcome to the Hellmouth
 * The Harvest
 * Angel

Buffy Season 2

 * Becoming, Part One

Buffy Season 5

 * "Fool for Love"

Angel Season 1

 * The Prodigal
 * Five by Five
 * To Shanshu in L.A.

Angel Season 2

 * Judgement
 * First Impressions
 * Untouched
 * Dear Boy
 * Darla
 * The Trial
 * Reunion
 * Redefinition
 * Reprise
 * Epiphany

Angel Season 3

 * Heartthrob
 * That Vision Thing
 * Offspring
 * Quickening
 * Lullaby

Angel Season 4

 * Inside Out

Angel Season 5
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 * The Girl in Question