Vocah

“The old order passes away, the new order is come... He that was first shall now be last, he that was dead shall now arise...”

―Vocah^[src]

Vocah, self-styled "Bringer of Calamity", was a powerful demon summoned by Wolfram & Hart to aid them in their fight against the vampire Angel. He could be recognized by his bronze-colored mask and black hood.

Biography

“Vocah, Warrior of the Underworld. An agent of the coming darkness. He wants you weak, cut off from every source of help”

―The Sister Oracle^[src]

Vocah was a warrior of the underworld and a lower being summoned by a pair of dark monks serving Wolfram & Hart to perform the raising, a ritual that would unleash a being supposed to bring Angel to Wolfram & Hart's fold and lure him away from his mission. This plan was put in jeopardy when Angel stole the Scrolls of Aberjian from the firm's vault, bringing him closer to discovering his destiny and completing his connection with The Powers That Be. In the face of these events, Vocah sought to retrieve the Scrolls, which were needed to perform the raising and sever each of Angel's links to the Powers That Be.

Vocah's first step was to trespass into the dimension of The Oracles, something a common demon was unable to do, and announce to them that the old order had passed and a new order had come, presumably indicating that the balance between good and evil had tilted in favor of evil. Vocah then killed the Oracles with a scythe.

Then, Vocah went after Angel's closest friends. He appeared invisible in broad daylight and placed his mark on Cordelia Chase, thus opening her mind to endless visions of all those suffering or in danger. After this, he infiltrated the Angel Investigations offices, took the Scrolls of Aberjian and planted an explosive device. The resulting explosion nearly killed Wesley Wyndam-Pryce and put Angel on the trail of the attacker. It was the ghost of the dead Sister Oracle that revealed Vocah's identity to Angel.

Angel tracked Vocah to a mausoleum, where the demon and his monks had captured five vampires, which were used as a sacrifice as part of the raising. Vocah had already performed a large part of the ritual and sensed the presence of Angel. He interrupted the ritual to fight the vampire while Lindsey McDonald completed the raising. Despite being a formidable warrior, Vocah was cornered by Angel and killed with one of his own scythes.

Minutes later Angel would recapture the Scroll of Aberjian, which contained the Words of Anatole, the only way to remove Vocah's mark from Cordelia.

Powers

“I am Vocah, bringer of Calamity, you can not defeat me!”

―Vocah^[src]

Vocah was an extremely dangerous opponent, capable of various forms of magic, extremely skilled with hand-to-hand combat, and was a cunning strategist and tactician. He single-handedly killed the Oracles, cursed Cordelia, and almost killed Wesley and effectively destroyed the Angel Investigations office, leaving Angel to act alone. 

Superhuman physical attributes: Vocah had superhuman strength, reflexes and agility, sufficient enough to go head-to-head with Angel in a one-on-one fight.

Invisibility: He was capable of becoming invisible, which allowed him to attack Cordelia in broad daylight.

Magic:  Vocah was also a practitioner of dark magic and could place curses with his touch.

Scythe conjuration: He was able to conjure a black scythe by placing his hand behind his back. Furthermore, he could conjure several of them.

Personality and traits

Vocah was a bald, tall humanoid demon with pale greenish skin and red irises. Instead of a nose, he had a hole filled with live maggots, giving him a corpse-like appearance. He also wore armor: a black hooded cape and a bronze mask to cover his face and nose.

Personality-wise, Vocah could be described as a single-minded individual, befitting his role as a supernatural assassin.

Behind the Scenes

• He was portrayed by Todd Stashwick. Todd Stashwick would later join Julie Benz (Darla), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia), James Marsters (Spike), Amy Acker (Fred/Illyria), and other actors in another dark fantasy show Supernatural.
• Vocah's appearance was similar to another powerful villain that Angel would later face, Jasmine.

Appearances

• "To Shanshu in L.A." (Killed)
• "Judgment" (Only mentioned)
• "Dead End" (Only mentioned)