"Whirlwind" was how Darla referred to herself, her lover Angelus, and the destruction, suffering, and death the pair caused in the mid-1700s.[1] In 1860, Drusilla joined them after being sired by Angelus,[2] and, in 1880, Spike completed the foursome after being sired by Drusilla.[3] In 1900, the group disbanded after Angelus gained his soul.[1]
In early 1998, the group (sans the deceased Darla) briefly reconvened in Sunnydale when Angel lost his soul,[4] only to disband once more with the assistance of Buffy Summers and the Scooby Gang.[5]
All four members were part of the Master's bloodline, inhabited by the essence of the demon lord Archaeus.[6] They were all re-ensouled at least once at different points and intervals of time.[2][7][8][9]
History[]
- 1753: Darla seduced and sired drunken lowlife Liam, who went on to become Angelus, the most famously sadistic vampire in history, in Galway, Ireland.[2]
- 1860: In London, Darla discovered the saintly and chaste human Drusilla, and subsequently presented her to her lover. Angelus developed a cruel obsession with her, and made it his mission to torture her to insanity before siring her as his "masterpiece."[1]
- 1880: Desiring a companion of her own, Drusilla sired lovelorn poet William, who became the fourth and final member of the group.[3] William quickly grew attached to Drusilla, and while he saw Angelus as a mentor at first, a deep-rooted rivalry was eventually sparked between them.[10]
- 1890: The group attended the ballet Giselle, in Saint Petersburg, Russia.[11]
- 1894: The four traveled to Rome, where they encountered the Immortal. The Immortal chained Angelus and Spike while he simultaneously bedded Darla and Drusilla. Spike and Angel developed a long-lasting hatred for the Immortal.[12]
- 1898: Angelus' soul was restored through the Ritual of Restoration performed by the Kalderash people, whom Spike, Drusilla, and Darla subsequently slaughtered.[2]
- 1900: In an attempt to rediscover his purpose, Angelus rejoined Darla, Drusilla, and Spike in China. Spike, who had become obsessed with Slayers, sought out and murdered Xin Rong.[3] However, the group was disbanded when Angelus, unable to commit acts of evil, rejected Darla and fled. Darla eventually returned to the Master and the Order of Aurelius, while Spike and Drusilla departed the group together.[1]
- 1997: To protect Buffy Summers, Angel dusted his sire Darla.[13]
- 1998: Spike and Drusilla arrived in Sunnydale and reacquainted with Angel,[14][15] who eventually lost his soul again.[4] The three terrorized Sunnydale, until Spike conspired with Buffy Summers to betray his grandsire when he and Drusilla threatened to suck the world into hell. After having been re-cursed by Willow Rosenberg, Angel was sent to a hell dimension to save the world from Acathla, while Spike left town with Drusilla.[5] He was later returned by an unknown power.[16]
- 2000–2001: Darla, having been resurrected as a dying human, was sired for a second time by Drusilla and the two went on a brief rampage in L.A., before Angel immolated them.[17][18] A weakened Drusilla returned to Sunnydale to reunite with Spike, who was living there, then unable to harm humans due to a chip in his head. She hoped to reunite the group and restart the group but failed.[19]
- 2002: Pregnant with Connor, Darla returned to Los Angeles, where she sacrificed herself to save her son, placing him in the care of Angel and his team.[20]
- 2003: Resurrected in Los Angeles,[21] Spike teamed up with Angel to fight the Circle of the Black Thorn[22] and to find a cure for Winifred Burkle.[23]
- 2005: Spike and Drusilla met again in Las Vegas,[24] where Drusilla was temporarily ensouled by Willow.[9] Spike had Willow extract the soul again because its presence only overwhelmed her with guilt, which her unstable mind proved incapable of coping with.[25]
- Late 2000: Drusilla dig up a demonic entity that restored her sanity, causing her to want to do good by removing the trauma of others. Angel and Drusilla reunited and he fought against the Lorophage demon. The event end with Drusilla becoming insane again and fleeing.[26] She then ambushed a group of patrolling Slayers and killed her second one: Marianne.[27]
- Late 2000: Angel recruited Spike to help him take down Eyghon in London,[28] as he believed that vampires with souls would be resistant to his possession. Although, with Eyghon in their reality, he was able to possess Spike anyway. Angel was able to defeat the demon, but not without consequences,[29] and Spike stayed until he successfully brought him back from his catatonic state.[30]
- Late 2000: Angel and Spike were affected by the source of their bloodline, Archaeus.[31] Drusilla still remained at large in London and planned on creating an army for the demon lord,[32] with the intention of forcing her family — the Whirlwind — to be reunited once again. Archaeus was defeated by Angel's associates, and Drusilla ran away.[33]
Function[]
They were perhaps the most brutal and dangerous group of vampires in recorded history, as each vampire individual was extremely dangerous in their own right along with a reputation. Angelus being the evilest and sadistic vampire in recorded history,[13] Spike as the most violent and destructive with a reputation second only to Angelus himself,[34] Darla as the most seductive and cunning, and Drusilla as the insane, unpredictable psychic. The group existed for no other purpose than to commit any acts of destruction and bloodshed that they could devise, and they cut a bloody swath across Europe and Asia,[citation needed] between them they have defeated no less than four Slayers, with Spike and Drusilla each killing two within a century.[3][5][29]
In contrast to most other vampires, the Whirlwind had become powerful in ways that spited their human past in the measure they were morally harassed (Darla),[1] disapproved (Angel),[35] oppressed (Drusilla),[2] or ridiculed (Spike)[3] by their respective societies. It was also clear that any member of this family had distinctive psychology and patterns, similar to serial killers; for example, Spike tortured and killed using railroad spikes, earning his new name.[14]
Angelus and Darla were a couple throughout their time in the group, as were Spike and Drusilla, though Angelus and Darla remained in power as the dominant couple and even after Angelus left Darla still held control for her "grandchildren." Intimate liaisons also occurred between Angelus and Drusilla,[10] Angelus and Spike,[36] and Darla and Drusilla.[12] Only Spike and Darla have not been confirmed to have any sexual relationship, though a comment made by Angelus implied that both men had unsuccessfully attempted to have ménage à trois with the two women together.[12]
While Angelus and Darla made a passionately evil pair, neither was capable of true love. In contrast, Spike and Drusilla truly loved each other despite lacking souls.[4] However, Drusilla did sleep with Angelus on at least one occasion and left Spike multiple times leaving him heartbroken. Also, Darla and Angelus did care for each other to an extent as Darla risked her life to save him from Daniel Holtz.[37]
Ensoulment[]
Each member of the group had at times their souls regained and taken. Angelus regained his soul three times, through the Ritual of Restoration.[2][5][38] Darla regained hers while human until she was made a vampire again,[7] also later being under the influence of Connor's soul while pregnant with him.[20] Spike went after getting back his soul after completing Demon Trials.[8] Lastly, Drusilla temporarily was re-ensouled due to extraction magic used on Spike's soul,[9] but the situation was then reversed.[25]
Behind the scenes[]
- While the nickname "Whirlwind" is an interpretation from a line in the episode "Darla," the title became officially used for the group in the non-canon novels Bloody Fool for Love and Big Bad: A Novel.
- The only episodes in which all four vampires appear are "Becoming, Part One," "Fool for Love," "Darla," and "The Girl in Question" — however, only in flashbacks.
Gallery[]
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