Darla (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
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Not so much is known about Darla's life as a human. The earliest account of her activities puts her on her death bed in the Virginia Colony in 1609, when she received a visit from The Master, disguised as a priest. He called her "a woman of some property" to which she replied "I'm a WHORE!" She despised the clergy (and religion.) We later come to learn that she was indeed a prostitute and had contracted syphilis, which had caused heart failure. The Master sired her (made her a vampire.) So began her un-life as a member of the Order of Aurelius. Her human love of sex and hate of religion continued into her vampire life as well.
In the mid 18th century, Darla was out exploring the world and wreaking havoc. Fate brought her to a small town in Ireland, where she found a man named Liam who was drinking and whoring his way through a rather uneventful life. Admiring him from afar, she later coaxed him into an alley where she sired him. Liam would become Angelus. Waiting for him atop his grave, she gave Angelus his first lessons in evil when she encouraged him to slaughter his entire town, including his human family.
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 evil pleasure with Darla by his side. Darla chose Angelus over her 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 Holtz. Back in London, their family grew as Drusilla and Spike were sired. Throughout their adventures, Darla always had to have a room with a pretty view.
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 Roma girl, a gypsy princess, cursed Angelus with the restoration of his soul. Darla noticed almost immediately, and banished Angelus from her sight. Obviously bewildered, Darla tracked down the Roma clan and took revenge. A few years later, Darla ended up in the midst of the Boxer Rebellion in China, and Angelus found her. Darla tried to convince herself that she could still be with Angelus despite his soul, but she soon realized that it could never work.
Little is known about Darla's activities between that time and 1997, but one can assume that she rejoined the Master and had been in Sunnydale, CA since at least the 1930s.
When Buffy Summers, a recently chosen Slayer, ended up in the same town, The Master was not pleased. After several attempts to kill the Slayer, Darla finally volunteered to kill her 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 would appear that Angel had done it. After a tense three-way confrontation in The Bronze, Angel finally staked Darla, turning her into dust.
But that was not the end for Darla. She was resurrected, in human form, by Wolfram and Hart as a way to both torture Angel and to get him to turn evil. 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. Angel, through acts of bravery and nobility, finally convinced Darla to live out her remaining days as human and re-assured her that he would help her. In an odd twist of fate, Wolfram and Hart brought in Drusilla to once again sire Darla. As a vampire, Darla went on another killing rampage that nearly ended when Angel set her on fire. She survived, and as Angel became more and more dark, he came to Darla to help him "not care." Angel and Darla had sex all night, the expectation being that he would have lost his soul as a result of "a moment of perfect happiness" (the other half of the gypsy curse), but the next morning Angel was still en-souled. Not even one moment of perfect happiness, that whole night. Surprised, angry, and upset, Darla left Los Angeles, supposedly forever.
However, the unthinkable had happened. Angel had impregnated Darla. Darla visited every shaman in the Western Hemisphere, who all told her one thing: it was impossible, and impossible to abort. So, with nowhere else to turn, Darla went to Angel. Various theories emerged about the child, from a cult of vampires worshiping it as a miracle, to fear that it was the evil spoken of in the Tro-Clon prophesies. It turned out the child was simply a healthy human baby boy, with whom Darla was sharing a soul. This did not matter to Holtz, who had been brought through time by the demon Sahjhan to hunt and kill Angel and Darla. Darla loved the child, and realizing that she could not give live birth, staked herself in an alley. In one final moment of redemption, Darla ended her 400+ year run for the life of her son, Connor.
Darla's spirit was sent by the Powers That Be to her son, who was faced with a difficult decision, to try to convince him to do right, as she had done. She failed, however.
Other than that, Darla has not been seen again (except in flashback.)
Darla has probably died more times than any Angel or Buffy character (twice as a human and twice as a vampire). Her episode catologue is as follows;
| Contents |
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Season One 1997-
Welcome to the Hellmouth
The Harvest
Angel
Season Two 1997-1998
Becoming Part One of Two (flashbacks)
Season Five 2000-2001
Fool For Love (flashbacks)
Angel
Season One 1999-2000
The Prodigal (flashbacks)
Five By Five (flashbacks)
To Shanshu In LA
Season Two 2000-2001
Judgement
First Impressions
Untouched
Dear Boy (present/flashbacks)
Darla
The Trial
Reunion
Redefinition
Reprise
Epiphany
Season Three 2001-2002
Heartthrob (present/flashbacks)
That Vision Thing
Offspring
Quickening
Lullaby
Season Four 2002-2003
Inside Out
Season Five 2003-2004
Origin (clips from previous episodes - uncredited)
The Girl In Question (flashbacks)
Darla is also the name of Darla Hood's character in the Our Gang short films of the 1930s and 1940s.