Angel Without The Fangs

[white avenger]

I read somewhere that the decision to make Angel a vampire didn't come about until after the series had actually begun, which is where this question comes from.

If the character of Angel had been nothing but a normal air breathing, mortal human rather than a vampire, how do you think that the series would have been changed?

 

[Robb Stark]

I'd actually heard the same, that Angel was always intended as a love interest for Buffy but his actual role and story wasn't decided upon until the role had been cast and the beginnings of season one already filmed.

Obviously, it would have changed things substantially. Angel's entire core story would have been fundamentally altered. His principal storyline through the first three seasons, a vampire with a soul, wouldn't have existed. I think that Angel always would have been Buffy's primary romantic, but things sure would have been different. Angel would probably have been a distant, mysterious hero, and vampires would have probably still killed his family, but it clearly would have been other vampires. However, I think that aspect would still have originally served as his driving motivation (along with Buffy of course). As to whether or not Angel still would have landed his own spinoff? Not sure, there's no real way to tell.

Personally, there's not much, if anything, I would change about Angel, and certainly not anything important. I think his story, on Buffy (always love Angel on Buffy 😀) and continuing (and evolving) on his own series, is by far the most compelling and interesting. His relationships with other characters (particularly Buffy, Spike, Cordy and Wes) have so many layers to them. Every season of AtS drew, and still draws, me in, so much. I just think he's a phenomenal character who always has a great story to tell. And his S1 story with Buffy? Call me a sap (which I am), but the romantic in me just loves it. The episode "Angel" is one of my all time favorites.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

In terms of BtVS I dont think things would have changed all that much. If they had gone with that story I'd say they would have had him bitten and turned into a vampire halfway through season 2.
I'd say the overall story would have been similar enough, but without his backstory.

The biggest change would be to his own series, You'd lose all the redemption stuff that became a bigger part when he went to LA.

 

[Lyri]

I agree with [MENTION=5973]Black Eye Guy[/MENTION]

I think Angel would have been sired eventually and he still would have been the Big Bad of S2. We might have ended up with no Spike and Dru, though, or maybe we would still have had them, one of them becoming Angel's sire and then Angel taking them out in some sort of vindictive, badass scheme.

Like BEG said, you would lose a lot of the redemption arc if Angel was human at first. The only thing he would be making up for would be whatever he did in S2 in Sunnydale. In fact, the whole 'having a soul' arc would be lost, too, as it never would have come up before, and therefore, no one would have known it was possible. At the end of S2, Angel might just have been killed and then they'd have moved on.

That would have had a blow back effect on Willow - as restoring Angel's soul was her first spell - so she might not have gotten involved in magic. It would have an effect on Spike as, not only is it possible that he might not have even existed, but he wouldn't have gotten a soul to make Buffy love him, because there would have been no precedence for that. Buffy never loved a vampire with a soul before, so what would make Spike think that she would?