Did Angelus want to end the world because of Buffy?

[Robb Stark]

When Angelus makes his monster comeback at the tail end of S2, he is very plain about his ambition to bring forth the Apocalypse, such Earth into a hell dimension and essentially end the world. Now, my question is, why? He had been a soulless vampire for literally hundreds of years prior to re-losing his soul, why not attempt to end the world then? He hadn't really shown any desire to bring forth Armageddon prior to S2. Spike makes it perfectly clear that he is not in anyway okay with Angelus ending the world, and goes so far as to team up with Buffy in order to prevent it. Before losing his soul the second time, Angelus seemed to derive most of the pleasure in his unlife from manipulating, torturing and terrorizing others for sport.

So my theory becomes, did Angelus enact his plan in S2 in response to Buffy, and the relationship Angel had with her? Angelus makes it clear that he was trapped inside Angel for all those years, and that Angel's love for Buffy was torture for him. In "I Only Have Eyes For You", when Angelus and Buffy are restored to themselves after the poltergeist possession, they have a long moment where they just hold one another, and Angelus only jerks out of it when Buffy calls him Angel.

So does Angelus desire to end the world to escape from that feeling?

 

[white avenger]

Of all of the Season Big Bads, as far as I can remember, Angelus was the only one who actually wanted to end the world. All of the others wanted to somehow conquer it or, in Glory's case, go back to her own personal hell (yes, she would have torn down all the dimensional barriers in doing so, but that was only a side affect of her plan) Exactly why he would do such a thing has always seemed rather stupid to me, because, if his plan was successful, he would be destroyed along with everyone else.

Basically, I think that Angelus' whole plan was just the result of his not thinking that far into the future or recognizing the real consequences of his actions. Doing it just because of Angel's feelings for Buffy seems a little extreme. I would thing that a better way to handle something like that would have been to turn her, and by doing so, have his revenge on not just her, but also everyone she cared about, since, typically, a vampire's first obsession upon rising is to kill all of their family and friends. Suicide by world destruction just seems a bit extreme, even for someone like Angelus.

Maybe his plan was more to send everyone to the hell that Buffy eventually sent him to, with the plan that he would reign there as the conqueror of all mankind.

Or maybe he somehow had a vision of the future, and was somehow trying to prevent Buffy from ever having a relationship with Spike. Nahhh, even a devoted Spuffy like me couldn't buy that one.

Whatever his real plan was, I find it rather ironic that Angel was more successful in bringing about something quite similar, on a somewhat smaller scale, in the "After The Fall" arc (or at least causing the Senior Partners to) and attempted to do almost the same thing again as Twilight's minion in Season 8.

 

[Kean]

This is one of my few pet peeves about this plot, it makes no sense that this vamp who clearly loved the human comforts suddenly wanted Hell.

I can't help but baulk at the idea that Angelus wanted to end the world because of how Buffy. Angelus isn't a romantic character and the suggestion of that element being part of his story just doesn't sit well with me. I'd rather believe he did it because that was the best way to destroy her.

 

[Evil Angelus 95]

Personally, I think it was just the writers' way of having the season have this big, grand finale where everything could be 'wrapped up'

 

[The Bronze]

This never made a lot of sense to me. Spike's speech about how much he enjoys the world would seem to apply quite nicely to Angelus as well in the flashbacks we see. He never seems hell bent on world destruction and seems to be haaving a great time tormenting people. So I have 2 theories about why he decides to open up the portal:

1. He's been trapped inside Angel for so long that it's aaffected his judgement. Sent him a little crazy and with Dru as his cheerleader there's enough craziness around for the idea to sound good.

2. He thinks he'll have even more fun in the hell dimension. He assumes the environment will be better suited to vampires (no sun perhaps) and that he'll survive OK and revel in the misery of everyone else.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

Acathla wouldn't just end the world, if Acathla hadn't been stopped I dont think everyone would have died, they would have all been swallowed into the hell dimension
"Acathla, the demon, came forth to swallow the world"

It would have been hell on earth for the human, and most would have died in the aftermath, but they wouldn't have been killed becasue of what Acathla did.

I also do think he wanted to end the world, becasue of Buffy. Angelus has always hated the Angel-human part of him, when he was first turned he slaughtered his family to separate himself from them, but Angels love for Buffy was so big that just killing her wouldn't be enough to separate him, he literally had to destroy the world.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

Dark Willow almost ended the world in Season 6 due to feeling all the pain in the world, but Angel was different.

I assume he rankled at the limitations of the world - no direct sunlight meant his movements were limited and being hunted by humans (with the most dangerous being the slayer) would be substantially different in a hell dimension. The irony is, when he actually got there and returned, he was too traumatized to continue without Buffy's help.

 

[Kana]

I actually created a thread on this on another forum, so for the sake of laziness, it's copy and pasting time!!!

When Angelus first meets the Master we have this exchange:

Quote:
Master: "We live below, giving tribute to the old ones. Awaiting that promised day when we will arise -Arise! - and lay *waste* to the world above us."
The Master laughs.
Angelus: "Why'd you want to do that?"
Master: "Huh?"
Angelus: "Well, I mean, have you *been* above lately? It's quite nice.

Angelus seems to have a similar position to Spike here. He seems to like the world has no intention of destroying it. However, fast forward a couple of centuries and then he's all, "Let's destroy the world!!

So, why the change of heart.

Possible theories.

Perhaps the mistake is thinking of Angelus as static. Like all beings, he changes and is influenced.

For example, when he was first turned, he seemed like an evil version of Liam, not quite the Angelus we know today. For starters when he kills his father, it's more an act of anger and frustration, than a solid belief in evil itself. This is not so dissimilar to Spike's evil early on as he finally got his own back on the peers who rejected him.

In short, his soul moments influenced his soulless moments.

I believe the possible impetus behind destroying the world, is Buffy for several reasons.

This line really caught my attention:

Angelus: Now Acathla, you will be free and so will we all.

What did he mean by this? Free from what? It seems the humanity that he associated with love was too much to endure for an 'evil purist' like Angelus to endure. Maybe it was an act of utter desperation to rid himself of the feelings he had.

Joss actually said that Angelus still had feelings for Buffy, but for an idealist like Angel(us) love has meaning beyond itself. It's about a higher nobility beyond the carnal. In short he cannot separate it from morality and for his evil to be pure, love cannot abound. Even self-destruction is more preferable than living with these feelings.

Also Angelus is about control. The apocalypse that the Beast seemed to engineering was an affront to Angelus for one main reason: He didn't cause it!

I also believe it has a poetic element to it. Buffy is a champion and a world saver, so what better torment than to have her fail. Even if Angelus suffers in hell, as long as Buffy is suffering, it's enough.

 

[Gum Gnome33]

Interesting points all around.

I think, as [MENTION=7540]Kana[/MENTION] said, that Angelus's desire for control informed a lot of his decisions. I think that when he "woke up" from Angel's reality, he was...embarrassed, for lack of a better word. Embarrassed that he'd loved Buffy, that he'd acted like a human, that he'd helped save the world. Perhaps for the sake of his ego, he decided to make a grand gesture that was sure to be appreciated by many demons who were less content with human comforts than he.

Then there was the added benefit of knowing that Buffy, (who he saw as the source of his embarrassment), would be sucked into hell and suffer while he dominated with other beasts.

I could see this as a workable theory...

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

So does Angelus desire to end the world to escape from that feeling?

I like your theory, but I'm not sold on it. I think it's just as simple as for plot's sake, or maybe boredom on Angelus' side. Why not end the world? Vampires love chaos. What else is there to do when you've lived 200+ years? Spike attempts the same thing, without any prior interest in it - in fact, it's the opposite, he stats at one point how much he loves the world: "We like to talk big. Vampires do. ‘I’m going to destroy the world.’ That’s just tough guy talk. Strutting around with your friends over a pint of blood. The truth is, I like this world." - so, yeah, I'd vote for boredom as the motivator for Angelus ending the world.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

I'm reminded of what Spike said to Drusilla, and in this case I think it is true enough of Angelus's general attitude.
'I didn't know you were capable of existential thought.'

Why did Angelus try to end the world? Simply put, because he could.
After all Angel had the affair with Buffy Angelus didn't. Angelus may may wanted to get back at Angel, I doubt it went much further than that.