Our Favorite Quartet

[WorldWalker]

I've always been interested in the dynamic between the characters in Drusilla, Darla, Angelus, and Spike's little club of murder and mayhem. Each of them, save for Darla, seems to have some great quality or achievement to their names. Angelus, of course, was a master of cruelty, and cut quite a swath through Europe. Spike's specialty became Slayers, which is quite an accomplishment on its own. Drusilla, besides being kinda crazy, had her psychic abilities, and quite a bit of raw power. That just leaves Darla, the progenitor of the group. Am I the only one who finds it a bit odd that the eldest member of the gang was the least powerful? Or, perhaps, the least remarkable?

 

[Blaze]

I think the problem with Darla is that she was introduce in s1 and was suppose to be kill and not return. She left the show the earliest and at that point, we weren't even suppose to be given much back story. When they decided to developed the four, they introduced Spike and Drusilla and we got to see Angelus along with them and their dynamics for a full season on BtVS. Of course, they later on brought back Darla, but by that time we had a lot more development on the other characters.

Now skip to AtS, we get a bunch of flashback, learn more about the group, but again those flashback are kept short. Darla's development on Angel then turns more so into Darla's humanity and the whole Connor plot and next thing you know, we never got to see that much of evil Darla.

I think it also really shows in s1 that she wasn't meant to be very important because we see a drastic change in her character (at least to me). Darla s1 to me doesn't ressemble the Darla we see in flashbacks and in s2 of Angel.

Basicly, I think the sole reason for Darla not being as memorable, for lack of better word, as the others is that they didn't really plan out her character ahead of time like the others and once it came time to develop her, they decided to develop the new Darla, instead of concentrating on her past. Of course, with Angel and Spike, they had 6-8 seasons to develop the characters so we really got to see how they were as vampires.

 

[WorldWalker]

That's a really good point, and I agree. Another thought is that much of her history was with the Master, I think. He sired her, and they were together until she left him to join up with those crazy kids, and ultimately returned to him. The other three basically got their start in that group, but her story began long before that. And, of course, the Master got staked pretty early on, effectively ending that part of the story. At least for the most part.

 

[EffyStonem]

Darla was by no means the least powerful. She may have been the least well-known but we see through flashbacks that she seems to enjoy keeping a low profile. However, she is shown to be very strong and extremely resourceful with a strong sense of self-preservation and an appetite for sadism that matches Angelus'.

She chooses Angel because she sees a darkness in him that matches her own. She encourages and indulges his sadism and she and Angel spent a hundred and fifty years causing mayhem across the continents. Remember also that Holtz was after both her and Angelus; the only reason she escaped his eventual vengeance is because she staked herself.

Additionally, Darla is the oldest of the group and not by a few decades - she is 400+ years old, which is quite impressive, especially considering so many other vampires would have been dusted long before they even reached a century. It is also mentioned on AtS that she is stronger than the average vampire (I can't remember the exact quote, but Wes says something like "A normal vampire would be stronger under these circumstances and Darla wasn't normal even before the pregnancy").

 

[WorldWalker]

You know, I hadn't thought of it that way. That's very true.

 

[Wesley Pryce]

I agree with you,Effy,and id also add she was the leader of the pack,no question.