Thirty Days of Angel - Day Two: Favorite Male Character
Angel
The hero of the piece. I’m actually surprised this happened. Up until about a month ago, my favorite male character on AtS was Gunn. And I still love Gunn, my love for him has not diminished, my love for Angel just blew up. I mean, this re-watch has put everything into different perspective.
But this man. This man. This man went from being a flat character on BtVS who served no purpose but being Buffy’s boyfriend to being this absolutely tragic icon of loss on his own show. I love him. I love that he’s a mess. I love that he believes in saving souls and that souls can save themselves. I love how he inspires everyone he touches. I love how he breaks and builds himself up again time after time. I love how he loses everything he has ever needed but just keeps going. I love that he is about the mission. I love that he loves when he thought he never could - except for that one time, which he thought was his only possibility for love until it wasn’t anymore. I love that he had a son he would have died a thousand times over for. I love the ferocity of that love every single day. I love that he found these people, his friends, and brought them out of their own darkness into the light just as they did the same to him. I love that he is a soldier because - I think, sometimes - he has forgotten how to be anything else. I love that the mission trumps all. I love that he’s a champion. I love that his arc expanded eight years, and at the end of it I can say with confidence that I have never seen such character growth anywhere else, not even with my girl Cordelia, who comes in a close second. I love that that growth was natural, and sometimes scary, and pushed him places I’m sure he never thought he would go. I love that if nothing we do matters then all that matters is what we do. I love that he lives as though the world were as it should be to show it what it can be. I love his fear and his vulnerability and his joy and his sorrow and, most of all, I love his hope. I love that he inspires me to be… better. And that he always has, even when he wasn’t my favorite character, because I started living my life based on Angel quotes a long time ago, and they always came from him. I love that he inspires me. I love that the most.
(For the record, this was originally a shippy Angel/Cordelia mess, but sometimes I have self control. It also meant this took me four hours to do. What is my life. You can delete my word vomit on re-blog if you’d like :D)
