Illyria (Angel)

Illyria (reborn 2004 in Los Angeles, California) is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the cult television program, Angel. The character is portrayed by Amy Acker.

Biography

Character history

Illyria is one of the legendary Old Ones, an original pure demon from the Primordium Age, who ruled territories of modern California. She was one of the most feared of all the Old Ones and ruled from her citadel (Vahla ha'nesh) which corresponds to modern day Los Angeles. However, she was defeated and murdered by her many rivals.

When the Old Ones lost their claim over this world, Illyria's corpse was placed in stone sarcophagus, her powers were drained and placed in jewels embedded on her coffin. Her sarcophagus was placed in a mystical graveyard known as the Deeper Well along with the coffins of other Old Ones. A warrior of good and his army were assigned to guard the Deeper Well to prevent anyone from extracting one of the coffins, as the Old Ones are capable of resurrection. In the 20th century the Keeper of the Deeper Well was Drogyn the Battlebrand.

Before falling, Illyria planned her resurrection, so she hid her temple, Vahla Ha'Nesh in a different time plane, rendering it completely intangible, until she could return to open the gateway and enter it. Illyria's army was placed there as well, waiting to be raised once again by its leader. However, some time in the passing centuries, the army was destroyed, leaving only dust in its place.

As preordained, Illyria's sarcophagus was teleported to Los Angeles, but was held up at Customs. However, Doctor Sparrow blackmailed Gunn into releasing the sarcophagus. The release was the only event in which Sparrow was involved as he wasn't a worshipper of Illyria.

Knox, Illyria's self-fashioned Qwa'ha Xahn (High Priest) and the mastermind behind her resurrection, had the sarcophagus delivered to Fred at the Wolfram & Hart labs. Curiosity drew Fred to the sarcophagus, which released Illyria's essence into her body after she touched one of the coffin's embedded jewels.

Illyria's essence acted as an infection that liquified Fred's organs, hardened her skin and supposedly consumed her soul. After hours of agony, Fred's body was completely taken over by Illyria, who in the process absorbed her memories, likening them to "sparks". Illyria, with the aid of Knox, attempted to bring about the destruction of humans by resurrecting her vicious ancient army, but soon discovered that it had been destroyed long ago. Lost and without purpose, Illyria agreed to learn how to adjust to the modern world with the help of Wesley, who because of his grief felt drawn to the being that now had the same face as the woman he loved. Illyria spent her nights with the oft-drunk Wesley and her days wandering about Wolfram & Hart's corridors. During those times, her pastimes were talking to plants and training with Spike (or more accurately, beating him up).

Eventually, Illyria's power became too much for the shell to hold. To an outsider, the Old One appeared to be going mad. In truth, Illyria was being thrown out of linear progression of the time line, altering her perspective as the power sought a way to escape. This would eventually have caused Illyria to detonate with tremendous force. Wesley used a device called a "Mutari generator" to extract the power bleeding out of the shell, ending the threat, but this robbed the Old One of her former power even more than the loss of her monstrous form. Illyria lost her ability to alter time and talk to plants while her strength, speed, and durability were greatly reduced. Illyria grew bitter and was often sulky and withdrawn. She was even brutally beaten and humiliated by Marcus Hamilton, which fueled the Old One with anger and motivated her to join the final battle against the Senior Partners.

In the series finale, "Not Fade Away", when Wesley was dying, Illyria comforted him in Fred's form. Grieving for him, she violently dispatched his murderer. But this did not satisfy the vengeful deity who wished to do "more violence" from the uncontrollable grief over Wesley's death. Her wish was granted when the Senior Partners sent their army to destroy the gang and she joined their final battle against the Senior Partners.

According to Joss Whedon and Amy Acker, Illyria survived the final battle against the Senior Partners of Wolfram & Hart. Her current status is unknown.

Powers & abilities

Illyria in her true from, standing before her demon army

Illyria's full powers are unknown. Those seen on screen include:

• Altering the flow of time in any area she chose. Power stripped by Mutari generator.
• Creating portals between dimensions. Power stripped by Mutari generator.
• Communicating with flora. Power stripped by Mutari generator.
• Superhuman strength, agility and reflexes. Power diminished by Mutari generator.
• Hardened skin capable of withstanding forged weapons such as swords or axes Power Diminshed by Mutari Generator
• Altering her physical appereance on a basic level.
• Perceiving the emotional state of others.
• Ability to visually distinguish between humans, demons and non-humans.

Within Fred's body, she had tremendous strength, which Spike likened its blows to being hit by a Mack truck, as well as great speed witnessed by her ability to dodge Angel and Spike's combined assault as well as Wesley's gun-fire. She is also heavily armored. Illyria's reflexes are extraordinary and she is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant, with an ancient style likened by Spike to dashes of Tae Kwon Do and the fictional "Brazilian Ninjitsu" (Capoeira?). The limits of her strength are unknown, but physically she is dramatically stronger and faster than Angel or Spike.

File:Illyria1.jpg

Illyria's most astonishing power: altering the flow of time

Illyria's most devastating powers were the ability to open dimensional portals at will and the ability to selectively alter the flow of time. She frequently comments on the emotional states of others, which suggests a vague empathic ability combined with enhanced senses.

She also has the ablity to morph back into Fred at will even after her powers were drained and commented that she could take on other shapes. She apparently had the ability to communicate with flora and possibly other organisms.

There is also evidence that she can generate electricity.

In the episode titled "Underneath", Wesley comments on her not needing to sleep.

Illyria was also capable of distinguishing humans (or "primitives"), from vampires and other half-breeds, and even perceive that Marcus Hamilton was neither human nor demon, as she referred to him as a creature. Not even Angel or Spike, with their enhanced vampire senses, were capable of telling Hamilton wasn't human.

After being drained by the Mutari generator, Illyria's physical strength and durability were diminished, though still far above most forms of demon as proven in "Power Play". But most importantly, the majority of her more exotic powers (altering time and space) were lost, as well as her skin becoming as hard as steel; In the episode "The Girl In Question" Wesley comments on her not being invunerable anymore, and in "Power Play" during her fight with Hamilton she is cut on her neck (This is the wound Wesley tends to in "Not Fade Away" instead of having his one last, perfect day). The last episode hints that some energy-based powers may remain as witnessed by the charred remains of the devil Izzirial and other members of the Circle of the Black Thorn, as well as his vehicle. Although in the beginning where Illyria seemed nearly unstoppable, once her powers were weakened by Wesley, she seemed quite vulnerable. In fact, the liaison to the Senior Partners, Marcus Hamilton, actually was much stronger than Illyria in this form and bested her in combat in order to take Drogyn as a sacrifice for the Circle of the Black Thorn.

Romantic relationship

• Wesley Wyndam-Price. However, their "relationship" was not a true romantic relationship; the undertones of attraction were mostly based on Fred and Wesley's relationship, him wanting to be around the one part of his deceased love, and she being influenced by Fred's memories.

There is some speculation based on comments made by the actors and Joss Whedon that this relationship might have been explored further had there been a sixth season.

Appearances

Illyria has appeared in:

Angel

Illyria was a regular towards the end of the show's fifth season, first appearing in the episode A Hole in the World (episode 15) replacing Fred. Technically, since she is played by the same actress as Fred, it could be said that she was credited as a regular from her first appearance, but the first instance of the opening sequence showing Amy Acker specifically as Illyria and not Fred is in Underneath (episode 17). Illyria appears in 8 episodes in total. Actress Amy Acker has also been approached by Joss Whedon to reprise her role as Illyria for the possible Spike spin-off movie. According to most sources she agreed to be part of it, should the project ever be made.