Connor

Appearances

Television

In a seemingly impossible event, vampires Angel and Darla had a child, the end result being Connor, a human-like offspring of vampires and the first of his kind. Connor is introduced in the episode "Lullaby", when Darla sacrifices herself to give birth to him, by staking herself in the heart. Darla's sacrifice for their son allows Angel to make peace with her, and welcomes Connor into his life with hope for their family's future, especially since Angel is prophesied that he eventually become human again and thus one day a normal life as a father. However, Angel is apprehensive of what Connor might become, especially when he notices his son is not just healthy but also much stronger than human infants, which pains him to know that Connor is not normal (thus keeping him from being truly happy with his fatherhood, avoiding the risk of again losing his soul), yet loving him unconditionally. For the first few months of his life, Connor is jointly raised by Angel and his team, including Wesley and Cordelia. Different factions constantly target him. Connor is prophesied to destroy the time-shifting demon lord Sahjhan. In an attempt to negate the prophecy, he travels through time and rewrites the prophecy to read "The father will kill the son" in reference to Angel and Connor, and recruits Angelus's nemesis Daniel Holtz, whose family the vampire killed centuries ago with Darla. Wesley kidnaps the baby in a misguided effort to save his life from Angel, conveniently leading him into the hands of Holtz. Holtz steals the baby and is forced to escape to the hell dimension Quor'Toth: Darkest of the dark world.

Holtz raises Connor as his son and instills him with a deep hatred of Angel, although revealed later that he also occasionally abuses Connor when training him out of his hatred towards Connor's parents. As time runs more quickly in Quor'Toth, Connor ages at an accelerated rate in relation to time on Earth. Surviving the hell, a teenage Connor returns with the goal of avenging the Holtz family by killing Angel. After failing in his first attempt on Angel's life, Connor tentatively begins to reconcile with him. Fearful of the development, Holtz has himself killed by Justine Cooper in a manner that frames Angel for the action. In the finale "Tomorrow", an enraged Connor seals Angel in a metal box and sinks him to the bottom of the ocean.

The opening episode "Deep Down" picks up three months after last season. Angel returns, and Holtz' deception is revealed. Relations are shaky as Angel kicks Connor out of the house in punishment for sinking him, but secretly keeps a protective eye on him from afar. Stricken by the betrayal of his adoptive father and the apparent abandonment by his real one, Connor seeks solace in Cordelia's arms. When an all-powerful demon lord The Beast rises from the ground at the place he was born, Connor feels responsible. As The Beast causes fire to rain from the sky in an apparent apocalypse, Cordelia sleeps with Connor to give him some happiness before the end. While an apocalypse does not occur, Angel (also in love with Cordelia) doesn't take kindly to the development, causing another rift between him and Connor. Unbeknownst to all, Cordelia is possessed to be with Connor by a cosmic entity, Jasmine, looking to give herself birth in this world through their union. As Cordelia becomes pregnant and manipulates Connor into helping her sacrifice an innocent girl for their child, his inhuman actions begin conflicting with his inner good, accelerating his already deteriorating mental health.

Comics

The comic series Angel: After the Fall picks up immediately after the events of the television series. Connor is shown sprinting home as ordered by Angel. He debates going back but gets drawn into the battle when the whole city is sent to hell by the Senior Partners. A veteran of hell, Connor takes it upon himself to provide sanctuary to humans and good demons. Along to help him are the benevolent werewolf Nina Ash, the mutant Gwen Raiden, and the vampire Spike. Connor also becomes much closer to Angel as he joins his newest battle to wrestle back control of the city from Demon Lords. Part of the story centers on Connor and Gwen's romance, which ends when he discovers Gwen has betrayed the team.

Following the event, Gunn reverts Illyria to her demonic form, after which, Illyria decides to wholly collapse time and all existence. In an attempt to prevent Angel and his team from stopping Illyria, Gunn mortally wounds Connor. Connor pleads with Angel not to let the Senior Partners win and assures him that he is a good person despite being a vampire. Connor then dies in Angel's arms. He is restored to life when Angel provokes Gunn into killing him, forcing the Senior Partners to turn back time to the moment of the original alleyway fight in the television finale. All those who died in the time since the city was sent to hell come back to life, and all who experienced that time retain their memories.

Spike: After the Fall, a companion piece to Angel: After the Fall, shows how Connor came to form his alliance with Spike shortly after Los Angeles went to hell. Connor appears when Spike and Illyria are in a violent showdown with a group of demonic women. Catching the demon leader off-guard, he rescues the last human hostage and then has to be rescued by Spike. On their second encounter, the two strike up a connection immediately, leading to their joint crusade of saving the remaining humans. Connor is set to appear in the arcs of Angel and Faith.

Connor appears in the Family Reunion arc of Angel & Faith. Willow, on a quest to restore magic to herself and the world asks Angel and Faith to travel from London to LA with her so she can use the residual magic in Buffy's scythe and Connor's connection to Quor'toth to reopen the tear in reality at the Hyperion Hotel to get to a dimension that has magic. Angel and Faith agree to this in order to gain the piece of Giles's soul in the scythe, but will only help reopen the tear and go to Quor'toth if Connor agrees to it. Connor is living a normal life as a college student studying social work with a girlfriend. Though initially disappointed Angel ignored his attempts to contact his father, Connor is glad to have Angel in his life and realizes that his normal life is precious, but he still wants Angel to be a part of it. Angel is genuinely proud of the man his son has become. Connor agrees that magic needs to be returned to the world as the most vulnerable in society are already starting to lose hope without it.

Character development

Creation and casting

The intent for Connor's character was to put "Angel in an emotional space." He was meant to give Angel more to live for than just the usual "day to day" living he was experiencing. "Plus, I just love the idea of this embarrassing effect of a one-night stand,” Joss Whedon explained in his decision to introduce Angel's son. The character was given the Irish name Connor, meaning ‘counselor’ or 'helping warrior', to match Angel's Irish ancestry. Three different babies, triplets Connor, Jake, and Trenton Tupen, were chosen to portray Connor so that none of them had to remain on the set for very long.

Baby Connor was a main focus of season 3, but the creators were well aware of the limitations of a baby character. With Connor's initial role in plot decided, they came up with the concept of a 'teenage' version for further appearances.

Vincent Kartheiser, then 23, was looking for something more stable than the usual feature movies. He decided to audition after his agent sent him the role and tapes of all previous seasons. The producers wanted the character to be a surprise to audiences, so not even Kartheiser was informed that he was trying out for Angel's son. Instead he auditioned for a character created for the purpose of audition, ‘the Street Kid’, a normal teenager who had Angel as his guardian. "Right away everyone kind of had a good feeling about me joining the cast," Vincent says. "It seemed that I just fit right in." Kartheiser was excited after learning that his real role was 'Angel's son, a demon killer from Quor'toth.’ He was confused about his portrayal, thinking that the character was to have a "living-in-the-brush kind of ‘failed being’ attitude." Instead, he was told to just "stand up straight, [use a] normal voice," and let a regular boy come on. Vincent Kartheiser was initially contracted for three episodes with an option to pick him up further.

Characterization

Teenage Connor is an angry, brooding, intense, and volatile teenager who is vindictive towards Angel. Vincent Kartheiser described him as withdrawn and "not willing to open up to the group happiness everyone is so inclined to be part of". He also highlighted his alienation of this world and resulting caution and unwillingness to trust others. Tim Minear further characterizes Connor by his strong need for family which "means everything to this kid because he's never had one" and put emphasis on his "conflicted" personality triggered by his upbringing. David Fury and Minear also highlight Connor's similarity to Angel. Fury worked on the resemblance of strength, fighting style, and personality. Minear compared their trait of accepting responsibility even in the worst times. Intending to show Connor as a formidable fighter, Kelly A. Manners described him as "quite the hunter, quite the killer." Kartheiser notes him as "truly badass", and jokingly compares his fighting style to that of Jackie Chan. He is attracted to women older than him, which becomes a running gag in the series.

Connor, despite being the son of two vampires, is meant to be human, though with super powers, and therefore was not given the vampire makeup of the series. Kartheiser expresses his simultaneous joy and dismay at this, considering makeup an added benefit for the character and agreeing that the lack of it saved him much time. Connor was initially clad in clothes made of animal skin, said to resemble those of Peter Pan and Robin Hood. He was also wearing, as a trophy, a necklace made of parts of demons he killed in hell. After he settles in this world, he drops the necklace and is given more casual clothes: jeans, T-shirts, and jackets. The concept behind Connor's wardrobe was that, unconcerned with this world's fashion sense, he "just took whatever was available." Yet, one interviewer notices his clothing to be "conservative [..] for somebody who's never seen an advert". Connor's hairstyle at the start was short and choppy as if cut with a knife. Afterward he's given a modern and cleaner look with longer, styled hair. Kartheiser was critical of the new hair style, calling it "David Cassidy hair-do" and feeling it was a "little bit heavy'.

Connor undergoes dramatic changes in season 5. Very much an opposite to his earlier persona, the only features common with his previous self are his protectiveness of loved ones, attraction to older women, and later his fighting prowess. Otherwise he's a prosperous, sweet young man, due to his fake memories of a happy childhood. Jeffrey Bell wanted to highlight Connor's "well-adjusted" mentality for this season. Kartheiser called him a "happy" person and enjoyed the contrast with the previous "brooding" version. The comic book Connor develops in the same direction as he starts emerging a hero still keeping his pleasant personality. Joss Whedon characterizes the comic book Connor as "the closest thing to a superhero hell has" because he has powers without any of the weaknesses of the vampire, and is well adjusted. Brain considers him "one of the coolest characters in any series or comics".

Story progression

As is characteristic for Joss Whedon's characters, Connor goes through drastic changes with the series progression. Introduced as an 'impossible birth' at the start of season 3, as an infant the character still had little chance of his own development. So he became an agent for evolution of others; Darla through him, redeems herself of her villainous acts spanning two television series, and Wesley transform from a goofy sidekick to a brooding anti-hero. Once these developments came to fruition, the creators chose to upgrade Connor to a teen. Taking advantage of the fantasy genre, they were able to accelerate his growth within a few weeks of the show's normal timeline, thus not affecting the ages of the rest of the characters and setting up stage for the next act. The middle of season 3 sees the infant kidnapped by Angel's long-term adversary Holtz, who takes Connor to a hell dimension where "time moves differently," explains David Greenwalt. "We didn't want to raise a baby for 18 years."

Connor returns near the end of the season as a feral teenage warrior who is vindictive towards Angel. Connor's age at his return is disputed: both the creators and episodes vary between putting him at 16 and 18. Regarding Connor's upbringing, Mere Smith elaborates that "Holtz has brought up Connor to hate his father, his father is the devil as far as Holtz is concerned and he tells Connor that" This development allowed the writers to explore a unique 'foil' to protagonists because Connor was established to be "deep down" much like Angel himself. Minear goes on to explain with Smith that immediately following Connor's return from hell, Angel had started "converting the boy to his side," showing him that he's no longer a bad guy. Just when Connor is bonding with Angel, Holtz kills himself upon sensing the danger of their reconciliation. This makes Connor back track and sets off a back and forth pattern that continues to repeat till the end of season 4 with Cordelia and then Jasmine taking Holtz' position between father and son.

Much of Connor's development in seasons 3 and 4 is his continuous shifting alliances between protagonists and antagonists; he is unable to find his place or his purpose for being. Jeffrey Bell says that all the confusing and conflicting circumstances never allow Connor a break, which he thinks "makes him empathetic in midst of making all wrong choices". Steven S. DeKnight says: We really wanted to highlight [..] that he is a tragic victim of circumstance. He never had a childhood, he's been lied to and manipulated and in this episode we find out his whole reason for being was to bring this other thing into this world, so he's been played his entire life. You really root for him to make the right decision in this one, but you know tragic figure he doesn't.

Reception

Merchandise

Several pieces of merchandise, based on Angel television and comic series, featuring Connor have been released. These merchandise includes a few action figures, but more prominently novels and spin-off comic books. Connor stars as a regular in After the Fall's spin-off Aftermath and one-shot Angel Yearbook. He is the title character of Connor: Spotlight. Continuing his appearances in other media, Connor stars in novels Dark Mirror, Love and Death, and Monolith. These appearances, though a part of official merchandise, are not considered canon.

Reviews

The show's cast and crew repeatedly praised Vincent Kartheiser for his professionalism and ability to bring much to his character. "You can bet the family fortune on this kid, he can really do it," stated director Vern Gillum. Producer Tim Minear described Vincent as one of the main reasons of their avoidance of giving the character a ghastly send-off as planned before, “We’ve all grown so fond of the character and the actor that we didn’t want do that.” Although fans and critics reception to Kartheiser's portrayal of the disturbed teen was also very positive, the character and his storylines turned out to be controversial.

His sexual relationship with his surrogate mother, Cordelia, particularly evoked attention. Most responses to this couple were negative. Darkworlds.com's columnist Amy Berner declared them a "finalist in the Most Disturbing Couple In Television History". In her academic essay "The Assassination of Cordelia Chase," Jennifer Crusie complained that this plot line led to the destruction of Cordelia's character. Charisma Carpenter herself, despite previously noted to have fun portraying the role, became critical of the storyline over time, declaring her character's seduction of a teenage boy creepy. Yet, a few gave a positive response. Liz Gasto of Moviefreak.com included the Angel–Cordelia–Connor triangle in the plus points of fourth season. Underland.com praised the plot line as a "very King Arthur like tale of love and betrayal." Another group was neutral towards the development. In his book Blood Relations: Chosen Families in Buffy and Angel, Jes Battis simply observed that the relationship completes the already present "circuit of erotic incest within Buffy and Angel." Jean Lorrah, in her academic essay "A World Without Love: The Failure of Family in Angel," agreed with previous statements, further noting that Connor is the product of a relationship with incestuous tones: "Angel is seduced by Darla, formerly his sire (mother), now his granddaughter [..] Connor's life, unbeknownst to either parent, has begun."

Connor's characterization and main storyline with his father in seasons 3 and 4 received mixed reviews. Ben from thescifichristian.com was not fond of the initial episodes with baby Connor because Angel wasted time "baby-talking," but he loved the development with teenage Connor, “The [third] season ends with a great storyline as Connor returns [..] and betrays Angel.” Jes Battis praised the father/son dynamics and described as “highly dramatic and (engagingly perverse)”. Journalist Sarah D. Bunting called Connor "a frustrating character" and wrote that while she "gets where he is coming from" and his ”twitchy, PTSD-ish interactions ring true", they become old too quick due to lack of real development of character and the relationship with Angel for most of season 4. Kartheiser himself expressed this development concern, but he said that "Towards the end of the season I was really happy about the chances I was getting." This last statement is echoed in Jamie Pool's review, who called the “ending” to Connor "emotionally satisfying", despite noting him to not have been particularly endearing through most of the remaining season. S.Wiebe of eclipsemagazine.com, described Connor’s overall characterization "sharp" with "really intriguing sub-textual material" and among the saving graces of the season. Strega of Television Without Pity, also praised the character's psychology, "The thing I like most is that they've not only created a teenager who doesn't just feel like he's the most alienated person in the world -- he actually is," and "I love how unloved Connor [thinks he] is…” Jean Lorrah described the Darla-Angel-Connor-Jasmine arc as "surely one of the most ambitious story arcs any television show has ever attempted“ Stacey Abbott of PopMatters called the Darla-Angel-Connor storyline "provocative" and "pure family melodrama". Cityofangels.com's Tara DiLullo summed up:

Analysis

Connor has been analyzed and compared with other male characters of the series in terms of the presentation and evolution of masculinity in fiction. His sexual relation with his surrogate mother, coupled with his struggles to kill his father, led to numerous speculations that mythical Greek figure Oedipus was the inspiration for the character. and references to Arthurian Legend were also made. In Erin B. Waggoner's book Sexual rhetoric in the works of Joss Whedon, he found it interesting that the ancient Oedipus complex continues to be used as a way to underscore one's masculinity, but he added that "Connor is not the only one [..] Angel, Wes, Spike and even Fred (through Gunn) kill father or father figures in order to come into their own as individuals." Further citing Gwen's role among Connor and Gunn in the comic series triangle, he observed the unrelenting use of women as a device for men to shore up.

Stacey Abbott of PopMatters cited David Greenwalt's statement that "Angel is about how hard it is to be a man." Greenwalt observed that the show raises questions about what it means to be a man and does this not only through the characterization of Angel but also the men around him. He said that like other male characters, taken alone Connor may seem a stereotypical teen boy, but considered with rest of the cast offers a complex image of modern masculinity. Greenwalt also compared Connor's journey with others in terms of identity, which he considers a poignant theme within the series. He found it ironic that Connor who was "initially the most damaged of all the characters", was the only one able to "reconcile his actions and new man existence together" and be at peace with himself in the end.