Illyria is a supporting character in Season 5 of Angel.
She is portrayed by Amy Acker.
Originating before humans ever existed, Illyria was an Old One and a god of Earth. Competing with her fellow pure blood demons, she made her temple and empire in the land that would eventually become modern-day California. However, she was eventually defeated and sealed away in the Deeper Well. Despite this, her Army of Doom survived and she hoped to use it to reconquer Earth. In order to do this, she arranged for her coffin to be teleported into Wolfram and Hart, where it was taken by the science division.
Winifred “Fred” Burkle, the lead researcher of the firm, investigated the coffin. However, when she got close to it, a mysterious gas leaked into her mouth and nose, infecting her with an immensely powerful virus. Fred was taken to the hospital, but the doctors said it would be impossible to cure her. Wolfram and Hart employees Knox and Sparrow had secretly been working for Illyria the whole time. Sparrow was killed by Angel Investigations. As Fred finally succumbed to the virus, her lover Wesley held her in his arms, and she asked him why she couldn’t stay. Suddenly, she underwent a transformation as Illyria took over, remarking, “This will do.”
After, she defeated Wesley and went to find Knox, her servant and devoted high priest. Illyria was accosted by Angel Investigations, including Angel, Spike, Wesley, and others, as well as many Wolfram and Hart employees. Angel offered peace if Illyria left Fred’s body and departed from Earth, but she declined, stopping time and escaping with Knox. Upon reaching the right location to open a portal to her pocket dimension, Angel Investigations followed and had a final attempt to stop her. Wesley shot and killed Knox during the fight. Angel and Spike attacked Illyria with swords, but she easily overpowered them and made way to her Army of Doom.
However, upon reaching her dimension, she found that the Army of Doom had been destroyed long ago, reduced to ashes and stone. Despairing, she surrendered to Wesley, who had followed her, and agreed to let him help her live in the real world.
Angel assigned her training to Spike, who was willing to let Illyria brutalize him. During these sparring sessions, she bonded with Spike, and even expressed a desire to keep him as her pet.
Afterwards, she would work with Angel Investigations in various ways. Firstly, she saved Charles Gunn from Wolfram and Hart’s holding dimension, bringing him back into the fold. However, she would quickly begin to lose control of her ability to manipulate time, which caused her to jump around through timelines. Eventually, this ended with Wesley using the Mutari Generator in order to stop Illyria from detonating due to a power overload. The downside was that this drained Illyria of many of her powers.
Weeks later, she would aid Angel Investigations against the Circle of the Black Thorn, and was tasked with protecting Drogyn the Battlebrand. However, when the Child of the Senior Partners named Marcus Hamilton arrived for him, Illyria was severely injured in the fight. Afterwards, she killed her respective targets in the Circle, then went to help Wesley fight the demon warlock Cyvus Vail. She arrived just as he was mortally wounded, turning into Fred’s form to comfort him in her final moments.
Immediately after, Cyvus Vail laughed and taunted Illyria. He told her to take her best shot, expecting nothing. However, Illyria reverted to her true form an shattered Vail’s head with a single punch. Following that encounter, she regrouped with Angel, Spike, and Gunn, all of whom were waiting in the alley behind the Hyperion Hotel, the exact same place where Angel had defeated the Slayer Faith Lehane years before. The army of the Senior Partners arrived, ready to end all opposition. She expressed grief over Wesley’s death, as well as a desire to do more violence. As Angel dealt the first blow to the demon army, Illyria joined.
