Angel/Spike

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Pairing
Pairing: Angel/Spike
Alternative name(s): Spangel, Angelus/William, Spangelus
Gender category: slash
Fandom: Angel the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Canonical?: Debated
Prevalence: popular
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Angel/Spike is the slash pairing between the vampires Angel and Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series fandom. This pairing is also knwon by the name smoosh "Spangel". When Spike is paired with Angel's evil and unsouled alter ego Angelus, the ship goes by "Spangelus".

Canon

In BtVS season two, during their first confrontation, Angel pretends to be Angelus and uses Xander as bait to get close to Spike. When Spike sees the trap, he reacts violently and ends up speaking one of the most influential sentences in the history of this pairing: "You were my Sire man! My Yoda!".

Angel and Spike have known each other since 1880, when Drusilla first sired Spike. In flashbacks, Angelus admits to wondering what it'd be like to kill innocents "with another man" and asks a newly sired Spike if he thinks that makes him a deviant. As Spike's line in School Hard suggests, they once had a close relationship that soured as the two men consistently found themselves in competition with one another. Their relationship is based on a lot of jealousy for the women they are involved with and anger at real or perceived crimes against one another.

In Sunnydale, Spike and Angel's relationship was portrayed primarily as antagonistic, although neither tries to seriously kill the other, despite much threats and posturing. In AtS season five, a newly resurrected and souled Spike haunts the offices of Wolfram & Hart and their relationship remains antagonistic. Their rivalry is now centred on who is the more noble Souled Vampire and which of them is more deserving of the redemption promised by the Shanshu prophecy. But, they also continue to fight over Buffy, despite Buffy not appearing in season 5.

Fandom

The Sire Debacle

Following Spike's first appearance, the fandom widely accepted the fact that Angel was the one who turned Spike into a vampire. This "canon" was driven by Spike's line, "You were my Sire man! My Yoda!". As a result, a lot of fanfiction was written where Spike and Angel shared a Sire/Childe bond, could feel each other's emotions or something similar along those lines.

When it was revealed in season four of BtVS that Spike was actually turned by Drusilla, the popular consensus among the Angel/Spike shippers was that while Drusilla did the actual turning it was Angelus who trained and mentored Spike, resulting in the two of them developing what should be a Sire/Childe relationship. Some fans believe this fanon was confirmed in Season five of AtS, when Spike said to Angel, "Drusilla sired me, but you.. you made me a monster".

Another (just as popular) approach is to simply ignore the canon and write as if Angel turned Spike.[1]

Canon or Fanon?

There is a lot of subtextual evidence to support a romantic and/or sexual relationship between Angel and Spike but many fans of this pairing point to certain scenes and episodes as canon confirmation of this ship. The most widely discussed example occurs in season 5 of Angel the Series, when Spike states that, "Angel and me have never been intimate. Except that once...".

Many Spangel fans view their ship as canon because of this one line. There are also some Spangel fans who believe this line specifically refers to Angel, ie. Spike has been intimate with the souled vampire once, but the fandom assumes he was previously in an intimate relationship with the unsouled Angelus. This allows many Spangel fics to avoid being jossed, as it was fanon that Angel ended his sexual relationship with Spike when he regained his soul.

Still there are sections of the fandom who argue that this is not canon evidence of a Spangel relationship.

There's quite a discussion going on at Whedonesque on slash in the Buffyverse - most of it having to do with whether or not the "There was that one time..." comment by Spike in AtS S5 constitutes canon Spangel. A surprising number of people are weighing in on the 'no' side. Well, surprising to me - it seems to be more or less accepted on LJ that Spangel happened at one point or another. (Does this mean there's a world outside LJ?!?)[2]

There was an additional nod to canon Spangel in the Season 8 comics. Referencing an X-rated dream she had, Buffy tells Angel and Spike that she liked it better when they were kissing. Spike replies, "I'm fairly certain I never mentioned..."

Common Fanfic Tropes

One of the common fanfic tropes is for Spike to turn to Angel when he needs help or is desperate and Angel stepping in and helping and comforting Spike. This trope was especially common in works set after Spike was chipped, or after Spike's soul was restored. When this trope is used, the Sire/Childe bond is often at play as well.

Variations of Spike's siring often appear in fanworks. Sometimes Angelus meets a human William and seduces him, before siring him. In other works, he interrupts Drusilla and sires William himself. Even in works where Spike has been sired by Drusilla, Angelus takes a more prominent role in mentoring the young vampire and this can lead to a sexual relationship set pre-canon. Historical flashbacks are often employed by fic writers to explain the tension between characters in present day. Also Daddy kink is somewhat common, due to their pseudo familial relationship.

In canon, these characters are often rivals and are shown to be physically violent towards one another on many occasions. In fanworks, similar depictions of violence are common, and there are a large amount of works focusing on the two in a BDSM relationship. The arrival of Spike at Wolfram and Hart lead to the appearance case fic works in this pairing.

There are also fics where one of these characters has become human, after fulfilling the Shanshu prophecy. Sometimes they remember their previous vampire life and other times they have amnesia or altered memories. The other character often has an unhealthy obsession with the newly human version of their former enemy. This can include Spike siring a human Angel, or Angel stalking a human Spike.

Very often Angel will also start referring to Spike as Will (or Wil), especially if the fic uses Spike after he got his soul back.

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References

  1. ^ The Siring Issue, By Tania.
  2. ^ Joss on Slash by desoto-hia873, Jan 20 2006.
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