Allen Francis Doyle
Encyclopedia
Allen Francis Doyle is a fictional character
created by Joss Whedon
for the cult television series, Angel
. The character was portrayed by Glenn Quinn
.
Later, he was approached by a fellow Brachen demon, Lucas, who told Doyle the Scourge, a militant group of pure blood demons, was after all half-breeds and begged for Doyle's help. Doyle turned Lucas away, believing this wasn't his problem. Soon after he received a vision, which he described as "splittin' migraines that come with pictures". The vision showed him a group of massacred Brachen demons. Doyle searched the city to find out if what he had seen was real – it was. These visions, which come from The Powers That Be, are what led Doyle to Angel. As Doyle says, "We all got something to atone for," and therefore the two join forces to fight evil in Los Angeles
. Once Cordelia Chase
joins the team, Angel Investigations
is officially formed.
Doyle soon falls in love with Cordelia, but is afraid she will reject him upon finding out about his demonic heritage, especially when she makes it clear on multiple occasions that she considers all demons evil. He also forms a close, brotherly bond with Angel, although his combat skills were limited due to his dislike of his demon half, which meant that he rarely transformed despite the greater strength he possessed in that form. Despite Doyle's reluctance to discuss his past, Angel and Cordelia learn about him when Harriet returns to his life, wanting a divorce so she can marry an Ano-Movic demon named Richard Howard Straley, though she ultimately calls off the engagement after learning that obtaining the blessing of the Straley clan would require Richard to kill Doyle by eating his brain.
Doyle's past again comes back to haunt him when the Scourge returns, threatening the Listers, another tribe of human/demon hybrids. During the battle, Doyle sacrifices his own life to save his friends, the Listers, and the entire city of Los Angeles
from the Beacon, a device which could destroy any being "tainted" with human blood. In doing so, Doyle fulfills the Listers' prophecy of the "Promised One," the bringer purported to save them from the Scourge in the last days of the 20th century. Before Doyle dies, he shares a passionate kiss with Cordelia (who had only recently learned of – and accepted – Doyle's demonic heritage). Unbeknownst to her, he was also passing his visions on to her.
After Doyle's death, he briefly appears in the third season episode "Birthday" and the fifth season episode "You're Welcome," the former in a flashback and the latter courtesy of the Angel Investigations commercial he and Cordelia had made before he died, which Cordelia watches as she reflects on the team's history. In "Birthday", it is revealed that, in the alternate timeline that Cordelia has been sent to, Doyle passed his visions on to Angel before his death, and their power, along with the absence of Cordelia's humanizing influence, drove him insane.
In the fifth season of Angel
, Lindsey McDonald
assumes Doyle's identity in an ultimately failed attempt to convince Angel and the others, that Spike, not Angel, is the subject of the Shanshu Prophecy. Angel and Cordelia both display great anger at this abuse of Doyle's name and legacy.
from normal human to demonic appearance (red eyes and green skin adorned with blue spikes), in which he has heightened sense of smell and superior strength, speed, stamina, and dexterity, the last of which allows him to twist his head around in such a manner as to fake a broken neck. However, Doyle rarely used his Brachen powers, preferring to remain human, thus limiting his usefulness in a fight.
Angel
:Doyle was a series regular for part of the show's first season (1999). He appeared in 9 episodes overall. After the events of "Parting Gifts", he disappeared from the opening credits.
Archived footage of the character appears in the episodes, "Birthday
" and "You're Welcome
".
In July 2006, IDW Comics
released Doyle: Spotlight
.
Doyle is also a main character in the following comics (ordered by chronology):
Novels
Doyle is a main character in the following novels (ordered by chronology):
The Buffy/Angel crossover book, Monster Island
, set in the third season of Angel
also includes a story linked to Doyle and his father- who, ironically, is a pure-blood supremacist
who wanted to purge Doyle of his human half. Having learned of his son's death, Doyle's father- a full Brachen demon called Axtius, possessing sufficient strength to even go head-to-head with Angel in a fight- sends several demons to attack Harry, sending her to the hospital, and subsequently attempts to kill Angel, blaming him for his son's 'foolish attempt to save a pack of pitiful half-breeds'. In their final confrontation, Angel defeats Axtius when unarmed despite Axtius wielding a powerful mystical weapon, taunting the Brachen by saying that he would have been ashamed of Doyle's very human act of sacrifice and redemption, Axtius subsequently being incinerated by his former second-in-command for his failure.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
created by Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
for the cult television series, Angel
Angel (TV series)
Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
. The character was portrayed by Glenn Quinn
Glenn Quinn
Glenn Martin Christopher Francis Quinn was an Irish actor in television and film, known for playing Mark Healy in the American sitcom Roseanne, and Doyle, a half-demon, on the 1999–2004 television series Angel, a spin-off series of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Early life:Quinn...
.
Character history
Doyle was born to a human mother and a Brachen demon father. Doyle never knew his father or anyone on that side of his family, and his own demonic genes didn't physically manifest themselves until he was 21 years old. At that time, Doyle was a third grade teacher and a soup kitchen volunteer married to a woman named Harriet. He didn't take the news of his demonic heritage very well. In spite of Harriet's acceptance of his other side, his marriage ultimately disintegrated. Doyle hid behind the flimsy veneer of a ne'er-do-well hustler and con artist, seemingly more interested in where his next drink was coming from than helping others.Later, he was approached by a fellow Brachen demon, Lucas, who told Doyle the Scourge, a militant group of pure blood demons, was after all half-breeds and begged for Doyle's help. Doyle turned Lucas away, believing this wasn't his problem. Soon after he received a vision, which he described as "splittin' migraines that come with pictures". The vision showed him a group of massacred Brachen demons. Doyle searched the city to find out if what he had seen was real – it was. These visions, which come from The Powers That Be, are what led Doyle to Angel. As Doyle says, "We all got something to atone for," and therefore the two join forces to fight evil in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Once Cordelia Chase
Cordelia Chase
Cordelia Chase is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer; she also appeared on Buffy's spin-off series Angel...
joins the team, Angel Investigations
Angel Investigations
Angel Investigations is a fictional detective agency run by the title character Angel previously on the WB television series Angel . It is sometimes abbreviated as AI...
is officially formed.
Doyle soon falls in love with Cordelia, but is afraid she will reject him upon finding out about his demonic heritage, especially when she makes it clear on multiple occasions that she considers all demons evil. He also forms a close, brotherly bond with Angel, although his combat skills were limited due to his dislike of his demon half, which meant that he rarely transformed despite the greater strength he possessed in that form. Despite Doyle's reluctance to discuss his past, Angel and Cordelia learn about him when Harriet returns to his life, wanting a divorce so she can marry an Ano-Movic demon named Richard Howard Straley, though she ultimately calls off the engagement after learning that obtaining the blessing of the Straley clan would require Richard to kill Doyle by eating his brain.
Doyle's past again comes back to haunt him when the Scourge returns, threatening the Listers, another tribe of human/demon hybrids. During the battle, Doyle sacrifices his own life to save his friends, the Listers, and the entire city of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
from the Beacon, a device which could destroy any being "tainted" with human blood. In doing so, Doyle fulfills the Listers' prophecy of the "Promised One," the bringer purported to save them from the Scourge in the last days of the 20th century. Before Doyle dies, he shares a passionate kiss with Cordelia (who had only recently learned of – and accepted – Doyle's demonic heritage). Unbeknownst to her, he was also passing his visions on to her.
After Doyle's death, he briefly appears in the third season episode "Birthday" and the fifth season episode "You're Welcome," the former in a flashback and the latter courtesy of the Angel Investigations commercial he and Cordelia had made before he died, which Cordelia watches as she reflects on the team's history. In "Birthday", it is revealed that, in the alternate timeline that Cordelia has been sent to, Doyle passed his visions on to Angel before his death, and their power, along with the absence of Cordelia's humanizing influence, drove him insane.
In the fifth season of Angel
Angel (TV series)
Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
, Lindsey McDonald
Lindsey McDonald
Lindsey McDonald is a fictional character from the television series Angel. He first appeared in the series' first episode, "City of," and featured prominently in the story arcs of seasons one, two, and five. Lindsey is the only character besides Angel himself to appear in both the first and last...
assumes Doyle's identity in an ultimately failed attempt to convince Angel and the others, that Spike, not Angel, is the subject of the Shanshu Prophecy. Angel and Cordelia both display great anger at this abuse of Doyle's name and legacy.
Powers and abilities
Doyle is a seer who receives prophetic visions from The Powers That Be, usually of people in peril; though the visions cause him great pain, his demon heritage allows him to manage them without suffering any permanent damage. His half-Brachen demon physiology grants him the ability to shiftShapeshifting
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...
from normal human to demonic appearance (red eyes and green skin adorned with blue spikes), in which he has heightened sense of smell and superior strength, speed, stamina, and dexterity, the last of which allows him to twist his head around in such a manner as to fake a broken neck. However, Doyle rarely used his Brachen powers, preferring to remain human, thus limiting his usefulness in a fight.
Writing and acting
- Originally, it was Whistler, an ambiguous demon seen in the Buffy episode "Becoming, Part One," who was to be a supporting character in the spin-off series starring Angel, but instead, the character of Doyle was created with similar character traits.
- Quinn was asked if he knew Doyle was Irish before he auditioned, he responded "I went and I read it in American and [Joss Whedon] said 'Hey, let's do it in Irish and see where it takes us.'.. The Irish thing just really clicked.
- Whedon considered killing off Doyle early on from the opening episodes, "That was always a plan, and clearly that character didn't mesh. He was a very popular character, but the mesh was very difficult in ways that made it hard to write. Glenn had a kind of intensity that was kind of like David [Boreanaz's], and David already has that. It could have gone a different way, but that was the plan we had and we decided to execute it. Glenn Quinn knew that it was an issue and he learned pretty early on. I said this is what we're going to do...' and I promised him a hero's exit."
- At the TCA Writer's Guild of America West party in 2000, supervising producer David FuryDavid FuryDavid Fury is an American television Screenwriter and Producer, best known for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Lost, 24, and Fringe.Fury was a Co-executive producer and Writer for the first season of Lost...
stated, "Joss has bandied about, 'I love the idea of putting a character in the main credits as one of the stars of the show and then kill him right off the bat.' But in the case of Doyle, he didn't want to kill off Doyle. It just became a situation. The work situation became difficult... It's hard enough to make a television show without the headaches."http://www.post-gazette.com/tv/20000725owen.asp - In an interview in Dreamwatch #118, David FuryDavid FuryDavid Fury is an American television Screenwriter and Producer, best known for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Lost, 24, and Fringe.Fury was a Co-executive producer and Writer for the first season of Lost...
discussed plans for Doyle to return to the show, perhaps in the role of a "big badBig BadBig Bad is a term originally used by the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series to describe a major recurring adversary, usually the chief villain or antagonist in a particular broadcast season...
." However, Quinn died before anything could come of the talks.
Canonical appearances
Doyle has appeared in:Angel
Angel (TV series)
Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
:Doyle was a series regular for part of the show's first season (1999). He appeared in 9 episodes overall. After the events of "Parting Gifts", he disappeared from the opening credits.
Archived footage of the character appears in the episodes, "Birthday
Birthday (Angel episode)
"Birthday" is episode 11 of season 3 in the television show Angel. Written by Mere Smith and directed by Michael Grossman, it was originally broadcast on January 14, 2002 on the WB network. In "Birthday", Cordelia has a precognitive vision so painful that she goes into a coma...
" and "You're Welcome
You're Welcome (Angel episode)
"You're Welcome" is the twelfth episode of season five of the television show Angel. Written and directed by David Fury, it is the 100th episode of the series, and originally broadcast on February 4, 2004 on the WB network. In "You're Welcome", former series regular Charisma Carpenter returns as a...
".
Non-canonical appearances
ComicsIn July 2006, IDW Comics
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing, also known as Idea + Design Works, LLC and IDW, is an American publisher of comic books and comic strip collections. The company was founded in 1999 and has been awarded the title "Publisher of the Year Under 5% Market Share" for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 by Diamond Comic...
released Doyle: Spotlight
Doyle: Spotlight (Angel comic)
Doyle: Spotlight is a comic based on the television series Angel. This title, along with the others in IDW Publishing's Spotlight series, was collected in the Angel: Spotlight trade paperback.-Summary:...
.
Doyle is also a main character in the following comics (ordered by chronology):
- Surrogates, Earthly Possessions, Angel #4, Hunting GroundHunting Ground (Angel comic)Hunting Ground is a trade paperback collecting comic stories based on the Angel television series.-General synopsis:A murderer is leaving corpses across L.A. sewers, and the evidence found by Detective Kate Lockley suggests Angel is responsible. Angel does not know which demon or monster is trying...
Novels
Doyle is a main character in the following novels (ordered by chronology):
- Not ForgottenNot Forgotten (Angel novel)Not Forgotten is an original novel based on the U.S. television series Angel.-Plot summary:Los Angeles is being struck by a crime wave. There seems to be no link between the victims and their cause of death - burning from the inside out. Supernatural powers seem to be involved.Angel investigates...
, Close to the GroundClose to the Ground (Angel novel)Close to the Ground is an original novel based on the U.S. television series Angel.-Plot summary:After saving a young woman from her rogue bodyguards, Angel is hired by a big Hollywood studio head, Jack Willitts, to guard the girl in question; his daughter, Karinna...
, Soul TradeSoul Trade (Angel novel)Soul Trade is an original novel based on the U.S. television series Angel. Tagline: "The black market is trading on humanity."-Plot summary:...
, RedemptionRedemption (Angel novel)Redemption is an original novel based on the U.S. television series Angel. Tagline: "History can repeat itself."-Plot summary:A wealthy actress, Whitney Tyler, requests the help of Angel, Cordelia, and Doyle...
, ShakedownShakedown (Angel novel)Shakedown is an original novel based on the U.S. television series Angel.-Plot summary:Doyle has a vision of a seismic shift, and everyone's guard goes up. After investigation, Angel is led to a group of Serpentine demons who live locally in a wealthy and private community...
, Hollywood NoirHollywood Noir (Angel novel)Hollywood Noir is an original novel based on the U.S. television series Angel.-Plot summary:A decayed corpse at a Hollywood construction site appears to be a harbinger of more supernatural evil. Meanwhile, Doyle has a vision which leads him to a strange address. He, Angel and Cordelia start...
, AvatarAvatar (Angel novel)Avatar is a novel by John Passarella set in the fictional universe of the U.S. television series Angel.-Plot summary:Cordelia suggests beginning a Web site for their detective agency, but Angel is hesitant—as Doyle points out, "people in trouble want to interface with a face." Meanwhile the police...
, BrujaBruja (Angel novel)Bruja is an original novel based on the U.S. television series Angel.-Plot summary:L.A. is shocked when a woman attacks a priest. The woman had just confessed to the priest that she had murdered her own son. Meanwhile, Angel and Co. get reports of a woman fighting with teens across L.A. The woman...
, and The SummonedThe Summoned (Angel novel)The Summoned is an original novel based on the U.S. television series Angel. Tagline: "Who is next to be marked for death?"-Plot summary:...
The Buffy/Angel crossover book, Monster Island
Monster Island (Buffy/Angel novel)
Monster Island is an original novel based on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. The plot revolves around the Scooby Gang and the Angel Investigations team joining forces to defeat General Axtius, the father of Angel's deceased ally Doyle.-Plot summary:Doyle's pureblood...
, set in the third season of Angel
Angel (TV series)
Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
also includes a story linked to Doyle and his father- who, ironically, is a pure-blood supremacist
Supremacy
Supremacy may refer to:* Supremacism, a philosophy that one is superior to others, so dominate, control or rule those who are not* Acts of Supremacy, 16th century laws in England concerning King Henry VIII and the church...
who wanted to purge Doyle of his human half. Having learned of his son's death, Doyle's father- a full Brachen demon called Axtius, possessing sufficient strength to even go head-to-head with Angel in a fight- sends several demons to attack Harry, sending her to the hospital, and subsequently attempts to kill Angel, blaming him for his son's 'foolish attempt to save a pack of pitiful half-breeds'. In their final confrontation, Angel defeats Axtius when unarmed despite Axtius wielding a powerful mystical weapon, taunting the Brachen by saying that he would have been ashamed of Doyle's very human act of sacrifice and redemption, Axtius subsequently being incinerated by his former second-in-command for his failure.