The Powers That Be (Angel)

The Powers That Be is a euphemism for the enigmatic and ancient forces that assist the side of good in the WB television series Angel.

Related Topics:
Euphemism - WB - Television - Angel

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The first mention of The Powers That Be (or, "the Powers" for short) came in season one of Angel, when a half-human, half-demon named Doyle made contact with Angel and claimed that the Powers send him visions of people in trouble who needed Angel's help. The visions are extremely powerful, come at random times, and cause extreme pain in the recipient.

Related Topics:
Human - Demon - Doyle - Angel - Visions

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Presumably, The Powers That Be also had a hand in granting Angel a second chance at being a vampire when in season 1, as a result of contacting a powerful demon's blood, his humanity is restored and he experiences an entire day with his love, Buffy. In the end, Angel realizes that with him being a human, he cannot battle the forces of darkness and appeals to a pair of very powerful entities known as the Oracles. They grant him a way back to becoming a vampire by paying the price of having to bear the memory of the life that he could have had. It also seems quite possible, in retrospect that this may have been the fulfilling of the shanshu prophecy, introduced in Angel, Season One, since in this final battle, Angel becomes human.

Related Topics:
Buffy - Oracles - Angel, Season One

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Though Angel never made contact with the Powers themselves, he did communicate with them via proxies, so-called Oracles on several occasions, including after the death of Doyle. The Oracles, a pair of Greek god-like entities, told Angel that Doyle died as a hero and cannot be brought back, but that "as one door closes, another opens." Later it is revealed that Doyle passed his visions to Cordelia shortly before his death, via a kiss. Lorne was also gifted by the Powers with the power to read an entity's soul while that person is singing.

Related Topics:
Proxies - Hero - Cordelia - Kiss - Lorne

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For two seasons (mid-season one to mid-season three), Cordelia received visions from the Powers nearly weekly. The more time that progressed, it became increasingly obvious that the visions were killing her. She had to take extremely powerful pain killers just to deal with the headaches. However, she bravely and altruistically considered the visions as a gift, her contribution to the fight against evil. In early season three, Angel made contact with another proxy of the Powers, a powerful and imposing yet pleasantly mannered demon named Skip.

Related Topics:
Pain killers - Headaches - Bravely - Altruistically - Evil - Skip

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Midway through season three, in the episode "Birthday", Cordelia has a vision which knocks her into a coma and while unconscious, is visited by Skip who reveals that humans are not strong enough to bear the visions. Though tempted by the prospect of a normal life, Cordelia decides that she will allow Skip to make her part-demon (a hybrid) so that she may continue to carry the visions. And the end of season three, in the episode "Tomorrow", Skip returns and informs Cordelia that because of her selfless actions, she is to ascend to the higher realms and to become one of the Powers herself.

Related Topics:
"Birthday" - Coma - Hybrid - "Tomorrow"

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However, in season four it becomes clear that Skip's actions were part of a conspiracy. Through many plot twists, Cordelia appears to become evil, and Angel captures Skip who reveals that most of the important plot points of the enitre series were put into motion by one of the Powers. Cordelia then gives birth to Jasmine and slips into another coma. Jasmine claims that she is a member of The Powers that Be. She explains that long ago, the primeval forces that are now considered good and evil took shape. The forces for good (the Powers), however, were content to watch from an alternate reality, only directing the remaining forces for good on Earth and not taking an active part in the battle against evil. Jasmine was a renegade who decided to take matters into her own hands and impose peace on Earth through mind control. Once her plans are thwarted by Angel and his team, Jasmine is upset with Angel and tries to impart to him that there is no absolute good, no absolute evil--everything is a grey area. This philosophy seems to defy the conventional wisdom of the series. At this point, it is unclear whether this is Jasmine's personal philosophy or the philosophy of the other Powers That Be as well.

Related Topics:
Conspiracy - Jasmine - Coma - Earth - Philosophy

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The last mention of the Powers occurred in season five, when Cordelia awoke from her coma, in the episode "You're Welcome", thanks to an incredibly powerful vision from the Powers. At the end of the episode, Cordelia commented that the Powers "owed her one", apparently lending credence to the idea the Jasmine's actions did not represent the will of the other Powers that Be.

Related Topics:
Coma - "You're Welcome"

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And then again in the last two episodes of the series when Angel reveals that after a kiss of true love with Coredelia shortly before her death he received one final vision from The Powers That Be concerning the Circle of the Black Thorn, the leading conductors of the Senior Partners? activities on Earth.

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As with many of the primeval forces which shape the Buffyverse and its back story, very little of the actual nature of The Powers That Be was ever revealed though according to Jasmine they along with the Old Ones were the first beings on Earth and when the Earth was turned into a demon realm they fled to what is presumably the present almost inaccessible dimension they dwell in.

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