Drusilla

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Drusilla's history unfolds in flashbacks scattered among numerous episodes of both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel; they are not presented in chronological order. In "Lie to Me", Angel explains that, in 1860 when he was still Angelus, he became obsessed with Drusilla, a beautiful young Catholic woman who lived with her parents and two sisters in London. Angelus's sire Darla first discovered Drusilla, and presented her to Angelus as a new possible victim to torment. At first, Angelus suspected Drusilla of being a burgeoning saint, but he learned that she instead had psychic abilities (an uncommon but confirmed power of random humans in the Buffyverse), and was capable of occasionally foretelling the future, especially tragic situations. However, she believed this to be an evil affliction and wished to enter a nunnery to cleanse herself. Angelus sensed her purity and became obsessed with destroying her, as Drusilla had the potential for sainthood. Angelus first made contact with her by murdering Drusilla's priest, and impersonating him when she went to confession. When she confessed that she believed her abilities were evil, Angelus toyed with her by suggesting she embrace the evil instead of rejecting it. At some later point Angelus tortured and killed Drusilla's entire family, causing her to flee to a convent in Prague. On the day she was to take her holy vows, Angelus made her watch as he killed every person in the convent and engaged in sexual relations with Darla. The trauma of Angelus's atrocities drove Drusilla insane, and Angelus chose to turn her into a vampire, as he considered her a masterpiece, a testament to his talent. Believing death to be a mercy to her at this point, he chose to sire her to make her pain eternal as an immortal.

In Their Own Story

After being sired, Drusilla, now a predator, joined Angelus and Darla on their murderous travels. In 1880, Drusilla sired the young poet William, later known as "Spike". Drusilla and Spike shared an intimate relationship, though Angelus continued to engage in sexual relations with Dru as well. Shortly after Angelus is cursed with a soul, Spike and Drusilla go their separate ways from Darla and Angel. At some point before their arrival in Sunnydale in late 1997, Drusilla is attacked and severely injured by an angry mob in Prague, leaving her in a weakened and frail condition. Spike cares for her, and the couple decide to travel to the Hellmouth in hopes that its energy will help to restore Drusilla's strength and health. They arrive in Sunnydale in the episode "School Hard", and Spike plots the downfall of the current Slayer, Buffy Summers. When he discovers that Drusilla can be cured by the blood of her sire, Spike captures Angel and allows Drusilla to torture him until it is time to perform the ritual. Although Buffy and her friends save Angel, the ritual is successful. Drusilla, fully restored, now takes care of Spike, who has been temporarily paralyzed by Buffy's attack. When Angel reverts to Angelus, he re-joins the couple. Drusilla soon kills Kendra, another Slayer, by hypnotizing her and cutting her throat with a fingernail. Drusilla is delighted by Angelus's determination to destroy the world and encourages his ongoing sexual attention; both dynamics strongly disturb Spike, who wants Drusilla to himself again and does not particularly want the world to end. Spike decides to help Buffy save the world in exchange for his and Drusilla's safe passage from Sunnydale. Drusilla resists Spike's betrayal of Angelus, and he attacks her, ultimately carrying her unconscious body from the fray. Drusilla and Spike flee to Brazil, where Drusilla becomes disillusioned with their relationship. Spike's alliance with the Slayer, combined with Dru's skills of foresight and perception, prove to her that Spike is now tainted and that he is developing feelings for Buffy. Drusilla breaks up with Spike, and he rejects her offer to remain friends. Drusilla reappears on Angel in 2000, when Wolfram & Hart brings her to Los Angeles to re-sire Darla, who had been resurrected as a human dying of syphilis. Drusilla, who loves Darla like a "grandmum", genuinely believes she is doing Darla a favor by siring her and is puzzled by Darla's brief rage before her renewed vampire nature kicks in. Reconciled, the two wreak havoc in the city until Angel sets them on fire. The two go underground to heal, but Drusilla leaves Darla, who is then protected by Lindsey McDonald. Drusilla returns to Sunnydale in the episode "Crush" to persuade Spike to join Darla and herself in reforming their "family" unit, but instead, Spike seizes the opportunity to try to prove his love for Buffy by offering to stake Drusilla. Heartbroken by the actions of her former lover, Drusilla departs Sunnydale and remains at large. In season 7 of Buffy, the First Evil impersonates Drusilla in an unsuccessful attempt to break Spike's spirit. Spike claims that the First Evil's impersonation is not crazy enough to be Drusilla.

Reader's Guide

Drusilla has all the standard powers and vulnerabilities of a vampire, plus minor psychic abilities. She is immortal, regenerates damage, drains human blood to survive, and is stronger than most humans. Drusilla's technique in combat, although awkward-looking, has allowed her to briefly hold her own in a fight against Angel (in "Reunion") and Spike (in "Becoming, Part Two"), along with besting Kendra the Vampire Slayer (in "Becoming, Part One") before using the hypnosis technique and then killing her. It was also in this fight with Kendra that Drusilla showed that her fingernails are sharper than one would normally expect, as she uses them to slit Kendra's throat. Darla had demonstrated a similar technique when she sired Angel; whether this is due to vampiric abilities or physical manipulation of nails is unclear. Drusilla is also a seer with minor psychic abilities. However, since she had these before becoming a vampire their source and cause are unknown. She receives vivid visions that contain possible glimpses of the future, and can also see into p

Did You Know?

• Drusilla was a young psychic in Victorian London before being turned into a vampire by Angelus.
• She killed the Slayer Kendra by hypnotizing her and cutting her throat with a fingernail.
• Drusilla sired the poet William (Spike) in 1880.
• Juliet Landau chose to portray Drusilla with a Cockney accent, inspired by the Sid and Nancy pairing.
• In the Angel comics by IDW Publishing, Drusilla breaks out of a psychiatric institution in the story arc 'Drusilla' (2009).