Drusilla (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Drusilla
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel character
According to actress Juliet Landau, Drusilla's costumes are intended to evoke both Victorian gentlewoman and mid-1990s heroin chic.
First appearance	"School Hard" (Buffy, 1997)
Created by	Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt
Portrayed by	Juliet Landau
Information
Affiliation	Wolfram & Hart
Classification	Vampire
Notable powers	Supernatural strength, speed, stamina, agility, & reflexes, acute sensory perception, rapid healing & immortality As well as Telepathy, Aura-Reading & Hypnosis.

Drusilla is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt for the American television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. The character is portrayed by American actress Juliet Landau. Drusilla is introduced alongside her lover Spike (James Marsters) in the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to serve as new antagonists to the series' heroine, Vampire Slayer Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar). In contrast to the series' previous central villain, the ancient and ceremonious Master (Mark Metcalf), Spike and Dru were introduced as more unconventional but equally dangerous pair of Vampires.

Though Spike and Dru had not been conceived as necessarily having to be either British or American, Landau chose to portray Drusilla with a Cockney accent in keeping with the characters' "Sid and Nancy analogy". Drusilla's physical appearance also drew from additional sources, such as supermodel Kate Moss and the mid-1990s heroin chic aesthetic. The character's backstory gives her ties to Buffy's boyfriend Angel (David Boreanaz), and it is gradually established over the course of Buffy and Angel.

A young psychic in Victorian London with a potential for sainthood, Drusilla was driven insane by Angel before he eventually turned her into a vampire. In Angel, the character recurs both in the present-day narrative and in flashbacks which depict the title character's adventures across Europe and Asia with Drusilla and Spike.

After Angel ended in 2005, the character continued to appear in Expanded Universe materials in other media. Landau went on to co-write a two-issue Drusilla story arc for IDW Publishing's Angel comic book series in 2009, continuing her character's storyline.

Character history

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. Drusilla had psychic abilities, 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 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.

After being sired, Drusilla, now a predator, joined Angelus and Darla on their murderous travels. In 1880, Drusilla sired the young poet William, who joined the group. She and William, later known as "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 (unaware of the ensoulment) 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 (which impresses Spike when he learns of it).

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 South America, 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 (not "demon enough" for her) 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 2001, when Wolfram & Hart brings her to Los Angeles to re-sire Darla, who had been resurrected as a human but is dying of syphilis. Drusilla, who loves Darla like a parent, 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. However, in Season Seven 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.

In recent Angel comics by IDW Publishing, Drusilla has reappeared, breaking out of a psychiatric institution. Still mentally ill, her whereabouts since her last appearance in Angel remain unexplained. After assault by a crowd, she awakens, still pallid-skinned, in what appears to be Georgian London, in broad daylight and enters what seems to be her parent's home. She encounters a doll (which may or may not be "Miss Edith") and is called by a third party, possibly her parents. It is uncertain whether this is an elaborate hallucination, time travel to her personal past or an alternate universe where she was never turned by Angelus. It is strongly implied, however, that the story actually takes place before Drusilla is sired, and the parts of it set in the modern day are actually a premonition in the human, 19th-century Drusilla's mind.

Drusilla reappears in the Spike mini-series by IDW. She will appear in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine by Dark Horse Comics.^[1]

Powers and abilities

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 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 Angelus; 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 people's minds and project false imagery into them (e.g. in "Becoming, Part Two", when she convinces Giles that she is really Jenny Calendar). She is also capable of hypnotizing people, which she does by catching their gazes, pointing her fingers towards her victim's eyes and then to her own, whispering to them ("Be in my eyes,Be in me"). Drusilla uses this technique to murder Kendra in the episode "Becoming, Part One". The Master uses a similar skill to paralyze Buffy in "Prophecy Girl".

Like all vampires, she is vulnerable to holy items and sunlight, can be killed by decapitation or a stake to the heart, and cannot enter the home of a living human without being invited by someone who lives there first.

Personality and appearance

Actress Juliet Landau said that when she first received the script, it indicated that Drusilla's accent could be British or American. Landau felt Drusilla "should really be Cockney, especially with the whole Sid and Nancy analogy." Though she never considered portraying Drusilla with a Southern American accent, as James Marsters had considered for Spike, she notes that invited comparisons with Blanche DuBois would also have been interesting.^[2]

Drusilla's madness is exhibited in her often-strange dialogue, which is peppered with non sequiturs like "Spike, do you love my insides? All the parts you can't see?" Her behavior is girlish, accompanied by a dark, ironic twist. For instance, when she is happy, she will squeal and laugh like a young child, but she is happiest when committing torture, hunting humans, or witnessing mass destruction. She has a fondness for china dolls but keeps them blindfolded or gagged. She also loves flowers and cute animals, but is not sane enough to care for them; as she says, "Do you like daisies? I plant them but they always die. Everything I put in the ground withers and dies." She even goes so far as to own a Pekingese puppy. She speaks in a soft, mellow voice which contrasts with her dialogue.

More signs of her madness can be seen through her speech:

• "Everything in my head is singing."
• "Do you know what I miss? Leeches."
• "I think sometimes that all my hair will fall out and I'll be bald."
• (To her dolls) "Miss Edith speaks out of turn. She's a bad example and will have no cakes today."
• Dru: I'm naming all the stars. Spike: You can't see the stars, love, that's the ceiling. Also, it's day. Dru: I can see them. But I've named them all the same name, and there's terrible confusion."
• "Run and catch. Run and catch. The lamb is caught in the blackberry patch."
• "The King of Cups expects a picnic, but it is not his birthday."
• (Imitating a growling dog) "Shhh, grrr. Bad dog."
• "It's not nice to change the game in mid-play, Spike. You've taken my chair and the music hasn't stopped."
• (Upon witnessing Angel and Darla having sex) "Snake in the Woodshed! Snake in the Woodshed! Snake in the Woodshed!"
• Dru: "I saw you coming, my lovely; the moon showed me; it told me to come to the 20th century. Angel: "It's the 21st century, Dru." Dru: "Oh well. Still lagging."
• "Dead already? Bad soldiers!"
• (As The First Evil) "Daddy, no kicking . . . I've been so very good all year. It's not even Christmas yet and you've already gone spoiling it . . ."

Drusilla's costumes were initially intended to be a "cross between a Victorian period look and the Kate Moss heroin chic fashion look," says Landau.^[3]

Appearances

Drusilla appeared in 24 Buffyverse episodes:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Drusilla has appeared in 17 episodes, appearing in the second, fifth, and seventh seasons.

• Season 2: "School Hard" (first appearance), "Halloween", "Lie to Me", "What's My Line, Part One", "What's My Line, Part Two", "Surprise", "Innocence", "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", "Passion", "I Only Have Eyes For You", "Becoming, Part One" (Also in flashbacks), "Becoming, Part Two"
• Season 5: "Fool for Love" (flashbacks), "Crush" (last present appearance)
• Season 7: "Lessons" (as the First Evil), "Bring on the Night" (as the First Evil), "Lies My Parents Told Me" (flashbacks)

Angel 

Drusilla has appeared in 7 episodes, appearing the second and fifth seasons.

• Season 2: "Dear Boy" (flashbacks), "Darla" (flashbacks), "The Trial", "Reunion", "Redefinition"
• Season 5: "Destiny" (flashbacks), "The Girl in Question" (flashbacks)

Drusilla also appears in issues 24 and 25 of the canonical Angel comics (both 2009). These are co-written by Landau, and tell the story of Drusilla after the television series.

Other stories featuring Drusilla include "The Problem With Vampires", from the 2004 comic mini-series Tales of the Vampires. Drusilla appears in a number comics/novels of the Buffy/Angel expanded universe. She appears notably in her own mini-series: Spike & Dru.

References

1. ^ "WonderCon Q&A with Scott Allie LIVE *Complete*". Slayalive.com. 2010-12-13. http://slayalive.com/showthread.php/1477-In-Progress-WonderCon-Q-amp-A-with-Scott-Allie-LIVE?p=46372. Retrieved 2011-11-10. 
2. ^ "Cult - Buffy - Juliet Landau - Southern-style Spike". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/interviews/landau/page2.shtml. Retrieved 2011-11-10. 
3. ^ "Cult - Buffy - Juliet Landau - Wickedly fashionable". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/interviews/landau/page14.shtml. Retrieved 2011-11-10. 

External links

	United States portal
	Television portal
	Fictional characters portal

• Drusilla at the Internet Movie Database
• Drusilla Comic at FEARnet