Caritas (Angel)

Caritas is a fictional demon-friendly karaoke bar in the U.S. television series "Angel". Caritas makes its first appearance in season two's "Judgment" episode, and its final appearance in season three's "Lullaby".

History

Caritas is run by Lorne, an empath demon, who is at the beginning known simply as 'The Host'. Caritas is a sanctuary, where humans, demons, and vampires alike can enter without a fight breaking out. Violence is forbidden in the bar, and there is a spell cast on Caritas by the Furies so that, literally, no demons and vampires (and presumably no other supernatural creatures) can commit any acts of violence inside of it. Lorne can see into people's souls when they sing and leads them on their path, leading to people performing karaoke in the bar so that he can tell them their future. Lorne places no restrictions on who can visit Caritas, allowing even baby-eating demons as customers, since he believes anyone, whether good, evil, or "morally ambiguous," can turn their lives around if given sufficient guidance. Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Lindsey, Harmony Kendall, and Darla are some of the people that use Lorne's services at Caritas.

Caritas is later destroyed by old friends of Gunn who do not share his 'not everything is black and white' view of good and evil, and Lorne realizes that humans are still able to commit acts of violence in his so-called sanctuary. This occurs in the episode "That Old Gang of Mine", which features one of the aforementioned baby-eating demons.

In "Offspring", Caritas is rebuilt, with the spell fixed so that neither humans nor demons are able to commit acts of violence inside. However, Daniel Holtz finds a loophole in this spell by tossing a barrel of gasoline and a grenade down the stairs and into the bar, destroying it once more. Lorne closes it down permanently, and moves into the Hyperion Hotel.

The spot on which Caritas was built is where Lorne first arrived on Earth from the Pylean dimension after entering a portal opened up by Winifred "Fred" Burkle, a focus character in Angel from late season 2 through to season 5, after they rescue her from Pylea.

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