(born circa
1840 in
London ,
England ) is a
Fictional Character created by
Joss Whedon for the cult
Television Series , ''
Buffy The Vampire Slayer '' and ''
Angel ''. The character is portrayed by
Juliet Landau .
In
1860 , when Drusilla was about 18 to 24 years of age, she was a beautiful young
Catholic woman who lived with her parents and sisters in
London ,
England . Drusilla was "blessed" with foresight, 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 of them.
Darla saw Drusilla and showed her to
Angelus . Darla knew about Drusilla's psychic abilities and believed it would be in their best interests to choose her as their next victim. Angelus, however, sensed her purity and became obsessed with destroying her, as Drusilla had the potential for sainthood.
Angelus harassed Drusilla for a long time, damaging her fragile mental health. Often in the guise of a
Priest , he would consult with her on the matter of her visions, playing cruel mental games whenever she sought sanctuary. Angelus then tortured and killed Drusilla's entire family, causing her to leave for 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 of his talent.
After being sired, Drusilla, now a predator with a childlike sexuality, 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, mostly to annoy William.
When Angelus is cursed with a soul and becomes
Angel , 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.
Drusilla's story before her appearance in Sunnydale unfolds in flashbacks scattered among numerous episodes of both ''
Buffy The Vampire Slayer '' and ''
Angel ''; they are not presented in chronological order.
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 crippled by Buffy's attack. When Angel reverts to Angelus, he re-joins the couple. Drusilla soon kills
Kendra Young by hypnotizing her and slicing her throat. Kendra is the only known Slayer to be killed by Drusilla.
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, much to Drusilla's dismay. She 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 does not reappear until
2001 , when
Wolfram & Hart bring her to
Los Angeles to re-sire Darla, who had been resurrected as a human. 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, now the older vampire, leaves Darla, who is then protected by
Lindsey McDonald . Oddly, since Darla sired Angel, who sired Drusilla, Darla is Drusilla's grand-sire as well as her vampire child.
Drusilla returns to
Sunnydale to persuade Spike to join Darla and herself in reforming their "family" unit, but Spike takes the opportunity to prove his love for Buffy by offering to stake Drusilla. Disappointed by her former love, Drusilla departs. Drusilla's current whereabouts and activities from then on, if she is still "alive", remain unrevealed.
In
2002 , the
First Evil impersonates Drusilla in a bid to finally tip Spike over the edge of the mental cliff.
Drusilla has the standard powers and vulnerabilities of a -->
Drusilla is also a
Seer with minor
Psychic abilities. 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). Drusilla had these powers since before being made a vampire; their source or cause is unknown. She is also capable of hypnotizing people, mesmerizing her prey and rendering them helpless, which she achieves by catching their gazes, pointing her fingers towards her victim's eyes and whispering to them ("Be in me"). Drusilla uses this technique to murder Kendra in the episode "
Becoming, Part One ", and earlier in Season Two, taunts and threatens Spike's academic minion, Dalton, with her talents. The Master uses a similar skill to paralyze Buffy in "
Prophecy Girl ."
Unlike most vampires shown on the series, Drusilla rarely is shown in her demonic form. Only when she is about to kill someone does her face change.
Drusilla's madness is exhibited in her often-strange dialogue, spoken in thick Cockney accents. Her speech is peppered with non sequiturs; for example, like "Spike, do you love my insides? The parts you cannot see?". Her behavior is generally very girlish but is always 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 also loves flowers and cute animals, but is not sane enough to care for them. Every living thing she owns is neglected and eventually dies of starvation or thirst.
More signs of her madness can be seen through her speech:
- Do you like daisies? I plant them but they always die. Everything I put in the ground withers and dies.
- 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.
- : I'm naming all the stars. '''Spike''': You can't see the stars, love, that's the ceiling. Also, it's day. : I can see them. But I've named them all the same thing, and there's terrible confusion.
- Miss Sunshine puppy tells me you had a visitor today. But she worries. She wants to know what you and the bad teacher talked about.
- — Drusilla is sired by Angelus after he kills her entire family and drives her insane. As a vampire, she and Angelus have a sexual relationship, and she often refers to him as her "bad daddy." Their sexual relationship continued even after she sires Spike . When she and Spike later capture the ensouled Angel , Drusilla tortures him, reminding him of all the horrible things he did to her. After Angel loses his soul, they resume their intimacy, putting a strain on her relationship with Spike.
- — Drusilla was romantically involved with Spike for over a century. They were a devoted couple; while Vampires do not usually experience love for one another, Spike and Drusilla did, as was noted by the Judge (who found their relationship to reek of humanity). They traveled around the world, keeping each other company and enjoying themselves. While Spike was single-mindedly devoted to her, Drusilla was never consistently faithful; she maintained a sexual relationship with Angelus despite Spike's obvious jealousy and discomfort, and (along with Darla ) fornicated with The Immortal . She became disillusioned with Spike after he betrayed Angelus and allied himself with Buffy , and she perceived Spike's growing feelings for Buffy. Drusilla cheated on Spike with a chaos demon in South America before breaking up with him, sending him into an extended drunken depression.
- and ''' Darla ''' — Drusilla had a Threesome with the Immortal and Darla, much to the dismay of both Spike and Angelus , who claimed that the girls "Never let ''them'' do that" (cf. " The Girl In Question ").
- — She had a crush on Xander when he accidentally put all the women of Sunnydale under a love spell (cf. " Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered "). Drusilla relentlessly pursues him until he enters Buffy 's house; she is unable to follow him in because she is not invited.
- — After Giles withstands significant torture at the hands of Angelus , Drusilla hypnotizes him and appears to his eyes as Jenny Calendar . She gently pries the necessary information from him, and kisses him for an extended period of time. Spike and Angelus protest the length of the kiss, and she notes that she had been "in the moment" (cf. " Becoming, Part Two ").
- — After becoming disillusioned with Spike , Drusilla makes out with a Chaos Demon; he has no idea that she is seeing somebody, and is distressed when a jealous Spike arrives (cf. " Lovers Walk ", " Fool For Love ").
Drusilla appeared in 24 canonical Buffyverse episodes:
;''
Buffy The Vampire Slayer '': Drusilla has appeared in 17 episodes, appearing in the second, fifth, and seventh seasons.
Season 2 (
1997 ,
1998 ) - "
School Hard ", "
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 ", "
Becoming, Part Two "
Season 5 (
2000 ,
2001 ) - "
Fool For Love " (flashbacks), "
Crush "
Season 7 (
2002 ,
2003 ) - "
Lessons " (as the
First Evil ), "
Bring On The Night " (as the First), "
Lies My Parents Told Me " (flashbacks)
; ''
Angel '' : Drusilla has appeared in 7 episodes, appearing the second and fifth seasons)
Season 2 (
2000 ,
2001 ) - "
Dear Boy " (flashbacks), "
Darla " (flashbacks), "
The Trial ", "
Reunion ", "
Redefinition "
Season 5 (
2003 ,
2004 ) - "
Destiny " (flashbacks), "
The Girl In Question " (flashbacks)
Drusilla appears in a number comics/novels of the Buffy/Angel expanded universe. She appears notably in her own mini-series:
Spike & Dru
