Shanshu Who? Angel's Case
Penned: 12/1/2003

Alright, so, this thread? Solely for things backing up Angel's claim to shanshu. No stabbing at any other ensouled vampires, just reasons in the positive for why Angel should be the one to get humanity. Feel free to add to the list.

First of all, Angel has had it extremely rough. He's lost Buffy. He's lost Cordelia. He's lost Connor. He's lost Doyle. That's quite a bit of loss right there. He should have something to assuage all that, shouldn't he?

He's been fighting the good fight for quite a while. Technically, he joined the forces of good in 1996, but he'd at least been non-evil since 1898.

He's sorry for all the bad things Angelus has done. Angel's been accused of brooding by the others, but I can understand why he gets down and unhappy so often. He has a lot of bad memories he's had to deal with, both old ones and recently. No one really understands what he's gone through.

Angel has known about shanshu for a while now, and there have probably been times when it's the only thing he's had to keep him going. Not receiving it would be very hard on him.

Angel has had some very hard odds going against him for a long time now, and yet he's still managed to keep himself pretty well aligned with doing what's right. He's even done what's right when it's extremely difficult, such as having Connor forget him or leaving Buffy because he believed it was really in her best interests. That deserves a reward.

The guy got a ticket to hell thanks to stupid Angelus's actions. He spent centuries being tortured (or a century depending upon when you're quoting him) because of a plan to end the world that he did not consent to do. The universe owes him one.

Angel is the lead character in the show. He should have the shanshu simply because he is the center of the AtS universe and is the person the story is about. Something of this magnitude should only happen to the true protagonist.

Angel becoming human would allow him to find Buffy and help her bake those metaphorical cookies, and Buffy is also in serious need of being cut some slack.

It would be interesting to see if Angel being human would completely alleviate his guilt or if his guilt would remain in spite of his regenerated state.

For the last several years, the show has been at least partially about Angel's journey to shanshu. Changing that now would be a major upheaval and feel like a cheat.

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