Sorry if this is a stupid question but I've always wondered how Angel and Angelus were different but spike stayed the same with his soul. Angel with and without his would are like two different people but spike is more or less the same person. How is that possible? I'm also probably not wording this correctly.
This thread on whether Angel and Angelus are the same talks a lot about the difference the souls make to Angel and Spike and the link between the original human, the sired vampire and the souled vampire. I think there are multiple reasons why Angel had a more extreme swing in his behaviour between his unsouled and souled selves, but Spike is distinctly different when he is souled too. Both of them have the original personality from the human which stays a fundamental part of them when they become a vampire, and remains so when they are souled too. The differences lay in their individuality, not in it working a different way for one over the other. It just becomes the human personality + demon + soul, and the soul brings a breadth of emotions and capacity for moral choices that they were lacking before.
Neither would have committed the same crimes/actions they did unsouled once they have their souls, they both become meaningfully altered. Angel's focus tends to fall to guilt and looking to atone for his actions whereas Spike tends to not look back as much but wants to focus on looking forward to what he can do now. Individuality is the difference, their personalities still run coherently between unsouled to souled.
Neither would have committed the same crimes/actions they did unsouled once they have their souls, they both become meaningfully altered. Angel's focus tends to fall to guilt and looking to atone for his actions whereas Spike tends to not look back as much but wants to focus on looking forward to what he can do now. Individuality is the difference, their personalities still run coherently between unsouled to souled.
Well surely it is far easier to act more dramatic shifts between different selves. :s
I haven't seen it, but if they are very similar I wonder how much Smallville wanted to 'use' a Spike-like character as it had been so popular in BtVS. I think JM is a very skilled actor that is capable of injecting piles of emotion into even small expressions/moments, so I wouldn't assume any similarity came from any lack from him.
I haven't seen it, but if they are very similar I wonder how much Smallville wanted to 'use' a Spike-like character as it had been so popular in BtVS. I think JM is a very skilled actor that is capable of injecting piles of emotion into even small expressions/moments, so I wouldn't assume any similarity came from any lack from him.