She was a brilliant villain as well as a complex and emotionally engaging character. Darla not only forced Angel (David Boreanaz) to face his inner darkness, but she confronted her fears and weaknesses both as a human and as a vampire. Previous to her pregnancy, Darla was Angel’s vampire sire and lover who was brought back to life by Wolfram and Hart in an attempt to turn Angel evil. Afterward, Angel then focused on how the birth/death affected the character’s male counterparts rather than on the women themselves.ĭarla (Julie Benz) was the first female character on Angel to experience death by mystical pregnancy in season 3.
Angel's most emotionally engaging female villain alongside the only two female mainstay characters became hosts for a supernatural entity and were ultimately killed off in the birthing process. The writers of Angel used mystical pregnancy to sacrifice its most nuanced female characters in service of exploring the pain of its male characters, which undercut the Buffyverse’s feminist origins. Angel: Which Is The Better TV Show (& Why)
The trope is often used (as it is used in Angel) to remove a female character’s autonomy over her own body, and instead focuses the narrative on how the pregnancy affects those around the mother rather than the mother herself. Mystical pregnancy can be used to allow a character to question their origins and purpose (as is explored in Steven Universe), or manifest the underlying fears of pregnancy ( explored in Rosemary’s Baby and American Horror Story). The trope of mystical pregnancy occurs when a character becomes pregnant or their pregnancy is affected by otherworldly or supernatural forces.
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