As great as Angel is, there's no way he's a match for Homer.

[ edited by Jona on 2006-05-28 18:13 ]

Jona | May 28, 19:48 CET

That's easy. Angel

Madhatter | May 28, 20:31 CET

I doubted between Anakin and King Kong, i chose for the second one.

sethsky | May 28, 21:18 CET

Polls aside, I don't believe there is a character more tragic than Wesley. He got the short end of the stick in every way possible.

MySerenity | May 28, 21:29 CET

MySerenity: I agree 100 percent. I was hoping that Wesley would be on the list. Because he wasn't I had to abstain from voting.

Caleb | May 28, 22:24 CET

Wesley's easily the most tragic character on Angel. But, since they properly phrased the poll- specifying "Of the following characters," I voted for... Well, Boromir. But Angel was a close second in my mind.

kishi | May 28, 22:35 CET

same here, sethsky. You know what's gonna happen to Kong, but somehow you just hope for the best. The best of course didn't happen as I left the theatre sobbing.

MySerenity, you are so right. Wes is my favorite character of all time. The amount of heart ache he had to endure was so painful. It of course doesn't hurt that Alexis is a brilliant actor. God, why isn't that guy a star?

Harmalicious | May 29, 00:08 CET

Most tragic character and favorite male lead? Easy. Wesley! A shame he's not one of the choices.

[ edited by ElectricSpaceGirl on 2006-05-28 23:35 ]

electricspacegirl | May 29, 01:31 CET

Echoing the Wesley vote...every time he intervenes, he does so for all the right reasons...and he always fails utterly, his noble intentions and decency notwithstanding...the only notable exception is bringing Angel back from the briny depths, but in doing that, he becomes a bit of a monster (threatening to take away Justine's bucket...) himself.

His character arc is worthy of at least a few doctoral dissertations.

And, yes, Alexis is simply brilliant. He married well, too.

Chris inVirginia | May 29, 02:58 CET

I can totally see Wesley as one of the most tragic characters on Angel, but I think my vote would have to go to Lindsey (if he was on the list). He let fear and hate condemn him to always make the wrong choice. And then in the end Angel, the one person Lindsey imagined to be his nemesis, didn't even bother to kill Lindsey himself; he had someone else do it.

zue | May 29, 13:32 CET

Really zue? I never thought Lindsey as "tragic" as much as I did "pathetic"

MySerenity | May 30, 05:08 CET

Heh. I don't really see 'tragic' and 'pathetic' to be mutually exclusive terms. If I recall correctly 'pathetic' is defined as something that arouses or can arouse sympathetic sadness and/or compassion (or at least disdainful pity), and if that's how you're defining it then I'd have to agree. Pathetic, but still tragic in that whole naturalistically doomed sort of way.

zue | May 30, 12:03 CET

There were very few times when Lindsey tried to make right. Off the top of my head--not wanting to let the blind assassin kill the special kids? Or was he all for that? Can't remember. At the very least, there was his minor bit of a turnaround at the end of his Season 2 arc--not so much going good as finally being so disgusted with something W&H had done as to quit. His turnaround in Season 5 thinking maybe he could be part of Angel's team or at least finally go good or whatever? Yeah, only after he'd failed in attempting to best Angel in "You're Welcome". It could be argued that he was just as interested, if not moreso, in sticking it to W&H than trying to align with the heros. Although what was his Season 5 motivation again? Just general humiliation/defeating of Angel and W&H, or was he trying to win a spot in the Circle Of The Black Thorn (god that name was lame) as well? Grrr, one of my few sore spots over Angel Season 5--Lindsey plot murkyness.

Didn't mean to go off on a bit of a tangent there--point I was trying to get at is, Lindsey made almost all bad decisions and met a bad end, even when he'd been given a second chance (Angel just wasn't willing to risk giving him a third chance at redemption....killing him may or may not have been "right", but it was probably wise and a safe bet). Wesley on the other hand tried to do right and got kicked in the teeth mulitple times and met a tragic, early end.

Wes wins hands-down, no contest.

Connor was actually pretty tragic as well (Holtz too, but the measures he was willing to go to and the innocents he endangered just to get revenge put him on the psychotic side of things and...yeah, tragic, but kinda went evil himself in parts to attain his goals), but everything worked out all right for him in the end, so he's not an overall tragic character.

Kris | May 30, 21:56 CET

I'm right there with ya about Lindsey making almost all bad decisions, though I guess I kinda saw that as his tragic flaw (along with a healthy bit of hubris). Arguably, a tragic hero must also be doomed from the start. In the episode where he goes to Angel for help saving the blind kids Lindsey talks about how he grew up (it was pretty crappy) and he implies that this is the reason he is how he is. Obviously it's no excuse, but what use is it to tell someone they have choices if by some ingrained fear or attitude they refuse to acknowledge that they have any choice? By this reasoning it should at least be plausible to see Lindsey as a tragic character.

With Wes, you're right that he met a tragic end. It's harder to argue that he was doomed from the start, and I also have trouble pinpointing a tragic flaw in his character. I suppose it could be argued that his tragic mistake was kidnapping Angel's son and he was doomed from there. In that way he can be seen as tragic.
But I don't see it as a no-contest kind of deal. I think it falls apart a bit in that a tragic hero has to discover his fate by his own actions, not by things happening to him. For Wes it seems like his tragic fate is brought on by a whole slew of rotten luck despite his actions, not because of them.

zue | May 31, 12:39 CET