10 Buffy The Vampire Slayer Fates Worse Than Death

The finale of Season 2 is phenomenal. As well as the intense action and the sharp dialogue, it’s also an emotional tearjerker.

Towards the end of the episode, Buffy is forced to stab Angel and send him into Acathla's dimension in order to save the world. This is bad enough, but the whole situation is made all the more terrible by the fact Angel regains his soul a moment before he’s stabbed. He has only a couple of seconds to experience Buffy’s company before he’s trapped in a separate world.

What’s more, time is different inside Acathla's dimension, and when Angel returns at the start of Season 3, he’s changed dramatically. After one-hundred years of torment, he’s transformed into a violent savage who has to be chained up to stop him harming anyone.

Tragedy occurs when awful things happen to good people, and as such, Angel’s fate is the ultimate tragedy. All things considered, it’s a miracle he ever managed to get back to normal.