Cyvus Vail
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 Dennis Christopher as Cyvus Vail |
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Cyvus Vail is a demon in the television series Angel and is portrayed by Dennis Christopher.
Cyvus Vail is a powerful and elderly demon warlock, recognisable for his red skin and stringy white hair, whose influence extends throughout Los Angeles, thanks to his vast economic power and his membership of the Circle of the Black Thorn. Vail was the one who led the team of warlocks that performed the reality alteration that allowed Connor to obtain a normal life. He also had a grudge against the demon Sahjhan, whom Vail was unable to fight due to his failing health, which forced him to permanently receive IV transfusions. Vail mentioned that Sahjhan had a nasty habit of trying to murder him. Possibly, Sahjhan knew Vail would be involved in his death, foretold in the Nyazian Scrolls, and tried to eliminate the demon to keep the prophecy from being fulfilled, just like he had tried with Connor.
In order get rid of Sahjhan permanently, Vail somehow acquired the Resikhian Urn in which Sahjhan had been imprisoned years earlier by Justine Cooper. After that he sent his minions, a cadre of Kith'harn demons, to attack Connor and his family, just to get Angel's attention. Vail threatened Angel to undo the spell he had done and restore Connor's real memories (which Vail could monitor through a magical artifact known as the Orlon Window) if he refused to set Connor against Sahjhan. Angel complied but Connor was unable to defeat Sahjhan until Wesley destroyed the Orlon Window and restored Connor's memories.
Vail went underground to escape Angel's retaliation. Yet he was present at Angel's initiation in the Circle of the Black Thorn, wearing a Venetian scaramouche mask, characterized by its long nose. The old demon paid his respects and accepted Angel's statement that he had been pretending to look for Vail. However, he remained distrustful of Angel and feared he was merely pretending to have been corrupted in order to infiltrate the Circle. He also desired to keep close tabs on Wesley, whom Vail considered unstable and a loose cannon that would betray Angel to obtain his seat in the Circle.
When Angel decided to wipe out the entire Circle, Angel chose Wesley to attack and kill Vail because he was the only one capable of facing Vail's warlock powers. Wesley initially took advantage of Vail's distrust of Angel but was unable to overcome Vail's sorcery, managing to only injure the demon. Vail winds up stabbing Wesley in the stomach, but minutes later has his skull crushed by Illyria, who, still under the guise of Fred, was taunted by Vail to take her "best shot".
