Daniel Holtz
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 Keith Szarabajka as Daniel Holtz |
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Daniel Holtz is a fictional character on the television series Angel. He was played by Keith Szarabajka.
Holtz was an 18th century English vampire hunter who chased Angelus and Darla through much of Europe and North Africa. He had connections to an elite order of Inquisitors within the Roman Catholic Church and an army at his command. Angelus and Darla attacked his family, killing his wife and son, and turning his small daughter into a vampire.
The song Holtz can be heard quietly singing to himself throughout the series was first sung by him to comfort his daughter, Sarah, after finding his wife and son murdered. The song is Ar Hyd y Nos (All Through the Night), a Welsh song that later became widely used as a lullaby in England. Holtz sings the song numerous times in the 21st century, most likely because his quest continually reminds him of his family and more notably, his beloved daughter. Lorne, the host of Caritas, is able to foresee Holtz's plan to destroy the club when he hears Holtz singing the lullaby as he exits. Lorne actually sings a bit along with him until he gets the premonition. The lines of the song that Holtz can be heard singing are, "Sleep, my love, and peace attend thee, all through the night. Guardian angels god will lend thee, all through the night. No forebodings will alarm thee, all through the night. They will keep all peril from you, all through the night...". Because the original song is in Welsh, some translations of the lyrics differ from others. An interesting fact is that Ar Hyd y Nos was not actually written until 1784, 20 years after Holtz's family's death, and 11 years after his meeting with the demon Sahjhan who later transports him to the 21st century.
He gave up his hunt and became a hermit. After a time, the demon Sahjhan came to him and offered a new chance to get his revenge. Holtz is transported through time and space to Los Angeles in 2001, where he recruits another army to hunt and kill Angel and Darla. A lot has changed in those 200 years. Darla is pregnant and Angel has a soul. Since his motives are not justice but rather vengeance, the increasingly ruthless Holtz uses Angel's newborn son Connor in a grand plot for revenge. Holtz recruits a brash young vampire hunter, named Justine to help with this plot. Shortly after birth, Holtz arranges for Wesley to kidnap Connor. A tense four-way confrontation between Angel, Wolfram and Hart, Holtz, and Sahjahn ensues. Holtz ends up jumping through a dimensional rift with Connor into the Quor-Toth dimension, where time moves faster than on earth. In days on Earth, years pass in Quor-Toth, and Holtz raises Connor as his own son and instills a deep hatred of Angel within him. Connor finds a way to return to Earth, and an elderly Holtz soon follows. Holtz gives the impression that he wants Connor to live a healthy life with his true father, but this is simply the final phase of the plot. Holtz has Justine kill him, simulating a vampire attack by stabbing him twice in the neck (In a manner resembling a vampire's fangs), and blames it on Angel. Furious, Connor seeks revenge on Angel.
Holtz, like many Angel villains, is not evil per se. In fact, he was a force for great good in the 18th century. However, his life was rocked by the consequences of his good deeds, and he was never able to forgive or forget. After his family was killed, only his bitterness and hatred kept him alive. He did not recognize that Angel's restored soul gave him any more right to exist than any other vampire, and indeed used that soul as an instrument of torture, despite the fact that Angel was already torturing himself for the crimes he committed as Angelus. Even in death, Holtz thought of nothing but his own revenge. One could argue that he finally gave Angel what he deserved.
[edit] Trivia
Holtz is first mentioned in Season Two's "The Trial", though doesn't appear until the first episode of Season Three.
Holtz is very similar to the German word for wood, linking his vampire hunter status with the famous wooden stake, and putting him opposite to the vampire Angel.
