Angel

## The Angel

**The Angel** is a vampiric creature of unknown origins that appears as the overarching antagonist in the Netflix original horror series *Midnight Mass*. He is portrayed by Quinton Boisclair.

Monsignor Pruitt was first to come into contact with the creature after becoming trapped in a cave while seeking shelter from a sandstorm. The creature fed on Monsignor Pruitt, then fed the priest its blood in turn, gaining his trust and convincing him that the creature was in fact an angel. Overnight, Pruitt would de-age rapidly and regain his cognizance. He would then travel to Crockett Island with the angel hidden in a trunk from the sunlight, and using the angel's blood to perform what would initially appear to be miracles, such as the healing of Leeza Scarborough.

## History

### Encounter in the desert

The exact origins of this vampiric creature are unknown, however, at one point in the distant past the vampire was trapped in a cave in the desert of Jerusalem which was buried by sand. Many years later in 2021, the Cave was unearthed by a severe sandstorm, leading Monsignor John Pruitt of Crockett Island, who wandered away from Jerusalem city during a pilgrimage due to his worsening dementia, to seek shelter in the same cave.

When observing his surroundings with the help of matches, Monsignor Pruitt was attacked by the vampire, who immediately began feeding on the old man's blood. Pruitt, scared to death and unable to comprehend the situation because of his cognitive state, began seeing the vampire as an "angel“ due to its wings and the shine of matches behind the creature, which resembled a halo to the demented cleric. In the depths of his terror, he began shakily reciting the Lord's Prayer, prompting the angel to realise Pruitt may provide a means of escape from the subterranean church within which it had been imprisoned so long. The creature then opened its vein and fed Pruitt its own blood instead of draining him, resulting in Pruitt's sudden rejuvenation overnight in that cave.

Overwhelmed by the wonder he witnessed, Pruitt began worshiping the vampire as his angel, which had established a telepathic link to the priest after feeding him its blood. According to Pruitt, the vampire followed him during the nights until he decided to bring it to Crockett Island, where it would supposedly be "needed the most“. Pruitt transported the vampire in a huge trunk, which he additionally filled with soil and antiquities, and bribed various people in order to smuggle the trunk all the way from Jerusalem to Crockett Island.

### Arrival on Crockett Island

On the same day Riley Flynn arrived on Crockett Island, Pruitt, who took on the name Paul Hill to hide his true identity, also set foot on the island, and carried the trunk with his "angel“ to his former residence next to the St. Patrick’s church. He knocked on the trunk to signal the vampire their safe arrival, who knocked back from inside in response. Pruitt opened the trunk and apparently let the vampire loose in the same night, as indicated by observations of Joe Collie and Warren Flynn, who both thought they saw an enormous bird after nightfall, unknowing about the real nature of this creature. When meeting with his friends in the Uppards surrounded by stray cats, Warren caught a strange sound in the bushes around the teens, leading him to look after this with his flashlight. When shining its light into the growth, the vampire can be seen with its glowing eyes for a brief second, scaring Warren before suddenly disappearing into the dark. The vampire then began feeding on the islands population of stray cats, breaking their necks and draining them of their blood, leading to their rapid decimation. A few days after Riley and Pruitt's arrival on Crockett Island, a heavy storm hit the community, which barricaded itself into their homes. During the storm, Riley saw a humanoid figure on the beach, wearing Pruitt's distinctive clothing. Thinking it was the old Monsignor himself, Riley went out into the storm to help Pruitt, unknowing that this was actually the angel dressed in Pruitt's old hat and coat to disguise itself. When noticing Riley, the vampire outran him before vanishing in the storm when Riley fell on the beach. When the storm passed, the island's people discovered the masses of dead cat bodies that were washed down from the Uppards and onto the beach, noticing the complete lack of blood on the sand.

### Terrorizing the nights

While the people of Crockett island still grappled with the mysterious slaughter of its stray cat population, the arrival of the seemingly new priest Father Paul and the killing of Joe Collie's dog on Ash Wednesday, the vampire took shelter in an abandoned house and lured local drug dealer Bowl into its new lair by mimicking his voice, before ultimately preying on him. In the following weeks, various inhabitants of Crockett Island had nightly encounters with the vampire, including Erin Greene, who heard the creature crawling on her roof, before seeing it obscured by the dark from her bathroom window. When Sheriff Hassan talked with his son Ali about the recent religious fervor that befell the island following the apparent miracles in the St. Patrick’s church, Hassan briefly caught a glimpse of the vampire in the window of his son's room, when turning off the lights. When Father Paul, aka Monsignor Pruitt, died and came back to life as a vampire himself, he struggled with his transformation and the pain that accompanied it, as well as his urge to consume blood, causing Pruitt to call his "angel“ back to him. Following his first feeding on another human being, Joe Collie, Pruitt ran out of vampiric blood to mix into the communion. His frantic prayers eventually prompted the angel to return to the community hall of Crockett Island. After signaled for Pruitt to be silent, it opened up its vein and bled into the communion vial. Riley Flynn showed up at the community hall to confront Pruitt about his lies regarding Joe Collie's disappearance, leading him to witness the creature for himself. Without hesitation, the creature flung itself at Riley and immediately began feeding on him, while Pruitt closed the doors of the hall, so that nobody would witness the horror.

### The Apocalypse of Crockett Island

After feeding on Riley and seemingly breaking his neck during the process (which caused Riley to be turned into a vampire himself), the "angel“ disappeared once again. During the midnight mass of Easter Day, Pruitt and his congregation gathered in St. Patrick’s, where his acolytes handed out rat poison to the congregation, so that they could come back from the dead as immortal vampires themselves. Sturge was the first to drink the poison in order to demonstrate the transformation to the congregation, although him succumbing to the poison caused panic among the crowd, while Sheriff Hassan tried to escape the church with his son. Before being able to flee St. Patrick’s, Hassan and the attending congregation found their way blocked by the angel, adorned in a golden chasuble. The creature approached the altar, while Pruitt tried to convince the crowd that this being was truly an angel of the Lord. When reaching the altar, the vampire displayed its wings, after which Sturge reanimated as a vampire himself. After witnessing the "angel“ and Sturge's resurrection, most members of the congregation were convinced by the apparent miracles in front of their eyes, leading them to drink the poison and collapse dead on the ground, only to rise again within minutes. Desperate to put a stop to the madness, Mildred Gunning took up the Sheriff's gun and shot Pruitt in the head. The angel infuriated, lunged at her, flying out of the church with her in its clutches, where it presumably fed on her and killed her in the process.

During the following carnage on Crockett Island, the creature sheds the chasuble and joins the massacre, breaking into houses and abducting people to feed on. Warren Flynn and Leeza Scarborough sought shelter in the abandoned house where the "angel“ resided, and discovered it draining villagers among the dead bodies of former victims. Leeza shot it twice, to little effect - the creature seemed to regard the bullets as little more than a nuisance. The teens then douse the distracted creature in gasoline and lit the entire building on fire, forcing the burning vampire to flee into the night sky. When Erin was about to ignite the Community Hall, the last place for the vampiric congregation of the island to hide from the upcoming sun, on fire, the "angel“ swooped down from the sky and began feeding on her in front of the turned people and Sheriff Hassan. Erin used this opportunity to slice the wings of the vampire with her knife, pulling it back to her neck when it turned its attention to the wounds she carved in its wings. It was not until after drinking its fill that the "angel“ noticed its wings shredded wings, leading it to scream in fury at Erin and clumsily attempt to fly off. While Ali carried his fatally wounded father through the inferno to the beach, the vampire is seen struggling to fly and crashing into the burning buildings. Warren and Leeza, who ventured out to the sea on a paddle boat, witnessed the "angel“ fleeing the island to the west, attempting to outrun the rising sun. Warren doubted that it would make the thirty-mile trip on time, due to it being barely able to fly. When the sun rose and killed the vampiric population of the island, Leeza noticed the loss of feeling in her legs, likely due to the "angel“ having perished as well. Since the writers confirmed that this was instead due to her system filtering the vampire blood out of her body, the ultimate fate of the "angel“ remains unknown. Due to its failing wings and the sun rising, it most likely perished, as it would not have been able to find cover in time.

## Appearances

### Season 1

* Book I: Genesis
* Book II: Psalms
* Book III: Proverbs
* Book IV: Lamentations
* Book V: Gospel
* Book VI: Acts of the Apostles
* Book VII: Revelation

## Gallery

### Videos

A Taste for Blood - The Angel of Midnight Mass - Netflix