Illyria was an ancient goddess, over two million years old. She is sometimes referred to as a demoness though she herself was not at fault for her actions in present and her actions in the past were not demonic in her world. At her time humans themselves did not exist from her explanations that, “you were the muck at our feet you sparkled and stank” seems to dictate a time of amoebas and shows her views of humanity and any life under her. She also refers to knowing a very ancient version of Wolfram and Hart and refers to them as “the wolf, the ram, and the hart” which seems to dictate that at her time they existed in their original form and not as workers of the senior partners. She refers to them as being weak and barely above vampires, which shows her view of them as well. She refers to her life then as living seven lives at once and being god to a god and the power in the ecstasy of death. She was killed at one point in time and placed in the deeper well for over 2 million years until her sarcophagus was called out by one of the few remaining followers, known as her Qwa’ha Xahn, who is her guide in the world. She is born out of Fred and takes over her not by her own choice but by how it was set up by her follower, Knox.

After taking over her shell she attempts to raise her army, only fighting when people get in her way though if she had chosen to she more then enough had power to destroy everyone. Her powers include the ability to jump dimensions, alter time, talk to plants (a call back to earlier instances of Fred speaking to plants) and her strength is quite higher then anyone in wolfram and hart. After clothing herself in a suit come straight from her sarcophagus she heads off to open the gateway to her dimension but finds her entire army dead and dust and her temple in disarray. She later ends up with Wesley and asks for his help explaining how confused she is. He ends up helping her due to her likeness to Fred. We find out that living in the world is actually affecting her sanity she starts to lash out at Wesley saying the walls are closing in on her and that Wesley is keeping her there. He takes her to the rooftop where she says its better but she still feels the universe’s walls. She later starts training with Spike pretty much beating him up regularly. Her being is almost destroyed when her shell can no longer hold her power. The blow from her destruction would lead to destroying the world in a way. She because of this lack of power starts shifting thru time and ends up becoming so paranoid seeing what she thinks is Wesley trying to kill her that she kills him, Lorne, Angel, and Spike. She chooses that life as the shell would be better then death and her powers are depleted and removed from her leaving only her strength.

When Fred’s parents visit she imitates Fred to save them from the grief they would feel knowing she has died but even they notice the offness but don’t question its not Fred. She is able to switch back and forth and finds it interesting and attempts to use it to make Wesley’s grief leave as well though she does not understand hwy it bothers him. Illyria’s loss of powers causes people to not be as fearful of her and more used to her. She no longer gets glances in the halls and has stopped training with spike. She ends up meeting her jailer Drogyn and playing xbox with him she is seriously wounded when Hamilton arrives to kidnap Drogyn and is found by Wesley and the gang. Wesley cares for her and as they are given assignments for the final battle she is told to kill the devil and his minions which she does with barely any trying at all. She ends up finding Wesley’s dying body and turning to Fred once more to ease his death and then violently killing the person who killed him. Her grief makes her went to fight more and she ends up in the fight of her life as the only person that is unwounded or even tiring of the fight.