- “Come on, chief. Give me a mission.”
- ―Sam Lawson[src]
Sam Lawson was an ensign of the United States Navy during World War II, when Angel turned him into a vampire.[1]
Biography
Although Lawson disdained the military while growing up, thinking they only knew how to follow orders, he joined up after seeing films of Nazi atrocities, feeling something that evil had to be fought.[1]
Lawson served as part of a team that captured a German submarine, only to become trapped on the ocean floor when the submarine's cargo — the vampires Spike, the Prince of Lies, and Nostroyev — attacked most of the senior officers. Wishing to recover the submarine, the Demon Research Initiative forcibly recruited Angel to perform the mission.[1]
Once aboard, Angel assumed command of the submarine thanks to the command codes provided for him by the Initiative. However, the submarine became damaged, and a Nazi officer stabbed Lawson, fatally injuring the only person who knew how to repair it. To save the remaining crew, Angel sired Lawson, the only person Angel turned while he had a soul. After the submarine surfaced near shore, Angel fled, leaving Spike and Lawson to go free.[1]
For the next sixty years, Lawson committed all the traditional vampire atrocities but was unable to gain any real pleasure from any of his actions, a fact that he attributed to Angel having a soul when he sired Lawson. Checking up on Angel once a decade, Lawson waited for the moment when his sire would have something to live for so he could take it away.[1]
Lawson finally attacked in 2004, when he learned that Angel had become CEO of Wolfram & Hart and a champion of good. He threatened to hang Angel's friends Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Charles Gunn, and Winifred Burkle with nooses. However, Angel saved them and staked Lawson, the former ensign's last words being to ask Angel to give him a mission.[1]
The next day, Spike surmised that his revenge must have been practically frozen solid by the time he confronted Angel. Angel speculated that Lawson wasn't looking for revenge, but for the thing that had defined his life: a mission.[1]
Behind the scenes
- He was portrayed by Eyal Podell.
Appearances
Gallery
