The Conduit

"I like trouble, but I hate chaos."

-The Girl Angel

"This is the part where I need to be clear. I am not your friend. I am not your flunky. I am your conduit to the Senior Partners, and they are tired of your insolence. Oh, yeah. They are not here for your convenience!"

- "Gunn" Angel

The Conduit is a character in the TV series Angel. She/he/it is the overseer of Wolfram and Hart's earthly manifestation and a line to the Senior Partners. It only makes afew appearances in the series but is basically the root of Wolfram and Hart's vast mystical resources. In the series it is played by actress Kay Panabaker and briefly by actor Jaime August Richards.

Background
Originally Mesektet was an embodiment of the ancient god Ra along with four other such totems known as the "Ra'tet". As one of the darker totems of the five, Mesektet soon established connections with the Senior Partners and represents them to their mortal agents. When it speaks it uses the term "we" and is assumed to be speaking for the Senior Partners due to some sort of mental link. Wesley states that it's time with the Senior Partners is more a day job or hobby compared to whatever it's true mystical purposes is; Later Manjet, Mesektet's totem brother, confirms this and states that her true function along with him and his fellow totems is to maintain the Sun.

Mesektet spoke for the Senior Partners and invested their power for many years. When it encountered the demon races known as the Granok it decided the creatures were far too wild to fit into the Senior Partner's plans and so it changed them, phase-shifted them so that they could not affect the real world and only watch it, though they seem to have picked up the ability to time travel later. Mesektet states it does not like chaos even though it is clearly dedicated to evil as a concept.

Eventually the Beast, a creature set loose from some form of hell to act as a harbinger for the fallen god "Jasmine", made it's way to Wolfram and Hart to destroy the Conduit. Angel and his team at first believe this is due to wanting to eliminate the competition in evil but later discover that is secondary to Mesektet it-self being killed so the Beast can shut-off the Sun. The Beast succeeds and eventually gets to the dimensional nexus within Wolfram and Hart known as "The White Room" where the Conduit resides, once there the Beast sucks out it's essence and kills it. With the last of it's power the Conduit teleports Angel and his friends to safety when they arrive to stop the Beast and tells them that the answer is among them, they would not find out until later that this was a reference to "Jasmine" possessing their friend Cordelia Chase at the time. After the Beast and "Jasmine"'s defeat the Senior Partners restore the Conduit (or perhaps it just comes back to life when it's essence is freed from the Beast's body, the show never confirms this one way or the other). Whatever the method the Conduit is once again representing the Senior Partner's after "Jasmine"'s plans are foiled. Though the Conduit appeared as a little girl at first it's second appearance is that of a black panther and it's third is that of a double of Charles Gunn, who was selected as the liaison to the Conduit, later still in the comic series the Conduit appears as Winifred Burkle, one of Angel's close friends; as the Conduit states to Gunn, the appearance of the Conduit is dependent on the viewer.

The Conduit seems to enjoy manipulating and corrupting people and watching people suffer but does not like random and chaotic acts of violence. It seems more than happy to help good people to lead them down dark paths, but has no sympathy for those that are already evil that think it is just there to help them and deeply resents those that ask favors of it lightly.

Powers and Abilities




The Conduit in addition to it's shape shifting status is the avatar of the Senior Partners and wields their power for them on earth, this means that the virtually endless dark magics the Senior Partners manifest in the physical world are due the Conduit doing so on their behalf. It's innards are made of a dark energy which is likely the Conduit it-self in true form. A small whisker from the Conduit's panther form is snipped off and able to be used power a machine that could only run on the equivalent of "Nuclear Evil". It has displayed the ability to teleport others, use telepathy, and use super-human strength. Lilah warns Angel when he first goes to enter the White Room that another employee of Wolfram and Hart once entered the White Room and wound up in an asylum afterwards so the Conduit is also a mind-breaking entity. It can bestow curses the likes of which take ages to accumulate the power for and knows the rituals required to break said curses.

Trivia

 * Mesektet's brethren in the Ra'tet are Ma'at who represents dawn, Ashet who represents day, Manjet who represents noon and Semkhet who represents afternoon. Mesektet itself seems to represent night.
 * Ma'at is named after and drawn in the style of the ancient Egyptian demi-goddess of balance and serenity. She is credited as being the most benevolent of the Ra'tet.
 * Ashet is named after the Egyptian word for a large disc, probably named for the sun disc which is often placed above Ra's head to symbolize divine power, as Ashet was composed of pure light he is likely the manifestation of such divine power.
 * Manjet means zenith, likely named as such because he represents he sun's highest point in the sky.
 * The name Semkhet is very close to the name Sekhmet who was the lion headed Egyptian goddess of war, likely named because of his violent nature and the fact he was a lion-man.
 * Mesektet is named after the barge of the night, which carried the god Ra across the realm of shadow in Egyptian mythology.  It's likely named 'Mesektet' since the sun's power resides within it despite the fact that it appears to be made of pure darkness.