Thread:EvilLamp/@comment-27818776-20160110001831/@comment-25008763-20160110192835

Touched By An Angel, eh? not seen much but I can definitely say angels have moral agency in that show.. they can follow God or oppose Him and it is a very "God is good, opposing God leads to ruin" show because it is after all a mix of drama and missionary themes (which is to be expected when dealing with angels).

Satan is the only recurring villain I can think of in that show and yes, he is pretty bad (as you'd expect) : fun little fact you may not of picked up on but the guy he manipulated in the race war was visited by Tess as a child but she had to leave because his abusive father banished her.. Satan kept telling him to "shut up" and Tess remarked he had been listening to "men like that" his whole life.. another little nod to the fact Satan was behind the childhoodn abuse of that character ("don't let him hurt you anymore").

Satan can only stay as long as humans allow him, angels can reveal him but only God can force him to leave (when asked to do so) - until God is asked personally to help Satan *will* try his best to hurt everyone around him.. he knows God's love (hence why he was annoyed when Tess said God loved him) so understands the basics of morality.

Gabrielle says Satan likes using others to do his dirty work and that's true, he is a manipulator and manipulators of that rank tend to understand (or at least be able to fake) complex ethics, he's also at least at "Gabs" level in the angel hierarchy, making him at the very least an archangel, a supernatural being of that rank is truly aware of morals and the "dos" and "don'ts".

"don't think this matters" - while it could simply be a taunt it wouldn't surprise me if that was Satan's way of telling Tess, Gab and even the guy he was manipulating it truly *didn't* matter that he was banished, as he had plenty of other victims to play with and that's his trademark "Pride" kicking in (if he was "made of evil" or dependent on it he'd be a lot more pissed off at losing even one soul).

"God screwed up, free will is a curse" - Satan actually depends on free will to survive, in that way he's kind of mocking God's own design as it allows him to exist : yet God's love in the show is so absolute He will not break his gift, even to a creature as bad as Satan.

Finally (and sorry for being so long here): Tess absolutely loathed him, she almost lost her connection with God.. she had to restrain herself and call him a "creature".. the reason? Tess, as an angel, is immensely empathic and loving.. the exact opposite of a traitor like Satan.