Alec Newman

Glaswegian-born Alec Newman played Drogyn in Angel’s season five. Alec joined the National Youth theater aged 17 at trained at NYT and LAMDA. He has also appeared in The Gene Generation, Moonlight Serenade, Constellation, Staring at the Sun, Four Corners of Suburbia, Enterprise (as Malik), Frankenstein, Tru Calling, Bright Young Things, Children of Dune, The Principles of Lust, Dune, and Greenwich Mean Time.

Drogyn

Drogyn was the keeper of the Deeper Well - the burial place for the old ones - located in the Cotswolds in England. After Fred was infected with Illyria’s essence in A Hole in the World, Angel and Spike sought help from Drogyn, who was an aquaitance of Angel’s.
Drogyn was unable to lie and therefore hated to be asked questions. After discovering that Angel was behind the death of Fred, Drogyn went to Los Angeles to advise Angel’s friends that Angel had gone bad in Power Play. He was attacked by a Boretz and found by Spike and Illyria. Drogyn was left under the protection of Illyria but was taken by Hamilton. He was severely beaten by the Black Thorn and left as a sacrifice for their newest member Angel. Not realising that Angel used him as an expendable warrior in the fight for good Angel drained his blood and snapped his neck.

That one time

In Power Play, Illyria and Spike have the following conversation, in which Spike suggests that his and Angel’s relationship may have been more than we thought:

Illyria: “You’ll have proof soon enough. A corrupted ruler on such a path sees
treachery and betrayal all around him. He cannot suffer intimates
and will eventually turn against them.”
Spike: “Guess I don’t have to worry about that, ‘cause Angel and me have never
been intimate. Except that one…”

This could be a nod to fan-fiction based on a romantic relationship between Angel and Spike.

Circle of the Black Thorn

The Circle of the Black Thorn was a powerful secret society, whose members were considered to be the instruments of the Senior Partners on earth. Their goal was to enforce Wolfram & Hart’s apocalypse plans in return for power. The Circle’s members were composed of Archduke Sebassis, Senator Helen Brucker, Cyvus Vail, Ed, Grand Potentate of the Fell Brethren, the leader of the Sahrvin Clan, and Izzerial “the Devil”.
Through a vision given to him by Cordelia, Angel discovered that the Circle was the way to destroy W&H’s evil plans. Without consulting his friends, Angel pretended to become corrupted by the evil law firm. He infiltrated the society and ‘proved’ his loyalty to them by pretending to be the true power responsible for the resurrection of Illyria. He also aided several Circle members using his law firm; sacrificed Drogyn; and signed away his right to the Shanshu Prophecy.
After confiding in his friends, Angel and his crew set out on a mission to wipe out the Black Thorns as an indirect attack on the Senior Partners. They would never be able to stop the Partners, but wanted to show them that that they would never be controlled. Angel secretly poisoned the key player of the Black Thorns, Archduke Sebassis. Izzerial and the three other unnamed human members were slaughtered by Illyria. The leaders of the Sahrvin Clan were slain by Lindsey with the aid of Lorne. Spike wiped out the Fell Brethren and their Grand Potentate, Ed.

Leona Helmsley

In Provider, Lorne says of the Nahdrah’s ship, “Jules Verne meets Leona Helmsley.” Billionaire Leona Helmsley married a real estate tycoon who, under her influence, began a program of conversion of apartment buildings to condominiums. In the 1980s she became infamous for two things – being a tyrannical “boss from hell” (her employees gave her the title “The Queen of Mean”), and for being prosecuted, and eventually convicted and sentenced to prison, for income tax evasion.
In Power Play, Lorne references Helmsley again when he says, “It’s like Angel suddenly started channeling Leona Helmsley.”

Lord of the Rings

The demon Gnarl in the episode Same Time, Same Place, is very similar to the Lord of the Rings character Gollum. Jane Espenson confirmed that this was intentional in a post at the Bronze Beta: “Collect the money on the bet. There was some Gollum in the history of Gnarl.”
In Intervention, Xander says that Buffy called Glory’s minions “hobbits with leprosy”. He’s referring to J.R.R. Tolkien’s creatures from his book The Hobbit and the trilogy the Lord of the Rings. Hobbits are like men, but are much smaller, with large hairy feet. They are home-loving and enjoy food, parties and smoking pipes. Glory later calls Spike “Precious”, which is fitting as the Lord of the Rings character Gollum refers to the One Ring as “my precious”.
In Gone, Warren says to Jonathan, “Oh, cheer up, Frodo”. Frodo Baggins is a character from Lord of the Rings. In Chosen, the scenes of the thousands of CGI Turok-Han in the Hellmouth was clearly influenced by the scenes in the Mines of Moria in the Lord of the Rings movie The Fellowship of the Ring.
In Damage, Andrew reacts to Spike’s reappearance by comparing it to Gandalf’s resurrection in The Fellowship of the Ring (“more beautiful than ever”} before weeping on Spike’s shoulder and whispering “Frodo, he’s alive.”
In Power Play, Gunn calls Drogyn “Aragorn.” Aragorn is the name of a long-haired character in The Lord of the Rings, played in the movie version by actor Viggo Mortensen.