"converting the boy to his side," showing him that he's no longer a bad guy. Just when Connor is bonding with Angel, Holtz kills himself upon sensing the danger of their reconciliation. This makes Connor back track and sets off a back and forth pattern that continues to repeat till the end of season four with Cordelia and then Jasmine taking Holtz' position between father and son. Much of Connor's development in season three and four is his continuous shifting alliances between protagonists and antagonists; he is unable to find his place or his purpose for being. Jeffrey Bell says that all the confusing and conflicting circumstances never allow Connor a break, which he thinks "makes him empathetic in midst of making all wrong choices". Steven S. DeKnight says: We really wanted to highlight [..] that he is a tragic victim of circumstance. He never had a childhood, he's been lied to and manipulated and in this episode we find out his whole reason for being was to bring this other thing into this world, so he's been played his entire life. You really root for him to make the right decision in this one, but you know tragic figure he doesn't. Season four also sees the writers exploring teenage sexuality through him, in a small arc with Faith, with whom Steven S. DeKnight compares him in their characterization of misguided youth with superpowers; and the overarching arc with his father's love Cordelia. Jeffrey Bell states Arthurian Legend's animosity between King Arthur, his son Mordred, and their love triangle with Guinevere as inspiration for the Connor-Cordelia-Angel plot line. Whedon notes that while he already has decided that Cordelia and Connor were going to have sex, the story had to be changed and move faster because Charisma Carpenter became pregnant. The Cordelia plot line additionally gave writers opportunity to explain Connor's birth via Jasmine, a character brought in to replace Carpenter as final villain. Taking Jasmine as a base point the writers started connecting back the dots they'd set up in previous seasons. In the words of DeKnight, "It's always been the big mystery of how and why Darla and Angel have a child, 'cause vampires are sterile. We find out this miracle birth was created kind of like a secret ingredient all planned out to sleep with Cordelia and create this superbeing." Regarding the resolution of the character at season