Winifred "Fred" Burkle is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon and introduced by Shawn Ryan and Mere Smith on the television series Angel.

Originally majoring in history, Fred took a physics class with Professor Seidel, which inspired her to take another path.

In that episode, she asks Wesley and "Liam" for weed and was also revealed to have had to take a personality disorder test and to be something of a conspiracy theorist.

For five years, Fred spent an arduous life as a "cow", the Pylean word for humans who are kept as slaves, and then as a fugitive.

She is also the object of affection of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, who attempts to step aside after Gunn and Fred started dating, but is still drawn to her.

As a result, in a battle where she is trying to trap him in a hell dimension, Gunn snaps Seidel's neck himself and drops the body into the portal.

She is a major asset to the team; Angel consistently relies on her department to quickly and efficiently solve problems.

The air Fred inhales is actually Illyria's essence, which immediately begins a parasitic existence in her body, eating away at it and making her a shell.

Worse still, Knox had worshipped Illyria for years and worked at Wolfram & Hart for the sole purpose of bringing the demon back.

As Angel and Spike travel to England to find a cure, Wesley remains in Fred's bedroom with her, comforting her as she fights bravely, but slowly begins to die.

Angel learns that the only way to save Fred would be to draw Illyria back to the Deeper Well in England by using her sarcophagus as a beacon.

It is later revealed in Spike: After the Fall that seeing someone Fred cared for triggers the change, while dangerous situations transform her back into Illyria.

Later the telepath Betta George puts Wesley and Spike's memories (of Fred) into Illyria's brain to make her question her own actions.

In Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine, Illyria is drained of her mystical energy and powers and is stuck in the physical appearance of Fred.

Illyria believes she should be dead and something inside her must be keeping her alive, and is able to scientifically read graphs to determine why Dawn Summers is dying.

[5] It transpires that, when magic was restored, many aspects of the supernatural were "reset", resulting in the resurrection of both Fred and Illyria, sharing the same body.

Fred is a normal human woman with no supernatural abilities; her brilliant mathematical mind, immense knowledge of quantum physics and science, and a natural ability in designing inventions make her an important asset of Angel's team; Wesley once says, while addressing most of Angel's crew, "She's smarter than all of us put together".

During this time, Fred also acquires some reasonably good fighting skills, mainly with weapons such as stakes, guns, swords, knives, etc.