When Angela was born, her mother had abandoned her at birth, and she never knew anything of her father. She became a ward of the state and was channeled through the foster care system, always migrating from one uncaring family to the next. This ultimately bred a sense of apathy in Angela, and when religion failed to provide her with a sense of spiritual satisfaction, she turned to Satanism as an alternative. When she was a young woman, Angela became involved in a cult that purportedly attempted to summon the devil. Roth was offered up as a potential "bride" for Satan. What appeared before them however was a being of angelic beauty. This being seduced Angela and it was only later that she discovered that she had mated with a powerful demon known as
Trigon. Trigon left Angela with child, but the poor woman could no longer live with the horror of what had happened to her. She tried to get help through counseling, but was rejected by all state agencies. Despondent, Angela attempted to take her own life by overdosing on sleeping pills and it was then that she was approached by beings of the other-dimensional world known as
Azarath. The people of Azarath were a pacifistic society who had left Earth for their new home centuries ago. The Azarathians recognized that Angela was pregnant with the child of Trigon and offered her a fresh start by inviting her to return with them to Azarath. They convinced her that they could safeguard the child from Trigon's influence. Angela agreed and she was provided with a new Azarathian name, Arella, which means the "The Messenger Angel".