Jasmine (Buffyverse)

"There are no absolutes. No right and wrong. Haven't you learned anything working for the Powers? There are only choices. I offered paradise; YOU chose this!"

- ― Jasmine to Angel

Jasmine was a rogue goddess and major antagonist of the Angel series, arguably being the most powerful "Big Bad" to face Angel and his crew directly - she was also unique amongst Buffy villains, in the fact she was not truly malevolent: in fact she was a force of good, sadly her methods were akin to those of a fascist dictator and as such made her a danger to everyone around her including her cosmic former allies known as The Powers That Be whom she used to be a member of.

Ancient Times
Long ago, the primeval forces that are now considered good and evil took shape; however, the malevolent grew in power and the era of demons began. Jasmine and some of her fellow beings left the mortal world and made themselves content to watch from an alternate reality, only directing the remaining forces for good on Earth and not taking an active part in the battle against evil.

Jasmine was a renegade power to be who decided to take matters into her own hands and impose peace on Earth through mind control. She conquered a dimension filled with a race of insectoid demons as a rehearsal before going to Earth. Jasmine, known to these demons as "The Blessed Devourer," tinkered with the demons' evolution and society, but eventually abandoned them and later spoke of them as a mistake. In the following centuries, many lost their faith in her, but others fanatically awaited for her return. Like in the case of mankind, Jasmine assumed a shape similar to that of her zealots.

Second Life
Angel attempted to give Darla, who was dying at the time, a second chance at life by passing a series of trials. However, unbeknownst to Angel, Darla couldn't use the new second chance because she was already on her second life, and Jasmine claimed that she was able to use the life that Angel earned to create Connor after he had sex with Darla (who had been re-sired by Drusilla at the behest of Wolfram & Hart). Following the birth of Connor, Jasmine was able to maneuver Cordelia with Skip's assistance into becoming part-demon and later ascending into the realm of the Powers. Once in the realm of the Powers, Cordelia found herself consumed with boredom. Cordelia eventually elected to give up her godhood and return to Earth in her previous half-demon form, but Jasmine used this interdimensional trip to "piggy-back" into our dimension by possessing Cordelia. However, the Powers had in place a safeguard for this type of travel.

Back on Earth
Upon arrival back on Earth, Cordelia found herself with a severe case of amnesia that locked out her experiences as Cordelia. Undaunted (and unaware of Jasmine's presence), the Angel Investigations team immediately set about restoring their friend's memory by way of a magic spell. Eventually, the team was able to restore her memory, thus unlocking Jasmine's personality instead of Cordelia's.

Jasmine was able to take over Cordelia and manipulate all of Cordelia's friends, who didn't know that she was possessed by Jasmine. Following her return to Earth, Jasmine worked to keep Angel Investigations off-balance and distracted so they wouldn't notice or prevent her birth. First, she summoned her servant, the unstoppable Beast, and had him create a rain of fire and block out the Sun all over Los Angeles through a spell that would eventually cover the entire Earth. As "Cordelia", she secretly murdered the Svear family, descendants of the priestesses who banished the Beast before, as well as Manjet of the Ra-Tet. Then, having cast a powerful spell to erase all references to the Beast in memory and literature in this reality, she convinced the team to release Angelus, the only one who had memories of the Beast. Following that, she stole the Muo-Ping (a sacred glass jar that contained Angel's soul), faked a replacement way of re-ensouling Angel, and casted a spell that confused Lorne's abilities so Angelus would be "accidentally" released by pretending to still be Angel. She also murdered Lilah Morgan and had the Beast completely obliterate every presence of Wolfram & Hart in Los Angeles.

In the meantime and with the champions distracted, Jasmine remained inside of Cordelia and seduced Connor, whose primary purpose had been to be the father of her new body. She also magically battled Willow Rosenberg (and lost as she was distracted) in order to attempt to stop the soul within the Muo-Ping from being returned (and Angelus being changed back to Angel). By the end of the crisis, Cordelia had already been impregnated by the fast-gestating new body of Jasmine.

Secret Revealed
Jasmine finally blew her cover during Lorne's attempt to regain his powers. During a secret ritual where Lorne was expected to be alone, "Cordelia" arrived with a large knife to kill him. It was really a trap set by the AI team who had all realized that Cordelia was possessed, but she was saved by Connor. With his further assistance (including the kidnapping of an innocent virgin for sacrifice), Jasmine was able to give birth (while possessing Cordelia) to her new body.

Upon being born, Jasmine drained the life-force out of Cordelia, leaving her in a comatose state, one that she would never wake up from. Jasmine's tentacled and luminescent form assumed the shape of a woman. When Angel and Connor saw her for the first time, they both fell to their knees, having quickly fallen under her thrall.

Jasmine appeared before the rest of Angel's crew, turning them into her followers and announcing that, despite the great evil done in her name, her plan was to bring world peace and the elimination of evil, starting with Los Angeles. However, that peace came at a high price. One drawback was that Jasmine secretly needed to devour a certain amount of humans to maintain her force. For this, she usually chose people that were both beautiful and fit, but also people that had been lost and in pain, sparing those that would prove useful for the society she planned on creating.

Peace on Earth
The real problem, however, was that Jasmine's mind control virtually eliminated free will from the world, with everyone being unable to do much of anything except praise and serve Jasmine all day. The AI team was able to shake off her control after being exposed to her and Cordelia's blood, starting with Fred (who scrubbed a damaged blouse so hard that her fingers literally bled), and progressed to Angel (who was hit with a bullet that Fred had shot Jasmine with, the bullet passing through her shoulder and becoming covered with her blood before striking Angel), the two of them then acquired samples of Cordelia's blood and "infected" Lorne, Wesley, and Gunn with it (although their attempts to "infect" Connor failed as he was apparently never fully under her thrall in the first place, going along with her plans due to his warped psyche). Accusing them of being dissidents bent on spreading their hatred, Jasmine directed her followers against them and as her powers grew, she was capable of projecting her will and voice through each of them. She began to refer to those under her control as "The Body Jasmine," as they were veritable extensions of her own body.

While Fred, Wesley, Lorne, and Gunn fought against Jasmine's forces under Connor's command, Angel was able to undo her control over the world by revealing her true name. This second and more powerful weakness of Jasmine's was hidden in the demon dimension that she had formerly ruled, which was revealed to Wesley when one of the zealots there travelled to Earth in the hope of reminding Jasmine of his world's existence. As the other world's atmosphere was poisonous to humans, Angel (who, as a vampire, didn't need to breathe) travelled to the other dimension via a mystic globe that they took from the creature where he fought and decpitated the sole being that knew her name. Angel brought the head back to L.A. and removed the bindings on its mouth, speaking her name with its last breath; this shattered her mind control and power during a worldwide news broadcast.

When her name was revealed, her appearance was also altered. Though she kept her human appearance, she was covered in boils and her eyes turned purple. Her followers ran horrified as the sensation of inner peace and bliss they experienced as part of Jasmine's collective was obliterated. Many caused riots and chaos, while others even contemplated suicide. With her name revealed, Jasmine's mind control powers were destroyed, though she kept her superhuman strength and could easily withstand electricity. Her unique psychic link with Connor also remained, as their connection was of a different nature. Through this link, Connor tracked down Jasmine.

Exposed
With her agenda ruined by Angel, Jasmine initially found herself lost and purposeless, until Angel tried to reach out to her. Jasmine was upset with Angel and tried to impart to him that there is no absolute good, no absolute evil—everything is a gray area. Angel tried to sway her to his point of view, to recruit her to his side, but Jasmine prefered to slaughter humanity herself before giving free will a chance, as she had seen for millennia what this precious free will would bring about. Jasmine says that without her help, the world would be doomed to drown in its own blood; Angel protested that it should be humanity's choice to bring about a perfect world, rather than having it forced on them.

Soon after, Jasmine was attacked by an increasingly unstable Connor, who then killed her by putting his fist through her head.