Cordelia Chase

Rich and beautiful, Cordelia Chase led her clique at Sunnydale High and enjoyed ridiculing those she saw as inferior, like nerds and outcasts. Cordelia first appeared in the Buffy pilot, Welcome to the Hellmouth, sharing a textbook with Buffy Summers on her first day at the school and showing her to the library. She soon revealed herself to be a mean, popular cheerleader as she mocks Willow Rosenberg ("Good to know you've seen the softer side of Sears!"), much to Buffy's horror. That night, Buffy mistook her for a vampire and almost impaled her with a stake. Cordelia turned on Buffy and made sure Buffy became a social outcast at the school. Cordelia kept finding herself in life-threatening situations in the 1st Season, but often came out untouched — she was almost killed by The Master's Vessel, blinded by witchcraft and targeted by a psychotic girl she helped snub into invisibility. Cordelia was elected May Queen in her freshman year.

Cordelia grew to accept the existence of dark forces in Sunnydale and became a full-fledged member of Scooby Gang. A corresponding fall in her social status reached a low with her publicized romance with Xander Harris. It ended in Season 3 when she found him kissing his childhood friend, Willow. Cordelia struggled to revive her popularity when her father's "little mistake on his taxes... for the last twelve years" cost her family everything, including their house and her car, cellphone and wardrobe. She took a job at an expensive local boutique, April Fools, to pay for a prom dress. She did not earn enough in time, but Xander found out and paid it off. Her brief, mutual infatuation with Watcher Wesley Wyndham-Pryce ended with two bad kisses before graduation.

Despite her intelligence and having been accepted to the likes of Columbia, Cordelia could not afford college. She moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Meeting Angel at a Hollywood party, she pretended to be successful. In fact, she was nearly penniless, renting a dilapidated apartment and stealing food from such parties. Her agent was ignoring her calls and she had no family to turn to, having severed ties with her family. Desperate, she met with a producer who proved to be a vampire. Rescued by Angel and half-demon Allen Francis Doyle, Cordelia joined with them to form Angel Investigations, dedicated to helping people in trouble, usually located by visions sent to Doyle by the mysterious and semi-divine Powers That Be.

Cordelia soon became AI's office manager. She continued to pursue an acting career, but never broke out of commercials and plays. She reached a turning point mid-season when her budding romance with Doyle ended with his sudden death. Visibly devastated, Cordelia attempted to carry on. During an audition for a commercial, however, she received her first vision, a gift transferred to her by Doyle during their last kiss. It gave her a powerful ability to help others, and over the course of the next few years, she came to consider them her reason for being. As Angel's link to The Powers That Be ("TPTBs"), Cordelia became an important member of the group.

Cordelia grew more sensitive to the feelings of others as she experienced those of the subjects of each vision. The visions became increasingly frequent and intense and began to physically damage her brain. For months, Cordelia secretly took powerful painkillers and underwent CAT scans that indicated the slow deterioration of her brain tissues. Yet when presented with the opportunity to pass her visions to the heroic Groosalugg during a short trip to the alternate demonic dimension Pylea, she refused, stating that the visions are a part of her and make her who she is, a hero. But as the visions were intended for demons only, Cordelia struggled to hide the effects from her friends. This continued until her 21st birthday, when she was rocked by a vision that sent her spirit into an astral plane. This opportunity was seized upon by Skip, a mercenary demon who sells his expertise to the highest bidder; in this case, a fallen member of The Powers That Be waiting to manifest on Earth.

Skip masqueraded as Cordelia's guide from the TPTBs. Through a series of manipulative events, such as selectively showing her excerpts of Angel calling her nothing but a rich girl from Sunnydale and giving her the "perfect" life as a successful actress that she always wanted (knowing she would eventually look for a loophole), he transformed her into a part-demon. Cordelia could then harbor the visions without pain, but mystical side-effects came as well, including temporary physical manifestations of the subject and being able to re-enter the vision at a later point. Unbeknownst to everyone, it also set in motion a major chain of events -- Cordelia's body became suitable for use by the forces of evil. Cordelia's transformation gave her the power, not entirely under her control, to cleanse evil influence with a white glowing light. This was perhaps a protective device embedded by the fallen power to ensure its potential host is not damaged in some way. In the 3rd Season Finale, Skip reappeared to Cordelia, who was on her way to meet with and declare her love for Angel. He told her that she had done so much good on Earth, she was ready to ascend to a higher plane to do more good as a higher being there. It was a ruse to get her onto the fallen power's plane, in order for it to enter Cordelia.

Having been convinced by all she had seen and heard, Cordelia accepted the call to the higher plane, ascending into the sky surrounded by twinkling lights, eventually winking out of this dimension. Angel could not have met her anyway, having been sent to the bottom of the sea in his own troubles. During the four months she lived on the higher plane, Cordelia was bored. Unable to talk to her friends and doing any good, she was unaware that the fallen power was

In Season 4, Cordelia returned to Earth from the higher plane. The descent wiped out her personal memories and forced the fallen power into hibernation. Angel hid the truth from Cordelia, fearing it would be too much for her to handle. Confused and suspicious of Angel Investigations and those who work there, Cordelia sought the truth and was horrified by what she discovered. After being attacked by a violent demon and several Wolfram and Hart operatives, Cordelia was rescued by Connor, Angel's teenage human son and, feeling safe with him, decided to live in his loft. She appreciated Connor's honesty about the supernatural. During her stay, Cordelia felt lost and alone, becoming frustrated with her inability to remember her past. She realized that she needed to learn to defend herself again. As his father did a year earlier, Connor offered to train her in combat. Cordelia's natural athleticism and warrior's heart made her a natural fighter, and during one session, a jubilant victory hug from Cordelia to Connor became a stolen kiss. To Connor's dismay, Cordelia could not let anything happen until she knew who she really was.

Cordelia's memories were finally restored through a spell by Lorne in Spin the Bottle, but the spell awoke the fallen power, too. The entity later known as Jasmine had merged itself with every cell and fiber in her body; now it completely submerged her consciousness. Cordelia's behavior became increasingly erratic as Jasmine took hold. It manipulated her sympathy for Connor and terror at the impending apocalypse to make her sleep with him. Cordelia became pregnant, creating a separate body for Jasmine, who was basically giving birth to itself. While pregnant, Cordelia butchered the last sun totem Manjet, Lilah and the Svear family to serve Jasmine's plans. She convinced the team to bring back Angelus to distract them and to keep her plans secret. She stole his soul so Angel could not return. She continually told Connor that they were special and that the rest of the group hated them and would kill their baby.

Eventually, Cordelia was discovered and Angel's team interrogated Skip, who revealed Jasmine's plan. He said that all the events of the last eight years had been carefully nudged into place. Jasmine may have simply seized on Cordelia's knock from her body, but we will never know. Skip also said that Jasmine could not be removed from Cordelia without killing her or putting her into a permanent, vegetative state. Before Angel could kill the woman he loved, Cordelia performed a ritual with Connor's help to bring Jasmine out and manifest on this plane at last. Afterwards, Cordelia fell into a coma, her life force having been drained.

After Angel joined Wolfram & Hart, Cordelia was transferred to their hospital in an effort to revive her. Cordelia made a triumphant return in the fifth season episode You're Welcome, helping a disillusioned Angel get back on track. Alas, it was simply an astral projection facilitated by The Powers that Be, who owed her a favor for all the hell she had been through. After tenderly kissing Angel and giving him a vision that pointed him in the direction of the real players in the upcoming apocalypse, it was discovered that Cordelia had died in her sleep, never having woken.

Like many characters in the Buffyverse, Cordelia evolved dramatically throughout the two series. She changed from an egocentric fashion plate to a person whose life was increasingly dedicated to helping others. The Cordelia we met in the first episodes of Buffy felt no burning desire to become a better person. The rejection and mockery from her original friends as she outgrew their shallowness is a powerful message for the viewers. Cordelia grew into adulthood and died with a grounded confidence replacing the arrogance and vanity of her adolescent self.