Jasmine

**Princess Jasmine** is the deuteragonist of Disney's 1992 animated feature film, *Aladdin*. She is the independent and rebellious princess of Agrabah, a Middle Eastern kingdom ruled by her father, the Sultan. As the future Sultana, Jasmine has a strong sense of obligation to her kingdom. Because of outdated laws, however, she was forbidden to go beyond the palace walls and was forced to follow unjust practices. Refusing to be treated like a sheltered object, Jasmine desperately aspires to diverge from her societal confines, to live a life where she is free to make her own choices.

Jasmine is loosely based on the character of Princess Badroulbadour from the *Aladdin* fairy tale featured in the *One Thousand and One Nights* collection of stories. She is also the sixth official member of the Disney Princess line-up, and the first to be of non-Caucasian descent.

## Appearance

Jasmine was animated and designed by Mark Henn, her facial structure is modeled after his sister, Beth Henn. She is a very beautiful, slender young girl of average height with a sensual, voluptuous hourglass figure. She has olive skin, high cheekbones, brown eyes with full eyelashes, and straight, lush hair reaching her thighs.

Jasmine's casual outfit was designed to be simplistic, resembling that of Arabian Harem women. She wears a sky blue (later turquoise) crop top that reveals her midriff and navel with sewn-in off-the-shoulder straps, matching puffy pants with a light-blue V-shaped waistline cerulean curled shoes. Her hair is worn in a ponytail in two sections with matching teal bands and ending in a small swirl with this outfit. She wears a turquoise headband which is centered with a sapphire with a gold border adorned into it. She also dons two large golden earrings completely covering her ears and a matching necklace.

## Personality

Jasmine is introduced as feisty and no-nonsense, with zero tolerance for anyone who dares to belittle her. She initially rejected her role as a princess because of the unethical requirements that come with the role, including being forced to remain within the palace at all times, forced to marry for political gain rather than love, and treated as a tool rather than her own person. After gaining her independence by the end of *Aladdin*, Jasmine is shown to be very much a ruler of Agrabah alongside her father instead of merely sitting around on the sidelines. She takes part in most political disputes and garners an amount of respect equal to her father.

Strong-willed and defiant, Jasmine is not afraid to speak her mind, nor will she hesitate to stand up for what she believes is right. Her open resentment towards Agrabah's outdated laws, and her belief that people should be judged solely by their character rather than their background, shows that she is progressive. This mentality allowed her to see the goodness in Aladdin, despite his background as a street urchin. In "Garden of Evil", she was able to see the humanity in the plant creature Arbutus, whereas others assumed that he was a soulless monster.

However, Jasmine's attitude often put her at odds with her father and other members of the elite, who were content with sticking to the status quo and expressed frustration with her refusal to do the same. She has been something of an outcast amongst royalty as a result, so she developed a standoffish nature and sometimes acts incredibly stubborn as a defense mechanism. More comically, releasing Rajah on those who annoy her is another defense mechanism for which she has become infamous.

While the movie focuses on Jasmine's goal to achieve individuality, the television series explores her outstanding devotion to her kingdom and people. In "Bad Mood Rising", Jasmine explains that she rules under the philosophy that, "A princess knows the needs of the people outweigh her own". Following that belief, she risked her life for Agrabah on numerous occasions: In the original *Aladdin*, despite not being a fighter yet, she was quick to aid Aladdin in the final battle against sorcerer Jafar by grabbing hold of the latter's snake staff. When her kingdom was terrorized in "Armored and Dangerous", she leaped into battle, with only Carpet by her side, to defend her people from Dominus Tusk's wrath. In "The Ethereal", she sacrificed her life to save a child's life, which in turn saved Agrabah from destruction at the hands of the Ethereal. In *Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams*, Jasmine attempts to contribute to Agrabah in ways that don't include flaunting her status as a princess - such as volunteering in schools or hospitals.

Being aware of her sex appeal and its effect on others, Jasmine is notorious for flaunting her assets to gain the trust of her enemies, only to betray and/or humiliate them when the time is right. A prominent example of this occurred when Jafar took over Agrabah; when Aladdin tried to steal back the lamp, she took advantage of Jafar's lust for her by pretending to be madly in love with him to cover for Aladdin. Another example is when Aladdin (under the alias of Prince Ali) appeared on her balcony in an attempt to woo her; she used her sex appeal and flirting gestures to make Aladdin think he was making progress only to shatter his hope and embarrass him.

Despite her cunning, Jasmine can sometimes be too fussy and act without thinking things through. She was willing to leave the palace without knowing the difference in customs between royalty and commoners; this is shown by her donating an apple to a child and being confused when the vendor demanded that she pay for it. In "Do the Rat Thing", she took offense when Aladdin declared that she didn't know what it's like to be a "street rat", despite the fact that he was right.

## Background

Jasmine is the daughter of the Sultan of Agrabah and his late wife, residing in the kingdom's lavished palace alongside her father and loyal pet tiger, Rajah, whom she found several years before the events of the film. She believed him to be a spiritual gift from her mother, who would tell her stories about the "star tiger" named Rajah. It is revealed in the book *Tales from Agrabah* that, whenever Jasmine would long for her mother, she would sit on her balcony and stargaze for a period of time.

Because of her status as a princess, Jasmine was unfortunately forbidden to ever leave the palace walls, spending her life sheltered within the confines of the royal home. She often felt suffocated by the laws of her kingdom, which restricted her from socializing with her subjects and forced her to constantly meeting suitors to possibly arrange marriages. This situation ultimately prevented Jasmine from making any connections, as she had never had any real friends (aside from Rajah), and left her with the desire to see the world and experience life outside of being a sheltered princess, which would eventually result in meeting Aladdin.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Intuitive Aptitude:** Jasmine is quite intuitive and intelligent, has described herself as a fast learner. After one demonstration from Aladdin, she was able to pole vault across a rooftop. Jasmine has been able to manipulate foes and read people for their true intentions, such as Prince Achmed, Jafar, Mirage or even Chaos, showing an ability to uncover lies and secrets. This is prominently seen during her night with "Prince Ali" when she suspected that he is the same boy that she met in the marketplace. After spending more time together, she tricks him into confirming her suspicions, proving that she is smart enough to outsmart a street-wise street rat.
* **Animal Empathy:** With her kind-hearted nature, Jasmine has shown a remarkable affinity to most animals she encounters. Most noticeably is the massive Rajah, who is undeniably loyal to her and acts more akin to a house pet with her. Other animals, such as Iago in their adventures together and even random fishes, tend to take a liking to her.
* **Multilingual:** As an aspiring queen, Jasmine can speak several unspecified languages, as it was briefly mentioned in *Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams*.
* **Skill Hand-to-Hand Combatant:** As seen in the television series, as well as Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Jasmine eventually garnered skills in combat, being able to hold her own in battle against thieves and other antagonists. She is rather unmerciful in battle, as seen in "The Secret of Dagger Rock", "The Great Rift" and "The Vapor Chase" In the episode "A Sultan Worth His Salt", Jasmine is shown to be skilled in the use of weaponry for combat. Her skills are arguably best showcased in "Forget Me Lots", where she (under magical amnesia) easily battled and nearly defeated Aladdin, as well as numbers of other characters. Both that episode and "The Wind Jackals of Mozenrath" feature a whip as her personal weapon of choice, with which she displays exceptional skill in an offense, defense, and even non-combat ingenuity.
* **Physical Strength:** Despite her appearance, Jasmine has impressive physical strength, as she could push a large statue in Aladdin and the King of Thieves, and a boulder in "My Fair Aladdin" and beat a thug with a punch in Aladdin and the King of Thieves.
* **Horse Riding:** In *Disney Princess Enchanted Tales*, Jasmine notes that she has been riding horses since before she could even walk.

Because Jasmine is a Princess of Heart, her heart contains pure light, which also holds the power to open the Final Keyhole when she is with the other six princesses. Since her heart contains no trace of darkness within, her body will remain in a dormant state if she loses her heart and waits until it returns to her body.

* In addition, her heart (along with that of the other princesses) can be used to create the Keyblade of People's Hearts, which allows the bearer to unlock anyone's heart.
* She has the power to hold back the darkness with the aid of the other princesses, how this can be done is unknown. She also has the power to sense darkness.
* Jasmine (along with the other princesses) can also upgrade other people's powers, as revealed when they upgraded Sora's Firaspell to Firaga.

## Role in Sora’s Adventures

She appeared in Sora’s Adventures in Agrabah