Cordelia Chase

Cordelia Chase was a supporting character in the WB Network/UPN network television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She appeared in every episode of seasons 1 through 3 and left the show after the seasons three finale "Graduation Day (Part 2)". The appeared in fifty-six episodes of the series in total. The character then migrated to the Angel spin-off series, making her first appearance in the pilot episode "City of...". She appeared in ninety episodes of the series from 1999 to 2003 where the character was then put into a coma. She returned for the show's 100th episode "You're Welcome" where she died.

Overview
Cordelia was originally presented as an entitled rich girl who attended Sunnydale High School in 1997. She became a foil and later a friend of vampire slayer Buffy Summers. As Cordy became more involved in Buffy's world, she eventually began dating a boy named Xander Harris. The two broke up shortly after graduation. Following high school, Cordelia relocated to Los Angeles where she tried to make it as an actress. Failing that, she reconnected with Buffy's former vampire lover Angel and helped him to start Angel Investigations, a private detective agency specializing in unusual cases. Cordelia formed a bond with a half-Brachen demon named Allen Francis Doyle who possessed prophetic abilities. When Doyle died, Cordelia inherited his clairvoyant powers and became a seer. She later became the maternal vessel for a powerful entity known as the Blessed Devourer. Giving birth to this entity was too taxing on Cordelia however and she slipped into a coma. Angel and the rest of her team had her transferred to a hospital owned by Wolfram and Hart where she eventually died.

Biography
Cordelia Chase grew up a child of wealth and privilege in the town of Sunnydale, California. As a teenager, she attended Sunnydale High School, and by way of pure ambition, became one of the most popular girls at school. Cordelia had several followers among her clique, girls whom she occasionally referred to as the "Cordettes". Amongst the student body, Cordelia exerted great influence among her peers, and was always quick to assess an individual's "coolness factor" to determine whether they were worthy of associating with her, or whether they were branded as losers. Cordy prided herself on being able to identify a "loser" on sight and how best to avoid them. If she was unable to avoid these undesirables, she made it a point to ridicule them at great length, preferably in front of her followers or anyone else who might appreciate the jest. One shy student who often felt the brunt of Cordelia's barbs was a girl named Willow Rosenberg.

The Slayer
In 1997, Cordelia met a new student who would prove to be her rival in many areas - Buffy Summers. At first, Cordy was quite cordial to Buffy and recognized that Buffy exhibited certain materialistic qualities that she could appreciate. Their budding friendship quickly turned sour however when she found Buffy associating with perceived geeks like Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris and Jesse McNally. Xander was another student whom Cordy enjoyed tormenting, and oddly enough, some part of Xander enjoyed the attention as well. Jesse McNally actually liked Cordelia and tried to get her to date him, but she rebuffed his advances at every turn.

This changed however on the night that Jesse McNally was turned into a vampire. Bolstered by a renewed sense of self confidence, Jesse encountered Cordelia at a trendy night club called The Bronze and forced her to dance with him. During this incident, Jesse's vampire superior, Luke, took Cordelia and was prepared to drink her blood and kill her on the bandstand in front of dozens of people. Buffy Summers, who was secretly a super-powered vampire Slayer arrived on the scene and killed Luke, thus saving Cordelia. Some part of Cordelia's mind however, refused to recognize the existence of vampires at this time. Though she could not entirely recall Luke's attack upon her, she did remember Buffy acting "like a maniac" and her resentment of the girl grew only deeper.

A short time later, Cordelia and Buffy found themselves at odds once again, this time over cheerleading tryouts. Cordy believed she was a shoo-in, but found that she had difficulty working alongside several other girls, particularly Buffy and a girl named Amy Madison. What Cordelia didn't realize at the time however, was that Amy Madison had actually been possessed by her own mother, Catherine, a powerful witch who was once Sunnydale's most prized cheerleader. Desperate to recapture the glory of her youth, she took control of Amy's body and tried out for the team. Unfortunately, Amy's body didn't possess the manual dexterity that she had hoped for and she was assigned as an alternate. The only way she could make the team was if another cheerleader dropped out. To this end, Catherine/Amy used her magic to render Cordelia temporarily blind. Unfortunately, this took place while Cordy was in the middle of a Driver’s Ed test and Cordelia nearly destroyed the vehicle she was driving. Buffy and her friends learned the truth about Amy and defeated the witch. Once Catherine was disposed of, the effect of her spells reversed themselves and Cordelia returned to normal.

Senior Year
Cordelia and Buffy's enmity towards one another came to a head at the time of the senior Homecoming dance. Cordy felt that she was a shoo-in for Homecoming Queen, but after a heated argument with Buffy, learned that Buffy was petitioning for the title as well. As it turned out, Cordelia became involved in a scheme perpetuated by Mister Trick which endangered both of the girls' lives. Mister Trick instigated an event, which he referred to as SlayerFest '98, in which several vampires and one Miquot demon named Kulak were hired to track down Slayers Buffy and Faith Lehane and kill them. Cordelia was mistaken for Faith and as such, became a target of the Slayer hunters as well. Buffy and Cordelia managed to survive the debacle, but when they got back to the Homecoming dance, were disheartened to discover that neither of them had been crowned Homecoming Queen. Despite this, the experience proved to be a bonding moment for the girls and they began to set aside their differences and become friends.

Angel Investigations
After graduation, Cordelia decided to follow her lifelong dream of becoming a movie star. She relocated to Los Angeles and began trying out for various roles, forming a network of key contacts along the way. Fortune did not prove kind to Cordelia however, and she quickly found herself with very little money, living in a dilapidated apartment and scrounging for food. She could no longer rely upon her family for money as they lost their fortune after failing to pay their taxes for the past several years.

It was at this time that Cordy reunited with Angel, who had likewise recently moved to L.A. While making another desperate attempt to secure herself in the Hollywood scene, Cordy met with a wealthy entrepreneur named Russell Winters. To her dismay, Cordy learned that not only was Russell not going to help stimulate her acting career, but that he was also a vampire bent on killing her. Angel and his new associate Allen Doyle arrived at Russell's mansion and saved Cordelia. With nowhere else to turn, Cordelia came up with the idea of Angel setting up his own private security firm. Angel was unsure about the concept at first, but Cordy wasted no time in convincing him to hire her as his personal assistant. The business was called Angel Investigations. Though Angel was uncomfortable with the idea of charging money for his services, Cordy kept a close eye on the firm's financial interests.

Notes & Trivia

 * In "Welcome to the Hellmouth", Cordelia tells Buffy Summers how she always wanted to go to Los Angeles. Ironically, her wish would come true three years later.


 * Charisma Carpenter's work in the Angel episode "You're Welcome", the episode where Cordelia dies, landed her a role in Sylvester Stallone's 2010 film The Expendables.


 * Used to have a medically prescribed lunch shipped to her at Sunnydale High School daily.