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I did not come so far and sacrifice so much only to give up on finding Aladdin.

—Jasmine to the Oracle src

Princess Jasmine, briefly known as Shirin, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. She débuts in the fourth episode of the sixth season and is portrayed by guest star Karen David.

Jasmine is based on Badroulbadour[1] from One Thousand and One Nights, and on the character of the same name from the Disney film Aladdin.

History

Before First Curse

In the capital of Agrabah, Jasmine grows concerned for her father, the Sultan, after he gains a new adviser, Jafar, who is corrupt and delivers unnecessary harsh punishments to the common people. She gains the help of an infamous thief, Aladdin, to defeat Jafar by finding a weapon called the Diamond in the Rough at the Cave of Wonders. By this time, however, Jasmine already has suspicions that the weapon is actually Aladdin. On the journey to the cave, Jasmine chastises Aladdin for thinking about going on a treasure hunt in the cave, instead of being concerned about the kingdom's people. Aladdin points out that people have been suffering for a long time now, even before Jafar took over, and that she's only decided to get involved now after her family is affected. Despite their differences in opinions, Aladdin earns a smile from Jasmine by offering her an apple. After getting into the cave, they find the diamond on a sword, and to prevent a trap from triggering, Aladdin places a monkey ornament of equal weight on the sword before taking the diamond. The diamond unexpectedly crumbles into ash, just as a quake occurs, with debris falling around the pair. As Aladdin shields Jasmine from a collapsing pillar, he accidentally uses magic to pulverize it. Jasmine reveals she knew the Diamond in the Rough was actually him, and this proves he is a Savior and can defeat Jafar. Aladdin, overwhelmed by this, asks to be left alone, which Jasmine agrees to do, but not before giving him the royal scarab of Agrabah as proof of her belief in him. She then leaves to go home and take her father to a safer location, only to be intercepted by Jafar, who traps her in an hourglass as it fills up with sand. Aladdin, embracing his role as savior, uses magic to snap Jafar's staff in half, which also lifts Jafar's spell on the Sultan. Sometime after Jafar is gone, Jasmine provides a new lead on the sorcerer's whereabouts in the eastern provinces. Aladdin decides to go there and pursue Jafar, and he invites Jasmine to come with him, however, she resolves to put her duty first by staying in the capital and work on improving the kingdom. ("Street Rats")

As the capital is still under threat by Jafar despite the Sultan regaining power, Jasmine walks in on her father attempting to sway several princes with the Crown Jewel of Agrabah, a dowry gift he promises to whoever marries his daughter. When she bluntly declares that there will be no engagement, the Sultan sympathizes with her wish to marry for love, however, he tries to persuade her to do her duty because they need a prince with an army to protect their land from Jafar. Jasmine insists what they need is a hero such as Aladdin, to which Jafar strolls in, implying that Aladdin has already been broken from too many battles and no prince can ever match up to him. Jasmine and her father are shaken by Jafar's display of power when he morphs one of the princes into a staff, and are left with fewer choices after he demands Jasmine's hand in marriage by sundown or he'll destroy Agrabah forever. Later, at the local market, Jasmine sees a hooded thief whom she believes is Aladdin and follows along as "he" is pursued by a vendor for stealing. Instead, she discovers the thief is a woman, Ariel, whose true form reverts to that of a mermaid after the vendor takes the girl's necklace. Upset at hearing the man call the woman a monster, Jasmine flicks a coin at him to make up for the stolen item before coldly telling him to get out her sight. She learns Ariel is visiting Agrabah to look for the man she loves, Prince Eric, and decides to help her find him so she herself can possibly gain aid from Eric's army to defeat Jafar. As the women ride on the magic carpet in search of Eric, Ariel spots her prince's caravan flag through a spyglass. Ariel is worried Eric will reject her since they only met once at a ball, but Jasmine believes the connection she and Eric have is true love and tells her not to pass up on the opportunity or she may regret it. Despite Ariel's happy reunion with Eric, the man reveals himself to be Jafar in disguise and presses Jasmine again to accept his offer before sundown. As time runs out, Ariel shows Jasmine a powder she stole from Jafar, which is the same kind the sorcerer earlier to turn a prince into a staff, and encourages her to be brave and use it on Jafar. However, Jafar teleports Ariel back to the sea, leaving Jasmine to face him alone. Jasmine grudgingly agrees to marry him to save Agrabah and gives him the ring, but Jafar admits he never intended to marry her or destroy Agrabah and instead he wanted the ring to break the protection it holds over Agrabah. She watches, powerless, as Jafar takes Agrabah away, not knowing he has trapped it inside the ring. ("A Wondrous Place")

Left with no other way to restore Agrabah, Jasmine somehow learns Aladdin is also missing, and she uses unknown means to travel to the Land of Untold Stories to find him. ("Strange Case", "Street Rats", "A Wondrous Place

After Third Curse

By Mr. Hyde's will, Jasmine and many former residents from the Land of Untold Stories come to Storybrooke. ("The Savior")

Jasmine, now using the alias of Shirin, becomes a teaching aid for Mary Margaret. During class, Mary Margaret introduces the students to Newton's law of physics, but the lecture goes badly, with the students all doing poorly on an exam. Jasmine suggests that Mary Margaret is not the same person she was once in the past, and this is why her old teaching methods no longer work. She exemplifies this with her own past, in which the kingdom she came from had a princess that was capable of saving her people, but she failed because of not truly embracing the hero she could be. Jasmine advises her to play on her strengths and assert herself for who she is now: Snow White. At an outdoor class, Mary Margaret successfully employs Jasmine's advice to teach the students Newton's law of physics by letting them try their hand at archery. In the evening, as Jasmine leaves, Mary Margaret gives her an apple and asks her about if the princess ever fixed things in her kingdom. Jasmine states that she did not and that she left the princess behind in the Land of Untold Stories. Later that night, she secretly meets with the Oracle, who tells her that Aladdin is somewhere in Storybrooke. ("Strange Case")

In the woods, Jasmine runs away after seeing Emma find the Oracle's dead body, but trips and falls, which allows Emma to apprehend her as a murder suspect. Under interrogation, she reveals her true identity and swears she did not kill the Oracle because the girl was helping her find Aladdin. Emma, also a Savior like Aladdin, later admits she has been having a vision of her own future, one in which she is killed by a villain, and that it is the fate of all Saviors to die this way. Jasmine becomes grief-stricken at the possibility that Aladdin may be already dead, but in order to be certain, Regina makes a spell to link Emma to Aladdin and allow her to locate him. The heroes, with Jasmine, pinpoint Aladdin's presence in a forgotten crypt. Upon examination of the area, Jasmine is heartbroken to find the royal scarab of Agrabah, an heirloom of hers that she once gave Aladdin, on one of the skeletons. She sees this as proof that he is truly dead, but Emma later meets Aladdin, who admits he is too ashamed to allow Jasmine to know he escaped his own death by using the shears. After some convincing from Emma, Aladdin goes to find Jasmine, and they reunite with a hug. Jasmine explains she requires his help to save Agrabah because he's the Savior, however, Aladdin begins telling her that he's no longer the Savior. ("Street Rats")

Jasmine spends time with Aladdin at the diner, where she attempts to persuade him into helping Agrabah even though he's not the Savior anymore. Aladdin refuses to consider it and then leaves without telling her where he is going. Jasmine becomes worried and phones Emma, who goes to track down Aladdin. Later, as she is reading a book outside the diner, Aladdin drops by to apologize for running away. She is sympathetic towards him and knows he feels guilty about Agrabah, but she has more to tell him about what happened. Aladdin agrees, stating that he is ready to make up for his mistakes and help her rebuild Agrabah. However, Jasmine admits there is no going back since Agrabah has disappeared. She recounts her journey to a neighboring kingdom to secure an alliance, and on her journey back, she pushed through a sandstorm and discovered Agrabah was gone. ("Dark Waters")

When a pregnant Belle and Zelena enlist Aladdin's help to fetch the Sorcerer's wand from Mr. Gold's pawnshop, Jasmine objects to the plan. She wants Aladdin to focus on finding Agrabah, but Zelena points out that Aladdin owes a favor since it's his fault the shears have since ended up in Mr. Gold's hands. After Aladdin succeeds in stealing the wand and gives it to Belle, he and Jasmine take a stroll on the streets. Jasmine is impressed by Aladdin's heroism in helping a friend in need, which makes her regret how caught up she got about the mission with Agrabah. He believes it's good she cares about her kingdom and then gives her a genie lamp that he stole from the pawnshop. Jasmine asks if the lamp still holds the same genie that Aladdin once knew, however, he confirms his "old pal" has moved on and that perhaps whoever is in it now can help her instead. ("I'll Be Your Mirror")

In the diner, Jasmine confides to Snow about the lamp's powers and her fears about the price of magic if she uses a wish to find Agrabah. Snow encourages her instead to focus on the possibility of fulfilling her role as a hero, and this might be her chance to do that. After Jasmine rubs the lamp and discovers there is no genie inside, Aladdin willingly becomes one by clasping the genie bracelets on himself. She becomes distraught over his sacrifice for her sake, but he consoles her with the knowledge that they will find out soon if his genie powers can help her. ("Changelings")

Sometime after Jasmine is tied up by the Evil Queen and has the lamp taken from her, she calls out for help and alerts the heroes to her presence. As soon as they come to rescue her, however, the Queen strolls out with the lamp and begins choking Jasmine to make them back off. After the Queen uses Aladdin to grant Emma's wish of having never been the Savior, Jasmine tries to stop an ongoing argument between David and Hook as the two blame the each other for not knowing where Emma has disappeared to. Regina decides to face the Queen with a plan to get Emma back, but David grows impatient waiting and asks Jasmine and Hook to meet him at the sheriff's station in an hour to work out a way to retrieve the lamp. When David doesn't show up, they rush to the mayor's office with Henry. Jasmine goes to Aladdin and grabs the lamp, while Hook forces the Queen to stop strangulating David. Following the Queen's departure, Jasmine and Aladdin regroup with the heroes at the loft. Jasmine advises that David can use a wish to break his and Snow's sleeping curse, but David declines out of fear of the wish backfiring as his first one did and offers the lamp to her instead. Jasmine sympathizes with his worries and understands the risks if she uses a wish, however, she is determined to find Agrabah no matter what the cost is. As the lamp's new owner, she uses her first wish to take her and Aladdin to Agrabah. ("Wish You Were Here")

With Jasmine's first wish granted, she and Aladdin are taken to the Enchanted Forest, with the ring containing Agrabah appearing in Jasmine's pocket, although neither of them notices this. After days of searching for Agrabah, Aladdin suspects the wish didn't work and suggests giving up so she can make a new home in Storybrooke. Jasmine is drawn in when Aladdin implies they can be together too, but she soon rebuffs him and walks off. Aladdin frustratedly asks her how many times she is almost going to kiss him and then questions what she is so afraid of, which Jasmine denies and instead accuses him of having an inflated ego. When Aladdin tries to convince her otherwise, Jasmine pulls away, causing the ring to drop from her pocket. Recognizing it as the crown jewel of Agrabah, Jasmine theorizes that the wish gave her the ring to remind her of how she failed her people. She spots a rowboat and decides to get rid of the lamp. With Aladdin rowing out to sea, Jasmine urges him to go a little further before she wishes him free and dumps the lamp so it can't hurt anyone ever again. However, a kraken attacks, forcing them to fend it off with the oars. Hook, surfacing from the Nautilus, allows them to come aboard, though he is upset that they chased off the kraken, whose blood he needed for a portal home. When Hook asks who took Agrabah from them, Jasmine admits it was Jafar and that she is too scared to face him again after he took everything from her. With Nemo's harpoon, which can find those with vengeful hearts, Hook proposes using it to track down Jafar to locate Agrabah and have the sorcerer take him back to Storybrooke. Later, Jasmine relates to Hook's struggle over having the person he loves not knowing how he truly feels by confessing that, given her failure to protect Agrabah, she feels she doesn't deserve Aladdin's love. When the Nautilus begins flooding with water, Jasmine uses a wish to take all of them to a nearby island, where she, Aladdin and Hook part ways from Nemo's crew, before finding Ariel, who possesses the lamp housing Jafar. Confident that she can defeat Jafar with three heroes by her side, Jasmine summons out Jafar, but this allows the sorcerer to break his genie curse. After Jafar knocks out Aladdin, Ariel, and Hook, Jasmine learns from him about Agrabah's whereabouts and fights back by hurling powder on him, which turns the sorcerer into a staff. Rather than use her last wish to either restore Agrabah or free Aladdin, she kisses Aladdin to evoke the power of true love, causing Agrabah's revival and the undoing of Aladdin's genie curse. ("A Wondrous Place")

During Fourth Curse
Due to Emma, the Savior, losing her belief in magic, Agrabah is destroyed. Jasmine, Aladdin, and some other people of Agrabah are able to escape in time through one of the Mad Hatter's hats and are reunited with Regina, Snow White, David, Hook, and Zelena. As the Enchanted Forest begins collapsing because of Emma's fading belief, Regina teleports everyone out of the hat and to her palace, where she works on finding a way back to Storybrooke. After David and Hook leave to seek out a magic bean, Snow suddenly senses that her husband is in danger and Jasmine offers her magic carpet to track him down. The two princesses find the fallen Beanstalk and move debris to see who is trapped underneath, however, much to Snow's disappointment, it is Hook and not David. Hook, still groggy from having fallen off the beanstalk, humorously greets Snow by calling her "mommy". Jasmine reacts with confusion to this, to which a sheepish Snow alludes to Hook now being her son-in-law since he married Emma. Hook shows them the bean and offers to help search for David, but Snow directs him to get the bean back to Regina so that they can help Emma. As such, Jasmine and Hook return to the palace on the magic carpet, unfortunately, by this time, the bean's magic is gone. Snow and David return, revealing that the depletion of the Enchanted Forest will soon reach the palace as well, so everyone, including Jasmine, rushes to the center of the palace while Regina's evil half holds the storm off with her magic to buy them enough time for Regina to rejuvenate the bean. Everyone prepares to be wiped out of existence as Regina's magic fails, but suddenly, everything goes still, in part to Emma regaining a small bit of her belief, which leaves the survivors on a small chunk of the palace surrounded by nothingness. ("The Final Battle Part 1," "The Final Battle Part 2")

After Fourth Curse
When the Black Fairy is killed by Mr. Gold, the Dark Curse ends, causing those trapped on the remnants of Regina's palace to be transported back to their homes. Presumably, Jasmine and Aladdin are returned to Agrabah. Sometime after the forces of good win the final battle, the couple stand together on a balcony as they smile and look out towards their kingdom. ("The Final Battle Part 2")

Trivia

Etymology

Production Notes

  • Her casting call name was "Scheherazade".[2][3] Scheherazade is a well-known character from One Thousand and One Nights, who serves as the story's narrator.
    • This is also a subtle nod to the 1992 Disney film, where the Genie sings, "When Ali Baba had them 40 thieves, Scheherazade had a thousand tales".
  • The casting call describes her as "a regal Middle Eastern/Arabic beauty who never backs down from a good fight and can go toe-to-toe with even the toughest adversaries".[2]

Appearances

See also

References

  1. The exact spelling of the characters' names varies, depending on the translation. This article uses the version found in the first edition of the "Aladdin" story, a story which was not found in the original Arabic manuscripts of One Thousand and One Nights, but was set down on paper for the first time by Antoine Galland (the French orientalist who was the first European translator of One Thousand and One Nights) in 1712; Galland heard the tale from a Syrian storyteller. (Source) The first edition, which can be read here (scroll down to "HISTOIRE D'ALADDIN, OU LA LAMPE MERVEILLEUSE"), uses the spelling "Badroulbadour".

    Note that many publications cite Richard Burton's English translation of One Thousand and One Nights (source); his translation of "Aladdin" (published in the third volume of The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night with Notes Anthropological and Explanatory from 1887), which can be read online here, uses the alternate spelling "Badr al-Budur".
  2. 2.0 2.1 Mitovich, Matt Webb (June 24, 2016). Once Upon a Time Casting Sinbad, Scheherezade for Season 6. TVLine. “Also being cast to debut in early Season 6 is Scheherazade, the famous spinner of the tale of One Thousand and One Nights. Here, the character is envisioned as a regal Middle Eastern/Arabic beauty who never backs down from a good fight and can go toe-to-toe with even the toughest adversaries.”
  3. Mitovich, Matt Webb (July 23, 2016). Once Upon a Time: Princess Jasmine Cast With Galavant's Karen David. TVLine. “Sinbad/Scheherezade were code names for Aladdin/Jasmine.”
  4. File:719PhotoOfRoni.png
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