- “Do I look like a jaguar? Act like one? Talk like one? Yes, I was born that way, but I don't remember it. As far as I'm concerned, I'm a person who can shift into a cat. I'm fully assimilated...”
- ―Dez[src]
Desdemona (Dez) was a Mayan Jaguar Warrior and an ally of Angel Investigations.
Biography
- “They want us to be human, but they treat us like animals. We owe them nothing.”
- ―Dez[src]
Desdemona was a jaguar cub who, along with her sisters, was granted human form by Mayan priests. They raised Dez and her surviving sister Penelope to be their Jaguar Warriors, to fight on their side during the prophesized "end of days". Growing up, Dez and Pen were the subject of monthly rituals to retain their human form, but were also kept prisoner and beaten if they rebelled. Pen felt that they owed the priests their humanity, but Dez was tired of being treated like an animal, and was willing to risk her human form by escaping.
The sisters travelled to Los Angeles, and were present when the city was sent to hell. As Dez found work as an assassin for the Lord of Sherman Oaks, Pen began to revert to feline form and could not change back. Dez performed the ritual to return her sister to human form, but during the spell, Los Angeles returned to normal and Pen inexplicably disappeared. Meanwhile, across L.A., animals were being transformed into humans; Dez realised what was happening and worked to return them to their natural forms, recognising that, unlike her, they did not want to be human. To pay her dept to the Lord of Sherman Oaks, Dez was sent to assassinate Angel, the vampire Champion of L.A. Instead, she betrayed the Lord and allied herself with Angel, helping put an end to the assassination attempts. However, Angel's allies Kate Lockley and Gwen Raiden didn't trust her, and followed her. Gwen witnessed Dez returning a gorilla to it's normal form, and, wrongly assuming she was transforming humans against their will, took her prisoner. Kate eventually released her, listened to her story, and helped her return the remaining animals back to normal. When the Potentates tried to return Dez back to jaguar form, believing that she was an "abomination against nature", Connor and the rest of Angel Investigations defended her.
Powers and abilites
Dez was a Jaguar Warrior: a normal jaguar granted human form through Mayan rituals. In human form, she retained feline abilities such as heightened agility and claws. In jaguar form, she experienced some limitations, such as the inability to talk. According to James, Dez's ability to retain human form was gradually fading.
Gallery
Appearances
- Angel: Aftermath