Akasha (Aaliyah; 1979-2001) was the villainess of the 2002 film Queen of the Damned (based off the Anne Rice book series The Vampire Chronicles).
She was the world's first vampire, and an immensely sadistic megalomaniac with a desire to conquer the Earth and rule over the vampires of the world.
Akasha was awakened from her slumber by newly made vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, bringing her statue form to life before drinking some of her blood. The taste of Akasha's blood left Lestat enamored by Akasha, despite his sire, Marius de Romanus's warning that she was too powerful for him. Years later, after Lestat had become the lead of a popular rock band, Akasha began searching for him.
When Akasha arrived at The Admiral's Arms (a London-based vampire club) and learned from one vampire that he and several others were planning to kill Lestat for exposing the existence of vampires and his overall flamboyant ways. Looking intrigued, Akasha replied, “Really? Is that what you’re going to do?”
Before he even had a chance to answer, Akasha turned and then walked over to the dance floor. She then danced seductively before calling the vampire over to her; she then ripped the vampire's heart from him, later using her powers to cause several other vampire club-goers to turn to dust before eventually setting fire to the entire club.
Akasha later arrived at Lestat's live concert in Death Valley after he and Marius fought off a group of attacking vampires, taking him to her new home, which is surrounded by the corpses of people Akasha had killed (presumably for sustenance). The seductive vampiress then entranced Lestat into staying with her and becoming her king, with the pair feeding off of each other's blood.
In the film's climax, protagonist Jesse Reeves (along with her aunt Maharet, one of the Ancient Vampires, and a few of her fellow Ancients) confronted Akasha and Lestat, with Jesse being shocked upon seeing how Akasha had manipulated Lestat into becoming her subordinate. The evil Akasha blasted the Ancient Vampires for wanting to live peacefully with mortals before asking Lestat to kill Jesse.
Lestat appears to follow Akasha's orders as Jesse allows Lestat to feed off of her, but instead of killing her, Lestat instead drinks enough of Jesse's blood to break free of Akasha's hold. Angry at what Akasha made him do, he then attempted to kill Akasha by draining her of her blood, only to be stopped by Akasha. Akasha then began to fight off the Ancients, killing two of them before becoming weakened by their attacks. After Akasha reminded the Ancients that anyone who drained the last of her blood would die, Lestat attempted to finish her off, only for Maharet to instead make the sacrifice, draining Akasha of her blood and causing the vampiress to first turn into bronze and then disintegrate into black dust.
Trivia[]
- Akasha was Aaliyah's final film role, with Queen of the Damned being released a year after her death.
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