Amara

Amara was a powerful sorceress living in Agrabah, who took Jafar under her wing when he was a young man and taught him the arts of dark magic. As he grew into an adult, he and Amara developed a sexual relationship, as they went about fulfilling a plan of theirs: collecting three genies bottles to forever change the laws of magic. However, Jafar's feelings for Amara were feigned, and he eventually turned on her, giving her a potion that stripped her of her magical essence, which became his to use, and turned her into a serpent, which he then transformed into his staff.

Before the Curse
In Agrabah, a blacksmith is perfecting a metal instrument, and he then calls out for a "boy", telling him the fire he's working with is dying. He calls out for the boy again, and a young man shows up, bringing with him a basket with flammable material, and he starts to tell the blacksmith that there was no coal that day, so he had to resort to something else, but the man takes the basket from his hand, saying "No excuses!" Then, he angrily pushes the boy, who falls against some vases, and the man tells him he should throw the boy back in the gutter where he found him. The boy begs him not to, and the man picks up some object and throws it at where the boy is, hitting the vase next to him as he cowers. The man then tells him that maybe another night without food will remind him to be better prepared. The boy looks at him with horror in his eyes. Then, the blacksmith resumes his work, as the boy looks at him with a mixture of fear and contempt. Then, in the street, the people go about their affairs, and then they all suddenly start to run away, hide and/or cower in fear, due to the presence of a dark sorceress: Amara. The powerful witch is seen with a little basket, hoping to get whatever she needs from the fair. The young man in the blacksmith's office appears to be captivated by her, as he can't stop looking at her. The man calls out for him, telling him to turn away. Amara picks up some food supplies from a stand and then magicks up a coin which twirls on the stand, leaving it there as payment. The woman then notices the young man staring at her, ignoring his master's requests for him to turn away, or his warning that the witch will burn them where they stand. However, the young boy is unmoved. He keeps looking at the woman with fascination, and she acknowledges his presence too, and the fact that he is watching her. Their eyes lock. Then, the witch resumes her affairs, as the people cower while she passes them by, and the young man keeps looking at her.

That night, the young man is seen entering the property of the powerful witch. He knocks on her door after some hesitation, and she quickly answers it. She is surprised to see her visitor, and he gasps and apologizes for disturbing her. She remembers him from the market, saying he works there, which he confirms, and she asks what he is doing at her door. He starts to tell her what he wants, and she moves in towards him, scaring him into taking a few steps back, and telling him she's not asking what he wants, but rather why he'd disturb her, for he must know what she can do to him. The young man promptly tells her that death would be a kindness compared to the life he has ahead of him. Her attention is caught. He wants her to teach him. She's intrigued, and he explains that he wants her to teach him dark magic, so that one day people will fear him as they do her. She looks bored and annoyed and turns him down, before turning away, and he tries to convince her by saying he'll work for her, and do anything she wants. She turns back to him and tells him, with relative anger, that magic is not something one uses to fight off bullies. He starts to tell her that's not what he wants it for, and she asks him what it is then. He says he wants revenge. She asks on who, and he hesitates. She is further annoyed, and starts to tell him to go away, threateningly so, but he says, "The Sultan." She appears delighted somehow, amused. She asks him why someone like him would have any concern with the Sultan, and the boy tells her the Sultan is his father. She asks if this is true, further commenting that there is nothing more important between two people than honesty, and to her eyes he looks nothing like royalty. The boy says the Sultan abandoned him, and she wonders why he'd abandon his own flesh and blood, to which he recounts that, as the Sultan says, he is his "bastard". "I hate him with the fire of a thousand suns!" the boy says. "Finally," she says, delighted, "honesty." She then grabs his chin and asks him for his name, which he tells her: Jafar. She tells them that the following day they will begin to see what he can do. The boy is pleased.

Many years later, Jafar, now an adult, is treated to a fun anecdote about how his shepherd, Akil, ran into some problems trying to save Jafar's goat from a fall. As Jafar, now an adult man, sits down, the shepherd tells him about having been scrambling on a rockface trying to save the young goat, until it saw a shrub, no bigger than a chickpea, and had to eat it. The goat took one step, and fell down. As he tells the story, the shepherd imitates bleating. Jafar then comments, after chuckling quietly, that one can never underestimate the stupidity or the appetite of a goat. The shepherd agrees, and Jafar then thanks him for saving the male goat, even if it didn't deserve saving. He pats the goat's back as he gets up, and Akil points out that it is his job. Jafar gives the shepherd a pouch of wine, deeming it to be a reward for his good work, and Akil thanks him, and wishes that he may rest easy. Jafar then pats the man's arm and heads inside, leaving him to drink the wine. Indoors, he finds Amara, who still looks the same as she did when she took Jafar in, reading a book, her book of spells. Jafar moves in to have a look as well, but she closes it, telling him, "No, not yet." She puts it aside, and the man asks her when she is going to let him study the spells inside that book. "When you're ready," she says, "Which, as of now, you're not." She tells him it is however time for her to teach him the masking spell, which he's been so eager to learn. He reminds her that she said they couldn't, because it requires a human liver. Amara confirms that it does, but he's just gotten them one. Jafar is confused, and she explains that the wine he gave Akil was poisoned, so he'll be dead any moment now. Jafar gets up to look through the grated window as the shepherd outside begins to react to the poison he's ingested.

As the man gasps, Jafar tells his companion that Akil did nothing. Amara confirms this, calling the shepherd a fine man, with little to no care in her look. She then holds up a vial containing the antidote to the poison, stating that if he wishes so, Jafar can give it to him. He promptly takes the vial from her, but she stops him, saying that if he does they won't have the liver, and he won't be able to learn the spell. She then touches her snake pendant, hanging from around her neck and over her chest, and asks if he knows what it is. He knows it's a serpent, and she asks if he knows why she's surrounded herself with such creatures. A look around the house shows us that she has the animals everywhere, including drawings on the walls and a serpent skeleton. Jafar doesn't know, and she says it's because of their true essence, their most important quality: that when they need to, they shed their skin and are reborn; and that is what Jafar needs to do, according to her. "By letting an innocent die?" he asks. She gets up from the couch and says, "By showing me that you're willing to do whatever's necessary to get what you want. Are you?" Jafar looks at the man dying outside, and she goes on to ask him if he's still just the little boy who came to her door, full of anger but little else. Outside, Akil keeps gasping and moaning and getting worse. Inside, Jafar puts down the vial, and the man dies immediately afterwards. Amara is pleased. She says that now they know, and takes his hand, putting it over her snake pendant. She sighs with delight, and congratulates him, for he is reborn. She then caresses him, even though he looks hesitant, and they kiss. They then fall to the couch, together, as the camera focuses on a serpent decoration.

Some time later, Amara has finally allowed Jafar to look through the pages of her book of spells. She tells him that the book contains all the world's wisdom about genies. Jafar inhales and exhales, and puts his hands around the book. Jafar wonders if this is what she's refused to share with him all along. He picks up the book and she tells him she had to wait until he was ready, which he is. She goes on to say that inside the pages of that book is a spell that only the power of the three genies will allow them to cast. A spell so powerful that even her, with all her magic, could not attempt alone. But now she has a partner... They kiss. Jafar turns through the pages, looking at genie bottles, and asks what kind of spell could be so difficult that it requires both of them. Amara that says it's one that, if they succeed, will make them the most powerful sorcerers the world has ever known: they will be able to change the very laws of magic, and once they do that, all they desire will be at their fingertips. Acknowledging that she wishes to share that with him, he appears to be moved, and caresses her face as he remarks that he doesn't know how he could ever repay her generosity. Amara states that she has waited many years to find someone worthy of this, just as he's waited years to seek his revenge, not only on his father who cast him out, but on all those who ever belittled or doubted him. Jafar recounts that no one has ever shown him such kindness, and she says that no one has ever loved him like she does. They kiss passionately, and the book falls to the floor, opened on a page that shows the lamp that contained the Genie of Agrabah...

In a flashback, Jafar enters a tavern, and the owner, Gerard, tells him they're closed. Jafar takes a look around and says that he's not there for a drink. The man tells him that if it's women he seeks, that's upstairs. Sounds of women laughing faintly are heard coming from the upstairs floor. Jafar goes straight to the point, saying he wants the genie in Gerard's possession. Gerard chuckles and starts to say that he doesn't have a genie, but Jafar tells him not to bother denying it, because rumors travel great distances when magic is involved. Gerard shows his sympathy for Jafar having travelled so far for nothing, but he is not ready to pass on the bottle; he still has one more wish to make, he's saving it for just the right thing and he's in no hurry. Jafar states that he is, and uses his magical powers to lock the door shut. Gerard is surprised and intimidated and asks him who he is. Jafar claims to be the last person the bartender will ever see unless he gives the wizard what he wants. Jafar takes out a small knife from his garment and claims that he will be leaving with the genie, the question is whether the bartender will be leaving at all. The man places both hands on the counter, grinning as he says that if Jafar is so interested in genies, he knows he can't kill him then, for the only way for him to become the genie's new master is for him to make all his wishes. Jafar promptly stabs the man's left hand with the knife, causing him to groan in pain. The man uses his other hand to try and remove the other one from Jafar's grip, but Jafar pins his right hand down, takes out the knife from the left hand and stabs the right one too. The man shouts and then gasps, and Jafar tells him he's right, he can't kill him, but he can inflict so much pain no wish will ever seem worth it. The bartender grunts with pain, and then makes his third and final wish: that Jafar can do him no harm. Immediately after these words are uttered, the doors to a cabinet behind him open up and an orange smoke enters a bottle in them: the genie's returned to his bottle. The knife and the wounds on the man's hands disappear. The man recuperates, and Jafar tells him that, as wishes go, that's one of the wiser ones he's heard. Jafar moves to collect the bottle from the cabinet, and as he prepares to leave the bartender tells him, "Go back to the gutter, you bastard." Jafar stops, as the man wipes the blood off his hands, and asks what he said. The man tells him, with a smug look, that he heard him. Jafar states that perhaps he did, but he'd like to hear him say it again. Gerard asks him if he forgot about his wish: Jafar can't hurt him anymore. "True," the wizard says, "But she can." With this, he unlocks the door using his magic and it is opened to reveal Amara coming in and caressing Jafar, much to the man's surprise, confusion and fright. The man begs her not to kill him, and Amara tells him, with a wicked delight, that she thinks he will find there are far worse things than death. This said, she quickly envelops the man in a cloud of dark gray smoke, and Jafar goes on to pour them both a drink. Amara tells him they are now one bottle away. They make a cheer to themselves.

Later on, the beautiful Amara is seen admiring her reflection in a pocket mirror, and she closes it when Jafar walks into the room bringing drinks for both. She asks him what the occasion is, and he tells her, as he hands her the drink, that he heard a rumor. "The third genie?" she takes this to mean, and Jafar nods in confirmation, telling her he's right there in Agrabah. They clink their cups and drink, and Jafar looks at her as she does. Amara tells him that would be a welcome change, with how far they've travelled to get the others. She finishes her drink and puts the cup down on her bedstand. Jafar caresses her face, and she starts to feel odd. He tells her that he's confident he will soon have the third genie, and then he'll be ready to begin the spell. "You mean, we will be ready to begin the spell," she tells him, with a smile, but her smile quickly disappears as she feels worse. Jafar looks on as his lover starts to breathe heavily and gets out of bed, looking weak and sickly and barely able to stand. She calls for him, and he reminds her of when she asked him, a long time ago, what he was willing to do in order to get what he wants. Amara loses her strengths and falls to the floor, as Jafar resumes drinking. She asks him what he's done, and he explains to her that it's a potion to steal her magical essence. She holds her hand up at him to cast a spell, but is unable to, and he tells her she probably knows that. She lies down on the floor completely, and he tells her it was in her book. "You loved me," she says, weakly, and he crouches down and denies this, saying, "You loved me." She begs him not to do this, and reminds him that he can't complete the spell on his own, for no one person can achieve that much power alone. Jafar tells her he won't be alone, he'll have her and her magic. He puts his drink away and says, as he gets up, "Now it's time for you, like the serpent you so admire... to shed your skin." He waves his hand over her and she begins to contort. Whooshing and creaking sounds are heard as Amara appears to melt before his eyes, her flesh deteriorating beneath her clothes. Soon, her robe is all that's left of her... but it's revealed she's been turned into a serpent. The reptile pokes its head out of the vestiment and Jafar tells it, "Congratulations, Amara. You are reborn." He moves to pick up the serpent, and magically transforms it into his staff, which he then admires. The staff's eyes blink red.