drusillathekiller:

darkwingdukat

What an awesome question, I can’t say I’ve ever thought about the parallels between Cordy and Dru before. :3 You’ve clearly thought long and hard about this yourself, and I’d love to hear your interpretation, seeing as yours is as good as mine. And it was wonderful, thank you for asking! ❤

First and foremost, I think it’s important that we establish their visions as a power that takes away their power. Sounds contradictory, right? But really, while clairvoyance in the Buffyverse is a rare and useful talent, it also has a nasty habit of taking away the seer in question’s strength. Doyle’s visions led to him discovering his demonic heritage, which led to his marriage falling apart, which led to his drinking and gambling addiction, for example. Drusilla’s made her a target of the sadistic Angelus. Cassie’s premonition of her death resulted in her feeling helpless and hopeless for the rest of her life. Cordy hadn’t inherited her powers for even a day before she was kidnapped and almost auctioned off as a fortune-telling slave, and that’s tame in comparison to the various miseries her visions caused for her later on. 

So, we’ve made it clear that visions are a power that renders its wielder powerless. This is why when Cordelia gets a vision she experiences crippling migraines, whereas when Drusilla gets a vision she suffers stomach cramps instead. Cordelia gets headaches during her visions because her strength lies in her head. Her mind. Her sharp wit, her willpower, her determined mentality that has always allowed her to survive. Therefore, the visions inflict pain upon her head because that is the strength the visions are attacking. On the other hand, Dru doesn’t get headaches but describes her stomach as getting “all tied up” (Becoming Part 1) and clutches at her belly in obvious agony when she has a premonition in Passion. This is a reflection of how a vampire’s strength lies in their hunger for the hunt, their relentless thirst for human flesh that makes them so dangerous. It doesn’t explain why Dru had stomach pains before being sired, but that’s the best explanation I can think of. This is the most important difference between the two characters in regards to their powers.

As for the difference between how Angel regards Cordy’s abilities and how he regards Dru’s, I think the difference is that he saw Drusilla as a physic, and Cordelia as a person who just so happened to be physic. In other words, Drusilla was sired as a trophy. As an object. Used to entertain Angelus with her insanity and to provide him with useful insights of the future. On the other hand, Cordelia Chase was seen by him as a person in her own right. Not just a crystal ball on legs. This is probably because he met Cordelia with a soul, and as such with a degree of empathy.

And how does Angel’s past with Dru effect his future with Cordy? Well, I’m not sure if it does. Perhaps by helping Cordelia through her struggles with her visions, he sees this as a way of repenting for how he in turn exploited Drusilla for her visions? 

In regards to how Drusilla would deal with a soul, my guess is very, very badly. The rest of the Fanged Four went insane with the guilt of it, and they were more or less psychologically stable beforehand. Imagine how that burden would effect someone who was already insane. I’m not sure if you think of the comics as canon or not, but in the Spike miniseries Dru does get a soul, and it drives her completely over the edge.

Summary:  Cordelia and Drusilla’s powers are very different, and the way Angel perceives them is very different. While Cordelia gets migraines with her visions to reflect how her strength lies in her mind, Drusilla gets pains in her stomach because her strength lies in her hunger as a vampire. 

Thanks so much for the question! ❤ 

xox