Jade West

Jade West
Vital statistics
Names	Jade West, Betty Sue Goldenheart, (Sleepover at Sikowitz's) Gank, (by Sikowitz, André, Beck, and Tori) (Freak The Freak Out and Tori Gets Stuck) Crabby Kathy, by Sikowitz (Locked Up!) Tori Vega, (Brain Squeezers) Nancy
Gender	Female
Race	Human
Occupation	Student, Singer, Musician
Origin	Victorious Season 1 Episode 1: Pilot (March 27, 2010)
Alignment	Good
Age	16 (Season 1-3) 17 (Season 4)
Created By	Dan Schneider
Height	1.7m (5ft 7in)
Weight	60 kg (132lbs)

Jade West is one of the characters in the Nickelodeon TV series Victorious. She frequently acted as an antagonist to Tori Vega, although they are part of the same friend group. Jade is one of Cat's best friends, Tori's friend and former frenemy, and Beck's girlfriend.

The character is portrayed by Elizabeth Gillies.

Appearance

Jade West initially appears as a brunette with blue-green eyes and noticeably pale skin. For the second season, she becomes slightly tanner and dyes her hair darker.

Jade has a Gothic style, wearing dark, often laced clothing, dark makeup, and black nail polish. Her jewelry is designed by artist Dre Swain, and she typically wears dark red Doc Martens or black combat boots. She carries a Gears of War messenger bag and often has multiple colored streaks in her hair that change over time.

• Season One: Her brown hair features pink, blonde, and light blue streaks before switching to red for the remainder of the season.
• Season Two: She dyes her hair black with blue and green streaks.
• Season Three: Her hair is dark brown with mostly green streaks, occasionally appearing blue in some episodes.
• Season Four: Jade's hair is shorter, and the streaks are purple for 10 of the 13 episodes.

Additionally, Jade has two piercings—one on her left eyebrow and one on her nose. She has a rebel star tattoo on her right forearm, and there is mention of her getting a new tattoo in "Tori Takes Requests #2," although it is not shown onscreen.

Personality

Jade West has a sharp, prickly personality and is known for being sassy, tough, dark, grouchy, and sarcastic. She is often described as "freaky," which she sometimes takes offense to, but she embraces being called "weird" when it suits her. Jade is obsessed with scissors, as seen in her "ScissorLuv" Slap username and her locker decoration, and her favorite movie is The Scissoring. She has a sadistic sense of humor, enjoying watching others get hurt and often making macabre jokes about accidents.

Jade is usually portrayed as jealous, insatiably mean, and needlessly rude. She often displays authority and control at Hollywood Arts by yelling at or using physical force against others. She is also very possessive of her boyfriend, Beck, and is jealous of anyone who shows interest in him. Jade often flaunts her relationship, even though it is unpopular. Despite her tough exterior, she does have fears and insecurities.

As a "bad girl" stereotype, Jade is rebellious and dislikes being told what to do. She often emphasizes that she does things solely because she wants to, not because she is told to. However, Beck is the exception, as he can calm her down and make her behave more politely.

Jade is a hardworking student at Hollywood Arts, where she writes, acts, and sings, often focusing on dark and scary projects. She prefers to create and star in her own works, such as the play Well Wishes in "Wok Star" and Clowns Don't Bounce in "Prom Wrecker." Although some of her works are well-received, others are considered weird and disturbing. Despite her talents, Jade shows indifference toward performing, especially if she feels the role is beneath her or if she can gain something by undermining Tori. She has also shown a lack of dedication, abandoning projects or refusing roles if they don't align with her interests or style. Additionally, she can be lazy and manipulative, often forcing others to solve her problems or do the work she deems beneath her.

Jade is often full of herself, aware of her talents in the performing arts and overconfident about them. She enjoys boasting about her achievements to the point that Beck once accused her of making his profile video about herself (though she argued it was about both of them). Her ego is so inflated that she struggles with being seen as second best, which reveals a lack of readiness for the competitive world of performing arts. Ironically, this makes her similar to Trina, as both tend to overstate their talents and expect success without much hard work.

Beneath her tough exterior, Jade is actually lonely, sad, and insecure, which partly explains her rude behavior. She doesn't have a strong connection with her family, so Beck often serves as her boyfriend, confidant, and friend. Jade's insecurity is evident in her frequent suspicions that Beck is cheating on her, even with little or no evidence. For example, in "Wi-Fi in the Sky," she barges into Beck's trailer to confront a neighbor she mistakenly believes is a romantic rival, only to discover the neighbor is a nine-year-old girl. Similarly, she is devastated when Beck doesn't take her back immediately after a breakup in "Jade Dumps Beck," revealing how important their relationship is to her. Jade also appears to value her father's opinion, inviting him as the guest of honor to watch her play, "Well Wishes."

Despite her flaws, Jade occasionally helps solve the group's problems, such as when she suggests looking in the least popular ice cream flavor in "Ice Cream for Ke$ha" or scaring thugs away with a confetti cannon in "Terror on Cupcake Street." However, her plans often fall short due to her impulsiveness and lack of foresight, as seen in "A Film by Dale Squires" and "The Great Ping Pong Scam." Jade describes herself as smart and deep in her profile video on TheSlap, but her behavior is often immature, petty, and foolish, undermining her claims. She often rushes into situations without thinking, such as entering "Brain Squeezers" unprepared and ending up losing several teeth.

Jade has many petty dislikes, as shown in her TheSlap segment "What I Hate," but she also created two segments titled "What I Love" to avoid being predictable. While she comes across as tough and intimidating, her threats often prove empty. She loses her only physical altercation with someone other than Tori or Cat (who did not fight back) when Sheema quickly knocks her down in "Locked Up!" She frequently threatens others, such as breaking André's phone or physically attacking Trina, but rarely follows through. Despite her dark persona, Jade is also disgusted by "gross" things, like Trina Vega's pimple in "Victori-Yes."

Jade often displays hypocrisy, particularly in her dislike of being censored or controlled while frequently silencing others and insisting on her own way. For example, in "Locked Up!" and "Terror on Cupcake Street," she is less brave than she pretends to be, showing fear in situations that only slightly unnerved Tori. Jade is also unwilling to take responsibility for her actions, such as when she incites jealousy in Tori in "Cat's New Boyfriend" and then blames Tori for interfering in Cat and Daniel's relationship. She similarly endorses Tori lying on her resume in "Beck Falls for Tori" but later criticizes her for it. Jade also denies and takes offense at being called mean or scary, despite the persona she projects, and appears to become depressed after breaking up with Beck, contradicting her claims that she doesn't need anyone.

Her hypocrisy is evident in her "Jade with Tots" videos, where she asks why she has no friends, despite her own behavior driving others away. In "The Worst Couple," she lists reasons why she doesn't consider the gang her friends, yet they often try to be genuine friends with her and do what she commands. In "Tori Gets Stuck," she criticizes Tori for considering passing up a chance to work with Lady Gaga in favor of a small play, even though Jade herself breaks the law to get the lead role in the same play. In "Survival of the Hottest," she feels hurt that Trina didn't share her water, despite spending the day telling Trina, "No one likes you." In the "Pilot" and "Prom Wrecker," despite tormenting others, Jade appears cowardly and is stunned when Tori fights back, acting as if such retaliation is unwarranted. Many of her Slap posts show her demanding others solve her problems and then throwing a "virtual temper tantrum" when they refuse, revealing her thin-skinned nature.

Jade also exhibits entitlement, feeling she deserved the lead role in "Tori Gets Stuck" and throwing a tantrum when she didn't get it. She barges into Beck's RV during "Wi-Fi in the Sky," disrupts a project he is working on, invites herself to join the parade, forces a kiss on Moose while Cat and Tori try to apologize to the guys, and demands help in removing a bad picture of her in "The Bad Roommate," while being borderline abusive to those assisting her. She is often shown as spoiled and ungrateful, such as in the aforementioned bad picture incident, refusing to drive Tori home in "Jade Dumps Beck" despite Tori helping her reconcile with Beck and Jade promising a favor in return (which she never fulfills). She dismisses Tori for protecting her from Sheema, forces Cat to stay over in "André's Horrible Girl" while keeping her at a distance, and is generally unwilling to help her friends unless Beck intervenes, despite everything they do for her.

An interesting and consistent aspect of Jade's personality is that while she is generally cruel and abrasive when interacting with the entire group, she often appears much kinder to them, including Tori, when engaging with them individually. Despite this occasional kindness, her more negative behavior seems to make her one of the least popular members of the group, possibly alongside Trina and Rex.

Jade has a particular aversion to being touched, especially around her shoulders, and often reacts strongly, even threateningly, to anyone who does so—even Cat, her best friend. The only exceptions are Beck and Tori, whom she never pushes away or threatens for touching her. However, Jade seems comfortable with physical contact when she initiates it herself.

Despite her tough exterior, Jade shows a softer side when dealing with young children, as seen in her "Jade With Tots" segment on TheSlap.com. In these interactions, although she remains true to her character, she displays a gentler approach, using terms like "sweetheart" and engaging in friendly conversations with the preschoolers. She exhibited a similar attitude toward Cat in the first half of Season 1, though this demeanor quickly faded.

Biography

Jade was born in Los Angeles, California. She has mentioned that her parents are neglectful; her father is a strict businessman who is often out of town and shows no interest in the arts, while her mother, who is never seen, is described as dismissive, leaving Jade and her younger brother to their own devices when they were younger. Jade auditioned for her spot at Hollywood Arts in late 2007 and began attending in the fall of 2008 for her freshman year. During that time, she befriended Cat, Robbie, and Andre, and also began dating Beck.

Jade's relationships with her family are generally negative and strained:

• Father: Jade's father "hates [her] guts," has called the cops on her, dismisses her creative ambitions as "stupid," and seems embarrassed by her behavior. Jade has expressed a desire to prove him wrong.
• Mother: She has little respect for her mother, whom she often calls "stupid." Jade once mentioned she loves the horror movie The Scissoring more than her mother.
• Grandmother: Jade's grandmother disapproves of her style, and Jade reacted dismissively to her, telling her to "get out of here" when asked about her future marriage plans.
• Cousin: She once locked her cousin in a closet, indicating a lack of concern for their well-being.
• Stepmother: Jade finds her stepmother annoying for taking up her father's attention.
• Brother: Her relationship with her brother is slightly better, as she appears to enjoy listening to him panic, even though he seems to be the only family member who doesn't openly hate her.

Overall, Jade's family dynamics are characterized by conflict, disrespect, and lack of affection, with her showing a particular disdain for most of her relatives.

Trivia

• Jade loves the sound of breaking glass and enjoys dark aesthetics, such as having the words "ENNUI" and "REVENGE" on her walls.
• She has broken the law multiple times but has avoided consequences.
• Her locker is next to Robbie's, and she and Tori are the only girls with colored highlights, which Jade occasionally mixes.
• Jade is unpopular among the group, often the least liked, despite being friends with all the main characters except Trina.
• She owns several distinct bags, including a black purse made from monkey fur and a "Gears of War" backpack.
• She might be a masochist, shown by her odd enjoyment of pain or dangerous situations.
• Jade is fascinated by blood and is known to like both butterflies and moths.
• She loves coffee, preferring it black with two sugars, and has expressed that she wants to marry a man like coffee.
• She is kinder to young children, as seen in "Jade With Tots," and appears to dislike being touched by others, except for Beck and Tori.
• Jade has a history of being hostile or defensive, often due to her parents' neglectful behavior, and seems to have issues with both of them.
• She is a heavy sleeper, hates birthdays (except her own), and has a fear of dolphins due to a traumatic childhood experience.
• Her favorite color is black, her favorite music genre is heavy metal, and her favorite fruit is mango.
• She enjoys scaring babies and dislikes the Sesame Street theme song.
• She has a unique social standing at Hollywood Arts, feared by many despite being disliked by most.
• Jade has never been absent from an episode but usually has less screen time than other main characters.
• She has several quirks, like locking herself in dark bathrooms or being unexpectedly fond of bunnies.
• Jade and Robbie appear in the "Sam & Cat" special, "The Killer Tuna Jump," where she mentions still being with Beck.
• She often serves as an antagonist in episodes or the cause of conflicts, and although praised for her acting, she never had a lead role.
• Jade has been seen to have several jars in her room, including a lump of fat obtained in "Rex Dies."
• She hates aloe vera and dislikes people doing things she finds annoying, like singing the Sesame Street theme song.