Vasilisa

Vasilisa (ワシリーサ) is a character introduced in Toaru Majutsu no Index. A perverted woman obssessed with Japanese popular culture, she is the mediator of Annihilatus and the superior of Sasha Kreutzev, whom is often irritated to the point of violence of her superior's antics.

Etymology
Her name comes from a Russian Folklore that was a model fairy tale, "Vasilisa the Beautiful." The heroine was oppressed by her stepmother and sister. A cannibal witch that lived in the forest grew fond of her faithfulness to her dead mother and gave her magical items that helped her gain happiness instead of killing her.

Appearance
Vasilisa is a tall woman with white skin that is described as "just beginning to show signs of decline". She has blonde hair and wears a red nun's habit, a much more conservative clothing compared to Sasha's clothes.

She is described as being barely qualified as being in her late twenties, though her real age is unknown.

Personality
She is disliked by Sasha due her sometimes childish behavior, her vanity on skin health care, and her weird interest in Japanese otaku culture. She frequently abuses her authority by trying to get Sasha into a "Magical Powered Kanamin" costume or other cosplay. Even in serious situations, it is difficult to tell whether or not is Vasilisa being serious, an example of when she gave Sasha an assumable emergency bag but later to be reveal containing a Magical Powered Kanamin’s dress.

Despite this, her personality doesn't get in the way of her being a strong magician, being ruthless to her enemies as shown when she and Sasha fought Touma.

Background
By the way she is described acting when asked about her real age it is likely that Vasilisa is very old, not unlike Laura Stuart. Her name of Vasilisa is apparently a fake name. However, by the way Nikolai Tolstoy addresses her, it is implied that Vasilisa herself is the girl from the fairy tale. Nikolai accuses her of falling in love with the cannibal witch and have gained happiness by burning her mother and sister to death as with the tale. Indeed, even Vasilisa says that she is a national idol and asks Nikolai refer to her as a fairy tale heroine. It is stated by Nikolai that she gained an ageless body due to her going to the ends of reaching the occult. This makes her not unlike Othinus, who is actually the god of Odin from the tales of Norse Mythology.

Prior to Sasha Kreutzev's debut in the story, she uses her authority to force her to wear the clothes that she is now known for wearing.

Academy City Invasion Arc
She is first introduced in this arc where she is checking on Sasha in the Phenomena Control and Reduction Reproduction Facility. After receiving a hit from Sasha's hammer for suggesting a full-body examination, Vasilisa tells her about Gabriel, the angel who usurped her body. She is amazed for someone like Sasha to receive Telesma whose power is greater than the Twelve Apostles combined, and compares the feat to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who receives a far greater amount of Telesma. Sasha reveals herself to be the one responsible for the way Sasha dresses. As Sasha complains, Vasilisa pulls out a duffel bag where she reveals her research on Academy City. The sight of a cute-looking wand alarms Sasha into the need to flee, while Vasilisa can only just sigh in disappointment as a costume from the Magical Powered Kanamin series hangs by her hands.

Anglican Church–Russian Orthodox Church Prewar Conference
Vasilisa while not shown is mentioned as the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in these talks by Sasha.

British Royal Family Arc
Prior to the alliance between the Roman and Russian churches, Vasilissa advised the upper echelons of the Russian Orthodox Church not to join forces up with the Roman Catholic Church, though her words is unheeded.

When the order came from the upper echelons of the Russian Orthodox Church to hand Sasha over to Fiamma of the Right, she decides to rip up her church contracts before Sasha, essentially rebelling against the church and the country. With a wink at a shocked Sasha, Vasilisa tells Sasha that she is willing to betray them just so she can be by her side. Vasilisa then hurriedly tells Sasha to flee through the window after giving her a bag of necessities. After getting Sasha out, a woman from Annihilatus named Skogsfru appears to collect Sasha. Seeing her outfit, Vasilisa asks her if she has come to harass her as she was protecting Sasha, though Skogsfru says that she has come for Sasha and not for an old like her, and asks her to just give up. Vasilisa refuses however, and points out that she was chosen to be Annihilatus' mediator because she is the strongest in the organization. She then uses her magic on Skogsfru, and with an explosion, the two battle.

World War III Arc
Both are later shown to be alive when Vasilisa was contacted by Matthai Reese when he finally regained consciousness, where she comments that she is dealing with a group of rebellious subordinates which included Skogsfru.

Later when Vasilisa arrives in Moscow as she tries to reach the Patriarch she is confronted by Nikolai, they momentarily debate her fairy tale origins before he uses a weapon he specify made to kill her the Water of Death. As he witnessed her body being devolved by the water he proclaimed his victory while boasting the war was Russia's will as well as that of the church. After a moment of joy he finally noticed that despite half her body having already been disintegrated she seemed to be in no pain at all. As he stands transfixed at her regeneration she explains how he could have easily faked the Patriarch's signature and that he was planning to assassinate him later and assume the mantle himself. For his part Nikolai could only wonder how his Water of Death could had failed when Vasilisa reviles she possess the Water of Life in her body, Vasilisa takes advantage of his momentary helpless in which kills him.

Afterwards she defeated the final guards within the Patriarch's palace, and finally reached the child leader of the church who had been imprisoned in his own palace. At the joy of being rescued by someone still loyal to him, she finds herself debating who is cuter. She briefs him on the current situation of Star of Bethlehem and that a single spell was connecting them, the Patriarch then comments that they could use the Phenomena Control and Reduction Reproduction Facility to find and analyze that spell. To fully understand the spell she contacts Matthai Reese to coordinate their plans ignoring the fact he is no longer the pope and all the while going on about the Patriarch's cuteness.

Magic God Othinus Arc
Vasilisa and Sasha are part of the entourage of Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Krans R. Tsarskiy as bodyguard for him. When they arrive before the United Nations Building in New York City for the conference called upon by Roberto Katze, Sasha is arguing about Vasilisa having "faith" in something other than "Japanimation" and American culture, despite being a member of the Russian Orthodox Church. Sasha then says that Vasilisa should be afraid of falling victim to an inquisition for saying such things in front of the Patriarch. Krans hears this and says that he wouldn't do it. Roberto then asks where there others are while reading a lewd magazine in front of the others. Roseline says that the French are already inside the United Nations building, the Roman Catholic representatives should arrive shortly along with the Italian Foreign Minister. Thus the meeting of the Anti-GREMLIN Alliance draw near.

As the meeting takes place, the bodyguards stand guard outside the conference room. There, Kaori notes a board Vasilisa and starts a conversation with her. Vasilisa asks about her opinion regarding GREMLIN and Othinus, to which Kaori says that though she finds it hard to believe the Magic God Othinus exists, she believes that this is no longer a situation she can judge with her common sense, recollecting her battle with Mjölnir. She summarizes the actions GREMLIN took in order to construct Gungnir, which she deems impossible and hard to verify. Regardless, she can't ignore the power of Gungnir, as she remembers her battle with Brunhild Eiktobel with a prototype Gungnir. Vasilisa agrees but tells her that most information they have gotten comes from the illegals, like the Dawn-Colored Sunlight. Vasilisa states not just them but of Ollerus' ilk as well, and that one of them has infiltrated GREMLIN, though she doubts they can trust them. But Kaori says that she doubts the Dawn-Colored Sunlight and the others will betray them as a world with GREMLIN in control is a riskier than one with Christianity in power. Kaori explains on how the Dawn-Colored Sunlight benefits from the world with Christianity in power and that it would be a fatal blow for them if GREMLIN replaced it with their own. Vasilisa finally agrees just to put her mind in ease so she could gain a peace of mind she depended on. With all that GREMLIN has done to get where they are, they hope that the plans of the leaders come together in time.

When Vasilisa reads the people in the conference room's lips that an invasion of Tokyo by GREMLIN has begun, Kaori believes that being left behind as a bodyguard was part of GREMLIN's manipulations to prevent them from being in the front lines by having an unofficial international conference held. Vasilisa tells Kaori that she shouldn't worry yet as they don't know anything yet, commenting on how Anglicans are surprisingly weak to information warfare. She then says that what matters in an emergency is to do everything as you always would, as it is better than panicking and falling into confusion. With that in mind, she then uses a small charm made of parchment to communicate to her subordinates. There, she blatantly ignores the chain of command and others them to crush every member of GREMLIN hiding in Russia, allow the normal military to head to Japan, and protect their citizens. This surprises Kaori and infuriates Sasha. Vasilisa comments on how she is doing this for the Patriarch as she doesn't want his purity to be tarnished by telling him of the dirty jobs behind the scenes. The infuriated Sasha does not take this lightly, believing it to be treachery, she hits Vasilisa with her crowbar with enough force to bend her in a 50 degree angle. However, Vasilisa remains alive, even smiling, and quickly turns back to normal. She then tell her subordinates to go all out on crushing GREMLIN's diversion team, and teach them that they are the only magicians allowed to use the name of a fairy. Hearing this, Kaori can only mutter that they are perverts. Sasha overhears and asks Kaori to at least refer to her as monster instead.

VS the World
Krans R. Tsarskiy has Sasha and Vasilisa somehow travel quickly from the United States of America to Denmark quickly in order to deal with the Touma and Othinus question after the latter decides to protect her.

While resting inside an abandoned car, Touma notices two people in special nun habits from a distance. Sensing danger, he leaves the sleeping Othinus quietly to deal with his next enemy, which turns out to be Sasha and Vasilisa of the Russian Orthodox Church. He approaches them in caution while the two are having their usual casual banter regarding Sasha’s outfit. Since Touma isn’t acquainted to the both of them, though he only remember Sasha during the Angel Fall incident, he thinks that it won’t be easy dealing with them and they will not be easily swayed by his persuasion. He then asks both of them on how they view him. Sasha then tells Touma that Othinus may have persuaded him to join her side either by suggestion or having same goals to which Touma responds that he was thinking how tough it is to be a hero of justice and that they had to have doubts about his and Othinus’ actions while not knowing what actually happened. Sasha and Vasilisa concludes that there’s no real reason for them to understand everything in spite of all Touma’s explanation and thus proceeds to attack him. Sasha swings her crowbar on Touma but he forcibly grabs it with his right hand breaking it. He then proceeded to punch Sasha while altering his timing to catch her off guard but Sasha realizes that she won’t be able to evade it thus she sweeps his leg from under him making him tumble on the ground. Vasilisa then throws a Russian military radio at him and he hears a voice speaking in Japanese telling him that they have constructed a unique spell to use against a magic god and it would be also probably effective against him. He then asks him if he would still challenge them. Touma then tells them that they won’t be able to stop him. Vasilisa then starts chanting the spell while standing a distance away behind Sasha. Roaring flames starts to spiral around Vasilisa, prompting Touma to wrapps his left arm with his jacket as the flames expanded. As he negated it, Sasha approaches him from the side and swings her saw to tear his chest but he uses his wrapped left arm to shield himself. He then negates the saw. The voice speaks again, amazed of his accomplishments but tells him that it means that he is trampling on the wishes of the whole world and considers it prideful. Touma’s leg then suddenly collapses.

It turns out that the Patriarch was using the “Seven Deadly Sins” spell against Touma thus slowly debilitating him for each sin he deems that Touma has done. After forcing the last deadly sin, “Gluttony”, on Touma, he then collapses and Sasha checks up on him. After realizing that he isn’t responding, she and Sasha concludes that he is already dead, she decides that she will thoroughly destroy his body in order to ensure that it won’t be a problem in the future since they know that Othinus can animate corpses. As she was about to swing down her saw, she suddenly stops when Touma smashes his right fist at her saw. As Sasha tries to finish him off, Vasilisa stops her as suddenly Touma shouts to the phone asking if silencing people with violence and not hearing them is how their god does things then tells him that it is an incredible level of pride. Vasilisa then realizes that Touma has figured out the mechanics of the spell and is now using it against them and thus decides to not interfere since it would be much worse. Touma manages to force six out of the seven deadly sins to the Patriarch. The Patriarch then asks Touma his motivations for siding with the magic god to which he responds that he had a good reason of doing so instead of them who has decided to kill her without actually knowing and talking it out with her, and that it would be the root sin of all their other sins.

Strength returns to Touma’s body, thus ends the battle, though he comments on how he is unable to force the last deadly sin “Lust” onto the Patriarch. He then turns to Vasilisa and Sasha and asks them if they will still continue the fight without any support. Vasilisa then tells him that they won’t continue the fight any longer and that killing him would only make the Patriarch trap himself in the “Seven Deadly Sins.” She also regrets that they didn’t use a breaker like what the Roman Catholics did earlier. Before parting, Vasilisa tells him that they can’t touch him since the spell is still active and explains the scope of the spell further saying that if an assassin that is not a Russian Orthodox believer kills him, it will not feed back to the Patriarch. By the time Touma catches on, someone attacks him and rendered him unconscious. Vasilisa and Sashas likely could only stand by as Kanzaki Kaori, William Orwell, Knight Leader, and Third Princess Carissa takes away Touma.

Sasha and Vasilisa do not retreat however, and later arrives in the area near Egeskov Castle alongside Lessar before Ingrid Martin of the American forces. They were in the snow for such a long time that they were buried in the snow. As Touma battles Othinus in order to stop him from killing herself after believing that she shouldn't be saved, Vasilisa rises out from the snow, surprising Ingrid. Hearing of America making its move to show the world on what's happening with Touma and Othinus, Vasilisa is angry on how "their boy" is making them wait on showing his good side. Sasha then asks if Vasilisa has any faith at all, to which Vasilisa says that since religious people in paintings are always beautiful then there is justice in beauty. Lessar then appears, and wonders what that black cat that appeared during the events of Touma and Othinus' battle was doing there. Ingrid Martin is astonished by their sudden arrival, to which Lessar points out that the spot is the best place to observe Touma and Othinus and that Ingrid was the one who was late in showing up. Lessar then talks to his contact, regarding England's position during this matter as well as that of France. She tells her contact to pass the information to the Queen as an outlaw like her doing so would cause too much trouble. Later, they likely saw Touma saving Othinus from certain death and then later see her becoming 15 centimeters tall.

Fairy tale-based magic

 * Vasilisa fairy tale: Her magic and even her name is based on a Russian fairy tale where a girl named Vasilia meets an old cannibal woman living in a house that stands in one leg. This allows her to use spells that are based on the components of that fairy tale. It is through this magic that Vasilisa herself proclaims that she is the strongest in the organization. Her most frequently used spell is derived from the "method to gain happiness" that the witch in the tale has given the protagonist. She uses the incantation: "Old cannibal woman of the one-legged house". It apparently has several different effect depending on which continuation of the incantation she chooses.
 * "Please give me the skull lamp. Give me the skull lamp that emits flames to burn my faithless stepmother to death:" Is one of the continuations of the incantation. It allows her to create a fiery explosion with the spell, base based on the skull lamp that the witch gives the heroine in order for her to burn her wicked step-mother.
 * "Please lend your strength to this honest and powerless girl. Lend me your overwhelming witch’s power so that I can smash this dishonest and ugly adult to pieces and have a happy ending" Is one of the continuations of the incantation. Its effect is unknown, though based on the incantation it likely allows Vasilisa to crush people.
 * Water of Life (命の水): This magic is based on another legend of the cannibal witch that is in charge of two fountains, the Water of Life and the Water of Death. In the story knights are able to get to the Water of Life by pushing the witch into the Water of Death. The core of that story was the item to obtain eternal life. The means of killing the witch was nothing more than a small tool to give it a happy ending. Vasilisa apparently has the Water of Life inside of her, allowing her to withstand not only certain death, like being completely dissolved, but also heal herself and reform lost body parts. The magic grants her youth and longevity, though she denies acutely being immortal herself showing that there is an extent to which it can heal her despite it ultimately healed her injuries as if it was nothing. It is likely from this magic that allows her to be invulnerable to harm. To begin with, when Sasha, who is enough strength to break furniture and doors with one arm, brought a hammer down on the top of her head and rakes a saw across her face without any damage shown.

Design evolution
Vasilisa's design remains static throughout the series. She was designed by Haimura with the theme of Santa Claus in mind.

Trivia

 * The Water of Life and the Water of Death are both elements of the Russian fairy tale The Death of Koshchei the Deathless. In it, after the eponymous Koshchei chops the hero into little pieces, throws them into a barrel, and throws the barrel into the sea, his brothers-in-law retrieve the barrel, use the Water of Death to put him back to together, and the Water of Life to bring him back to life.