Valorie Edwards (Outlaw’s Saga)

Valorie Edwards (b. 1911 - d. October 8, 1936) is a fictional outlaw, who was a leader of the Lasting Lighters cult, the successors of the Seventh Generation, which was established by her late grandfather, "Shepherd" Virgil Edwards. Although mostly calm and collected, she has the same amount of vengeance to the Wallace family, notably Jonathan Wallace, who murdered her grandfather in 1905. Despite her hatred of Jon, she met his son, Sam, and became romantically involved, conflicting her standing on her vengeance. She will serve as one of the two primary antagonists of The Outlaw's Saga - Red Dead Revolution II, initially being hidden, but later revealed.
== Biography ==
=== History ===
Valorie Edwards was born to one of "Shepherd" Virgil Edwards' children in Annesburg, New Hanover around 1911, born four years after her brother, Jacob. She was raised to believe in what Shepherd had believed and grew to develop hatred towards the "shadowy figure" that murdered Virgil - Jon "The Reaper" Wallace.
She eventually grew up and established a new cult known as the Lasting Lighters alongside her brother, becoming a co-leader. However, her involvement is kept secret as she often put on the persona of an innocent woman and/or wary traveler and gunslinger, often to seduce more men into joining the Lasting Lighters with her beauty.
=== Meeting Sam Wallace ===
In July of 1934, Valorie met Sam "The Jaguar" Wallace, the first-born son of Jon "The Reaper" Wallace, but she was unaware of his parentage. The two met in a saloon in Norfork, Arkansas, with Valorie having heard that Jon was up near Mountain Home, Arkansas, en route to Tennessee, and Sam en route to a supposed Lasting Lighters hideout near Calico Rock, Arkansas. The two introduced themselves by first name only and engaged in a conversation over a whiskey and after the two became more inebriated, they eventually developed an attraction. In a sudden turn of events, Valorie and Sam later turned in and had sex in a hotel. The next morning, Sam left in a hurry after realizing that he got distracted and needed to get to Calico Rock, leaving behind a sleeping Valorie. Unbeknownst to Sam until late 1936, their sexual encounter resulted in the conception of a child - a son. Valorie initially continued her quest on tracking down Jon, but her pregnancy rendered her unfit to travel far. Jacob then arranged for Valorie to be placed under pregnancy care in Kansas City, Missouri, where it is safer as the Arkansas area was under heavy heat due to Jon and Sam's interventions. However, hurt by the fact that Sam was actually the son of Jon Wallace and that he abandoned her, she lied to Jacob and claimed that he had forced his way onto her, resulting in her pregnancy. This led to Jacob becoming much more infuriated over the image of Sam ruining her innocence in a violent way when it was consensual. She gave birth to their son around April of 1935 and raised the child for months. Unfortunately, due to her profession and criminal tendencies, as well as the possibility of her being forced to kill her own son's father and possibly her own son for being "a bastard," she sent the child away to an orphanage, with the child being sent to the East Coast as a result to be better educated.
=== Confronting Sam and Jon Wallace ===
In late September of 1936, a year after sending her son away, she had become much more vengeful, especially towards Sam, even going so far as to repeatedly lie that Sam had raped her. She then sent more Lasting Lighters to their last known location around Marfa, Texas. When their survival was revealed to Valorie, she decided to confront them herself on the Grenadier Family Ranch near Denton, Texas. She was able to have Sam and Jon captured and was prepared to confront them, but they broke free and killed the Lighters on the ranch, but not before they were able to kill the Grenadier family in a brutal fashion. They later spotted Valorie, who refused to flee and fired at them. Sam was able to disarm her by shooting her gun out of her hand, allowing the two to capture her and interrogate her inside of the farmhouse. Jon was made aware of the false lie that Sam had raped her, as heard from Jacob, a statement that Sam denied. Sam was also made aware of their son, which he noted his absence. Valorie confirmed that Sam was innocent of the false claims and they indeed did have a son. As the two asked her questions about the Lighters and their course of action, threatening to shoot her if she failed to comply, she initially refused until Sam asked for their son's location, which she tearfully revealed to him that she had to send him away, causing Sam to feel immense guilt, but repressed the guilt to allow himself to be more collected during the interrogation. Fed up with her quest for vengeance as she realized that she would lose more than what she would gain, she gave up every last Lighters hideout across north Texas in exchange that they let her go. The two agreed and both sides kept their word, with Valorie escaping to the woodlands of northern Arkansas.
=== Final Confrontation and Death ===
On October 25, Valorie became more bitter and decided to take her loyal followers and terrorize most of northern Arkansas, in towns such as Bentonville, Norfork, and Mountain Home. Sam was in Arkansas at the time, following up on the final Lighters' locations across most of Arkansas and Missouri. However, when he heard that she was causing mayhem in the areas, he realized that she had snapped and needed to be stopped. He tracked her down to a hideout in a cave around the High Bank Twin Falls, near Pettigrew. After killing the last of her loyalists, she refused to fight him, still having feelings for him. With no other choice, Valorie seemingly surrendered and accepted her fate in her chamber as Sam approached her. When he approached her, he realized that she was going to use her Derringer on him in a final act to murder the Wallace man. He dodged the gun and stabbed her in the chest. As she laid dying, she acknowledged that she "had a grand old time with him." After caressing his cheek and covering it in her own blood, Valorie Edwards died of her stab wound. She was 25 years old.
=== Legacy ===
Jacob later found out of her death by Sam's hands when some survivors reported her death. He buried her body deep within the Ozarks of Arkansas, telling her to "be buried in God's country." He became infuriated and with a deathwish, he swore to murder both Jon and Sam if it was the last thing he would ever do. He successfully kidnapped both men near Farmington, Missouri and sent them to be executed and/or converted in Eternity Mines, deep within the St. Francois Mountain Range of the Ozarks. His vengeance on Jon was finally fulfilled when he breathed in the poisonous gas of the cursed Eternity Mines and sacrificed himself via shooting a dynamite crate, causing a major collapse, but his vengeance on Sam failed and in turn, Sam killed Jacob outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma, having him join her dead sister. Sam outlived every last Lasting Lighter and even lived over the age of 100 until he finally died in 2013.
Despite Valorie and Jacob's deaths, their bloodline was technically not finished as thanks to Valorie and Sam having a child together, their son grew up in the Liberty City area of the East Coast United States, and continued to have descendants all the way up to present-day, with one of them being infamous criminal Joel Wallace. Although neither the Wallace nor the Edwards name were stuck with their child, their descendants eventually discovered their heritage and family names, with Joel's immediate family taking the Wallace name due to its status as a legendary gunslinger family name. Valorie remains buried deep in the Ozarks where Jacob had buried her.
== Appearance ==
== Personality ==
== Killed Victims ==
== Relationships ==
=== Jacob Edwards ===
=== Sam Wallace ===
Valorie and Sam first met in a Norfork saloon in Arkansas, where they shared a drink together, with Valorie being interested due to Sam being a Black Indian who was strong and Sam being interested due to her blond beauty. The two were initially oblivious to their opposition against each other, with Sam being the son of the man she hated the most - Jon Wallace, and Valorie being a Lasting Lighter leader - the cult that attempted to murder Jon. As the night went on, so did their relationship. In the middle of the night, the two shared a hotel room together, where they had sex into the night. The next morning, Sam had left her behind as he mostly considered her to be a fling and had to get back on the road to his goals. This encounter ultimately resulted in the conception of a son, whom Valorie could not keep around and sent away for his safety. She developed a hatred for Sam when she found out that he was Jon's son and swore to kill him, even going as far to say that Sam raped her in Norfork to Jacob and her followers when this case was not true. Yet, when the two reunited near Marfa, Texas, she initially hesitated, implying that she had some feelings for him, but still continued to try and kill him. The two bonded slightly, despite the circumstances, when she cleared Sam's name with Jon and the two discussed their son, with Sam feeling guilt for his son being sent off, despite never even meeting him. Sam allowed her to leave after coming to a compromise. However, after she fled and hid out, she snapped due to her guilt and her efforts and caused havoc across northern Arkansas, where Sam had to step in and kill her. In their final confrontation inside her cave chambers, she seemingly surrendered, with Sam approaching her. However, when he realized that she was going to use her Derringer to shoot him, Sam instinctively dodged the Derringer and stabbed her in the chest. Valorie, her mind still snapped, caressed Sam's cheek with her bloodied hand before dying in his arms, causing Sam to break down crying. With no other choice, Sam left her body as he knew that Jacob would find out anyway and would be better to leave her to be found by her brother. Although short-lived, their romance enabled the Wallace and Edwards bloodline to continue up to present-day, up to their great grandson, Joel.
== Gallery ==
== Trivia ==