Deirdre Elkton

**Doe Deirdre**is a main character in *War.* She also made a special guest appearance in *Revolution*.

In terms of the series narrative, Deirdre is the Doe of Cervidium during the War, wife to Stag Ellis.

## Appearances

### *War*

Doe Deirdre first appeared in "Suddenly the Skies Darkened" during one of Queen Vixen VII's visits to Cervidium. She was mostly in charge of supervising the Vixen Queen's Consort Reynard Vixen. Unlike other royal consorts around Cartonia, the Doe wields no power.

Deirdre was outspoken about the War from the beginning, recording in an early diary her distrust of the Vixen Queen and her desire for Cervidian neutrality. On her husband's fortieth birthday, Deirdre nearly caught him entering a clandestine torture chamber. Ellis became distrustful of Deirdre and began to restrict her movements and privileges. Soon, by the summertime of 715, her staff was dismissed and replaced with spies, her son Barrow Elkton was kept at bay, and her diaries were read. This solidified her fate, and she was all but removed from the position of Doe. In diary entries in "Where the Anomaly Lay," Deirdre committed herself to discovering the cause for her reversal of fortunes. She snuck out of her bedchambers and investigated the place where Ellis had accosted her. She found an underground cavern of encaged prisoners of war and deer. She realized that something wicked had been going on beneath her feet, and she fled. She was caught by Fawn Barrow. Her diary entries ended abruptly, and she vanished from Antlerstag. Ellis and Barrow informed the palace staff that Deirdre had merely fallen ill. Her fate is left unknown.

In "Too Close to the Sun" at the end of 717, Deirdre was shipped from a castle in Cervidium to Tabitha, Felexa, where she was imprisoned in Talonclaw Castle.

Throughout her imprisonment at Talonclaw, Deirdre surreptitiously sent letters to nations of the Granite Bloc. Most of these were intercepted, but in 718 one made it to Canis ("Something Wicked"). The Granite Bloc suddenly became aware of some form of atrocities being committed in Cervidian territory. Deirdre herself was unsure what exactly was being committed, until she was brought to a laboratory in the basement of Talonclaw and operated on. She was subjected to a gruesome experiment to develop invincibility. The operation backfired, and though Deirdre became the first subject to survive, she was left with the supernatural ability to control fire.

Deirdre remained confined for two years, where she was routinely subjected to experimentation and tests by the nefarious Special Doctor overseeing the nine BioFreaks housed at Talonclaw Castle. In "Requiem Aeternum," Deirdre was visited by Stag Ellis at her cell, though the two did not interact. Deirdre was overcome with anger toward her husband for his cruelty and accidentally melted her cell door and immolated the guards. On a whim, but hell bent on vengeance, she freed the other eight BioFreaks and the group marched on the capital. Along the way, they laid waste to Cervidian communities loyal to the Stag. Deirdre plotted to overthrow Ellis, have Barrow abdicate in her favor, and lead Cervidium out of the Summer Sun and toward a victory over Vulpus. In Lyme, Deirdre confronted Ellis. He was unrepentant and determined to continue down the path of wickedness. Seeing no more good in his heart, Deirdre set him on fire and killed him. She sought out Barrow next, but he did not want to abdicate, hungry to be Stag. She wavered when the chance came to stop him, and Barrow killed her first. She was shot in the same room she had discovered the wickedness underneath Antlerstag, and died there five years later. It was not until after her death that Cervidium finally acknowledged that Doe Deirdre had been imprisoned at all.

### *Revolution*

Doe Deirdre made a special guest appearance in "For Tomorrow We Die" in a vision to Slate Oldman, appearing in the Aurora. She warned Slate that his power was destructive not to just to others but to himself as well. She also presaged that his snow would soon melt, heralding his death. He would later see Deirdre when he was destroying Antlerstag with his snow.

## Character

### Namesake

Deirdre's name was randomly selected. Her title, however, refers to a female deer.

## Trivia

* Deirdre's character was developed by accident in a letter the author penned during a boring work meeting. The letter was addressed from Deirdre to her husband, and ultimately a version of that letter made it into "Where the Anomaly Lay." Deirdre's character was created due to that impromptu passage, and her role expanded to main through the planning process.