Samantha Barnes

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* Video Series

**Samantha Barnes** was a secondary character in Éternel: Wings of Fire who was Maya Prasanna's close friend. She was eventually killed by Minjun, the leader of Magister Mortalis, for almost finding evidence of his true nature. She had a Grapple Grounder named Sansa, who passed away shortly after her rider.

## Biography

Samantha was born in Sun-Steps, The Longroam in 1998 to a single mother. Growing up in a harsh envrionment such as the blazing deserts of The Longroam was hard enough, but on top of this, Samantha was emotionally and physically abused by her mother, who was a heavy alcoholic due to her husband, Samantha's father, leaving suddenly for another woman.

As a child, Samantha had only one or two friends, but she wasn't able to be around them for long as her mother forced her to work to cover living expenses and taxes, while her mother drank all day. Although Samantha was a shy girl, she quickly became more confident and brave due to her being thrown into the workforce as early as 8 years old.

Her first jobs consisted of scavenging for rare plants and creatures that could be sold or used to make tonics, and over the years, she had become incredibly resourceful and was able to make her own living on the side from what she had learned to save up her own personal funds. She was also skilled in ceramics, so she would often use the materials she found in the wild to create items that could be sold.

Having survived the Red Raids in 2010, Samantha decided to save as much money as she could before running away from home later in April of 2015. Unfortunately, her mother had found out a few nights before she was planning to leave, and Samantha was badly beaten by her mother. At that moment, Sam grabbed as much as she could and travelled across The Longroam, all the way to Lake Powell near the royal castle.

Samantha lived in the wild for about 3 months, constantly suffering from the sweltering heat and having to run away from dangerous dragons and other predators. Although at this point she was 16 years old, she still had not learned about all of the dangerous wildlife, and therefore ended up poisoning herself by eating a deadly plant. Running to the nearest village, Samantha collapsed on the brink of death, but she was found by High Queen Maya Prasanna, who had currently been visiting the Sun-Queen.

Maya brought Samantha to the nearest doctor, immediately getting her the help she needed and ultimately saving her life. After waking up, Samantha broke down into tears, not knowing how she would be able to pay Maya back. She explained her situation in a panic, explaining how if she went back to her village, her mother would most likely find her and kill her, and that the past months surviving alone in the wild were just as brutal.

Instead of showing aggression, Maya offered Samantha to stay with her on The Embrace, where she swore that she would be safe from harm and properly cared for. It didn't take much to convince Samantha to go with Maya, although she did feel guilty at times for being a burden to the commander. However, Samantha was given a new start on The Embrace, finally not at risk of starving or being attacked by wild dragons.

A few months into their blooming friendship, Maya decided to give Sam her own dragon, a Grapple Grounder named Sansa. Maya also taught her how to fight, and Samantha chose a sword as her primary weapon.

Samantha also grew close with Maya's servants and other friends, including Hyunae, Levi, and Minjun. Samantha and Fawn were also very close with each other. When the members of BTS showed up in February 2018, she had also gotten to know the individual boys as well, namely Taehyung and Seokjin. However, she didn't have much time to befriend the rest of the members.

In April of 2018, Samantha was doing surveillance around The Embrace and came across a Venomtail dragon trap in the process of being set up by Minjun. Although she did not see Minjun nor know that the trap was his, he was immediate to kill her, throwing a spear from the distance to ensure that she would not see that he was the one who killed her. Maya and the members of BTS were visiting a Changewing pack at this time, so they were able to reach Samantha in her last dying moments. Despite Maya's attempts to heal her, Samantha said her goodbyes, thanking Maya for "changing her life," and expressing her gratitude for everything she had done before passing away in the Queen's arms at the age of 20.

The High Queen had a ceremonial funeral for her, and despite how much time has passed since Samantha's death, Maya has never forgotten her and the impact she had made on her life.

## Physical Appearance

Samantha was a caucasian woman with natural blonde hair, although she had dyed her hair a platinum blonde during her appearance in the books. She had green eyes that were often mistaken for blue from afar. She stood at 5', notably shorter than many of the other main and secondary characters. Weighing 125 lbs, Samantha did not have great physical strength, so her build was much skinnier and leaner than others.

## Personality

Samantha was a responsible, considerate, and humble woman. Despite being shy around new people, especially men, presumably due to her father's absence and men's behavior towards her when working at a young age, she was incredibly kind with those she trusted, and would often crack jokes or did more extroverted activities with friends. Due to her scavenging jobs and living in the wild, Samantha was extremely resourceful, and knew many survival strategies, especially for desert climates.

Even for the smallest acts, Samantha always showed gratitude to those who helped her, and if she had ever helped someone else, she always acted in a humble manner. This is the case with Maya, as Samantha always felt indebted to her for saving her life. Even in her last moments, Samantha made sure to tell Maya how much of a difference she made, and how grateful she was to have met her.

## Abilities, Skills, and Talents

### Survival Skills

After running away from home, Samantha was forced to fend for herself in the harsh desert lands of The Longroam. Met with sandstorms, venomous animals, and aggressive dragons, Samantha developed survival skills in order to keep herself alive, taking her knowledge from working and applying it to surviving. The very first thing she did was find shelter in a burrow, and after making sure it belonged to no dragons or animals, she constructed a hidden entrance with shrubs to hide herself from predators. She learned to ration her water since it was less readily available, and figured out how to balance eating and drinking as little as possible while still keeping herself alive and functioning. Before running away, she already knew how to start a fire, so this came in handy during her survival in the deserts at nighttime when temperatures dropped drastically. Additionally, despite not knowing anything about weapon construction, Samantha was able to make her own daggers and spears with stones, flint, wood, and the rope she brought with her.

### Strength and Combat Skills

Having been trained in combat under Maya and Levi, and even before, having to survive in the wild, Samantha had excellent close combat reflexes, able to dodge punches and kicks with ease. Due to her small size and lightness on her feet, her style of fighting was all about evading, then striking while the enemy was recovering from the miss.

That being said, when it came to physical strength, Samantha was much weaker in this department, since she had little muscle and a short stature. She was able to carry small or medium sized animals during her survival days, but this would drain her energy quickly. If an enemy, creature or human, was physically overpowering, Samantha would only focus on escaping as fast as she could.

### Navigation Skills

Samantha was incredibly skilled in navigating spaces, both familiar and unfamiliar. For her jobs, she would often have to scavenge for certain items, and doing so meant finding landmarks and navigating through new spaces. After running away, she already had much experience with navigation, so she applied it to her survival when needing to find food, water, or other resources.

After being poisoned, Samantha was able to find the nearest village through memory and landmarks. Most people would have gotten lost in the sands, even those who were native to The Longroam.

### Endurance and Stamina

While it may seem hard to believe from her small stature, Samantha was able to bounce back from severe injury. She was able to also run long distances without showing any signs of exhaustion, even in the harsh desert heat. When poisoned, she was able to push herself to walk to the nearest village, even with the side effects the plant gave her and her body slowly shutting down. Even Maya herself was shocked Samantha made it as far as she did.

### Ceramics

As a teenager, Samantha would take the materials she found during scavenging jobs and use them to make pottery to sell in order to save up her own personal funds. She had many loyal customers and made good money.

## Dragons Trained

* Sansa (with Maya Prasanna) (primary dragon)

## Relationships

### Maya Prasanna

Maya quite literally saved Samantha's life, and therefore, they have always had a tight bond. Samantha had always felt indebted to Maya, but Maya was always reminding her that she owed her nothing, and that she was glad fate brought them together. The two almost had a sisterly bond, being around the same age and having somewhat similar personalities. Maya taught Samantha how to fight with weapons, ride horses, and train and ride dragons.

Samantha was always able to comfortably joke around with Maya, and they knew each other's boundaries very well, having heard of or experiencing the other's trauma. However, they both had each other's backs. It was clear when Maya called Samantha after her nightmare to make sure she was safe, Samantha knew that something was wrong and offered to come to her room immediately.

When Samantha was speared, Maya held her in her arms as she died. At first, Samantha looked to Maya for comfort, but realizing her fate, she made sure to tell Maya just how grateful she was. She merely focused on letting Maya know how much she loved her, and ignored her own pain for the sake of spending her last moments focusing on the woman who saved her life, and the woman who would be there when it ended.

### Sansa

Sansa was Samantha's dragon, a Grapple Grounder. At first, Sansa was not very affectionate towards Samantha, but with time, the two had become inseparable. Oftentimes, they would spend nights out resting by a campfire, go for long flights, or simply sit on a hill and watch the sunset. Sansa was very playful with Samantha, often shaking water off on her or sneaking up on her to scare her. Sometimes she would even tap Samantha's shoulder then look away pretending it was someone else.

After Samantha's death, Sansa fell into a deep depression and stopped eating. Sansa would often sit on the same hill her and Sam sat on to watch the sunrise, still keeping her wing out as if Sam was still next to her. Eventually Sansa passed away from what Maya described as a "broken heart."

### Fawn Potter

Although Samantha and Fawn only knew each other for a few years and considerably less than the other characters, they were very close with each other and could've easily been considered best friends. The day Fawn moved in with Maya, Samantha shyly welcomed her, and the two ended up talking until dawn. They would often talk about nature, books, and shows that they would watch together. Their personal favorite to watch together was the sci-fi series *Fringe*.

Fawn and Samantha matched in terms of energy, as shown when Maya was confronted by Yoongi in Chapter 12 of Éternel: Wings of Fire, and the both of them worked off each other's jokes/quips.

Although not shown in the main series, Fawn was devastated by Samantha's death, and often cried herself to sleep while thinking of her. Now, Fawn has a tattoo of a sunflower on her inner arm, as sunflowers were Samantha's favorite flower. Fawn also described Sam to be "as radiant as a sunflower," giving the tattoo a double meaning.

## Trivia

* When sitting on a chair or stool, Samantha always twisted her feet around the legs. She referred to this quirk as an "endearing quality," one that Maya would often tease her over.
* In the very first plotline of the first draft, Samantha was planned to sleep with Yoongi while he was dating Maya. Maya would've then kicked Samantha off of the island and she would've never been heard from again. Of course, this idea was scrapped during the second draft, when the book transitioned from *Falling With The Sakura Leaves* (the very first draft) to *Éternel*.
* Samantha is asexual/aromantic.