Thornella

## PRE-LIFE EVENTS

In a small swamp community there was a Woman named Ovela, She was a poor, orphaned at a young age. She never had the opportunity to be educated so the only way for her to get by was to try to collect whatever scraps the various unsavory characters that come in and out leave behind. Everything changed one day when Ovela met Edvin. Edvin was a handsome rogue, a gentleman, unlike the men Ovela was used to, and for the time in her life, Ovela fell in love. Every time Edvin came around Ovela was waiting for him, they'd chat all through the day and night.

The relationship grew and grew over the course of about a year, until one day Ovela realized that she was pregnant with a child. The next time Edvin came over, she surprised him with the news. Though he acted excited, Ovela could tell something was off with him, though she shrugged it off for the time being. Later that same day Ovela saw Edvin giving money to a man, but Ovela had been in that swamp long enough to know that was no baker or blacksmith, that was a man who killed for money, and as she saw it, she knew what was happening. Ovela wanted to believe that she was simply mistaken, but after Edvin left one again, not mentioning a word of his encounter with the assassin, she had no doubt in her mind she was his target. As soon as his horse was out of sight, she stole one from a local, and dashed out of the town as fast as she could. She hid herself in the woods.

## EARLY LIFE EVENTS

Months after leaving the Swamp, Ovela gave birth to her daughter. She was made Thornella, after the phrase "thorn in your side" after all the kid had caused her nothing but misery thus far. This resentment lightened over time but it remained for most of Thornella's early childhood. But as she started aging into the double digits, something shifted, Ovela's resentment grew smaller and smaller, and her love for her daughter grew and grew. She always knew Thornella wasn't at fault for anything that happened, but it took until she was really coming into her own that Ovela realized how awful she had treated her. Their mother-daughter relationship blossomed from then on, they were all each other had after all. Thornella was a quick learner at hunting food, gathering wood, and other essential skills. She also took up clothes making, though her instincts weren't quite as astute there.

Thornella knew the story of her father by heart. She had heard it so many times, only getting angrier and angrier each time. She hated her father, she hated what he had done to her mother, she hated that he robbed her of a normal childhood, but most of all she hated that half of her came from a man who never bothered to show her his face. When she turned 18 she decided it was finally time to go on a long awaited "hunting trip". Ovela didn't know the nature of what her daughter was planning to do, the only info she was given was Thornella was going to "slay a monster" which was far from specific considering the vast array of species in this world.

After about a day of travel, Thornella found the Swamp where her parents met. It didn't take too much time for her to track him down to a tavern where he had most certainly been drinking. Inside she saw someone who was unmistakably the man from her mother's stories, albeit much older. She walked up to him asking to talk to him about something, he was confused but agreed. She started by asking him about his criminal past, he yammered on and on about stealing this and that, escaping jail, the typical things you'd expect. Now that she was in his good graces she asked about his history with women. He went on and on about various nights he spent with women throughout his years, but these relationships never seemed to last longer than that night.

Thorn pressed him about if he ever had anything long lasting. He was hesitant to answer, but after how kind Thornella had been he was feeling generous enough to share. He told a story of how he fell in love with a woman many years ago. He went on and on about her, everything sounded exactly like Ovela's story. Thorn started to wonder if she had it all wrong, maybe this really was a tragic misunderstanding after all. That curiosity was answered when he started talking about the final time they met. For someone she always assumed was quite smart, he detailed every detail of the story to someone he thought was a complete stranger. He even admitted to hiring the assassin to kill Ovela, and it seemed the assassin told him the job was a success. This lit a flame inside Thornella, and she snapped at her father, how dare he claim to love Ovela after all he put her through. To her surprise, Edvin didn't defend himself. All he said was this "I would do anything to bring her back". Thorn finally revealed her identity, as she did, Edvin's eyes widened. "I know what you're here for, but please, can I see her one last time? ''.

Thorn wanted to kill him right then and there, she didn't want to give him his final wish, he didn't deserve it. But that isn't who she is, she hated this man more than anything in the world, but she isn't a killer, at least not one who'd deny a man his last wish. So she took him back to the forest where she and her mother had been camping all her life. Ovela's world was shaken when she saw Edvin on the horse with her daughter. Edvin was on his knees as soon as he got off the horse. He expressed his guilt and shame, for everything, not just the assassin, but for all those years Thorn lived without a father, and he started to shed tears, even in their year together Ovela had never seen him cry. After all these years Ovela never hated him, even after everything she never hated him. And she decided to offer him her hand. And from that day forward, they were a family, a messy messy family.

## RECENT LIFE EVENTS

I was awkward to say the least, for everyone. Thornella had planned to bring home her father, but she didn't expect him to be alive when she did. How does one go from wanting to kill someone to treating them as their father? Thorn was cold to him to say the least, he didn't blame her, he knew he didn't deserve her forgiveness, but he tried his best to be the father she never had. They went hunting together occasionally, Ovela was never much of a hunter herself so Edvin took up the role as teacher. Thorn wasn't thrilled by this, she still hated him, but she agreed because it would help lighten her mother's load just a little bit. Edvin was quite a knowledgeable hunter, and taught Thorn many tricks to hunting. Thorn wasn't impressed by most of them, but she did appreciate one tip he gave her about killing animals Humanely by cutting the neck in just the right way. Though she hated to admit it, she was warming up to her father, just a little.

As for her mother the relationship stayed mostly the same, but Thorn could sense a twinge of guilt in her eyes. Ovela long regretted her choice to give her daughter the name Thornella. Eventually, she offered to give Thorn a new name, a better kinder name, but Thorn didn't want that. She rejected the offer. Her name was a cruel one, but it was hers and she wasn't willing to give that up. Ovela understood, though she had made many mistakes parenting, she knew her daughter had grown into a strong woman. She truly was greater than the sum of her parts.

As years went by the family grew more and more normal, the past wrongs weren't forgotten, but they were forgiven, it was almost a normal life. Thorn wanted to go out and see the world, a world she'd been hiding from for years, but she stayed around to take care of her parents. When she turned 25 her mother died, it was the first time in her life that she cried. Over the next couple year she and her father grew closer. Ironic, the man she wanted to kill for most of her life was the only person she had left in the world. On her 27th birthday, two years after her mothers death, her father died, and she cried for the second time in her life. She buried her father next to the spot they buried Ovela, they didn't have a gravestone or anything, none of them knew how to make them, still, she knew the spot by heart. After taking time to mourn, Thorn knew what her path was, and she set off to discover what's out there.

## PRESENT LIFE

Thorn began traveling, staying for a little bit in every town or village she came across, but never planting any roots. In order to get by, Thorn takes jobs as a hired hunter, taking care of local pest problems, she is excellent at it. She doesn't kill most of the creatures she's hired to hunt, she finds ways to spare their lives while solving the problems people are dealing with. Though she's getting by fine, she hopes to eventually find a place to settle down and live the life her mother never got a chance to.

## PERSONALITY DESCRIPTION & QUOTES

Thorn is a kind soul by nature, though a bit distant. She will always choose to lend help to whoever needs it, and will try to find the least harmful solution to any problem, but if all else fails, she is willing to kill someone who is causing harm to others. Thorn becomes downright scary when she's angry

* "You sent a man to kill an innocent woman because you were too afraid to have a child, and you want to tell me that you loved her. That is the most insulting thing i have ever heard, you're worse than the monster I expect, you're a coward and a scoundrel." - After hearing Edvin's story of her mother
* "Well it's your lucky day I guess, she's very much alive, Father!" - Her revealing her identity to Edvin
* "You gave me my name since you saw me as a thorn in your side, that's been on my shoulders since birth, It's too late to change the past, we can only move forward. I am Thornella, that's the name that will be carved on my grave." - Thornella rejecting Ovela's offer to give her a new name
* ""I'm a hunter not a killer" - Her response to being asked to kill something
* "Monsters aren't big scary creatures, they exist in all creatures, monsters lurk among you in daylight and you won't even notice. Monsters are those who terrorize others. Anything can be a monster." - Her definition of monster

## FUN FACTS!

* Thorn taught herself how to read using books she checked out while exploring the world. She is very bad at it.
* Thorn has high pain tolerance, mainly because she got injured a lot when she was young.