1168 AD, England-1191, Limassol, Cyprus - Eloise is born into a wealthy English family in 1168, and much of her early life is spent being groomed for a marriage expected of her station. At the age of twelve, she is sent to court in Aquitaine, where, three years later, she catches the eye of Richard Plantagenet, future King Richard I of England. Their relationship follows Richard into adulthood and eventually onto the road to the Third Crusade, with Eloise arriving in Sicily alongside him and King Philip II of France in September of 1190. On May 12, 1191, in Limassol, Cyprus, Eloise watches Richard marry Princess Berengaria of Navarre, first-born daughter of King Sancho VI. Though she had always known the marriage was inevitable, some part of her had still hoped Richard might refuse the union in favor of her instead.
Autumn 1192, Duchy of Aquitaine, France-1254, Egypt - In the autumn of 1192, charges are brought against Eloise accusing her of spying for the infidels. She is taken into custody by the Knights Templar and brutally tortured in an effort to force a confession before ultimately being killed in her cell by John Mauteby, one of the Templars overseeing her interrogation -- and, more importantly, an Immortal.
Following her first death, Mauteby takes Eloise to England, where over the next several years he becomes her teacher, revealing the truth of Immortals and the Game while teaching her how to survive it. In April of 1199, the pair are present at Fontevrault Abbey when King Richard I is laid to rest following his death from an infected wound. It is there that Eloise and Mauteby finally part ways, as he intends to return to the Crusades. Before leaving, however, he reveals that he himself orchestrated her arrest and torture years earlier. Enraged by the betrayal and all that had been done to her, Eloise returns to the Crusades as well -- this time as a spy for the infidels.
1202, Constantinople - During the Fourth Crusade, Eloise meets the Immortal Haresh Clay, along with his former squire, student, and closest friend, the Immortal Carter Wellan. In the years that follow, Haresh takes over where Mauteby left off, continuing Eloise’s training in both combat and survival while helping temper some of the anger and recklessness left behind by her first death and betrayal. Over time, teacher and student become lovers, while Carter becomes one of Eloise’s earliest and dearest companions among Immortals. The three spend decades traveling together on and off throughout the Crusades and beyond, their lives repeatedly circling back to one another despite wars, distance, and time. By the Seventh Crusade in 1248, however, Eloise and Haresh parted ways romantically, though she remained close to he and Carter long after.
Friday, October 13, 1307, France - All the Knights Templar in France are arrested by agents of Philip the Fair, tortured into admitting heresy and executed. As Philip's lover, Eloise had a hand in the coming of this. After, it was speculated that Philip did it to gain the Templar riches. But Philip never touched the treasures Eloise disappeared with them before he could. The revenge left her feeling hollow, guilty even.
1320, Italy - While in Italy, as the mistress to Mondino de Luzzi, Eloise began what would become a lifelong interest in medicine. As a woman, she wasn’t allowed to attend classes at the University of Bologna, so she studied every text that de Luzzi would bring her. Her life from that moment on was dedicated to medicine she would learn wherever she could, even going so far as to cut off all her hair and dress as a man. Meets the Immortal Marcus Constantine at this time, who helps her escape the country and persecution when she’s discovered.
1400’s, Heidelberg, Germany - posing as a young man, and going by the name Eli De Luzzi, Eloise attends Heidelberg Medical School, where she meets another Immortal, Benjamin Adams. The pair become friends, and then lovers, and he reveals that he is the legendary Methos they develop a lasting friendship, picking up where they left off whenever they run into each other in the years to come.
1489, Tangier, Morocco - Eloise is in Tangier working for a household near the kasbah, a merchant family. Their youngest daughter survived a fever none of the local physicians could explain, and they kept her on after. Runs into Methos, who is there for a manuscript, a medical document, that rumor says is from the Library of Alexandria. Also meets Immortal Marcus Constantine, an old friend of Methos’.
1577, Venice, Italy — During the height of Venice’s plague outbreak, Eloise works as a physician in one of the city’s wealthier districts, tending to the sick while entire households disappear behind quarantined doors overnight. It is there she unexpectedly crosses paths with Methos once again. Eloise jokingly accuses him of following her across Europe, only for Methos to dryly inform her he is in Venice on “business” entirely unrelated to her — namely, stealing a valuable artifact from a collection of wealthy and thoroughly terrible men who have no business possessing it in the first place. Despite herself, Eloise becomes entangled in the scheme, the two falling easily back into the familiar rhythm of sharp conversation, old affection, and mutually questionable decision-making that has defined their friendship for centuries.
1626, Würzburg, Germany - When Prince-Bishop Philipp Adolf von Ehrenberg's infamous Würzburg Witch Trials begin, Eloise is swiftly arrested and accused of witchcraft. The charge stems from a mysterious illness that swept through her village -- one she was helpless to stop despite her healing knowledge. She is rescued on her way to be burned at the stake by immortal Mursi Storvold. The pair escaped, aided by Mursi’s friend and fellow immortal, Auberon, to Sweden by way of a ship. She and Mursi were lovers for a time, parting as dear friends.
1673, Alpine Valley, between the northern Italian duchies and the fragmented territories of the Holy Roman Empire - Eloise moves between isolated mountain settlements as a regional healer and physician in a stretch of harsh, half-lawless country where borders shift depending on who last survived crossing the pass. She is called upon when winter fevers sweep through villages, childbirth turns dangerous, or sickness spreads from dying livestock into human hands. Traveling with dried herbs, tinctures, surgical tools, and medical knowledge that feels almost unnervingly advanced for the era, Eloise earns a wary sort of respect among the mountain people. The locals do not fully trust her — no woman should know the things she knows, survive the storms she survives, or appear as calmly as she does in homes already preparing for death — but they rely on her all the same. Over time, a quiet legend begins forming around her, whispered from village to village: the woman the snow cannot claim. She has been living this life for three years when another Immortal finally passes through her remote valley settlement, and to Eloise’s surprise, she discovers the traveler is Methos.
1756, Constantinople - During a brutal winter cholera outbreak, Eloise is attached to the household of a prominent physician, by the name of Adam Blackwood. Eloise quickly realizes “Adam” is none other than Methos. What follows is perhaps the most intellectually dangerous period of their long friendship. The two spend endless nights bent over anatomical sketches, ancient texts, and surgical notes, arguing philosophy as often as medicine -- history, empire, religion, mortality, and whether humanity is truly capable of learning from its suffering. Eloise spends her days translating medical texts and treating women within private homes where male doctors are forbidden entry. During this same period, Eloise is challenged by another Immortal. She wins the fight, but takes no satisfaction in the Quickening that follows, viewing it as simply one more senseless death in a city already drowning in them.
1853-1856, Crimea - serves as a nurse/physician during the Crimean War. She meets, and is for a time the lover of Immortal Ramsey Torryngton.
1861-1865, North America- Eloise was in the New World when the Civil War broke out. She volunteers on the side of the North, using her medical skills as best as she can to help as many injured soldiers as she can. She meets many Immortals at this time, among them Matthew McCormick and Carl Robinson, but the most notable is Balthazar Freidrich, who she develops a deep bond of friendship with.
1912, Crossing the Atlantic aboard the RMS Titanic – Eloise, always up for an adventure, booked passage on the unsinkable ship. In the ensuing sinking, Eloise gives up her seat on a lifeboat, knowing it would make no difference if she stayed on the doomed ship. The experience caused her to develop a fear of not just boats, but of large bodies of water.
1914-1921, Europe/United States - When World War I breaks out, Eloise volunteers as a nurse. As the war is coming to an end in 1918, a deadly influenza pandemic begins, and she spends the next two years traveling Europe, and the United States, caring for the sick and dying. In 1921, on New Years, she meets the immortal Paradox before she returns to France the following day.
1922-1945, France - The death toll of the war, combined with that of the Spanish Flu, drives Eloise to return to the French countryside for the first time in a long time, seeking peace, which she finds in the arms of Immortal Noah Arnaud. Six months into their life together, Balthazar Friedrich visits them. Eloise and Noah spend 17 years together, until 1939, when World War II breaks out. Ell’s overwhelming need to use her gift of immortality to be a healer took her to the frontlines as a nurse, and Noah left France for Canada. Ell meets Merrick March during the War and also runs into Methos for the first time since Constantinople.
1945, Quebec, Canada - Over 700 years old now, with a majority of that time spent healing mortals through their fascination with war, finally got to Eloise. Despondent with grief, she left France and sought out Noah, proposing to him almost as soon as she sees him. The two marry, vowing to remain together thereafter.
1954, Alabama - She meets up with old friend, Carl Robinson, while he is playing baseball in the Negro League. She develops a love of the ball game, and she and Noah attend as often as possible.
1992, Canada - Eloise is kidnapped by John Mauteby, and told that Noah is dead. She manages to get away from him, and Merrick March helps set her up with a new identity and life, though without Noah, everything is different.
2002, Astoria, Oregon - Eloise was living a quiet life in Astoria, running a small medical practice and working on call at the emergency department at Columbia Memorial Hospital. At some point, Carl Robinson asks her to keep an eye on a preimmortal named Leonard Forsythe playing short-stop for the Seattle Mariners. When Captain Trips hit, Eloise worked nonstop, trying to save her patients, to no avail. She found Penny Lane, a child with the Shine, shortly after, and the pair journeyed to Boulder together with Leonard Forsythe, who they ran into along the way.
