Ellen Shepard

'"Scars tell stories about a person's life, character and the choices that come with them. I collect them for that reason. I don't want to forget." '



Ellen Shepard is yet another version of Commander Shepard dwelling on the Normandy SR2. Ellen is a Vanguard who prefers her main ability of Charge, using sniper and assault rifles- or well a well aimed boot to the head.

Pre-MET History (Early Life)
Ellen was born to Nicole and Arthur Shepard, and had a fairly normal childhood until a few months after her seventh birthday. A local bully tried pushing her off the top of the jungle gym and without thinking, the young Ellen used latent biotics to keep herself from hitting the ground and breaking a bone. Panic ensued, and Ellen's mother took her home in a horrified rush. After Ellen's father came home, a fight began between Nicole and Arthur- a fight that Ellen to this day knows nothing about; her father could have been on her side, but she'll never know. Arthur left in a rage, and Nicole told her daughter she was taking her to a friend's to spend the night, packing her a change of clothes and her stuffed Doberman, Barkley

Nicole abandoned her seven year old daughter in the slums, not wanting to "raise a goddamned freak" or "Deal with her unnatural incidents."

A member of a local gang, a fifteen year old named Jesse, ended up adopting her as a surrogate sister/daughter, and protected her until Ellen turned 13. During her time with the gang, Ellen learned basic control of her biotics from other kids who had them. She never learned enough to be dangerous, but learned the basics on control, and even little, but helpful things.

When Ellen turned 17, she had a fight with the gang leader's girlfriend, and ended up killing the other girl in self defense. She was beaten by the gang leader and left to die in the street. Ellen managed to get herself to a local hospital, and once it got out she was a biotic, an Alliance recruiter swooped her up as a ward of the government. After a six month recovery period, Ellen's 18th birthday falling within that time period, Ellen enlisted.

Alliance Service:

Upon finishing her basic training, Ellen was outfitted with amps, and underwent training as a Vanguard. She adapted to the training very quickly, due to a basic understanding from her experience with other biotics on the streets.

Ellen was sent to Akuze, and she and her crew, along with the colonists, were attacked by a thresher maw. Despite her screams to take cover, her crew lost their heads and took fire at the beast, leaving themselves wide open for death. Using them as a distraction, Ellen was able to get a small handful of colonists to the undamaged shuttles and set off the distress beacon. She was the only survivor of her crew. When she was promoted to Commander because of this event, it made her resent the Alliance- she didn't think she deserved to be promoted because others had died. She still carries survivor's guilt over it to this day.

Becoming a Spectre was a liberating moment for Ellen- she used it as a way to cut ties with the Alliance, preferring to do her own thing for the Council in her own way. She remains faithful to Anderson, as she sees him as a brother/father figure, but she has no loyalty to the Alliance.

Appearance in Twitterverse
Ellen appeared in the Twitterverse no longer than an hour after turning over the Collector base to the Illusive Man. The Normandy was headed back through the Omega 4 relay when she blacked out and awoke on Jane Shepard's Normandy.

Ellen was horribly confused, but quickly found a kindred spirit in Cassondra Shepard, as well as Jane Shepard. About a week after waking on the Normandy, she was delighted to find that Garrus from her crew had ended up on the Normandy as well.

She's clueless as to what to do with herself, aside from beat up and tease Garrus, occasionally swinging out to Omega to shoot Batarians.

Personality
Ellen is blunt, crude, crass and straight to the point. She's foul mouthed, loves bourbon more than is natural, and has an aversion to human males: A less than desirable encounter with an older male back on Earth left a horrible taste in her mouth regarding males of her own species, both sexually and in relationships.

Ellen actually had an aversion to relationships in general thanks to the abandonment she suffered as a child. This aversion to relationships had her confused at times, as when she met Nihlus Kryik, she was mildly infatuated with his self sufficient, no-nonsense manner. She would have dismissed Garrus entirely, had it not been for his distaste of protocol and restrictions in C-Sec that he was so vocal about. It took a long time, but Liara was able to soothe Ellen's emotional wounds and got her to open up.

Ellen is a Renegade for the most part, but has a soft spot for people in positions she was once in or sympathizes with. She'll break a kid's gun to keep him from signing up with mercs, give medi-gel to a Salarian wounded by mercs, or hug a woman who had just lost her daughter. However, Ellen had no problem with electrocuting a Batarian, shoving a merc out a window, or headbutting a Krogan to prove a point.

Ellen collects scars, and remembers the story attached to each and every one. When she was brought back by Cerberus and found that all of her scars from her previous life were gone, she nearly strangled Miranda, then spent an entire week in her quarters, moving between grief and rage, sobbing and screaming. It was Joker who finally got her to pull herself together and move on with the mission.

Ellen still suffers recurring nightmares about her death from being spaced that result in her waking in a panic and unable to to breathe. Aside from forcing herself to take medications, the only surefire method she has found that keeps them at bay is having Garrus sleeping next to her.

Relationships
Ellen until recently, had an aversion to relationships. From the get go, she and Joker were like siblings, but Ellen always kept Joker at arm's length, afraid to let him get too close. It wasn't until becoming friends with Garrus, her brief but awkward crush on Nihlus, and caring deeply about Kasumi, Jack (whom she views both as sisters) and Zaeed (much to his chagrin, she adopted him as a surrogate father) did she realize caring about people wasn't a bad thing.

She is involved with Garrus (@WorstSniperEver) very seriously. The two are, by Turian standards, a mated pair, and Ellen has no intention of making a fuss over a human ceremony/standards. The two of them bully each other like a married couple anyway, which is good enough for the two of them.

Garrus has been talking about adopting children when the Reapers are destroyed, and this terrifies Ellen. She is horrified that she'll end up abandoning her children like her mother did, or end up being a horrible mother. The truth is, she still believes deep down that she didn't deserve her mother's love because she is a biotic, and in a turn around of warped logic, she believes she doesn't deserve Garrus' affection, let alone a family of her own. She's still learning to love herself; she's worried she isn't capable of loving a family properly, having grown up without an example. This stunted emotional development is sometimes a major argument between her and Garrus, and usually ends up with him having to soothe her hysterical sobs. Slow progress is being made, however.

Grunt from another timeline has randomly appeared, and Ellen has taken to him just as she did with the Grunt from her timeline. After helping him fight a Thresher Maw and earning his place as Urdnot, Grunt decided to call her his adoptive mother as well as his Krannt. Ellen gladly calls him son. (This has given Garrus hope on someday adopting kids.)

Trivia

 * Ellen has a fondness for anything remotely canine- dogs, Varren, etc. (she tried bringing a Varren onto the Normandy, but her attempt was met with much rebuttal.)
 * Ellen has a very keen sense of smell, which may or may not be a key factor in her relationship with Garrus.
 * Ellen is faithful and territorial to almost a flaw, but she won't hesitate to admit she has a fetish for most Turians- she even found Saren attractive, not that she'll admit it.
 * Ellen is based in appearance off Sigourney Weaver, personality slightly based off Weaver's character, Ellen Ripley
 * Ellen loves bourbon almost to the point of obsession, but will drink just about anything. She has never tried absinthe, but if she did, it would probably replace bourbon as her favorite.
 * Ellen, despite her less than feminine personality, actually has a lovely singing voice, similar to, but not as polished as Florence Welch