Eliza Kerrigan
Eliza Kerrigan is one of the last Kerrigans and one of the few original members of Kerrigan Ranch still living.
History
Early Life
Eliza grew up in a small town buried in the hills and mountains out southeast, a place she has yet to ever disclose but only has described to people as rather shut off from other towns. It was a place most people passed through sometimes without even realizing there was a town there but when they did it was usually to stop at their family-owned general store in town. This exposed her to a lot of people and stories but ended up being her only grasp of what it was like beyond the confines of where she grew up. Growing up she never left her hometown area but she loved traveling into the mountains when she could sneak away some time and read fervently about what other places were like.
Most of her family lived in town or in the surrounding areas so she was accepting of falling into the path of being told what was good and bad by those surrounding her which kept her as a rather Lawful Good personality type given that's what she was raised to be. Her father was Sam Douglas, a very friendly and protective man that Eliza always was closest with out of all her family, and much the same he also treated her slightly above the others even as a middle child. Her mother was Martha Douglas though not much is mentioned of her other than she seemed to be a more passive woman and favored her youngest daughter and eldest son. She had 3 siblings in total; James Douglas being the eldest (by 5 years) and her fraternal twin younger (by 3 years) siblings by the name of Claire Douglas and Seth Douglas. Claire married fairly young when her family deemed it appropriate to a man by name of Tate Cross who was a childhood friend of James from a neighboring town that often had gang problems and would come to seek refuge in their own town leading to their meetings growing up. James soon became a bounty hunter for the surrounding LEO forces in the state and often was traveling for lengths of time before returning home which led to the running of the general store falling squarely onto Eliza and her parents as Seth didn't seem interested in taking over.
Things were fine for a while until James started changing, gradually at first, and began hanging out with various folks that he'd return back with that clearly were more criminal than the "associate Bounty Hunter" colleagues he claimed them to be. The family never called him out on this however and because of that James began to steal funds from their general store business to afford the lifestyle he was beginning to fall into whenever he would leave out on his trips. Sometimes when returning he would be in particularly widely swinging foul moods that would result in fights and arguments, among other problems. The family became rather beaten and battered during this time and were rightfully outright afraid of him at times but their father tried to protect them the best he could and keep James at arm's length despite their mother desperately wanting to try and save him from the life he was living. What Eliza did not realize at the time was that James was actually associating with a gang and had begun to pick up paid jobs to bring people back to them. The friends he brought back with him into town were other gang members that were above him in the hierarchy and still determining whether he would be let in or not.
They lived like this for a few years before one fateful night when Eliza was running the store, alone for the time being as her father had stepped out to a nearby home of a family friend to speak with them. James and one of his friends burst in, reeking of cheap liquor, and began to act belligerently while they downed more drinks and trashed the store. They pushed her around and threatened her without a care in the world as they laughed and enjoyed themselves before the friend finally took his gun out and began pointing at Eliza with it to make his demands more imposing on the already terrified woman. Eliza herself has said she hardly remembers what happened next, but in the next moment was a deafening BANG and she was holding the smoking shotgun that was kept under the counter for security. The man James had brought was laying choking on his own blood on the floor in front of her after a shot through the chest.
James immediately threw himself frantically into trying to save the man while Eliza stood frozen in place until her father busted into the store, saw the scene before him, and rushed her out the back as fast as he could. They made their way with desperate haste to the train station while Eliza was little more than a husk of fear being dragged by her father who quickly purchased several linking tickets for her. He wrapped her in his jacket, tickets into her hand, and told her she needed to take as many trains as possible to get away from here. He promised he would come and find her as soon as he could. Eliza boarded the train and watched with tears in her eyes as it pulled away while her father crumpled to the ground, a shot bursting through his back and splattering blood across the platform at his feet. All that was left where he once stood was James, smoking pistol in hand, looking her dead in the eyes with a blinding hatred as the train sped away.
For several months she hopped as many trains as she could, buying more tickets with what little money was in the jacket until she didn't even know where she was anymore. It was then that she ran out of the remaining money, leaving her in Saints Crossing with nothing to her name and crippling guilt that her actions had likely led to her entire family being killed, and the knowledge that James was likely to come looking for her sooner or later.
Events in Saint's Crossing
Settling into Kerrigan Ranch
Leaving the Ranch
Life on the Run
Bazz's Death
Safety Net War
Becoming Matriarch of the Ranch
Danny's Return and Death
Boyd and Revenge
Raising a Son
Character
Personality
Appearance
Relationships
Kerrigan Family
Kettleman Gang
Close Friends
Trivia Facts
- Eliza's original outfit was her work attire from her family's general store while the long green duster was her father's that was thrown over her shoulders just before she boarded the train and watched him get murdered.
- The nickname BJ came from constantly being mistaken for a woman by the name of AJ when she first arrived in the state and was given to her by Bazz when she confronted him about why he kept calling her AJ.
- Bazz initially tried to convince Eliza that she should date his son Danny before she had even ever met him. Her and Danny never even spoke much in the early days of the ranch due to issues others tried to pin onto him when speaking with her. Eliza still has always attributed their relationship to Bazz however as a nod to his attempt to set them up together long before they even knew about one another.
- She has never been told what the secret ingredient of Kerrigans Kreame is... however, she does have suspicions.
- Eliza visited Bazz's grave every single day up until she left to raise Marty Kerrigan.