Ashlynn Mauntell

Status: Finished

"Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one."

- Bruce Lee

Ashlynn Mauntell is a retired victor from District 1, now residing in District 8. She was created by The Targaryen of District 4.

Other information
Tier: 

Etymology: (Ashlynn) - Two possible meanings: "dream" and "meadow of ash trees".

Usual alliance: None, loner

Love Interest(s) (from her history): Lucius (deceased)

History
 Pre-Games= Disclaimer: There may be mature content (violence, murder, incest etc.) in this backstory, so if you are sensitive to this content, please do not read this.

Ashlynn was born, on the cold evening of November 4th, to Eric and Tiana Mauntell in the Mauntell mansion, in District 1. Tiana died whilst giving birth to Ashlynn, causing Eric to loathe his daughter. Katelyn and Michael, both twins, were only 10 year olds at the time and being typical children, they adored Ashlynn.

Eric tried to get rid of Ashlynn in several ways, feeling nothing towards her but hatred (because of Tiana's death). But he failed each time. Ashlynn was turning out to look like her deceased yet beautiful mother each and every day, causing Eric more heartache and pain inside.

Eight years later, she accidentally discovered Michael and Katelyn getting intimate. This made Ashlynn the first person to know about their incestuous relationship. Michael and Katelyn dismissed this as Ashlynn was only young and didn't understand their actions but unfortunately for them, this emotionally scarred her and would never go away.

Over the years, Ashlynn was enrolled in the Career Academy. She started off as a weakling during training but eventually became strong, intelligent and a skilled fighter, with exceptional talent in archery. Like most students in the Academy, she picked a signature weapon. Her signature weapon was the bow and arrows.

At the Academy, she became one of the popular kids. But she wasn't exactly like them. She was friendly with some of the less popular kids and hung out with them in secret sometimes. While her fellow female popular kids were thinking about becoming prominent victors and having families with handsome prominent victors, Ashlynn secretly laughed because she had no dreams or desires for what she wanted her future to be like (something that would still remain with her years later).

When she was 14, alongside her friends, she snuck off to The Capitol to audition for a part in an upcoming movie as a joke. This was without Eric's, Katelyn's or Michael's knowledge and permission. However, while her friends became extras in the movie, Ashlynn got a minor speaking role.

Because she was too advanced and way ahead of what the Academy taught, she was one of few students that left the Academy at 16. This was two years earlier than when she was actually meant to leave.

With newfound strength and knowledge came more drama. Michael and Katelyn found out about how Ashlynn still knew about the relationship for eight years. But Eric didn't know. In order to keep it secret, they bullied and threatened Ashlynn into keeping her mouth shut.

The bullying grew worse and worse with the constant ticking of time. Ashlynn's rage slowly built. She had just left the Academy strong, only to be belittled by her two siblings over their disgusting actions. And when it was Eric's 50th birthday, she finally revealed to everyone Michael and Katelyn's relationship.

News of the relationship spread like wildfire and soon the Mauntell family had the reputation of being scandalous in all of the Career districts as incest was seen as one of the most scandalous things to do. But because Eric refused to believe this, he disowned her. She now had more hatred from her father and was loathed incredibly by the real troublemakers, her twins.

Angry at how she was treated for telling the truth, she grabbed her bow and arrows and shot Eric in both the head and the heart, killing him.

Before she could feel the wrath of her siblings or the Peacekeepers, she escaped to the deep forest. A few days later, Ashlynn was declared missing and a search for her began.

In the forest of District 1, she bumped into Lucius, a native of District 7. He told Ashlynn how he escaped from District 7 due to a riot there. Ashlynn didn't want to lie to Lucius about who she was so she told him the truth. She expected him to make fun about it but instead, he promised her that everything would be okay and advised her to change her appearance so no one knew that it was her.

Taking Lucius's advice, she searched through the district (in disguise) to find contact lenses and blonde hair dye. She dyed her hair blonde and began to wear the contact lenses after cleaning them.

They continued to talk about their backstories and it was only a matter of time before they fell in love with each other. They soon got intimate and started to date.

One day, Ashlynn was attacked by a bear, scratched deeply in the face by its claws. This caused a big scar across her right cheek. She managed to slay the bear by shooting several arrows at it, once she was out of the bear's clutches.

No longer worrying about her appearance and the possibility of being found, Ashlynn felt confident to go back to the district. Lucius was unsure about this at first but agreed afterwards. On the day they went into the Square, a riot took place between the few in District 1 that despised the Games and the Peacekeepers. Both Ashlynn and Lucius joined in.

Because the riot became so out of control, the Peacekeepers shot at the crowd, including Lucius. Unfortunately, the shot was fatal and Lucius died.

Ashlynn became incredibly bitter and vengeful after Lucius's death. She grew a hatred of Peacekeepers and planned to enact revenge. She vowed not to trust anyone, involved with the Capitol or not. After the Games= "Trust me, you do not want to be me. You only see the riches and the power, but you do not understand what I have had to go through."

After winning her Games, she went on to become an assassin of Peacekeepers. She tracked down the Peacekeeper that shot Lucius and brutally murdered him, believing that she had finally avenged Lucius. Because of this, she ended up in the custody of the Peacekeepers and spent two years in a makeshift jail in District 2, before being released. She was released when she was 19 and nearing the end of her teenage years.

What she did between the ages of 19 and 29 is unknown. It's presumed that she tried to live peacefully in her house in the Victor's Village.

10 years later on her birthday, at the age of 29, she gave birth to a son, Lucius, the father of which is unknown. She named her son in memory of Lucius. They lived together privately in District 8, where she was last spotted.

Suddenly, Ashlynn went missing. Many believed she had died. Lucius, only a 12 year old, found a new determination to find his mother.

However, what actually happened was that one of the hitmen who Katelyn and Michael hired suggested to the pair that if they wanted to provoke the victor's son, they should kidnap Ashlynn. Katelyn and Michael got a crazy cult from the Capitol to do this, taking her back to their secret base.

At the base, Ashlynn had to watch her son volunteer and struggle to survive in the Games. She couldn't break free as the cult threatened to kill her if she did so. Ashlynn wanted nothing more than to be with her son, so she didn't attempt to break free.

Fortunately, Lucius followed in his mother's footsteps and won the Games, becoming the second Mauntell victor. He used some of his new riches to hire bodyguards, as well as to fund the search for his mother.

A couple of days after the search began, an elderly woman found Ashlynn's star necklace near a hill. The Peacekeepers on the search initially dismissed this, believing that the necklace could be anybody's. However, thanks to an explanation from Lucius on how the necklace was definitely his mother's. The Peacekeepers now saw the necklace as a possible hint to where Ashlynn could be. Eventually, the secret entrance of the cult's District 8 base, where Ashlynn had been kept hostage, was discovered.

All of the members inside the base were shot dead by the Peacekeepers. Lucius freed Ashlynn and mother and son were finally reunited.

After reuniting, Lucius and Ashlynn successfully managed to track down Katelyn and Michael. The twin siblings and lovers were forced to admit that they had lost the battle. But before they were killed, Katelyn and Michael revealed why and how they kidnapped Ashlynn, knowing all along that she was alive, as well as the existence of their three children: Amethyst, Ralen and Narcerion.

Ashlynn and Lucius killed Katelyn and Michael by shooting them with two arrows, one in the head and one in the heart.

The pair then decided to track down the trio, but could only find Amethyst, who also resided in District 8. Amethyst gave Ashlynn and Lucius the information they needed. Amethyst revealed that she had been separated from her brothers, meaning that they all ended up living with different families in different districts. Amethyst was luckier, being adopted by Horatio and Arcania Mauntell, her first cousin once removed and great-aunt respectively (Arcania was Eric's sister and Horatio was Arcania's son), and taken from District 1 to live with Horatio, Arcania and Horatio's daughter Ainslee in District 8. Amethyst was led to believe that Horatio was her father, Arcania was her grandmother and Ainslee was her sister, until she was told the truth by Arcania.

She also told Ashlynn and Lucius that she had recently discovered that Narcerion had died in an unfortunate accident.

Feeling somewhat more relieved, the pair revealed to Amethyst the truth about the death of her parents. However, Amethyst wasn't fazed by it. In fact, she felt sympathetic towards the mother and son standing before her. Both of them smiled, before they said goodbye to Amethyst.

The pair finally felt closure. Both of them had gotten their revenge on the twin siblings, by killing them. Ashlynn was no longer missing and now Lucius no longer had to worry about finding his mother and having the threat of hitmen attempting to take his life.

And so the two went back to living almost peacefully in District 8.

Personality
Ashlynn is vengeful and vicious. She despises Peacekeepers and anyone who is associated with them. There is a side of her that is friendly and pleasant, but only those who she is close to ever see this side of her.

She's intelligent and good at making wise decisions. She can be brutally honest when she wants to be and usually, she doesn't trust anyone.

Ashlynn is not afraid of death because she believes that when she dies, she'll finally be reunited with Lucius and because she's already seen both sides to life, the pleasant and the horrific.

When she's in love with someone, she remains loyal to them and she stays by their side. But she may try to "influence" that person, however (as seen with Lucius).

Most people would assume that by her appearance and the stereotype associated with females from District 1, Ashlynn is the kind of person who would use her looks to her advantage. Well, that's not the case. She doesn't care about her appearance at all.

Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths: Archery, intelligent/knowledgeable, fighting, finding shelter.

Weaknesses: Alliances, trust.

Song Inspiration
Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day

Trivia

 * Ashlynn is The Targaryen of District 4's fourth victor.
 * She is one of two victors who have been disowned by their families, the other being Oceania.
 * Just like Oceania, she later went on to become a mother after becoming a victor.
 * She is the only one of The Targaryen of District 4's victors who disappeared and went missing.
 * She was inspired by Tyrion Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones.
 * She has another love interest.
 * When it comes down to pro-Capitol against pro-rebellion, Ashlynn is on neither side. She's neutral.
 * Ashlynn is left-handed.
 * There was originally a theory surrounding Ashlynn. Although her mother was still going to be Tiana, her father would have be different, thus fuelling Eric's hatred for Ashlynn more. This theory was inspired by the theory that Tyrion is not the son of Tywin and Joanna Lannister, but rather Joanna and Aerys Targaryen (a.k.a the Mad King).