Backwoods darling of Beyond the Lost: Erika
Erika doesn’t show until Beyond the Lost Assault. But she makes an immediate impact in the book, and her presence becomes a focal point in Book III.
- Parents: Third Generation Inbred Couple
- Sibling: One unnamed brother
- Fun Fact: Erika educated herself
- Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw
- Occupation: Colony committee member
- Birthday: Unknown, likely between March and July 2012
Very, very few people know about Erika. We know she was born to an inbred couple with severe physical and mental disabilities. So much so that her parents were incapable of performing the simplest tasks. Erika and her sibling (who showed even more physical and mental disability) survived only because the friendly people of McConnellsville, Ohio, helped raise them.
Though Erika showed advanced intellectual aptitude early, nobody took her from the dilapidated shack she was born and grew up in. The theory is that from a young age, Erika insisted on staying. A hard-nosed girl with a photographic memory, Erika would have likely returned to the shack if someone tried to take her. So, the county left her alone and never told the state of Ohio about her near-unlivable conditions.
The Whitaker family and a Let’s Read story motivated Erika
The Whitakers are believed to be the most inbred family in America, and they were featured on Mark Laita’s YouTube Channel, Soft White Underbelly. The shack and its impoverished conditions played a role, but the backwoods setting and Erika herself came from an allegedly true personal account I listened to on the Let’s Read Podcast: Episode 225.
If you’re not familiar with Let’s Read, it broadcasts personal accounts of allegedly true stories submitted to a man named Joel, who reads them in a monotonal deadpan. The first story in Episode 225 depicted two hikers crossing this shack in Cloud Peak. Here, they crossed an inbred family displaying traits many associate with inbreeding.
The entire family, that is, except for the girl. She was in her teens, spoke with a twangy voice, and in broken English, all of which are characteristics Erika possesses. As opposed to living in Wyoming, Erika’s from Ohio, and had taken charge of her family before they died off. By the time Beyond the Lost’s events rolled around Erika, already popular in the county, welcomes survivors to form a backwoods colony with her, using her parents’ old shack as headquarters.
Erika has fan favorite potential in Beyond the Lost
Erika’s role may start off as small. But don’t underestimate her. Quinn Cozens initially doesn’t know what to think of Erika, but she soon gains his respect. Not because of the fact the two have a lot in common for what they want or that they both possess never-say-die attitudes. Instead, Quinn sees Erika’s sheer intellect, despite the fact she came from one of the worst situations imaginable.
And Erika just might hold the key to helping Quinn make the most daring mission he’s going on in Book III, Beyond the Lost Fates, possible. But there’s even more to Erika than her intelligence: she symbolizes the genre bend in Beyond the Lost.
Her ability to see clearly in the dark, move through rough terrain without breaking a sweat, and showcasing the ability to learn and figure out complex things in seconds makes her borderline supernatural.
She’s definitely human, but there’s not a single character in the series Erika doesn’t impress. Even those characters who are nearly impossible to impress.
How does Quinn ultimately come across Erika?
