Species: Human
Birthplace: Amargosa
Birthdate: 415 IE
Ellie Nardino is a survivor, strategist, and resistance legend whose path through the Compact Universe saga transforms her from a sarcastic teenage guerrilla fighter into one of the most revered leaders of the Amargosa resistance. Initially one of the youngest among the The Children of Amargosa, Ellie’s cool head, sharp tongue, and refusal to yield to despair quickly set her apart.
She was born on Amargosa, though her mother was on Earth when the invasion began. During the Gelt occupation, she displays a gift for turning adversity into tactical advantage. She’s instrumental in everything from commandeering a maglev during a daring escape to coordinating resistance cells, all while still a teenager.
Her arc takes a shocking turn when she’s abducted by sapient lycanths, Her arc takes a shocking turn when she’s abducted by sapient lycanths—sentient cousins of the creatures once believed to be mindless predators. The resistance assumes she’s dead—possibly eaten. Instead, she’s recruited by the lycanths to help build the Northern Resistance, forming an alliance that becomes critical to the planet’s eventual liberation. When Ellie emerges from the north, she’s so changed and so unexpectedly alive that some believe her to be a ghost.
Northern Resistance and Legacy:
Ellie doesn’t just survive—she builds an army. Leading the Northern Resistance, she unites a Compact Marine company, a Gelt garrison disillusioned with the Larals’ leadership, and the sapient lycanths who saved her. Her coalition becomes a strategic hammer in the Liberation of Amargosa, effectively severing the Gelt’s grip on Amargosa from the top down.
She also presides over one of the most surreal applications of Section 11 in Compact history. When Lucius Kray—a former militia leader turned sadistic warlord—is captured, Ellie invokes the Compact’s military abuse and treason clause. Rather than a firing squad, she signals her lycanth allies, who emerge from rows commandeered mechs and devour Kray on the spot. The execution is not only a message to the remaining collaborators, but also a chilling reminder of Ellie’s authority and the creatures she now commands.
Post-Liberation:
In 431 IE, Ellie struggled to find her place in a world she had helped save but no longer recognized. Born on Amargosa and forged in the chaos of the Gelt occupation, she found herself adrift as reconstruction efforts moved forward without her. Initially living among a sapient lycanth pack in the Northern Wastes, she considered staying permanently, but her human ties drew her back to the Central Plains. Ellie worked alongside JT Austin, Eric Yuwono, and Colonel Quan at Lizzy's Ranch, helping restore one of the planet’s surviving farms. Restless and seeking purpose, she launched a pilot program to repurpose captured Gelt mechs for civilian reconstruction, which soon led to an offer from Farigha’s terraforming project. Ultimately, Ellie chose to remain on Amargosa, blending her talents as a resistance leader and hacker into the effort to rebuild her homeworld. She formally entered adulthood during this time through a lycanth rite of passage, symbolizing her acceptance not just as a warrior, but as kin to both her human and lycanth families.
Role in Jayne Best’s Disappearance and Rescue
During the events surrounding Jayne Best’s abduction, Ellie was stationed at the Thulian Enclave on Amargosa, where she played a pivotal support role in the rescue operation. When the original Goldeneye was destroyed shortly after the attack on the Enclave, Ellie was the one who located Suicide in the wreckage, pulled her free, and arranged for immediate medical treatment—actions that likely saved Suicide’s life. In the aftermath, Ellie took the lead in locating Carolyn Best, Jayne’s older daughter, eventually discovering her in a remote sapient lycanth settlement named Chapaan Village, so named in honor of Ellie’s resistance name. She negotiated Carolyn’s release and facilitated her safe transfer to Lattus Tishla, who had already agreed to take both Carolyn and the infant Naomi Best to Hanar for protection while Governor Best recovered.
Intervention aboard the Queen Maria Sophia
Ellie Nardino plays a key role in thwarting the attempt to abduct Edward Windsor, joining Suicide’s hastily assembled strike team alongside Eric Yuwono and Connor Duffy. Armed with mechs from her work on Amargosa, they board the seized Queen Maria Sophia during its occupation by unknown forces. Once aboard, Ellie disables critical ship systems, helping to blind the enemy and isolate CNC. During this effort, she is physically shocked by a feedback surge, but completes the task—proving instrumental in turning the tide and allowing Burke and Suicide to retake the ship. Though her role is brief, her precision and bravery are critical to the mission’s success.
Winter of 433-434
In 433 IE, Ellie takes a leave of absence from her work with mechs to spend the winter at JT Austin’s cabin in the Amargosan highlands. What begins as a friendly visit evolves into a quiet, intimate relationship, marking Ellie’s first romantic and sexual experience. The two reconnect not only as former resistance fighters but as kindred spirits shaped by trauma, loss, and survival. Their time together is equal parts healing and domestic, punctuated by moments of humor, vulnerability, and affection. While JT remains emotionally tethered to his past with Lizzy and Tishla, he grows closer to Ellie, who provides him stability and love. By the end of the season, she makes it clear she wants to stay with him—and to help bring Suicide home.
Deployment to Ares and the Mech Uprising
Following the retaking of the Queen Maria Sophia, Ellie joins the follow-up mission to Ares aboard the Iron Cloud, an experimental vessel built in partnership with Bonaparte and Dasarius. Upon arrival in orbit, Ellie detaches from the ship and leads a small team down to a remote archaeological dig site near Mt. Buxanshal, where suspicious Cubist activity has been reported.
While investigating the site—part of an ancient colony whose origins remain disputed—Kurz, a radical Cubist operative with a military background, activates dormant mechs buried beneath the surface. These mechs, repurposed for civilian or archeological use, had been secretly fitted with combat overrides. Caught in the initial surge of chaos, Ellie rallies the on-site personnel, organizes a retreat, and calls in an emergency uplink to the Iron Cloud. Her quick thinking prevents the activation from becoming a massacre and buys precious time for reinforcements to be mobilized from orbit.
Despite the sudden and violent escalation, Ellie once again proves herself indispensable—not just as a warrior, but as a commander and crisis stabilizer. Her presence on Ares marks yet another key moment in her post-occupation arc: transitioning from resistance hero to a planetary-scale security figure trusted to respond to emergent threats across the Compact.
Assault on Mt. Buxanshal
Following the mech uprising on Ares, Ellie joins a small, elite strike team tasked with neutralizing the radical Cubist retreat at Mt. Buxanshal. The operation is spearheaded by Mitsuko Yamato and includes Suicide, JT Austin, Davra Andraste, and Ellie herself. They are joined on the ground by two Aphroditean allies, Patchi and Keernith, while Connor Duffy and Eric Yuwono provide real-time technical data and targeting information from orbit aboard the Iron Cloud.
As the team ascends Mt. Buxanshal, navigating dense jungle and treacherous ruins, Ellie brings both combat awareness and systems expertise to the field. She helps coordinate sabotage efforts and assesses mech behavior, having previously worked on repurposing similar units for civilian use on Amargosa. However, not all challenges are tactical. When introduced to Patchi and Keernith’s deeply bonded combat dynamic—expressed through a ritualistic, highly intimate behavior—Ellie is visibly startled. Sensing her discomfort, Mitsuko discreetly pulls her aside, sparing Ellie further embarrassment and quietly reinforcing team cohesion.
Though the force is small, the strike is decisive. Kurz, a radical Cubist operative who had activated buried mechs earlier in the crisis, is killed during the assault after triggering the warhead’s detached detonator. Ellie assists in securing the site and extracting JT after he is shot in the leg, ensuring the retreat does not become a mass-casualty event.
Operation on Hosh
Ellie plays a central role in the covert Cybercommand mission to Hosh, operating under civilian cover alongside JT Austin and Connor Duffy, with Suicide serving as co-pilot aboard the Goldeneye. Posing as a tourist with JT in a high-stakes infiltration of the presidential casino, Ellie navigates the mission with her usual dry wit and precision. Her background in intelligence and resistance sabotage proves invaluable as she scans for access points, gathers intel, and stays one step ahead of surveillance.
Though not in a romantic relationship with JT during the mission, the flirty and playful dynamic between them resurfaces with ease. There’s no awkwardness—just the easy rhythm of two people who know exactly how far they can push, tease, and trust each other. For Ellie, the operation offers a return to form: deeply embedded, running misdirection, and knowing her teammates have her back. Her comfort working with JT, Duffy, and Suicide without needing to define any of it reflects how far she’s come from the uncertain girl she once was.
The mission culminates in a raid on Caro’s cliffside mansion, during which Ellie helps coordinate tactical support. Later, when JT retrieves Davra Andraste from orbit to rescue Eric Yuwono, Ellie helps prep the exfil aboard the Goldeneye. While she lets Davra and Eric take the lead, her behind-the-scenes coordination helps seal the operation’s success.
In Suicide Gambit, Ellie reappears as part of the final assault on Hanar, joining the other Children of Amargosa—minus Davra, who is away on assignment. She reunites with Connor Duffy to resume their usual explosive mischief, providing crucial sabotage expertise as the resistance moves to retake the Hanarian capital. Ellie brings not only her technical skills, but also her trademark sarcasm, helping JT stay grounded as he pushes himself through trauma and recovery. She also forms a quiet rapport with Tishla, offering unfiltered advice on the “care and feeding” of JT, as she jokingly puts it. When Tishla and JT’s marriage becomes an urgent political necessity, it’s Ellie whom Tishla asks to stand beside her during the impromptu Marilynist wedding—an unexpected but deeply meaningful gesture that speaks volumes about Ellie’s place in both their lives.
Finding Baker ibn-Aziz
In 437 IE, Ellie spotted a Falcon crashing into the mountLibertyain range from the forest trail where she and Red, her lycanth companion, had been hiking. The ship’s engine trailed a thick, black contrail—an ominous sign. Red’s keen ears had caught the mechanical whine before Ellie did, prompting her to look skyward through the canopy. The sight alarmed her enough to deviate from her walkabout. As they approached the foothills, she found a man stumbling naked through the underbrush, shivering and disoriented, clearly a stasis patient roused too soon. Blue at the extremities, bruised, and unable to remember his name, he accepted Ellie’s robe and water before revealing the only memory he retained: cold, confusion, and fear.
She didn’t recognize him at first, but his odd blend of Caliphite features and northern coloring nagged at her. A later scan at the village clinic revealed the truth: the man was Baker ibn-Aziz, former president of the Compact—long believed to be in stasis with a rare virus on The Caliphate. Suicide quickly arranged a covert extraction plan. She and Tishla would smuggle Baker off Amargosa entirely, slipping him to Aphrodite through untraceable means. Getting him to the Compact would have to be done off the books. Too much rested on keeping his presence a secret—at least until the truth of his condition could shake the very foundations of Compact politics.
Stranded on Liberty
In the dim, musty jail cell, Ellie and Tishla leaned close, murmuring to each other under the guise of an intimate moment. The lone deputy, barely paying attention, rolled his eyes and muttered something about “damn offworld perverts.” As their whispered plan took shape, Tishla—ever the strategist—offered to feign a species-specific illness. She could vomit on command, after all, and Liberty lacked any proper xeno-medical facilities. When she doubled over retching, the flustered deputy panicked and took her to the only “expert” in town: a local vet with a disturbing enthusiasm for dissecting unfamiliar species. With Tishla gone, Ellie worked the primitive lock with a smuggled pin. In the adjacent cell, a reptilian figure stirred.
Kaalak, a former prisoner and exile, offered Ellie a deal—he would help them escape and find Baker, but only if they freed him. Ellie unlocked his cell, and together, they ambushed the deputy during Tishla’s “treatment,” dragging her out before the vet could start asking too many anatomical questions. Once safe in the scrublands beyond the town, Kaalak named his price: help him liberate the mine. He led them to a rocky ridge overlooking the operation, where forced laborers—his family among them—were being worked to exhaustion under armed guard.
Failed Liberation of the Mine
The liberation of the mine unraveled in a brutal, heartbreaking collapse. After rallying the skeptical resistance with their credentials—Ellie as the famed Ghost of the Amundsens and Tishla as the liberator of Hanar—they had managed to organize a bold assault. Improvised detonators and salvaged tech from the Angry Crow gave them just enough edge to storm the compound, disable the slave collars, and momentarily drive Lamar’s thugs into retreat. Kaalak fought fiercely alongside them, leading the charge to free his family.
But their victory was short-lived. Traitors within the mine betrayed their positions, and Lamar returned with jamming tech that rendered their explosives inert. As the defenders scrambled, Lamar’s forces surged back in with ruthless efficiency. In the chaos, Kaalak was cut down—gunned down as he shielded a group of fleeing miners, his reptilian body riddled with plasma. Ellie barely had time to register the loss before she was overrun. Tishla was ripped from her side, bound and gagged, destined for Jez Salamacis, who had placed a bounty on her. Ellie was thrown into restraints and dragged back toward town. The mine was lost. Kaalak was dead. And the nightmare was far from over.
Torture, Rescue, and Saving Tishla
Ellie’s capture turned into a calculated torment. Stripped of most of her clothes and shackled in a freezing room, she endured constant blasts of cold water and pounding, dissonant music meant to break her spirit. But she had survived the occupation of Amargosa, and Lamar’s crude tactics fell far short of what she’d already faced. Still, he persisted—alternating between sadistic threats and unnerving admiration, fixated on her defiance. His questions were often incoherent, more about control than interrogation, and laced with bitter obsession. Just when it seemed he might escalate further, a new figure entered: a deputy Ellie didn’t recognize—strange, quiet, and focused.
That “deputy” turned out to be a changed Baker ibn-Aziz. No longer the dazed, half-frozen man she’d found in the woods, he was alert, assertive, and fully aware of who he was. He quickly subdued the guards and freed Ellie, helping her flee the town for a second time. They rejoined the remnants of the resistance—bitter, broken, and doubting their cause after Kaalak’s death and the mine’s recapture. Yet hope flickered when an older woman recognized Baker. She had once served in his personal security detail and had gone underground after his supposed death. Her reappearance reinvigorated the group. Just as they began plotting a counterstrike, a sleek new Falcon roared in low over the hills, kicking up dust and scattering leaves. Ellie didn’t need to see its hull markings. She knew that sound. The Goldeneye had come.
The Goldeneye touched down in a storm of wind and purpose, bringing with it salvation in the form of old friends and unexpected allies. Suicide led the charge, all business and fury, with JT at her side. And behind them came Mitsuko Yamato—imperious, composed, and flanked by a full team of Household Guards clad in formal, gleaming combat attire. With renewed strength and a plan forming fast, they stormed back into Liberty to confront the one responsible for so much of the chaos: Jez Salamacis.
They found her waiting, smug and terrifying, standing beside a barely conscious Tishla, who swayed on her feet from whatever Jez had pumped into her veins. Jez was gloating, describing in lurid detail what awaited Tishla as a “gift” for her god-figure, Marcus Leitman. But Baker, now fully himself, stepped forward, calm and resolute. “You don’t want her,” he said. “You want me.” Jez hesitated—long enough for the truth of it to register. That was the prize.
She released Tishla, but in the same breath, pulled a concealed pistol and fired.
JT moved without thinking. He hurled himself between Jez and Baker, the shot slamming into his chest. He went down hard, and time seemed to freeze. Before anyone else could react, Baker revealed his true plan: a Gelt stun grenade, silently palmed, now tossed at their feet. In a flash of white light and electric crackle, Jez, her guards, and even Mitsuko’s team crumpled to the ground. Baker remained standing, face grim. Whatever came next was on his terms.
“Liberation” of Liberty and Flight to Thulian Clinic on Aphrodite
As the Goldeneye fled Liberty’s upper atmosphere, the Hadrian dropped from orbit like a judgment. A Compact dreadnought, it arrived in perfect coordination with the Foundation cruiser Arcanum. Between them, they unleashed a devastating show of force: drop troops, drone swarms, and sustained orbital strikes that overwhelmed Liberty’s crude defenses and scattered Lamar’s remaining forces. The town was pacified within the hour—but the cost had already been paid. JT lay unconscious aboard the Goldeneye, the wound in his chest pulsing with something far worse than a bullet. Jez Salamacis had infected him with the same engineered bio-toxin that had nearly killed Baker ibn-Aziz years before.
Aboard the Hadrian, the survivors reunited with Davra Andraste and Eric Yuwono, now embedded as Cybercommand’s operative. Tishla, frantic but focused, pleaded with Davra and the Arcanum’s captain to divert to Aphrodite. Only the Thulian Clinic there, with its controversial rejuvenation process, could save JT. Davra agreed without hesitation. But escape would not be simple. Admiral Burke, commanding the Hadrian, and Captain Chen of the Arcanum were forced to engage Jez’s Juno vessel in a fierce running battle. It bought the team just enough time to break orbit and make for Aphrodite.
Even there, danger awaited. President Leitman had preemptively ordered the Compact Navy and Border Guard to intercept the Hadrian and deny entry to the clinic. But Admiral Burke confronted them directly, voice cutting across open channels. Faced with a legendary admiral and a medical emergency backed by diplomatic authority, the blockade broke.
Inside the Clinic, preparations began for JT’s treatment. Ellie had resolved to undergo the same Thulian process, to convince him to fight through the agony. But before she could speak to him—or even find Duffy, who had arrived to be with her—she was abducted by Grelka, a rogue Cybercommand agent twisted by fanaticism. Taken deep into Aphrodite’s jungle, Ellie was stripped, bound, and subjected to brutal interrogation as Grelka demanded answers about Baker’s plans and Cybercommand’s defection. But Ellie held firm, stalling long enough for Eric to track her signal. By the time he reached her, she had led Grelka far from help—but was still enduring the torture, bruised and bloodied, refusing to break.
Rejuvenation
With Duffy at her side, Ellie finally committed to the agonizing process of Thulian rejuvenation. She had promised JT he wouldn’t face it alone—that if he went under, so would she. The procedure rewrote her body on a cellular level, undoing the damage from her time in the Resistance, the jungle, the torture. But it came at a cost: fever dreams, relentless hunger, bone-deep thirst, and a pain that pulsed through every nerve like lightning. Duffy stayed close, guiding her through it, and when she finally stabilized, she found herself reborn—stronger, faster, but with scars that would never fully fade.
Not long after regaining her footing, Ellie was summoned to a closed meeting in the secure wing of the Aphrodite Clinic. There, she found Eric Yuwono already waiting, seated across from Senior Cybercommand operative Weiss, and Baker ibn-Aziz—no longer a ghost, but a man fully restored, body and mind. What startled her most was the final participant: Secretary-General Barratus, live and in person, standing behind the others with eyes heavy from knowing too much.
Barratus didn’t waste time. “Tell me everything about Liberty,” she said. “Leave nothing out.”
Ellie hesitated, the weight of the moment sinking in. Eric gave her a warning look and leaned in.
“You understand what they’re asking,” he said softly. “They’re asking you to start a civil war.”
After Rejuvenation
By the events of Jump, Ellie Nardino has begun formal pilot training, a path she embarks on following the events of Breaking Liberty. No longer just a guerrilla fighter or scout, she now flies alongside JT Austin and Suicide, gaining experience as their copilot aboard the Goldeneye. Her growing competence in the cockpit reflects a new phase in her development—from resistance survivor to professional operator in the postwar Compact.
Ellie travels with JT, Tishla, and Suicide to Armaneya to support the mission to free Pelgar Shrian and secure her quantum entanglement device. Though she plays a quieter role in the operation itself, her presence solidifies her evolving place within the inner circle of the Children of Amargosa and their extended, unconventional family.
Over time, Ellie has become a permanent fixture in JT and Tishla’s household. While never formally labeled, she has been functionally adopted into the family, regarded by both parents as more than a friend or comrade. Her bond with their daughter Athena further cements this role, and even Tishla, reserved in such matters, treats her as a second mother in all but name.
Relationships:
- JT Austin:
Ellie’s connection with JT Austin remains foundational to both characters. Their shared survival during the Gelt occupation forged a deep, sibling-like bond rooted in trust, trauma, and irreverent gallows humor. While others occasionally teased them about romantic tension—prompting a mutual and emphatic “Ew” in their younger years—their relationship evolves in the post-liberation era.
In 433 IE, Ellie retreats to JT’s cabin for the winter, where their long-standing friendship deepens into a romantic and sexual relationship. What begins as shared solace becomes a season-long partnership marked by quiet intimacy, domestic rituals, and mutual healing. Though JT remains emotionally tethered to his past with Lizzy and Tishla, Ellie offers stability, humor, and affection. By season’s end, she makes it clear she wants to stay in his life—and help bring Suicide home.
During the mission to Aphrodite, that promise becomes action. When Suicide disappears during a mission to Belsham and Aphrodite, it’s Ellie who tracks down JT and pulls him into the rescue without ceremony. He jumps into her runabout and immediately starts listing weapons without even asking where they’re going. Ellie simply smiles and says, “That’s the man I fell in love with for a season.” The line—wry, affectionate, and reflective—captures both the depth and the transient nature of their bond. They may not define their relationship publicly, and Ellie certainly doesn’t discuss it with the other Children of Amargosa (Suicide being the likely exception), but it remains an important part of her emotional world.
On Hosh, their bond hits a comfortable cruising altitude—flirtatious, collaborative, and effortlessly in sync. Posing as tourists during the casino infiltration, Ellie and JT fall into a familiar rhythm that feels as natural as it is unrehearsed. While no lines are crossed, the emotional closeness is obvious; they joke, tease, and move through high-stakes espionage with the shorthand of people who know each other completely. The possibility of rekindling their romance lingers—acknowledged but not urgent. For Ellie, the strength of their relationship lies not in labels or timing, but in the fact that, mission after mission, JT always shows up—and she always has his six.
In Suicide Gambit, Ellie’s role in JT’s life subtly but profoundly shifts. Unknown to him, she was returning from Lycanthia intending to accept his old marriage proposal—finally ready to explore a future with him. But before she could arrive, Tishla’s crisis erupted, and Ellie, without hesitation, diverted to help. She joins the strike team tasked with retaking Hanar’s parliament, keeping JT steady through the chaos with her trademark sarcasm and uncanny ability to read what he needs in a moment. When JT and Tishla’s marriage becomes a sudden political necessity, Ellie asks him privately if he’s okay with her standing nude at the ceremony. He is—and she does, standing beside Tishla as maid of honor with neither hesitation nor regret. In doing so, she quietly surrenders the future she might have claimed with him. Their bond evolves into something even deeper than romance: an unshakeable, indefinable closeness built on trust, sacrifice, and quiet devotion. Ellie becomes not just JT’s former lover or closest friend—she becomes the person who will always choose him, even when no one realizes it.
In the year since Suicide Gambit, Ellie and JT had quietly settled into a new rhythm—one not defined by romance alone, but by enduring presence and shared purpose. Though Ellie had privately come to accept his proposal, life had pulled them both into different currents. JT had married Tishla, forming not just a political alliance but a family, with Athena at its center. Yet Ellie was never cast aside. Instead, she became an undefined but vital part of that family—JT’s closest companion, Athena’s “wicked stepmother” by affectionate joke, and Tishla’s quiet confidante. The boundaries blurred, but never broke. Whatever label they gave it—or didn’t—the bond between Ellie and JT had only deepened, marked by absolute trust, long silences filled with meaning, and a sense that wherever one went, the other would follow.
When he was shot on Liberty and placed in a medically induced coma, Ellie came to him and finally spoke the truth she’d been carrying for too long. She confessed she would have married him, that her feelings had never changed, but that she was genuinely happy he and Tishla had finally come together. It wasn’t regret—it was release. She just needed him to know. Later, when JT refused Thulian rejuvenation out of stubborn pride and fear of what it would cost him, it was Ellie who shamed him into it. Standing beside Duffy—the only other holdout—she declared she would undergo the process herself. “You’re not doing this alone,” she said, daring him to watch her suffer the cure before backing down. As always, he followed.
Ellie and JT share one of the deepest and most complex relationships among the Children of Amargosa. What began as a tenuous alliance during the Occupation evolved into a close and enduring partnership marked by trust, fierce loyalty, and a bond neither has ever needed to define out loud.
By the time of Jump, Ellie has become JT’s copilot in both a literal and emotional sense. He is one of the first to encourage her training as a pilot, and the two now fly together regularly aboard the Goldeneye. While JT still plays the role of protector and mentor at times, Ellie has matured into a reliable equal—someone he depends on not just for skills, but for clarity and emotional grounding.
Their relationship is also deeply familial. Though never romantic, Ellie has been folded into JT and Tishla’s household as something between sister, best friend, and co-parent. JT refers to her as “undefined,” a description he fiercely defends because it allows Ellie to belong without labels or limitations. Athena calls her “stepmother”—a term Ellie jokingly amends to “wicked stepmother,” a title JT fully endorses.
In crisis or in quiet moments, Ellie is often the first person JT turns to. Their bond reflects a rare mix of battlefield camaraderie, shared trauma, and chosen family—rooted in the past but growing stronger with every chapter of their lives.
- Connor Duffy:
Ellie and Connor Duffy share a bond forged in sabotage, sweat, and a shared engineering mindset. Both began as tactical thinkers and natural hackers during the Amargosa resistance, but while their lives remained intertwined, their careers slowly pulled them in different directions. By the events of Royal Orders, they are often separated by assignments—Duffy in orbit or deep in systems work, Ellie increasingly commanding ground ops and leading resistance-style missions under Compact banners.
Their banter remains sharp and constant, a signature feature of their friendship. Ellie is the more cynical of the two, Duffy the more idealistic—though no less capable of gallows humor. Their conversations, whether spoken over secure comms or shouted across a battlefield, are a mix of affectionate insults and functional coordination. Neither needs to explain much; they know how the other thinks.
The Hosh operation reaffirms that dynamic. While JT handles the floor-level infiltration, Ellie and Duffy serve as his embedded support—posing as eccentric tourists while hacking surveillance networks and scrambling identification scans. Duffy helps plan the access routes into the casino’s high-security VIP suites, while Ellie handles tactical coordination and crowd diversion. They move like old pros—picking up each other’s slack, covering glitches, and needling each other with snark even under threat of arrest. Their rhythms are so natural that outsiders often assume they’re long-time partners—something both of them find hilarious.
But even close bonds can miss things. By the time Royal Orders unfolds, Ellie has not told Duffy about her winter-long relationship with JT Austin. She’s not hiding it so much as compartmentalizing it—protective of what it meant, uncertain of how to explain it, and unready to make it part of the broader group dynamic. When someone like Davra Andraste lets slip a half-comment that implies something deeper happened between Ellie and JT, Duffy is left blinking in confusion. JT, ever the showman, plays dumb with a smirk, and Ellie offers no clarification.
That dynamic continues on Hosh, where Duffy watches JT and Ellie fall back into a flirtatious rhythm and assumes, as always, that it’s just how they operate. Unaware of the intimacy they once shared, he focuses on the mission, backing Ellie with unwavering support—even as he occasionally misreads the subtext around him. The misunderstanding lingers into later operations, never quite resolved, especially as Duffy—unlike Davra, Mitsuko, or Suicide—hasn’t been read into the emotional subplots unfolding beneath the main campaigns. It’s not until Suicide Gambit, likely offscreen, when JT’s marriage to Tishla forces everyone to finally compare notes. Until then, Duffy continues to back Ellie unconditionally, even when he doesn’t entirely understand her decisions. That, more than anything, defines their relationship: unwavering trust, regardless of the variables.
In Suicide Gambit, Ellie and Connor Duffy fall back into their old rhythm with ease—teaming up once more to blow things up, disrupt enemy positions, and cause general chaos, just like they did as teenagers during the Lansdorp resistance. There’s no need to reestablish trust; it’s simply there, unspoken and ironclad. Notably, Duffy makes no awkward jokes or curious slips about her past with JT, suggesting he either already knows the full story or simply no longer needs to ask. The result is a mature, steady partnership built on shared experience and instinctive coordination.
When Ellie committed to Thulian rejuvenation, it wasn’t just to convince JT to accept the treatment—it was also to honor a quiet promise she’d once made to Duffy, her childhood friend and constant companion through war and recovery. Tishla, with surprising grace, had offered to “look the other way” if JT needed Ellie’s help to manage the cravings and side effects of the treatment. But Ellie chose another path. She invoked what she and Duffy once half-jokingly called their “virgin suicide pact”—a pledge to always face the worst together. To everyone’s surprise but hers, Duffy had never undergone rejuvenation and, despite his reputation, had never actually been intimate with anyone. For Ellie, the procedure was a painful necessity. For Duffy, it would be something more. And though he hesitated, she hoped watching her endure it would one day bring him around.
When it was over, Ellie made sure to remind him: nothing had changed. “We’ll always be friends,” she said. “I’ve still got your back.” And she meant it, fiercely. That bond, forged in childhood and tempered in war, was lifelong. What she didn’t say—what she barely admitted even to herself—was that if Duffy never found someone, if he remained adrift, she would offer herself, not out of romance but out of loyalty. She couldn’t imagine trusting anyone else with his well-being. But she never told him. Some things didn’t need to be said to be real.
By the time of Jump, their dynamic has mellowed into affectionate exasperation. Ellie joins the mission to Armaneya largely to support Duffy in his attempt to free Pelgar Shrian, fully aware he’s out of his depth but trusting his instincts. She acts as both backup and emotional ballast, watching his back while offering plenty of sarcasm along the way.
At Duffy and Shrian’s wedding aboard the Endeavour, Ellie stands proudly as his “Best Wolf”—a nod to her lycanth nickname and a subversion of the traditional best man role. The title, coined half as a joke and half in honor, reflects their unique connection: not quite family, not romantic, but something closer than either term implies.
Their bond remains one of the emotional through-lines of the post-Occupation era—battle-tested, deeply rooted, and full of biting wit.
- Suicide:
Ellie and Suicide share a low-key, deeply respectful bond forged in fire and tempered by restraint. Both are mission-driven, emotionally guarded, and capable of navigating crisis without ego. From the earliest days of the Gelt occupation, Suicide recognizes Ellie’s tactical instincts and rare emotional discipline—qualities she sees in few, especially among the next generation. While Suicide mentors several Children of Amargosa over time, her dynamic with Ellie is unique: less maternal, more like recognizing a mirror. The two often seem cut from the same cloth—deadpan, deliberate, and always scanning for exits.
Despite this, Suicide doesn’t view Ellie as her natural successor—that role, she admits, belongs to Mitsuko Yamato, who is older, steadier, and more politically grounded. Mitsuko is someone who can lead from the front and hold a government together afterward. Ellie, in contrast, is a field operator to the core—dangerous not because she seeks power, but because she knows when not to use it. Their bond is rooted in this understanding.
In one particularly candid moment, Suicide half-jokes that her brief affair with JT Austin was the closest she’ll ever come to “sleeping with herself,” noting that Ellie and JT are temperamentally so alike it’s almost unnerving. Ellie, unfazed, responds with the dry wit only she can deliver—turning the moment into shared gallows humor rather than awkward introspection.
As Ellie transitions into her postwar role as a mech specialist stationed in Deming—where she works closely with sapient lycanths—she and Suicide remain bonded by mutual recognition rather than proximity. Their interactions are few but profound. In 434 IE, as Ellie prepares for what she half-expects to be a marriage proposal from JT Austin during a planned three-week snowed-in stay at Walden, she visits Suicide at her isolated home near the old Amargosan mines. Rather than seek advice, Ellie comes to listen—to hear Suicide’s side of the quiet, painful rift with JT.
When Suicide breaks down in tears while explaining the estrangement, Ellie gently takes the moment in stride. “I’m the Wolf Girl,” she says softly. “I’ve got big enough shoulders.” She lets Suicide cry herself out in private, offering assurance that, whether he says so or not, JT misses her. That act of quiet emotional support reaffirms their unique bond—not quite mother-daughter, not quite peers, but something else: a partnership built on endurance, silence, and trust.
Their connection culminates in Royal Orders, when Suicide disappears on a mission to Aphrodite. Though the rescue is orchestrated by King Edward Windsor and led tactically by Mitsuko, it is Ellie who brings JT into the fold. Only she can reach him on that level—quietly handing him a weapons list and watching him fall into mission mode without needing to ask a single question. Whatever distance ever grew between them, Suicide remains one of the few people Ellie will fight for without hesitation—and the one person besides JT who truly understands what it means to carry trauma without breaking.
On Hosh, they serve again as civilian contractors in Eric Yuwono’s Cybercommand mission. Suicide pilots the Goldeneye, while Ellie operates on the ground with JT and Duffy. Their communication is minimal but fluent, anticipating each other’s moves without question. During the raid on Caro’s compound, their mutual trust shines: Suicide manages exfil and overwatch, Ellie executes the breach. They say little, yet understand everything. It’s not succession or sentiment that binds them—it’s the knowledge that they are two of the only people who still know what war costs.
On Liberty, it was Suicide who led the charge to get Ellie and Tishla back. From the moment the Goldeneye touched down, Ellie reconnected with the old rhythm between them—plugging seamlessly into Suicide’s plan to spring Tishla from Jez Salamacis’s ship. Later, as Jez’s mechs attacked the Hadrian, Suicide recognized the creeping signs of Ellie’s childhood fears: claustrophobia, fear of vacuum, that old resistance to being sealed in a suit and tossed into space. Calm but firm, Suicide pushed her past it. “It’s a ship, not a coffin,” she said. “We need you out there.” And so Ellie joined her in EVA combat, helping to hold off the mechs long enough for the Hadrian to survive the assault.
But it was in the jungle, during her capture and torture by Grelka, that Ellie truly became her mentor’s daughter. Bound, isolated, brutalized—first by Lamar, then by the rogue Cybercommand agent—Ellie drew on more than just stubbornness. She became cold. Still. Detached. She became what Suicide had taught her to be. Calm in the face of pain, unflinching in the face of death. Grelka tried to break her with mind games and cruelty; Lamar had tried to own her with threats and twisted lust. Neither succeeded. Because Ellie was no longer just a survivor. She had become Suicide’s legacy—and she made damn sure her tormentors knew it.
By the time of Jump, Suicide is actively training Ellie as a pilot alongside JT Austin, giving her copilot time aboard the Goldeneye and pushing her toward professional confidence. Despite Suicide’s famously harsh delivery and tendency to provoke, Ellie responds with a blend of eye-rolls, backtalk, and absolute trust—hallmarks of their unique rapport.
- Davra Andraste:
Ellie’s relationship with Davra begins on unstable ground. In The Children of Amargosa, the two meet in the aftermath of the Gelt invasion, thrown together on a commandeered maglev. When Ellie suffers a panic attack inside the tunnel—triggered by her childhood claustrophobia—it unsettles Davra, who is still processing the sudden loss of her father. Minutes later, Ellie learns her own father is among the dead, and her breakdown threatens Davra’s already strained emotional balance. For a time, they stand on opposite sides of a shared trauma, unsure how to support each other.
But the world outside doesn’t give them long to grieve. As they travel in search of other resistance fighters, they encounter JT Austin, who has just suffered his own loss. His pain becomes an unexpected emotional anchor for both girls—redirecting their sorrow, pulling them into motion, and forging a strange, unspoken alliance among the three. From that point forward, Ellie and Davra’s bond is shaped by a combination of emotional suppression, battlefield necessity, and slowly earned mutual respect.
In the years that follow, especially by Royal Orders, their relationship matures into something quieter and more stable. Though their paths often diverge—Davra remaining within the Navy while Ellie works with mechs and sapient lycanths on Amargosa—they remain in sync when it counts. During the mission to rescue Suicide and contain the Cubist threat on Aphrodite, Davra serves as Ellie’s ground support. When Davra makes a comment that accidentally hints at Ellie’s winter romance with JT, she’s confused by Duffy’s blank reaction and JT’s smug silence. It’s a classic moment of Davra speaking plainly and Ellie refusing to clarify—an interaction that exemplifies their current rhythm: pragmatic, loyal, and still laced with the quiet awkwardness of two women who’ve seen each other at both their most vulnerable and most guarded.
That rhythm holds during the Hosh operation. Though Ellie and Davra don’t operate directly together for most of the mission, it’s Ellie who coordinates Davra’s deployment to assist in Eric Yuwono’s rescue. She trusts Davra implicitly to handle the job—and never questions JT’s decision to give her space for the exfil. Later, aboard the Goldeneye, their nods and words are brief but weighted. No updates are needed. They already know what the other would say.
While not as emotionally demonstrative as Ellie’s bond with Suicide or as historically deep as her connection to JT, her friendship with Davra remains grounded in shared experience. They’ve survived grief together, fought shoulder to shoulder, and weathered the postwar years without pretense. Neither asks more than the other is willing to give—and that, in Ellie’s world, is the rarest kind of trust.
In Breaking Liberty, Davra Andraste returns as both an anchor and a mirror for Ellie Nardino. Their reunion aboard the Hadrian carries a quiet intensity—Ellie, freshly scarred from captivity and torture, immediately recognizes that Davra has changed. When Jez’s mechs begin their assault on the ship, it’s Davra who takes command of the counteroffensive without hesitation, directing troops and holding the line with the kind of steely calm that once defined their mentor. For Ellie, it’s a jarring role reversal: now she is the one watching a friend become Suicide. Davra doesn’t flinch, doesn’t second-guess—she simply does what needs to be done, regardless of risk. The transformation is sobering but reassuring. While their paths have diverged, Davra remains one of the few people Ellie still trusts implicitly, and in quieter moments during recovery, their bond reaffirms itself—not through words, but through action, shared purpose, and the knowledge that both have survived long enough to become exactly what Suicide trained them to be.
- Mitsuko Yamato:
Ellie first meets Mitsuko Yamato during the climax of the Liberation of Amargosa. After JT’s Falcon crashes amid the detonation of a clean fusion device in Riverside, it is Ellie—emerging like a specter from the ruins—who rescues JT, Duffy, and Mitsuko. The men, barely alive and half-convinced they’re hallucinating, stare at her in stunned silence. Mitsuko, however, processes the moment with steely clarity. Drawing on intelligence reports referencing a “Ghost of the Amundsens,” she simply says, “You’re her.”
That moment defines the tone of their relationship: blunt recognition, mutual competence, and a shared comfort with trauma. Though their assignments often overlap in the years that follow, most of their early interaction is professional—missions, debriefings, and coordinated resistance work. It isn’t until Royal Orders that their dynamic fully takes shape.
Brought to the Helios System by King Edward, Ellie wastes no time getting to work. While others navigate diplomatic nuance, Ellie dives directly into the field, deploying to Ares and later joining Mitsuko’s assault team for the mission up Mt. Buxanshal. Their connection grows through action, not conversation—two professionals in sync, each trusting the other to lead where needed.
Throughout the operation, Mitsuko often acts as a protective buffer, aware of Ellie’s emotional history and intuitive about when to intervene—such as when Ellie is caught off guard by Patchi and Keernith’s unusually intimate bonding ritual. Mitsuko doesn’t mock or explain, just redirects, preserving Ellie’s comfort and focus without fanfare.
That dynamic strengthens further during the mission to Hosh. With Mitsuko leading orbital overwatch and high-level tactical planning, Ellie works in the field alongside JT and Duffy. The two women coordinate seamlessly, rarely needing to speak aloud. When the time comes to breach the president’s suite and later storm Caro’s compound, Mitsuko’s precision air cover and real-time adjustments ensure the ground team can move without hesitation. Behind the calm professionalism is an unshakable mutual trust—Ellie knows Mitsuko will never miss a detail, and Mitsuko knows Ellie will never flinch.
While they are not close in the personal sense that defines Ellie’s bonds with Suicide or JT, Ellie respects Mitsuko as a battlefield commander and political operator who never forgets the cost of war. Mitsuko, in turn, recognizes Ellie not just as “the Ghost” but as one of the few people who carries the legacy of Amargosa with the weight and clarity it deserves.
In Breaking Liberty, Mitsuko Yamato arrives aboard the Goldeneye alongside Suicide and JT, leading a detachment of her Household Guard in the mission to extract Ellie and Tishla from Liberty. Though her initial role is support, Mitsuko’s presence signals just how seriously the situation is being taken—not just a rescue, but a message. During the EVA battle outside the Hadrian, she stations herself at the airlock, maintaining overwatch and ensuring a secure re-entry point for Suicide and Ellie. When Davra takes command of the interior counteroffensive against Jez’s mechs, Mitsuko seamlessly transitions from tactical reserve to full combatant, coordinating with both Compact and Foundation personnel with the poise of a political heir and the efficiency of a soldier. Her dynamic with Ellie, in particular, deepens—what began as mutual respect hardened by survival grows into a subtle but fierce solidarity. Mitsuko doesn’t try to outshine the other Children of Amargosa; instead, she slots into their rhythm as if she’s always been there, proving once again that royalty or not, she knows how to fight like one of them.
In Jump, their brief reunion during the mission to Armaneya offers a moment of levity and grounding. Both women pose as themselves during the rigged reaper game, fully aware of the theatricality involved. While their roles are strategic, there’s a sly enjoyment in the subversion. At some point during the mission, the two steal time for what Ellie later refers to as “girl time with a sword fighter”—a mix of tactical sparring, dark gossip, and biting humor that neither of them would admit was emotionally important, but absolutely was.
Mitsuko remains one of the few people who can disarm Ellie without brute force—using wit, charm, or a carefully timed insult. Ellie, in turn, brings out Mitsuko’s less polished, more human side. Their bond may be sharp-tongued and sparring-heavy, but it’s grounded in mutual admiration and the kind of sisterhood that comes with shared scars.
- Sored: A captured Gelt settler who becomes Ellie’s translator, confidant, and one of her earliest allies in the Northern Resistance. Their bond is built on mutual respect and shared survival under lycanth captivity. As Ellie grows into her role as Chapaan, Sored becomes both her advisor and a cultural bridge between species, steadfastly supporting her even when others question her youth or authority.
- Spikey:
Ellie Nardino and Spikey, a young sapient lycanth from Lycanthia, developed a close, almost sibling-like bond after the liberation of Amargosa. Originally one of the first lycanths to join her Northern Resistance during the occupation, Spikey adapted quickly to life among humans, working as a farmhand and tractor wrangler at Lizzy’s Ranch. Despite his often foul-mouthed and mischievous nature, Spikey supported Ellie during her post-liberation struggles, accompanying her to Deming to help reclaim and repurpose Gelt mechs for civilian rebuilding. Ellie trusted him implicitly, often relying on his strength and loyalty as she rebuilt her life. In turn, Spikey saw Ellie not only as a leader but as part of his chosen pack, sharing a bond that blended friendship, loyalty, and a deep mutual respect between species. - Red:
During the occupation of Amargosa, Ellie Nardino forged a deep and complicated bond with Red, an elder sapient lycanth from Lycanthia. Red initially recognized Ellie’s leadership potential and helped integrate her into his pack, making her an honorary pack leader during the resistance. After the liberation, Red urged Ellie to stay among the lycanths, seeing her as one of them despite her human origins. He became both a mentor and a father figure, guiding her through her struggles with identity and belonging. Although Ellie ultimately chose to return to human society, she honored Red and his people by undergoing a lycanth rite of passage for her sixteenth birthday, symbolically maintaining her place in both the human and lycanth worlds. Red’s unconditional acceptance and blunt wisdom left a lasting imprint on Ellie’s life, shaping how she viewed leadership, loyalty, and her place in a changing world. Red returns in Suicide Gambit accompanied by a full pack of sapient lycanths, all of whom join the assault on Hanar’s parliament. When a human insurgent threatens Tishla, JT, and Suicide during the final breach, Ellie gives the signal—and Red, along with his companions, responds with brutal efficiency. The offending insurgent is dispatched and summarily consumed in what is yet another surreal but legally valid Section 11 execution. Ellie, unshaken, simply scratches Red behind the ears and says, “Good boy,” as if watching a lycanth pack eat a person is just another Tuesday. Their bond remains fierce, loyal, and carried out in a language of violence, trust, and dry humor. - Tishla:
Though from vastly different backgrounds—Ellie a human guerrilla fighter, Tishla a former Gelt concubine turned planetary leader—the two women share a quiet mutual respect rooted in shared loss, resilience, and love for JT Austin. Rather than being rivals, they operate in parallel—each deeply connected to JT in different, non-overlapping ways. Tishla recognizes Ellie’s role in JT’s healing, and Ellie understands the magnitude of what Tishla represents in JT’s past and future.Their bond begins before they even meet, during JT and Tishla’s time together on Hanar. On the morning after they finally become lovers, Tishla looks at JT and says, half-wistful, half-teasing, “I can’t wait to see who you break my heart with.” In retrospect, the line lands with bittersweet precision—because when the dust does settle, that person seems to be Ellie. Rather than react with jealousy, Tishla prepares herself to embrace the heartbreak she foresaw, knowing JT’s love is too large, too fractured, to belong to just one person.
During the winter of 433–434 IE, as Ellie stays at JT’s cabin, Tishla—who visits occasionally—subtly steps aside. Aware that JT is still drifting emotionally, she offers Ellie space not as a concession, but as a sign of trust. Her presence is quiet but felt, and her approval unspoken but clear. Ellie, in turn, never overreaches. She sees herself as a chapter in JT’s ongoing journey—not its conclusion. If JT were ever to propose, Ellie has promised herself she would ask Tishla’s permission to marry him—not out of deference to Gelt culture, but out of respect for the woman who has already walked through fire with him.
That promise becomes reality when JT finally does propose. Ellie, steady-eyed and dry as ever, responds with a short list of conditions: “You need to make peace with Suicide. And you need Tishla’s blessing.” Then she adds, softly but firmly, “Just don’t break my Gelt friend’s heart.”
By the time of Royal Orders and the Hosh operation, their paths don’t cross directly, but the foundation of solidarity between them holds firm. Tishla’s absence is not distance—it’s trust. She knows Ellie will watch over JT. Ellie knows that when the war ends, it is Tishla who will help him build what comes after. Their relationship isn’t one of tension or ambiguity—it is one of rare, mutual grace.
In Suicide Gambit, Ellie’s relationship with Tishla deepens in unexpected ways. Though Ellie had once imagined a possible future with JT, she quietly sets that aside when it becomes clear that he and Tishla belong together. There’s a pang of disappointment—Ellie is, after all, still human—but no bitterness. In fact, she begins to understand just how deep their connection runs. It was Ellie, after all, who once warned JT, “Don’t break my Gelt friend’s heart unless you mean it.” Now, watching them fight their way back to each other amid the chaos of Hanar’s collapse, she becomes not just an observer but a quiet ally. When Tishla asks Ellie to stand beside her at the impromptu wedding, Ellie agrees without hesitation—nude, ceremonial, and entirely unselfconscious. By the end, there’s a quiet affection between the two women, not quite friendship, but something forged from mutual care, shared history, and a common devotion to the same maddening man.
By the time of Breaking Liberty, a year after her marriage to JT, Tishla and Ellie have grown surprisingly close—comfortable, even affectionate. Though Ellie still harbors unspoken feelings for JT, the bond she and Tishla share complicates the old triangle in unexpected ways. Their shared time in captivity forces them to rely on one another, and beneath the surface tension, both women come to recognize a mutual attraction—subtle, never acted upon, but undeniable. It’s rooted not just in their shared love for JT, but in a deeper mutual respect and quiet understanding. During a lull in the mine siege, Tishla falls asleep with her head on Ellie’s shoulder, prompting Ellie to kiss her brow and whisper, “Silly girl.”
In the time that follows, Ellie begins training as a pilot under JT and Suicide, cementing her place in the family not only as copilot, but as a maternal presence to Athena. Though she never tries to replace Tishla, Ellie becomes a second mother figure—welcome, trusted, and deeply loved. Like Suicide is to JT, Ellie is part of Athena’s foundation, and both parents treat her as such without hesitation. When Ellie finally confesses to a comatose JT that she never stopped loving him—while affirming her happiness for him and Tishla—it sparks a heart-to-heart between the two women. Ellie admits to flashes of jealousy but insists she could never truly be angry. Both acknowledge, with quiet honesty, that they still stand in Lizzy’s shadow—and neither minds. “We both admire the hell out of that woman,” Ellie once told JT, a sentiment Tishla echoes in her own way. It’s Tishla who finally names the truth: Ellie isn’t a rival—she’s family.
Notable Traits and Moments:
- Claustrophobic: Her childhood claustrophobia resurfaces at key moments, including during their maglev descent into the Edoras Transit Center. This vanishes during her time in the Northern Wastes.
- Technically Skilled: As an engineer, Ellie often cobbles together life-saving tech from scrap, and is particularly skilled with transportation systems and communications gear.
- Strategic Genius: Ellie’s ability to form alliances—between humans, Gelt, and sapient lycanths—makes her one of the key architects of the planet’s liberation.
- Ghost Story: After her return from the north, some soldiers and civilians genuinely believe they’re seeing a ghost.
Author’s Notes:
Ellie Nardino was originally envisioned as a tribute to Sigourney Weaver, particularly her roles in the Alien and Ghostbusters franchises. She is named for Weaver characters Ellen Ripley from the Alien movies and Angela Nardino in Heartbreakers.
Her later relationship with JT is actually a catalyst for his marriage to Tishla, whom Ellie considers one of her closest friends.
Appearances: The Children of Amargosa, Second Wave, Among Wolves, Storming Amargosa, “Wherever I May Roam,” Suicide Run, Checkmate, Winter Games, Royal Orders, Another Way to Die, Suicide Gambit, Breaking Liberty, Jump