ELEKTRA, THE EARLY YEARS

Usually referred to by just her first name, Elektra Natchios is a ninja assassin of Greek descent who uses two sais as her weapons of choice.   Born in Athens, Elektra was thought to be a bastard child of an affair her mother Christina had.  Christina and her husband Hugo had grown apart, and Christina had many extramarital affairs, which brought shame and embarrassment to her husband.  Hugo shared this information with his young son, Orestez, who then vowed to never let his mother shame them again.

Unbeknownst to his father, Orestez hired assassins to take care of Christina, but during a boating trip in the Aegean Sea both his parents were attacked.  Christina died while giving birth to Elektra, and Hugo lived.  Orestez fled for shame of nearly costing his father his life.

As it turned out, Elektra was Hugo's daughter, which was revealed during a paternity test, and so it was then just the two of them.  The two grew very close over the years, and Hugo nicknamed Elektra his "little amber".  He would rain down gifts on the child, including her favorite of all, a dog named Agamemnon.  Sadly and tragically, the dog was killed when Elektra was nine years old and was assaulted by  kidnappers.  Orestez made his return, though, and, now a trained and skilled martial artist, killed her assailants.

For a short time, Orestez stayed around and became friendly with his sister Elektra, though he soon left again.  But before leaving he instructed their father that Elektra needed to be able to protect herself.  This led to Hugo hiring trainers for his daughter, which led, of course, to her expert skills as an adult.

When Elektra was twenty years old, she and her father were abducted by terrorists.  Her boyfriend at the time, Matt Murdock, the future hero known as Daredevil, wore a mask for the first time when he attempted to rescue them.  Elektra took the opportunity to attack some of her kidnappers, but in the process one of them flew through the window.  This prompted the police to open fire thinking the terrorists were throwing bodies out the windows.  But instead of shooting the terrorists they accidentally killed Hugo Natchios as Elektra watched helplessly.

This set Elektra on a path of self discovery as she had lost all faith and hope.  She traveled to China to study martial arts first with a master named Stick, but eventually joining the mystical ninja clan The Hand.  From there she went through many trials and changes, was murdered and brought back to life, battled and loved Daredevil, and become an icon her creator, Frank Miller, could be proud of.