Henrietta Knowby was the wife of Prof. Raymond Knowby, who brought the Necronomicon to the cabin, and the mother of Annie and (allegedly) Ruby. She first appeared in Evil Dead II and served as the main antagonist.
Biography
Deadite Henrietta's first form (Evil Dead II).
Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn
Henrietta was possessed shortly after Prof. Knowby read the pages of the Necronomicon, unleashing the evil. Knowby killed Henrietta or possibly just incapacitated her and, not being able to bring himself to dismember her corpse, buried her under the cellar. After Ash mistakenly attacked Annie Knowby and her group who had arrived at the Cabin, he was knocked unconscious by Jake and thrown into the cellar. Shortly after, Henrietta's corpse awoke and attempted to kill Ash but was saved by the others as they pulled him out in the nick of time. Henrietta attempted to persuade the group to let her out of the cellar, seemingly returning to normal, only to turn back into a Deadite just as Ed was possessed. Sometime later, Ash is possessed once again in the woods and turns on his remaining companions,
Henrietta's fourth form as a Deadite (Evil Dead II).
incapacitating Jake. Annie retreats to the cabin and accidentally stabs Jake with the Kandarian dagger thinking he is Ash. After pulling the dagger out, she drags him to the cellar door, where he is killed by Henrietta in a bloodbath. After Ash is returned to normal, he ventures down into the cellar to get the pages of the Necronomicon that Jake threw away, and is incapacitated by Henrietta. When Annie attempts to read the passages to make the evil a physical form, she is then attacked. Before Henrietta can kill her, Ash appears after regaining consciousness and fights Henrietta, killing her by impaling her with his chainsaw, sawing off both her arms, sawing off her head, and then finally blowing her severed head to bits with his shotgun.
Ash vs Evil Dead
Henrietta made her return in the Season Two Episode "Home Again". Ash hears her down in the cellar of The Cabin after travelling back in time to 1982 to make sure he never opened the Necronomicon. He sees her chained up as she claims her husband has gone mad and chained her up, initially Ash doesn't believe her and starts slapping her, until Professor Knowby shows up at the cabin with Tanya, planning to transfer the demon from Henrietta to her. Ash hides while Knowby explains his plans to Tanya, while Henrietta pleads for Ash to let her go. Ash reluctantly lets her go just as Knowby says his wife was possessed by a Kandarian Demon. This causes Knowby to run out of the cellar while Henrietta battles Ash. After fighting off Henrietta, Ash tries to help Tanya out of a bear trap that Knowby got her into. But Henrietta turns into her second form and attacks Ash yet again. At the end of the episode she corners Ash and Tanya, leading onto the next episode.
Henrietta brutally kills Tanya and fights Ash in a back and forth fight which eventually causes Henrietta to use her more demonic form. Ash manages to get her in a headlock and decapitates her with his chainsaw.
Appearances
Alternate Versions
The Evil Dead (2008)
A younger version of Raymond Knowby's wife appeared in Dark Horse's 2008 re-imagining of The Evil Dead. Like her film counterpart, she was the first person to become a Deadite when the Kandarian Demon was unleashed. She attempted to kill her husband with a kitchen knife, but he managed to kill her first. Unlike her film counterpart, her name was changed to Beth-Marie Knowby.
Army of Darkness Comics
Henrietta in Army of Darkness: Old School
Henrietta, Annie, and the Professor appeared in the Army of Darkness comics storyline "Old School" (Vol.1 #5-7) to attack Ash once again.
Beyond Dead By Dawn
Henrietta in Evil Dead 2: Beyond Dead By Dawn #0
Henrietta appears alongside her husband as one of the souls of the damned encountered by the copy of Ash. Just as Ash finds them, she becomes a Deadite and attacks them but is successfully slain by her husband. Her spirit is later seen alongside his saying goodbye to Annie after she releases the souls within the Dagger, and promising her that they will always be around if she needs them.
Trivia
- In the original script for The Evil Dead, Henrietta's name was originally Suzanne Knowby. The script also mentions her husband managed to trap her in the fruit cellar with the hope that she would die of dehydration or starvation before he had to dismember her.
- The series shows that Henrietta was indeed trapped in the cellar, having been chained to wall.
- Henrietta is the second "true" Deadite to be killed twice by Ash, Cheryl being first. While Evil Ash was killed twice, he may not count as a true deadite as he lacked their typical powers and the second Evil Ash was a different individual to previous Evil Ash.