Ruby

Ruby
Alias	Ruby Knowby Rebecca Prevett
Gender	Female
Species	Dark One (formerly mortal in the future)
Age	Unknown
Status	Deceased
Known Relatives	Demon Spawn ("children"; deceased) Evil Ash III (son; deceased)
First Appearance	El Jefe
Last Appearance	Judgement Day
Portrayed By	Lucy Lawless

Ruby was a Dark One and author of the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. A demon in humanoid form, Ruby spent three decades hunting Ash Williams and the Necronomicon while operating under the alias of Ruby Knowby. While initially a ruthless enemy of Williams and his fellow "Ghost Beaters", the Dark One switched sides after her former lover Baal escaped into the world of the living and sent the small town of Elk Grove into a state of anger and paranoia. During a trip back in time to the early 1980s, Ruby was killed by her counterpart of that era, resulting in a new slightly altered timeline where she assumed the identity of school counselor Rebecca Prevett, and was once again an adversary of Ash and his cohorts.

Ruby first appeared in the first episode of the Ash vs Evil Dead television series, El Jefe. She was portrayed by Lucy Lawless.

Biography

Early Life

Very little is known about the earliest days of Ruby, except at some point during the time in which The Dark Ones reigned over the Earth and it's denizens, she and her fellow demons created the tome known as the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. At another unspecified point (presumably during the rule of The Dark Ones), Ruby had a romantic affair not of her own volition with Baal, a demon capable of emotional manipulation and hallucination projecting. Together, the two created the demonic entities known simply as "Demon Spawn".

Ruby, along with the aid of the human sorceress Kaya, formulated a plot to banish her fellow Dark Ones from the Earthly plane of existence in the hopes to seize control over the forces of evil for their own. The plan worked, and The Dark Ones (along with Kaya) were imprisoned in a dimension which became known as the Deadlands. Without the other Dark Ones to lead, what demons remained in the world of the living were destroyed, and humanity was free to thrive without fear of the greater supernatural powers controlling them.

After the banishment of The Dark Ones, very little is known about Ruby's activities until the 21st Century, except she would cross paths with the likes of Genghis Khan and Attila The Hun, and traveled through Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece, where she gained the nicknames of "Demon Woman of Fire" and "Fierce Mother From Hell".

The Hunt For Ash Williams

At some point during her centuries of walking amongst humanity, Ruby lost her copy of the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, but through means unknown, managed to track the book to a secluded cabin in the woods in Michigan. Ruby arrived at the scene too late, only finding the bloody remnants of what had ultimately become a weekend trip gone awry thanks to a group of collage students awakening the Kandarian Demon. Though the Ex-Mortis was nowhere to be found, The Dark One managed to recover the Kandarian Dagger, as well as the severed hand of Ash Williams, the legendary "Prophesied One" who was foretold to destroy the forces of evil in it's many forms. Following this discovery, Ruby adopted the alias of "Ruby Knowby", creating a fictitious background where she sought revenge on Williams for the death of her parents and sister at the cabin.

Over the next three decades, Ruby would always be one step behind Ash as he moved from trailer park to trailer park. It would not be until 2015, after a stoned Williams used the Necronomicon to accidentally awaken the Kandarian Demon, that Ruby would truly be able to hone-in on Ash's location. As Ash began assembling his own three-person team to help him combat this evil (Kelly Maxwell and Pablo Simon Bolivar, collectively known as "The Ghost Beaters"), Ruby found her own partner to aid in the hunt, a police officer named Amanda Fisher, who was already on Ash's trail for his alleged connection to the death of her partner Carson.

Ruby and Amanda followed Ash's trail by using his severed hand to guide the way. The hand led them to the farm of El Brujo, Pablo's shaman uncle. During Ash's visit, Brujo had been killed by the demon Eligos, and his body was left to burn in a blazing funeral pyre in the front yard. As Ruby and Amanda investigated the farmhouse, Brujo's corpse became possessed by the spirit of a Deadite and shambled off the pyre to attack the two. Using a farming scythe, Ruby managed to drive the Deadite back into the blazing pile of wood, but was accidentally dragged into the flames herself. Believing her new partner to be dead, Fisher fled the farm to continue the search for Williams alone.

Hours would pass, and eventually Ruby would rise from the black and grey ashes of the burnt-out pyre unscathed. After changing into a fresh set of clothes, Ruby managed to track Ash, Kelly, Pablo, and now Amanda to the woods surrounding the Knowby cabin. Before arriving to the cabin itself, Ruby found the newly possessed Deadite Amanda attacking Kelly, Pablo, and a group of lost hikers. While the Deadite Amanda managed to escape, Ruby doubled-down on her charade as a member of the Knowby family for Kelly and Pablo, who proceeded to present her to Ash at the cabin. After more than 30 years, Ruby was finally face-to-face with The Prophesied One and reunited with the Necronomicon. Inside the cabin, The Dark One revealed her true nature after tricking Ash into "de-facing" the book, which allowed the spirit of the Ex-Mortis to possess Pablo Simon Bolivar.

Ruby and Pablo retreated to the darkest depths of the fruit cellar, where the "Ore Magnus Necronomicon" became the flesh passage for the Demon Spawn to enter the world of the living. Ash barged into the cellar, and managed to gain the upper-hand on Ruby by threatening her with the Kandarian Dagger. Inches away from her demise, Ruby managed to strike a deal with Williams: in return for the book, Ash could live out the rest of his life demon-free in Jacksonville, Florida. Ash agreed to Ruby's proposition, and relented ownership of the Ex-Mortis back to her, which in turn allowed her to rule over the whatever dark forces still lingered on Earth.

The Uneasy Alliance

Six months passed, and Ruby and her Demon Spawn had taken residence in Elk Grove, Michigan, the former hometown of Ash Williams. At some point during their residency, the Spawn devised a plan to summon their father, Baal, to the world of the living, and plotted to kill their mother in order to get their hands on the Necronomicon. When the Demon Spawn finally made their move, Ruby was begrudgingly forced to ask for the assistance of Ash and The Ghost Beaters to help destroy her children by way of sending a Deadite to attack Williams in his new home of Jacksonville. Williams reluctantly returned to Elk Grove to investigate, and found the distressed Dark One hiding in the Elk Grove Crematorium.

After dealing with the Spawn hiding in the crematorium, Ruby formed a temporary truce with Ash and the others until all of her Spawn could be destroyed and the Necronomicon was recovered. It was during an interrogation of Ash's sidekick Pablo (former host of the "Ore Magnus Necronomicon") that Ruby discovered the Demon Spawn planned to release Baal, forcing her to prolong the alliance. During this time, Ruby became close to Kelly Maxwell, admiring the human's fearlessness and unabashed "guns blazing" attitude. This admiration led to Ruby admitting a closely guarded secret to Maxwell, that the "birth" of the Demon Spawn in the world of the living had come with a price: she had been stripped of her immortality since the events at the cabin six months ago.

Baal was eventually released onto the Earth after the Necronomicon had been thrown into a portal to Hell, creating rampant paranoia and horrific illusions in several residents of the town of Elk Grove. This led to a confrontation with his estranged former lover while Baal was posing as a police officer, though Ruby was just barely able to avoid falling under his persuasive powers once again.

Back In Time

After Baal killed Pablo Simon Bolivar during a clash in the Kenward County Asylum, a distraught and stoned Ash Williams forced Ruby to open a rift in time to 1982 in order to prevent his younger-self from finding the Necronomicon and erase the personal tragedies that came after. Ash, Ruby, and Kelly arrived in the 80s, but had already unknowingly created a significant alteration to the time-stream, as now the Ruby of that era was already close to the Knowby family cabin. The Ruby of the 2010s and the Ruby of the 1980s finally came face-to-face inside the cabin itself, with the 80s counterpart (now armed with the Necronomicon and Kandarian Dagger) enraged that her future incarnation would align herself with The Prophesied One. While the 21st Century Ruby was trying to reason with her younger self, the 80s Ruby proceeded to stab her in the stomach using the Kandarian Dagger. As the 2010s Ruby began to bleed out on the cabin floor, she gave Ash and Kelly the Ex-Mortis, telling them to get out while she held off her young counterpart using the last bit of ammunition in her pistol before being stabbed once more.

Upon feeling the cabin, Ash and Kelly began to feel the effects of their actions, as Ash grew a new hand and Pablo was alive and well. As they drove off, Pablo revealed that he was not himself, but rather Baal, who had managed to take over Bolivar's body back in the Asylum in the 21st Century. Taken back to the cabin, Ash and Baal competed in a "contest of egos" fistfight for the fate of the world while the 1980s Ruby attempted to sway Kelly into joining her. Williams beat Baal by using the demon's own powers against him, which in turn opened a portal to Hell. The cabin burst into flames, and Ash and Kelly escaped the inferno moments before the old shack collapsed in on itself with Ruby still inside. Ash, Kelly, and the newly resurrected Pablo returned to the 21st Century.

A New Timeline

Unbeknownst to Ash and the others, Ruby survived the fire at the cabin. With the Necronomicon believed to have been lost in the portal to Hell, this "new" Ruby decided to take a different approach to her hunt for Ash, and silently observed and documented The Prophesied One's activities various activities from a distance. At an unspecified point in the 2010s, Ruby assumed the identity of Rebecca Prevett, taking it from a recently deceased elderly woman living in a large, secluded mansion on the edge of Elk Grove. As Prevett, the Dark One found employment as the guidance counselor of Kenward County High School, the same facility in which Ash's daughter Brandy attended.

In 2017, Ruby was reunited with the once-thought-lost Necronomicon after spotting it on an antique appraisal television show. Using the Ex-Mortis, she impregnated herself with a clone of Ash Williams, which was born mere hours after it's "conception". The clone, the guidance counselor job, and befriending Brandy was all part of a plot to destroy Ash and end his lineage in order to prevent his prophesied triumph over evil from coming to pass. Complications arose when Ruby discovered Kaya, the sorceress who helped her betray the other Dark Ones centuries prior, was still alive inside the Deadlands. Ruby needed a body for Kaya's soul to possess, and soon found one in the form of Kelly Maxwell, who arrived at the Prevett mansion to fight Ruby on her own.

It was during Kenward County High School's homecoming dance that Ruby's plan was finally put into motion. Using the now fully-grown clone of Ash to slaughter students roaming the halls, Ruby manipulated Brandy into taking arms against her father (after having already planted the seed of doubt about Ash's mental well-being). But Brandy soon discovered the true nature of the woman she had come to know as "Ms. Prevett" after refusing to kill her father and seeing the evil double of him for herself. Ruby arose from a blood-soaked floor after she had plunged the blade of Ash's chainsaw directly into her chest, and threw the Kandarian Dagger towards Williams, only for Brandy to step between. The Dark One fled the scene as Ash cradled his dying daughter, retreating back to Prevett's abode.

Death

Upon returning to the Prevett mansion, Ruby and Kaya discussed their next move, as once trapped Dark Ones were now aware that a portal between the Deadlands and the world of the living was now active. Ruby created a new page for the Necronomicon, one which would temporarily make the book untraceable to the Dark Ones, but hopefully mask it long enough for her and Kaya to destroy the demons before they get their hands on it. Ash Williams arrived at the house to reclaim the book and recover Kelly's body, but their battle was disrupted by the sudden appearance of The Dark Ones. Kaya's spirit was extracted from Kelly's body and put back into her original form, only for it to be instantly incinerated by the mere touch of one of the Dark Ones. In her final moments, Ruby defiantly told The Dark Ones that humanity's savior would destroy them. The creatures proceeded to suck out Ruby's soul, and destroyed her physical body by causing it rapidly decompose.

Powers & Abilities

• Immortality: Prior to the birth of the Demon Spawn in the original timeline, Ruby was effectively immortal, and possessed self-regenerative capabilities as well. Since the Demon Spawn of the alternate timeline were destroyed shortly after their birth, the alternate Ruby was never robbed of this power.
• Super-Strength: Ruby (in her "immortal" incarnations) demonstrated superhuman levels of strength.
• Mental Illusion Creation: Ruby was able to appear to Ash Williams in a dream in order to strike a deal with him in return for the Necronomicon.
• Dark Magic: Ruby was familiar with the various dark magic spells found within the Necronomicon, though she required the book to perform them.
• Necronomicon Connection: As the creator of the Ex-Mortis, Ruby shared a psychic bond with her book. She was able to sense when the book had been opened, and when it had been banished from the world of the living.
• Skilled Firearms Marksman: Ruby displayed expert levels of handling and using firearms numerous times.
• Skilled Hand-To-Hand Combat Expert: Over her many centuries of roaming the Earth, Ruby seems to have excelled at hand-to-hand combat confrontations.

Weapons & Equipment

Weapons

• Heckler & Koch MP5A3: Ruby used a MP5A3 sub-machine gun (taken from Ash's trailer arsenal) while hunting her Demon Spawn with Kelly.
• Glock 17 Pistol: The original Ruby stole Sheriff Thomas Emery's Glock 17 pistol during the incident inside the Elk Grove Police Station, and carried it until her death in 1982.
• Kandarian Dagger: Though the Kandarian Dagger was one of the few objects in the world known to be deadly to a Dark One, Ruby carried the dagger since finding it at the cabin. She eventually relented ownership to Ash Williams, who kept the dagger as "insurance" after giving her the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis.

Equipment

• 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T: Ruby's main method of transportation was a red 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T with the license "1HA P60". The only known modification to the car was a hidden compartment for the Kandarian Dagger.

Appearances In Other Media

Commercials

• Ruby (portrayed by Lucy Lawless) was one of the six characters appearing the non-canon "in-universe" Shemp's Beer commercials promoting Ash vs Evil Dead Season Two.

Video Games

• Ruby's first appearance in a video game was as a playable character in the 2018 mobile game Deploy And Destroy.
• Ruby was added to Evil Dead: The Game on February 2nd, 2023 as part of a DLC pack based on Ash vs Evil Dead, where she was voiced by Lucy Lawless.

Gallery

Ash vs Evil Dead Season One

Episode Stills

Ruby smokes in The Blue Lake Diner (El Jefe)

Ruby battles the Deadite Lionel Hawkins (Brujo)

Ruby at the entrance of Books From Beyond (Brujo)

Ruby shows Amanda Fisher the severed hand of Ash Williams (Brujo)

Arriving at El Brujo’s farm (The Killer of Killers)

Realizing Amanda has left, a reborn Ruby stands alone on El Brujo’s farm (Fire In The Hole)

After years of being mere steps behind, Ruby finally comes face-to-face with Ash Williams (Bound In Flesh)

Ruby appears as a vision in Ash's mind, offering him a chance at a happy life in Jacksonville (The Dark One)

Ruby uses Pablo Simon Bolivar as the host of the "Ore Magnus Necronomicon" (The Dark One)

Ruby clashes with Ash (The Dark One)

Ruby and her de-faced Necronomicon (The Dark One)

Ash's blade inches towards Ruby's neck (The Dark One)

Promotional Images

Ash vs Evil Dead Season Two

Episode Stills

Ruby is surrounded by the fully-grown Demon Spawn (Home)

Ruby and the Necronomicon (Home)

Ruby defends herself with the Kandarian Dagger (Home)

At the Elk Lounge Bar (Last Call)

Ruby and Kelly talk outside of the Elk Lounge Bar (Last Call)

Kelly and Ruby hunting the Demon Spawn (DUI)

Ruby with the Boomstick (Confinement)

In the woods outside the cabin in 1982 (Home Again)

Ash and the Ruby of the 21st Century meets her 1980s counterpart (Second Coming)

Promotional Images

Ash vs Evil Dead Season Three

Episode Stills

Ruby finds the Necronomicon on television (Family)

In the guise of Rebecca Prevett, Ruby attends the funeral of Candace Barr (Apparently Dead)

Kelly hunts down Ruby on her own (Tales From The Rift)

A bloody Ruby defeats Kelly (Tales From The Rift)

As Rebecca Prevett, Ruby makes a speech as the Kenward County High School dance (Twist And Shout)

Ruby cuts the skin off the back of Zoë as Kaya (in Kelly's body) holds her down (Judgement Day)

Ruby inks a new page of the Necronomicon (Judgement Day)

Promotional Images

Trivia

• Ruby appeared in 27 of the 30 episodes of Ash vs Evil Dead. The three episodes in which she was completely absent (excluding the opening recap) was the Season One episodes Bait and Ashes To Ashes, and the Season Three episode The Mettle of Man.
• After the revelation at the end of Season One that Ruby was not a real member of the Knowby family, promotional material for Season Two gave her the full name Ruby Cross, though it is never spoken within the series itself.