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Edna Strickland Tannen

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Edna Strickland

Biographical information
Date of birth	1910s
Age (1885)	Not Yet Born
Age (1931)	20's
Age (1955)	40's
Age (1985)	70's
Age (2015)	100s (Possibly Deceased)
Age (1925)	15-25
Age (2045)	130s (Possibly Deceased)
Age (2115)	205-210 (Possibly Deceased)
Physical description
Gender	Female
Hair color	Brunette (1931) White (1986 and 1931A) Black (1986B)
Eye color	Green
Behind-the-scenes information
Voiced by	Rebecca Schweltzer Shannon Nicholson (1931 Edna)

[Source]

"Nine out of ten people in this city are hooligans. It's a fact. Look it up."

—Edna Strickland

'Note:' The following page is considered non-canon or is disputed in canonicity.

Edna Strickland was the elder sister of the High Valley High School vice-principal Gerald Strickland^[1]and an etiquette columnist for the Hill Valley Herald back in the 1930s. Edna was the middle child of three, with an unnamed older brother. She shares the Strickland family trait of uncompromising morality and discipline. Unlike her younger brother Gerald, Edna was actually capable of smiling and even being civil at times. But for the most part the Strickland doctrine of strict discipline was still as much a part of her character as it was for her younger brother.

1 Biography
2 Appearances
3 Relatives
4 Notes and references

BiographyEdit

As a young lady, Edna had jet black hair, and was strongly for Prohibition, even founding the Stay Sober Society in Hill Valley. She made soup deliveries to interested patrons, but as of 1931, business was running dry. Upset by the the many speakeasy establishments, Edna took it upon herself to burn down the buildings, thus becoming the mysterious Speakeasy Arsonist. The day the speakeasy burned down, she got in a scuffle with a dog, Einstein, and lost her shoe.

By 1986, her identity as the Speakeasy Arsonist is still unknown. She had become a hermit in her apartment outside Courthouse Square, constantly spying on people with binoculars and shouting at them with a bullhorn. She called people "miscreants", "hooligans", and like her brother, "slackers". She corrected one vandal's misspelling of his graffiti, yelled at a litterbug, and caught Jack and Diane making out behind a tree. One individual she screamed at was Tiff Tannen, who was apparently stealing a hubcap from a parked car. Her apartment above the arcade Stargate Zero was located just outside Courthouse Square, within sight of Valley Video. The apartment was filled with every issue of the Hill Valley Telegraph, from 1871 to the present, in pristine condition and meticulously organized. Edna also had editorial trophies from Cat Lovers Quarterly, an old typewriter, a picture of Gerald in his mother's clothes, a photograph of Marshal James Strickland, and a can of old candy. She enjoyed tea and tended to confuse the sound of her teapot with her radiator. Despite her overzealous need to dictate to everyone what they should and should not do, Edna shows Marty McFly (who came to return her missing shoe) a suprising level of politeness and hospitality, albeit curmudgeonly.^[1]

After Edna goes into the kitchen, Marty finds a newspaper article that informs him of Doc's whereabouts. Upon leaving, he accidentally knocks over the newspapers and rushes out after Edna scolds him.

On June 13, 1931, she encountered Marty McFly & a young Emmett Brown. They had convinced her to hold a meeting of the SSS at the Brown residence, and make a delivery of "soup" to the meeting. The soup was in fact alcohol, used by Emmett to fuel his rocket-powered drill invention.^[1] She got into a scuffle with Judge Brown on the matter, and was banned from the residence. From then on, she scoffed at anything involving Emmett or his inventions.^[2]

On August 25, 1931, Edna stood in the front lawn of the Hill Valley Courthouse attempting to raise money to "Donate to the Clock Tower". Her intentions were to place some ornate sculptures alongside the clock, such as gargoyles, however when Marty returned, he suggested lions. She also wrote a song titled "You Should Care", and began to sing it horribly. Marty obtained a copy of her song and used it later at the new El Kid speakeasy under the Sisters of Mercy Soup Kitchen to help Trixie Trotter interact with Officer Danny Parker. Upon realizing who had burnt down his speakeasy, Kid Tannen kidnapped Edna, and suspected her of burning others in Colfax, Georgetown, and Placerville.^[2] Thanks to Marty and Emmett, Kid is brought in, causing Edna to develop an interest in Emmett.

In the 1986B timeline, she becomes romantically invovled with young Emmett Brown, creating an alternate 1986 where she and Citizen Brown convert Hill Valley into a police-state. While Citizen Brown is the face of their empire, It is Edna who has true control, using Brown's technology to create psychological conditioning tools to brainwash the citizens of Hill Valley. When Brown learns the truth, they have a falling-out. Edna tries to brainwash Brown, but Marty saves him.

As of October 12, 1931, she is trying to motivate Emmett down the path to becoming Citizen Brown by inventing a personality analyser. Thanks to a photograph provided by Marty, she is able to get Trixie Trotter fired from the Hill Valley Science Expo. That enrages Trixie into helping Marty into breaking up Edna and Emmett.

Heartbroken later that night, she is picked up by Citizen Brown who seeks to comfort her & claims that Marty is an anarchist named Yakov Smirnoff. She is "informed" that Yakov plans to ruin the Science Expo, prompting the two to create a plan to stop Marty.

The next day, Edna informs Danny Parker of Marty's "plan", causing Emmett's exhibit to be shut down. Marty responds by gathering proof that Edna is the Speakeasy Arsonist, causing her to flee. She uses the Delorean to evade Parker only for the machine to send her to 1876 (The exact date is unspecified).

Edna takes the name Mary Pickford and finds 1876 to be a peaceful place. Sometime later, she finds that Beauregard Tannen has built a saloon. She reports it to Marshall Strickland, only for him to do nothing. She takes matters into her own hands once again and plots to set fire to the saloon on July 17, 1876. The fire, however, spreads and destroys the rest of Hill Valley. This event prompts Edna into repressing her memories of the preceding events.

In the 1931A timeline, Edna remains in a shack in a deserted Hill Valley, and is visit by Marty and Doc. Marty gets her to come to the window and points her to her ex-boyfriend. This prompts her into leaving her house and slowly remembering her trip through time and recalling her actions in 1876 (due to Marty using some objects to trigger bits of her memory). Snapping out of her repressing, she shows the two a newspaper providing the specific date, and plans to shoot them. She is prevented from doing so by William McFly.

After Marty and Doc arrive in 1876 to stop Edna from burning down the saloon, she retreats into her Delorean with the two pursuing her. Marty manages to hook a Flux Override to her Delorean's Flux Emitters, allowing Doc to pull her back to October 13, 1931. After her return, she is arrested by Danny Parker for her previous crime, evading arrest and driving under the influence (as she drove the Delorean into the police station).

In the newest timeline, Edna shared a cell with Kid Tannen, and they eventually got married at some point after 1955 (although she wasn't Biff's biological mother). She also has gotten over her dislike of dogs and walks Einstein on a regular basis. Finding and reforming Kid Tannen has greatly improved her outlook on life and is shown to have a much more chipper, freindly demeanor.