Tulip O'Hare
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Tulip O'Hare is a fictional character from the comic book series Preacher. She was created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon.
Jesse Custer's romantic interest is, in her own right, a trained marksman of exceptional skill who had a brief but ineffective career as a hitman.
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[edit] History
[edit] Birth and childhood
Tulip O'Hare is the only daughter of Jake O'Hare, a hunting and firearms enthusiast, and an un-named mother, who died while giving birth to Tulip.
Jake was celebrating the birth of his new child while the mother was in the hospital giving birth. Fully expecting a son, he boastfully laughed off the very idea of having a daughter, and was in the midst of buying everyone in the bar a round of drinks when the hospital called with the news of his wife's death, and that the child was a daughter. Suddenly a single father, at first he had no idea what to do, until he was introduced to his daughter, and he decided that having a daughter need not be a bad thing.
Jake raised his "Little Petal," as he nicknamed her, just like a son, introducing her to firearms, hunting, fishing, and war stories, but also encouraged her to be whatever she wanted to be. Tulip, being somewhat Tomboy-ish, found herself alienated from boys and girls alike. This all ended for Tulip when, at the age of 13, Jake was killed during a hunting trip by some other hunters that had mistaken him for a deer while Jake was relieving himself.
[edit] Amy
Jake's relatives, instead of taking Tulip in, sold all of Jake's assets and sent her off to a boarding school. Tulip mostly enjoyed a life of studious solitude, but was unafraid to stand up to anyone who branded her father negatively. She found herself befriended by Amy Grinderbinder, the richest student in the school, because Amy wanted a friend that would like her for herself instead of her money.
The two remained friends throughout college, where Tulip once saved Amy from being raped at a frat house. Shortly after, Amy found out her father had died and had been left a large inheritance. The two decided to drop out and tour the country. In the midst of this tour, the pair briefly settled in Texas.
[edit] Jesse Custer
While on a date to meet Amy at a bar one night, she encountered Jesse Custer, and it was love at first sight. Tulip introduced herself to the young Custer by lighting his cigarette for him before his then girlfriend, Zoe, could. After a brief catfight in the women's restroom, Tulip and Jesse then embarked on a night of passion. Tulip returned to her and Amy's home and related her night to Amy, who was at first worried that something bad had happened to Tulip.
After Jesse and Amy being introduced to each other, the trio then embarked on a life of traveling the country, engaging in auto theft, among other crimes. Amy soon dropped out of the scene and moved to New York City, leaving Jesse and Tulip to their own devices, but remaining friends.
Jesse and Tulip continued their life of crime, sometimes landing in jail. Eventually, they ended up briefly in Phoenix, Arizona, where Jesse suggested they take a vacation in San Francisco, where Jesse had intended to ask Tulip to marry him. Unfortunately, as soon as Tulip had gone on a brief visit to buy groceries, Jesse's lifelong tormentors Jodie and T.C. had suddenly appeared at his side to abduct him back to his grandmother, leaving Tulip with the impression that Jesse had abandoned her.
Tulip, embittered by Jesse's "leaving" her, then let herself spiral downward into alcohol addiction, ultimately deciding to get help when she discovered blood in her urine. She sought help from a strip-club owner (who was also a small-time hood) to help finance her treatment. When it came time to repay him, she made it abundantly clear that she would not have intercourse with him as a method of payment. She instead offered to become a hitman for him. The owner scoffed at the offer until Tulip challenged his masculinity. They then went to a firing range he also owned, where Tulip proved herself to be a more accurate shot than all the men in attendance. Suitably impressed, he hired her to do a hit, which Tulip botched badly, disfiguring one of the target's assistants, rather hitting than the target himself.
[edit] Gone to Texas
Fleeing the scene of the crime, Tulip encountered a pickup truck and decided to attempt a carjacking and escape. This particular pickup, however would change Tulip's life forever, as the owner, Cassidy, was extremely reluctant to let Tulip in, until her pursuers shot him. Cassidy then agreed to give Tulip a ride.
The pair rode until daylight, when Cassidy needed to escape the sunlight, and slept under a tarp in the truck's tailgate, and ordered Tulip not to drive. Unbeknownst to the two of them, Cassidy had happened to park close enough to the church where Jesse Custer was serving at, and Tulip had seen the sudden explosion that occurred as a result of the Genesis entity possessing Custer. Over Cassidy's protestations, Tulip drove to the church to look for survivors, finding only Jesse, who awoke only briefly enough to see Tulip and kiss her before losing consciousness once again.
After several altercations involving sheriff Hugo Root and the Saint of Killers, Jesse and Cassidy became fast friends. Tulip decided to stay with Jesse because she wanted to know what had happened to Jesse in the years since he left her.
[edit] Until the End of the World
After relating her story about what had happened to her, She and Jesse decided to pay the strip-club owner a visit to settle matters with him, one way or the other. In the midst of "negotiations" with the owner's staff, Jody and T.C. suddenly burst in and killed the owner's staff and the owner himself, and were inexplicably immune to Jesse's "Word of God" power. They abducted Jesse and Tulip and took the two of them back to where Jesse had spent his childhood, where his grandmother, Marie L'Angelle, informed them that they were immune to Jesse's power because of a pact she had made with God, and that come morning, Tulip was to be killed, and Jesse would resume his position as preacher in another church.
After grandmother and her servants left them alone for the night, Jesse confessed what had really happened to him, and the details of his hellish childhood with his grandmother and company.
Moved, Tulip forgave Jesse fully. Unfortunately, mere seconds after Tulip gave her forgiveness, Jodie and T.C. had come back to make good on Miss Marie's promise, and, in front of a distraught Jesse shot Tulip in the face.
Following instructions, Tulip's body was placed in L'Angelle's bedroom, where she was resurrected by God, who ultimately instructed Tulip to inform Jesse that further attempts to pursue him would only result in more tragedy and that as a sign of good faith Jesse's powers had returned. (Jesse would later dispute as to whether or not it was God who restored his powers.)
Coming out of the bedroom, Tulip encountered a severely beaten T.C, who had been beaten by Jesse after discovering his powers had returned. Tulip found a nearby shotgun and killed T.C. She then encountered Jesse's grandmother, who was trying to escape the burning house. Enraged, she tipped over L'Angelle's wheelchair with her and a full oxygen tank in it, leaving her to die in the house.
Tulip managed to escape the house mere moments before it exploded. She then managed to find Jesse, who had just had his vengeance against Jodie. Jesse at first thought Tulip was a hallucination, until the two engaged in a passionate kiss.
