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- “Every song has a coda, a final movement. Whether it fades out or crashes away, every song ends. Is that any reason not to enjoy the music?”
- ―Ellie Harp shortly before her death
Elizabeth "Ellie" Harp is a recurring character during the third season of One Tree Hill, portrayed by Sheryl Lee. Introduced in the second season finale, Ellie was the biological mother of Peyton Sawyer who gave her up for adoption seventeen years prior.
Similar in many respects to her daughter Peyton, Ellie was a talented artist with a passion for music. While she had initially promised to keep her distance from Peyton until she was ready to meet her, after her cancer diagnosis, Ellie decided she wanted to meet her daughter and approached Peyton under the guise of writing an article about her and her contributions at the nightclub TRIC. Once Peyton learned the article was a lie and that Ellie was actually her birth mother, however, she confronted her adoptive father, who revealed Ellie was telling the truth.
As Peyton wrestled with the realization that she had been adopted, she struggled with the decision of whether she wanted to get to know Ellie or not, as she did not want to disrespect the memory of her adoptive mother, Anna Sawyer. When Peyton told Ellie this, Ellie allowed her to believe she had inherited her artistic abilities from her adoptive mother, a lie which later came back to disrupt her reunion with her daughter. With Peyton indicating she no longer wished to communicate with her, Ellie left Tree Hill and returned home.
Racked with guilt over her decision to shut Ellie out, Peyton later sought her birth mother out in order to reconnect with her. After their reunion, Peyton invited Ellie to temporarily live with her while her father was away and they developed a close bond as they produced a cancer benefit album together, Friends with Benefit. During that time, Ellie shared with her the tips and tricks of recruiting musical talent and producing a record. Unbeknownst to Peyton, however, Ellie had ended her chemotherapy treatments and her cancer was worsening. Once the benefit album was complete, Peyton went to show Ellie the finished CDs but was distraught upon finding Ellie dead on her bed.
Despite their short time together, Ellie had a profound impact on Peyton's life, who eventually came to view her as a second mother. In her adulthood, Peyton continued to harbor her birth mother's passion for music and used their time together as inspiration for becoming a record producer, eventually founding her own music label, Red Bedroom Records.
Character arc[]
Background[]
Seventeen years prior to her introduction, Ellie Harp became pregnant with a daughter by her then-boyfriend, Mick Wolf. As she was struggling with substance abuse at the time, specifically cocaine, Ellie decided to put her child up for adoption and chose Larry and Anna Sawyer as the adoptive parents. According to Ellie, the main reason she chose the Sawyers was because of Anna, who showed Ellie compassion and understanding during that difficult time in her life. After fourteen hours of labor, Ellie gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Peyton, who received the middle name "Elizabeth" after her birth mother. ("The Leavers Dance")
Upon Peyton's birth, Ellie and the Sawyers agreed to a closed adoption, whereby Ellie would not have any contact with her daughter. Under the adoption policy, Ellie was not allowed to meet her daughter after her birth and Peyton was instead taken to her new parents. Before she left to live with them, however, Anna Sawyer brought Peyton to meet her birth mother in the hospital. ("Return of the Future") While Ellie kept her promise to withhold contact, she approached Larry about the possibility of meeting Peyton nine years later. Unfortunately, this was less than a year after Anna's death in a car accident and Larry denied Ellie's request for the sake of protecting Peyton from additional confusion and heartache. Even so, Ellie kept a distant but watchful eye over her daughter and would secretly watch as she and a young Brooke Davis played underneath a bridge. ("From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea")
A further eight years passed before Ellie decided to try again. After being diagnosed with breast cancer, Ellie waited until she was in remission before approaching Peyton a second time. By the time Peyton learned about her adoption and agreed to get to know her birth mother, however, Ellie's cancer was no longer in remission and she had a limited amount of time to get to know her daughter.
Season 2[]
In the second season finale, Ellie introduces herself to Peyton under the false pretense of writing an article for the magazine Alternative Press about her work at TRIC. When Peyton calls the magazine to reschedule the interview, however, the magazine says they've never heard of her. Around this time, Peyton had begun receiving cryptic messages from the username "WATCHMEWATCHU," causing her to believe Ellie was stalking her. As Peyton attempts to sever ties with her, Ellie approaches her at her house but denies ever sending her any emails. She does, however, admit to her true identity as Peyton's birth mother by revealing her first name as "Elizabeth," which also happens to be Peyton's middle name. ("The Leavers Dance")
Season 3[]
At first, Peyton didn't believe her or trust her, especially after Lucas Scott caught her buying drugs. However, she was dealing with a recurrence of breast cancer, and the pills were actually for medical purposes. Peyton was about to change her mind after finding out about Ellie's condition but they fought again when Peyton found that she wrote an article about her. She told her to go away, and called her a liar. Haunted by dreams about her "Angel of Death" persona, Peyton found Ellie again and they bonded. They decided to make a CD to promote Haley's new song and raise funds to fight breast cancer. They finally managed to finish the CD but Ellie died the day the records were ready. Peyton scattered her ashes in a meadow where Ellie had been to a music festival out in Winston-Salem, the best thing she had remembered aside from her time with Peyton.
Trivia[]
- The actress behind Ellie Harp, Sheryl Lee, later played the character Andrea Darling (née Smithson) on the ABC series Dirty Sexy Money. Like Ellie, Andrea also died of cancer.
- In the scene where Peyton finds Ellie after her death, the song playing in the background is "Here Comes a Regular" by The Replacements. This was an intentional poetic decision by producers, as Ellie had previously stated she considered this the "happiest" song.
- Until she lost it, Peyton kept Ellie's cancer survivor charm bracelet. After Ellie's death, Peyton also kept her leather jacket, which she had previously complimented during one of their first meetings. Actress Hilarie Burton has admitted to keeping both of these items after leaving the series.
- When she begins to look for Ellie during the third season, Peyton discovers Ellie lives at 408 Kenosha Club Road, River City, NC 28405. While River City is a fictional setting like Tree Hill, its zip code is real and belongs to a northern section of Wilmington, North Carolina, where the series was filmed. ("How a Resurrection Really Feels")
- Interestingly, this is the same zip code as the one for the actual house used for the Sawyer residence.
- When Peyton came to visit Ellie at her home in River City, Ellie revealed she had an entire room of her house dedicated to her collection of vinyl records. After Ellie's death, Peyton inherited her collection and prominently displayed them in her bedroom.
- During that same visit, Peyton learned Ellie attended the band U2's first performance in the United States. This is notable for the fact that U2's song "One Tree Hill" lent its name to the series.
References[]
- ↑ One Tree Hill, Season 3, Episode 9: "How a Resurrection Really Feels"