Eva (voiced by Angela Galupp) is one of the four main protagonist of the animated feature film 'Sahara'. Raised in a closed community she grew discontent with the easy yet controlled life in Oasis. She decided to leave her home to see the world beyond only to be captured by Omar the Flute Player and put to work in his Snake Parade as a dancer. She was eventually rescued by Ajar, her brother Gary, and the scorpion Pitt.
Biography[]
Background[]
Eva was born into Oasis as the daughter of the most influential snake in the community. Her mother, an incredibly thin snake was rather distant in her life leaving her father to handle affairs regarding Eva and her brother Gary. Her father instilled in both of them fears regarding the Dusties- any snake that was not Green and lived in the desert beyond Oasis. She like her brother also learned how things work in Oasis, specifically how the various families vie for influence while partaking of leisure under the protective gaze of the Herons who have turned their natural hostility towards serpents at the Dusties who live outside Oasis. At some point both she and her brother began to feel a desire for escape but both handled such desire differently. While Gary turned to Pollen, a drug effecting the mind, and passively took to wearing a wig and learning about Humans as his means of escape and rebellion- Eva took a more active course. Eva became a bit problematic for her father due to her attempts at escape and disinterest in recreation and the entertaining of guests for the building of influence in the community. She started to doubt the stories told by her father about the outside world.
Sahara[]
One of Eva's failed attempts at escape was witnessed by the Dusty Ajar, a thief from a nearby community of foul mannered serpents. This attempt by Eva was foiled by a Heron who returned her to her father. Her father was not pleased with yet another attempt by his daughter to leave. She was reminded by him how dangerous Dusties are and told that they eat their own poop (or children he couldn't remember which) to which Eva responds with an expression of doubt. Her brother then comes home and mocks her for looking like she's about to cry. Naturally hurt Eva retreats into solitude to paint her scales with a flower pattern to calm herself. However while she lays there she realizes that she could cover her body in Ink and thus be mistaken for a Dusty and able to escape. This plan however has a side to it she had not considered which was that the Herons would try to kill her. During this second attempt in the same day as the first Eva meets another snake, who appears Green though she doesn't recognize him and she takes steps to try to pretend to be a Dusty- as per her appearance. Fleeing and nearly being caught the two arrive at a cliff where Eva wraps about the stranger and pulls them both off the cliff into the river below.
The stranger can't swim which shocks Eva, as swimming is something the snakes of Oasis learn to do at a young age. Saving the stranger again while combating the violent river Eva's ink begins to wash off - as too does the stranger's own disguise. As Eva realizes the stranger isn't' a Green snake she lets him go and swims to safety on a branch in the river. The stranger, manages to pull himself onto the same branch. Eva demands to know if the stranger is going to kill her to which the stranger says no. She asks if Dusties actually eat their poop to which the stranger fails to give a direct answer though leans towards no. At this point the two introduce themselves to one another as Ajar and Eva as Ajar's scorpion friend, Pitt, arrives on the same branch. Content with her company Eva begins making her way into the open asking if Ajar is afraid of a little freedom before she herself is promptly snared with a rod and put into a basket. As Ajar begins pursuit he's plucked from the ground by a Heron from Oasis and carried off as Eva is knocked unconscious after hitting her head on something in the basket which was affixed to the back of a camel.
Eva awoke some time latter to find herself in the company of other snakes captured by the same man. She's told that they are part of a ballerina company and are preparing for their next show. The largest, and oldest of the ladies tells Eva that she's fat, but will thin up after some practice. Eva insists that she's not suppose to be here, that she didn't choose to be here- that some mistake was made. The other snakes laugh telling her that she's one of them now with the largest iterating that none of them chose this life. Latter that night, the show starts in a desert with the man, revealed to be named Omar, performing for a family in the desert. Omar tells how he has a magical flute carved by a voodoo priest from Haiti with the power to control serpents. As all but the oldest of the ladies begin to preform to the music Eva slithers out of the basket to make her escape. The largest tries to stop her but fails. While making her way across the sands towards the empty desert Eva finds that she can no longer move away. Instead she's being pulled back by the power of the music and as she enters the circle with the other performers she becomes captivated by it. Experiencing a lucid vision as she performs.
When she awakens again in the basket two of the girls congratulate her for her performance and complement her dancing. Eva however can't remember dancing, only the vision she had. The lead performer tells her that she's as hopeless as they are now. In the following days Eva would practice dancing with the other ladies and begin to take a more prominent role in the performance upsetting the lead. Confounding this is the advances of the only male snake in the act of which the lead formerly had sole interest. After the oldest snake mentions that she's been doing this for 40 years Eva begins to snap back to the realization that she's a prisoner here. She can't see her self doing this for 40 years. After the male snake tries to comfort her the lead sees an opportunity to be rid of Eva and shows her a hole in the basket. The lead explains that she use to be like Eva, wanting to escape, but then learned that there is nothing out there but desert. Eva thanks her and begins to slither out of the basket before a camel spots her and tells her to slither back in. Eva agrees only for the lead to push Eva out causing the Camels to try to stomp Eva as a runner.
Omar begins to step in while the lead slithers her head out to see what's going on only to herself fallout. Omar captures them both and at first, much to the lead's horror, begins to put them into a basket meant for snakes that will be turned into belts- which Omar sells to augment his profits. However Omar then gets a better idea. That night he brings the two together to perform an endurance based dance off with the snake who can dance the longest being allowed to live. Eva wins only by managing to balance upon her head which, the lead fails to do- falling over without the strength to move. Omar then removes the lead from the circle and places her in the belt basket with Eva taking the former lead's place in the show. Though it's not what Eva wanted.
Omar reaches his home and begins work on new belts after stowing his flute away. Eva and the male snake talk and Eva is given a comforting embrace. During this moment she notices Ajar, and her brother Gary slithering in from the ceiling. She's shocked to see her brother coming to rescue her as he always seemed uncaring to her, and at times hurtful. She watches as her brother and Ajar loosen a ceiling fan in order to break the glass that holds her and the others captive. Omar arrives and goes for his flute only to be bitten by Gary. Omar flings Gary aside announcing that he's immune to their venom because it's coursing through his veins. He reveals his tatoos- made with ink that incorporated snake venom in order to build a tolerance. Ajar gets the flute while Omar is distracted with Gary and leads Omar into a chase in a sandstorm. After a break in the storm Eva and Gary find Ajar, now with new skin after his old was shedded in the storm. Eva is happy that Ajar is alive but Omar arrives- yet before he can do anything Pitt stings him causing him to fall asleep. At last free of Omar the party begins their exodus towards home.