Almost nothing is known about Carrie Devall's origins. Folklore historians contend that she was born sometime after the extinction of the Neanderthals, though scientific analysis of her DNA and archaeological records place her at the dawn of Babylon in the 19th century B.C.E. Devall has maintained these mysteries since the discovery of her extreme longevity and elven nature, remarking in a 1932 interview, “an ancient one does not reveal her secrets to the masses lest she be ruined in the fires of perpetual challenge.” As a result of her secrecy, Devall was wiretapped by the FBI from 1960 to 1966, in part due to her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. To date, however, the FBI has discovered nothing of consequence.
As such, rumors persisted until the mid-20th century, including claims that Devall had been Cleopatra, met Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and, in one popular online theory, had been responsible for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft in 1990. To the public's credit, Devall has not denied any of these claims, opting instead for the Shrug Strategy (i.e., shrugging during interviews and saying “maybe”). These theories dominated historical interpretations of Devall until 2001, when Hans Gunnerson discovered an archive of scrolls rescued from the burning of the Library of Alexandria. Among them was an unknown work by Plato entitled “The History of the Atlantians,” in which the famous philosopher related the history of the mythic island of Atlantis. The scrolls were authenticated in 2002.
As a result of Gunnerson's discovery, it is now known that Devall once went by the name of Atratokos of Atlantis and served as general of the Atlantian armies until the island's destruction sometime in 10,000 B.C.E. For nearly three centuries, Atlantis reigned as the military and economic power of the Mediterranean and the Levant, with Devall maintaining a powerful hold on the region in service of Emperor Kotro. This held until the Levantian Rising, a period of dramatic cultural change in which several nomadic groups in the Levant temporarily allied against Atlantis. Plato describes the efforts on the part of the Levantian civilizations of the time to secretly dig beneath the foundation of the island; this ultimately led to Atlantis' demise. Devall, however, survived and traveled north to the Alps, where she built a home and raised birds until she was discovered by Italian explorers in 1627. Since then, Devall has spent much of her life avoiding the paparazzi and convincing boxers such as Mike Tyson to raise pigeons.
In 2020, an underwater excavation of one possible location of Atlantis discovered the remains of a 400-foot statue bearing the likeness of Devall. This sparked a renewed global conversation about Devall's past. As a result, in early 2021, she announced a $5 million deal with Simon & Schuster to release her autobiography entitled The Deep History of a Secret Warrior Elf Who Tried to Maintain Her Privacy for 15,000 Years. The book's release is expected in July 2022.