Beatrix

General Beatrix is a temporary player character and boss in Final Fantasy IX. She is the top general and most trusted warrior of the all-female army of Alexandria.
Beatrix is a proud, merciless and threatening soldier, respected and feared among warriors all around Gaia as the finest of them all. She does not like to take a back seat to anyone, especially Kuja and his black mages, and initially views Captain Steiner of the Knights of Pluto as a rival. While loyal to Queen Brahne, her first priority is protecting the citizens of Alexandria. Beatrix acts stoic towards her enemies, but has a kind heart, willingness to forgive, and is soft-spoken and polite to her allies.
Beatrix is fought as an unwinnable boss on a few occasions. As a playable character, her abilities are Seiken and Wht Mag. Seiken grants her offensive damaging abilities with her sword similar to Steiner's Swd Art (the skillsets also share some abilities), while she has access to several Wht Mag spells for curative purposes. Beatrix wields the Save the Queen sword in battle, and wears heavy armor.
== Profile ==
=== Appearance ===
Beatrix is tall, slender, and curvy with chestnut brown hair. She wears a silver eye patch over her right eye, with the left being a purple/reddish color. In her concept art she has a bandana over her right eye, and the left eye is blue. She frequently tosses back her hair with her hand. She wears less armor than the heavily-clad Steiner, and thus is more agile. She wears a red and white sleeveless duster with a rose embroidered on the back over a pair of reddish-brown leggings tucked within a pair of armored boots, armored gloves and additional armor on her right arm. A large belt is secured around her waist at an angle, holding her sword, Save the Queen.
=== Personality ===
Beatrix at first views Adelbert Steiner, the captain of the Knights of Pluto and a soldier in her senior, as a rival. Steiner, meanwhile, is frustrated over the superiority of Alexandrian soldiers led by Beatrix over his Pluto Knights.
Beatrix is noble, proud, and most of all, loyal to Alexandria and the Alexandrian royal family. She is confident in her ability as a soldier, and can be seen as being arrogant because of this. Beatrix has an outstanding ability as a leader, collecting loyalty and admiration from both the public and the soldiers under her. Beatrix is soft-spoken and addresses people with perfect manners, be it to her soldiers or to an enemy, although this is not as obvious in the English localization as it is in the original Japanese version.
Beatrix shows no mercy for one who poses a threat to Alexandria and acts solely as a soldier, obeying orders without hesitation or showing emotion. Despite her infamously merciless behavior, she has a kind heart and willingness to forgive. Baku says Beatrix has a big heart, unlike the "knuckle-headed" Steiner. It is implied Beatrix feels lonely in her position, which in part leads her growing closer to Steiner.
===Abilities===
An extremely skilled and powerful swordswoman, Beatrix's legendary swordsmanship is known far and wide, holding the title of the "best swordsman in the continent". She even claims to have killed a hundred knights single-handedly, though Alexandria has not been in a war during her lifetime, so the circumstances of this boast are unknown. She can defeat the entire player party by herself. She can empower her sword with energy for various abilities, such as Stock Break, which releases energy all around the area with a single strike to the ground. She can use white magic and the non-elemental Shock spell. While as a boss, she is able to successfully execute Thunder Slash (when used via Swd Art or Seiken, it is bugged).
== Story ==
Beatrix has been seen as a prodigy in swordsmanship since her youth, and serves the Alexandrian royal family as a knight. When she was 17, she lost to Adelbert Steiner in a sword fight. On Princess Garnet's 16th birthday Tantalus Theater Troupe comes to Alexandria to perform I Want to be Your Canary. When Zorn and Thorn report the princess missing during the play, Beatrix responds and is much friendlier to the duo than Steiner.
After Garnet has escaped Alexandria Castle Queen Brahne sends bounty hunters to recover her pendant and sets out to capture other nations' crystal shards at the behest of her new ally, Kuja. In Burmecia Beatrix leads an attack against the Burmecians. A former member of Tantalus, Zidane, and his friends Vivi, Freya, and possibly Quina, discover her, and when a Burmecian soldier attacks her, they defend him. Beatrix defeats them easily and leaves. After Zidane and his friends recover, they travel to Cleyra, where the surviving Burmecians are taking refuge.
Beatrix prepares a diversion so Zidane and his friends would leave Cleyra so her army can attack it undefended. Zidane rounds up most of the survivors and takes them to the Cleyran cathedral, but Beatrix leaps inside and steals Cleyra's treasure, the crystal shard. Zidane, Vivi, Freya, and Quina fight her and are again defeated. Beatrix retreats to the Red Rose, which is Queen Brahne's private airship. Zidane, Vivi, and Freya follow, leaving Quina behind.
On the Red Rose, Beatrix wonders why Brahne insists on using black mages and eidolons in battle instead of her and her army, as the former simply destroy their targets outright. When she returns to Brahne with the jewel, she does not receive a word of thanks and learns Brahne is considering executing Princess Garnet, whom Zorn and Thorn have imprisoned back in Alexandria Castle. Beatrix begins to doubt Brahne's intentions, although she still follows her orders.
Back in Alexandria, Zidane, Vivi, Steiner, and Freya rescue Garnet, being held by Zorn and Thorn under Kuja's sleep spell. Beatrix fights them and wins, but Zidane reveals to her Garnet's condition. Beatrix decides she can no longer follow Brahne's orders, and heals Garnet and tells Brahne she can no longer trust her. Beatrix joins Freya and Steiner in an underground resistance movement to get Garnet, Zidane, and Vivi out of Alexandria, and Tantalus members Marcus and Blank join in as well.
When Kuja turns against Queen Brahne and defeats her, Beatrix helps Garnet prepare to become the new queen. She finds a love letter written by Doctor Tot for Eiko to give to Zidane, and mistakes it for a love letter from Steiner to her. That night the two fall in love on the docks as Marcus, Blank and Eiko watch from afar. Some time later, Kuja attacks Alexandria by summoning Bahamut. He also summons Mistodons, which Beatrix and Steiner fight to protect Alexandria, but the city is destroyed when Kuja's master Garland appears aboard the Invincible and decimates Alexandria Castle in his effort to destroy Gaia's eidolons.
Beatrix shows up during Zidane's search for Garnet after Cid Fabool IX has been turned back into a human. Zidane and Baku spot her, and Baku realizes she has a bigger heart than Steiner. Beatrix tells Zidane about Garnet's secret spot, and gives him the jewel Garnet. Beatrix appears on the Red Rose during the battle to enter Memoria, where it is revealed she showed up to protect Steiner.
Sometime after Kuja is defeated Tantalus returns to Alexandria to perform I Want to Be Your Canary for Queen Garnet. Beatrix makes up her mind to leave Alexandria, but while exiting the castle she is stopped by Steiner who confesses he does not wish to lose her again, and proposes they protect the queen together. After the actor "Marcus" in the play throws away his cloak revealing himself to be a returning Zidane, Steiner and Beatrix open the doors to allow Garnet to rush to him. When Zidane and Garnet embrace, Steiner and Beatrix raise the Save the Queen together.
== Gameplay ==
Beatrix appears both as a temporarily playable party member and as a boss. She is fought three times, but cannot be fully defeated. Instead, she will reduce the HP of the party to 1 and end the battle early after a couple of turns. Because of this, it is possible to end such battles without need to deal any damage to her, instead stealing some good equipment from her.
As a party member, she can only equip Save the Queen as a weapon, but has a wider range of armor options. She has access to a few Wht Mag abilities, as well as her own skillset Seiken, which shares some abilities with Steiner's Swd Art.
Beatrix can become a permanent playable character by means of various game changing memory edits or AR (action replay codes). This way one can play as Beatrix in areas where this is not supposed to be possible. She can equip most of the accessories and armor, but her sword can only be replaced with either AR codes, cheat engine or a save editor.
Beatrix is the only playable character who never participates in a battle alongside Zidane.
== Musical themes ==
Beatrix's theme is "Roses of May", playing when the party is on the Red Rose, after the battle against her in Alexandria, and when Zidane is looking for her after Garnet goes missing. "The Wavering Blade" plays when Zidane and his party fight her in Burmecia and Cleyra. Her battle theme is "Something to Protect", which is an orchestral, upbeat version of "Rose of May", and plays when she and Steiner protect Alexandria.
==Other appearances==
Beatrix has appeared in the following Final Fantasy series titles:
*Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia as a playable character.
*Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character.
*Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade as an ally and a summonable Legend.
*Final Fantasy Record Keeper as a boss and a playable character.
*Final Fantasy Brave Exvius as a summonable vision.
*Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as a card.
*Tetra Master Online as an AI opponent.
== Behind the scenes ==
Beatrix does not appear in an early development memo written by Hironobu Sakaguchi for the opening of Final Fantasy IX he's since shared online, and instead only Steiner guards the queen with his convoy of paladins. Beatrix was added to the scene later. No one in the final game is referred to as a paladin, but in the final game Beatrix fits the bill better than Steiner.
Beatrix's weapon, Save the Queen, can be synthesized through Hades in Memoria. Although no one can equip it, it can still be thrown by Amarant.
Before the battle in Cleyra, Beatrix is holding her sword in her right hand, however, at the same time it is still in its holder on the back of her jacket. This also happens when Beatrix attempts to resign her position as general at the end of the game, leaving Save the Queen in Garnet's room, but still having it on her back when she leaves the castle. In the final cutscene when Beatrix and Steiner lift Save the Queen together, she still has it in the holder as well.
==Gallery==
Beatrix CG FFIX Art.jpg|Concept CG render.
FFIX PC Battle of Alexandria 8.png|Beatrix fights alongside Steiner.
Beatrix-Mikoto-Red-Rose-FFIX.png|Beatrix commands the Red Rose.
Beatrix-and-Garnet-FFIX.png|Beatrix kneels in front of Garnet.
Beatrix Victory Pose.gif|Victory pose.
==Merchandise==
Beatrix is bundled with Freya for the Bring Arts series of figurines. The 6″ scale figures include a number of interchangeable parts and accessories. Freya stands at 3.7″ tall, while Beatrix stands at 2.4″ tall. Each includes interchangeable portraits, multiple interchangeable hands, weapons, and a figure stand. Beatrix comes with the Save the Queen sword.
==Etymology==
==References==
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ru:Беатрикс
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy IX
Category:Paladins
Category:Guest characters
Category:Antagonists