Barret Wallace

**Barret Wallace** (バレット・ウォーレス, *Baretto Wōresu*) is a major recurring character in the series. He is the leader of a cell of the eco-terrorist group Avalanche, trying to prevent Shinra Electric Power Company from using mako, the life source of the planet, as a form of energy.

Barret fights passionately for his cause to protect the planet. He cares greatly for his allies, motivating them with powerful speeches, while also himself fighting on the front lines of his cell's operations. His seemingly benevolent cause of fighting for the planet is a cover for his personal vendetta and anger, which he later must come to terms with. Despite his brash and sometimes violent attitude, Barret has a good heart, and is torn between fighting and caring for his daughter, Marlene.

## Description

*A faction leader of the anti-Shinra militant group Avalanche. Barret is filled with a burning hatred for Shinra, a company he claims is destroying the planet. His right arm has been modified into a firearm, allowing him to attack his enemies at long range.*
### Appearance

Barret is a heavy-set, muscular dark-skinned man. His right arm was mangled in the loss of his hometown, and has been replaced with his weapon, the gun-arm, which lets him interchange various weapon attachments to it. Barret has several bands of metal around his waist, and a tattoo of a skull on his left shoulder. His hair is cut similar to a hi-top fade. He has a thick beard, as well as two dog tags around his neck. He has three scars on his right cheek. He also wears a silver hoop earring in his left ear.

He wears a dirty brown vest, a black tank under his vest (with visible chest hair), cargo style pants, and zipper-black styled boots. On his remaining arm, he wears a leather bracer with small metal plates strapped on top of it instead of the simple bonds of metal, and his basic gun-arm resembles a modern rotary-style machine gun.

### Personality

Barret is a passionate and emotionally-driven leader, caring deeply about his cause and his teammates. His energetic, rousing speeches motivate his team, whose burdens he promises to lift. Barret's passion is a double-edged sword, and can lead him to be reckless, such as him cutting ties with the rest of Avalanche after arguments, when he puts himself in harm's way urging the team to attack Shinra's headquarters head-on, and when he almost kills the Shinra executives while stowed away on the cargo ship. Barret strives to be strong for others, which can mean concealing some feelings that occasionally slip through, from hidden concerns for Cloud's well-being, to his fear of heights. In addition to his teammates, Barret is attached to his daughter, Marlene. He is torn between his role as a father and his cause to protect the planet, wishing he could be with her all the time, but realizing he must fight for her future. Upon realizing she understands this, Barret remarks she is tougher than he is.

Barret holds firmly to his cause with a strong sense of righteousness, believing he can hear the planet's cries of pain, and being well-read on planetology and the history of the Ancients. His worldview, which he jumps at any opportunity to argue about or broadcast, is dogmatic and black-and-white. He blames Shinra for every evil faced by society, even viewing their low-level employees as guilty, and is quick to dismiss any notion that they have improved anyone's lives. However, though his concern for the planet is genuine, a major component of his actions is self-righteousness. When President Shinra offers him anything, Barret asks only for his name to be cleared, as of Shinra's character attacks and smears, the only one that irks him is being smeared as a pawn of Wutai. Barret's creed and vendetta against Shinra is also a coping mechanism for the guilt he feels for helping Shinra move to (and eventually ruin) his hometown of Corel. The reminder of this fuels his rage further, as well as his worldview that one must accept their complicity to redeem themselves.

Barret is loyal and protective of his daughter and teammates, whom he shares mutual respect with. Despite cutting ties with them and some of them being slow to warm to him, he admires many past teammates at Avalanche, and remains optimistic for them. Barret and Tifa rely upon one another for support. Barret's reassurance she is doing the right thing is crucial when she has her doubts, while she serves as a moral compass for him, grounding him to do the right thing and to practice restraint. Barret is slow to trust new faces, as is particularly evident with Cloud. Initially, Barret suspects that Cloud has remained loyal to Shinra, and deems him "a little shit with a big attitude and a bigger inferiority complex", leading to his dislike before seeing through Cloud's persona and realizing he had a good heart. The two then become friends, with Barret being able to open up to Cloud and connect with him emotionally. Barret's slow trust of others is not true of everyone, as he immediately takes to Aerith upon learning she helped Marlene, feeling indebted to her and bonding with her out of his respect for her heritage as a Cetra.

After accomplishing his cause, Barret looked for for a new meaning to his life once his vendetta with Shinra was settled. He felt isolated from viewing himself as a monster because of his gun-arm, and the guilt over the chaos Avalanche had caused caught up with him, namely the death of the group's members under his leadership. Barret sought both a new life, and a way to atone for his "minefield of mistakes".

## Powers and Abilities

Barret's grafted gun-arm is a powerful machine gun that gives him an advantage in ranged combat. His default weapon is a Gatling Gun and he is typically seen with a minigun-like attachment to his arm. His gatling gun uses repurposed handugn bullets from 4-4.5 cm thick magazines due to their low price and ease of acquisition, meaning the shots are weak and inaccurate, but Barret overcomes this by sheer volume of fire. He can be outfitted with missile launchers as well as mechanic melee weapons, including a chainsaw, a wrecking ball, and mechanical claws. His Limit Break abilities involve him charging up this weapon into a more powerful attack. This includes using it as a grenade launcher or firing an immense barrage of bullets, as well as laying markers to call down lasers from satellites. Beyond this, Barret is durable, represented in gameplay by his high HP stat.

Barret's greatest strength is his willpower and drive, which allow him not only to motivate his team with rousing speeches, but also to motivate himself. These qualities make him a capable leader. Barret is headstrong, willing to put himself in harm's way for his cause and those he cares about, allowing him to face any danger (though this is sometimes also to his detriment). At the battle for the Sector 7 pillar, Barret was the only member of his cell to reach the top intact, owing possibly to his own willpower as well as his durability.

## Etymology

* The name Barret is a Japanese transliteration of the English word "bullet".
* In English and Japanese, Barret's name is also phonetically identical to Barrett, a firearms manufacturer and term used for their guns.
* His last name Wallace is of French origin and means "foreigner". Due to his prominent role as fighting against Shinra, Barret's surname may allude to William Wallace, a Scottish landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence, who is the subject of the 1995 Academy Award-winning film *Braveheart*.