Battes

*"At the end of the day, who can you blame? My husband...was a vicious, disgusting pig...and the bill for his actions came due for him. Just as mine came due for me."*

-Battes to Vaggie, on why she is responsible for her condition

## Character Informaton

### Nicknames

BattesBatty (by Angel Dust)

Annabelle (by Mercer, endearment)

### Likes

Listening to musicCooking

Playing Violin

Chess

Being with Ian Mercer

Spending time with Charlie, Vaggie and Millie

Working to redeem her and Ian's souls

### Dislikes

AbuseFriends fighting

Feeling Inferior

Rumors about her

Loud music and sounds

Loona

## Biological Information

### Abilities

FlightPoisonous Bite

Empathy

Superhuman hearing and perception

Learned in Deamonology

Mathematical Savant

## Professional Status

### Occupation

Housewife (Formerly, Human life)Cook of the Hazbin Hotel (Currently)

## Relationships

### Family

Scoobi Hogger (ex-husband)Angi Bakkes (Mother)

Unnamed Father

### Friends

Charlie (Friend)Vaggie (Friend)

Angel Dust (Friend)

Cherri Bomb (Frenemies)

Blitzo (Friend...?)

Moxie (Friend)

Millie (Friend)

### Enemies

Scoobi Hogger (Archnemesis/ex-husband)Hera Mercer (Ian's ex-wife/ by proxy)

Abaddon (by proxy)

Valentino

## Battes

**Battes** is a sinner and resident of the Hazbin Hotel. An abused housewife from South Africa, Battes sin was the brutal murder of her sadistic and rapacious husband, Scoobi Hogger. Despite her circumstances and what others say, Battes acknowledges that she and she alone is to blame for her own actions. Battes, for the most part a gentle advocate, refuses to use violence unless given no other choice, or when she mentally snaps.

## Appearance

Battes is a tall woman with light gray skin, inky black hair and orange eyes. Her teeth are filed to points and her fingers end in talon-like nails. Her ears are elongated and tapered, hypersensitive to sound. She dresses usually in black shoes, slim jeans, a white tee shirt and a gray windbreaker. When flying, her arms expand and turn into wings capable of flight.

When pushed into an aggressive state, her eyes roll over to white with a red outline, her nose flares, and her hackles raise, making it look like quills jutting out of her back. Her nails go from looking like talons to full on claws, and her teeth sharpen considerably.

As a human, Battes was a petite woman with fair skin, blonde hair and green eyes.

## Personality

Battes is a gentle, selfless and quiet woman. She has a very motherly attitude and gives of herself liberally to her friends without asking anything in return. She is not confrontational, but is also not a pushover when push comes to shove. She is willing to stand up to others and work out a peaceful resolution, and regards violence with distaste unless all other options are exhausted.

As a former housewife, Battes is an exceptional cook, and enjoys sharing South African Cuisine to the residents of the Hotel. She also occasionally helps Nifty with housekeeping and Charlie and Vaggie in coming up with the daily agenda. If not otherwise engaged, she enjoys playing violin, reading and spending time with her boyfriend, Ian Mercer.

Battes does suffer from an inferiority complex, however, due to her abuse at the hands of her ex-husband, and if pushed the wrong way, can become disheartened and vacillatative. She is also extremely self conscious and hates the body Hell gave her. It doesn't help that her ears can hear every disparaging remark around her. Furthermore, she is prone to snapping when pushed over the edge, and can become uncharacteristically violent in such a state.

Battes is impressively learned in Demonology, from many nights of reading. She thus knows her way around various charms and spells to help keep Ian hidden from Abaddon and his all-seeing third eye. She is also a profound mathematical genius, able to work extremely complex equations in her head at a snap. She has no idea where this ability stems from, as she has no particular interest in math.

## History

*"Well, it's very simple...why should anyone be angry because they got what they asked for? Its not what you want to hear, yet its clear...we as humans all have a nasty habit of crawling back to the people and things we hate..."*

-Battes to Angel Dust

Battes grew up in an unspecified area of South Africa, though likely Cape Town, as she states she remembers the sea as a little girl. She grew up happily enough in a deeply religious and traditional Afrikaner family, and was known to be very close to her mother, Angi Bakkes. It is not clear as to how they met, but it is implied she met and married Scoobi Hogger relatively quickly. Despite speculation, she denies it was an arranged marriage, citing that her parents weren't even aware of the marriage until they received the wedding invitation. This may possibly indicate that Hogger's manipulation and domination of Annabelle was very fast indeed.

For the first few years, Hogger wasn't overtly abusive, but was extremely manipulative. Battes states that this period is what entraped her to his abusive nature. It wasn't until his trucking business went in decline and he took to drinking that he started beating her. Hogger would refuse to allow her to see her family, and would drive a wedge between her and her mother. Annabelle at this point, realizing her position, states this was her fault, refusing to seek help. Annabelle constantly appealed to Scoobi's better nature, but Scoobi unfortunately had no better nature. Her devotion, care and fidelity to her rapacious and vicious husband was only met with more abuse.

Finally, Scoobi was fired for drunk driving. Arriving home, he saw a common post office worker leaving the house. Scoobi assumed Annabelle was cheating when she was merely offering him cookies. Completing his infernal descent, Scoobi beat Annabelle horrifically and raped her in the kitchen before attempting to murder her by choking her. At this point, Annabelle lost her mind. Reaching her breaking point, she grabbed a kitchen knife and proceeded to gruesomely disembowel her husband before bisecting him with shovel while she sang nursery rhymes. After she calmed down (relatively speaking) she was driven to hysteria over what she had done, fleeing the scene in Scoobi's car. Disoriented and traumatized, she didn't see the drunk driver who swerved into her lane.

Annabelle woke up in Hell, traumatized again by, in her mind, her gruesomely mangled body. Horrified of her transformation into a Human/Bat hybrid, her day only got worse when the first person she met in hell was no one else but Scoobi himself, now a disgusting Pig Demon.

Annabelle, now calling herself "Battes" (due to her belief of being unworthy of a "human" name) was brought to Valentino and trained by Angel Dust to be a dancer. This fascilitated the two's friendship. Due to her continued abuse at the hands of Scoobi Hogger her mental stability continued to decline but she never blamed anyone else but herself for her predicament. Battes took it upon herself to look after the other men and women in the establishment, most of whom also abused her or ignored her. Valentino meanwhile pressured her to be more sexually explicit in her dancing and perform sex tapes. She refused, continuing to do only softcore dancing. Despite this, she was very popular and brought in alot of money.

Finally, Battes snapped again, and in a fit of defiant rage, destroyed her living cell's furniture. This resulted in Valentino punishing her by putting her on his street hooker roster, with the order to pull tricks until she paid him back for the damages.

## Trivia

* Annabelle is name of Latin-French descent, with Anna having a Latin root in "Grace" and Belle being French for "Beauty".
* Battes speaks English with a pronounced Afrikaans accent. When stressed or angry, she begins to ramble in Afrikaans, with her signature exclamation, "Hoekom ek?" meaning "Why me?"
* Battes and Mercer's relationship is almost completely non-sexual, given the nature of physical contact being painful for Mercer. Instead, they draw comfort from each other's presence.
* Battes has two musical solos in Hazbin Hotel, a rendition of the Murder of Jane Crow song, "I'm Not Afraid Of The Dark," and the original "Dare I Try Again?". She shares a duet with Ian Mercer, "Love in the Fire," and with Vaggie, "A Cage With No Locks."

## Musical numbers

Cage with no locks

(Battes)

Where do we go when the dusk has fallen. How do we see the light?

Who do we turn to in the instant calling Can we even stand to fight?

I missed that que so long ago And I fear my chances are spent

But deep within me I know I’m not alone Even if my path broken and bent

(Vaggie)

Hope so forlorn in the dust and neon The keys are all rusty and scarred

Everyday feels like a aching eon And my heart is bitter and hard

I know I’m not free, I will not be deceived My soul is lost to fate

I roam in the city where once I believed I’d be unchained from all of my hate

Both (refrain)

I’ve fallen down,

Down in the dirt

A bird with broken wings

But I won’t cry, ignore the hurt

They put me away

In a cage with no locks

It doesn’t matter how far I run

They tell me all hope is lost

(Battes)

Here comes the jeering faces sneering They tell me to just give in

(Vaggie)

Belittle me, scorn me with faces leering Their words I cannot contend

I am so lost but i still wake to the day Think it only goes right from here

(Battes)

Every morning I wonder and pray Even as I keep drowning in fear

(Refrain)x2

(Battes)

I hear the howls, I hear the cries of loneliness and pain

Is that me?  Am I losing my mind? Or is it part of the punishment I have gained

I want to retreat, I beg to be safe A rock and refuge in this cursed place

And just when I think I can’t take any more I turn around and see his face…

Refrain (reprise) (both)

I’m rising up

Out of the rain

My wings are healed enough

And there’s no more pain

I will be free

Of this cage with no locks

I’ll run and leave it all behind

And I know…

Oh, yes, I know…

All hope isn’t lost…