Beatrix

General Beatrix is a temporary player character from Final Fantasy IX. She is the top general and most trusted warrior of the all-female army of Alexandria, and does not like to take a back seat to anyone, especially Kuja and his black mages. She at first is loyal to Queen Brahne, but is later convinced her first priority is protecting the citizens of Alexandria. Beatrix is respected among warriors all around the world as the finest of them all.

Appearance and Personality
Beatrix has a tall, slender, and curvy body type with chestnut brown hair. She wears a silver eye patch over her right eye, with the left being a purple/reddish color, however, in the original concept art, she has a bandana over her right eye, and the left eye is blue. She has the habit of frequently tossing back her hair with her hand. She wears less armor than the heavily clad Steiner, and as a result, is more agile. Beatrix 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. She wears 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.

Beatrix at first views Adelbert Steiner, the Captain of the Knights of Pluto and a warrior in her senior, as a rival. Beatrix is bitter and Steiner is infuriated over the superiority of Alexandrian Soldiers led by Beatrix over his Knights of Pluto.

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 translation, as it is in the original Japanese version.

Beatrix shows no mercy for one who poses a threat against Alexandria and acts solely as a soldier, obeying orders without hesitation or showing emotion. Despite her infamously merciless behavior, she is revealed to have 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.

Her legendary swordsmanship is known far and wide and Beatrix holds the title of the "best swordsman in the continent". Because of such fearsome power, she is often called "the cold-blooded woman who silences even the crying infant" or "Beatrix who felled 100 men".

Story
Her past is mostly cloudy, although Beatrix has been noted since her youth as a prodigy in swordsmanship, and has been serving the Alexandrian royal family as a knight. On Princess Garnet Til Alexandros XVII's 16th birthday Tantalus Theater Troupe comes to Alexandria to perform I Want to be Your Canary for the queen and the princess. When Zorn and Thorn report that the princess is missing, she responds to them and is much friendlier to them than Steiner.

After Garnet has escaped the 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. Zidane, 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 into the cathedral 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. When she returns to Brahne with the jewel, she does not receive a single word of thanks and learns Brahne is considering executing Princess Garnet. 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 shows 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 thinks it is a love letter from Steiner for her. That night the two fall in love on the docks, as Marcus, Blank, and Eiko watch. Some time later, Kuja attacks Alexandria by summoning Bahamut. He also summons Mistodons, which Beatrix and Steiner fight in order to protect Alexandria, but the city is destroyed.

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 later 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 Alexandria Castle she is stopped by Steiner who confesses he does not wish to lose her again, and says they should protect the queen together. After the actor "Marcus" in the play throws away his cloak revealing himself to be Zidane during the performance of I Want to be Your Canary, 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.

Battle
Beatrix has both high physical and magical stats, and knows many devastating attacks as well as healing spells, making her somewhat akin to a Paladin. She does not gain enough MP to consistently use her expensive abilities.

Equipment
Beatrix can only equip one weapon, and that weapon is Save the Queen while her armor consist of helmets, gauntlets, heavy armor, and can also equipment most female-exclusive equipment. She cannot equip any other swords or knight swords. Save the Queen's attack power is low, but it has a special damage algorithm that adds the user's level to its attack power, making it the game's strongest weapon if the user is around or above Level 85. Beatrix's equipment option cannot be fully viewed unless the player hack all items into their inventory with a cheating device for the short duration of time that Beatrix is in the player's party.

Abilities
Since Beatrix is only a temporary party member, she joins the party with all her abilities mastered. She has neither a Trance bar nor any support abilities and she cannot learn any new abilities from equipment but does gain Magic Stones upon levelling up. She can use Wht Mag spells, a total of eight spells that are a mixture of Garnet's and Eiko's spells. She also uses a special command called Seiken, which consists of four of Steiner's Sword Arts: #Thunder Slash|Thunder Slash, Stock Break, Climhazzard, and Shock. Beatrix, unlike Steiner, can successfully employ the Thunder Slash ability; when Steiner uses it he is crippled by the Thunder Slash Glitch.

Boss
Beatrix is fought as a boss three times during the course of Final Fantasy IX, but it is not possible to defeat her because the fights end automatically when she uses an attack that reduces the party's HP to 1. If lucky, the player may steal some good items and equipment from her.

Musical Themes
Beatrix's theme is "Rose 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 on Disc 3. "The Wavering Blade" is the theme played when Zidane and his party do battle with her in Burmecia and Cleyra. Her battle theme song is titled "Something to Protect", which is an orchestral, upbeat version of "Rose of May", and is played when she and Steiner are trying to protect Alexandria.

Creation and Development
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.

Pictlogica Final Fantasy
Beatrix appears in Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Beatrix is an ally and a summonable Legend in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade. Her EX ability is Stock Break.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Beatrix appears alongside Steiner in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game with a Fire-elemental card.

Etymology
"Beatrix" is a name associated with, though not originated from, the Latin word beatus, which originally meant "made happy, blessed". A is a person who is likely to become a saint.

Also in Latin, beatrix means "female soldier", so her name directly reflects her role on the game.

Additionally, the name "Beatrice" is a form of "Beatrix" which means, "she who makes others happy" or "bringer of joy".

Trivia

 * Beatrix's weapon, Save the Queen, can be obtained by synthesizing through Hades in Memoria. Although no one can equip it, it can still be thrown by Amarant.
 * In her victory pose, Beatrix sheaths her weapon and flips her hair back as she does in most of the game's cutscenes.
 * 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. It 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, as well as in the final cutscene of the game, when Beatrix and Steiner lift Save the Queen together.
 * Beatrix shares several similarities with Leo Cristophe from Final Fantasy VI. Both work for an enemy empire before defecting to the party's side, both are temporary playable characters with much higher stats than regular party members, and both have access to the Shock ability, and beg forgiveness to the character whose brethren had been slaughtered mercilessly by their nations (Cyan Garamonde in Leo's case, Freya Crescent in Beatrix's case).