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 Mage army. She at first appears loyal only to Queen Brahne. However, she is convinced that her first priority is protecting the citizens of Alexandria. She is in love with Adelbert Steiner, the captain of the all male Knights of Pluto. Beatrix is respected among warriors all around the world as the finest of them all.

Concept and Personality
Beatrix's birthplace and family are not revealed in the game. Her past is mostly cloudy, except for the fact that Beatrix has been noted since her youth as a prodigy in swordsmanship and has been serving the Alexandrian royal family as a knight.

Beatrix views Adelbert Steiner, the Captain of the Knights of Pluto and a warrior in her senior, as a rival. This rivalry originates from an unexpected, and in many viewpoints very lucky victory of Steiner against Beatrix in a practice match when she was 18 years old (Steiner at time being 23). Since her humiliating loss, she has further devoted herself to the art of war and knighthood. General Beatrix and Captain Steiner are still at odds in the beginning of the game, Beatrix bitter and Steiner 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 quite confident in her ability as a soldier, and can be seen as being arrogant because of this. Beatrix also has an outstanding ability as a leader, collecting loyalty and admiration from both the public and the soldiers under her. As for her behavior, she is soft spoken and addresses people with perfect manners, be it to her soldiers or to an enemy (this fact is not so obvious in the English translation, although very apparent in the original Japanese version of the game), yet she shows no mercy for one who poses a threat against Alexandria. From her loyalty, Beatrix acts solely as a soldier, obeying orders without hesitation or showing any emotion.

The heroic and legendary swordsmanship of Beatrix is known far and wide across the world, 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".

Beatrix has a tall, slender, and curvy body type with chestnut brown hair curled at the end. 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 bandanna over her right eye and the eye is blue. She also has the habit of frequently tossing back her hair with her hand. She wears hardly any armor compared to the heavily clad Steiner, and as a result is much more speedy. Her clothing consists of a red and white top with a rose embroidered on the back over a pair of leather, reddish-brown pants tucked within a pair of mail boots. A belt is tucked around her waist at an angle, holding her sword, Save the Queen, behind her.

Story
Beatrix is first seen during the play, I Want to be Your Canary, at the beginning of the game, where she responds to Zorn and Thorn when they tell her Princess Garnet is missing. Beatrix is much friendlier to them than Steiner is.

Beatrix is next seen in Burmecia, where she is leading an attack against the Burmecians along with Queen Brahne and Kuja. Zidane, Vivi, Freya, and Quina discover her, and when a Burmecian soldier attacks her, they defend him. However, Beatrix defeats them easily and runs away. 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 can leave Cleyra so her army can attack it undefended. However, Zidane is able to round up most of the survivors and take them to the Cleyran cathedral. But Beatrix leaps into the cathedral and steals Cleyra's treasure, a jewel. Zidane, Vivi, Freya, and Quina fight her again and get defeated again. Beatrix then retreats to the Red Rose, which is Queen Brahne's private airship. Zidane, Vivi, and Freya follow.

On the Red Rose, Beatrix wonders why Brahne insists on using Black Mages and Eidolons in battle instead of her and her army. The female Alexandrian soldiers, however, still trust Beatrix. When she returns to Brahne with the jewel, she does not receive a word of thanks, and learns that Brahne is interested in executing Princess Garnet. At this point, Beatrix begins to doubt Brahne's intentions, although she still follows her orders.

Back in Alexandria, Zidane, Vivi, Freya, and Steiner rescue Garnet, who was being held in a trance by Zorn and Thorn. Beatrix comes to them again, and gets into a fight with them. She wins again, but Zidane shows her Garnet's condition. At this point, Beatrix decides that she can no longer follow Brahne's orders, and she heals Garnet and tells Brahne that she can no longer trust her. Beatrix joins Freya and Steiner in an underground resistance movement designed to get Garnet and Zidane out of Alexandria, and it is revealed that Marcus and Blank join in as well.

When Kuja defeats Queen Brahne, Beatrix helps Garnet prepare to become queen. She also finds a love letter written by Doctor Tot for Eiko to give to Zidane, and thinks that 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 on. However, some time later, Kuja attacks Alexandria by summoning Bahamut, who is under his control. He also summons Mistodons, which Beatrix and Steiner must fight in order to protect Alexandria. However, Alexandria is eventually destroyed.

Beatrix shows up next 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 that she has a much bigger heart than Steiner. Beatrix tells Zidane about Garnet's secret spot, and gives him the Garnet. She then appears on the Red Rose during the battle to enter Memoria, where it is revealed that she showed up to protect Steiner. Mikoto, a Genome, also appears on the Red Rose, and tries to contact Zidane.

During the ending, Beatrix makes up her mind to leave Alexandria, believing her duty there had finished. While leaving the castle she is stopped by Steiner who confesses that he does not wish to lose her again and says that they should both protect the queen; convincing her to stay. After Zidane reveals himself in a performance of I Want to be Your Canary, Steiner and Beatrix open the doors to allow Garnet to rush down to him. When Zidane and Garnet embrace, Steiner and Beatrix are shown raising Save the Queen together.

Equipment and Stats
As a Paladin, Beatrix has high physical stats, as well as high magic stats. Her equipment draw consists mostly of heavy armor and female specifics, but she can only equip one weapon: Save the Queen. She does not have enough MP to consistently use her expensive skillset.

Abilities
Beatrix can use White Magic, and can use a mix of Garnet and Eiko's spells. She also uses a special command called Seiken, which consists of four of Steiner's Sword Arts, those being Thunder Slash, Stock Break, Climhazzard, and Shock. She has no Support abilities. Beatrix, unlike Steiner, can successfully employ the Thunder Slash technique; when Steiner uses it he is crippled by the Thunder Slash Glitch.

Music
Beatrix's theme is called "Rose of May", playing when the party are 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.

Battle
Beatrix is fought as a boss three times during the course of Final Fantasy IX. Despite the regular difficulty of the fights, 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, and it is scripted for the battle to be lost, even though is not a Game Over.

Etymology
"Beatrix" is a name associated with, though not originated from, the Latin word "Beatus", which meant originally "made happy, blessed". A beatus 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.

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 sheathes her weapon and flips her hair back as she does in most of the game's cutscenes.

Beatrix