Beatrix

General Beatrix is a temporary player character in 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
Beatrix is tall, slender, and curvy and has chestnut brown hair. She wears a silver eye patch over her right eye, with the left being a purple/reddish color. In the original 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 Adelbert Steiner, and thus 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, 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 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 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 translation, 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.

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
Beatrix has been noted since her youth as a prodigy in swordsmanship, and serves 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 the princess missing, she responds and is much friendlier to them 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. 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 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. When she returns to Brahne with the jewel, she does not receive a 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 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.

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 the 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 a returning 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.

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. It is possible to steal some good equipment from her.

As a party member, she can only equip Save the Queen as a weapon, but has a higher range of armor she can equip. 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 be hacked into the game and become a permanent playable member 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, Save the Queen, can only be replaced with either AR codes, cheat engine or a save editor.

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 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.


 * Ability Cards

Final Fantasy Record Keeper


Beatrix is a playable character and a boss fought in select Classic, Elite, and Event dungeons related to Final Fantasy IX. During the Challenge Event Someone to Protect, Beatrix could be recruited as the First Time Reward for completing the event's Alexandria Castle, Part 2 stage in Part 1.

Beatrix is a Paladin, whose combat role is Physical/Magic Hybrid.
 * Assessment

Beatrix is only the second Paladin to appear in Record Keeper, behind Cecil of Final Fantasy IV. Nevertheless, she is just as much a holy knight as her counterpart, able to use many of the same sets of skills and, at least for the moment, similar attacks. She is also one of a very few who can mend allies without need of a Cure spell. She cannot, however, access Support skills as Cecil can; then again, Cecil does not have access to the full range of White Magic as Beatrix does. Once again, it will be up to the player as to when Beatrix should be deployed. The only other female mage-knight to match her skill is Celes, whose mastery of spellblades will complement Beatrix's White Magic nicely in assault formations.


 * Stats

Beatrix can use White Magic spells up to rarity rank 5, Combat abilities up to rarity rank 5, and Knight abilities up to rarity rank 5.
 * Abilities

Her default Soul Break is Blessed Cure which at the expense of one Soul Gauge segment restores a moderate amount of HP to one ally. The sword Save the Queen (IX) allows Beatrix to use Seiken Stock Break which at the expense of one Soul Gauge segment deals three physical holy attacks to all targets with a moderate chance to Sap them. The bracer Thunder Gloves (IX) grants access to Rose of May, which for one Soul Gauge segment unleashes a four-hit combo on one target, then boosts the party's Defense by a moderate amount.

Beatrix can equip the following weapon types: daggers and swords. The sword Save the Queen (IX) allows Beatrix to use Seiken Stock Break.
 * Equipment

She can equip the following armor types: shields, hats, helms, light armor, heavy armor, and bracers. The bracer Thunder Gloves (IX) unlocks Rose of May.

She can equip accessories.

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

Tetra Master
Beatrix appears as an opponent in PlayOnline's Tetra Master.

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.


 * 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 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).