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
Her 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 in 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 bandana over her right eye and the eye is blue. 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 embalmed 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. However, 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 and Steiner are protecting Garnet, now the Queen of Alexandria, and allow her to meet Zidane once he reveals himself. Beatrix and Steiner raise their swords in victory.

Equipment and Stats
As a Paladin, Beatrix has high physical stats. However, she also has high magic stats, which is unusual for a Paladin. Her equipment draw consists mostly of heavy armor and female specifics, however, she can only equip one weapon: Save the Queen. However, 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.

Music
Beatrix's theme is called "Rose of May". "The Sword of Doubt" is the theme played when Zidane and his party do battle with her in Burmecia and Cleyra. Her battle theme song is titled "Protecting My Devotion" which is a more upbeat version of "Rose of May."

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, and it is scripted for the battle to be lost.

Etymology
Beatrix is the feminine form of the Latin word Beatus which means "blessed, made happy", referring to her relationship with Steiner.