I’ve commented elsewhere that the older and more cynical I get, my protagonists become less and less moral paragons. Now, there’s a time and a place for more innocent and upstanding leads, but sometimes you need to get down in the dirt with someone who’s got some grime stuck to him. The general idea for Batista’s look (and the origin of his surname) is Jetstream Sam from Metal Gear Rising. He first appeared in the dream that would become Chapter 1 of CeleKing2. Interestingly enough, I was building a backstory for the character as the dream was ongoing. He was a centurion in the Imperial Guard from a common background who had won his place among the elite through his skill as a warrior. I would later go back and dig up an old idea I had about a society divided between Infernals and Celestials and a fallen Celestial taken in by an Infernal, which would be developed into CeleKing1. I decided that I wanted to introduce Yasuko’s parents and their story before she would take center stage, hence the structure of the CeleKing trilogy being what it is.

We get bits and pieces of Batista’s backstory throughout the trilogy, with an obvious focus in CeleKing1. He was the son of Zacarias Rodrigues, a restaurateur who was a former conscript, one who didn’t fall into banditry after being demobilized like so many others. Zacarias met Batista’s mother Isabella through her brother Jorge Avilar (Tío Jorge), who was in the same unit of conscripts. They settled not too far from where Zacarias was demobilized and Zacarias set up shop in the dusty little town of Ciruela. Taking on the family business was never in the cards for Batista, who was kicked out of the mission school for delinquency and frequently ran away from home. During this time, he’d commit a number of petty crimes and strained the law’s leniency toward minor offenders to its limits in several counties. He had a brief period of stability after Tío Jorge was discharged from the Regulars. He admired his uncle’s military service and started to apprentice in Tío Jorge’s tinker shop. However, there was a bone of contention in the form of Tío Jorge’s pretty young wife Nayeli. What started as an adolescent crush eventually got out of hand and led to a major falling out between Batista and Tío Jorge. Not long thereafter, Batista got his conscription orders. The main reason why he didn’t become a draft dodger was because he was seeking something different for himself far away from both home and his uncle. Though far from a model soldier, he proved to have a high aptitude as a fighter. He wasn’t eligible for enlistment in the Regulars due to his numerous disciplinary infractions, so instead he became a mercenary in the Regimiento de Rionegro. Most of his career as a mercenary was spent fighting in Viet Tay (Xiyue), and his record was a bit of a checkered one. War is never a pretty thing, but some make a dirtier business of it than others. There were few lines he wouldn’t cross and for those that he wouldn’t, he looked the other way while others did on more than one occasion. Although he was mostly aimless, going from one battefield to the next and enjoying what pleasures he could in between, there was a vague sense of planning for his future, even if he didn’t know what that would be. Many soldiers live paycheck to paycheck, but Batista was putting a fair bit back, savings that would be confiscated once he deserted. It was precisely his lack of direction which made it so easy Capitán Trieu to convince him to reup and take the promotion to sargento at the start of CeleKing1. Had Fate not had other plans for him, he would’ve continued on that path until he was either killed in action or too old to keep on fighting.

We’ve established that Batista was hardly hero material when he is introduced and while we later learn that his particular susceptibility to the Mandate of Heaven is a big part of why he rescued Masako from Coronel Obrado, there was also an element of pent-up guilt over all the times he’d turned a blind eye to unpleasant goings-on in the past to make for something of a perfect storm spurring him to action. From there, we have the adventure as you know it, with him struggling to keep both himself and Masako alive and out of enemy hands while trying to ward off the growing attachment to the young princess. Could he have made a clean break from her? It’s unlikely. Despite what his head is telling him, his heart is directed elsewhere, and tied to how the Mandate of Heaven has bound him to Masako, his efforts to maintain his distance most likely would have failed even without the ever increasing extremity of their circumstances. After the events of CeleKing1, he wasn’t able to maintain his professional separation from Masako for long. Due to their difference in station, despite being married, Batista was essentially the male equivalent of a concubine in the eyes of Imperial law. Although Imperial society on Erdi leans toward old-school patriarchy, most women of rank enjoy their gallants just as their male counterparts have their concubines, mistresses and whatnot. Had Masako remained exclusive to Batista, she would have been seen as more of an oddity and their children would have a difficult time inheriting House Suzuki.

Speaking of children, things changed significantly for them after Yasuko was born. An assassination attempt on Masako by remnants of Lord Feng’s faction led to Batista putting Yasuko in Tío Jorge’s care, something Masako was very reluctant to agree to. It drove a bit of a wedge between them, and before it could be resolved, Batista found himself assigned to Prince Wusheng out on the frontier. He could neither lead the hunt for Masako’s enemies, nor go fetch Yasuko once the coast was clear. Part of the reason Batista rose to prominence in the Imperial Guard, rising to centurion and earning the title of “Jiansheng” (“剣聖”, or basically “sword saint”) was because he was trying to earn his ticket back to the Capital. It was quite the stroke of Fate that he would finally return to the Capital at the same time Yasuko launched her infiltration. (You could just blame the contrivance of the author, to which the author might suggest that a certain scheming antagonist may have taken the opportunity to guide the pieces on the board according to his plan.) Naturally, Batista is thrown into confusion by the circumstances of Yasuko’s return and Masako’s new marital situation. However, much as before, he’s given the runaround by his duties to prevent him from taking a more active role in the situation. (Sturla obviously wouldn’t want him too deeply involved while he’s busy grooming Yasuko.) While his relationship with his wife and daughter is left strained and distant, he finds Prince Sturla moving in instead. He resents Sturla for taking his wife but is mindful of not just his political power but also his skill as a swordsman. Sturla being as familiar and flippant as he is only makes things more uncomfortable for Batista. This culminates with Sturla naming him his personal bodyguard after being crowned Emperor. Batista knows he’s being manipulated throughout, but he isn’t really in a position to do anything else but obey… until Yasuko defects to the New Earth Empire, that is.

Naturally, Batista wasn’t acting out of loyalty to Sturla or the Empire when he faced down his daughter. His intention was to stop her before she could attempt a fight she had no chance of winning, and, if possible, get to safety with her mother. He ended up pulling his punches, though, and he underestimated Yasuko’s new enhancements. From there, as you know, he had the choice of letting Sigma stabilize his wounds to give him a chance at survival or make one last effort to save his daughter from her archnemesis. For someone who had often strayed far from the path of a hero in his life, his own flesh and blood being on the line made the decision easy for him. Did he resort to a cheap sneak attack? You bet your buttons he did, because anything else would have almost certainly failed. His training as a knight of the Imperial Guard didn’t change his essential nature as a mercenary who fights to win. He accomplished what he meant to, which isn’t a bad way to go out.

What more is there to say about our boy Batista? He loved and lost, bled and bloodied. Quite a ride for some street punk who didn’t seem like he’d ever amount to anything. Next time, we’ll take a look at his progeny, who inherited a lot of his bad habits. Stay tuned.

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