Beatrice Portinari

Overview

Beatrice Portinari is the lover of Dante Alighieri, protagonist of the game and warrior in the Holy Crusades. Beatrice was to marry Dante, but when he was called to fight in the Crusades she gave him her cross and asked him to keep her brother Francesco, another warrior in the conflict, safe from harm. She also made a deal with Lucifer, that if Dante remained faithful to her during the Crusades Lucifer would be obliged to make sure he return home safely, but if he were to sleep with another woman, Lucifer would gain possession of her soul.

During the Crusades Dante slept with a slave girl and unknowingly gave Lucifer possession of Beatrice's soul. Beatrice is killed by the father of the slave girl and Dante reaches her after returning from the Crusade, just in time to see her die. He observes Lucifer dragging Beatrice to hell and Beatrice expressing that she promised to go with him.

After descending into hell Dante finds Beatrice's cross is imbued with a holy power that allows him to defeat the creatures of hell, and the save points within the game appear as statues of Beatrice. She later appears more than once in the second circle of hell, lust, where she appears in a more demonic dress and Dante sees her on a bed with Lucifer. She also appears to Dante in the fifth circle telling him that he broke his promise to her. Lucifer gives her a handful of seeds and despite Dante telling her not to, she swallows the seeds and metamorphoses into a being of fire and stone before kissing Lucifer and disappearing further into the inferno. From this point onwards she begins to show adversity towards Dante and an allegiance towards Lucifer.

When Dante reaches the eighth circle, fraud, Beatrice tells Dante that she does not wish to hurt him, but that there can be no opposition towards Lucifer, and sends the demon Malacoda to kill him. After Dante defeats Malacoda he makes his way through the trials of the eighth circle, with Beatrice emphasising to him as he goes that he is a fraud. Beatrice's final appearance in hell is before Dante enters the ninth and final circle. After berating Dante and reminding him of what he did in the crusades, he gives up journeying through hell, deciding that it is where he belongs, and lays Beatrice's cross on the floor. At this point the power from Beatrice's cross is able to undo Lucifer's spell on her and she is absolved of her sins, being carried up to heaven by the angel Gabriel who tells Dante that he will see her again.

When Dante finally reaches Lucifer, he discovers that Beatrice was simply being used as bait to lure him in and that Lucifer planned to use Dante's sacrifice to free his own soul. Dante, however, defeats Lucifer and finds himself ascending to heaven with Beatrice.

Development

Beatrice is voiced by Vanessa Branch.