[OOC: DDD Application]
Player nickname: Idgie
Player LJ: idgiebay
Way to contact you:
Email: idgiebay[at]gmail.com
AIM: idgiefais
Other: PM!
Are you at least 15?: Y
Current Characters: Devit // halfthetroubl
Character: Quatre Raberba Winner
Fandom: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Character Notes:
History:
» Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Episode Zero
Episode Zero is a prequel manga that takes place at various points before the series and gives a bit more information on the backgrounds of the main characters. At the start of Quatre's chapter, we see a much different person from the sweet, good-natured pilot in the series. He's resentful and hates himself, feeling that he's a pawn that can easily be replaced because of the way he was born.
When space colonies were first developed, the harsh conditions of space led to reproductive abnormalities, so only artificial reproduction via test tubes was permitted. Fortunately, by AC 100 (100 years "After Colony" development), most of the issues were overcome, and natural childbirth was allowed again. The Winner family had been in space from the very beginning, however, which led to a predisposition to complications. As a result, 29 of Zayeed's children--all daughters--were test tube babies. The thirtieth child, Quatre, was the first and only one who was born naturally, but it was at the cost of his mother Quatrine's life. Quatre was never told this, though, believing himself to be one more obedient tool created for the sole benefit of the Winner Corporation. His purpose was to be an heir and nothing more.
Fast forward thirteen years. Feeling worthless, Quatre decided to run away to Earth. During the trip, the Winner shuttle was hijacked by the Maganac Corps, a forty-man army of mobile suit pilots. They took the shuttle hostage in an attempt to free the workers on the MO-III satellite, where they were being held without proper pay. When they contacted Zayeed Winner and explained their cause, Zayeed supported them and granted access to any of the Winner resources they might find on the satellite. He then asked to speak to Quatre, whom he was surprised to see on the shuttle. It prompted an outburst from Quatre, who explained that running away to Earth was his way of showing his father that he wasn't just a tool for the Winner family and that he could act and think for himself. Unimpressed with this reaction, Rashid, the head of the Maganac, smacked Quatre across the face and told him to have some pride in himself. It turned out that Rashid and the rest of the Maganac Corps were test tube babies as well; the fact that Quatre thought of himself as a mere creation because of the way he was born was an insult to them. "No matter what your circumstances, once you've been given the gift of life, you must live a life you can be proud of. That's the way of the Maganac."
This philosophy awakened something in Quatre. From that point, he began to change, discovering the compassionate soul he truly possessed. It started with his discovery of a traitor among the Maganac. Yuda was a double-spy for the Alliance (a coalition of most of Earth's nations, which exercised oppressive control over the space colonies) and notified them of the Maganac's coordinates. This resulted in an unexpected attack. When Rashid wondered how they'd been found so quickly, Quatre informed them of Yuda's betrayal and led the man, bound by ropes, to stand before the Maganac. Unfortunately, the ropes weren't tied very well; Yuda escaped and grabbed another man's gun, firing a shot at Rashid. Quatre attempted to intervene by jumping in front of the bullet, but it went through his shoulder and hit Rashid, anyway.
With their captain incapacitated, the Maganac set out to battle the Alliance on their own. Surprisingly, Quatre insisted that he help, wanting a chance to prove that he was useful so that he could be proud of himself. Although they were hesitant at first, Rashid told them to give Quatre his goggles and to let him pilot his mobile suit.
It turned out Quatre was a natural born pilot and strategist. He not only earned the respect of the Maganac but also their undying loyalty, as well as a place in their family. Rashid asked Quatre to return to Earth with them, but Quatre declined, promising to find them once he became stronger. He returned to the L4 colony in the company of Instructor H, an MO-III scientist he'd met during the liberation. Unbeknownst to Quatre, however, Instructor H was one of five scientists who had worked on the prototype Gundam Tallgeese, which leads us closer to the main plot of Gundam Wing.
Becoming disgruntled by the Alliance's control over the colonies, the scientists left the Tallgeese project and returned to their own colonies, where they proceeded to independently build their own Gundams in secrecy, preparing to retaliate against OZ, the force behind the Alliance. The plan was known as Operation Meteor. It was a project created by a man named Dekim Barton, and it called for launching a colony into Earth, causing mass murder on a global scale. Once the damage was done, five Gundams would be sent down to assimilate the planet, allowing the Barton family to assume control. The scientists disagreed with most of the plan; instead, they told their pilots (whom they'd hand-picked themselves) to go to Earth and attack only OZ bases.
Quatre was one of these pilots. Because of the strength and resolve he displayed during the MO-III liberation, he was chosen by Instructor H to pilot Sandrock. In AC 195, Operation Meteor began, and Quatre was reunited with the Maganac.
» Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
The series begins with Operation Meteor. Quatre and the other four Gundam pilots were independently sent to Earth without knowledge of each other, with orders to destroy OZ military bases. Quatre landed in the deserts of the Middle East, where he was then reunited with the Maganac Corps. There we learned that Quatre asks his enemies to surrender before he battles them, giving them a chance to keep their lives. Unfortunately, his enemies didn't listen, as they often don't; he was able to tear them down easily with Sandrock, obviously regretful of doing so.
During a common mission at the Corsica base, he ran into fellow Gundam pilot Trowa Barton, who didn't hesitate to attack Sandrock once all of the OZ mobile suits had been destroyed. Noticing the similarities between their Gundams, as well as the fact they appeared to be on the same mission, Quatre insisted that they stop fighting. The battle ceased, and Trowa took brief refuge at the Maganac base, where his Gundam, Heavyarms, was repaired at Quatre's request.
After striking up a friendship of sorts, the two parted ways, not meeting again until they were both en route to California for yet another shared mission, this time at New Edwards Base. Although Trowa was hesitant to form a partnership, they ended up cooperating during the attack. It was there that they also met Gundam pilots Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell, and the four of them seemingly completed their mission when Heero destroyed a shuttle that was supposedly carrying OZ officials. However, when the fifth pilot, Chang Wufei, made an appearance, he notified them that they'd all been duped by OZ leader Treize Khushrenada, and the shuttle had actually been carrying Alliance pacifists. On that same day, OZ launched Operation Daybreak, a world-wide coup d'etat that would overthrow the Alliance and put OZ in control. Quatre aided Heero in deactivating the missiles that would have been used to carry out the plan, before all of the pilots parted ways once more.
Later, Quatre was admonished by Rashid for going into a mission by himself, but Quatre explained that he'd met up with four other Gundam pilots and knew they were on his side. When asked how he could be sure, he explained that his "space heart" told him so. This appears to be some type of psychic/empathic ability, although it's never expanded upon, despite being mentioned a few more times in the series, leaving its true nature open to interpretation.
Several weeks passed. The Gundam pilots once again met when they were sent on a mission to destroy Taurus mobile suits that were being transported to a Siberian base. Everything seemed to be going well, until OZ colonel Lady Une threatened a satellite missile attack on the colonies if the pilots didn't surrender and hand over their mobile suits. Quatre's space heart again came into play when Heero, in lieu of surrendering, chose to self-detonate his Gundam. He supposedly died, which seemingly caused Quatre a great deal of physical and emotional pain.
Fleeing the scene with Maganac Corps, Quatre soon came into contact with Duo, and the two of them headed to the Maganac's hometown in the Middle East, where they lay low for a while. Unfortunately, OZ was quick to track them down, and they were forced to leave in order to save the village, with the Maganac covering their retreat.
It was over a month later that OZ began liberating the colonies from the Alliance's control, causing the Gundams to fall out of the colonies' favor. Even so, it was decided that the pilots (including Heero, who had survived his Gundam's detonation and spent a month in a coma) would head back to space in order to stop OZ's plan, which would leave the organization in control of both the Earth Sphere and the colonies. Met with heavy resistance from the armed forces, Quatre, Duo, and Wufei fought side by side at one space port, while Trowa and Heero fought at another. Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse, and Quatre came to the conclusion that he must self-destruct in order for Duo and Wufei to safely make it to space. Yet, as Sandrock's self-destruct mode was activated, Quatre was urged by the Gundam to leave the cockpit before it detonated, and although he was injured, his life was spared. He then headed for space in a shuttle and spent the next several days drifting, barely conscious. He was finally found by a small group of Alliance remnants, who were soon attacked by OZ. Deciding that the boy's life should be spared, the remnant leader placed Quatre in a Leo mobile suit and sent him off, while the group stayed behind, eventually killed by OZ forces.
After six more days of drifting, Quatre happened to end up outside of a Winner resource satellite, where he was recovered by another shuttle. Unbeknownst to him, at first, the nurse on the shuttle was one of his twenty-nine sisters, Iria Winner. She nursed him back to health, and when he finally came to, the two of them headed home to the Winner Resource Colony, where Quatre was then berated by his father, a pacifist, for taking part in Operation Meteor. Obviously, the rift that existed between Quatre and his father in Episode Zero had yet to be bridged, and it showed as the two butted heads, with Quatre claiming that his father just didn't understand him. On that same day, Zayeed was voted out of office due to disagreements over arming the colony, so tensions were already high. Their argument ended with no resolution, and Zayeed proceeded to the resource satellite, which he then separated from the colony, not wanting weapons to be produced there. After taking a vote, the colony fired a beam cannon at the satellite, destroying it and killing Zayeed, as Quatre and Iria watched in horror from a shuttle.
Thus began Quatre's brief descent into madness. Overcome with grief, he used the resources of the colony and blueprints left by Instructor H to create the powerful Gundam Wing Zero. With the intention of destroying all weapons in space, he was entirely unprepared for the mental effects of Wing Zero's neural interface, the ZERO System. (The ZERO--or "Zoning and Emotional Range Omitted"--System is a system that interfaces a pilot's mind with a mobile suit's computer. It enables the pilot to become aware of the outcomes of possible courses of action. "However, due to this direct brain interface, as the human brain cannot process the raw data, the system will cause the pilot to vividly "hallucinate" the possible paths that the pilot can take; as the pilot tries to figure out what is going on, the system can overload the brain with too many statistics and estimated values, causing temporary insanity." Zero System, Gundam Wiki.) As a result of this, Quatre completely obliterated an OZ-occupied resource satellite and then went on to warn a nearby colony that he would destroy it, as well. The colony was evacuated, and Quatre went through with his threat.
Trowa, acting as an OZ soldier, and Heero, an OZ prisoner, were sent out to investigate the new Gundam, which was on its way to destroy a second colony. Certain that the pilot was Quatre, Trowa approached without caution, assuming that the five pilots would team up and fight OZ once more. However, Quatre warned him to stay back and ultimately shot Trowa's mobile suit with Wing Zero's buster rifle when Trowa didn't listen. The mobile suit took heavy damage; it was then that Trowa realized something was wrong.
Seeing Quatre as an enemy, Heero engaged him in battle. The two fought viciously, Quatre claiming that space had gone crazy and needed to be destroyed, and Heero claiming that any enemy of the colonies was an enemy of his. The battle went on like this, until Trowa intercepted a shot meant for Heero. The shock appeared to knock some sense into Quatre, and he listened as Trowa used his final minutes to get through to the other pilot, pleading Quatre to accept their place in the war and to return to the kind and gentle Quatre that he is, before his mobile suit exploded from its damages.
This event stayed with Quatre throughout the remainder of the series. He took Trowa's words to heart, maintaining that his friend had saved his soul, and felt extreme guilt over his own actions.
Afterward, Heero continued trying to engage Quatre in battle, but Quatre's mind had returned to normal, and he was more concerned with Trowa's apparent sacrifice than defending himself from Heero's attacks. Heero had already sustained injuries from the battle, however, and he soon lost consciousness, leaving Quatre to care for him.
Once Heero awoke, they were captured by OZ soldiers but soon released by members of the Treize Faction, a splinter group of OZ soldiers who were loyal to Treize. Unfortunately, OZ officer Trant Clark managed to corral them again and forced Heero to test the ZERO System. As expected, he was unprepared for its mental effects and suffered temporary insanity, much like Quatre, so with Trowa's words in mind, Quatre brought Heero back from the brink after yet another battle.
At this time, Quatre also had faith that Trowa was still alive somewhere, despite the fact that everyone insisted there was no way he could've survived the explosion; he remained desperately convinced of this, though, and throughout the next several episodes, it was something he was obviously preoccupied with.
Eventually, he and Heero made it back to Earth, where they met with Lucrezia Noin, an ex-OZ pilot instructor who now worked with the ruler of the pacifist Kingdom of Sanc, Relena Peacecraft. With tensions growing between Sanc and the Romefeller Foundation (a group of aristocrats and royalties from across the world which had been secretly manipulating world affairs for centuries), Quatre left for the Middle East once more, in search of the newly rebuilt Sandrock. He returned to the kingdom with the Maganacs and provided defense from the invading Romefeller Foundation. Not wanting to see her people suffer any longer, however, Relena surrendered the kingdom and gave herself up to the Foundation. With no other options, Quatre returned to space.
He took temporary refuge on his home colony, within the Winner Corporation, and searched for the other pilots. Not much later, Duo sought him out and informed him that Trowa was alive and gave him his location. Quatre soon found him at the circus, which the other pilot had previously been using as his cover, only to realize that Trowa had amnesia. Quatre tried to get through to him, but Trowa's "adopted" sister, Catherine Bloom, made it clear that Quatre's presence wasn't welcome, as Trowa was much happier away from the war. Quatre explained that Trowa's current state was all his fault, and although his apology wouldn't be enough, it was the only thing he could do at the moment.
As he prepared to leave the colony, a battle between OZ and a rebel colony group called White Fang spread into the area. He returned to the circus to warn Catherine and Trowa and then set out to fight in order to protect the colony. Something must have gotten through to Trowa, though, because he felt that Quatre was calling him (which is perhaps another function of the "space heart") and soon joined him and Noin in battle. The three were later saved by Duo when they were mistaken for White Fang members, and their group was recovered by Duo's fellow sweeper, Howard, who was commanding the battleship Peacemillion. While on board, Quatre's Gundam was upgraded for space battle.
Later, when White Fang engaged OZ in battle outside of the space fortress Barge, Quatre, Trowa, and Duo intervened, taking neither side, and watched as White Fang leader Milliardo Peacecraft single-handedly took out the entire fortress by causing a chain reaction of explosions. With the balance of power in space now in White Fang's favor, OZ took the residents of the colony Trowa's circus troupe was on hostage, demanding that Libra (an OZ battleship that White Fang had seized) be returned. Milliardo made the decision to blast the colony with Libra's cannon instead, or at least made everyone believe that was what he'd been planning. In reality, the cannon was aimed for Earth, and it caused a massive amount of destruction when it was fired.
Determined to stop Milliardo, the pilots battled with White Fang's mobile dolls (mobile suits that were made to be controlled remotely, thus not risking the pilots' lives) before returning to Peacemillion, exhausted and with damaged suits. At Heero's request, the engineers installed the ZERO System into Quatre's Gundam so he would be able to lead the other pilots. Although Quatre protested vehemently, afraid that he would lose himself to the system again, Heero had faith that he could master it and insisted that he try.
When the pilots went up against the mobile dolls again, they noticed that the dolls' strategy was far too calculated to be mere programming. It became clear that someone else was controlling them, so Quatre was forced to use ZERO to bring the pilots together and strategize. It turned out that the mobile dolls were being controlled by Dorothy Catalonia, Milliardo's right hand, using a modified ZERO System. Fortunately, Quatre was able to best Dorothy in a battle of tactics, and the Gundam pilots defeated the dolls. After returning to Peacemillion again, Quatre removed ZERO, deciding that he no longer needed it; he had confidence in his own tactical abilities.
During the next skirmish, the pilots encountered Milliardo, who went straight for Quatre, considering him the "brain". Fortunately, the pilots stuck together, and Milliardo eventually fled the battle. In a desperate move, Peacemillion was crashed into Libra, disabling the main cannon and allowing Quatre, Trowa, and Duo to board the ship. Quatre soon located the mobile doll control room, where he found Dorothy waiting for him, rapier in hand. Using the ZERO system to enhance her abilities, she challenged him to a duel, and as they fought, she challenged his motives for battling as well.
The duel ended when she ran her rapier through Quatre's side. Before passing out, he lectured Dorothy on his reasons for fighting, even suggesting that they fight for the same reasons. A lot of what he said was reminiscent of the speech Trowa gave during Quatre's incident with the ZERO System, once again showing just how deeply those words had touched him.
At last, Trowa showed up in the control room and disabled the mobile doll system, leaving Dorothy behind despite Quatre's request to save her. He returned Quatre to his Gundam, and the two of them, together with Duo, left the battleship.
With Libra falling apart, large chunks of debris were falling toward Earth, threatening to cause massive amounts of damage. Joined by the Maganac Corps, the pilots attempted to destroy one of the larger blocks with minimal success. Fortunately, Wufei delivered Wing Zero's buster rifle to Heero, who then destroyed the block and brought an end to what would later be called the Eve Wars. The Earth Sphere United Nation was formed shortly thereafter, and Relena Peacecraft (now going by Relena Darlian once again, using the last name of her late adopted father) was elected to the position of Vice Foreign Minister. Under her guidance, the ESUN began disarmament.
It's assumed that Quatre returned home after his injuries were healed, which is the point I'd be taking him from, if accepted.
» Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
A year after the Eve Wars, it was decided that the Gundams were no longer needed, so Quatre devised a plan to send them into the sun on a disposal block, thus destroying them. Save Wufei, all of the pilots sent their Gundams to him. However, only a day later, Mariemaia Khushrenada, Treize's seven year old daughter and puppet for the Barton Foundation, declared war on the ESUN. Quatre once again utilized the help of the Maganac Corps to retrieve the disposal block. After modifying their engines, Quatre sent the Gundams back to Earth. He, Trowa, and Duo fought the Mariemaia Army in Brussels alongside Milliardo (once again going by Zechs Marquise) and Noin, who were now part of an organization known as Preventers, formed to prevent world and space conflicts from escalating. The five of them were able to disable the army's mobile suits without killing any of the soldiers.
Meanwhile, Heero was able to get through the defenses set up at Barton Foundation leader Dekim Barton's shelter, where Mariemaia was taking refuge, using Wing Zero's beam cannon. When it became clear that Dekim wasn't doing this to uphold Treize's ideals, civilians stood and rebelled against him. Astonished, he called for Mariemaia to rise as ruler of the Earth Sphere. When the girl complied, she was slapped by Relena and brought to her senses. Unwilling to let his granddaughter be brainwashed, Dekim trained a gun on Relena, but when he pulled the trigger, Mariemaia jumped in the way. Dekim was unconcerned and attempted to take another shot at Relena, but before he could even try, he was shot by a Treize loyalist. Following his death, the rest of Mariemaia's Army, who were all Treize loyalists, surrendered, bringing an end to the conflict.
Together with Trowa and Duo, Quatre self-detonated their suits, with Heero and Wufei destroying theirs separately. Having taken full control of the Winner Corporation, Quatre's first order of business was completing the construction of Colony X-18999, which would have been used in Operation Meteor.
Personality:
Quatre's personality changes and grows throughout the series. At the start of Episode Zero, we see a boy who feels like a pawn who's lower than dirt, an utterly useless tool who's only good for one purpose: to be a loyal heir who would one day inherit the family business. He is extremely resentful of his father and is seen by his chaperons as nothing more than a rich brat. Despite this, Iria mentions that Quatre is a gentle child, suggesting that, perhaps, the boy we see is not the real Quatre but a Quatre who is emotionally wasting away.
We begin to see what he's truly capable of when Rashid knocks some sense in him. He's smart, strong, and an excellent strategist, and he wants nothing more than to be useful and find his place in the world. When he parts with the Maganacs for the first time, he tells them that he will come find them and that he won't go to Earth to run away but to find himself.
When the series begins, two years have passed, and we see a much kinder Quatre. He's gentle, selfless, trusting, and seemingly eager to make friends. Rashid warns him that, perhaps, he may be a bit too trusting, but as mentioned in the history section, he possesses some type of extrasensory ability that allows him to read people a bit easier than the average person. He proves to have good judgment when choosing whom he allies himself with.
We're treated to a few other aspects of his personality when he meets with his father on the resource colony. Obviously, they still don't see eye to eye, and Quatre doesn't hold back when they disagree on his role in Operation Meteor. It could be said that he's a bit of a rebel, one who's determined and fights for what he believes in.
Because of his gentle nature, the death of his father hit him hard, and with the combined stresses of being betrayed by the colonies and becoming separated from his friends, he snapped. Wanting revenge, he built Wing Zero, his outrage and injustice becoming the perfect tools for the mind-altering effects of the ZERO System. When Trowa finally snaps him out of it, he returns to his kind self, but we later learn that he'd wanted to rebel against it. He hated his kindness, which only served as more fuel for his actions while under the influence of ZERO.
By the time the series ends, he's a much more well-adjusted person. He's found his place as the strategic leader among the Gundam pilots, finally confident in the usefulness of his abilities.
Other: Quatre is an accomplished musician! He plays the violin and piano (and possibly more) and uses music as a means of relaxing.
Additional Links: Quatre's article on Gundam Wiki!
First Person (entry type):
[Intercepted Transmission]
[The first several seconds of video are filled with snow and broken audio, until the face of a young, blond boy finally flickers into view. He's facing forward and speaking to the camera, and it appears he's been doing so for a while, as the transmission begins mid-sentence]
--been a while since we've spoken, but there's something I'd like to discuss with the four of you when you have time. The anniversary of the Eve Wars is approaching, and as you're probably already aware of, there have been some rising concerns and debates over the Gundams and their continued presence in the ESUN.
Please contact me when you can. I think the issue's worth discussing, and I'd like to get your thoughts on the matter, as well as share a few of my own ideas.
I hope to hear from you soon. Take care,
Quatre out!
[With a smile and a nod from the boy, the screen goes blank, and the video ends.]
Third Person:
Where is the soldier's place in a world of peace?
Quatre wondered this as he stared out of the window from what once was his father's office (his office now, he reminded himself) on the 24th floor of Winner Corporation. It was a thought that had been entering his mind more often as the days went by, even moreso as he'd often find himself staring beyond the stacks of paper before him and thinking that the office was much too large, that the pen in his hand was much too small. Nothing like being within Sandrock's cockpit, controls at hand.
He pressed his forehead against the window and sighed, watching the glass fog.
Never in a million years would he wish for anything other than peace. It was what they'd fought for, what countless others had died for, and what the Earth Sphere United Nation was desperately striving for. It was what he wanted. But a part of him--a selfish, desperate voice that he wished he could silence--craved the familiarity of the war, if only because he'd found his place within it. After two years of searching for his niche, searching for something he could be proud of, he'd finally found it among four other Gundam pilots, within a war where they'd learned to rely on each other, where he'd learned to be a leader. Now that the war was over, that familiarity, that confidence and self-assurance, was waffling a bit more each day.
He was starting from scratch, and it frightened him.
Player LJ: idgiebay
Way to contact you:
Email: idgiebay[at]gmail.com
AIM: idgiefais
Other: PM!
Are you at least 15?: Y
Current Characters: Devit // halfthetroubl
Character: Quatre Raberba Winner
Fandom: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Character Notes:
History:
» Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Episode Zero
Episode Zero is a prequel manga that takes place at various points before the series and gives a bit more information on the backgrounds of the main characters. At the start of Quatre's chapter, we see a much different person from the sweet, good-natured pilot in the series. He's resentful and hates himself, feeling that he's a pawn that can easily be replaced because of the way he was born.
When space colonies were first developed, the harsh conditions of space led to reproductive abnormalities, so only artificial reproduction via test tubes was permitted. Fortunately, by AC 100 (100 years "After Colony" development), most of the issues were overcome, and natural childbirth was allowed again. The Winner family had been in space from the very beginning, however, which led to a predisposition to complications. As a result, 29 of Zayeed's children--all daughters--were test tube babies. The thirtieth child, Quatre, was the first and only one who was born naturally, but it was at the cost of his mother Quatrine's life. Quatre was never told this, though, believing himself to be one more obedient tool created for the sole benefit of the Winner Corporation. His purpose was to be an heir and nothing more.
Fast forward thirteen years. Feeling worthless, Quatre decided to run away to Earth. During the trip, the Winner shuttle was hijacked by the Maganac Corps, a forty-man army of mobile suit pilots. They took the shuttle hostage in an attempt to free the workers on the MO-III satellite, where they were being held without proper pay. When they contacted Zayeed Winner and explained their cause, Zayeed supported them and granted access to any of the Winner resources they might find on the satellite. He then asked to speak to Quatre, whom he was surprised to see on the shuttle. It prompted an outburst from Quatre, who explained that running away to Earth was his way of showing his father that he wasn't just a tool for the Winner family and that he could act and think for himself. Unimpressed with this reaction, Rashid, the head of the Maganac, smacked Quatre across the face and told him to have some pride in himself. It turned out that Rashid and the rest of the Maganac Corps were test tube babies as well; the fact that Quatre thought of himself as a mere creation because of the way he was born was an insult to them. "No matter what your circumstances, once you've been given the gift of life, you must live a life you can be proud of. That's the way of the Maganac."
This philosophy awakened something in Quatre. From that point, he began to change, discovering the compassionate soul he truly possessed. It started with his discovery of a traitor among the Maganac. Yuda was a double-spy for the Alliance (a coalition of most of Earth's nations, which exercised oppressive control over the space colonies) and notified them of the Maganac's coordinates. This resulted in an unexpected attack. When Rashid wondered how they'd been found so quickly, Quatre informed them of Yuda's betrayal and led the man, bound by ropes, to stand before the Maganac. Unfortunately, the ropes weren't tied very well; Yuda escaped and grabbed another man's gun, firing a shot at Rashid. Quatre attempted to intervene by jumping in front of the bullet, but it went through his shoulder and hit Rashid, anyway.
With their captain incapacitated, the Maganac set out to battle the Alliance on their own. Surprisingly, Quatre insisted that he help, wanting a chance to prove that he was useful so that he could be proud of himself. Although they were hesitant at first, Rashid told them to give Quatre his goggles and to let him pilot his mobile suit.
It turned out Quatre was a natural born pilot and strategist. He not only earned the respect of the Maganac but also their undying loyalty, as well as a place in their family. Rashid asked Quatre to return to Earth with them, but Quatre declined, promising to find them once he became stronger. He returned to the L4 colony in the company of Instructor H, an MO-III scientist he'd met during the liberation. Unbeknownst to Quatre, however, Instructor H was one of five scientists who had worked on the prototype Gundam Tallgeese, which leads us closer to the main plot of Gundam Wing.
Becoming disgruntled by the Alliance's control over the colonies, the scientists left the Tallgeese project and returned to their own colonies, where they proceeded to independently build their own Gundams in secrecy, preparing to retaliate against OZ, the force behind the Alliance. The plan was known as Operation Meteor. It was a project created by a man named Dekim Barton, and it called for launching a colony into Earth, causing mass murder on a global scale. Once the damage was done, five Gundams would be sent down to assimilate the planet, allowing the Barton family to assume control. The scientists disagreed with most of the plan; instead, they told their pilots (whom they'd hand-picked themselves) to go to Earth and attack only OZ bases.
Quatre was one of these pilots. Because of the strength and resolve he displayed during the MO-III liberation, he was chosen by Instructor H to pilot Sandrock. In AC 195, Operation Meteor began, and Quatre was reunited with the Maganac.
» Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
The series begins with Operation Meteor. Quatre and the other four Gundam pilots were independently sent to Earth without knowledge of each other, with orders to destroy OZ military bases. Quatre landed in the deserts of the Middle East, where he was then reunited with the Maganac Corps. There we learned that Quatre asks his enemies to surrender before he battles them, giving them a chance to keep their lives. Unfortunately, his enemies didn't listen, as they often don't; he was able to tear them down easily with Sandrock, obviously regretful of doing so.
During a common mission at the Corsica base, he ran into fellow Gundam pilot Trowa Barton, who didn't hesitate to attack Sandrock once all of the OZ mobile suits had been destroyed. Noticing the similarities between their Gundams, as well as the fact they appeared to be on the same mission, Quatre insisted that they stop fighting. The battle ceased, and Trowa took brief refuge at the Maganac base, where his Gundam, Heavyarms, was repaired at Quatre's request.
After striking up a friendship of sorts, the two parted ways, not meeting again until they were both en route to California for yet another shared mission, this time at New Edwards Base. Although Trowa was hesitant to form a partnership, they ended up cooperating during the attack. It was there that they also met Gundam pilots Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell, and the four of them seemingly completed their mission when Heero destroyed a shuttle that was supposedly carrying OZ officials. However, when the fifth pilot, Chang Wufei, made an appearance, he notified them that they'd all been duped by OZ leader Treize Khushrenada, and the shuttle had actually been carrying Alliance pacifists. On that same day, OZ launched Operation Daybreak, a world-wide coup d'etat that would overthrow the Alliance and put OZ in control. Quatre aided Heero in deactivating the missiles that would have been used to carry out the plan, before all of the pilots parted ways once more.
Later, Quatre was admonished by Rashid for going into a mission by himself, but Quatre explained that he'd met up with four other Gundam pilots and knew they were on his side. When asked how he could be sure, he explained that his "space heart" told him so. This appears to be some type of psychic/empathic ability, although it's never expanded upon, despite being mentioned a few more times in the series, leaving its true nature open to interpretation.
Several weeks passed. The Gundam pilots once again met when they were sent on a mission to destroy Taurus mobile suits that were being transported to a Siberian base. Everything seemed to be going well, until OZ colonel Lady Une threatened a satellite missile attack on the colonies if the pilots didn't surrender and hand over their mobile suits. Quatre's space heart again came into play when Heero, in lieu of surrendering, chose to self-detonate his Gundam. He supposedly died, which seemingly caused Quatre a great deal of physical and emotional pain.
Fleeing the scene with Maganac Corps, Quatre soon came into contact with Duo, and the two of them headed to the Maganac's hometown in the Middle East, where they lay low for a while. Unfortunately, OZ was quick to track them down, and they were forced to leave in order to save the village, with the Maganac covering their retreat.
It was over a month later that OZ began liberating the colonies from the Alliance's control, causing the Gundams to fall out of the colonies' favor. Even so, it was decided that the pilots (including Heero, who had survived his Gundam's detonation and spent a month in a coma) would head back to space in order to stop OZ's plan, which would leave the organization in control of both the Earth Sphere and the colonies. Met with heavy resistance from the armed forces, Quatre, Duo, and Wufei fought side by side at one space port, while Trowa and Heero fought at another. Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse, and Quatre came to the conclusion that he must self-destruct in order for Duo and Wufei to safely make it to space. Yet, as Sandrock's self-destruct mode was activated, Quatre was urged by the Gundam to leave the cockpit before it detonated, and although he was injured, his life was spared. He then headed for space in a shuttle and spent the next several days drifting, barely conscious. He was finally found by a small group of Alliance remnants, who were soon attacked by OZ. Deciding that the boy's life should be spared, the remnant leader placed Quatre in a Leo mobile suit and sent him off, while the group stayed behind, eventually killed by OZ forces.
After six more days of drifting, Quatre happened to end up outside of a Winner resource satellite, where he was recovered by another shuttle. Unbeknownst to him, at first, the nurse on the shuttle was one of his twenty-nine sisters, Iria Winner. She nursed him back to health, and when he finally came to, the two of them headed home to the Winner Resource Colony, where Quatre was then berated by his father, a pacifist, for taking part in Operation Meteor. Obviously, the rift that existed between Quatre and his father in Episode Zero had yet to be bridged, and it showed as the two butted heads, with Quatre claiming that his father just didn't understand him. On that same day, Zayeed was voted out of office due to disagreements over arming the colony, so tensions were already high. Their argument ended with no resolution, and Zayeed proceeded to the resource satellite, which he then separated from the colony, not wanting weapons to be produced there. After taking a vote, the colony fired a beam cannon at the satellite, destroying it and killing Zayeed, as Quatre and Iria watched in horror from a shuttle.
Thus began Quatre's brief descent into madness. Overcome with grief, he used the resources of the colony and blueprints left by Instructor H to create the powerful Gundam Wing Zero. With the intention of destroying all weapons in space, he was entirely unprepared for the mental effects of Wing Zero's neural interface, the ZERO System. (The ZERO--or "Zoning and Emotional Range Omitted"--System is a system that interfaces a pilot's mind with a mobile suit's computer. It enables the pilot to become aware of the outcomes of possible courses of action. "However, due to this direct brain interface, as the human brain cannot process the raw data, the system will cause the pilot to vividly "hallucinate" the possible paths that the pilot can take; as the pilot tries to figure out what is going on, the system can overload the brain with too many statistics and estimated values, causing temporary insanity." Zero System, Gundam Wiki.) As a result of this, Quatre completely obliterated an OZ-occupied resource satellite and then went on to warn a nearby colony that he would destroy it, as well. The colony was evacuated, and Quatre went through with his threat.
Trowa, acting as an OZ soldier, and Heero, an OZ prisoner, were sent out to investigate the new Gundam, which was on its way to destroy a second colony. Certain that the pilot was Quatre, Trowa approached without caution, assuming that the five pilots would team up and fight OZ once more. However, Quatre warned him to stay back and ultimately shot Trowa's mobile suit with Wing Zero's buster rifle when Trowa didn't listen. The mobile suit took heavy damage; it was then that Trowa realized something was wrong.
Seeing Quatre as an enemy, Heero engaged him in battle. The two fought viciously, Quatre claiming that space had gone crazy and needed to be destroyed, and Heero claiming that any enemy of the colonies was an enemy of his. The battle went on like this, until Trowa intercepted a shot meant for Heero. The shock appeared to knock some sense into Quatre, and he listened as Trowa used his final minutes to get through to the other pilot, pleading Quatre to accept their place in the war and to return to the kind and gentle Quatre that he is, before his mobile suit exploded from its damages.
This event stayed with Quatre throughout the remainder of the series. He took Trowa's words to heart, maintaining that his friend had saved his soul, and felt extreme guilt over his own actions.
Afterward, Heero continued trying to engage Quatre in battle, but Quatre's mind had returned to normal, and he was more concerned with Trowa's apparent sacrifice than defending himself from Heero's attacks. Heero had already sustained injuries from the battle, however, and he soon lost consciousness, leaving Quatre to care for him.
Once Heero awoke, they were captured by OZ soldiers but soon released by members of the Treize Faction, a splinter group of OZ soldiers who were loyal to Treize. Unfortunately, OZ officer Trant Clark managed to corral them again and forced Heero to test the ZERO System. As expected, he was unprepared for its mental effects and suffered temporary insanity, much like Quatre, so with Trowa's words in mind, Quatre brought Heero back from the brink after yet another battle.
At this time, Quatre also had faith that Trowa was still alive somewhere, despite the fact that everyone insisted there was no way he could've survived the explosion; he remained desperately convinced of this, though, and throughout the next several episodes, it was something he was obviously preoccupied with.
Eventually, he and Heero made it back to Earth, where they met with Lucrezia Noin, an ex-OZ pilot instructor who now worked with the ruler of the pacifist Kingdom of Sanc, Relena Peacecraft. With tensions growing between Sanc and the Romefeller Foundation (a group of aristocrats and royalties from across the world which had been secretly manipulating world affairs for centuries), Quatre left for the Middle East once more, in search of the newly rebuilt Sandrock. He returned to the kingdom with the Maganacs and provided defense from the invading Romefeller Foundation. Not wanting to see her people suffer any longer, however, Relena surrendered the kingdom and gave herself up to the Foundation. With no other options, Quatre returned to space.
He took temporary refuge on his home colony, within the Winner Corporation, and searched for the other pilots. Not much later, Duo sought him out and informed him that Trowa was alive and gave him his location. Quatre soon found him at the circus, which the other pilot had previously been using as his cover, only to realize that Trowa had amnesia. Quatre tried to get through to him, but Trowa's "adopted" sister, Catherine Bloom, made it clear that Quatre's presence wasn't welcome, as Trowa was much happier away from the war. Quatre explained that Trowa's current state was all his fault, and although his apology wouldn't be enough, it was the only thing he could do at the moment.
As he prepared to leave the colony, a battle between OZ and a rebel colony group called White Fang spread into the area. He returned to the circus to warn Catherine and Trowa and then set out to fight in order to protect the colony. Something must have gotten through to Trowa, though, because he felt that Quatre was calling him (which is perhaps another function of the "space heart") and soon joined him and Noin in battle. The three were later saved by Duo when they were mistaken for White Fang members, and their group was recovered by Duo's fellow sweeper, Howard, who was commanding the battleship Peacemillion. While on board, Quatre's Gundam was upgraded for space battle.
Later, when White Fang engaged OZ in battle outside of the space fortress Barge, Quatre, Trowa, and Duo intervened, taking neither side, and watched as White Fang leader Milliardo Peacecraft single-handedly took out the entire fortress by causing a chain reaction of explosions. With the balance of power in space now in White Fang's favor, OZ took the residents of the colony Trowa's circus troupe was on hostage, demanding that Libra (an OZ battleship that White Fang had seized) be returned. Milliardo made the decision to blast the colony with Libra's cannon instead, or at least made everyone believe that was what he'd been planning. In reality, the cannon was aimed for Earth, and it caused a massive amount of destruction when it was fired.
Determined to stop Milliardo, the pilots battled with White Fang's mobile dolls (mobile suits that were made to be controlled remotely, thus not risking the pilots' lives) before returning to Peacemillion, exhausted and with damaged suits. At Heero's request, the engineers installed the ZERO System into Quatre's Gundam so he would be able to lead the other pilots. Although Quatre protested vehemently, afraid that he would lose himself to the system again, Heero had faith that he could master it and insisted that he try.
When the pilots went up against the mobile dolls again, they noticed that the dolls' strategy was far too calculated to be mere programming. It became clear that someone else was controlling them, so Quatre was forced to use ZERO to bring the pilots together and strategize. It turned out that the mobile dolls were being controlled by Dorothy Catalonia, Milliardo's right hand, using a modified ZERO System. Fortunately, Quatre was able to best Dorothy in a battle of tactics, and the Gundam pilots defeated the dolls. After returning to Peacemillion again, Quatre removed ZERO, deciding that he no longer needed it; he had confidence in his own tactical abilities.
During the next skirmish, the pilots encountered Milliardo, who went straight for Quatre, considering him the "brain". Fortunately, the pilots stuck together, and Milliardo eventually fled the battle. In a desperate move, Peacemillion was crashed into Libra, disabling the main cannon and allowing Quatre, Trowa, and Duo to board the ship. Quatre soon located the mobile doll control room, where he found Dorothy waiting for him, rapier in hand. Using the ZERO system to enhance her abilities, she challenged him to a duel, and as they fought, she challenged his motives for battling as well.
The duel ended when she ran her rapier through Quatre's side. Before passing out, he lectured Dorothy on his reasons for fighting, even suggesting that they fight for the same reasons. A lot of what he said was reminiscent of the speech Trowa gave during Quatre's incident with the ZERO System, once again showing just how deeply those words had touched him.
At last, Trowa showed up in the control room and disabled the mobile doll system, leaving Dorothy behind despite Quatre's request to save her. He returned Quatre to his Gundam, and the two of them, together with Duo, left the battleship.
With Libra falling apart, large chunks of debris were falling toward Earth, threatening to cause massive amounts of damage. Joined by the Maganac Corps, the pilots attempted to destroy one of the larger blocks with minimal success. Fortunately, Wufei delivered Wing Zero's buster rifle to Heero, who then destroyed the block and brought an end to what would later be called the Eve Wars. The Earth Sphere United Nation was formed shortly thereafter, and Relena Peacecraft (now going by Relena Darlian once again, using the last name of her late adopted father) was elected to the position of Vice Foreign Minister. Under her guidance, the ESUN began disarmament.
It's assumed that Quatre returned home after his injuries were healed, which is the point I'd be taking him from, if accepted.
» Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
A year after the Eve Wars, it was decided that the Gundams were no longer needed, so Quatre devised a plan to send them into the sun on a disposal block, thus destroying them. Save Wufei, all of the pilots sent their Gundams to him. However, only a day later, Mariemaia Khushrenada, Treize's seven year old daughter and puppet for the Barton Foundation, declared war on the ESUN. Quatre once again utilized the help of the Maganac Corps to retrieve the disposal block. After modifying their engines, Quatre sent the Gundams back to Earth. He, Trowa, and Duo fought the Mariemaia Army in Brussels alongside Milliardo (once again going by Zechs Marquise) and Noin, who were now part of an organization known as Preventers, formed to prevent world and space conflicts from escalating. The five of them were able to disable the army's mobile suits without killing any of the soldiers.
Meanwhile, Heero was able to get through the defenses set up at Barton Foundation leader Dekim Barton's shelter, where Mariemaia was taking refuge, using Wing Zero's beam cannon. When it became clear that Dekim wasn't doing this to uphold Treize's ideals, civilians stood and rebelled against him. Astonished, he called for Mariemaia to rise as ruler of the Earth Sphere. When the girl complied, she was slapped by Relena and brought to her senses. Unwilling to let his granddaughter be brainwashed, Dekim trained a gun on Relena, but when he pulled the trigger, Mariemaia jumped in the way. Dekim was unconcerned and attempted to take another shot at Relena, but before he could even try, he was shot by a Treize loyalist. Following his death, the rest of Mariemaia's Army, who were all Treize loyalists, surrendered, bringing an end to the conflict.
Together with Trowa and Duo, Quatre self-detonated their suits, with Heero and Wufei destroying theirs separately. Having taken full control of the Winner Corporation, Quatre's first order of business was completing the construction of Colony X-18999, which would have been used in Operation Meteor.
Personality:
Quatre's personality changes and grows throughout the series. At the start of Episode Zero, we see a boy who feels like a pawn who's lower than dirt, an utterly useless tool who's only good for one purpose: to be a loyal heir who would one day inherit the family business. He is extremely resentful of his father and is seen by his chaperons as nothing more than a rich brat. Despite this, Iria mentions that Quatre is a gentle child, suggesting that, perhaps, the boy we see is not the real Quatre but a Quatre who is emotionally wasting away.
We begin to see what he's truly capable of when Rashid knocks some sense in him. He's smart, strong, and an excellent strategist, and he wants nothing more than to be useful and find his place in the world. When he parts with the Maganacs for the first time, he tells them that he will come find them and that he won't go to Earth to run away but to find himself.
When the series begins, two years have passed, and we see a much kinder Quatre. He's gentle, selfless, trusting, and seemingly eager to make friends. Rashid warns him that, perhaps, he may be a bit too trusting, but as mentioned in the history section, he possesses some type of extrasensory ability that allows him to read people a bit easier than the average person. He proves to have good judgment when choosing whom he allies himself with.
We're treated to a few other aspects of his personality when he meets with his father on the resource colony. Obviously, they still don't see eye to eye, and Quatre doesn't hold back when they disagree on his role in Operation Meteor. It could be said that he's a bit of a rebel, one who's determined and fights for what he believes in.
Because of his gentle nature, the death of his father hit him hard, and with the combined stresses of being betrayed by the colonies and becoming separated from his friends, he snapped. Wanting revenge, he built Wing Zero, his outrage and injustice becoming the perfect tools for the mind-altering effects of the ZERO System. When Trowa finally snaps him out of it, he returns to his kind self, but we later learn that he'd wanted to rebel against it. He hated his kindness, which only served as more fuel for his actions while under the influence of ZERO.
By the time the series ends, he's a much more well-adjusted person. He's found his place as the strategic leader among the Gundam pilots, finally confident in the usefulness of his abilities.
Other: Quatre is an accomplished musician! He plays the violin and piano (and possibly more) and uses music as a means of relaxing.
Additional Links: Quatre's article on Gundam Wiki!
First Person (entry type):
[Intercepted Transmission]
[The first several seconds of video are filled with snow and broken audio, until the face of a young, blond boy finally flickers into view. He's facing forward and speaking to the camera, and it appears he's been doing so for a while, as the transmission begins mid-sentence]
--been a while since we've spoken, but there's something I'd like to discuss with the four of you when you have time. The anniversary of the Eve Wars is approaching, and as you're probably already aware of, there have been some rising concerns and debates over the Gundams and their continued presence in the ESUN.
Please contact me when you can. I think the issue's worth discussing, and I'd like to get your thoughts on the matter, as well as share a few of my own ideas.
I hope to hear from you soon. Take care,
Quatre out!
[With a smile and a nod from the boy, the screen goes blank, and the video ends.]
Third Person:
Where is the soldier's place in a world of peace?
Quatre wondered this as he stared out of the window from what once was his father's office (his office now, he reminded himself) on the 24th floor of Winner Corporation. It was a thought that had been entering his mind more often as the days went by, even moreso as he'd often find himself staring beyond the stacks of paper before him and thinking that the office was much too large, that the pen in his hand was much too small. Nothing like being within Sandrock's cockpit, controls at hand.
He pressed his forehead against the window and sighed, watching the glass fog.
Never in a million years would he wish for anything other than peace. It was what they'd fought for, what countless others had died for, and what the Earth Sphere United Nation was desperately striving for. It was what he wanted. But a part of him--a selfish, desperate voice that he wished he could silence--craved the familiarity of the war, if only because he'd found his place within it. After two years of searching for his niche, searching for something he could be proud of, he'd finally found it among four other Gundam pilots, within a war where they'd learned to rely on each other, where he'd learned to be a leader. Now that the war was over, that familiarity, that confidence and self-assurance, was waffling a bit more each day.
He was starting from scratch, and it frightened him.