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| “ | Sometimes dreams have to be tempered by reality. | „ |
| ~ The Widow |
Minerva, better known as The Widow, is one of the two deuteragonists (alongside M.K.) of the AMC series Into the Badlands.
She is the Baron of the Butterfly Territory and one of the most powerful leaders in the post-apocalyptic wasteland known as the Badlands. Determined to make the Badlands a better place and put an end to the Cog slave trade, she is willing to go to extreme lengths in order to achieve her goals, put her at odds with the other Barons and even her own allies.
She was portrayed by Emily Beecham.
Appearance[]
Minerva as a child.
The Widow is a tall and imposing individual with long red hair, which she puts into several different styles throughout the series. As a child, it was longer and left free, but as the ruler of the Butterfly Territory she typically puts it into a braid. As a Cog she would wear the typical uniform of the servants to the Chau family, but as Baroness she went on to wear a variety of dresses and other fancy clothing to signify her high status.
The Widow would have most likely wore the traditional Abbot robes while living at the Abbot Monastery, although in flashbacks she was shown to wear a black suit similar to the combat suit she wears as Baron. During a journey in the mirror room, the Widow met an alternate version of herself that was referred to as "Raven" and whom wore an identical outfit to that of the Widow herself but colored crimson red rather than black.
Personality[]
The Widow's personality shifts multiple times during her life. She faced a great deal of tragedy growing up, once having the Gift and being trained by Bajie, only to lose her Gift and be effectively abandoned by Bajie in the Badlands. This led to her being enslaved as a Cog, and even after escaping and marrying a Baron she was horrifically abused by him. All of these experiences make her a very jaded and cynical individual, who wants to change the Badlands for a better but has a very difficult time effectively convincing people she doesn't have sinister intentions. She harbors misandry due to her poor experiences with men, but this changes after she reconnects with Gaius Chau, her boyfriend from when they were children. In general, the Widow is willing to kill people and be ruthless just like other Barons, but she is truly fighting for a just cause, her extremism often clouding this and making it difficult for people to trust that she is genuine in what she is fighting for. This is all mitigated further by her selling Veil out to Quinn, simply because she wants to work with Quinn to take down the other Barons.
The fact that she compromised her ideals to work for Quinn and starts a war with the other Barons thus causing a great deal of suffering, she is considered a hypocrite by many of her followers, prompting her adoptive daughters Tilda to eventually abandon her and even start working against her. Once Quinn is dead and the Widow enters into direct conflict with Baron Chau for control of the Badlands, she finally starts to shed her more hypocritical ways. Bajie eventually apologizes for abandoning her, and this, coupled with her reunion with Gaius, leads her to regret many of the terrible things she has done. She eventually apologizes to Sunny for selling Veil out to Quinn, and while he admits he cannot forgive her for getting his wife killed, he admits that he has done terrible things as well, and the two come to an understanding. Despite longing to have her Gift back for so long, she refuses to let the false messiah Pilgrim give it back to her once he gains control over the Gift, as she finally recognizes its danger. She even apologizes to M.K. after killing him, showing that she really does regret what she has done and no longer enjoys killing.
Powers & Abilities[]
- Martial Arts/Swordsmanship: The Widow is one of the most skilled warriors in the Badlands, being able to fight several opponents at once and only being inferior to the likes of Baron Quinn and Sunny. She is the only person other than Sunny himself to be able to put up a fight against Quinn, and is able to take down fellow ruthless Baron Juliet Chau. At the advice of the Master she stops fighting with anger, elevating her fighting style and allowing her to fight Sunny to a standstill.
- Leadership: The Widow is capable of gaining new followers consistently even after many of her own forces turn against her.
- Military Strategist: The Widow led a successful campaign to take over the entire Badlands, outplaying every other Baron and eventually defeating Baron Chau on the battlefield.
- The Gift (formerly): The Widow possessed the Gift as a child before it was taken away by the Abbots. Bajie recalled it being extremely violent.
- Bajie's Gift: To save her from the coma she was put in by the Abbots, Bajie had to transfer his Gift to her, although it was locked inside of her mind. It is reawakened after M.K. fatally stabs Tilda, with the emotional trauma being enough to awaken the Gift and allow her to defeat M.K. in battle.
Quotes[]
Said by the Widow[]
| “ | Every butterfly needs a sanctuary. | „ |
| ~ The Widow's motto as Baron. |
| “ | The appearance of weakness is the greatest advantage. | „ |
| ~ The Widow's philosophy for training her Butterflies. |
| “ | We are fighting for a world where girls don’t get dragged into dark rooms and have their innocence torn from them. But that world comes at a price. | „ |
| ~ The Widow motivation to protect girls like Tilda. |
| “ | Kindness is a weapon men use to get what they want. | „ |
| ~ The Widow's misandry. |
| “ | Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire, or it will consume you. | „ |
| ~ The Widow |
Said about the Widow[]
| “ | You think that compromise is weakness. It’s not. It’s survival. | „ |
| ~ Waldo chastising the Widow. |
| “ | Power's changed you. Now you're willing to sacrifice innocent lives for your own interest. You're no better than any other Baron. Swindling people with declarations of good will, only to stab them in the back. | „ |
| ~ Tilda severing her relationship with the Widow. |
| “ | We want an armistice. An immediate end to the fighting. You're the only one who can do that. | „ |
| ~ Arthur demanding the Widow ends the war with Chau. |
| “ | Be the leader you promised to be. End this war, once and for all. | „ |
| ~ Wren's final words to the Widow. |
| “ | Stop looking to a greater authority for answers, you need to find them inside you. Create a world where there are no more masters. | „ |
| ~ The Master's last lesson to the Widow before she dies. |
Trivia[]
- The Widow alludes to the Ruler of Women's Country from the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West, of which Into the Badlands is loosely based on.
- The Widow tells M.K. she has a son named Percival, although she never mentions him again even after becoming pregnant by Gaius, so its possible this was not true.
- The Widow is shown using nunchaku once during her first battle against Sunny, it is likely she was taught this by Bajie, her old mentor, as he is the only fighter in the series to actively use nunchaku during combat.
External Links[]
- The Widow on the Villains Wiki
- The Widow on the Into the Badlands Wiki
- The Widow on the Inconsistently Heinous Wiki
- The Widow on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki
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 Heroes
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Armadillo Territory Butterfly Territory Dark Ones | ||