Cattleya

"Rana, watch your mother do her best!"

"Darling, come back soon. This child and I miss you..."

Unlimited: "I feel so lonesome without you, Dear... Whatever should I do?"

Cattleya (カトレア) was an adventurer in her youth, but now manages a weapon-smithing shop. She is married to Owen (オーウェン) who was also an adventurer and has a son named Rana (ラナ). She enters the Queen's Blade Tournament to find Owen who has gone missing.

Appearance
Cattleya is a muscular, mature looking woman having ivory-colored skin, black hair in a ponytail with a left bang that covers most of her forehead and large breast, blue eyes behind spectacles and she is extremely voluptuous. The most distinguishing feature of Cattleya is her enormous bust which is restrained behind a tight, purple, apron-like dress.

Unlimited
Cattleya sports the blacksmith outfit she wore in the Vagrant Warrior, and her sword is more wider and curved.

Personality
Cattleya is very kind and gentle possibly because she has had a son. In the past, she may have been more fierce and serious. This other side is shown when she fights. She appears to be slightly depressed as she is looking for her husband Owen who has been missing for quite some time.

Abilities
Cattleya is a skilled swordswoman as she has gained much experience as a adventurer. She uses both spears and her main weapon "Giant Killer" (a heavy blade she used in her adventures) in combat with great ease and mastery. In combat she fights with her son Rana in her arms; this leaves her at a disadvantage but she states that both of them are to die as one. She has tremendous strength and skill; she is able to knock her opponent down with one blow using her giant sword.

Her other abilities include her mastery of smithing/forging weapons and repairing them, which gave her a prestigious and known reputation as a "Master Weaponsmith" and a well-known adventurer.

Parameters
Attack: 4

Defense: 2

Potential: 1

Technique: 4

Reach: 5

Agility: 3

Prior to QB
(From the Queen's Blade site)

The famous and resourceful ex-adventurers, Owen and Cattleya, got married after overcoming many hardships together and settled down to manage the "Cattleya Weapons Shop". They made another friend, the "Great Alchemist" Cyan and for a while they sold rather well high-quality weapons made from low-cost iron. Rana, their spoiled child, grew fast. For Cattleya, a nice wife and a wise mother who worried about her family, it was a happy time that didn't last long. One day Owen suddenly vanished.

Cattleya believes she will find clues to her missing husband's whereabouts if she participates in the Queen's Blade. The fights are broadcast all over the Continent so, carrying her son Rana along, she decides to participate in it. She wields "Giant Killer", an enormous sword with peerless reach and destructive power which was forged by her husband. She's also a formidable master of one of her best items in her shop, the javelin. However, the battle might be tough for her since Rana doesn't want to be apart from her for a second.

Prologue
(From her backcover)

I heard the sound of a bell informing me of a customer’s visit, so I went to the counter.

''“May I help you? Javelins are at a reduced price today…”''

However, the one standing there wasn’t a customer.

Since a fight was going to start, I picked up the “Giant Killer”, a large sword forged by my husband.

At that moment, my son Rana came into the store. I told Rana:

“Rana, since mom has to have an important talk with this person, be a good boy and get inside.”

But Rana said, staring back with a strong will in his eyes he had never shown before:

''“I don’t want to. I don’t want mom to disappear like dad too. I definitely won’t be separated from you, mom.”''

I couldn’t say anything back at him. Rana is ready to witness my fight. He’s summoned up all of his courage.

Darling. I believe in you. I’ll be waiting for you forever.

That’s why, please watch how we both fight, this child and I.

Sure enough, can Cattleya fight it out while protecting her son?

They won’t know that unless they fight.

Trivia

 * She is voiced by Ryoka Yuzuki (Japanese) and Eva Christensen (English).
 * Her name is based off the name of a flower, one that is known for being particularly large. Hans has stated in the Perfect Visual Book that she was named after that flower for that reason.
 * She has the largest bust, relative to her size, in the franchise, excluding Melona's shapeshifting abilities.
 * Her sword, 'Giant Killer', has no canonically fixed length. Its size varies from series to series and even her figurines can't seem to agree on a particular length from the blade to the hilt. The sword's length from blade to hilt seems to be somewhere between 6 to 8 feet, or longer than Cattleya is tall, while the blade's length is estimated to be around 4'8 to 5'9 feet, or a little shorter or about as tall as Cattleya is, depending on the figurine.
 * Cattleya's husband, Owen, is known as the Dragon Slayer while Cattleya herself is known as the Giant Killer. The Dragon Slayer name has been used in many other works but of particular note, the Berserk series' main character, Guts, uses a sword with the same name. Perhaps coincidentally, Cattleya uses her sword much the same way that Guts uses his.
 * All Hans asked for of Hiraku Kaneko, the artist, as to the design specs for Cattleya was “I want a warrior woman who wears nothing but an apron and is married.” and nothing else, according to the Perfect Visual Book. He often describes Cattleya as being 'legendary' after the fact.
 * Hans has estimated Cattleya's age (at the time of the original Queen's Blade series) at being between 28 to 32 in the Beautiful Fighters FAQ.

Gallery
For this character's gallery, visit: Cattleya/Gallery