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Roy Batty, model number N6MAA10816, a Nexus-6 combat model replicant, was the leader of a renegade replicant group that hijacked a shuttle and traveled to Earth to demand a longer lifespan.

Biography

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Hijacking

In October or November, Roy led a group of replicants in killing twenty-three people in an Off-world colony and hijacking a shuttle with the assistance of other replicants, Leon, Pris, Zhora, and two others. These renegade replicants killed the crew and set a course for Earth.[1]

Hunted

Two weeks later, after a failed attempt to break into Tyrell's headquarters (resulting in the deaths of one[2][3][4] or two[5][6] unidentified replicants), Roy and Leon investigated ways that they could reach Eldon Tyrell and thus lengthen their lifespans by viciously interrogating Hannibal Chew. Chew directed them to J.F. Sebastian, and Pris went to meet J.F. first. Later on that day, Zhora was killed by Blade Runner Rick Deckard and Leon was killed by the replicant, Rachael.[1]

Roy arrived the next morning at J.F.'s home, the abandoned Bradbury Apartments. He told Pris about Leon and Zhora's deaths, and was overwhelmed by emotion and barely able to share the news. Learning that J.F. was playing a lengthy game of chess with Eldon Tyrell, Roy shared the winning moves with J.F., who took him to the Tyrell Corporation to meet with the man himself.[1]

Roy and Tyrell briefly debated the possibility of extending the lives of replicants, and Tyrell concluded that it was impossible. Roy asked Tyrell for forgiveness of his sins, but Tyrell seemingly did not comply, telling him that he had also done wondrous things. However, it did nothing to comfort Roy. Roy then killed Tyrell, and then killed J.F. before retreating back to the Bradbury Building.[1]

Confrontation with Deckard

Deckard soon arrived at the Bradbury Building and "retires" Pris. Roy, arriving moments later, began to play a cat-and-mouse-game with Deckard, frightening and taunting him until he found Pris' body and broke down into tears. Roy began to taunt Deckard more violently, breaking two of his fingers as vengeance for Zhora and Pris, then encouraged Deckard to join him in fits of violence after Deckard hit him with a pipe. Roy soon shoved a nail through his malfunctioning hand and forced Deckard to retreat to the roof of the building.[1]

Death

Roy batty2

Roy near death

On the roof, Deckard attempted to escape Roy by jumping to another rooftop, but fell short, clinging desperately to a girder extending off the side of the building. Deckard, trapped, spent his perceived last moments hanging onto the roof as his hands slipped, a fatal fall almost certain. After Batty mused about the nature of what it was to be a slave, Deckard began to fall, casting a final act of contempt at Roy by spitting at him. Despite this, in an uncharacteristic display of mercy or even empathy, Roy grabbed Deckard and dragged his body onto the roof. Moments later, as his four-year lifespan drew to a close, Roy reflected on the moments he had been privileged enough to view, such as "C-Beams glittering in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate." He died shortly afterwards, allowing a replicant dove he carried to fly out of his hand into the night.[1]

Behind the scenes

Screenwriter David Peoples wrote an opening scene to Blade Runner where, on an Off-world colony junkyard, Batty would emerge from a pile of dead replicants. However, this scene was never filmed.

In Hampton Fancher's original version of the script, Batty was killed by Deckard. Peoples added the speech, which was expanded by actor Rutger Hauer.[7]

Gallery

References

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