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Roy Baty was the leader of a group of escaped Nexus-6 androids and the husband of Irmgard Baty.
Biography[]
According to an account by Pris Stratton, Baty and his wife ran a drugstore on Mars and supplied Pris with the painkiller silenizine. However, bounty hunter Rick Deckard expressed his doubts about this, figuring that this was a cover story and that Baty was actually a manual laborer. Baty once stole and experimented with hallucinogenic substances, claiming that they would help androids experience something similar to Mercerism's fusion with Wilbur Mercer.[1]
Roy organized the group's escape from Mars. Within months after their arrival on Earth, members of the escapee group, Anders, Gitchel, Max Polokov, Garland, and Luba Luft had been retired by bounty hunters. This prompted Roy and Irmgard to find Pris on January 3, 1992/2021 in a mostly-abandoned apartment building she had found refuge in. Entering her apartment, the Batys were introduced to John Isidore, a special who was the building's only other inhabitant and had befriended Pris.[1]
Roy informed Pris of the other androids who had been killed and advised that they all hide in the building so they could protect each other in the event that a bounty hunter would find them. Roy then advised that Pris move in with Isidore for added safety. With electronic components from the ship that brought them to Earth, Roy devised a plan to outfit their rooms with microphones and an alarm system.[1]
As Roy set up the security measures in Isidore's room, he explained that the alarm was outfitted with a Penfield mood organ to put an intruder into a state of panic. When Pris asked if this would effect Isidore, he said that it would, but that Isidore would be safe as he would not be targeted by the bounty hunter. He further explained that he system had been adjusted for Isidore's presence, but slipped that another human in addition to Isidore would set it off. Noticing this, Isidore realized that the Batys and Pris were androids.[1]
The group took a vote on whether to stay at the building, with Roy being the only one voting not to, explaining that they should kill Isidore and go elsewhere, reasoning that perhaps the other androids had trusted someone that they should not have, thus leading to their deaths. This upset Roy's wife, who pointed out that he was trusting far too much in his intelligence. Nevertheless, Roy soon relented, indicating that he was exhausted.[1]
Later that evening, the androids commanded Isidore to bring Pris's television to his apartment so they could view a much-anticipated exposé by Buster Friendly. Baty watched the television intently as Friendly and a research team exposed Wilbur Mercer to be the creation of a movie studio, a fact that pleased Baty greatly. Isidore – upset over the revelation and of Pris torturing a spider – began to hallucinate and the androids watched him until the alarm was triggered, prompting Baty to command the others to prepare for a bounty hunter.[1]
Ushering Isidore out of the apartment to find the bounty hunter, Roy and his wife remained in the apartment, waiting. Soon came a knock at the door, claiming to be Isidore. However, it was the bounty hunter, Rick Deckard. Despite Irmgard's protests, he noted that he did not need to Voigt-Kampff test them, as Pris had attacked him. Roy opened fire upon Deckard and quickly ran to the kitchen. Deckard then killed Irmgard and Roy cried out in anguish before being killed as well.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
Baty originally appears in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? In the film adaptation, Blade Runner, his surname is slightly altered to "Batty" and he is portrayed by Rutger Hauer.