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Roberta "Bobbie" W. Draper, also called Gunny in the MMC, was a member and Gunnery Sergeant of the Force Recon group (Special Forces) of the Martian Marine Corps (MMC). She was stationed on the MCRN Scirocco and Xuesen throughout her career. For the better part of her life, she was a fiercely nationalistic Martian dedicated to the Martian dream of terraforming Mars.


Overview[]

Draper was leading her unit on Ganymede Station after the Eros incident, during the first contact with a protomolecule-human hybrid. The result of the battle was a slaughter, leaving Draper as the only survivor. Later she referred to the protomolecule, as "the weapon". MCR Defense Minister Pyotr Korshunov then awarded her the Purple Heart and summoned her to the UN-MCR summit in New York, to provide her testimony on the incident on Ganymede.

After discovering her purpose was only as a trump card for the MCR and nothing more, she defected to the United Nations in New York City, serving as both Martian liaison and later, bodyguard to UN Deputy Undersecretary Chrisjen Avasarala. The people of the MCR viewed her defection as high treason, meanwhile Draper constantly reminded herself that what she’s doing is all for the sake of Mars. She discovered that the UN and the MCR were both involved in the same conspiracy, revolving around Project Caliban. Helping to expose the conspiracy in both governments, Draper was crucial to the efforts in forestalling war between both nations.

After surrendering to Martian Congressional Republic Navy authorities, she was cleared of charges of treason and reinstated, with commendation. Because of her contacts within all three major governments, she now acts as a liaison between the various factions and Chrisjen Avasarala.

Biography[]

Background[]

Bobbie was born on Mars in the 24th century. She had a minor climbing accident in Mariner Valley. Following the militaristic nature of Mars' society, she underwent military training and pursued an MMC career. Over time, she advanced in rank becoming a capable MMC soldier in service.

Even before the relations between the UN and MCR escalated, Bobbie believed that engaging into war against the UN was the only way to secure Mars' safety and continuation of the terraforming project.

She is known to have welcomed Richard Travis into her squad, even though she knew that he originated from Earth, thus implying that she does not discriminate Earthers from Martians when it comes to the question of loyalty.

Throughout the series[]

In "Safe", Martian marine Bobbie Draper undergoes a brutal training exercise before being deployed on the Scirocco to investigate why a research station on Saturn’s moon Phoebe has gone dark.

In "Static", Bobbie struggles with the news that the Martian moon Deimos has been destroyed by Earth. Bobbie is eager to join the fight for Mars, and is frustrated when she is assigned to the Jovian moon, Ganymede.

In "Paradigm Shift", Bobbie and her Martian Marine crew are deployed on Ganymede as part of a mission to secure a food supply. She and her team are holding the line between the UN army and the Marines when something goes wrong. Suddenly, their comms are jammed and they see UN patrolmen quickly advancing upon them. The scene cuts away and when it cuts back, she’s been attacked by some thing and her entire crew is dead.

In "The Seventh Man", Bobbie is revealed to be the only member of her crew who survived the Ganymede incident and her memory of the event is hazy. With so much riding on her testimony, politically, the higher ups in the Mars Navy press her for information, but all she can remember is that United Nations troops were running from something. Bobbie’s story doesn’t mesh well with the narrative that the Martian Navy is trying to construct (ostensibly to maintain peace, but perhaps for another purpose), and they inform Bobbie that she will have to depart for Earth to give a false testimony; stating that she and her team fired on U.N. Navy troops first.

In "The Weeping Somnambulist", Bobbie arrives on Earth to offer her testimony from Ganymede. She lies, under orders from Martian Navy top brass, and says that her unit mistakenly started firing upon the UNN troops, and is deeply upset when one of her marines is thrown under the bus as the instigating force behind the battle. Avasarala senses that Bobbie is hiding something and requests more time with her. As Avasarala grills her for the truth, Bobbie lets it slip that “something” with no vacuum suit attacked them, but quickly gets back on script.

In "Cascade", Bobbie manages to escape her quarters after being kept there as prisoner. Eventually, with help from an Earther named Nico, she reaches the ocean. However, she is suddenly confronted by Avasarala, who finally has a moment alone with Bobbie and tries to get the truth about what really happened on Ganymede. Unfortunately, Bobbie is still reeling from her experience at the UN and has yet to trust the Earther politician.

In "Here There Be Dragons", fresh off of her betrayal by her own team, Bobbie is determined to uncover the truth about Ganymede. She interrogates and brutally attacks her superior, Martens, until he acquiesces: her team was the sacrificial lamb to test a new weapon on Ganymede. Bobbie escapes from her planet's embassy and seeks political asylum on Earth where she tells Avasarala everything she knows.

In "The Monster and the Rocket", Bobbie departs Earth for Jules-Pierre Mao’s ship, the Guanshiyin, serving as extra muscle for Avasarala. Aboard Jules’ luxurious ship, Avasarala and the business magnate discuss terms: in exchange for access to the protomolecule technology, Jules wants his family assets freed from UN restrictions. When Errinwright sends a message that Martian Defense Minister Pyotr Korshunov, the only other person funding the protomolecule project, has passed away, things come to a head. Avasarala is the only one alive that can expose Errinwright's role in the protomolecule conspiracy, so he orders her shuttle to return to Earth, stranding Bobbie there, along with Avasarala. Mao's men prepare to silence them forever.

In "Caliban's War", trapped on the Guanshiyin, Bobbie, Avasarala, and Cotyar try to stay alive. Cotyar is bleeding out quickly from the gunfight, but he manages to create a diversion for Bobbie to escape the room and retrieve her Martian armor. Fighting her way back to the hangar, Bobbie returns wearing her power armor and rescues Avasarala and Cotyar.

"Fight or Flight"
Escapes the Guanshiyin accompanied by Cotyar and Avasarala with the help of Theo Simibelli. Her power armor was shorted out during an invasion of the Guanshiyin's flight deck. She takes control of Julie's racing pinnace, the Razorback with Avasarala as her passenger.

"IFF"
Bobbie evades the UNN escort ship until the high g-forces threaten Avasarala's life. At that point, to summon aid, despite the threat of imprisonment, she uses the emergency beacon in her Martian recon suit. The crew of the Rocinante respond executing daring strategies and maneuvers to disable the UNN threat. Bobbie rushes an unconscious Avasarala through the docking bridge in urgent need of medical attention.

"Assured Destruction"


"Reload"
Objects to looting the Kittur Chennamma but when the rescued survivors attempt to hijack the ship, she talks down Ensign Loftis.

"Triple Point"
Bobbie lands on Io with the assault force wearing Goliath powered armor and witnesses Admiral Nguyen remotely launch the Protomolecule hybrid missiles at Mars.

"Immolation"
Defeats the Katoa-hybrid while distracting it so that Amos, Prax and Holden can recover the children in Prospero Station.

"Delta-V"
Bobbie has been reinstated into the Martian military and is now posted aboard the Xuesen. She and Alex share a communication where he thanks her for dropping in to visit Talissa and Melas Kamal. He explains to Bobbie that Talissa has filed for a divorce and that he's a little relieved about it but is concerned that shows he's an asshole. She assures him that it's more important that he know what he is. She relates to him that she doesn't know what she would do had Mars not reinstated her. She also tells Alex she believes he earned the right to pilot the Rocinante and she'd let him fly her around any time.

"Dandelion Sky"
Manages to have Holden respond to hails when her C.O. Paolo Mayer was unable to achieve that result. Concedes he seems to be talking to himself and crazy. Pursues him into the ring station. Opens fire when Holden doesn't remain still. Watches Mayer get killed and used to patch the hole created by his grenade.

"Fallen World"
Orders Jed Trepp to fire an RPG to discover the new speed limit before the return to the Xuesen's dropship. Refuses to accept the assumption that Holden was in control of the Ring Station and thus responsible for the massacre that resulted from the slowdown. Resists Private Trepp's recommendation to execute Holden while he's unconscious. Insists Holden will tell them what happened when he wakes up.

"Congregation"
Objects to Klaes Ashford questioning Holden. Resists surrendering her armor. Escorts Holden to the livestock livery now being used as a brig. Reminds her marines that Holden was not the only individual to come out of the slowdown event unscathed and they should all remain silent.

"Abaddon's Gate"
After learning Ashford's plan to destroy the Ring and trap everyone still in the slow zone, Captain Lucas summons Draper to the operations deck instructing her to be ready. When Anna Volovodov's transmission begins, Lucas calls Draper into action and tells her to get her armor; however, when the marines arrive at the armaments hold, they learn their armors has been taken. They equip themselves with small arms and head out to the broadcast substation only to discover that Alex and Amos are involved with Anna's broadcast. During her attempts to negotiate, Private Trepp engages in hand-to-hand with Alex and Private Oshi opens fire. The marines do not stand-down when she orders them to do so and she and Amos end up killing both. She is shot in the process and, passing out, she tells Alex that more will be sent and whatever needs to be done needs to be completed quickly.

She has been demoted and works dismantling the Martian military. She stays with her brother, Ben, while she tries to get back on her feet. Her nephew, David, gets involved with a girl, Leelee, who has her making drugs. She tries to forcibly extricate her nephew from the arrangement. The ringleader, Esai Martin, detains David and by using his position as a police detective extorts Bobbie to assist him in a theft. She works for Esai Martin, helping him to sell scrapped Martian tech on the black market. She discovers that the job is a scheme by a Belter faction. She accepts Avasarala's offer of a job after Avasarala has lost her bid for re-election.

"Exodus" · Alex returns to Mars[]

Alex returns to Mars in the Mao racing pinnace Razorback and during arrival reaches out to Bobbie. She declines the connection because she is in the middle of a buy of an old Goliath armored suit from a black market seller. She tries to see if she can get some missiles from him but ends up burning the contact. She messages Avasarala to update her on the status.

"Churn" · Force reduction and easy math[]

[1]

"Mother" · Alex digs for information[]

Bobbie explains to Alex that she's certain Sauveterre is at the center of the illegal sales of surplus Martian military technology and urges Alex to use his date with Sauveterre's aid, Emily Babbage, in order to clandestinely acquire evidence confirming that connection.[2]

"Mother" · Shaking the tree that shakes back[]

[3]

"Gaugamela" · Alex and Bobbie tail the supply convoy[]

[4]

"Gaugamela" · Humanity learns a new name[]

Along with the rest of Humanity within Sol system, Alex and Bobbie watch the proclamation by Marco.[5]

"Down and Out" · Alex and Bobbie decide their next course of action[]

"Down and Out" · Fast movers[]

"Tribes" · Two man MCRN vet space op[]

The Razorback is adrift after dumping core in the effort to escape the missile attack by pursuers. The Belter raiders that pursued the Razorback extend the docking bridge attempting to board but are greeted by an armored Martian Marine, Bobbie Draper. After she immediately eliminates two of them, the third Belter flees back to his ship but Bobbie has other plans and uses the strength of the armor to keep the two ships together allowing Alex time to leap across and plant an explosive charge in the attacker's drive exhaust. Alex successfully does so and the two Martian veterans narrowly retreat back to the Razorback in time before the Belter ship ignites its rocket and explodes.[6]

"Oyedeng" · Planning for failure[]

Holden receives a report from Alex that Bobbie and he are on the Razorback intending to rendezvous at Tycho.[7]

"Oyedeng" · Updating intel[]

Avasarala informs Bobbie that the UN has considered the info she's gathered about Marco's Free Navy and are moving into a defensive position. They get a reply from the Rocinante as well and like Holden realize their ships aren't so distant as they had expected.[8]

"Hard Vacuum" · The Razorback finds a lead[]

While attempting to trace the whereabouts of the Barkeith via possible distress reports of targeted ships, Bobbie discovers the fake distress call from the Chetzemoka and forwards it from the Razorback to the Rocinante.

"Winnipesaukee" · In… control[]

Listening to the modified final distress call from Chetzemoka, Bobbie surmises that Naomi is unable to directly signal to them[9]

"Nemesis Games" · That's that[]

Bobbie warns that the two ships aren't in ideal states and attempting to synchronize flight paths would be too dangerous but Alex overrides her concerns insisting that he will do what it takes and "that's that."[10]

"Nemesis Games" · Humanity united[]

Personality[]

Before learning of Project Caliban, Bobbie was fiercely nationalistic and dedicated to her nation and planet's intentions, as well as the completion of the terraforming project. She would often express the superiority of Martian soldiers to their UN counterparts. Moreover, Bobbie often affirmed how Earthers were not grateful for their already habitable planet and took its beauty for granted. Despite this, she did not discriminate against MMC Private Richard Travis for originating from Earth.

After UN Deputy Undersecretary Avasarala revealed the Martian government's involvement in an inhumane project about the infusion of protomolecule in human DNA, Draper drastically changed her views regarding Earth, possibly also because of the planet's beauty she was able to witness first-hand with visiting New York's coastline. Eventually, she deserted the Martian military by seeking asylum on Earth, a pretext for joining Avasarala's team to uncover the true mysteries of the protomolecule and its links to the Martian Republic and Jules-Pierre Mao, effectively defecting to the UN government.

After the truth was revealed, she was reinstated into the MMC, and while officially pardoned and stationed on board the MCRN Xuesen, her very public insubordination and defection left her own subordinates to question her loyalties. This ultimately led to her being forced to shoot her own troops, Privates Oshi and Trepp when they disobeyed her orders, believing her to be compromised.

Throughout the series, Bobbie is characterized by a fierce independence, an iron will, and an unwavering loyalty to her allies, friends, and crewmates. She has a sharp tongue and a quick wit, and is unafraid to speak candidly to her superiors- a quality that gets her into trouble in the MMC, but ultimately endears her to fellow firebrand Chrisjen Avasarala. She develops meaningful friendships with the Rocinante crew, particularly her fellow Martian Alex Kamal- a friendship that continues into season 4, with the two regularly chatting via video call. She exemplifies many of the personality traits that the MCRN values in their soldiers, including a vicious and relentless combat instinct, but displays a somewhat uncharacteristic propensity for free thought, which ultimately leads her to Avasarala and Earth in an attempt to broker an unlikely peace.

Equipment[]

During her time in the MMC, Draper wore the Mark III Goliath power armor[11] on missions. In addition to the hostile environments of Mars and space, the armor is durable enough to protect the wearer from small-medium arms fire. The armor's typical loadout consists of a wrist-mounted mini-gun and hand grenades and can also fire up to six homing missiles.

Appearances[]

Season Two
1 "Safe"Appears
2 "Doors & Corners"Appears
3 "Static"Appears
4 "Godspeed"Absent (credit only)
5 "Home"Absent (credit only)
6 "Paradigm Shift"Appears
7 "The Seventh Man"Appears
8 "Pyre"Absent (credit only)
9 "The Weeping Somnambulist"Appears
10 "Cascade"Appears
11 "Here There Be Dragons"Appears
12 "The Monster and the Rocket"Appears
13 "Caliban's War"Appears
Season Three
1 "Fight or Flight"Appears
2 "IFF"Appears
3 "Assured Destruction"Appears
4 "Reload"Appears
5 "Triple Point"Appears
6 "Immolation"Appears
7 "Delta-V"Appears
8 "It Reaches Out"Absent (credit only)
9 "Intransigence"Absent (credit only)
10 "Dandelion Sky"Appears
11 "Fallen World"Appears
12 "Congregation"Appears
13 "Abaddon's Gate"Appears
Season Four
1 "New Terra"Appears
2 "Jetsam"Appears
3 "Subduction"Appears
4 "Retrograde"Appears
5 "Oppressor"Absent (credit only)
6 "Displacement"Appears
7 "A Shot in The Dark"Absent (credit only)
8 "The One-Eyed Man"Appears
9 "Saeculum"Absent (credit only)
10 "Cibola Burn"Appears
Season Five
1 "Exodus"Appears
2 "Churn"Appears
3 "Mother"Appears
4 "Gaugamela"Appears
5 "Down and Out"Appears
6 "Tribes"Appears
7 "Oyedeng"Appears
8 "Hard Vacuum"Appears
9 "Winnipesaukee"Appears
10 "Nemesis Games"Appears
Season Six
1 "Strange Dogs"Appears
2 "Azure Dragon"Appears
3 "Force Projection"Appears
4 "Redoubt"Appears
5 "Why We Fight"Appears
6 "Babylon's Ashes"Appears

Trivia[]

  • She is called "Gunny" by her fellow marines. The slang term for the rank of Gunnery Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps appears to have transitioned to represent the equivalent role in the MMC.

Media[]


References

  1. Season 5, Episode 2: "Churn" ("Force reduction and easy math" [17:55])
  2. Season 5, Episode 3: "Mother" ("Alex digs for information" [17:01])
  3. Season 5, Episode 3: "Mother" ("Shaking the tree that shakes back" [27:32])
  4. Season 5, Episode 4: "Gaugamela" ("Alex and Bobbie tail the supply convoy" [02:42])
  5. Season 5, Episode 4: "Gaugamela" ("Humanity learns a new name" [40:30]])
  6. Season 5, Episode 6: "Tribes" ("Two man MCRN vet space op" [10:14])
  7. Season 5, Episode 7: "Oyedeng" ("Planning for failure" [02:41])
  8. Season 5, Episode 7: "Oyedeng" ("Updating intel" [12:40])
  9. Season 5, Episode 9: "Winnipesaukee" ("In… control" [mm:ss])
  10. Season 5, Episode 10: "Nemesis Games" ("That's that" [mm:ss])
  11. In the novels, Draper used an older model power armor compared to her squad. That plot device was not used in the TV adaptation. This probably ought to be restored to "4"


External links[]

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