Luka Redgrave is a journalist and secondary character throughout the series. Initially believing Bayonetta is little more than a cold-blooded killer responsible for the death of his father, he finds himself embroiled in many of the witch's escapades across the world while searching for the truth behind their supernatural circumstances. Upon his entanglement in the affairs of the forces of light and darkness, Luka becomes an ally to Bayonetta, acting as her occasional associate and guide to history of the human realm.
Crossing paths again with Bayonetta in the second game, Luka assists in the effort to recover Jeanne's soul from Inferno, and during the adventure, he is made aware of a new threat to the Trinity of Realities seeking the Eyes of the World.
In the third installment, Luka transforms into a monstrous creature called Strider, the Twilight Wanderer as a result of the destruction of his counterparts across the Multiverse awakening his faerie magic. He acts as a recurring antagonist to Bayonetta and Viola.
History
Luka was born the son of world-famous journalist, Antonio Redgrave. As a child, he admired and looked up to his father, although he didn't spend much time with him due to Antonio getting caught up in his work. 20 years before the events of Bayonetta, Luka accompanied his father to unearth the secrets of a strange coffin resting at the bottom of a lake. Consequently, Antonio released Bayonetta from her 500 year slumber in the coffin; the two were suspended above the lake and the young Luka watched in horror as his father was torn apart and killed. Given that Bayonetta was the only other person at the scene, Luka believed she killed Antonio and he grew an intense hatred for her, vowing to one day find and expose her for her crime.
Story
Bayonetta
As an adult, Luka became a journalist as well, using his later father's notes to find the truth behind his death, and hunting down Bayonetta to bring her to justice. He is first referenced upon planting a bug in Enzo's car and tailing it, using the information gathered to follow Bayonetta to Vigrid. Though he attempts to catch her and take photos once in town, she outwits and startles him before vanishing again, leaving him to shout after her that she only runs because she's afraid of his plan to expose her.
Luka later meets up with Bayonetta again at the Crescent and Sunrise Valleys, taunting her with the prospect that he will eventually share the story surrounding her to the world so he can "win", but the meeting is cut short with the arrival of the angels. He eventually makes his way to the Vigrid Air Force Base where he finds Cereza and intends to take her from Bayonetta, believing that the witch has put a spell on the girl to make her think that she is her daughter, even going as far as thinking Bayonetta killed her real parents. The group is then attacked by angels, and Bayonetta trusts Luka to watch Cereza while she goes out to fight.
Luka drives a military vehicle in an attempt to beat Bayonetta to Isla del Sol, claiming he knows she is on her way there because she's after a gemstone of some kind. However, neither he, Cereza nor Bayonetta can make it to the island across Prominence Bridge as the angels make it impossible to cross. As Luka and Cereza are forced to find a new route after Bayonetta is flung into Paradiso, Cereza lets Luka borrow her glasses in order to make sense of the explosions that seem to have followed them into their forest hiding place. After putting them on, Luka sees the angels that Bayonetta is fighting in Purgatorio; Cereza tells him that witches protect people from monsters, casting doubt on what he thought he saw as a child. After the subsequent battle with Iustitia, Luka tells Bayonetta the history he has learned about the Umbra and the Lumen, explaining his reasons for continuing to chase her.
After failing to follow Cereza and Bayonetta aboard a Valkyrie Military Transport, Luka takes a helicopter and rescues them after the transport is taken down. As they near Isla del Sol, the helicopter is destroyed; Bayonetta is forced to man a missile to get to the island, with Luka barely hanging on during the dangerous ride. When they arrive on Isla del Sol, Luka distracts Jeanne from her fight with Bayonetta long enough to take both Cereza and the missile controls she had been using. He escapes with the girl in a jeep, which is subsequently destroyed in mid-air; luckily, Luka's quick-thinking saves him and Cereza as he hooks them off to safety.
Luka later meets up with Bayonetta inside the Ithavoll Building. After Bayonetta pursues Cereza when she disappears, he is separated from them and later finds his way up to Balder's office. Upon meeting with the sage, Balder reveals the truth behind Antonio's death, that it was the action of the angels under his command, and were invisible to Luka in Purgatorio. Following this revelation, Luka narrowly escapes being killed in the same way thanks to Bayonetta, but she is not quick enough to save him from being launched out of the window to his supposed death.
Fortunately, Luka survives as Bayonetta catches him on a missile like before. After Cereza is returned to her rightful place in time, Luka watches as Bayonetta is overcome by the awakening power of the Left Eye, triggering the resurrection of Jubileus. Later, when Bayonetta and Jeanne fight the goddess, Luka can only watch from the ground as the remains of the statue burn up in the atmosphere. In the aftermath, he expects Bayonetta to be sneaking up on him, but is disheartened to see that he gets no such surprise.
A few days later, Luka attends Bayonetta's funeral and leaves rosemary on her tomb. Knowing the flower acts as a demon repellent, he thinks it will help her upon what he believes is her final resting place. However, the nun performing the ceremony is revealed to be Jeanne, who used the funeral was just a decoy to attract angels. Bayonetta wakes up from her nap in the coffin and Luka watches in awe as she dances and fights her way through the horde with Jeanne. He comments on Bayonetta's perfume having rosemary in it, and she remarks its meaning of remembrance now suits her.
Bayonetta 2
Luka first meets Bayonetta in Noatun after she finishes fighting off a horde of angels, failing in his attempt to save her from falling. As he can properly see Bayonetta now through the use of his new glasses, he expresses his surprise that she refers to him as Luka instead of Cheshire. He divulges that he has heard about what happened to Jeanne and offers to dig up anything about the city and Fimbulventr if it'll help her out. He later runs into Loki after Bayonetta's battle with Glamor, questioning the boy's insistence to get to Fimbulventr before heading off.
Luka follows the clues of his research to near the top of the Cathedral of Cascades. Meeting Bayonetta and Loki again, he reveals the information he knows about the legend of Aesir, the original god of the human realm and the creator of the Eyes of the World. He also makes a guess that Balder's death, and the subsequent loss of the Right Eye, was responsible for Bayonetta losing control of Gomorrah during the opening moments of the game. As Bayonetta and Loki continue upwards to the top of the Cathedral, Luka observes a mysterious figure pursuing them.
Later, after Luka is able to discover the Gates of Hell and accidentally opens them, he sets a weakened Loki free. Claiming he now remembers everything, Loki pleads with Luka to take him to Fimbulventr before passing out. Remarking on how carrying the boy would be easier if he was the same age and size as Cereza was, Luka reaches the entrance to the top of the mountain where Loptr is waiting for them. He promptly chokes Luka unconscious and takes Loki for himself.
When Bayonetta and a young Balder arrive, they are too late to stop Loptr from taking Loki's Sovereign power. Luka swoops in and manages to save the boy from further harm, prompting Bayonetta to remark how he has remarkable timing. Luka watches as the Witch and Sage battle Loptr, who has now taken both of the Eyes and returned to being Aesir, and Loki's eventual trump card that erases the Eyes from existence to win.
After the events at Fimbulventr, Luka is roped into handing out flyers for Rodin despite his complaints that his time is being wasted. When Rodin says that he will be without a source of information if he doesn't, Luka notes how Enzo should be doing this instead before almost crashing his car.
Bayonetta 3
During the invasion of the Homunculi, the destabilization of the World of Chaos unleashes the power of Luka's long-suppressed faerie lineage catalyzed by the escalating destruction of his counterparts. However, this also infuses him with the will of Dark Adam, a counterpart of Luka whose body was destroyed by Singularity and whose mind was lost to his thirst for revenge, transforming him into a feral wolf-like werebeast called Strider for much of the Homunculus invasion. Dark Adam's command to "seek the one single truth", one that had haunted him even as a child, beckons him to Thule, following Bayonetta through the alternate universes she travels.
When she arrives in an alternate Tokyo, Bayonetta engages Luka in his Strider form, unaware of his true identity. After managing to escape and returning to human form, Luka meets up with Bayonetta in the ruins of Tokyo, where he briefly flirts with her before heading off when more Homunculi appear. In the alternate reality of Bayonetta β2, Luka encounters Bayonetta's companion, Viola, for the first time; due to the distortions between him and his alternate selves, Luka senses a connection with Viola, who, unbeknownst to him or Bayonetta, is their daughter from an alternate reality. Viola, and eventually Bayonetta, discover Luka and Strider are one and the same, and Luka reveals he is gradually loses himself to his transformations. However, despite their efforts to help him, Luka is unwilling to approach Bayonetta or Viola, fearing hurting them as he struggles to maintain control of himself.
Soon following Bayonetta into the Alphaverse, Bayonetta attempts to get through to the feral Luka. At first, he seems to recognize Bayonetta's help, but he then impales her as he succumbs to Dark Adam and battles her again. During the fight, he admits that he was just a fool in over his head who had become the monster he once thought Bayonetta to be; Bayonetta herself refuses to believe this and admits that she has feelings for him. Eventually, he is knocked back to the edge of the platform they're on and clings on the ledge. Just as Bayonetta tries to reach his hand, Luka spots the shadow of Dark Adam and pushes Bayonetta out of the way before it can strike her, causing him to lose his grip and seemingly plummet to the void as Dark Adam manifests against Bayonetta.
However, he is rescued by his alternate self, Lukaon, and with the aid of the Faerie King, Luka is restored to sanity and claims the mantle of Arch-Adam Origin. Now in control of his Strider form and realizing the full extent to which his destiny is intertwined with hers, Luka helps Bayonetta to stop Singularity from imposing his "truth" on the Trinity and both vowing to protect Viola. After Bayonetta is mortally wounded by Gomorrah following Singularity's defeat, Luka allows himself to be dragged into Inferno with her, sharing a kiss as the two disappear together.
Some time after the Multiverse is restored, Rodin continues to watch over Viola and makes a casual remark about Luka's presence, implying that while he is gone from the human world, Luka (and by extension Bayonetta) remains active in Inferno and is able to communicate with Rodin.
Appearance
Bayonetta
In the first game, Luka is portrayed as a tall young man with wavy brown hair and grey eyes. His hair is partially tied with two bangs on the sides of his face. He wears a white buttoned shirt and gray vest on top, with a pair of glasses hanging on the front. He also wears an unbuttoned black jacket and dons a long blue scarf with diagonal white and orange stripes, leather gloves and jackboots that reach just below his knees.
Bayonetta 2
In the sequel, Luka has changed his attire to a more 'cowboy' themed style. He now has his hair loose, adorned with a hat with a blue pattern around the circumference. The hat has two strings hanging on each side of the brim with two beads, blue and red on each. He wears a light gray V-neck T-shirt and black leather vest and fingerless gloves. He keeps his striped scarf, but it is tucked into his shirt instead of hanging loose around his neck. He also wears black bell-bottoms with fringes on the bottom. Along with his clothes, Luka also possesses a new pair of glasses made by Rodin which let him see into Purgatorio.
Bayonetta 3
Luka sports another outfit in the third entry, this time wearing a long, brown leather trench coat with a furred collar, the sleeves rolled up his forearms to expose the inside of the coat having a blue and red plaid pattern. He wears a pair of brown fingerless gloves, complete with bracelets around the wrist. Underneath the coat, Luka wears a brown leather waistcoat with gold diamond-shaped buttons and a white shirt underneath. His trousers are a similar dark brown leather and he sports a pair of leather boots with metal buckles around the front and at the side. Luka also wears a hat with similar metal ornamentation as his shoes and he has once again tied his hair back into a ponytail. The biggest addition is that he now carries a large bag over one of his shoulders. His adventurer-like ensemble is themed after the attire of his father's career as a treasure hunter-journalist.[1]
As Strider, he is a hulking wolf-like humanoid with purple fur with yellow-magenta accents and a white flowing mane. His lupine head has four red eyes on each side of his face and ornate golden horns, while structures resembling stained-glass butterfly wings protrude from his jaw and shoulders. He wears a maroon cape reminiscent of his trenchcoat, but with the stained glass pattern on the tail ends. He has ornate golden adornments on his wrists and knuckles, lace-diamond bands around his thighs, and large, bright yellow curved claws on his hands and feet. A constellation-like marking is also present on his abdomen and eyes. After becoming the Arch-Adam Origin, his Strider form turns blue with golden mane, while the accents become blue and light green. The cape's epaulettes now sport his trenchcoat's plaid pattern.
Archives
Bayonetta 3
Luka Redgrave
Thus far he has unraveled many mysteries such as the truth behind his own father's death, the history of the Umbra Witches and Lumen Sages, and the legend of the god of Chaos, all with a recklessness that makes him seem almost possessed, and whether aware of the world's imminent collapse or no, his drive to discover the truth has brought him to the previously undiscovered shores of Thule.
The first words out of his mouth tend to be empty flirtation, but his initiative, boldness, and instincts for snatching victory from the jaws of defeat impress even Bayonetta. Over the course of their long and seemingly destined relationship they've become bound together by an emotion that goes beyond simple trust, with Luka being the only man in the world who can get away with calling her Cerezita.
His encounter with Bayonetta and Viola on this island which holds the key to saving the world couldn't have been a mere coincidence.
Unknown to Luka himself, the root cause of their meeting was the existence of Luka's counterpart from a parallel world, the faerie king Lukaon.
As other parallel worlds and the Luka counterparts there were destroyed one by one, Luka's own faerie power grew beyond a point he could control. Furthermore, Luka's mind was corrupted by Dark Adam, an evil counterpart not unlike concentrated malevolence, and he was transformed into a vicious werebeast that lashed out even at Bayonetta and Viola.
However, Bayonetta, Viola, and Lukaon risked their lives to restore Luka's self-control, and as the united Arch-Adam Origin, he fulfilled his purpose of guiding Bayonetta.
Strider
Possessed of a durable body that can even shake off bullets, it moves with a predator's rough agility, refusing to be still.
It is also extremely brutal and once it has its sights set on its prey, its instincts for battle remaind honed as it attacks relentlessly, tearing it apart with sharp claws and fangs.
As if driven by madness, it lashes out at all who approach it, including Bayonetta and Viola, lunging at them on sight and waging a number of deadly battles.
However the creature's true form was none other than that of Luka Redgrave, mentally controlled and twisted by the malevolent amalgam of the disembodied consciousness of Lukas from other parallel worlds, a being known as Dark Adam.
Luka had gained the power of the faerie king Lukaon, one of his counterparts in a distant parallel world, but was then possessed and controlled by Dark Adam.
Although he finally responded to Bayonetta's voice, he was not able to free himself from Dark Adam's grasp and was finally silenced by Bayonetta herself.
Personality
Luka tries to show off a confident and intelligent side both through his investigations into the happenings surrounding him and how he personally conducts himself around others, particularly with women. However, he is prone to moments of being rather clumsy and in over his head with some of the things he tries to do. He initially shows open contempt toward Bayonetta for believing she murdered his father, but later comes to have a professional relationship with her when he realizes the truth of their circumstances. He has a strong sense of justice and the same near obsessive nature towards the truth of things as his late father once had (and unknown to him, is the proof that he is the inheritor of the mantle of Arch-Adam).
Abilities
As a human, Luka has no combat skills as such, but is a skilled user of a grappling hook in order to make escapes or reach places, blessed with a good sense of timing and smell. In addition, despite having no magic power, he appears to have significant durability, surviving several times falling and crashing into stone walls with no visible injury.
In the third game, as a consequence of the Multiverse collapse brought upon by Singularity, Luka receives magical abilities from his faerie counterpart Lukaon, which causes him to transform into the bestial Strider. In this form, he possesses superhuman strength, speed, and durability that is able to keep up with the likes of Bayonetta, and can even shrug off a punch from Madama Butterfly's wicked weave. He is very agile, capable of leaping with extreme distance and lunging at opponents in rapid charges, and can cling to ceilings and walls. His roars and fist strikes release waves of energy that devastate those nearby, and can emit energy slashes with swipes from his claws.
Character Relationships
Relatives
Antonio
Viola
Friends & Allies
Bayonetta
Initially, Luka chased Bayonetta relentlessly under the assumption that she was the killer of his father and was determined to expose her; he is also greatly annoyed by her calling him "Cheshire", though he still finds her begrudgingly attractive. The two soon formed a solid partnership which included Luka looking after Cereza while Bayonetta kept them from danger; in turn, his hatred subsided and Bayonetta came to respect and trust him, finally calling him by his name. In Bayonetta 2, Luka meets Bayonetta while he's in Noatun and eagerly offers her information as she makes her way through; his crush remains persistent as he takes any chance to show off for her, but only gets himself kicked aside. In Bayonetta 3, Luka follows Bayonetta throughout the Multiverse, usually stopping to flirt with her briefly before bouncing. When trapped within Strider, he begged Bayonetta to stay away from him, afraid of hurting her; when Dark Adam exited his body, he pushed her away even if he fell to his potential demise. After recovering his human form, Luka realized his purpose in helping Bayonetta reach Singularity and participated in her final fight. When Bayonetta's soul was knocked out of her body by Gomorrah, Luka (as Strider) slayed the demon before joining her and getting dragged to Inferno together.
Cereza
Cereza is the younger form of Bayonetta who was brought to the present by Balder. Luka initially takes the girl from Bayonetta under the assumption that the witch killed her parents (stemming from his own experience 20 years ago). He develops a friendly bond with Cereza, often conversing with her, giving her lollipops when she starts crying, and keeping her from danger.
Rodin
Luka has a friendly acquaintance with Rodin. Most notably in Bayonetta 2, he got Rodin to craft his Purgatorio-vision glasses and even helps him with advertising the Gates of Hell at the end of the game.
Gallery
- For more pictures and screenshots of Luka, click here.
Quotes
Bayonetta
- "You know, in the language of flowers, rosemary equates to remembrance. Which doesn't quite equate to you now does it, Bayonetta?"
- "Whoa, whoa! You're getting the wrong idea! ...I mean it might be the right idea... but not right now right, right?"
- "I'm not your pet. The name is Luka. A name you better remember."
- "I know they´re real! I know the truth."
- "The… name… is… Luka!"
- "Oh, fuck me!"
- "Shit!"
- "If you're wondering where L-U-K-A, Luka is concerned, there's no such thing as luck… only skill."
- "Then welcome aboard Air Luka Flight 001. This is your captain, LUKA, speaking."
- "Oh, fucking hell!"
- "Great speech, big guy."
- "Getting a bit ahead of ourselves, aren't we, Mr. Big Shot Ithavoll Executive? Salvation, light...You take this entrepreneurial philosophy a bit seriously, don't ya? But it's all diarrhea of the mouth, if you ask me. History is littered with famous genocidal figures just like you...Or should I say infamous genocidal figures."
Bayonetta 2
- "The Legend of Aesir... A legend from the dawn of time. Nobody knows where the world came from. A struggle caused the Trinity of Realities to be split into three realms: light, darkness, and chaos. Obviously, our world was the one born from chaos."
- "Oh hey. Mouthy brat kid."
- "And the truth will always be the truth. So if the truth is here, then so am I."
- "Would you expect anything less from... the marvelous, magnificent, magnanimous... Lu-KA!!!"
- "That performance MIGHT make the back page of the Classifier."
- "I didn't go through all these ridiculous ordeals to just RANDOMLY show up in opportune places, you know?"
- "So, our fates and our paths cross again."
- "But if there's one thing I've learned in my line of work, it's when I've found you, I've found the story."
- "OOOHHHHH SHIIIITTTTT!"
- "What the fuck was that!? Wait... Who the fuck are you!?"
- "I found this really great place for seafood. They do an amazing sardine meuniére."
- "Alright alright I get it, I owe you, but I'm not the one with the endless tab. Where is that deadbeat, anyway!?"
Bayonetta 3
- "Do you believe in fate?"
- "Fate brought us here together, and it will never tear us apart."
- "Man! These guys have been a huge pain in the ass. Ay! How about you take care of them for me? 'ppreciate it, Cerezita!"
- "She's really getting under your skin, huh kid? But you gotta prove yourself if you wanna move beyond nicknames."
- "Hang on, have we met before? I think I'd remember you, riot girl."
- "It's time I got going. Gotta find that voice... Later ladies!"
- "Stop, stop please (...) Damn! My head feels like its cracking open! That voice again (...) In my head telling me to see the truth!"
- "Kid, get back!"
- "Bayonetta, stay away from me!"
- "Bayonetta, my purpose...is to get you to where you need to be."
- "Later Violita. Goodbye Bayonetta. I'll always love you both."
- "When you fight for what you believe, you can change anything."
- "Seems like we always find each other whenever she needs us."
- "We'll always be together, Cereza."
Trivia
- Luka's English voice actor is Yuri Lowenthal, who also voiced Zero and Edgar Oinkie in Anarchy Reigns. Luka is voiced by Daisuke Namikawa in Japanese.
- Luka's surname "Redgrave" is a reference to Tony Redgrave, the alias of Dante from the Devil May Cry series - one of Kamiya's previous games.
- The name Luka can be found in three languages; Slavic, Japanese and Old Norse.
- In Slavic, Luka means "Someone from Lucania, Italy".
- In Japanese, Luka (ルカ) invokes the Japanese homonyms "nagare" (流, flow) and "ka" (歌, song) or "ka" (香, scent).
- In Old Norse, Luka means "close" in the archaic language. This is possibly a reference for his relationship with Bayonetta.
- During his encounter with Bayonetta in the Crescent & Sunrise Valleys, Luka lists the names of girls he has dated, all of whom are names of characters from Hideki Kamiya's previous games: Claire (Resident Evil 2), Trish (Devil May Cry), Silvia (Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2) and Ammy (The nickname given to the wolf goddess, Amaterasu, in Okami).
- In official artwork, it is shown that these girls may actually be Luka's pet cats and dog. Each pet resembles the character she's named after. Claire: a brown cat with a red ribbon, Trish: a black cat with a yellow ribbon, Silvia: A blue cat with a purple ribbon, and Ammy: A white puppy with a red collar.
- As another reference, when Bayonetta draws on Luka's face with the lipstick in the first game, she draws the red markings of Amaterasu from Okami on his forehead.
- Bayonetta's nickname for Luka, 'Cheshire', is the same name as her childhood toy doll and also the name of the anthropomorphic trickster cat from Alice in Wonderland. Since Luka appears and often disappears and quickly thanks to his grappling hook, it could mean his nickname also refers to how Alice's Cheshire Cat can evaporate or disappear. Ironically, his Strider form in Bayonetta 3 resembles a wolf.
- Luka's favorite color is blue, which was also his father's favorite.[1]
- Luka bears a striking resemblance to:
- Luis Sera, a character in Resident Evil 4.
- Byrne Faraday, a prosecutor from Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.
- Jetstream Sam, Raiden's rival in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, another game developed by Platinum Games.
- Leo, one of the protagonists from Anarchy Reigns, a multiplayer brawler developed by Platinum Games.
- Coincidentally enough, Bayonetta herself is playable in Anarchy Reigns.
- Additionally, Luka's Bayonetta 2 design bears a strong resemblance to Robeto Frois from Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams, including hat, spectacles, and bell-bottoms.
- One of Luka's trademark clothing, a long stripy scarf, resembles the scarf worn by the Fourth Doctor in the British Sci-Fi series Doctor Who.
- All of Luka's 3D models have him with his arm extended and pointing his finger out, this is possibly a reference to Phoenix Wright's famous 'Objection!' pose and both characters are obsessed with finding the truth, Luka as a journalist and Phoenix as a lawyer.
- And finally, more so in Bayonetta 2, Luka bears a striking resemblance to his father as he appears in Bayonetta: Bloody Fate when he isn't in his scuba gear.
Luka Alan Smithee in the Wonderful 101
- The Wonderful 101, a Wii U game developed by Platinum Games and directed by Hideki Kamiya, has a character named Luka Alan Smithee, an elementary school student who believes that his mother is dead, and wears the same exact scarf that Luka from Bayonetta does. Incidentally, Yuri Lowenthal is also in TW101, but he voices Wonder White instead.
- All the drawings in Bloody Fate's credits are signed by Luka.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Umbran Studies – Character Design Vol. 2: Jeanne, Luka, Rodin, Enzo - PlatinumGames Official Blog
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