 Books character
|
 TV character
|
|---|
Carlos "Bull" C de Baca is a member of the OPA, serving as chief security officer and third in command aboard the Behemoth. He is forty years old during Abaddon's Gate.
Appearance[]
Bull has pale brown "cookie dough" skin, dark eyes, a broad chin, and wrinkles on his forehead and the corners of his mouth. He has a deep voice with reedy overtones.
History[]
Background[]
Bull grew up in a housing complex in the New Mexican Shared Interest Zone, living with his father and Mexican mother, as well as many other family members. As a sixteen year old he went to Alamogordo and worked his two-year service stripping down ancient solar electricity stations to avoid going on Basic, living in a dorm with ten other boys.
At the age of eighteen he briefly attended tech school, before he entered the United Nations Marine Corps, serving on Ceres Station. Bull suffered from hereditary depression, so after leaving the Marine Corps, he descended into alcoholism while living in a crummy apartment on Ceres. When Fred Johnson, his old commanding officer, approached him with a job offer, Bull accepted and joined the OPA, quitting alcohol in the process.
Despite being most qualified to lead the expedition to the Ring aboard the Behemoth, he was made Chief of Security due to the politics of him being from Earth and not from the Belt. Ashford was made captain instead. Michio Pa was made XO instead. Fred Johnson, despite respecting him and promoting Michio Pa, asked Bull to "make it work".
The Ring[]
Bull forges alliances and the respect of Sam Rosenberg and Serge.
 “Break on through” — Spoilers for Abaddon's Gate follow.
|
Once the Seung Un explodes and the apparent message from James Holden is broadcast, Bull is responsible for recommending to Ashford that the Behemoth summarily fire on the Rocinante as a statement that it denies and rejects any claim over the Ring in the name of the OPA as professed by the crew of James Holden's ship.[1]
The Slow Zone Incident[]
- Main article: Slow zone incident (Books)
When the speed limit in the slow zone changed due to hostilities from Martians aboard the Ring Station, Bull suffered a spinal fracture aboard the Behemoth, paralyzing him from the waist down. Sam gave him mechanical legs.[2]
Anna pleads with Bull not to kill Clarissa despite her admission of guilt and his reputation for coldness.[3]
In a attempt to slow down or take out some of the approaching belters in Martian Power armor, Carlos uses the remaining card like grenades from the Martians, to blow up a approaching belters in Power Armor. Carlos, while successful, sacrifices himself in this action.
In one of the last conversations with Holden, Carlos predicts that the Medina Station will be his in the future but not yet.
In a conversation with Fred upon returning to Tycho Station after the trip to Ilus, Fred and Holden eulogize Carlos by saying he probably saved the entire Sol system, and he would think that's "pretty damn cool".
Notes[]
- The incident of the overdosed technician plays out differently on the TV show. Whereas Bull executes the drug dealer in Abaddon's Gate, nobody is ultimately sent to the vacuum on the show. Drummer puts the drug dealer's supplier in the airlock but Klaes Ashford and Naomi plead for leniency and adherence to new formal laws OPA has adopted to model after the other major governments.
See also[]
References
- ↑ The Expanse Novel Abaddon's Gate - Chapter 15: Bull
- ↑ The Expanse Novel Abaddon's Gate - Chapter 33: Bull
- ↑ The Expanse Novel Abaddon's Gate - Chapter 35: Anna