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Winston Duarte is the High Consul of the Laconian Empire, and formerly a commander of the Martian Congressional Republic Navy.
| “ | Winston Duarte's office was plain and comfortable. The desk was simple pressed polycarbonate, a little larger maybe than the receptionist's in the lobby. The screen on the wall was set to a calm semi-abstract piece that flowed in sepia and brown, evoking fallen leaves and mathematical proofs in roughly equal proportions. The only touch of luxury was a shelf of what appeared to be actual printed books on military strategy. The man himself fit in the space like he'd been designed for it. |
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| — Nemesis Games in Chapter 17 | ||
Biography[]
 “Catching fire” — Spoilers for Nemesis Games follow.
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In Nemesis Games, he is a commander on Hecate Base, an aide to Admiral Long that Alex Kamal approaches for information on the missing ships. He does not reveal any involvement with the rogue elements conspiring to arm Marco Inaros' Free Navy, but instead directs Alex to Kaarlo Henderson-Charles, who is found murdered in his base housing unit. Duarte gave Alex a dead-end lead and might have actually had someone killed to accomplish that setup[1]. Towards the end of the events in Nemesis Games[2], it is revealed that "a man from Mars" alluded to in the novella The Vital Abyss, is in fact Admiral Duarte, a rank he apparently takes on when establishing his rogue fleet secretly allied with the Free Navy and supplying Marco Inaros' fleet.
In the novella Vital Abyss, he hosts a captured group of researchers and scientists on Thoth Station, many playing each other to make themselves stand out to the men in charge.[3]
The vast holding room that the scientists are "housed" in is monitored remotely but otherwise there is little interaction with the detainees. And while the scientists’ former research was highly valued, it seemed that the men running the holding facility were more interested in how the former scientists and researchers interacted, stepped over each other to gain recognition, and the creativity of their ploys.
| “Fires in the dark” — Spoilers for Babylon's Ashes follow.
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Meanwhile, Marco Inaros and his fringe faction of the OPA have been getting a hold of Martian ships and military tech. It seems James Holden and the crew think these ring-bound ships are Inaros's. Many of the top brass on Earth, suspect top officials in the Martian government are in league with Inaros, but Fred Johnson suspects that Inaros is just being used as a tool by some rogue agent of the Martian government.
This rogue player has been revealed to be admiral Duarte, with a breakaway segment of the Martian Navy following. This splinter group is allied with Inaros, but apparently views him as a tool for their own means. While Duarte's overarching mission is not clear yet, evidence shows that he's also responsible for the theft of the proto-sample from under Fred Johnson's nose.
Later, Duarte and a growing number of researchers, scientists, and vessels have made a deal with Inaros' Free Navy to have access to the gates, and pass through Medina Station. They are stationed in the Laconia system.
He sentences one of his soldiers to death after that soldier, in a bout of negligence and insobriety, kills a young boy named Xan. Xan is the brother of the viewpoint character of this novella, Cara, and friend of Santiago Jilie Singh, the son of soldiers.
| “An old enemy returns” — Spoilers for Persepolis Rising follow.
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Duarte has taken on the title of "High Consul of Laconia" while continuing to use his title of Admiral. He has the researchers of Laconia developing protomolecule technology to assure his immortality.
Duarte appoints Singh to command a vessel, the Gathering Storm, that will emerge from the Laconia gate following the Heart of the Tempest when it confronts the forces they left behind decades ago in their original solar system of Sol. Duarte also directs Singh to govern Medina Station and its population
When Singh is executed, Duarte holds audience with the late captain's wife and daughter. He discovers that he has a new visual sensory ability that perceives people's mental thought processes as a colorful halo, but he's reluctant to use it on the grieving family. Duarte has no hesitation using the new abilities on James Holden who he now has captive. He also reveals to Holden that he wishes to wage war on the Unknown Aggressors before they can destroy humanity.
| “The enemy is here” — Spoilers for Tiamat's Wrath follow.
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Duarte runs the empire efficiently for four years, thanks in part to modifications made to his body since he no longer requires sleep because of them. He starts to groom his daughter Teresa as his successor should anything happen to him and wishes to make her immortal as well, much to Cortázar's chagrin. Duarte also funds Elvi Okoye's research into the dead systems, but also has ulterior motives, as he wants to use one of the systems to test his "tit-for-tat" strategy, which would see Laconia send an antimatter bomb ship to the realm of the unknown alien entities every time a ship goes dutchman.
When this is finally tested using the Tecoma gate, it has disastrous consequences. The Tecoma star, which was on the verge of collapse, is pushed over the edge and turns into a black hole. The subsequent gamma ray burst destroys both the Tecoma gate and the Thanjavur gate on the other side of the Ring space, cutting off 80 000 colonists. The biggest disaster, however, occurs when the Unknown Aggressors attack the Ring space, destroying every ship save for the Falcon, including Medina Station and the Eye of the Typhoon. This event also causes mass blackouts similar to the ones that happened in Sol, only this time effecting every single system in the Ring gate network. While most recover from this fairly quickly, Duarte himself is severely impacted because of the modifications he has made to his body. He is left mentally disabled, unable to speak and seemingly unaware of the world around him. Additionally, his eyes constantly bounce around and he occasionally pats the air with his hands. While he is in this state, the Empire is administered by Trejo and a small group of Laconian officials that are in his inner circle.
Despite his state, Duarte is still somewhat conscious of the events surrounding him. This is shown when he recognizes Cortázar and remembers that his daughter told him that the scientist planned to murder her. While the others are trying to scan him, Duarte suddenly stands up, walks over to Cortázar, and murders him using his newfound powers.
| “This is how it ends” — Spoilers for "Leviathan Falls" follow.
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Sometime after the Siege of Laconia, Duarte finally regains his functions. Not only is he fully recovered, but finds himself more powerful than ever thanks to the protomolecule modifications made to his body. He, thus, telepathically projects himself to Trejo (who is at the time re-conquering SOL), and thanks him, but dismisses him as he deems his service no longer necessary. He then leaves the state building fully dressed, but without any shoes, and leaves Laconia onboard one of the alien spaceships found on the planet. He travels to the Ring Station to enact his final plan.
When the Preiss is about to go dutchman, Duarte saves it by hijacking everyone's consciousness inside the Ring Space to fight off the unknown entities attacking the ship. This leaves many people who were inside the Ring Space and even beyond suffering from being constantly connected to other people's minds.
Both the Underground and Laconian forces eventually realize that Duarte's ultimate plan is to create a hivemind from all of humanity, thus erasing any individuality and fundamentally changing what it means to be human. To this end, Holden, Teresa, and Tanaka travel to the Ring Station to stop Duarte, with Holden deliberately infecting himself with the protomolecule to gain access since Duarte telepathically summons numerous warships to the Ring Space, including the Voice of the Whirlwind.
The trio discover Duarte connected to the Station itself with black filaments. When confronted, Teresa attempts to talk Duarte down. He, however, asserts that creating a hivemind is the only way for humanity to fight back against the entities, and sees this as the final step in his goal of uniting humanity. He laments how, when he created the Laconian Empire, he was dreaming too small. When Teresa frantically tries to rip him out of the filaments, Duarte shrieks in pain and attempts to kill her. He then summons the station drones to defend him. Tanaka manages to fight off several drones and eventually gets ahold of Duarte himself. With great effort, she is able to rip him free of the filaments and kill him, but not without sustaining fatal wounds herself. Duarte's death frees everyone's consciousness, but also removes any protection they had from the unknown entities.
Trivia[]
- Winston Duarte has often been called the immortal god-emperor or god-king of humanity, or the god-king of humanity.[citation needed]
See also[]
References
- ↑ The Expanse Novel Nemesis Games - Chapter 17: Alex
- ↑ The Expanse Novel Nemesis Games - Epilogue: Sauveterre
- ↑ The Expanse Novella The Vital Abyss