Rosa

"Balder. Please take care of Cereza... our dear, sweet child will awaken to her potential... She will awaken to the Eyes of the World..."

- Rosa's last words.

Rosa was the immensely skilled and powerful Umbra Witch who was both the wife of Balder and beloved mother of Bayonetta. Imprisoned for falling in love with a Lumen Sage and birthing a daughter from their union, she was one of the figures responsible for inadvertently setting forth the Clan Wars.

Rosa first appears in Bayonetta during flashbacks and in Bayonetta 2, makes her full appearance and is a playable character in both story mode and Tag Climax.

Gameplay
Replacing King Zero as the third playable character, Rosa can be unlocked in Bayonetta 2 by completing the game on 3rd Climax difficulty (Hard), after which she will become playable in both story mode and Tag Climax. She can also be unlocked earlier at her cheat door found at the start of Chapter 2, this small door is along the right side after the bridge/Muspelheim and just before the small plaza, it has an ornate decoration above it and is next to a breakable green restaurant menu. By tapping three times on the door via the touch screen to make the screen zoom out enter Up, Down, Up, Right, Left, X, B, Y, A to get a purchase message. It costs 1 Million Halos to unlock her.

Rosa also has her own unique Wicked Weaves to represent her pact with Madama Khepri. As with Jeanne, Rosa has her own differences in gameplay:
 * All attacks do triple the damage compared to Bayonetta.
 * Rosa takes triple the damage from enemies.
 * Umbran Climax will put Rosa into the Umbran Armor instead of granting Infernal Weaves like Bayonetta and Jeanne.
 * Cannot use any weapons except for her set of revolvers, Unforgiven.

Because of her restrictive weaponry, Rosa has no access to Umbran Fragrances, but unlike Jeanne's lack of fragrances, Rosa has no additional costumes to wear and no Super Mirror to unlock, leaving her permanently with her default outfit. Rosa also uses Bayonetta's moveset from the first game.

Tag Climax
Rosa makes an appearance as a boss alongside Balder in Tag Climax as the thirteenth secret verse card. This card can only be unlocked through random play within the Tag Climax mode.

Appearance
In Bayonetta, Rosa is only seen in Bayonetta's memories. Initially, before her imprisonment, she wears a long black dress and boots and a hood that covers up her head and face, the silhouette in a manner similar to Bayonetta's beehive hairstyle. In concept art, her hair is light brown. She also wears a pair of butterfly motif glasses which she eventually gives to her daughter.

In Bayonetta 2, Rosa sports a new design that is an extension of her prison outfit, named the Robes of Banishment. Retaining her butterfly glasses, she now sports chains around her wrists and chest, with various loose belts on her limbs. The chains are worn as a reminder of when she broke the laws of the Umbra as she had previously worn them during her imprisonment in which they suppressed her magical power. She is shown to be able to use these chains to restrain enemies in cutscenes. She also wears a cloak that is split into two like a pair of wings and the sleeves around her wrists and feet resemble the curves of a batwing. The full description in Tag Climax explains that it is woven from her own hair like Bayonetta's outfit.

Imprisonment
Falling in love with Balder, Rosa would marry the Lumen Sage and break their clan's sacred tenets. Rosa would later be given a special gift from him that symbolizes their love and both of them conceived a child. After the birth of Cereza, Rosa faced punishment and was imprisoned as a result, whereas her husband was exiled from his clan. Raising Cereza from her jail cell, she would give her the Umbran Watch as part of her birthday present and sing Fly Me to the Moon to her daughter every day as she slept outside her cell.

Original Death
After being grievously injured during the beginnings of the Witch Hunts supposedly instigated by her husband, Rosa once more reunites with Balder after twenty years. Balder is with her, explaining that he had been tricked by the forces of Paradiso into triggering the Witch Hunts much to her relief. Seeing Balder about to be struck, Rosa suddenly takes the hit by a figure from the shadows. In her dying moments, she tells Balder to promise her to watch over their daughter and passes away.

Bayonetta: Bloody Fate
In the anime adaptation, Rosa's fate and history are similar to the one she did in the first game.

Her death is also expanded upon where Bayonetta and Jeanne both find her amidst the ruins of their home and piles of dead Witches. As Balder floats menacingly over the scene, having seemingly ordered the deed done himself, Rosa pleads with her daughter in her last moments to set Balder free from the madness that has gripped his soul upon being exiled from the Lumen Sages, unaware of the truth of his corruption from an outside force. She gives Bayonetta her lipstick and passes away.

Bayonetta 2
Due to Loptr's manipulations of time by bringing Balder to the past as well as Loki's own from an accident using the Remembrances of Time, Rosa's past history is slightly changed. As Bayonetta arrives five hundred years prior during the Witch Hunts and the Umbra Witches's fight with the forces of Paradiso, she stumbles upon Rosa, who was freed from her confinement to battle alongside her clan at the threat of their destruction. Dispatching the angels easily, she is surprised to recognize her daughter as an adult. With more angels surrounding them, the mother/daughter duo fend off the angels. As Worships appear, Fortitudo also emerges and engages the two witches. With teamwork, both of them manage to throw Fortitudo out of the battlefield. .

Moving throughout the Umbra's home in Vigrid, Rosa and Bayonetta later call upon the usage of the Umbran Armor, fighting off the both powerful Auditio known as Sapientia and Iustitia as well as the Worships. As they both reunite after their battle with Iustitia, Rosa and Bayonetta witness Fortitudio destroying the Umbran Clock Tower, the mother distraught at the symbol of the Umbra way and reaffirms that the coordinate Witch Hunt attack on the Umbra and all that they stood for couldn't have been Balder's plan The both of them would jump to get out of harm's way, finding themselves fighting angels amidst the top of a falling ruin of the Clock Tower. After an attack from an Inspired, the ruined piece is destroyed and Rosa is separated from Bayonetta.

Finding herself in Crescent Valley, she goes to the sanctuary where she encounters Loptr, who fatally injures her as part of his plan to originally manipulate Balder. Balder and the older Bayonetta arrive too late, Balder failing to land a strike on Loptr as he disappears into the shadows. Balder finds out that Loki, who appears similar to Loptr's young form, is not responsible for her fatal injury. As Bayonetta pleads for Balder to travel to her time, Rosa, in her dying wish, asks for Balder to protect Cereza as she will awaken to her true potential as the Left Eye of the Eyes of the World.

As Balder and the older Bayonetta return to their time, moments after, Cereza and Jeanne stumble upon her as she passes away and her soul was dragged to Inferno.

Physical
Rosa was a formidable and powerful fighter, capable of dispatching and physically overpowering multiple groups of Affinities with incredible ease with both hand-to-hand combat and even using her chains as a weapon for decapitation. She also proved strong enough to lift open one of Fortitudo's dragon heads like her daughter and from her assistance throw the angel overhead. She is also capable of dealing higher striking damage compared to both Bayonetta and Jeanne (in-gameplay).

Immensely skilled in Bullet Arts, She is described as possessing fighting technique that has surpassed other Umbra Witches and leaves even the likes of Bayonetta speechless.

Magic
As an Umbra Witch, Rosa was capable of performing magic. Although the chains on her suppress her magical power, it is known that her skill with the Dark Arts (or Umbran Arts) was so powerful that the suppressing chains could not properly contain her power. Among some of the magic she displayed include the capability of using levitation. As with all the Umbra, she can see into Purgatorio and enter into the parallel realm.

Dark Arts & Magic Techniques

 * Witch Time: Rosa was a skilled user of Witch Time, capable of increasing her speed and using its advantages to overwhelm large Affinity angels and combined this with her Bullet Arts.
 * Umbran Climax: Instead of the usage of ordinary Umbran Climax due to her robe's restrictive capabilities, she was able to spawn the Umbran Armor at will at the expense of her magical power.
 * Wicked Weaves: Rosa is capable of using the Wicked Weaves due to her pact with Madama Khepri, manifesting her limbs through portals at will mimicking her actions.
 * Beast Within: Rosa was also a user of the Beast Within technique, able to shift herself into various animal forms at will.
 * Tiger Within
 * Falcon Within
 * Hornet Within
 * Cobra Within

Summoning
As an Umbra Witch, she is capable of summoning various demons:
 * Madama Khepri - PDEE BARMA ("First Elder")
 * Gomorrah - ARZULGE (Name of evil spirit)
 * Hekatoncheir - IAOAIA TIIIO (Evil spirits of "Earth of Air")
 * Labolas - ARGEDCO ("Invoke")
 * Baal - XPA (Name of evil spirit)
 * Hydra - CANILU ("Blood")
 * Mictlantecuhtli - CNOQUODI ("Servant of the minister")
 * Diomedes - SUNDENNA (Name of evil spirit)
 * Carnage - SOL-PETAHE ("Listen")

Her most powerful summon (and demon in which she is in a pact with) is that of Madama Khepri, a goddess of Inferno. Due to their pact, she is capable of gaining almost infinite knowledge of time and the secret techniques to control it.

Equipment

 * Unforgiven: Rosa's signature set of guns and ranged weapons. It is said that the power of a single shot from these guns was immeasurable. After being used in the betrayal and injury of an Umbran sister, these guns were sealed away, and while their power has considerably waned, they still remain a powerful set of revolvers.
 * Robes of Banishing: Rosa's battle uniform in which is woven into her by her own hair. After the birth of her daughter, she was imprisoned with chains that suppressed her magic power. Although she escaped her confinement given the circumstances from the Witch Hunts, the chains remained on Rosa as a self-reminder of her own actions. As a result, the chains on her robes prevent her from using Umbran Climax.

Bayonetta Bloody Fate

 * I love you, Balder.

Bayonetta 2

 * "Balder...This war is not your doing."
 * "It's been twenty years since I last saw you... but I kept it safe all this time. The present you gave me...the symbol of our love."
 * "Your face will be the last thing I see. Thank you..."
 * "Balder. Please take care of Cereza... our dear, sweet child will awaken to her potential... She will awaken to the Eyes of the World... "
 * "We will be overrun soon. Gather at the clock tower. We must defend it with all our strength."
 * "Y-You..."
 * "The symbol of the Umbran way... No... There's no way that this could have been his plan!"
 * "This is simply the benefit of training!"
 * "As long as there's light, the shadow remains cast."
 * "Nothing can contain me!"
 * "Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars, let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars..."

Taunts

 * "Darkness triumphs!"
 * "Come to mummy!"
 * "Darkness is the absence of light."
 * "Nothing can contain me!"
 * "Want some?"
 * "I stand for the Umbra Witches, overseers of darkness."
 * "You're not even a challenge."
 * "What? Looking for more?"
 * "Where is your honor?!"
 * "No need to hold back!"
 * "Come at me!"

Activating Witch Time

 * "Oh my!"
 * "Well Well~!"
 * "Unimpressive!"

Wicked Weaves

 * "Drown!"
 * Burn!
 * "Fly!"
 * "Goodbye!"
 * "Leave me!"
 * "Wonderful!"

Character Selection/Tag Climax

 * "I will take care of this!"
 * "I will not lose!"
 * "The Umbra never fail."

Relationships

 * Father Balder/Balder: Rosa and Balder seemed to have a kind husband and wife relationship as Balder was worried for her during the Witch Hunts. When Balder was about to be killed by Loptr, Rosa sacrificed herself to save him from Loptr's attack. With her death, it heavily scarred Balder and drove him to the brink of revenge. In Bloody Fate, Balder was shown to care for her immensely as he sees a ghostly-like figure of her that told him she'll always love him no matter what.
 * Cereza/Bayonetta: Cereza/Bayonetta is the beloved daughter of Rosa and the only person who visited her mother while in prison. She held great love for Cereza and would always comfort her despite her incarceration. During the times she visits, Rosa would sing to young Cereza Fly Me to the Moon and on the day of her birthday, gave her daughter an Umbran Watch. Her bond with her was so great that later on, the adult Cereza was devastated at the sight of her mother's death as she is seen crying in several flashbacks when meeting her in the past. The present Bayonetta was melancholy to see her death again and whispered "Mummy" under her breath in a final goodbye to her beloved mother before returning to the present.

Trivia

 * When Bayonetta shoots Balder with the lipstick, the writing on it reads "Balder and Rosa: With Love Until the End of Time". According to Hideki Kamiya in his commentary, the lipstick was a present from Balder to Rosa.
 * Rosa bears a strong resemblance to Bayonetta's "A Witch With No Memories" appearance, possibly explaining why young Cereza confuses her grown-up self for her mother. This is further strengthened with concept art depicting her as having the same beehive hairdo that Bayonetta did in the first game and sounding nearly identical to Bayonetta.
 * Both Rosa and Bayonetta have butterflies as a common theme in their appearance and powers. This is further hinted in Bayonetta wearing a pair of glasses similar to her mother's when she wakes up.
 * Rosa's birthday is April 13, 1380. The name 'Rosa' is Latin for "rose".
 * Interestingly, the Japanese home video release date for Bayonetta: Bloody Fate was on Rosa's pre-retconned birthday, February 14, 1385.
 * In the opening stages of Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2, it is possible to get a Bronze or Silver Award that takes the form of an Umbran Witch bearing a striking resemblance to Rosa. In his commentary, Hideki Kamiya stated that this is intentional as the characters that usually take the place for those rewards (Luka & Cereza in Bayonetta, and Luka & Loki in Bayonetta 2) have not yet been introduced. The statue is used to avoid potential spoilers.
 * Although Rosa can be turned into a child when facing Resentment, she lacks a unique child model, and instead uses Cereza's.
 * If one starts a new game as Rosa, she can briefly wield Handguns. This marks the only time Rosa can wield a weapon other than Unforgiven.