Characters / Library Of Ruina - Roland

Library of Ruina Main Character Index
The Library (Roland) | The Wings | Syndicates (The Five Fingers | Subsidiaries | Other Syndicates | The Reverb Ensemble) | Fixers (Associations | Offices) | Other Guests | Distortions | Abnormalities | Others

The folders on this character page contain unmarked spoilers, You Have Been Warned.

Roland

A Grade 9 Fixer

Voiced by: Son Su-ho (Korean), Shunsuke Takeuchi (Japanese)

"Do you happen to have some weird fantasies about Fixers? Aren't you expecting too much from a Grade 9? I'm not as talented as you seem to think, y'know."

The main male protagonist of the game, he is a Grade 9 Fixer who entered the Library in a way even he isn't aware of. After an encounter with Angela which almost led to his death, he is employed as a Patron Librarian to manage the Floor of General Works.

---

Tropes exclusive to Roland in general

• Aerith and Bob: He stands out amongst the Patron Librarians as the only one whose name doesn't match their floor and the only one whose name isn't based on a Sephirot. It's later revealed that this is because his name already matches a theme - that of the Fixers of Charles' Office, whom are all based on the Knights of Charlemagne, Roland's name being a reference to Orlando.
• An Arm and a Leg: Angela mangles his arm and leg when she first finds him in the library. When she decides she has a use for him, she manages to give him new ones.
• Audience Surrogate: He acts as the story's central character, learning more about the current world state alongside the players.
• Badass Normal: He's the only Librarian that wasn't formerly a department head of L Corp.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: His default outfit in the game.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Occasionally, he serves as the simple and joke-cracking Boke to the rest of the Sephirah's Tsukkomi; Angela, Netzach, and Yesod in particular. Not to say that Roland doesn't have his moments of wisdom, though.
• Boring Yet Practical: Most Keter floor Abnormality Pages aren't nearly as exciting or unique as those of others floors, offering simple effects like bonus HP or page draws, but they are just as effective as the rest. That being said, some tend towards Simple, yet Awesome because of how powerful their effects and synergies can be.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: On the receiving end from Angela, who comes very close in the opening, only to keep Roland alive when she decides he can be the Keter manager.
• Character Catchphrase: "That's that... This is this..."
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: The art book states his appearance is based off of James McAvoy.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: Life in the Backstreets as a Fixer lead to him meeting cannibals, cyborgs, murderers, and thugs. This while being under the watch of the Head, Fingers, Syndicates, and Associations means that he's been conditioned to accept the craziness of the Nest as a means of survival.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Was once a Grade 1 Fixer before losing his position and wife and being demoted to a Grade 9. The real truth is much darker, so check his spoiler folder for more details.
• Deadpan Snarker: Questions the discussions of morality or human nature the Sephirah delve into, as well as the nature of the Lobotomy Corporation world.
  Roland: (To Yesod) Boy, I am not a fan of convoluted stories. Especially if it involves sentimental stuff...
• The Dragon: Serves as this to Angela, spending the game as her closest confidant and the one she entrusts with expanding the Library, as well as bringing books to the librarians of the other floors and making sure they do their jobs.
• Driving Question: How exactly did Roland get into the Library when he doesn't have an invitation? And can he even leave? The answer to the first part is that the Purple Tear sent him into the Library for an unknown plan of hers using her dimension-walking powers. And by the finale, Roland can potentially leave, due to the Library possibly being undone.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: At first, due to lacking their shared experiences and being something of an outsider, the other Librarians struggle to really get along with Roland. By the end of each of their stories, they come around to at least appreciating his work in the Library (with the exception of Hokma).
• Hero-Worshipper: When he learns that Gebura is the famed Red Mist, he's absolutely stunned and silenced to be in the presence of her. Later meetings between the two have him adopt an excessively polite and admiration-filled attitude while they're chatting.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: According to him, he used to be a Grade 1 Fixer. Granted, he never fought himself and did only intel. Now he's lost his title and family, reduced to a pathetic Grade 9 Fixer. It turns out he's hiding a lot more about himself, explained more in detail on his spoiler folder.
• Instrumental Theme Tune: His floor theme is the piano, foreshadowing his connection to the Pianist.
• The Lost Lenore: Allegedly lost his wife Angelica and their unborn child when a house collapsed on them. Much later on, it turns out that when the Pianist attacked, it absorbed them into its piano. Argalia has special dialogue upon defeating Roland which confirms the situation.
• Marionette Motion: In the opening, where the Joker card on the table turns to him, strangled by yellow strings. It foreshadows his Nihil E.G.O. due to being said Joker, as well as the nature of his arrival at the Library, being thrown into the Library by the Purple Tear for her own objectives.
• Mr. Exposition: Due to Roland living in the City and the fact that he used to work in a very influential position, he knows all the ups and downs of how it operates, and how the various organizations work. During the True Ending, his wish is that he wants to write down everything he knows about the City in a book, but could never do so because he was bad at it. Angela decides to help him write it down.
• Only Sane Man: In comparison to the other Librarians, he's more concerned with getting his jobs done than discussing morality or human nature. This outsider perspective actually helps the Lower Layer Sephirah stand up to Angela, but subverted in the Middle Layer and Binah, when their philosophies clash with his, allowing the Library to trigger his wildest negative feelings and take him over completely like Angela before, causing him to go into an E.G.O. Meltdown.
• Punch-Clock Villain: A Villain Protagonist version of this trope. While Roland is one of the Librarians who cuts down anyone unfortunate enough to get lured into the Library, he's only there because he can't leave, and treats killing the guests as a tiresome job he's forced to do. Of course, it's later implied he does have more personal motivations for going through with it- and even later outright confirmed.
• Significant Birth Date: His birthday is May 15th, International Day of Families. Ironically, he lost his family to tragedy.
• Simple, yet Awesome: All of the Keter Abnormality Pages are fairly straightforward and offer solid buffs for little input. For example, Pulsation gives all Librarians 1-2 Strength per scene if they did damage, and they lose 25% of their max HP if they did not. While this sounds bad, one-sided attacks count for proccing the buff. Curiosity is free deck shuffling for decks without natural card draw, Sword of Frost inflicts heavy Bind on every won clash, and so on. This allows Keter to remain fairly viable for long periods of time, before inevitably falling off as the other floors gain power and outpace Roland.
• Supporting Protagonist: Initially, Roland is made out to seem like a simple Fixer Everyman whose purpose is to act as Mr. Exposition for the City, contrast with the Librarians and spur Angela into further Character Development. Later into the game however, it becomes clear that he's holding far more influence on the plot than he’s letting on, and the second half of the Floor Realizations focus on developing him beyond the layman façade he presents.
• Supreme Chef: It doesn't get much focus in the game proper, but the artbook indicates that Roland's main hobby is cooking and one of the side materials for the game indicates that he, at the very least, can cook an impressive pajeon.
• Sympathy for the Devil:
  • Despite hating his Cowardly Lion personality, Roland feels sorry for Philip when the latter is broken by Oswald and turned into the Crying Children.
  • Subverted when the topic of Ayin is brought up by the Patron Librarians. Going by their descriptions, Roland actually believes him to be an insane, raving lunatic.
• Theme Naming: His name, Roland, is the Frankish derivation of the name Orlando who is from Orlando Innamorato and Orlando Furioso. Most of the of the characters associated with him are also named after the cast. Fittingly enough, he pretends to be a nobody when he's really a big deal just like Orlando did, and went on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge when his wife died.
• Unfazed Everyman: Took the loss of his limbs, death, resurrection, and subsequent employment by Angela relatively well. Not so much when his wife died though, and it's implied to be the reason the Library could exploit him.
• Unreliable Narrator: Several of the details Roland gives Angela regarding his own life and past are of... questionable authenticity. With context, he seems to know a bit too much for a Grade 9/former Grade 1...and this isn't random.
• Walking Spoiler: Unusually so due to his role as the protagonist. Roland's true motivations for coming to the library only become revealed towards the last third of the story, which makes it very difficult to talk about his character beyond a surface-level reading without dipping into spoilers. In fact, Roland has so many spoiler tropes that they were all put into a second folder (see below) because they make up more than 75% of his character page.

The Fixer (Spoiler Tropes)

The Black Silence

^{Wielder of Suffocating Haze}  "The past isn’t all that different from now… Nothing ever changes… The same kinds of tragedies happen time and time again…"

^{The Black Silence Distorted}  "I had been bearing with this shit until now to experience this small victory…"

I have nothing but my sorrow and I want nothing more. It has been, it still is, faithful to me.
Why should I begrudge it, since during the hours when my soul crushed the depths of my heart, it was seated there beside me?
O sorrow, I have ended, you see, by respecting you, because I am certain you will never leave me.
Ah! I realize it: your beauty lies in the force of your being. You are like those who never left the sad fireside corner of my poor black heart.
O my sorrow, you are better than a well-beloved: because I know that on the day of my final agony, you will be there, lying in my sheets, O sorrow, so that you might once again attempt to enter my heart.

Prayer for Loving Sorrow, by Francis Jammes

It turns out that Roland isn't as washed up as he paints himself to be. In the past, he was an orphan who was adopted and taken care of by an old woman (whom he referred to as his "Gran") who mysteriously disappeared one day, but not before raising and teaching Roland the basics of becoming a Fixer. This upbringing eventually led Roland to become a Fixer who subsequently fought with Salvador in the Smoke War for a chance to obtain a Nest migration permit. His involvement in the War also led to him witnessing the Singularity of the former L Corp, which had jaded his worldview going forward.
He later integrated back into the City and joined Charles Office as a very powerful Grade 1 Fixer alongside his future wife Angelica, the two of them even slaying the legendary Star of the City Distortion, the Blood-Red Night. In an unknown period after this, Angelica was promoted to the Black Silence, but Roland's mask and stoic demeanor during missions made people think that he was the Black Silence instead. Roland himself rose to become the acting leader of Charles Office due to Charles being impressed by his skill and talent. Eventually, Roland and Angelica married and had made plans to quietly retire from Fixer work for a short while to celebrate.
Unfortunately, this happiness wouldn't last, as Roland was denied entry to the Nest because of an Enkephalin smuggling incident involving O Corp, forcing him and Angelica to live in I Corp's Backstreets. Then he was contacted by his friend and fellow Charles Office Fixer Olivier for help in a mission he was having trouble with. While he was away, the Pianist manifested in I Corp's backstreets and killed thousands of people... including Angelica, who was pregnant at the time. This immense loss drove Roland to the brink of madness and drove him on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against several groups that he thought had anything to do with the Distortion phenomena, which included both Syndicates and Fixers alike. Some time after this, he was caught and demoted to a Grade 9 for his misconduct. It was during this time he'd met with Iori (the Purple Tear), who'd sent him into the Library as part of a plan to meet with her son again. For Roland, this was a perfect opportunity to continue his rampage against the Distortion Phenomenon, and unbeknownst to him, Angela was one of the primary culprits of the White Nights and Dark Days...

During the Hana Association's Reception, Olivier—now a Fixer working under Hana's South Section 3—tries to assassinate Angela, which forces Roland step in to save her. Roland requests a one-on-one battle against his old friend as a show of respect, and in response, Oliver grants him Angelica's old Black Silence gloves, which contain a variety of weapons (that almost all belonged to Angelica; Roland only used the Durandal). Upon clearing his duel, Roland's page will be replaced with the Black Silence's Pages.

Following the defeat of the Reverb Ensemble, Roland finally reveals his grudge to Angela, having been waiting to kill her at her most vulnerable for causing the deaths of his wife and unborn child, his suppressed emotions even Distorting him in the process. He covers the third chapter of Impuritas Civitatis, and acts as the Final Boss of both Downer Endings if you've failed to complete all nine Floor Realizations.

---

• The Ace: Prior to entering The Library, Roland was this, until he got demoted to a Grade 9 and became a pariah after his Roaring Rampage of Revenge that is. To wit, Roland worked as a Grade 1 Fixer at Charles' Office, one of the most famous and prestigious Fixer offices in the setting. The artbook also reveals that Roland was actually the office's captain who led the remaining 11 members plus Angelica and that he earned the position due to having the skills to gain the trust of Charles' himself. Furthermore, Roland was a Smoke War Veteran who defeated two of the most infamous Distortions in the City and had the skill and prowess to decimate entire Syndicates and a Finger alone in addition to having numerous connections to other Colors, influential Fixers and associations.
• Aesop Amnesia: Similar to Angela, even if he faced the consequences of his murder spree in his desperate search for the source of the Distortions via his Floor Realizations, he still can't let go of his hatred, leading him to attempt to follow through on his revenge against Angela regardless. If he kills her, it's implied that he completely reverted back to his old Spree Killer ways afterwards and was eventually killed by the many enemies he had made. This can be potentially subverted if Roland chooses not to attack Angela while her back is turned after she spares him.
• All Your Powers Combined:
  • His boss fights in the Middle Floors and Binah's has him use all of the Abnormalities faced on a single floor. The Nihil and Twilight E.G.O. takes this up a notch, as they regularly cycle between the Abnormalities of their respective floors.
  • His Furioso card has him use all of his Black Silence weapons in a single attack animation. To say it's brutal would be an understatement. His Distorted Furioso during his reception is even worse as it's now a Mass Attack which hits all of your Librarians. God help you if he gets all nine weapons.
  • His final phase as the Black Silence has him use Memory cards, each of which is based off of a specific combat page used by an enemy from the memory's reception, with that enemy being featured in the card art:
    • Memory - Yun's Office is based on Finn's Struggle.
    • Memory - Zwei Association is based on Walter's Retaliate.
    • Memory - Dawn Office is based on Salvador's Crack of Dawn.
    • Memory - Love Town is based on Tomerry's Wrath of Torment.
    • Memory - Shi Association is based on Valentin's Extreme Edge (though the card art features Yujin).
    • Memory - Liu Association is based on Xiao's Chi Wen.
    • Memory - Purple Tear is based on Iori's Duel.
    • Memory - Hana Association is based on Mirinae's Divinatory Impact (though the card art features Olivier).
    • Memory - The Blue Reverberation is interestingly enough, based off of 2 combat pages instead of 1. Its ranged status and status effects on hit make it reminiscent of Angelica's Atelier Logic from the previous phase, but its similar offensive rolls and its ending Block die make it similar to Argalia's Allegro as well.
  • Also, in his final phase, he begins to use the same Abnormality Pages that he can use on the Floor of General Works.
• All for Nothing: Implied. If Carmen's words after the Kether Realization were to be anything to go by, then Angela did not cause the Distortion Phenomenon, but only limited it to a small amount of individuals. Therefore, killing Angela actually does nothing to avenge Angelica at all, since the true culprit can't even be killed.
• Ambiguous Situation: Is Roland still actually a Distortion during the last phases of his boss fight? Sure, it's definitely nothing all that human looking, and we have plenty of humanoid Distortions (just look at the entire Reverb Ensemble), but his sprite during those is labeled "EgoRoland", suggesting that said form of his is not a Distortion, but a personal E.G.O.. As for him being labeled a Distortion, well, that could be a case of the player being given the player character's information-limited perspective, which isn't even all that uncommon in similar stories.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: From the Fixer responsible for killing the two strongest Distortions to a powerful Distortion himself. Downplayed however as he reverts back to normal after his Reception.
• And Then What?: His Boss Banter makes it clear that this is the main reason he continues going through with his revenge: He's afraid of what may happen if he gives up what has been his sole motivation since Angelica's death. Of course, as his Downer Ending shows, it's much, much worse if he actually achieves his revenge.
  Roland: But if I forgave everything...If I decided to live down my past now, I felt I might have nowhere to stand. And I felt I might have to let go of all these precious memories of it. That’s what really scares me, Angelica.
• Battle Couple: He was this with Angelica back when she was alive, as they were both Grade 1 Fixers. Together, they were strong enough that they even beat Blood-Red Night. It's seen in gameplay during phase 3 of his boss fight where he fights alongside Angelica's ghost with Unity combat pages which buff them and give bonuses if they target each other. This is best shown when they use their Waltz in Black/White combat pages, where they synchronize and combine their attacks together.
• Badass Normal: Compared to other Color Fixers who usually have extraordinary abilities to go along with their overall experience, Roland stands out among them by virtue of being incredibly skilled with his weapons and nothing else.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Roland was always cold and cynical prior to arriving to the Library when he was a Grade 1 Fixer, but Angelica being particularly nice and caring to him unlike most other people made him open up to her and eventually marry her.
• Becoming the Mask: How much of his jokey and easygoing personality is the truth is up to interpretation, but there are many hints that it might not be as much of an act as he would like it to be. In particular, his Sad Battle Music "Gone Angels" hints at regrets towards fighting Angela and the rest of the Library after all they've been through.
• The Berserker:
  • Taken to extremes during his killing spree in an attempt to avenge his wife, where he went around killing anyone who he thought were involved in the Distortion Phenomenon and his victims range from Syndicate members to innocent people such as the Fixers who were sent to stop him. He even said that he was too drunk in his killing spree to even care.
  • In his boss fight when he's trying to take his revenge at long last, he fights so aggressively that he takes stagger damage when he fails to do damage or when he loses clashes. He even has an attack simply named "Rage".
• Berserk Button: DO NOT remind him of losing Angelica. Doing so is enough to send him into a barely restrained, borderline murderous fury in contrast to his normally affable attitude. Unlike most examples, though, he could grow out of it.
• Big Damn Heroes: Shortly before reclaiming his identity as the Black Silence, Roland stops Olivier from assassinating Angela by taking the device Olivier was about to use to force Angela to experience 1000 years in isolation in a single second.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Roland might look friendly and bubbly when interacting with the Librarians and Angela, but this is all an act. He's actually an angry, vengeful man waiting to kill Angela, and his actual personality is those of a cold and cruel fighter with a jaded worldview. He changes this at the home stretch of the game, becoming a genuine friend towards Angela.
• Blade Lock: Depicted doing this with Olivier in the art for Double-edged Rencounter.
• Boring, but Practical: Between the powerful Fixers whose weaponry range from the odd to the downright supernatural, Roland’s is… a well-made long sword.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: It's revealed in the Floor of Philosophy Realization that his catchphrase, "That's that and this is this." was actually taken from Angelica who said it to a worried, conflicted Roland after their fight with Blood-Red Night.
• Broken Ace: Was arguably one of the most well-known and accomplished Fixers known to the City... right up the death of his wife and unborn child. This event completely shattered Roland, reducing him into a revenge-obsessed shell of himself.
• Cerebus Retcon: Roland's Catchphrase initially seems to be presented as a way to cope with aspects of life outside of his control, being roughly analogous to "shit happens". Later parts of the story reveal it to be a strong coping mechanism to deal with his despair that he learned from Angelica, twisted further to suit his nihilism.
• Climax Boss: Serves as the boss of the third chapter of Impuritas Civitatis. After defeating him, if you haven't finished all nine Floor Realizations, then he'll be the Final Boss of the game.
• Clipped-Wing Angel: His second phase is by far his most visibly monstrous form, but it's also his weakest; he has strong attacks and a massive amount of health, but is weak to nearly every kind of damage.
• Connected All Along: Unintentionally, Roland manages to be an extremely influential figure in each of the games, having been one of the pivotal Fixers who brought an end to the former L Corp thereby allowing Lobotomy Corporation to come into being, and the fallout from that organization's experiments with Abnormalities and Distortions caused him to go on a rampage so destructive that the effects of it aren't just felt in Library of Ruina but Limbus Company as well.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: As the representative of Keter, the Kabbalistic embodiment of good and virtuous thought, he is this to Ayin.
  • Neither men are inherently good individuals, with Ayin being The Sociopath and Roland being a Straw Nihilist, but both are capable of great empathy and love nonetheless. Ayin set up the Seed of Light scenario as both penance for his crimes against his colleagues and a genuine desire to fix the world, while Roland acts as a sort of therapist for the Patron Librarians to help them get over their lingering problems from the events of Lobotomy Corporation. But where Ayin eventually gets over his problems, makes amends with his friends and becomes an embodiment of the Light, Roland spends much of the story stewing in his rage and waiting to kill Angela at her most emotionally vulnerable. In that sense, one could consider Ayin as outwardly cruel while inwardly compassionate, whereas Roland is outwardly compassionate while inwardly cruel. Forcing Roland through his Floor Realizations causes him to become a true representative of Keter, as he lets go of his rage and stands up to protect Angela from both the Reverberation Ensemble Distorted and the Head after realizing she's as much of a victim as anyone else in the City.
  • Aesthetically he also mirrors Ayin in many ways. Both are pale skinned, black-haired men wearing formal clothes for their profession, but Ayin's hair is unkempt while Roland's is combed straight. Ayin wears his labcoat loose and flowing around his shoulders, while Roland keeps his suit neat and straight. In addition, Ayin has multiple personas that cause him to look wildly different from how he usually appears, while Roland only has two personas (his normal look and The Black Silence), and the only differences between them are a pair of black gloves and a jet-black mask.
  • Their Start of Darkness revolves around the loss of their lovers, who were said to be genuinely kind and sweet women and were presumably some of the very few unconditionally empathetic people left in the City. They even had very similar appearances. However, Angelica was shown as nothing short of a genuinely kind woman who manages to defrost Roland, but Carmen, presumably after her Despair Event Horizon, was now an Ambiguously Evil Dark Messiah who manipulates multiple parties so she could "save the City" by "evolving" people into Distortion Monsters or E.G.O.ists, something that would lead to mass chaos if successful. Angelica married Roland before her death, but Carmen died before she and Ayin could actually reciprocate their love. Last but not least, Angelica was one of the victims of the Distortion, while Carmen was the instigator of the Distortion Phenomenon.
  • Finally, Ayin presumably had the whole Lobotomy Corporation facility X-394 building as his E.G.O., while Roland is proclaimed to be an extremely proficient wielder on the level of Gebura but is never shown wielding one bar under the Library's influence. Ayin is in full control of Lobotomy Corporation, while Roland has no control over the Library.
• Consummate Liar: Crosses with Unreliable Narrator, Roland is shown to easily and casually change the flow of conversation when speaking to Angela and his fellow Patron Librarians, especially when discussing topics related to his past. He was able to keep Angela and the rest of the Librarians in the dark about his true identity as the Black Silence and his actual reason as to why he entered The Library. Only two people were able to see through his facade, Gebura and Binah. Gebura, being a former Color Fixer with plenty of experience in the Fixer business could tell that he wasn't as unskilled as he claims to be whereas Binah subtly deduced during their conversations that he had an ulterior motive when he entered the Library but kept it to herself. Unlike most examples however, Roland usually doesn't outright lie, but he often uses half-truths or Metaphorically True claims to take advantage of those who have no experience in his portfolio.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass:
  • He might act very lax and even cheesy at the start of the game (with some of these traits being justified), but it's all a facade; the guy is not an easygoing man at all but a viciously cruel and pragmatic fighter.
  • Even ignoring the fact that he has as many connections as Argalia in the Fixer business, he's definitely not a Grade 9 nor Grade 1 Fixer who only did intel he claims himself to be. In his Roaring Rampage of Revenge, he's even shown to be strong enough to wipe out multiple Syndicates, Fixer offices and even a good chunk of a Finger all by himself.
• Crusading Widower: All of Roland's actions in the game, from entering the Library to participating in its killings to his attempt to kill Angela, are because of a destructive desire for revenge for his wife's death.
• The Cynic: Even before his entry into the Library, he is literally nothing like the humorous and unfazed everyman when he ended up there. Quite the contrary, he was a very cold, ruthless, mission-focused Fixer and would lash out (or sometimes kill) without much provocation. It was very difficult to gain his trust, and Angelica is one of the few people to actually get him to soften up, although it still took her a great deal for it to happen. Notably, after he reclaims his Black Silence gloves, Roland's combat sprite permanently changes from a smug smirk to a serious frown. Once this happens, the only time he smirks again in combat is when he successfully dodges an attack.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Details of Roland's life before becoming a Fixer and entering the Library are scarce however according to him he was an orphan who was taken in by an old woman in the Backstreets who he then refers to as his gran who eventually left him after teaching him the skills and abilities needed to become a potential Fixer. The fact that he nonchalantly mentions that many people came and went in his life and that he was used to the brutality of Fixer life by the time he participated in the Smoke War, implies a violent and isolated past that he or his close associates don't elaborate upon. In the story proper he was revealed to be a Color Fixer called the Black Silence and was denied a place in one of the Nests for being involved in an illegal smuggling operation of Enkephalin, forcing him and his wife to live in the Backstreets until the Pianist attacked, absorbing both his wife and their unborn child. Falling into despair, Roland went on a rampage, attacking people he believed was connected to the Distortions, before being demoted for his killing spree and falling into a nihilistic Despair Event Horizon.
• Dark Is Evil: Roland is the Black Silence, with his weapons and clothing all having a dark color scheme. While Downplayed, he's still nowhere near the Punch-Clock Villain he pretends to be for most of the game, having participated in the atrocities of the Library all in the name of revenge.
• Dark Is Not Evil: In the Golden Ending by letting go of his vendetta and forgiving Angela, protecting and saving her from her own Heroic Sacrifice.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Everything he did as Angela's servant, he did to take his revenge against her the moment when she finally becomes human.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: His Downer Ending has his corpse found in the gutter, stabbed by a multitude of weapons. Due to the fact that he achieved his vengeance and didn't have anything else to live for, he was easy pickings for the hordes of enemies he made along the way.
• Dual Boss: In the third phase of his battle in Impuritas Civitas, he is accompanied by Angelica's spirit.
• Expy: Of Roland / Orlando, one of king Charlemagne's 12 Paladins. This is evident from his backstory of being one of the 12 Fixers in Charles' Office, alongside references to the poems Orlando Innamorato (having a love interest named Angelica whose brother is named Argalia) and Orlando Furioso (losing Angelica, going on a murder spree and being confronted by an associate named Astolfo; Roland's special Combat Page is even called "Furioso".)
• The Faceless: When he was a Fixer, he used to wear a black mask on his face, and he never took it off until after he and Angelica defeated Blood-Red Night, in front of a wounded Angelica who smashed it off his face no less. This is actually a trait that his grandmother taught him, where he must try to blend in at all costs as even the smallest leak of info can come back to bite you. This turns out to be extremely effective, as none of the Library's guests are able to recognize him without the mask, even people he used to work with (namely Salvador and Yujin.) This gets exaggerated when he distorts, with his face now a gaping black void that leaks darkness.
• Fallen Hero: He was the very Fixer responsible for killing the Blood-Red Night and Pianist Distortions, and he's also a veteran of the Smoke War. Unfortunately, he's now just a pariah after his demotion to a Grade 9 Fixer.
• Fatal Flaw: Two. The first is a textbook case of wrath, while the second is his eminent nihilism.
  • Roland may be The Stoic most of the time, but at his worst, he's easily controlled by his rage. He went on a brutal Roaring Rampage of Revenge after his wife's death, killing many people unnecessarily in a blind rage. And at the end of the game, even after everything he's been through and all his Character Development, he's unable to let go of his desire for revenge and fights to kill Angela. He only manages to overcome it if all his Floor Realization battles are completed, at which point he finally manages to let go of his rage.
  • At the same time, Roland's controlled demeanor and relaxed attitude are the results of a man who has resigned himself to the awful world that is the City. As one of the strongest Fixers in the setting, Roland is well aware of how much pain and suffering the Head is causing, but is unable to muster the will to try and fix any of it. This is where his Catchphrase of "That's that, and this is this" comes from, being an expression of resignation towards everything that's gone wrong in his life. All four of his Floor Realizations deal with Roland's nihilism in some form, from Tiphereth's realization forcing him to express his doubts about hoping for a better world, while Gebura's realization has him speak on his discontent with the City and its incredibly violent ways. This nihilism is another point of resolution for the ending, with Roland deciding to write a book about the City with Angela's assistance in the hope it will help the people of the City.
• Final Boss: If you've failed to complete all nine Floor Realizations, you'll get one of the two bad endings, making Roland as the Black Silence the last enemy to be fought.
• Foil: To Argalia. Both of them were deeply affected by the loss of Angelica and had long crossed the Despair Event Horizon, were brother-in-laws and were some of the most famous Fixers in the City. Roland used to represent Thaumiel before turning into a proper Kether representative at the endgame, but Argalia dies representing Thaumiel. While Roland responded to Angelica's death with a violent rampage, Argalia was driven to insanity by Angelica's death, and relies on manipulation to get his way. Roland is described as easily enraged and rash, but Argalia remains calm and collected until moments before his death. And while they used to have many connections in the Fixer business, Argalia's partners remained until the associations were fed up of his manipulations, but Roland lost all of them to his severe misconduct. Last but not least, Roland dresses in a basic suit and tie that nearly everyone in the City wears and uses mundane, practical weaponry, while Argalia has one of the most intricate and flashy outfits among the Color Fixers and the rest of the City, with an elaborately decorated scythe to boot.
• Foreshadowing:
  • When he tells Angela about his past, things don't really add up to him being a Grade 9 Fixer and his cover story of being a former Grade 1 who only did intel doesn't hold either. He seems to know too much about Fixer traditions and the rules of the City well enough for a Grade 9 to be aware of, and his personal knowledge of veteran Fixers, Colors and even association leaders gives away that he is anything but a mere Grade 9 (unlike actual ones such as Finn who was naive and didn't have any influence or connections at all). Sure enough, he was actually a Color, and was demoted to a Grade 9 as punishment for his mass killing spree. Intel wasn't his only specialization either, as in the aforementioned killing spree he crippled an entire Finger and a Syndicate all by himself.
  • During the fourth phase of his Reception, his passive "Memories of the Library" cycle through passives based on the Abnormalities of his floor. "Scars" (Bloodbath), "Blood" (Heart of Aspiration), "Curiosity" (Pinocchio), and "Kiss" (Snow Queen)... and an extra one called "Leer". It hints that the final Abnormality in the Keter Realization is in fact the Silent Girl, an Abnormality that watches humans for "guilt" or "fear" she would remove.
• Fragile Speedster: Compared to the other Color Fixer receptions, Roland as The Black Silence has comparatively lower HP; only having 400 HP in contrast to The Red Mist and The Purple Tear who both have 700 HP. He compensates for this somewhat by having higher stagger resist and the ability to restore stagger on successful hits. However, unlike Kali and Iori who start with two Speed Dice or Argalia who starts with four Speed Dice, Roland starts with six Speed Dice, with one always being untargetable due to his passive. If he reaches Emotion Level 5 during Phase 1 of his boss fight, he will have a total of eight Speed Dice, the most out of nearly every other character in the game.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: From an orphaned child in one of the Backstreets of the hellhole that is the City to a Color/Grade 1 Fixer who was the captain of one of the most prestigious offices in the setting and responsible for the deaths of two powerful Distortions and countless numbers of Syndicate members, civilians and fellow Fixers because of an indiscriminate killing spree where no one was able to stop him. Downplayed as despite it all he is still an affable, friendly person who can see the error of his ways by the end of the story.
• Hated by All: Roland made a lot of enemies in-between Angelica's death and his arrival at the Library. The Roaring Rampage of Revenge he went on to avenge his wife's death burned many of his previous bridges and caused several victims of his actions to desire revenge on him, to the point that the Reverb Ensemble consists almost entirely of Distortions that have some grudge against him. He starts out as The Friend Nobody Likes among the Sephirot as well, but they eventually warm up to him... Only for him to burn that bridge as well in his bad ending, where he kills them all by proxy after murdering Angela. His Undignified Death not long after was mourned only by Astolfo, with everyone else remembering him as a psychotic washout.
• Hidden Depths:
  • He is not washed up or unskilled as he claims to be, since he was personally married to a Color Fixer (who was also the sister of another Color), defeated one of the most notorious Distortions in the City alongside her and eventually became a Color himself capable of overwhelming and defeating swathes of Syndicate members and even a Finger alone. During his time as a Fixer, he also wasn't the Unfazed Everyman we came to know, but a very aggressive and cold fighter. In fact, he's revealed to have been holding back the entire time, and it's only when Angela gets attacked by an old friend from the Hana Association does he stop holding back and reveal what he's truly capable of.
  • In an interesting twist, both Roland's Unfazed Everyman personality and his Black Silence personality act as this to each other. Despite being a cold and blunt person when on the job, Roland is capable of being very pleasant and kind towards people he cares about. Part of his struggle during the reception of the Black Silence is that his genuine love for Angela and his fellow Patron Librarians is clashing against his deep hatred for what Angela indirectly did to him and his recently deceased wife. When Angela shows that she's capable of forgiving him despite his attempts to kill her, he ultimately realizes that his hatred is more of a burden than a liberator and lets it go.
• Hidden Disdain Reveal: Towards the very end of the game, he reveals his friendliness towards Angela has all been a facade, and that he despises her for causing the Distortion Phenomenon that killed his wife. In the Golden Ending, however, it's revealed that Roland wasn't entirely faking being friends with Angela, which is hinted at in the theme of the final phase of the Black Silence reception, Gone Angels, which implies that Roland was very much conflicted.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: Roland is actually very influential in the City; he was the captain/leader of one of the most famous offices in the setting and was married to a Color, who was also the sister of another Color Fixer and he himself eventually inherited his wife's title: The Black Silence. It was only after Angelica was killed by the Pianist (and he killed it in turn) that he was demoted to a Grade 9 because of an indiscriminate killing spree he launched against anyone who might have been involved in the Distortions.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: His black gloves serve as a storage device for a staggering array of melee weapons and firearms, acting similarly to Ezra's dimensional bag from The Distortion Detective. The gloves were originally owned by Angelica with Roland inheriting them after her death.
• Iaijutsu Practitioner: One of the combat pages he gains after gaining the Black Silence's Key Page, Mook Workshop, involves him pulling out a katana to draw and attack faster than the eye can track.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: Roland isn't fighting at anywhere near full effectiveness for most of the game, with his original, relaxed combat sprite and smug smile implying he's not putting much effort into combat. As soon as he gets the gloves of the Black Silence back from Olivier however, he immediately shows what he can do when he gets serious.
• Kick the Dog:
  • When he went into a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, his attack on Jae-heon can be considered this. Jae-heon was just a technician whose worst crime was harvesting the corpses of already dead children, only for Roland to crash into his laboratory and burn it down along with the amalgamation of corpses that Jae-heon believed would serve as the basis for bringing back his deceased son, purely out of spite and disgust, causing him to actually turn into a murderous, insane Distortion driven by revenge against Roland. He also killed many innocents such as Fixers or even random passerby during it, even if they obviously had nothing to do with his wife's death.
  • After Angela reaches the perfect book and becomes human, Roland steps in and tells her, point blank, that she deserves to die. He then gives her a brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how much pain and suffering she's caused, before ending it by saying he is going to kill her in as brutal a fashion as he can muster. What makes this actually an example of this trope, however, is that Roland waited a long time to get to this point and is more interested in gleefully tearing Angela down during her moment of triumph than any sort of justice, and in the big picture, Angela was merely an Unwitting Pawn of the whole Library incident, being used by the same force that indirectly killed his wife. This is subverted more and more during his boss battle, however, as the lyrics to "Gone Angels" show just how much he's forcing himself into this mindset, and how much his fight against Angela is tearing him up inside.

I tried, I tried

What did we expect?

My dearest friend

Tell me when we shall make it end

...

Stop now, one by one

Your desires convince me you've always been a human

• Kick the Morality Pet: Implied to had been done this multiple times during his Roaring Rampage of Revenge, enough that his former friends turned on him, and tried to pull one on Astolfo as well but failed. In his Downer Ending, he does this to Angela, who deep down he actually cared for, but was too driven by anger and revenge to even care.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Almost to a vindictive degree. Flashbacks in Chesed's realization shows a scene where he screws over a Fixer with the fine print in a contract Roland had him sign, only for a Nest immigration official to deny him a place in a Nest for his efforts during the Smoke War in the exact same way, which resulted in him not being able to move into a Nest despite being an influential Fixer. This ended up with his family being killed by the Pianist and him going to the deep end, killing people indiscriminately for revenge. It's implied that the victims of his Roaring Rampage of Revenge later became Distortions themselves and Argalia has been recruiting them (as well as Blood-Red Night, who was also killed by Roland way before his rampage) to destroy the City, and the Fixer he screwed over before was heavily implied to have become the Yesterday's Promise who screws over others in the same way. In his bad ending, this is taken to the logical conclusion- he took so many lives during his rampage that when he finally got his revenge and had nothing left to live for, it wasn't hard for his enemies to kill him, leaving his body in a gutter.
• The Law of Conservation of Detail: As soon as Urban Legend, you can hear a conversation between some Zwei Fixers about how a mysterious Color Fixer known as "The Black Silence" killed a highly destructive Distortion known as the Pianist. The same entity would be brought up before dealing with the Thumb, which talks about them decimating the Rumanos Cartel. To nobody's surprise, the Black Silence was actually Roland himself.
• Legacy Character: A very dark instance of this trope. Roland and Angelica were both skilled Grade 1s but Angelica was ahead of him in prestige due to her status as the Black Silence. When she died, Roland took on her gloves and became the second Black Silence... but used the title as a means to an end in order to exact revenge on the City and its people, killing anyone he thought had anything to do with Angelica's death.
• Limit Break: His special combat page, Furioso, serves as this for him. It can only be used after Roland uses all of his other unique combat pages once. In return, it is a combat page that sports one of the highest rolls in the game for a mere cost of 3 Light. In addition, it destroys all of the remaining dice on the combat page it clashes against and inflicts 5 Bleed, 3 Bind and 3 Fragile to the target, making them easy pickings should they survive. It is also all but required to be used to defeat Argalia in Roland's duel against him as it is the only combat page that can realistically beat Argalia's Final Impromptu.
  • In the fourth phase of his boss battle, he gains a different version of Furioso, which he'll use once every five turns unless he gets staggered. By itself, it's considerably weaker than the original version, although it targets your entire party instead of just one librarian; the problem is that he gets additional attacks by sacrificing his summoned weapons - and each weapon is vulnerable only on the turn they're summoned.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: His hair has a tendency to grow at least beyond his shoulders during his realizations. Most noticeable when he dons Nosferatu's and the King of Greed's E.G.O.s.
• Malevolent Masked Man: As a former Fixer of Charles' Office, he would always wear a black, featureless mask that he seldom takes off. Helped by the fact that he was very cold and mission-focused in his days as a Grade 1 Fixer. He puts it back on for his attempt on Angela's life, but removes it again once he lets go of his anger.
• Marathon Boss: His boss fight is very long, consisting of four phases, each of which have large health pools and various ways of dragging the fight out further.
  • The first phase is Roland as The Black Silence, using all of his Black Silence combat pages on you.
  • His second phase has Roland Distort into a massive monster backed by 4 monsters called "Smoldering Byproducts". He has strong attacks and a massive amount of health, but is weak to nearly every kind of damage.
  • His third phase has him return to a more humanoid shape while also backed by the spirit of Angelica. They must be defeated at the same time, or the other will revive next turn.
  • His fourth and last phase has him renamed back to The Black Silence where he summons his weapons as targetable entities which must be destroyed in order to prevent him from recycling the last die of his Distorted Furioso. In addition, Roland gains the ability to use Memory combat pages as well as Keter's Abnormality Pages.
• Mask of Sanity: He seems like a slightly cynical Everyman at first glance, but the more the plot continues, the further the mask slips. By the time of the Briah Realizations, both the player and the Librarians begin to understand just how broken, vicious and spiteful Roland is underneath it all.
• Master of All: Roland is shown to have incredible skill in wielding his entire arsenal which consists of a massive variety of melee weapons as well as a handful of guns. All of his weapons are top of the line, boasting powerful effects and mid to high roll values which makes him as The Black Silence a versatile fighter capable of dishing out constant damage while also being relatively self-sufficient. Prior to inheriting Angelica's gear he was a Master Swordsman who relied entirely on his personal longsword, Durandal. Additionally, according to Binah, Roland's ability to wield E.G.O. rivals that of Kali, the only person to manifest their own E.G.O. before the Light was released.
  • This is essentially what Keter becomes by the time he receives his Black Silence key page: a floor that can weather nearly any fight through sheer versatility. Roland can either stack Abnormality pages on himself and become a formidable solo unit or spread them out among his team since they require no special gimmick or build and because Black Silence Roland is a very powerful unit by himself. The pages at most require winning clashes or hitting the same enemy multiple times. At the floor's peak, Roland or his team could be capable of dealing double damage while at the same time shredding enemy Stagger Resist or inflicting them with multiple stacks of Bind while under the effects of constant Strength gain or page draw. This makes sense for symbolism, since Keter represents the wholeness of the universe. It's a given that the representative of Keter would thus be good at everything.
• Meaningful Name: His title as the Black Silence has multiple:
  • It can refer to his relative anonymity as a Fixer despite accomplishing impressive feats such as defeating the Blood-Red Night. Could also extend for his preference of stealth and subterfuge due to his mask and nondescript choice of attire and overall presence.
  • It could also refer to the fact that he was the one who "silenced" the Pianist which was the first major, infamous case of the Distortion Phenomenon.
  • Finally, it can also refer to his cold, stoic demeanor when handling Fixer cases, avoiding small talk whenever possible and generally speaking only a few words unless he's around his close friends, fellow Fixers or when interrogating a target.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Like Gebura and Binah, once Roland dons the gloves of the Black Silence once again, he receives a unique key page along with a set of combat pages that cannot be changed or removed. Notable among them is his special combat page, Furioso, which is stored alongside E.G.O. Pages. While most E.G.O. Pages or unique combat pages such as The Red Mist's Greater Split attacks charge up through gaining Emotion Coins and require you to be at Emotion Level 3 or higher to use or become available, Furioso can only be used when Roland has used all nine of his unique combat pages, which resets the counter when he actually unleashes Furioso.
• Men Don't Cry: Averted. During the leadup to his reception, Roland begins gently crying as the surge of regrets and guilt he's been stewing in the whole game finally reaches its fever pitch. The final phase of the battle against him sees Roland spending most of the fight hunched over and clawing at his face, implying that he's sobbing.
• Mirror Character: Turns out to be this with Angela. Like her, he's actually a very bitter and angry individual who has refused to confront his past trauma while being completely controlled by it, which in turn incurs his Floor Realizations. The direct source of his rage has long since died just like Ayin to Angela, but he feels no catharsis and ends up going after numerous other people for the sake of fulfillment regardless of how innocent they actually turn out to be. The only reason his body count isn't as high as Angela's is that he's a mortal man who can be killed.
  Roland: A dimwitted egoist whose sight is limited by their own selfishness... A proper fool chasing after immediate results... That's what you are. And who I am...
• The Mole: Turns out to have deliberately entered the Library by working with the Purple Tear to get close to Angela and kill her at her most vulnerable state as revenge for causing the Distortion Phenomenon, which killed his wife and unborn child.
• Multi-Melee Master: His arsenal includes a serrated dagger, a pair of clawed gauntlets, a battle axe and a mace, a lance, dual shortswords, a katana, a greatsword and his own personal longsword, Durandal. All of the weapons minus Durandal belonged to Angelica before being inherited by Roland after her death. His skill with each weapon is impressive as seen in gameplay with all of his unique combat pages sporting mid to high roll values as well as a variety of beneficial effects ranging from Light restoration to outright destroying an opponent's die.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Roland's actions, both direct and indirect, end up creating/influencing a number of dangerous people and groups, who ultimately end up joining the Reverberation Ensemble and posing a major threat to not just Roland's plans but the entire City as a whole.
  • Roland screwed over Pluto with the fine print in a contract, causing him to Distort and become Yesterday's Promise, screwing over others in the same way.
  • Roland's post-Pianist rampage directly caused Jae-heon to Distort into the Puppeteer, and Jae-heon nurses a heavy grudge against him for it. Eileen also mentions being hurt by Roland due to his rampage; it is implied this is because he killed her father during it. It's also implied that he wiped out Tanya's whole base of operations, causing her to Distort and actively screw with other syndicates. Lastly, he and Angelica took out Elena during her time as a Star of the City, causing her to nurse a personal grudge against Roland.
  • Perhaps the most important thing, however, is his infiltration into the Library to assassinate Angela gave her the final motivator to kick-start the Library's attack against the City in earnest, leading to the disappearance of numerous influential entities which would otherwise be able to stop the dangerous Distortion monsters Roland inadvertently influenced. Some of these were not entirely of Roland or Angela's fault but were implied to be influenced by another "person", but said "person" just took advantage of their cooperation for other reasons. This is taken to a logical extreme when Angela books Roland and becomes human with the One True Book in a bad ending, which causes her to turn into a destructive force for 13 years before a Bookhunter Fixer slays her for good.
• Not So Stoic: When seeing what the Ensemble has done to Angelica's corpse, he becomes so enraged that Angela is unnerved by his anger and asks him to calm down. Becomes even more so after Distorting in the middle of his fight as The Black Silence. Similarly, his Floor Realizations have him become subsumed in the E.G.O. of the abnormalities who possess him, which draw out his suppressed emotions.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: He's only pretending to be a goofball in front of Angela to exploit her and lower her guard just to kill her later on and he's actually way more vicious than he presents himself to be.
• One-Man Army:
  • During his Roaring Rampage of Revenge, he fought and massacred the entirety of the Rumanos Cartel, to the point of crippling them so badly they were cut off by The Thumb during their summit meeting. He also, in Olivier's words, crushed a good chunk of the Middle Finger's southern operations, alone. Good chunk as in nearly half of all the southern Middle Finger operatives which included Tanya's own group who, despite being a One-Man Army herself, acknowledges a rampaging Roland to be far more destructive. Vergilius, the Red Gaze and a Color on par with Iori in combat prowess and strength, also contemplated only having two options when he was confronted by Roland in the midst of his killing spree: fight him to the death or avoid provoking him at all. Even Baral, a high ranking Claw acknowledges Roland's strength by commenting that he of all people can still be cut down due to his tired state which is especially notable considering how little he talks. Cut content from the Floor of Language's Realization also reveals that Roland killed several Index Proxies during his rampage, with one member noting his viciousness and wrath.
  • Some of Battle dialogue from the Librarians worry about the other floors with the implication Roland has already wiped out a number of them prior to arriving. The three available Floors for his battle may as well be the only ones remaining.
• One-Winged Angel: Distorts twice during his reception. The first one is based off the source of the Smoke Wars, and is utterly inhuman and strong, but also weak to everything. His second Distortion is a more humanoid, but featureless, version of The Black Silence, which is used in three different phases and is far more durable and dangerous in comparison.
• Out of Character Is Serious Business: Twice.
  • The first instance is his uncharacteristic pessimism during his final talk with Tiphereth. While Roland can be dismissive, he's rarely mean or insulting to his fellow Patron Librarians. During this discussion however, Roland insults Tiphereth (by calling her a "fake") and vehemently rejects her worldview. This serves as the first real hint of the anger he holds within himself, and signals the beginning of his own boss fight.
  • The second is during the beginning of the reception of the Black Silence. Roland calmly lays out his feelings towards Angela, but when he dives into the motivations behind why he's doing what he's doing, he begins to quietly cry.
• Perception Filter: His Perception-blocking Mask, which in-universe is a rare piece of technology that makes him appear as someone else or heavily blurs his appearance to others when he wears it. In-game this translates to his last Speed Die being unable to be targeted, turning any Combat Page he slots there a free hit against your team unless countered.
• Power Copying: Notes from the Artbook implies this was Roland's main forte and the source of his skill and abilities. While Angelica was still alive he would often test out and fiddle with the weapons she frequently buys as shown in the Side Episode: A Fritter Called Jeon where he used (and accidentally broke) Angelica's Mook Workshop katana. Angelica's ghost in his boss fight has nearly identical attack animations to his own and it's explained by the Artbook that Roland's moveset and combat pages were his attempts in mimicking her. This is also shown in the special Memory Pages his Distorted form has access to which are all near-perfect copies of their original combat pages.
• Read the Fine Print: One of the first acts that he did which inadvertently caused his personal life (and potentially the City) to collapse is him blackmailing a Fixer Office to smuggle Enkephalin to O Corp for him without the operator's knowledge. When being confronted, he asks the operator to read the fine print on his contract, which apparently snuck a term that he must smuggle Enkephalin to O Corp. This led to Roland being denied access to a Nest and being stuck in I Corp's Backstreets, where the Pianist manifested and killed his wife. The Fixer he blackmailed was also heavily implied to later become Yesterday's Promise, who would screw people in a similar manner Roland did to him.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one to Angela before his boss fight, calling her out for all her actions in this game and the last.
  Angela: ... I only want to be compensated for my suffering.
  Roland: What’s this now? You’re acting weak all of a sudden? Are you finally starting to hesitate when it's almost over? Nah... can't be. You've got power and knowledge, and now a proper life as a living being on top of it...you just don't wanna give up what you finally took hold of.
  Angela: At least I used a method that isn't forcef-
  Roland: You used the same logic when you stole the light. You used it to kill those who came to the Library in the name of fair price. You didn't even stop to think about the consequences of your actions. That's how you've always been. You don't give two shits about anyone other than yourself. I don't blame you though, I just can't. It's how the City works... that's that, and this is this.
• Revenge Before Reason:
  • Without the benefit of the Floor Realizations to elaborate on his and Angela's trauma, Roland can't bring himself to reconcile his grief and anger, especially in the face of Angela's own forgiveness which he perceives as a slap in the face, and he decapitates her. Upon escaping The Library, his trauma ultimately consumes him and shortly after, he's found floating in a random sewer somewhere dead.
  • Ultimately, Roland had no good reason to kill Angela since the Distortions were an intended consequence laid out by the Seed of Light, but her actions led to them not being more widespread than it's supposed to, and the worst incident just happened to affect Roland. If anything, Angela's actions inadvertently stopped a greater catastrophe from occurring.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After his wife died to the Pianist, Roland basically snapped and went on an indiscriminate rampage, killing to avenge his wife (even as none of the people he targeted were responsible for the Distortion to begin with). Victims of his rampage included the former leader of the Church of Gears (implied to be Eileen's father), Jae-heon, the Rumanos Cartel, the whole southwestern operations of the Middle Finger (of which Tanya was an executive member) and even innocents such as the Fixers from Offices that were assigned to quell his rampage. Eventually his colleague Astolfo had to personally confront and plead with him to calm down and see reason as his massive body count can and will become his downfall should he continue adding to it.
• Sad Battle Music: For the first three phases of his boss fight, it plays the three parts to his Realization theme, which is melancholic enough, but for the last phase, it instead plays "Gone Angels", a somber piano piece expressing Roland's inner conflict and self-destructive desire for revenge.
• The Spook: Invoked in-universe. Prior to ending up in the Library, Roland would always wear a black mask to conceal his personal identity as per the advice of his grandma. Very few people (outside of his closest colleagues) were aware of his real identity due to his mask. As a result, none of the Library's guests (even Salvador, who had worked alongside Roland in the Smoke War) recognized that Roland was the Black Silence. Furthermore, the mask also appears to make people think Roland is the Black Silence due to its perception blocking abilities, although the actual Color Fixer was Angelica.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: As a citizen of the City, his jaded and pragmatic world view causes him to look down on the Patron Librarians' beliefs that the world can change. This is most apparent with the Middle Floors, even going into a Meltdown due to their views conflicting that much. For Tiphereth, it's that he can't hope to see the world become better. For Gebura, its that she could protect things and he couldn't. For Chesed, he believes that you can't change the City, and all you can do is simply live in it.
• Spree Killer: According to the scene prior to Gebura's floor realization, after Angelica's death, he went on an indiscriminate killing spree against Fingers, Syndicates, Offices and even innocent civilians, trying to get revenge on whoever was responsible for the Distortions. His victims included a scientist who turned people into gears (implied to be Eileen's father), a factory creating puppet monsters belonging to Jae-heon, the Thumb subsidiary Rumanos Cartel, and even the Middle Finger's southern branch directly. Even his colleague Astolfo was unable to calm him down from his rampage.
• Super-Toughness: For whatever reason, Roland's stamina is abnormally high, enough to start a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Finger subsidiaries, the Finger itself in question and then a bunch of innocent Fixers sent to stop his rampage before being calmed down by Astolfo which was implied to have not deterred him at all from continuing his spree. It should be noted that due to his status and skill level at the time, the Fixers who were dispatched to stop him had to be just as strong or more to even have a chance against him yet he was barely fatigued nor injured at all by them or the groups he targeted. Near the end of the game, he's shown to be capable of defeating Argalia one on one, fighting the Librarians themselves with dialogue implying the three Floors available for his fight are the only ones remaining, followed by fending off the Distorted Reverberation Ensemble for a week before finally fighting an Arbiter and a Claw at once without break.
• Take Up My Sword: All of his weapons, save for Durandal, belonged to Angelica. Even his title, "The Black Silence" used to be hers.
• The Leader: While not directly stated in-game, Roland wasn't just a Grade 1 Fixer who worked at Charles' Office, he was actually the office's captain/acting leader who was personally chosen by Charles himself after he earned his trust. Some hints to Roland's leader status are dropped in-game however. In Roland's bad ending, Ogier refers to him as "big man", another term for a leader or someone with influence. Roland also mentions at the start of the game that he used to run a one-man Fixer office, technically making him an operator with all the experience and responsibilities that entails.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!:
  • Unlike other Color Fixers like Kali or Argalia, Roland's appearance and attire is extremely non-descript and common enough that he could almost pass off as any other person in the City if not for his habit of wearing a black mask every time he goes to work. As a result, save for those who were directly related to him in some form or way (such as Olivier and Argalia), Guests who enter the Library do not recognize him as the Black Silence.
  • Not directly him, but even Angelica, his wife whom he inherited his Black Silence title from and which he shared when she was still alive when using her gloves, lacks the distinct outfit many Color Fixers wear and resembles a fairly standard-looking upperclasswoman.
• Tricked-Out Gloves: His special Black Silence gloves serve as a Hyperspace Arsenal that hold all of his weapons. They seem to function similarly to Ezra's dimensional bag, with Roland manifesting or pulling out his weapons from sparkling black and white portals that open from his palms.
• Unblockable Attack: His Perception-blocking Mask prevents enemies from targeting his last Speed die, meaning that you can't block that combat page with a page of your own. Downplayed, as counter, block, and evade dice that a targeted character still has after their actions can be used to avoid or reduce the damage taken. Just hope he doesn't slot Wheels Industry or Furioso there though.
• Undeathly Pallor: Normally, Roland has grayish pale skin, most noticeable when comparing his CG art with the other Librarians or Guests who have regular skin colors. When suffering from a Meltdown though, he'll have the same pale, ice white skin Angela has.
• Undignified Death: In his bad ending, he gets killed by hordes of his former friends and foes, with numerous weapons stabbed on his back and his body drifting in a gutter, not even bothering to resist because he's just that broken. For one of the City's most influential fixers, saying that the way he dies is disrespectful is an understatement.
• Vengeance Feels Empty:
  • No matter how many people he killed, innocent or not, it never made him feel any better. His rampage only created members of the Reverb Ensemble and lost him his position, and his Downer Ending shows that he falls back into alcohol and drugs after killing Angela, the person he blamed for the Distortion Phenomenon that stole everything from him.
  • In his Downer Ending, he kills Angela at last for revenge and returns to the City, but due to having nothing left to live for, he starts taking drugs and doing shady, borderline illegal and immoral jobs, eventually letting himself killed by his former friends and foes.
• Villain Has a Point: While Roland's list of crimes is even longer than Angela's and unlike her all of his crimes were committed with full agency (unlike Angela who is only listening to Ayin's orders or Carmen's whims), he's not wrong when he points out that Angela has no excuse for everything she's done and is fooling herself with her Never My Fault attitude. Even she is forced to realize he's right.
• Weak, but Skilled: Roland cannot match the Red Mist’s raw strength, he lacks the Blue Reverberation's supernatural charisma and he does not have any reality defying abilities like that of the Purple Tear's dimension warping. What he has instead is an excellent memory and the most raw talent, being able to understand and perfectly adopt any fighting style he observes.
  • Vergilius the Red Gaze, who Roland himself name-dropped as the most dangerous Color Fixer in the City thanks to his skills and cybernetics, was wary of crossing him while the renegade Black Silence was on his rampage.
• Wicked Heart Symbol: It's subtle, but the way the gloves are positioned in the symbol for the page of The Black Silence makes it vaguely look like a heart flatlining, and to make it much more overt, an actual flatline is part of the symbol itself. Considering how Roland turns against Angela near the end of the game and how Angelica's death kicked off his fall from grace...
• Worf Had the Flu: By the time Baral shows up to unceremoniously kick his ass, Roland has been worn down by his rampage against Angela followed by several consecutive days of fighting with Argalia.
• You Are What You Hate: Despite he and Argalia absolutely hating each other especially after Argalia defiled Angelica's corpse to piss him off, Roland, to some extent isn't very different from him, having around as many connections in the Fixer industry (including outright admitting that he had a connection with the Shi Association Southern Branch's director who was also contacts with Argalia). He's also very unstable emotionally, but Roland only became so very recently with the death of Angelica, while it's implied that Argalia has always been that way.

---

"That's that, and this is this."