Sir Roland

Sir Roland is one of the villains in the live action televison series "World Without End". He is a power-hungry and ruthless knight in the employ of Queen Isabella, who operates in the town of Kingsbridge.

History
Sir Roland first appears in the first episode as a knight who approaches Queen Isabella with a list of supposed traitors to the crown. Sweet-talking his way into the queen's good graces, she makes him the new Earl and allows him to arrest several individuals, including the Caris' father Edmund Wooler and Ralph and Merthin's father Sir Gerald for treason. Sir Roland then has them all hanged with the exception of Edmund, whose life he spares after being bribed by Petranilla (who he also has a past romantic history with). Later, he takes on Ralph as an apprentice, and attends the annual Spring Festival, revealing that he is to be married. However, he retains feelings for Petranilla, especially after his nearly dying when the bridge collapses and he almost drowns. Fortunately for him, he is saved by Ralph and nursed back to health by Caris.

Personality and Traits
Suave, charming, and well-spoken, Sir Roland seems to be friendly and reasonable enough. But behind his manners and eagerness to please lies a very ambitious and also quite ruthless individual, who has several people hanged for treason when in fact they were innocent. He does spare Edmund, but only because he was bribed and even then has his legs broken. These actions show a great capacity for cruelty, and he also has the brothers Ralph and Merthin fight each other until one draws blood as a means of determining who to take on as his apprentice.

Notably though for all of the above he is not completely without redeeming qualities, as he seems to care for his sons and also has in the past been enamored with Petranilla, who returns his affections. This suggests there are people in his life he does care about, but outside of those select few he is fairly amoral in his dealings with the rest of Kingsbridge, but also at the same time knows how to make himself look good to a crowd.