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“ | I know. About death. About the darkness. The nothingness which I have journeyed through so many times. | „ |
~ Michael Roa Valdamjong's most famous quote. |
“ | Welcome to my castle, Arcueid Brunestud, the White Princess. | „ |
~ Roa confronting Arcueid before their final battle. |
Michael Roa Valdamjong, also known as the Serpent of Akasha and the Infinite Reincarnator or simply referred to as Roa, is the main antagonist of the Tsukihime franchise.
Originally a high-ranking member of the Church, he fell in love with Arcueid Brunestud upon first sight and tricked her into sucking his blood, which turned him into a powerful vampiric being called a Dead Apostle and the 28th Dead Apostle Ancestors, serving as an "extra" member outside their normal ranks. He's the archenemy of Arcueid Brunestud, Shiki Tohno and Ciel.
Portrayals[]
- In Melty Blood and Carnival Phantasm, Roa is voiced by Ken Narita (who also voices Sesshomaru in InuYasha, Il Capitano in Genshin Impact, Illuso in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Barodius in Bakugan: Gundalian Invaders, Dr. Stylish in Akame ga Kill and Jeremiah Gottwald in Code Geass).
- In the anime adaptation, Roa is voiced by:
- Hiroyuki Yoshino in Japanese (who also voices Solf J. Kimblee in Fullmetal Alchemist, Kaiju No. 9 in Kaiju no. 8, and the Egg of the Perfect World in Berserk).
- Kirk Thornton in English (who also voices Shadow the Hedgehog in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise).
- In Tsukihime: -A piece of blue glass moon- and Melty Blood: Type Lumina, Roa is voiced by Yōhei Azakami.
- While possessing Elesia, Roa is voiced by Kaede Hondo.
Appearance[]
Roa's appearance varies depending on the body he currently inhabits. While possessing the body of SHIKI, Roa appears as a slender young man with flowing long black hair, pale skin and red eyes. In the remake, his hair becomes more shorter and slicked back. He wears a white dress shirt that's usually left open and black pants. In the remake, Roa's dress shirt has silver cross-shaped cufflinks and he also wears a brown leather belt with a silver cross-shaped buckle.
In his original body, Roa had long blonde hair tied in a ponytail and red eyes. He also wore a standard Executioner uniform with a long coat and golden cross around his neck, and small circular glasses.
Personality[]
“ | Has my goal changed? No, it hasn't. My goal has and always will be to reach eternity. | „ |
~ Roa explaining his ultimate goal. |
Michael Roa Valdamjong is an extremely sinister, arrogant, cruel, heartless, sadistic and megalomaniacal individual who desires to become eternal and learn everything in existence. He holds no qualms with committing the most horrific atrocities in pursuit of his goals. He's very intelligent, manipulative, and deceptive, having no compunctions with deceiving and manipulating others for his own ends, which is best displayed when he tricks Arcueid into drinking his blood in order to become a Dead Apostle and inadvertently caused her to kill all the other True Ancestors in a bloodlust-induced rampage.
Roa's most notable trait is his twisted obsession with Arcueid Brunestud, immediately falling in love with her at first sight. His obsession is so strong that he'll reincarnate just to see her again, even if she'll just kill him over and over again. Because he's incapable of recognizing his love for her, Roa mistakes his feelings as hatred and does everything in his power to antagonize and torment Arcueid in the hopes that she would hunt him down and he could be close to her. He is also known for his incredible sadism and cruelty. When he first possessed Ciel's body, he ran around violently raping and murdering her entire hometown, often not in that order. In the remake, he manipulated Vlov Arkhangel into killing his mentor and taking her power, which he was not equipped to handle. Due to his ability to reincarnate, Roa can be overly confident in himself. In the Arcueid Route, after being pierced by Shiki, Roa panics and spends his last minutes furiously trying to possess Shiki, being utterly mortified by the prospect of actual oblivion.
In the past, he was described as a pure and virtuous man when he was a priest up until his betrayal. As a child, Roa was well-loved by many. He also had some form of a close relationship with Nabareck, as, while she did not want to leave the Church or live with Roa, she was willing to pass on the information to her child to ignore a newcomer Dead Apostle in one hundred years. He was relentlessly driven to learn all there is to learn and intrigued by his fellow humans, even though he struggles to care for them as individuals. He seeks immortality to continue learning and observing humanity's advancement. He regretted having lost his original purity because now, like all the other pitiful wretches, he wished to continue existing as himself as he was right then.
Due to the various incarnations, much of Roa's original personality has been erased. At this point, he described as just information and intent, with only the barest fraction of his original self hanging on. However, he still retains his desire for immortality and to learn everything there is to know as well as his twisted love for Arcueid. While possessing Elesia, Roa makes a point to start prioritizing power over wealth and influence when selecting his next incarnation. He greets the poor folks he traps in the town's church with sneering politeness and mutilates his "test subjects" as much to kill time while waiting for Arcueid as he does to perform the sacrifices the "Sixth Ritual" requires. While possessing SHIKI, Roa initially starts out near-feral before fulfilling the bargain with his host which gives him complete control, leading to his becoming far more calm and coherent and regaining access to his centuries of magical knowledge.
Biography[]
Roa was born in the late 15th century to a wealthy family. He was described as a "blessed child" and was loved by all. Instead of inheriting his father's lands, he decided to join the Church as a priest and quickly rose to the top. By utilizing all his father's inheritance, Roa and his longtime colleague Narbareck established the Burial Agency. At some point, he relinquished full control of the agency to Narbareck. He then betrayed the Church to study Magecraft. Roa desired to record humanity's deeds and obtain unlimited knowledge. However, he eventually realized he lacked the time to record everything and his life was too short to satisfy his need to learn and know everything. As result, Roa began to seek immortality outside of the normal bounds of the Dead Apostles. He could not find a way, forever, and decided to become a Dead Apostle in order continue his research.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
Dead Apostle Physiology: As a Dead Apostle, Roa is a superhuman, immortal, vampiric undead being who has several inhuman traits. He possesses many of the usual features of vampirism: fangs, claws, pale skin and drinks blood. When becoming a Dead Apostle by having a True Ancestor suck their blood, the power of the Dead Apostle raises in proportion to the True Ancestor's strength. He used the strongest True Ancestor, Arcueid Brunestud, in order to instantly become the strongest Dead Apostle by skipping the stages of growth with her immense power, and planned to rise to the top of the hierarchy in just ten years. Upon having her take his blood, he stole a large amount of her power, and managed to reach the apex of his magical abilities as he built up his power.
- Immortality: Roa is nearly immortal and cannot die of old age, having existed for hundreds of years. However, his immortality is limited as he's able to be killed by conventional weaponry. In his prime, his Mystery would be high enough to render conventional weaponry useless.
- Superhuman Strength: Roa has refined his inherent human traits throughout his unnatural lifespan, allowing him to reach supernatural levels of strength. He possesses far more strength than normal humans or most vampires, as he's able to overpower most opponents with ease.
- Superhuman Speed: Roa moves with exceptional speed, able to dodge bullets with ease and perform swift maneuvers in battle. He can keep up with Ciel at full power.
- Superhuman Durability: Roa is incredibly resilient, able to withstand crushing forces, and extreme damage without being easily destroyed. It took the combined efforts of Arcueid and the Church to defeat him
- Superhuman Agility: Roa demonstrates impressive agility, performing complex maneuvers in battle with ease and precision.
- Superhuman Reflexes: Roa's advanced reflexes enable him to react to threats in a fraction of a second, allowing him to dodge and counter almost any attack.
- Superhuman Stamina: Roa's advanced musculature produces fewer fatigue toxins during physical activity than an ordinary human. This allows him to exert himself physically for much longer periods of time.
- Curse of Restoration: A Dead Apostle's method of regeneration, which works by reversing time whenever they receive an injury. Its effectiveness is tied to the phases of the Moon; Roa was able to regenerate from just his ankles under the full Moon after he was sliced apart by Arcueid's Marble Phantasm, something that normally would've killed him.
- The Dead: Roa can turn those that he feeds on into undead familiars that collect magical energy for him, created when a victim receives some of Roa's blood in turn, but does not become a Ghoul. They are mindless, soulless puppets controlled by their creator, and can be programmed to follow certain instructions.
Magecraft Mastery: Roa is incredibly skilled and knowledgeable in Magecraft, being a superb magus. He has in-depth knowledge on High Speed Incantation, Simplified Repetitive Incantation, Suggestion, Church Sacraments, and Necromancy, as well as inventing his own branch of Magecraft still used to this day. His knowledge even extends to spells from the Age of Gods, something that is completely unheard of among modern Magi. He's also the one who taught Nrvnqsr Chaos the Soil of Genesis. Roa is also very skilled in the use of Bounded Fields.
- Numerology: Roa's main form of Magecraft, which is related to the Kabbalah's Thaumaturgical Theory. He specializes in electricity-based attacks and manipulating lightning, utilizing various numerological crests to discharge thunderbolts and other powerful lightning based attacks. He is able to cast a ten count spell that fires a powerful 2 million volt lightning bolt. His most powerful attacks seems to be "Celestial Strike", which shoots multiple thunderbolts at an enemy through massive numerological crests, and "Seventeenth Transmigration", which activates his Reality Marbles. He can also turn himself into electricity.
- Overload: Roa's Reality Marble, his inner world projected onto the world around him, rewriting the world's laws with his own. Overload amplifies the power of all his spells while it is active, but can only be maintained for up to a single night before the World crushes it and restores itself.
- Reincarnation: Somehow, Roa has altered the nature of his soul, transforming it into a mutable, transmittable information. By transmitting his soul to another body, he endures, allowing him to survive being killed by Arcueid time and time again no matter where he reincarnated. He is not truly Roa anymore, having lost his ego over time, becoming little more than the embodiment of his malice and knowledge, returning again and again. He chooses only those with wealth and personal power as his hosts, unless there are no other options. Over time, he is able to overpower the host's will and take control, though it takes time for his memories to return, preventing him from using the full extent of his power and knowledge for some time.
- Time Reversing Field: A bounded field that Roa sets up around his territory or "Castle." All Damage done to the structure or himself will be instantly reverted to its previous state, seemingly via the reversal of time, in a way similar to his regeneration. Buildings turned to rubble will simply rebuild themselves as if they were never destroyed to begin with. It should be noted that the restoration of the bounded field is likely inferior to that of his regeneration on the night of a full moon, as he stated that he would not have been able to survive Arcueid's Marble Phantasm had it not been a full moon, despite his bounded field being active.
- Attraction: A spell which allows Roa to freely manipulate gravity. In Ciel's Route, while sharing a body with Shiki, he displayed the ability to aid in Shiki's maneuverability by manipulating the trajectory of his falls and even controlling some large stones that were around Shiki.
SHIKI's Body: In SHIKI's body, Roa has access to a number of special Psychic abilities of his original host, though he rarely uses these, and they are used more often by SHIKI when he is in control.
- Mystic Eyes of Life Perception: Through SHIKI, Roa is able to use the Mystic Eyes of Life Perception, which allows him to see the life force of living beings as lines similar to the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception's lines of death. By cutting these lines, Roa is able to "plunder" their life, killing them. However, Roa is unable to use this ability on inanimate objects, as they aren't alive.
Abilities[]
Genius-Level Intellect: Even as a human, Roa is an incredibly intelligent and knowledgeable individual who was able to expertly scheme and manipulate others and, through his plotting, become one of the strongest Dead Apostle Ancestors overnight. His knowledge on magecraft is among the best in the world, giving him access to forgotten spells from the Age of Gods and allowing him to come up with a complex method for his own reincarnation. He was able to find and even infiltrate the Wandering Sea in order to later have it as a meeting point between himself and Nrvnqsr Chaos. He has a deep understanding of Dead Apostles, True Ancestors, and even the Crimson Moon himself.
External Links[]
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Villains | ||
Major Characters The Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors Both Versions Remake Only Melty Blood Remake-Exclusive See Also |