My Theory on Roland (SPOILERS)

[Zhantos]

So im creating this to share my theory on roland backstory. You guys can share yours too.

If you guys find a hole in my theory please comment.

- Roland was apparently a grade 1 fixer, puting him in color fixer territory.

- Roland says during a conversation with malkuth that his eyes are fixed in the past.

- During a conversation with angela, roland talks about the death of his wife in a nonchalantly way making it a little bit suspitions.

- During Musicians of Bremen cutscene meow says that alot of fixers died before black silence arived and killed the pianist

- Roland wife died during a incident in his district while he was away doing a random? job


So here's my theory: Roland is the black silence (he uses a suit that is black representing his color and in the intro scene he talks about a ''purple tear'' that i think is another color which makes me think more that he is a color) and his wife died during the pianist incident or she was the pianist (who knows?) and because he was away from home that explains why the black silence that killed the pianist didnt show up faster. He still hasnt come to accepet his wife death thats way he's always fixed in the past like he said to malkuth. About his demotion i think he did some crazy ♥♥♥♥ to vent after his wife died

[Lunarwing]

(note: spoilers for post urban nightmare stuff in below comments. Also sorry for longness I have A Lot Of Thoughts On Roland lmao)

Reading all these theories here bc man am I a sucker for Roland theories and gotta say @finikksu had a pretty mind-blowing theory about being a mirror to the cast. To add onto that, because reading that got me thinking: since Keter is the last final floor realization we're likely ever gonna get, what if the inevitable Roland versus Angela end fight is not us as Roland vs. Angela but us as Angela vs. Roland

Consider this: Angela's floor suppression so far seem to fall in line with the fact of forcing her to overcome her past. Malkuth teaches her to not live to please others and Yesod teachers her to have the freedom to choose. The others are likely gonna give her life lessons that, by the end of them, will cut her free from her past.

Now consider Roland on the last cutscene of Yesod's floor: when Yesod asks him if Roland is experiencing any change just like the way Angela currently is, Roland straight up denies it and even says it's too late for him to change. This is interesting because, as Roland is a mirror to Angela (they both are stuck in the past and condemn the world they grow up in yet Roland has always been free Angela has always been constrained, Roland's love was reciprocated, Angela's was not, etc.) he should be growing alongside Angela as he is arguably main character number two.

What this leads me to suspect is that Angela, by the time she reaches the Keter suppression, will have come to terms with her past self but will need to have a final floor realization of facing a "mirror" in order to realize herself as human (sort of like how Angela looks into a mirror in the opening and sees herself as a "human" while we are shown her robot self with glowy golden eyes). That mirror will, of course, be Roland who is unlike her stuck in the past and in order to cut ties with her past she has to do the same for Roland who is her "mirror" in order to reach the "perfection of humanity" she deserves.

On that note, some more theories on Roland:

-Roland IS the perfect book Angela's been searching for and that is the EXACT REASON why he was able to get to the Library in the first place. Remember what Angela said about the invitations? That the people chosen are also people who the invitations believe will lead her to the perfect book and that said book will have all the information she needs to become "whole"? And remember how Roland not only has ties to some of the people they invite in (like Salvador and likely Purple Tear when we meet her as well as ofc Blue Reverberation) but also is quite familiarly with the "important info" of how the City works (such as knowing about the Syndicates, cannibals, Rats, etc.)?

Considering the invitations "filter out" unimportant events that won't lead Angela to the result she wants and considering that Roland seems to be associated with/know about the events that are referenced by the invitations, would it not make sense that Roland was himself "invited" in order to lead Angela to the perfect book and that it's possible he is the "end result" she's looking for?

Granted, if he is the "perfect book", it's likely his presence is needed in the Library because he still has to "grow" to become someone who CAN be the perfect book for Angela. Referring back to the point above about how her said perfect book has "all the information she needs to become whole" it would be really interesting if Roland is the "key" to becoming Angela's perfect book but, because he doesn't have all the "pieces" to that "key" he can't become her "perfect book" until he gathers information from the Library that makes him what Angela needs.

I.e.: Roland IS Angela's perfect book but cannot become what she needs until he goes through all the invitations alongside her. Likely, this is because he is the only person who has the key puzzle piece to Angela getting her freedom. However, because he is missing a lot of information that is needed to become the Perfect Book, the Library has him do the invitations alongside Angela so he can become the "revelation" Angela needs to find out how to become human/free herself.

-It's interesting to note that Roland flat out admits he went insane in the recent Gebura update but when likely referencing the same event to Angela (i.e. his wife's death) he basically just goes "yeah I was sad and hated the world but I'm fine now uwu!!!". Not sure why exactly he didn't just tell Angela he went on a rampage and why he seems to be hiding it from her??

-Idk if it's just me but Roland sometimes has a hard time keeping his stories straight and idk if I trust that's intentional or not 'cause it could go both ways. One example is that in one scene he mentions how he thinks that money can solve anything but in another scene he says something like how money can't determine everything and sometimes power/strength is the only thing that can do that for you. Also, this was pointed out by a streamer but apparently the smoke dude's are in district 23 but Roland talks about them in Gebura's latest fight as if they were not from district 23 (roughly: "Yeah even the Carnival and those Smoke Mask dudes have nothing on District 23").

If this is intentional and it turns out that Roland is a liar I'd be super ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ impressed not gonna lie because not being able to keep facts straight is literally like 101 of being a liar lmao

-Others have said it but I'll say it too: Roland is the Black Silence, his wife is a White Colored Fixer, both of them were at the Pianist fight and his wife sacrificed herself or something so he could kill the Pianist. He blamed himself for her death, was likely traumatized by the fact that everyone around him died and so too did his wife who he was happy with, and just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ massacred everyone and everything because ♥♥♥♥ this world amirite?

-Roland blames the Distortion occurrence for killing his wife as, without the Pianist which was caused by a Distortion, she would still be alive. His reason for being at the Library (Remember what he said at the beginning of the game? That there was something he was looking for answers for and thinks the Library could provide answers for him?) is to find the cause of the Distortion in order to get revenge on whoever created the Distortion tragedy that led to the death of his wife. And guess who caused the Distortion? Angela. Guess what Roland looks to be realizing in the Clean-Up Crew episode? That Angela is the reason for the Distortion.

More precisely: Roland's reason for staying in the Library is to find out who started the Distortion Phenomena and, once it fully clicks that Angela is the reason why ♥♥♥♥ went to hell for him the first place, he's not gonna be as calm and carefree as he know him to be any longer :P

-Sort of mentioned in above but Roland is in no way, shape or form, over his wife and this is gonna be relevant as ♥♥♥♥ later on. The fact that his wife is referenced three different times in the story so far - (during Gebura's abnormality battle where he admits he went insane and still feels the emotions he felt then, during Phillip's Crying Baby battle where he confesses he would break down if he saw even a mirage of his wife, and of course in the Urban Plague scene where he talks about his wife and basically admits he's not over her yet) - alongside the fact that the only image we get of her is gray-scaled (minus the blood and very vaguely some brown and green tint in her weapons) suggests that she's gonna make a reappearance sooner or later (dead or alive, not quite sure, but I KNOW we haven't seen the last of her).

Also considering Roland is still so hung-up on her to the point he went ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ insane over her death and admits he would break inside if he met her again, we all know how badly this is gonna end if anyone wants to ♥♥♥♥ with Roland (Yesteday's Promise, anyone?)

-Roland's wife died maybe a year or two tops before the story began. Considering her death seems to coincide with Lobotomy Corp's destruction in some way, the fact that Roland is in no way shape or form over her death quite yet (emotionally or mentally), and that there's waaaaaay too much emphasis on how Roland has lost all will to hope or dream I'm definitely betting she very recently passed.

-Roland's grandma is gonna reappear at some point. Don't actually expect this one to come true because the game basically just goes "oh yeah I had a grandma, she took care of me, and then she disappeared and is now dead" w/ her but you never know. Maybe she's still alive and is in charge of, like the Blue Reverberation or whatever. Very much Doubt but y'know

-On the note of the Blue Reverberation it'd be really intriguing if the "Her voice" person who was leading the Blue Reverb. and the doghead gal is Roland's wife resurrected from the grave through a Distortion happenstance or whatever. Maybe it even just takes Roland's wife's form because of how powerful she was or something. Personally, it makes more sense for Her Voice to be Carmen (because, y'know, Carmen wanted to free people from the City and give them realization of their emotions which is basically what the Blue Reverberation and Yesterday's Promise are doing except corrupted. Plus we see Carmen in the opening song but she hasn't shown up/been mentioned in the game like AT ALL yet).

This Carmen is, however, corrupted, because Angela's sabotage basically ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up what was supposed to happen and instead of giving everyone emotional freedom like what was planned they were given some twisted form of emotional freedom that forced them into half-human, half-Abnormality creatures. This is likely a nod to how in canon Carmen wanted to force her "voice" onto people to get them to open up their hearts but as noted by Benjamin (I believe?) if they only use her voice to try to get people to realize their own desires it will ♥♥♥♥ them up (as not everyone's personal desires will align with Carmen's own which will "distort" people into things that cannot realize their full desires). However, because the Seed of Light project didn't go through like planned, this created the effect of Carmen forcing her "voice" onto others i.e. she distorts what they desire with what she desires which creates the Distortions that have been ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ up the world of Ruina.

[AzureAether]

Hi this is late but was diving through old theories for funsies now that the entire story is done for a while now

Wow you actually nailed it on the coffin, congrats!
The only thing missing was how Angela was responsible for the distortion phenomenon that lead to the Pianist, but you were pretty dead on!

[SmallGespenst]

Originally posted by AzureAether:

Hi this is late but was diving through old theories for funsies now that the entire story is done for a while now

Wow you actually nailed it on the coffin, congrats!
The only thing missing was how Angela was responsible for the distortion phenomenon that lead to the Pianist, but you were pretty dead on!

not quite, Roland wasn't the Black Silence. that was Angelica. it's confirmed in the artbook, but if you look at in game scenes, Roland didn't and doesn't wear gloves. Angelica does.

[AzureAether]

Originally posted by SmallGespenst:

Originally posted by AzureAether:

Hi this is late but was diving through old theories for funsies now that the entire story is done for a while now

Wow you actually nailed it on the coffin, congrats!
The only thing missing was how Angela was responsible for the distortion phenomenon that lead to the Pianist, but you were pretty dead on!

not quite, Roland wasn't the Black Silence. that was Angelica. it's confirmed in the artbook, but if you look at in game scenes, Roland didn't and doesn't wear gloves. Angelica does.

Ah right, i kinda forgot about that little detail. Though at some point i do believe that he borrowed Angelica's gloves from time to time (due to Roland stating in a side episode on youtube that he broke Mook's Workshop's weapons when he was messing around with it, coupled with the fact that people mistaken him for the black silence with the gloves and mask on simultaneously)

You know, if you think about it, Roland saying that he missed the feeling of the gloves has a double meaning, since he also probably meant that he missed the touch of the gloves (by his wife)

[Araders]

Originally posted by AzureAether:

Originally posted by SmallGespenst:

not quite, Roland wasn't the Black Silence. that was Angelica. it's confirmed in the artbook, but if you look at in game scenes, Roland didn't and doesn't wear gloves. Angelica does.

Ah right, i kinda forgot about that little detail. Though at some point i do believe that he borrowed Angelica's gloves from time to time (due to Roland stating in a side episode on youtube that he broke Mook's Workshop's weapons when he was messing around with it, coupled with the fact that people mistaken him for the black silence with the gloves and mask on simultaneously)

You know, if you think about it, Roland saying that he missed the feeling of the gloves has a double meaning, since he also probably meant that he missed the touch of the gloves (by his wife)

The mask is a funny thing that blocks the understanding of who is in front of you and, accordingly, repeating the actions of another person leads to deception.

Another fun fact is that in the battle with Black Silence during the combat phase with Roland and Angelica, Angelica is the one who takes the lead using stronger versions of cards than Roland. At the same time Roland simply covers her from her enemies, making her even stronger.

It's immediately clear who the real color is here.