Malroth (Character)

This article is about the character. For the evil God, see Malroth.

"Malroth is a fine warrior, I warrant, but I fear his recklessness could get us all killed. I trust you will do all in your power to restrain his... darker impulses"

—Anessa on Malroth to the Builder

Malroth
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Japanese name	シドー
Romaji	Shidō
Race	Incarnated deity
Voice actor	Kenjiro Tsuda

Appearance and Personality

Malroth appears as a mostly human young lad who wears an open purple shirt, saffron pants that tuck into his red and black boots, matching red gloves, and a fang necklace. Hints to his demonic nature include wild hair that parts along his temples into horn-esque spikes, pointed ears, and bright red eyes. Illustrations alternate between depicting him with a spiked club or a large hammer.

In his humanoid form he initially has no inkling of his true nature as the Master of Destruction. His amnesia and severely weakened state appear to be what allow him to begin to form attachments to others. Regardless, Malroth retains a violent disposition and defaults to casually threatening those that annoy him; though he refrains from actually harming helpless nuisances. He has a particular habit of threatening to kill Lulu as a sacrifice to himself, though he does so jokingly (probably). His tastes stray from what could be considered normal: he finds the architecture used by the Children of Hargon to be nostalgic, enjoys dark and subterranean areas, thinks that False Idols are "cool", and enjoys Lulu's awful cooking.

Malroth demonstrates a lack of knowledge on many concepts, with an almost childlike ignorance at times. During his adventure with the Builder, three concepts in particular catch his interest: "dreams", "love", and "conviction". When Lulu arranges a party for him and the Builder he is not sure how to act and thinks it is a pointless gesture, but appreciates it anyway.

Malroth does not understand typical social graces and is often prone to outbursts and bluntness, leading to some humorous exchanges early on and frightening conflicts later. He quickly develops a habit of using a high-five with the Builder as a celebratory gesture, but he is unsure of what inspired him to start doing so. Over the course of their adventure, he becomes close friends with the Builder.

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His attachment to the Builder lasts even after Hargon forces him to attain his true form. When he and the Builder clash, he very physically holds himself back despite expressing his desire to consume the Builder moments beforehand. The great dissonance between his newly developed sentimentality and desire for destruction causes him to split into two entities, his human avatar which retains said sentimentality and memories, and his unrestrained true form which retains its single-minded directive for destruction. Malroth is later able to recombine and the personality developed during his time with the Builder has attained dominance.

Appearances

Dragon Quest Builders 2

Malroth initially appears as an amnesiac humanoid, differing from true humans by his elongated pointed ears and bright red eyes, on the Isle of Awakening. Malroth decides to accompany the Builder after being intrigued by the Builder's power to create items and materials, an ability he distinctly lacks. He also decides he has nothing better to do as he is unable to remember anything. During the course of his adventure with the Builder a friendship forms between the two. He also begins to hear an unidentified voice in his head attempting to guide his actions, similarly to how the original Builder in Dragon Quest Builders heard the voice of Rubiss.

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Malroth grows more powerful the more the Builder creates. He begins getting intense destructive urges with his growth, causing him increasing distress, as he does not know the source of these desires. As his power swells, the voice in his head becomes progressively more active; its suggestions begin taking darker and darker tinges. Malroth is initially only mildly annoyed, but becomes increasingly concerned by being called the "Master of Destruction" and suggestions of murdering the Builder. Despite the increasing severity, he attempts to keep the incidents with the voice in his head mostly to himself.

Troubled by being unable to create, he begins valuing himself purely on his ability to destroy objects and defeat monsters to help the Builder. This attitude on his self-worth eventually festers and twists into resentment when the Builder starts constructing traps and other devices that he thinks he is being replaced with. This festering, and the fact that his desire for destruction grows as the Builder builds, is what allows Hargon, the owner of the voice Malroth had been hearing in his thoughts, to override the personality his human form has developed and begin his transformation into his true form as the Lord and Master of Destruction.

Hargon also reveals the world that the Builder and Malroth have been exploring is nothing but the lingering illusion created by himself; even Hargon himself is surprised that the illusory world has persisted after his death in the real one.

Malroth's sentimentality for the Builder remains even after he attains his true form; this is demonstrated when he intentionally avoids destroying the first item the Builder ever made for him: a simple Oaken Club. Despite his threatening speech, wherein he says that he will devour the Builder as a "reward" for the happy memories they shared, he, literally using one set of arms to restrain the other, holds himself back during the battle. Upon his defeat he comments that the Builder is much stronger than the last time they were together and is happy that the Builder's promise to stop him if he changed for the worse was kept. His high-fiving habit proves strong enough that he even raises a shaking claw to receive a high-five from the Builder after being defeated.

Malroth splits into two entities after said high-five. The humanoid Malroth, with his memories and sentimentality, is ripped from the rest of him, allowing the destruction-seeking Malroth to arise at full power unrestrained. After the Master of Destruction leaves, the humanoid Malroth is left with an injured Builder. Out of desperation, he repeatedly attempts to concoct medicinal herbs and is eventually successful, marking his first act of creation. Malroth then assists the Builder in defeating Hargon and his other half. Malroth then re-absorbs the power said half took from him. Using his newfound godlike powers, he transforms Hargon's world of illusions into a real world to prevent it from fading away. Upon completion of stabilizing the world, Malroth appears to revert to a mostly powerless state and stays with the Builder on Awakening Isle.

Trivia

• Builders 2 marks the first time that Malroth would be voiced in any title, courtesy of Kenjiro Tsuda. The monstrous Malroth would not receive any voice acting until Dragon Quest Rivals.
• The splitting of Malroth into good and bad halves is reminiscent of the characters Kami and Piccolo from Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball manga. The two were originally an unnamed being whose expelled inner darkness manifested as a violent doppelganger.

Gallery

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  Promotional polygon model for Builders 2.

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  Alternate artwork for Builders 2.

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  Artwork in Rivals.