Rolo
| Rolo | |
| Dragon Quest VIII | |
| |
| Japanese name | ニノ |
| Romaji | Nino |
| Race | Human |
| Voice actor | Jin Urayama (Japanese) |
"Goddess on high! For the first time in my life I pray to you from my heart! I beg for your mercy!"
—High Priest Rolo, in Purgatory Island
High Priest Rolo is a supporting character in Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King. He is a high-ranking member of the church, second only to the Lord High Priest.
Rolo is a fat, completely bald middle-aged man who wears ostentatious robes and an unreasonable amount of jewelry. A canny political maneuverer, he is angling to take the role of Lord High Priest for himself. If Abbot Francisco represents the best of the church, the greedy and ambitious Rolo seems to embody the very worst.
Appearances[edit]
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King[edit]
When visiting Neos after acquiring a ship, the party will encounter Rolo for the first time as he converses with the now-Abbot Marcello. The contemptible priest nakedly condescends to Marcello, making it clear that the lowborn Abbot's current rank and future prospects within the church are conditional to his loyalty to Rolo. Marcello plays along as expected, offering a bribe, but takes out his frustration on Angelo when he notices the party.
Much later, when the Lord High Priest becomes the target of the possessed Sir Leopold at Savella Cathedral, Rolo demands that the party go to his rescue (and put in a good word for him for sending them). The Lord High Priest is still alive and the party finally manages to defeat Sir Leopold, who lets go of the Godbird sceptre. Rolo rushes in to check on his superior, but Marcello takes advantage of the situation by framing the High Priest and the party for attempting to murder the Lord High Priest. The group are rounded up and banished to Purgatory Island, the church's dismal underground prison.
Suddenly faced with this horrible fate, the once-smug Rolo quickly changes his attitude. He had banished several people to this fate before without ever visited the prison himself, and the guilt and helplessness cause a change of heart in the man. When the guards report the Lord High Priest's death, Rolo earnestly despairs.
As the party languishes in their cell, it is Rolo who comes up with an escape plan. They play the old "sick prisoner" routine, with Rolo pretending to be suffering stomach pain because he swallowed a valuable gold rosary before being imprisoned so it would not be confiscated. The greedy guards let Rolo out of the cell, hoping to get their hands on the rosary once it was through the High Priest's system, but they foolishly turn their backs on the party without closing the cell door.
The group knocks the men out and prepares to leave. After boarding the elevator, the party realizes that someone has to remain in the prison to operate the mechanism and send everyone else to the surface. Yangus volunteers, but Rolo insists that it must be him who stays behind, though he won't stand any chance against the guards once they come to. Rolo pulls the lever, shouting at the party to discover the truth behind the Lord High Priest's death. The guards get back on their feet and prepare to pummel Rolo, but with hope now in his heart, he responds with defiance rather than despair.
Later, it is revealed that Rolo not only survived this incident, but finally achieved his desire of becoming the new Lord High Priest.
Trivia[edit]
- Rolo's jewelry remains on his model during the Purgatory Island sequence, making the swallowed rosary ploy somewhat strange.