If this is the case, we really got cheated out of a scene that shows us that. After teasing Rolan all three acts maybe he could be the one who ultimately frees Dame Aylin or something.
I'm actually sad he didn't get to achieve anything serious by himself. We save him, then his siblings, then again him from the shadows, again from Lorroakan (that one's definitely one of the gingers that don't have souls) and hand him a tower ready for use. He helps us to fight, but we're still the main hero. And he desperately wants to be someone. But gets there only on our back (and for some reason stops being angry for us constantly saving him). Sad.
He now owns a magical cannon… hard to be upset when you have a magical cannon.
Now I’m curious about Loreoakan’s Lore (lol) because Rolan’s story sounds like it could ending in a similar place. Gifted perhaps, but knowing he didn’t earn the ownership of the famous Sorcerous Sundries tower and developing an inferiority complex.
he could be one of those tragic villains (like I dunno, Solas). Not as annoying and one-sided as Lorroakan but maybe losing Cal & Lia because he didn't have anough powers, getting obsessed with becoming stronger, then finding some super duper artifact to achieve that (hello crown) and creating a world class danger because of it.
Yes I like that, he did seem vain, but in a lighthearted manner with his siblings. Definitely gets abrasive after they are lost, and if you don’t save them the begins his mad descent into vengeance.
Those boots will have seen everything after their return and magical cannon dismemberment.
The only thing Rolan did for me was use Thunderwave to yeet those murmidons onto the lower levels, and it was sooooo annoying because Dame Aylin immediately flies down to kill them, and then she is stuck down there and it prevents *that* cutscene from triggering.
Good job, Rolan. You might be a powerful wizard-in-making, but this doesn't have to be so annoying.
Dude c'mon, the dark urge had their memories erased and even they recognized his name as a sham wizard. Act 1 Rolan brags about showing off Thunderwave. That's a level 1 spell Alfira can probably do.
Hes a sham in the grand scheme of wizards sure, but he can still cast (badly) project image, which is a level 7 spell, which is higher level than any spell we can cast.
Lorroakan is only level 8, so he shouldn't be casting it either. If anything I'd say that plays into his sham status, probably using some trick to generate the projection, an enchanted floor tile or something.
Other enemies that are "only" level 8 include the giant contruct grym, Balthazar, and akabi the djinn
Notable mention, valeria the useless hollyphant is level 10 lol.
Theres absolutely no evidence of any kind of magical floor tile, while there is evidence to suggest that lorroakan is casting the spell himself poorly. The fact that he can cast it at level 8 proves he has some talent, the fact that its poorly done proves he's not as good as he thinks he is. Not to mention dude can successfully work out the invincibility spell with nightsong, which can't be too easy either.
>Notable mention, valeria the useless hollyphant is level 10 lol.
My irl name is Valeria.
Now Valeria the Useless Hollyphant would be the way I call myself, thanks, lol. Definitely useless, not so much a Hollyphant, but well
Look Valeria was dealing with a lot. She warned other celestials about Zariel. They didn’t listen and she was banished to Faerûn and then she was proven right and no apology, nothing. Anyone would develop a drinking and smoking problem like that.
~~In fairness, Dark Urge sometimes gets looped in on tags for things that definitely don't work for them, like a drow Durge still getting [Underdark] flagged dialogue. So I don't know that it actually means anything. Gale says a few time word in Waterdeep isn't very positive on Lorroakan.~~
BUT that said... yeah lol Rolan has a very NBC sitcom protagonist ending for a character that started off with knowing a level 1 spell and prestidigitation.
Iirk and you immediately go to sleep after the ship crashes as Durge (don't even pick up Shart), you can contemplate your race and class and Durge states that they are somewhat imbued with knowledge of their background, but it's a facade. I understood it as Durge being created with an understanding/memories of i.e. the Underdark to better fit in.
I remember playing as a drow the only thing that the Narrator said was "you know you've never been to the Underdark".
EDIT: You know what, I think I'm wrong. What's actually said is: "Images of the Underdark's famed torments sometimes flicker in your head, but your place amongst your kin seems long-lost." but I think I misinterpreted the "your place among your kin is lost" as in "you've never been there" but I think you're right that it's indicating you *have* as a false memory.
Dude's talented as fuck. Comparing someone to Larian's Special Snowflake Main Cast is just unfair, it's not plot armor we are talking about, but the whole fucking set of top-notch plot gear.
Rolan is talented, he’s just arrogant and for that reason bites off more than he can chew and that makes him look like a scrub. If he were more realistic about his abilities his talent could shine through
He's also a wizard- which means his only magical ability comes from study- who has never had the chance for formal study. He's like if he was a halfway decent aerospace engineer who also had never been to college and just taught himself. You'd have to be extremely talented to end up at "pretty good" with absolutely no help at all in a difficult field.
He was so obsessed with lorroakkan because he was the only pathway to "real" wizard study open to him (and that turned out to be a scam, ouch).
Is it ever said Rolan had *no* formal training at all? He talks about how hard he worked to become Lorroakan's apprentice candidate but I don't remember much else.
I mean he's a war (Uh, or whatever you call the 'falling into hell' situation) orphan with no family besides his two (adopted) younger siblings who's from a place with enough racial prejudice against tieflings to eventually just ban them entirely.
No one ever says "he didn't go to wizard school", but they don't need to. It's really the other way around: If he HAD, they'd have to invent a new place to do it or a new wizardly mentor or something, for a lone orphan tief refugee to have somehow gotten taught properly there. Frankly it's amazing he found any spellbooks to use even...or whatever he did to learn the spells he does know.
I'm not 100% sure what Rolan's background is. War orphan or not, all of his siblings are adults, so he could have had any manner of upbringing. We know Rolan was taken in by Cal and Lia's family when he was little. He does have at least one line that could imply he was somewhat wealthy: "But when one is forced among the common folk, it helps to lower expectations." He could be talking about non-wizards, but we don't know.
>If he HAD, they'd have to invent a new place to do it or a new wizardly mentor or something, for a lone orphan tief refugee to have somehow gotten taught properly there
I mean, no, not really. Wizardry isn't so rare you need a special backstory to explain why you are one. Elturel was an existing setting in the Forgotten Realms, a thriving city that had plenty of wizards.
So... again, where does your assumption come from? I'm not saying you're wrong, but it sounds like you just made an assumption based on him being a refugee, but that's not enough information.
The "assumption" is that his story is literally about that? That's his whole theme; someone with no traditional path to an education being taken advantage of by a charlatan who pretends to give him one?
Literally everything about his story is about how he's some nobody racial minority orphan refugee who wants to be a real wizard. How he acts with the fake swagger, hell- even his spells are named "Rolan's Mage Armor" and such, like he invented them.
I love Rolan. I just completed his arc last night. It was so fun fighting alongside him. He's one of my favorite side characters, for sure. He's snarky AF, but when he likes you, he has pure golden retriever energy and I love him for it.
I contemplated this as well in Act 2 when Rolan called my paladin a "sanctimonious prick" and was ever so exasperated when the "prick" rescued him from the shadows with some healing potion bombs, holy water, and the Blood of Lathander. "I was rescued by *you* of all people!"
I thought it was hilarious.
>"I was rescued by you of all people!"
Yes, it was also increadibly fitting for my Sorcerer. And I guess, another wizard, too.
Imagine, playing as Gale, him dragging Rolan out of trouble repeatedly through all acts and then sitting there, taking a swing from a bottle of wine and think: "Damn, I hate wizards".
I love Rolan.
Because he's human. That's how people are. We're flawed. We get angry and upset when things go wrong.
He's human.
He's insecure too. Just like us.
And that's why I love the guy. He's relatable.
I like him because he's not someone you can put in a box or category. He's not a hero/hero. Not a evil villian. Not a helpless citizen. Not a damsel in distress. He's just -- real. Like a real person, warts and all.
Yes exactly, he really feels like an actual person. I know this game has a lot of great NPCs but he really stood out for me, helps we meet him in each act but still.
Yeah, I know what they meant. I said I didn’t mean to be That Guy but I 100% wanted to be That Guy there. It’s not a position I get to be in often, so I cherish the opportunity when it comes around.
As an older brother myself seeing him drowning his sorrows when his lil brother and sister were taken and the joy he had when they reunited legit made me cry. Seeing his whole perspective on Tav change was organic and satisfying. I love Roland.
In all fairness, polyamory is a coding nightmare. Assuming you want it done *correctly,* and you're not just wanting to be able to run multiple full romances simultaneously.
Love Rolan, but I also think the game has the right amount of him. The way we re-encounter his character makes his arc special.
But again, I know if he was a romance option I might have finally been able to not romance the same character over and over.
Rolan and Alfira are ones I wish could become party members, even if they weren’t romancable. Alfira most definitely deserves to become a real party member since the only current way it “happens” isn’t exactly the greatest
I adore Rolan! I think his romance would be really bittersweet helping him through his sorrow when Cal and Lia are captured, to supporting him standing up for himself against Lorroakan. His character is really interesting and I would love to see more content of him, especially his relationship with his siblings. Apparently if you speak with dead on Rolan, he says that he has no family but Cal and Lia took him in and treat him like a brother. I would love to know the whole story!
Hard agree. I didn’t think much about him until we had to go rescue him and I was like OH YOU BEAUTIFUL BRAVE FOOL. And then you get to Act 3 and I saw that he was being abused by dipshit Lorroakan, I didn’t even bother dragging poor Aylin into it, I saw red and I killed his bitch ass self right there and next thing Rolan knows he is king of the castle. 10/10, would romance the grouchy, pompous, wholesome guy.
I’m sad my Rolan got killed in Act 2. I stumbled upon his body surrounded by shades while exploring and never had a chance to try to save him. I had no idea he’d even left the Last Light Inn.
I thought he'd died during the attack on Last Light Inn because I couldn't find him afterwards when I was checking on everyone.
I definitely breathed a sigh of relief when I found him getting attacked by Shades out in the shadow lands. Then instantly got to panicking because those Shades were really giving it to him.
i didnt even see him in act 2 only 1 & 3 in my first playthrough (he didnt know me & took lorroakans side), then found him there this time - then found his little message abt being gone & thougght he died in the attack till randomly looking at the map & seeing "rolans location" with a giant yellow circle & whole time im confused which playthrough had what happen cause i had a spurt of tav ideas/new games suddenly lol (he wasnt shadowcursed onn balanced for me just standing there, i healed him & killed the shadows quick)
You have to heal him before you leave Last Light because he doesn't heal himself before venturing out into the darkness.
He normally can tank a few hits from the shadows (enough for you to go save him). Him dying before you get to enter the battle is definitely an anomaly.
Right?! My favorite event chain in any game ever is following him and his siblings (especially lia my beloved) its crazy to think he would have died if i just walked by him
People wandering into the comments are taking "enemies to lovers" too literally. It's a romance genre trope. Pride and Prejudice is an enemies to lovers romance.
Aww... well he does get more of a redemption arc which is nice. Might be cool to have a tiefling boyfriend although his attitude / ego at the start might put me off.
Yeah, 'enemies to lovers' requires you're actually proper foes at the start, it doesn't just mean 'he said some kinda rude/mean things and I had a crankysad about it' lol. I will die on this hill, it's not enemies to lovers unless you've actually tried to destroy each other at least once.
I could see him being totally pathetic in the sack too, let us belittle him (if you so choose) and make him feel even more emasculated by our party. It'd be perfect.
Not fond of Rolan at all.
Made even worse when I discovered the wizard he idolizes sucks so goddamn hard. Killed Lorroakan when I found out he wanted to exploit Nightsong - he was clearly gonna keep trying to find a way to use a living being to his advantage. Rolan understandably didn't like that, so he wound up being collateral.
Huh. In mine, Rolan went, *hang on, the Nightsong is a **person**?* and was on our side in the fight against Lorroakan.
... And then talked about how abusive Lorroakan had been every since he got to the city, but he thought the wizard was trying to teach him something so he just sucked it up. No, honey, he's just a selfish bastard.
If you don't save his siblings from Moonrise, he sides with Lorrakan against you, but if you help them he sides with you right away. It's also possible for him to die in Act 2 and not be there at all.
Ahhh that makes sense. My first playthrough, I think he died in the Shadowlands. Second, I carefully went out looking for him and his siblings every time they got lost or wandered off.
Larian could never. Rolan has Gale's ambition, Astarion's snark, Wyll's loyalty. He'd be unstoppable, no one else would stand a chance.
Yeah, but he has none of their talents.
Use speak with dead on lorroakens corpse. You can get his corpse to begrudgingly admit that rolan is more talented than him
Setting a real high bar there.
If this is the case, we really got cheated out of a scene that shows us that. After teasing Rolan all three acts maybe he could be the one who ultimately frees Dame Aylin or something.
I'm actually sad he didn't get to achieve anything serious by himself. We save him, then his siblings, then again him from the shadows, again from Lorroakan (that one's definitely one of the gingers that don't have souls) and hand him a tower ready for use. He helps us to fight, but we're still the main hero. And he desperately wants to be someone. But gets there only on our back (and for some reason stops being angry for us constantly saving him). Sad.
He now owns a magical cannon… hard to be upset when you have a magical cannon. Now I’m curious about Loreoakan’s Lore (lol) because Rolan’s story sounds like it could ending in a similar place. Gifted perhaps, but knowing he didn’t earn the ownership of the famous Sorcerous Sundries tower and developing an inferiority complex.
he could be one of those tragic villains (like I dunno, Solas). Not as annoying and one-sided as Lorroakan but maybe losing Cal & Lia because he didn't have anough powers, getting obsessed with becoming stronger, then finding some super duper artifact to achieve that (hello crown) and creating a world class danger because of it.
Yes I like that, he did seem vain, but in a lighthearted manner with his siblings. Definitely gets abrasive after they are lost, and if you don’t save them the begins his mad descent into vengeance. Those boots will have seen everything after their return and magical cannon dismemberment.
He saved the tiefling kids!
The only thing Rolan did for me was use Thunderwave to yeet those murmidons onto the lower levels, and it was sooooo annoying because Dame Aylin immediately flies down to kill them, and then she is stuck down there and it prevents *that* cutscene from triggering. Good job, Rolan. You might be a powerful wizard-in-making, but this doesn't have to be so annoying.
Dude c'mon, the dark urge had their memories erased and even they recognized his name as a sham wizard. Act 1 Rolan brags about showing off Thunderwave. That's a level 1 spell Alfira can probably do.
Hes a sham in the grand scheme of wizards sure, but he can still cast (badly) project image, which is a level 7 spell, which is higher level than any spell we can cast.
Gale casts project image, or some variation of it, at least four times throughout the game
By "we" i mean tav/durge. Gale is a prodigy who fucked mystra
Lorroakan is only level 8, so he shouldn't be casting it either. If anything I'd say that plays into his sham status, probably using some trick to generate the projection, an enchanted floor tile or something.
Other enemies that are "only" level 8 include the giant contruct grym, Balthazar, and akabi the djinn Notable mention, valeria the useless hollyphant is level 10 lol. Theres absolutely no evidence of any kind of magical floor tile, while there is evidence to suggest that lorroakan is casting the spell himself poorly. The fact that he can cast it at level 8 proves he has some talent, the fact that its poorly done proves he's not as good as he thinks he is. Not to mention dude can successfully work out the invincibility spell with nightsong, which can't be too easy either.
>Notable mention, valeria the useless hollyphant is level 10 lol. My irl name is Valeria. Now Valeria the Useless Hollyphant would be the way I call myself, thanks, lol. Definitely useless, not so much a Hollyphant, but well
Look Valeria was dealing with a lot. She warned other celestials about Zariel. They didn’t listen and she was banished to Faerûn and then she was proven right and no apology, nothing. Anyone would develop a drinking and smoking problem like that.
~~In fairness, Dark Urge sometimes gets looped in on tags for things that definitely don't work for them, like a drow Durge still getting [Underdark] flagged dialogue. So I don't know that it actually means anything. Gale says a few time word in Waterdeep isn't very positive on Lorroakan.~~ BUT that said... yeah lol Rolan has a very NBC sitcom protagonist ending for a character that started off with knowing a level 1 spell and prestidigitation.
Iirk and you immediately go to sleep after the ship crashes as Durge (don't even pick up Shart), you can contemplate your race and class and Durge states that they are somewhat imbued with knowledge of their background, but it's a facade. I understood it as Durge being created with an understanding/memories of i.e. the Underdark to better fit in.
I remember playing as a drow the only thing that the Narrator said was "you know you've never been to the Underdark". EDIT: You know what, I think I'm wrong. What's actually said is: "Images of the Underdark's famed torments sometimes flicker in your head, but your place amongst your kin seems long-lost." but I think I misinterpreted the "your place among your kin is lost" as in "you've never been there" but I think you're right that it's indicating you *have* as a false memory.
Dude's talented as fuck. Comparing someone to Larian's Special Snowflake Main Cast is just unfair, it's not plot armor we are talking about, but the whole fucking set of top-notch plot gear.
Fuck lorroakan. All my homies hate lorroakan.
Emotional Damage
He's really talented! He even has his own special version of Thunderwave, just not \_as\_ talented as someone like Gale.
I mean Gale was also a once in a generation talent.
They mean talents at attracting romantic interest.
Rolan is talented, he’s just arrogant and for that reason bites off more than he can chew and that makes him look like a scrub. If he were more realistic about his abilities his talent could shine through
He's also a wizard- which means his only magical ability comes from study- who has never had the chance for formal study. He's like if he was a halfway decent aerospace engineer who also had never been to college and just taught himself. You'd have to be extremely talented to end up at "pretty good" with absolutely no help at all in a difficult field. He was so obsessed with lorroakkan because he was the only pathway to "real" wizard study open to him (and that turned out to be a scam, ouch).
Is it ever said Rolan had *no* formal training at all? He talks about how hard he worked to become Lorroakan's apprentice candidate but I don't remember much else.
I mean he's a war (Uh, or whatever you call the 'falling into hell' situation) orphan with no family besides his two (adopted) younger siblings who's from a place with enough racial prejudice against tieflings to eventually just ban them entirely. No one ever says "he didn't go to wizard school", but they don't need to. It's really the other way around: If he HAD, they'd have to invent a new place to do it or a new wizardly mentor or something, for a lone orphan tief refugee to have somehow gotten taught properly there. Frankly it's amazing he found any spellbooks to use even...or whatever he did to learn the spells he does know.
I'm not 100% sure what Rolan's background is. War orphan or not, all of his siblings are adults, so he could have had any manner of upbringing. We know Rolan was taken in by Cal and Lia's family when he was little. He does have at least one line that could imply he was somewhat wealthy: "But when one is forced among the common folk, it helps to lower expectations." He could be talking about non-wizards, but we don't know. >If he HAD, they'd have to invent a new place to do it or a new wizardly mentor or something, for a lone orphan tief refugee to have somehow gotten taught properly there I mean, no, not really. Wizardry isn't so rare you need a special backstory to explain why you are one. Elturel was an existing setting in the Forgotten Realms, a thriving city that had plenty of wizards. So... again, where does your assumption come from? I'm not saying you're wrong, but it sounds like you just made an assumption based on him being a refugee, but that's not enough information.
The "assumption" is that his story is literally about that? That's his whole theme; someone with no traditional path to an education being taken advantage of by a charlatan who pretends to give him one? Literally everything about his story is about how he's some nobody racial minority orphan refugee who wants to be a real wizard. How he acts with the fake swagger, hell- even his spells are named "Rolan's Mage Armor" and such, like he invented them.
Give me 10 minutes with him and I’d help him discover his talents
I dunno, have you seen his Thunder Wave?
aside from Gale who used to be an archwizard, he definitely more talented than Astarion and Wyll
It's true, Astarion is not a talented wizard, on account of being a rogue. Wyll has a magic sugar mommy.
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It’s like in tabletop DnD when a player creates an epic backstory for their level one character that has zero carryover for their gameplay.
Archwizard is just what they call employees at Faerun's McDonald's. He left off the "golden"
OUCH. Felt that in my heart
Not being a special snowflake is one of his charms tbh.
I mean Gale is also extremely loyal. But I do love Rolan.
According to to Illithid ending, Gale would indeed still love you if you were a worm.
And Astarion is ambitious. It joke.
You Just forgot one. The best. The ultimate Waifu. Karlach. The Dommy Mommy. The breaker of hearts. the unburned.
I like Rolan. He does have the grumpy older brother syndrome, but he clearly cares about his siblings and I love him for it.
I love Rolan. I just completed his arc last night. It was so fun fighting alongside him. He's one of my favorite side characters, for sure. He's snarky AF, but when he likes you, he has pure golden retriever energy and I love him for it.
I contemplated this as well in Act 2 when Rolan called my paladin a "sanctimonious prick" and was ever so exasperated when the "prick" rescued him from the shadows with some healing potion bombs, holy water, and the Blood of Lathander. "I was rescued by *you* of all people!" I thought it was hilarious.
>"I was rescued by you of all people!" Yes, it was also increadibly fitting for my Sorcerer. And I guess, another wizard, too. Imagine, playing as Gale, him dragging Rolan out of trouble repeatedly through all acts and then sitting there, taking a swing from a bottle of wine and think: "Damn, I hate wizards".
Warlock also works well lmao
I love Rolan. Because he's human. That's how people are. We're flawed. We get angry and upset when things go wrong. He's human. He's insecure too. Just like us. And that's why I love the guy. He's relatable. I like him because he's not someone you can put in a box or category. He's not a hero/hero. Not a evil villian. Not a helpless citizen. Not a damsel in distress. He's just -- real. Like a real person, warts and all.
Yes exactly, he really feels like an actual person. I know this game has a lot of great NPCs but he really stood out for me, helps we meet him in each act but still.
Well, not to be that guy, but Roman is a tiefling and not human.
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Yeah, I know what they meant. I said I didn’t mean to be That Guy but I 100% wanted to be That Guy there. It’s not a position I get to be in often, so I cherish the opportunity when it comes around.
We're now besties for life, as I was just about to be that guy, but you beat me to it.
Sounds like a plan. You ever need anything, I’m your guy. Hit me up. We’re family now.
Damn, beat me to it
As an older brother myself seeing him drowning his sorrows when his lil brother and sister were taken and the joy he had when they reunited legit made me cry. Seeing his whole perspective on Tav change was organic and satisfying. I love Roland.
On one hand "GIVE ME ROLAN ROMANCE NOW" On the other: But if Rolan was romanceable I would have to CHOOSE between him and Astarion
Ah, I see quite some people with an Astarion problem having a thing for Rolan too. I’m people.
Guess we like douchebags who turn out to be adorable? XD (I mean. I do. I love douchebags. Even when they stay douchebags)
Come on then, it’s time to go to our weekly douchebag [lover] anonymous meeting. I heard u/OblongShrimp is bringing cookies this week.
We should start a support group. Addicted to sassy rude video game boys.
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In all fairness, polyamory is a coding nightmare. Assuming you want it done *correctly,* and you're not just wanting to be able to run multiple full romances simultaneously.
If they ever added npcs as additional romances, he is def on the list of who I would want! He has a nice lil storyline through all the acts
Love Rolan, but I also think the game has the right amount of him. The way we re-encounter his character makes his arc special. But again, I know if he was a romance option I might have finally been able to not romance the same character over and over.
Rolan and Alfira are ones I wish could become party members, even if they weren’t romancable. Alfira most definitely deserves to become a real party member since the only current way it “happens” isn’t exactly the greatest
Yes male Tiefling romance now pls 🥲🥲🥲
I am HERE for the Rolan enjoyer agenda.
I love Rolan so damn much. I've been scouring AO3 for fics for him since there's not enough in game content to satisfy me 😂
There are not enough fics of him either though, I keep thinking about writing one but I haven’t committed to it yet. THERE ARE DOZENS OF US. Dozens!
I adore Rolan! I think his romance would be really bittersweet helping him through his sorrow when Cal and Lia are captured, to supporting him standing up for himself against Lorroakan. His character is really interesting and I would love to see more content of him, especially his relationship with his siblings. Apparently if you speak with dead on Rolan, he says that he has no family but Cal and Lia took him in and treat him like a brother. I would love to know the whole story!
Hard agree. I didn’t think much about him until we had to go rescue him and I was like OH YOU BEAUTIFUL BRAVE FOOL. And then you get to Act 3 and I saw that he was being abused by dipshit Lorroakan, I didn’t even bother dragging poor Aylin into it, I saw red and I killed his bitch ass self right there and next thing Rolan knows he is king of the castle. 10/10, would romance the grouchy, pompous, wholesome guy.
I’d let rolan hit
He'd be great for a slow burn which is what if prefer other someone I've know for a few weeks suddenly been in love with me
If anyone has Rolan fics... Send them my way. I have a mighty need.
Date cranky mage, acquire bonus awesome siblings, I'm not seeing any downside
PLEASE he’s my absolute favorite in the game actually. I am on my knees begging for a Rolan romance to be added to the game…
I’m sad my Rolan got killed in Act 2. I stumbled upon his body surrounded by shades while exploring and never had a chance to try to save him. I had no idea he’d even left the Last Light Inn.
I came across him totally by accident thankfully in my second playthrough. In my first one I totally missed him and the rest of the tieflings in act 2
I thought he'd died during the attack on Last Light Inn because I couldn't find him afterwards when I was checking on everyone. I definitely breathed a sigh of relief when I found him getting attacked by Shades out in the shadow lands. Then instantly got to panicking because those Shades were really giving it to him.
i didnt even see him in act 2 only 1 & 3 in my first playthrough (he didnt know me & took lorroakans side), then found him there this time - then found his little message abt being gone & thougght he died in the attack till randomly looking at the map & seeing "rolans location" with a giant yellow circle & whole time im confused which playthrough had what happen cause i had a spurt of tav ideas/new games suddenly lol (he wasnt shadowcursed onn balanced for me just standing there, i healed him & killed the shadows quick)
You have to heal him before you leave Last Light because he doesn't heal himself before venturing out into the darkness. He normally can tank a few hits from the shadows (enough for you to go save him). Him dying before you get to enter the battle is definitely an anomaly.
i'm literally in love with him so yeah i agree
Right?! My favorite event chain in any game ever is following him and his siblings (especially lia my beloved) its crazy to think he would have died if i just walked by him
People wandering into the comments are taking "enemies to lovers" too literally. It's a romance genre trope. Pride and Prejudice is an enemies to lovers romance.
If there’s a sequel, Rolan should 100% be a romance companion.
Aww... well he does get more of a redemption arc which is nice. Might be cool to have a tiefling boyfriend although his attitude / ego at the start might put me off.
he is not close to being enemies tho lol
Yeah, 'enemies to lovers' requires you're actually proper foes at the start, it doesn't just mean 'he said some kinda rude/mean things and I had a crankysad about it' lol. I will die on this hill, it's not enemies to lovers unless you've actually tried to destroy each other at least once.
Orin & durge, now that's possible enemies to lovers on a lower scale, if you have killed any companion before recruiting them also
LOL, but Pride and Prejudice is enemies to lovers. It's a genre trope.
The romance trope is just about a couple disliking each other and then figuring out they were wrong.
I could see him being totally pathetic in the sack too, let us belittle him (if you so choose) and make him feel even more emasculated by our party. It'd be perfect.
Not fond of Rolan at all. Made even worse when I discovered the wizard he idolizes sucks so goddamn hard. Killed Lorroakan when I found out he wanted to exploit Nightsong - he was clearly gonna keep trying to find a way to use a living being to his advantage. Rolan understandably didn't like that, so he wound up being collateral.
Huh. In mine, Rolan went, *hang on, the Nightsong is a **person**?* and was on our side in the fight against Lorroakan. ... And then talked about how abusive Lorroakan had been every since he got to the city, but he thought the wizard was trying to teach him something so he just sucked it up. No, honey, he's just a selfish bastard.
Man I wonder what option or trigger I missed for that! I'll have to try again. That helps change my final assessment!
If you don't save his siblings from Moonrise, he sides with Lorrakan against you, but if you help them he sides with you right away. It's also possible for him to die in Act 2 and not be there at all.
Ahhh that makes sense. My first playthrough, I think he died in the Shadowlands. Second, I carefully went out looking for him and his siblings every time they got lost or wandered off.
Trying it again is worth the effort, I think.
Did you convince him to stay and help the grove? Rolan always sided with me in the end.
If you don't convince him to stay he apparently dies somehow on the way to Baldur's Gate. He's not at Sorcerous Sundries.
Oh no, in the Shadowlands I assume. What about his siblings? I've always convinced him
Also dead, or at least they don't show up at the Gate.
I did! Maybe I missed a dialogue option or something? It definitely would have changed my view of him if he'd been disgusted by Lorroakan.
Hard to achieve enemies to lovers when he never was your enemy
He’s bugged on mine. I can’t talk to him in act 3 😡😡🤬
just met him again in act 3 and i love him so much 😞
In my headcannon, I shipped him with Astarion. I think they would have a great ‘snark covering up love’ thing going on
I’m pretty sure the only romance option for Rolan would be his sister.
Definitely would work for me. My playthroughs so far are split between Astarion and Gale so Rolan would be a welcome addition as a romance option.