Michael Roa Valdamjong
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Michael Roa Valdamjong (ミハイル・ロア・バルダムヨォン Mihairu Roa Barudamuyōn?) is the major antagonist in the visual novel Tsukihime. He is a vampire and ranked as a numberless Dead Apostle. He is nicknamed "The Serpent of Akasha" which refers to his reincarnation ability as Akasha is the source of all things in the Tsukihime universe and snakes are known for shedding their skin, symbolizing how he discards his host bodies. Roa as seen in his Near-side Moon appearance has been confirmed to appear as a playable character in Melty Blood Actress Again.
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[edit] Profile
Roa was a high-ranking priest of the church that sought immortality and tricked Arcueid into drinking his blood, causing her to go berserk and wipe out almost all the True Ancestors. This action also turned Roa into one of the most powerful Dead Apostles. In fact, he had gotten to the point where he was so powerful he was strong enough to defeat even Altrouge Brunestud when she tried to "teach him a lesson" as her and the rest of the Dead Apostles saw him as an upstart.
His original body was finally defeated by a coalition comprised of Arcueid and the Church's Burial Agency, and he has been re-incarnating ever since then. By the time of Tsukihime he had already re-incarnated seventeen times and had been destroyed by Arcueid each time as she seeks to gain her stolen power back, and perhaps to achieve some measure of revenge. Roa has two requirements for choosing the host of his next reincarnation: the host's family must have a high social standing so that he would be born into luxury, and a body with high magical potential and perhaps unique latent powers. His last host was Ciel, who was chosen in haste and thus was born into a bakery's family but in exchange had a body with an extremely high magical potential that was equal to that of his original form. In Tsukihime, Roa is responsible for the grisly vampire murders throughout the city.
[edit] Shiki Tohno
Shiki Tohno (遠野 四季 Tōno Shiki?) is Roa's 18th incarnation and can be considered "the real Shiki Tohno". This Shiki is not to be confused with Shiki Tohno (遠野 志貴 Tōno Shiki?), the protagonist of Tsukihime; though both of them are named Shiki, the kanji in their names are different. For the purpose of distinction, the real Shiki Tohno (Roa's current host) is often referred to as "SHIKI." The real SHIKI Tohno was good friends with Shiki (an adopted member of the Tohno family from the Nanaya clan). SHIKI, however, went berserk after he lost control to his demonic blood, though Shiki initially believes it was because Roa took control of him at that moment. SHIKI nearly killed the adopted Shiki (who was defending Akiha), however Makihisa Tohno (SHIKI's father) forced the real SHIKI to the brink of death. He was then kept locked up in the Tohno Mansion's cellar for around eight years. Shiki's wounds nearly killed him, so Akiha gave him half her life, but not completely dead himself, SHIKI used the Mystic Eyes that he gained from nearly dying and stole half of the borrowed life from Shiki, though, connecting the two Shikis, each possessing 1/4 a life, with Akiha having the other half.
[edit] Role
In both the "Near-Side Moon" stories (Ciel and Arcueid) and "Far-Side Moon" stories (Akiha, Hisui, and Kohaku) Shiki/Roa serves as an antagonist. However there are differences in his goals, appearance, and known abilities, due to the fact that in the Far Side route, Shiki has lost his mind. This limits Roa's control over the body, as he first takes control of the mind. In the Near-Side stories Roa is a dominant personality over the real Shiki's body (though the real Shiki does manage to say a few words to the adopted Shiki) and his tastes have taken priority over Shiki's; his goal here is to kill Arcueid and doing nothing more than what normal Dead Apostles do (which involves killing and consuming the blood of humans). In the Far-Side stories the real Shiki's personality is dominant over Roa's though it is heavily implied that Roa's personality lingers in his mind and that Shiki doesn't mind him taking over. His appearance resembles the real Shiki only eight years older with pale hair and wearing a kimono. His goal in this arc is primarily to kill the adopted Shiki and return to his place as part of the Tohno family, regardless of how impossible such an ambition is.
[edit] Powers and abilities
The original Roa was an immensely skilled sorcerer, supposedly unmatched during his time. He specialized in Numerology, an art by which one could apply metaphysical mathematical principles onto spells. Such applications of this art could be seen in Square, a skill which multiplied the strength of his sorcery to the rank of EX-level power, and his Reality Marble, Overload, which automatically applied Square to all of his spells.
Near-Side Route
Roa has supreme healing regeneration from the deepest of wounds. He was able to revive himself from being slaughtered by Arcueid's Marble Phantasm which destroyed every part of his body with the exception of his ankles (from which he regenerates himself). Roa, however, is only capable of using the full extent of his ability on a full moon. At any other time, he would be incapable of using this technique. Roa also has a knife which he uses against the adopted Shiki, though he abandons it once he wounds Shiki once again.
Far-side route
Shiki-dominant Roa uses melee attacks from both his knife and his own claws, he also has a skill which crystallizes blood which then can be used as a sword or throwing weapon. The real Shiki dominant Roa lacks the regeneration technique of Near-Side route Roa. Instead, he has an ability called "Immortality", which, rather than simply regenerating wounds, adapts around fatal injuries and allows him to survive even without vital organs. This ability also grants Shiki limited regenerative ability, evidenced by his ability to reattach, but not replace, lost limbs.
Both Routes
Roa in both routes has an ability similar to Shiki Tohno's Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, having gained this ability after he was nearly killed by his father Makihisa Tohno. His eyes are significantly different from Shiki's, they lack the ability to destroy inanimate objects and is more akin to cutting the "life" of a person rather than the "death". Unlike Shiki's ability, if he cuts the 'lines', the person is not cut into pieces. Instead, the person is drained of 'life', falling to the ground an empty corpse. Roa considers it a weapon, and does not understand the true meaning of death, despite the fact that he has died seventeen times.
Roa's Reincarnation
Roa's “soul” is automatically transferred to a new body each time his current one is destroyed, however, his "mind" had already expired by his first transfer. His original consciousness and personality had already fizzled away, however his memory, knowledge, and power still remained, and this memory and knowledge is expanded with each new lifetime. When he enters a new host, the host still has all of the personality traits they obtained throughout their lifetime, however, being flooded with Roa’s memories as if they had actually experienced them changes their original perceptions, causing Roa’s hosts to develop similar tastes to the original. Roa’s memories only appear gradually, so Arcueid is usually able to destroy his current body before he regains any significant magical knowledge: his appearance in Tsukihime is such a case.
[edit] Roa in the anime and manga
Roa in Shingetsutan Tsukihime is a mix of both versions of himself from the Far-Side and Near-Side routes. He bears an appearance similar to that of Far-Side route Roa, but contains the abilities, goals and, in the manga, the clothing of Near-side route Roa. He only appears four relatively small times in the anime, though his face briefly flashes across the screen during the opening. In the manga, he has made two major appearances, both times targeting Shiki Tohno and both times being interrupted by Ciel. In the manga he is also shown to have remembered how to use magic by his second appearance. In the anime he is voiced by Hiroyuki Yoshino.
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