Roark family
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The Roark family is a fictional dynasty from Frank Miller's graphic novel series Sin City.
The family is made up of corrupt officials and landowners of Irish descent, who reside in Basin City and hold important political and social power. They are main antagonists in the series, and are frequent catalysts to various plots and storylines. Several of their friends and associates also serve as villains within the stories.
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[edit] History
The family first arrived in Basin City during Gold Rush, when a Roark ancestor brought with him a large number of foreign prostitutes. The prostitutes were quite popular, turning a small mining camp into a thriving, busy city. The Roark family would eventually gain political power as a result, controlling the land via their methods of corruption. The prostitutes themselves eventually split from the family and formed their own district reserved specifically for prostitution; this section would later be known as Old Town.
In the time period of the comics, the Roark family is currently thriving with family members in the United States Senate, an Attorney General and a Catholic Cardinal. All of them are very corrupt, powerful and influential people who hold a strong grip on the city.
[edit] Family Members
[edit] Cardinal Roark
Patrick Henry Roark, (A Man of the Cloth) otherwise known as Cardinal Roark, appears in The Hard Goodbye as the brother of Senator Roark and the uncle of Roark Junior. According to Marv, he was once a doctor and priest serving in the medical corps during either World War II or the Korean War. He earned significant praise as a result and later became a Cardinal, earning important political influence and extending the corruption within the state. It is also implied that his influence is what allowed his brother to be become a United States Senator.
While serving the clergy, Cardinal Roark met Kevin, a cannibalistic serial killer who consumed the bodies of Old Town's prostitutes, believing he was inheriting their souls. Convinced that Kevin has been spoken to by God, Cardinal Roark joins Kevin in his practices and shelters him at the Roark family farm, located at North Cross and Lennox.
Prostitute Goldie learns of their bizarre rituals and prepares to inform the other prostitutes; she spends a night with Marv to gain protection, but Kevin nevertheless murders her and frames Marv for the crime. Marv then begins murdering others to gain knowledge of Goldie's killer, eventually killing Kevin and then visiting Cardinal Roark. Cardinal Roark explains the story to Marv, who then proceeds to violently kill him.
In the 2005 film adaptation, Cardinal Roark was portrayed by Rutger Hauer. Hauer was one of the last actors to be cast, completing his role several months after Mickey Rourke, the performer of Marv, had finished shooting. The only time they appear on-screen in the same shot is during their final confrontation, which was later edited in post-production utilizing both of their performances.
[edit] Kevin
While not an actual member of the Roark family, Kevin nevertheless plays an important role in The Hard Goodbye as the apprentice of Cardinal Roark. An intentionally mute serial killer, Kevin begins eating the bodies of prostitutes to inherit their souls. After confessing these crimes to the Cardinal, he begins to join Kevin in his behavior and believes that he has been spoken to by God. Prostitute Goldie soon learns of their rituals and seeks safety with Marv, but Kevin is nevertheless able to kill her. When Marv goes on a violent quest for her killer, Kevin is one of his many casualties, being mutilated, fed to a wolf alive, and finally, beheaded with a saw.
Kevin also makes a cameo appearance during the climax of That Yellow Bastard, taking place four years before the events of The Hard Goodbye. As Hartigan murders Junior's guards, Kevin is seen reading a Bible on the side porch. Kevin is never referenced by any of the other members of the Roark family and perhaps has an uneasy relationship with Roark Junior, among others.
Kevin was portrayed by Elijah Wood in the film adaptation, who never met Mickey Rourke on-set during filming, and like Hauer's his shots were edited together with Rourke's.
[edit] Senator Roark
Senator Roark is a very corrupt politician with considerable financial power, holding most of Basin City in his grip. These privileges are inherited by his son, Roark Junior. Senator Roark murdered his wife with a baseball bat for unknown reasons. He also is the brother of Cardinal Roark, and another brother, who serves as an Attorney General (not featured).
Senator Roark hopes for his son to become President of the United States, but Junior presents a serious problem: He is a sadistic pedophile who enjoys raping and murdering pre-pubescent girls. Senator Roark uses his police connections to cover up his crimes, but when Junior kidnaps 11 year-old Nancy Callahan, Detective John Hartigan tries to stop him, critically injuring Junior in the process to 'disarm' him, by shooting both his hand and his reproductive organs.
Senator Roark then visits Hartigan in the hospital where he was found because of his angina, explaining that he actually has no intention of killing him. Instead, he plans to finance Hartigan's medical treatment to keep him alive; his ultimate plan is to frame Hartigan for Junior's crimes while Junior recovers from surgery. Hartigan is in prison for eight years in until he finally confesses to Junior's crimes, with the Senator personally appearing at his parole hearing. Meanwhile the Senator had recourse to alternative medicines and "Witch doctors" in order to heal his son and restore somehow his reproductive organs and eventually obtain an heir for his dynasty. The resulting events lead to Junior's murder, which Senator Roark is unable to avenge when Hartigan commits suicide. In his final narration, Hartigan mentions that Roark's family line is cut, his plans for a legacy now destroyed.
Senator Roark was portrayed by Powers Boothe in the movie. The role was also offered to Christopher Walken and Willem Dafoe, who both turned it down.
[edit] Roark Junior
Roark Junior, also known as the Yellow Bastard, is the son of Senator Roark and the nephew of Cardinal Roark. A handsome young man, Junior is a sadistic pedophile with a particular interest in raping pre-pubescent girls. These atrocities are covered up by his father and the Basin City police, but Detective John Hartigan is nevertheless determined to put an end to this. After kidnapping eleven year-old Nancy Callahan, Junior is pursued by Hartigan, who ends up killing Junior's guards before shooting and castrating Junior, an act that leaves him in a comatose state.
As Junior undergoes years of surgery to repair his limbs, Hartigan is blamed for Junior's crimes and serves eight years in prison. The surgeries leave Junior facially deformed and his skin takes on a yellow tint. When Hartigan is freed from prison, Junior follows him to Kadie's Bar, where a nineteen year-old Nancy is working as a stripper. Junior is shot while following the two of them to a local motel, but he nevertheless arrives, kidnaps Nancy and leaves Hartigan to die from hanging.
Junior takes Nancy to the Roark family farm and begins whipping her, hoping to rape her afterwards. However, Hartigan arrives, defeats Junior's guards and then stabs Junior in the chest before removing his genitals and violently beating him to death, punching his head in the floor.
[edit] The Farm
The Roark family's farm (a.k.a. simply "The Farm") is located on the corner of North Cross and Lennox, in an area of open farmland bordered by heavy woods; it appears in several stories, including The Hard Goodbye, That Yellow Bastard, The Babe Wore Red and Hell And Back. As well as many previous generations of the family, it was also home to Kevin since at least four years before the events of The Hard Goodbye; he is seen living there during the climax of That Yellow Bastard. It is suggested by Hartigan that the deviant behaviour of Junior and Kevin has been going on at the Farm for generations, as every cop in Basin City knows better than to stray too close to it.
The Farm consists of the following buildings and areas:-
- Farmhouse - the main building, containing the living quarters. The basement contains a tiled room where Kevin kept the heads of his female victims mounted on the wall. This part of the farm was partially destroyed when Marv threw a petrol bomb through the window to smoke out Kevin.
- Barn - An old wooden barn with a hayloft and sliding doors. This is where Hartigan and Junior have their final confrontation in That Yellow Bastard, and where Wallace finds a nude and partially brainwashed Esther at the conclusion of Hell and Back.
- A grain silo.
- A workshed.
- A deserted farmyard. There is no obvious evidence of any traditional agriculture occurring here in what has to have been years, despite the presence of a tractor. There is also a wood pile and chopping block with a hatchet embedded there, which Marv later takes as a weapon (see below).
- The Woods - Heavy woodland that borders the Farm and the roads leading up to it. The trees here are gnarled and twisted and the atmosphere is unsettling. Both Marv (in The Hard Goodbye) and Hartigan (in That Yellow Bastard) sneak up to the Farm through the Woods, having driven up to a short distance from the road entrance, and Dwight defeats Fat Man and Little Boy here during The Babe Wore Red. When Marv first passed through the Woods he found them very disturbing, and his instincts told him at once that bad things had gone on at the Farm; by his second and final time at the Farm, however, he was no longer afraid and proceeded to use the Woods to his physical and tactical advantage during his duel with Kevin. When Hartigan passes through, during heavy snow, he suffers what he thinks is another bout of angina, even though he was supposed to be cured of it.
[edit] Battles
The following battles have also occurred at the Farm.
- Hartigan vs. Armed Cops/Guards - That Yellow Bastard (Hartigan is armed with a switchblade, a Robocop-style Beretta, a silenced Colt and a revolver. He steathily kills two of them with the switchblade and the other two with the Beretta and the Colt.)
- Hartigan vs. Yellow Bastard/Roark Junior - That Yellow Bastard (Hartigan, whilst suffering a fake heart-attack, staggers into the barn where he is confronted and mocked by Junior. He then collapses and as Junior moves in on him, pulls out a switchblade and stabs him. He then castrates him with his bare hands before pounding his head into the floorboards, finally killing him.
- Wallace and Jerry vs. Enemy Helicopter - Hell and Back (Wallace is prepared for this by wearing a kevlar vest which shields him and Esther, whom he arrived to rescue. The helicopter is shot out of the sky by Jerry, armed with a TOW missile.)
- Marv vs. Kevin - The Hard Goodbye (Despite Marv's brute strength and durability, Kevin gets the drop on him and disarms/blinds him with his sharp fingernails before knocking him out with a sledgehammer.)
- Marv vs. Armed Cops - The Hard Goodbye (Marv manages to wipe out a whole squad of heavily armed cops whilst armed only with a hatchet.)
- Marv vs. Kevin II - The Hard Goodbye (Marv manages to trap Kevin, handcuff himself to him and knock him out with one punch, before proceeding to methodically dismember Kevin with a hacksaw.)
- Dwight vs. Fat Man and Little Boy - The Babe Wore Red (Dwight and the 'babe' are chased to the farm, where, upon being cornered, Dwight subdues them by hand and feet, before shooting them in the legs.)
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