Rodea

R0, aka Rodea, is a sky soldier prototype created as part of the R Project. He is the main character of the game.

## Appearance

Rodea has messy silver hair and cyan eyes. Under his left eye is a marking that matches his eye color and appears to glow. Atop his head are hornlike pieces that glow the same color of his eyes as well. He wears a dark red soldier's uniform with gold trim over black pants and knee-high boots. On his gloves and down his legs are glowing blue pieces.

His right arm is completely exposed for lack of a sleeve. After Ion finds him with his right arm completely destroyed, she replaces it with a mechanical arm topped with a gear. His left arm is still covered with no sign of external damage.

## Abilities

Rodea has the capability of flight, like the rest of the R-Series. This ability is reliant on his tail, as he has trouble flying when it is damaged. He can use his tail as an anchor to cling himself to walls or the ground or to slide down wire cables.

Rodea can perform a boost attack by spinning and dashing. He also gets extra abilities with the Gears made by Ion. Unlike the rest of the R-Series, he doesn't seem able to generate a barrier around himself.

## Backstory

Rodea was created in the Naga Empire as R0, a humanoid robot soldier prototype. Soon after being activated, Princess Cecilia, who was only 8 years old at the time, took an interest in him and appointed him as her royal bodyguard. She later gave him the name "Rodea" by combining "R0" with the word "dear". During his time with Cecilia, he learned to recognize the feelings inside him as his "heart".

10 years after becoming Cecilia's bodyguard, when Emperor Geardo planned to invade Garuda, Rodea promised Cecilia that he would protect Garuda.

## In-game events (Spoilers!)

After Cecilia retrieves the Key of Time, she and Rodea flee to Garuda together. Her airship gets shot down by Naga's machines; Rodea rescues her, but they are surrounded. Cecilia gives him half of the Key of Time and orders him to escape. Rodea refuses to abandon her, but she teleports him away.

Rodea ends up in Garuda's desert, alone. Frustrated that he couldn't save Cecilia, he slams the ground, breaking his right arm, then shuts down.

1000 years later, Ion finds Rodea buried face-down in the sand. She repairs him and his arm, but he has lost most of his memories. He only remembers being named Rodea and having been ordered to save Garuda.

Shortly afterward, a giant hologram of Geardo appears over Garuda and sends Naga machine soldiers to invade Garuda again. Rodea immediately takes off to defeat them. Ion follows him, aboard the Ion Wave.

In the Mendous Tree, they meet Tonio who needs medicinal herbs for his sister. Ion asks Rodea to help but he refuses, claiming his only mission is to protect Garuda. Ion tells Rodea he has a heart, making Rodea remember being told so before. Rodea then decides to help Tonio and gets herbs for him.

After that, Rodea and Ion travel to each Chronos Tower, and Rodea disables each of them to stop Naga's machines from coming.

After defeating Orthos in the desert, Rodea remembers that protecting Garuda wasn't a order he received, but a promise he made. After encountering Rylus, he remembers about the Key of Time and the fact that he was given half of it to keep safe. Later, he discovers the remains of Cecilia's airship and starts remembering about Cecilia. After all the Chronos Towers are disabled, all of his memories return.

Valghis then shows up, takes Rodea's half of the Key and uses the restored Key of Time in Rodea's chest to open the R-Gate. Rodea decides to cross the gate and goes back 1000 years in the past to save Cecilia. However, he fails to save Cecilia again. Rodea get distraught but eventually pulls himself together and decides to go defeat Geardo. Ion joins him and supports him as he makes his way to Geardo's throne room.

Rodea defeats Geardo, then Valghis, retrieves the Key of Time, and defeats Geardo again. He sends Ion back to the future while he stays behind to close the R-Gate, but promises he'll never forget her.

1000 years later, Rodea reunites with Ion in Garuda, near a Chronos Tower.

## Trivia

* Upon disarming the trap at the end of the second level in the desert region, Orthos notices Rodea, and comments about how he's wandering right in. Rodea responds with, "You're damn right I am!" This is interesting, because this instance, along with another spoilerous one at the end of Chapter 20, are the only use of what could be considered explicit language throughout the entire game, and seems to have only been added so that the game could have an E10+ rating, which is more appealing to older audiences than a simple E.
* Translated directly from Spanish, Rodea means surround or circuit.