Rowen (ロエン Roen) is the de facto leader of Basel who has taken over after Prelate Frieda’s death. He worries for the future of Basel, now without it's Prelate to guide it.
Story[]
Twenty years before the events of the story Frieda had become Prelate with Rowen acting as her right-hand-man, Having reunited Basel under her will to free its people from suffering. It was at the time an era of hope and peace and the two had become lovers. An excavation project was happening at the very base of Basel in search of Rubies and other riches they came across a strange quartz vein and, not knowing its purpose dug further. Unprecedented cases of “spontaneous instant death syndrome” happened all around Basel as the miners dug through the quartz deposits. Unable to explain the phenomenon, the people turned to religion believing the spontaneous deaths to be a message from God. Yet it would seem God would not hear their prayers and eventually, Frieda would succumb to the spontaneous death and her body was entombed in Basilica. Rowen, having been in line for the position of Prelate refused and instead became the leader of the Cardinal organization. Devastated by the loss of Frieda Rowen vowed to fulfill her will and free the people from Zenith once and for all.
When Sullivan shows Rowen the secret of Zenith, that a large machine controls the lives of the people of Basel, Rowen is overcome with disbelief. Sullivan shows Rowen that Zenith determines the lifespans of the people by manipulating their respective quartz, although at this point it is just a theory. To try and test the theory, Sullivan helps organize an experiment in which 20 children are gathered together for testing. Each child has their respective crystal programmed so that each subject will die one after another when each crystal reaches its appointed time.
Rowen wants to figure out how to manipulate Zenith so that he can bring Prelate Frieda back to life. He knows that sometimes "miracles" can occur, which is later shown to be the Sacred Signs. At the end of the game, Rowen fights the main party as the ending boss because he is partially responsible for so many of the catastrophes in the story. Though he is shot several times in the ending, he survives because Zenith intervened and saved him, evidenced by a Sacred Sign appearing on the wall near him.
Personality[]
Rowen is constantly fraught with despair and sorrow. He loved Prelate Frieda and misses her dearly. This causes him to go to great lengths to try and revive her, no matter what the cost. A man of religious bearing Rowen was in utter disbelief at the revelation that a mere machine was the “God” that the people prayed to for respite from the death plague. Having wanted to believe there is “more” to life, some higher power, that there really is a god that who looks after the people with a bigger plan but this revelation shattered it completely. Towards the end of the game, Rowen begins to show remorse for the horrible things that he's done and considers how he can atone for them.
Appearance[]
Rowen has medium-legnth, spikey black hair. He wears attire typical of Cardinals consisting of a long black robe with a white dress shirt underneath. He also has black pants and boots. Rowen's weapons, shown later in the game, are twin handguns that resemble the LP-09 handgun. One of his guns is silver, while the other is gold.
Abilities[]
Rowen posses a number of shooting manuevers similar to the playable characters of the game. He generally attacks with both guns simaltaneously, in a flashy motion. Rowen can also perform a move similar to the Hero Action, in which he jumps high into the air raining countless bullets on his target as he soars to them. Another attack he can perform is one involving him shooting up a the ceiling with both guns, causing slabs of concrete and metal junk to rain down on his targets.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Rowen is voiced by Jim Ward in the U.S. and Keiji Fujiwara in Japan.