Gordon Rosewater is the retired founder of Paradigm Corporation and the creator of the domes of Paradigm City. He is also thought to have written an unfinished book called "Metropolis" in his younger years that is rumored to contain memories from before the events of 40 years ago. Leaving the day-to-day operation of his corporate empire to his son, Alex Rosewater, Gordon now spends his time farming in seclusion.
Biography[]
Gordon Rosewater is often credited as the man responsible for the construction of Paradigm City, and the original founder and chairman of the Paradigm Corporation. Gordon's son, Alex Rosewater, took over his father's duties when he retired. Gordon spends much of his time in a private dome of his own, growing tomatoes and wheat.
Gordon appears to be perfectly content with the uncertainties of the past, much to the dismay of those who come to him for memories, including Alex. While many look to him for answers, Gordon typically appears to be rather senile, or at least very apathetic. However, his odd speeches about his tomatoes appear to actually be a cryptic euphemism to answer the question. He gives Roger several clues to the past.
Roger Smith has a recurring flashback of a man in a bloodstained surgeon's uniform standing before a group of children, and Roger believes this man to be Gordon Rosewater, implanting memories of the past into a younger generation. Gordon refuses to comment on this accusation directly, but, referring to his tomato crop, states "these tomatoes are reproduced synthetically, with only the memories of the sweet flavor from the original. If we keep repeating the process, this fruit will eventually become the real thing." He does not appear to have actually lost any of his memories however, as he has moments of apparently random lucidity throughout the series during which he reveals important clues to the Event. At the end of the series, he apparently regains both his mind and his interest in the city's past, explaining to Roger, Angel, and Vera several important truths about Paradigm and each of their various existences.
In the series finale "The Show Must Go On", Gordon leads Angel to an underground elevator far beneath the city. After reaching level named B666, he witnesses Angel gaining a pair of wings made of light and vanishing. Holding up a copy of "Metropolis", he calls on the true author to fill the blank pages with memories. He then announces, "It's up to you, Negotiator!" before vanishing himself.
Gordon's revelation[]
Statements shown below are his claims throughout the series, which are not directly shown as actions of other characters but may be proven in flashbacks or metaphors.
Roger Smith[]
Gordon once made a contract with an entity called "Roger Smith" with memories when he was younger, to assign the latter to conduct negotiation for him. The protagonist has no memory of such contract, it appears the entity has identical outlook as the protagonist.
He almost wondered to have a person who can change his role as a character to negotiate with the one who directs the world. The protagonist suggests that Gordon implies he has memories that he may have erased. Later in "The Show Must Go On", Roger and Dorothy appear in a small room which seem to negotiate with a crying Angel watching playback of previous segments of the animation, implying Roger can change his role and Angel possibly directs the world.
Gordon claims that Roger Smith although a tomato, is not one of his beloved ones.
Vera Ronstadt[]
He states Vera's stance that the Union are furious of the mistreatment from the Paradigm city is fake, and it never initiated an attack to the Paradigm city out of revenge, since it only consists of a tiny gathering of people scattered across the wasteland, and the name perhaps never existed in the first place. Since Vera is revealed to be one of tomatoes, it is possible the memories of Vera have been implanted to induce fury to the city and propose the name "Union" to the people.
Tomatoes[]
When questioned by Roger, Gordon is cryptic on the nature of tomatoes. He states they are reproduced synthetically, with only the memories of the sweet, flavorful original. If they (possibly referring to the duo) keep repeating the process, this fruit will eventually become the real thing. He also urges Roger to harvest when the time is right, and it is a shame to see tomatoes be off-season, just to let them rot.
Alex Rosewater[]
He states all the people are his beloved sons, though he never held Alex's hands even once. He does not resist on being hugged by Alex.
Angel[]
He states that Angel is a memory and the proof is in the marks on her back. He further claims Angel is also a part of "memory" itself, the contradiction here may indicate some people in the city may together form a complete massive memory not seen visually in the series. In response Angel strongly detests this claim and begs him to stop telling her.
Gordon claims that Angel is not a beloved ones of his. When he knows Angel has the ability to shape the world by her will, he tells her that she has the ability and should decide on whether to contain or release the memories in this world.
Metropolis the book[]
Gordon states that words of this book do not belong to him, but a story that a dream commanded him to put down. Everything in the book that seemed to be a revelation of the history of Paradigm city is a lie.
Memories[]
Although he states memories are intangible and people should not worry about them popping out of nowhere, he confesses that he "made a terrible mistake", and people should not get access and retrieve memories just because they exist in the conscious mind. Since it is implied multiple times that the citizens of Paradigm cities are under amnesia and Roger suggests Gordon may be responsible for this, unexpected memories popping out may be his doing.
He said memories are found inside humans, and any memory that exists in other forms are nothing but fakes. He also states since nothing existed 40 years ago, no memories could exist at that time either. However he suggests memories may exist in unexpected forms. Although he thinks that people do not need to have any memories, a person that can change their roles should be able to have memories.
He states memories by nature are unreliable, they will degenerate and become fraudulent while they are inside people's minds, people subconsciously create these stories.
Paradigm city[]
He claims nothing existed 40 years ago even though many citizens are older than 40 years old and several people were assassinated for being suspected for holding memories 40 years ago. Moreover, Roger constantly has flashbacks that he is unfamiliar with, including a war in Paradigm city, which Schwarzwald is also obsessed with. However, after the world reset caused at the end of "The Show Must Go On", the world appears to rewind in time which means the events shown as flashbacks from various characters may occur before a last reset instead of chronologically earlier than present time. This may mean "the event" that causes all citizens in Paradigm City to lose memory is actually the effect that the world (along with memories of citizens) is reset being mistaken as something happening 40 years ago.