Roger Smith is the main protagonist of "The Big O". A former officer in Paradigm City's Military Police, Roger resigned and took up work as the city's premiere freelance negotiator, mediating disputes, and resolving conflicts between various parties for a fee. A wealthy man, Roger resides in a penthouse outside the domes with his butler, Norman Burg, and an android companion named R. Dorothy Wayneright. Unknown to most of the city's residents, Roger is also the "dominus" or pilot of the mysterious black megadeus Big O.
Appearance[]
Roger is a tall man with black eyes and well-groomed black hair. His usual outfit consists of a black suit with white buttons and a white collar, black gloves, black trousers and black shoes.
Personality[]
Roger is a very strict and methodical person, having a very clear set of rules that dictate all aspects of his everyday life, from how people must behave in his house to the way he performs his job. Among these are that only young women can enter his house unconditionally, one must wear black if they are to take residence in his home, he doesn't carry a gun (though he will use one for non-lethal purposes), and he only uses force as a last resort. His most important rule of all, however, is that no-one, under any circumstances, is allowed to touch his desk. He will negotiate anything for anyone, but he is a professional and expects the parties to behave professionally also. Otherwise, he insists that they leave.
Despite his professional attitude during missions, Roger starts the series as a very arrogant, witty, sarcastic, and seemingly unconcerned individual to the point of being almost snide. He is also quite lazy, preferring to sleep in well past sunrise and getting really irritated when Dorothy wakes him up with her piano playing, though he later takes her to the android Instro in hopes that he will teach her how to play properly.
Ultimately, Roger values logic above almost all other qualities, and hates to feel out of control of either his emotions or whatever situation he is in. Thus, during negotiations, he maintains as best he can a calm, collected and pleasant attitude. As the series progresses however, many of these traits are ironed out of his character, and he begins to exhibit a much more compassionate and open-minded attitude, learning how to cope with emotional issues and people instead of just ignoring them.
Initially, Roger doesn't particularly care about uncovering the mystery of Paradigm CIty, or exactly why everybody lost their memories forty years ago. His argument is that human beings are adaptable creatures who learn to make do with what they have, and there are some things humanity is better off not knowing. Overtime, however, he becomes more and more determined to find the truth, particularly the truth about himself such as why he can pilot Big O. This often causes him to clash with Alex Rosewater, who is frequently after the same thing.
Early Life[]
In Act:14 Roger confessed that "his life was nothing but boring", and that he was adopted by an affluent foster family. In Act:04, Roger has a vision involving a woman, whom Roger refers to as "mom", which is interrupted by Dorothy; it is unclear if this is his foster or his biological mother. There are also photos of a young Roger with paternal and maternal figures in Act:01, though it is unclear if these are his biological or foster parents. He was educated at a private academy/school under the auspices of an unknown sponsor.
Military Police[]
Roger eventually joined the Military Police. It was during this time that he developed a rapport with Dastun. He eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant. After some "arbitrary" reason he decided to resign from the Military Police. It is implied in the series that he resigned since he believed the Paradigm Corporation was not concerned with public safety.
Becoming a Negotiator[]
Roger later claimed, in Act: 14, that he discovered a "run-down bank" and decided to make it his home. While inside he found Norman who had been waiting for his master to arrive. Roger immediately denied being a "master" but after a while conceded. It was around this time that he was told of Big O by Norman. How he decided to become a negotiator is never revealed. He negotiates for anyone under the expectation that both parties behave professionally. He displays a distrust for the Paradigm Corporation. He only takes a negotiation for them if it is necessary.
Roger's Memories[]
In the series finale, Roger indicated that he believed he had retained his memories of the past, but at some point voluntarily removed them for unknown reasons. Various flashbacks throughout the series indicate that this removal may not have been complete.
Roger's flashbacks[]
- Paradigm city was "rebuilt", but apparently citizens faded in from nowhere and populated the city. A Roger Smith with appearance of homeless guy appeared in the city.
- Roger Smith androids were mass constructed, bearing identical appearance of black suit.
- Big O was depicted as a TV show, and a R. Dorothy Wayneright having size of a hand-held doll was shown, the whole house of young Angel and Vera was staged, watched by Angel holding a book of Metropolis.
- Roger's life was depicted as a manga/anime cartoon and a theatre stage play.
- Roger realizes he is a tomato and being raised by someone, possibly Gordon Rosewater, tomatoes are identified with barcodes that may be shown in the eyes of them. This barcode is also shown on displays in the cockpit of Big O and Big Fau.
- Paradigm City was totally destroyed by a conflict between the Bigs and the other Megadeus. Big O, Big Duo, and Big Fau were mass-produced. A Big O emerged victorious.
- In the conflict, Roger Smith wore a flight suit and fought against a hydra eel, being electrocuted, Roger stepped on a switch in desperation and activated plasma gimmick.
- A Big Venus with significantly different design from in the end of "The show must go on" appeared in the city.
- An unconscious Roger lied inside cockpit of a broken Big O.
Roger's Rules[]
Roger has a number of rules that he uses in his everyday life. He is strict when it comes to enforcing these and has not been known to break them.
- "I have a special house rule that only lovely young women can unconditionally enter this mansion." (Act:01)
- "If you stay [in my house], then you wear black." (Act:02)
- "It's not my style to carry a gun." (Act:03)
- "I value women and the elderly. It's one of my policies." (Act:05)
- "If someone lacks courtesy and sincerity, I ask them to leave." (Act:05)
- "The most important rule of all is under no circumstances must anyone touch my desk!" (Act:08)
- "The basic rule of negotiating is to consider and respect the other person's feelings." (Act:08)
- "If you want to live a happy life in this city, leave memories alone when they pop up. That's Roger Smith's Rule No. 1." (Act:11)
- "You have to use your pent-up energy to fight through the harshness of reality. That's Roger Smith's Rule No. 2." (Act:11)
- "A Negotiator only uses force as a last resort." (Act:18)
- "Something else that goes against my policies--using violence against women." (Act:25)