Roathe

Unlike many royal Orokin, Roathe was a direct commander of Dax during The Old War. He is sometimes nicknamed the "Devil of Tau" due to his ruthless determination to win at all costs. It continued to be used as a title for him as he defected to Anarchs along with his lover Executor Nitokh, and also represented his unrepentant attitude towards his past, in addition to his strong dislike of the Orokin for their spoiling of Tau and for wasting the moral compromises he made in their name. He is initially annoyed with the presence of Marie and Lyon, regarding them as as superstitious throwbacks to an earlier time before Void science and resenting both the fact that Albrecht Entrati assigned them as his wardens and that he requires their assistance and the Drifter's in uncovering his memories within The Descendia, though he acknowledges their necessity. Roathe was brought to XX99 through a Helminth, which immediately withered and died on arrival. He was able to reverse-engineer one, albeit with significant difficulty due to lack of electricity and equipment, through his Infested blood from the Protoframe serum, to bring himself, Marie, and Lyon to the Sanctum Anatomica[1], where they now reside within a replica of the Cathedral's crypts[2]. Roathe is a very pragmatic individual, appreciating efficiency and practicality, as seen with his belief that the Indifference is not a "god" despite its immense powers. He does however enjoy philosophical debates, occasionally questioning the Drifter on their own views on certain aspects of life, such as the nature of "evil". Roathe is unique among the Protoframes in that alongside direct messages, he will also leave voice messages to listen to on the POM-2. These messages detail his point of view of the Orokin Empire, the Old War, and part of the history of the Perita Rebellion. He leaves one voice message for each time he is defeated in the depths of The Descendia, for a total of twenty-one, though there is a cap to how many messages can be sent depending on conversation progress. Roathe will offer to have Loid reunite with the Entrati upstairs in exchange for assistance recovering his memories within The Descendia. Should the Drifter follow through by defeating his boss counterpart 21 times (tracked by a hidden counter called "HellStory"), convince Marie and Lyon for their help, and reach Rank 5 - Family with the syndicate, Loid will finally agree to reveal himself to the family. Upon arriving at the Necralisk, a cutscene shows Loid exiting the hidden room, with Roathe physically blocking him when he gets cold feet and attempts to retreat; Roathe will also appear upstairs in front of Mother to replay the cutscene and offer Honoria for purchase. Despite having initially requested the Drifter's assistance in restoring his memories, Roathe gradually comes to fear these memories and will ask the Drifter to stop their ventures within the Descendia. Depending on whether the Drifter follows his request or continues to uncover more of his memories, Roathe will either be pleased with the Drifter's inaction (although this is considered a 'failure' for his arc) or become distressed by the memories and ask for them to be wiped via a reset, regardless of the fact that doing so would affect Lyon and Marie as well. Performing a reset (whether he has asked for one or not) has no effect on Roathe's HellStory counter, how many voice messages he has sent, or on Loid's reunion. However, if Roathe's HellStory counter is at 21 or Loid has been reunited with the Entrati family, then Roathe will figure out that he has forgotten his previous conversations with the Drifter and becomes angry with them for doing so (as he now has no memory of having asked this of them). While he admires Warframes, describing them as "beautiful and murderous works of art", Roathe displays significant wariness of the Tenno and especially the Operator. When asked about it by The Drifter, he clarifies this is due to the fact that the Tenno were responsible for the fall of the Orokin Empire in the course of a single night. However, he also shows empathy towards them, being unsurprised that the Tenno retaliated against the Orokin (and especially Ballas) after all they had endured, and remarking that their experiences ought to have turned them into "raving lunatics", considering it a miracle that they retain their humanity in spite of this. This leads him to attempt to work with the Drifter to create a contingency plan in the eventuality that the Lotus (who he believes to no longer be in control of her own faculties) drives the Tenno to go rogue.

Updated September 23, 2026