Roland

Roland's History

Roland was a soldier that was originally a sergeant in the Crimson Lance, the military arm of the Atlas Corporation. He eventually deserted from this establishment and became a Vault Hunter on the planet of Pandora alongside Brick, Lilith and Mordecai. Together with his new comrades, they would open the mysterious Vault and defeat The Destroyer before also defeating General Knoxx and his Crimson Lance detachment.

After the opening of the Vault and the defeat of General Knoxx, Lilith and Roland traveled to Pandora's moon Elpis on a vacation trip. There was where they met Jack for the first time, who asked them for help against Colonel Zarpedon through the Vault Hunters. They didn't want to have anything to do with that at first, but they ended up helping when they realized the true danger behind the attacks. So, they cooperated with Jack and the Vault Hunters to recover the Helios station and its main weapon, a giant laser, until they saw how Jack killed three scientists throwing them into space on the suspicion that one of them might be a spy. Lilith didn't want to continue helping him, but Roland kept acting normally and then made a plan in order to defeat Zarpedon while also preventing Jack from using the laser. They kept helping and, with Mad Moxxi's help, at the end they destroyed the laser and almost the entire Helios station.

Following the Vault Hunters' defeat of General Knoxx, the Atlas Corporation abandoned all remaining Crimson Lance soldiers on Pandora. After returning from Elpis, Roland used this opportunity to rally the Lancemen against Hyperion, pledging to give them a cause their previous employer could not promise them, forming the Crimson Raiders, along with Mordecai, Brick, and his then-girlfriend Lilith.

The Raiders were originally stationed in New Haven, but were discovered when Shep Sanders disclosed its location to Hyperion. Overrun by the company, and with Lilith believed dead by Hyperion, the Raiders relocated to Sanctuary. Roland then ended his relationship with Lilith to focus on defending the town, while she drew the bandits' attention away.

Before meeting with the new Vault Hunters that had recently arrived on Pandora, Roland was captured by the Bloodshots, a bandit group who attempted to claim the bounty on his head. With the assistance of Lilith, the Vault Hunters rescued him from Hyperion. He then resumed his post as the leader of the Raiders and assigned missions to the new Vault Hunters to aid in driving Hyperion off the planet.

During the Crimson Raider/Slab joint strike on Control Core Angel, he assisted the Vault Hunters in retrieving the Vault Key. In the core of the facility, he lowered the shields guarding Angel's Eridium injectors, while the Vault Hunters destroy them. Against Roland and Angel's insistence, Lilith appeared as well. When Angel died, Roland went to retrieve the Vault Key, but was shot dead by Handsome Jack. After Jack was defeated, Roland was buried with the original vault hunters tearfully mourning him.

Roland's Rest was eventually founded around his grave.