Housewarden of Heartslabyul. A serious-minded student who firmly upholds the rules written by the Queen of Hearts. While a top student, he is easily angered and just as strict with others as he is with himself.
In-game Album
Appearance
Riddle is a young-looking, fair-skinned young man that is considerably shorter than a majority of his peers. His hair is a neutral red color, and is cut short in the back and a bit longer around his face. His bangs curve inward, and two prominent strands of hair on the top of his head fall forward and form a heart shape. His eyes are bluish-gray, and he is commonly seen with a stern look on his face.
Dorm Uniform
As the housewarden, Riddle’s dorm uniform differs greatly from the rest of the Heartslabyul students. The most distinguishing features are the small, golden crown on his head resembling the crown worn by the Queen of Hearts, and a long cape worn on his left shoulder. Riddle also wears red eyeshadow when in his dorm uniform.
He wears a long white coat dress with yellow buttons, yellow trim, and a red underlining with a card-suit pattern. The coat dress is folded in the front in a curtain-type manner, connecting to two red roses on both sides of the coat. The lapels of his coat are asymmetrically colored black and red, and the red cuffs on his sleeves are folded up to reveal long, black gloves. Seen under the coat is a white dress shirt with a frilled collar, and a red and black cross bow-tie around the neck. A gold, crown-shaped pin is placed where the bow-tie intersects.
Underneath the lapel of the coat on his left side hangs two gold ornaments, and printed on his coat is the symbol of Heartslabyul. Over the coat and around his waist is a striped, yellow and black sash, tied on his right side under a white pin, with red ruffles and a gold “H” in the center.
His pants are white to match his coat, with a red and yellow stripe on the outer seams. Over the pants are black, over-the-knee boots, with a gold, heart-shaped design on the boot collars, modeled after the Queen of Hearts'[6]. The boots have gold soles with high-heels, and red heart designs over the toe cap and heel.
His signature cape is worn over his left shoulder, and reaches the floor in length. It is black on the outside with red underlining and a large, white collar near the neck. The cape is seemingly connected to a checkerboard-patterned sash with yellow trim that wraps over the lapel of his coat. Placed where the sash and cape connect is a white rose, halfway covered in red paint.
Personality
Riddle has a strong commitment to maintaining order among his peers. He makes it his duty to uphold hundreds of strange rules created by the Queen of Hearts as per his dorm’s customs. He can be seen as strict and intimidating by his fellow dorm members due to his severe punishments towards those who break the Queen’s rules, no matter how insignificant they may seem. He considers any written rule, whether it be from the school, the teachers, or the Queen herself, to be of utmost importance, and believes that any disobedience will cause unneeded chaos.
Riddle is very dedicated to his studies at Night Raven College, and seeks perfection in every aspect of his life. He can be a bit irritable at times, sometimes for unnecessary reasons, like when someone mentions his height. He has a tendency to lash out against those who disagree with his way of thinking, as he considers his values to be morally right no matter what.
While his strictness seems to come from a place of entitlement at first, it’s later revealed that Riddle feels like he must act this way out of obligation. Deep down, he wouldn’t mind breaking the rules now and again, but was taught the hard way as a child that rebelling against the status quo will only make things worse for himself and others.
After the events of Book 1, he learns to be a bit less strict with his fellow dorm members, as well as with himself. He seems to accept the fact that not everything has to be perfect, and works to find compromises with rule-breakers instead of immediately punishing them.[7]
Background
Riddle was born and raised in the Queendom of Roses. His parents are magic doctors, but his mother seems to be more well-known. [8] The whereabouts of his father is currently unknown. However, it's implied that his parents don’t get along.[9]
Riddle's mother raised him and taught him from a very young age to be a powerful magic user. She controlled every aspect of Riddle's life; clothing, diet, who Riddle can be friends with, etc. She especially put emphasis on Riddle's studying schedule, reminding him multiple times that studies are the most important thing to do and that playing is a pointless activity.
Because of this, Riddle spent most of his childhood alone and spent with studying. But one day, he saw Trey and Che'nya outside of his house, who asked Riddle what was he doing. Riddle told the boys that he's studying, as his mother told him. Trey and Che'nya invite Riddle to play together outside, with the hesitant Riddle initially refusing the offer, but after some convincing, he agrees to play with them. Riddle states that playing as a child with Trey and Che'nya together was a really fun experience, and so he would sneak out of his study time unbeknownst to his mother and play with Trey and Che'nya.
On another occasion, while Riddle was playing together with Trey and Che'nya, Riddle stated that he'd never eaten strawberry tarts before and didn't know the taste of them, as sweets were prohibited by his mother, much to the surprise of his friends. Trey and Che'nya wanted Riddle to try his first tart, and the two then brought Riddle to Trey's popular family-owned bakery, though Riddle was reluctant about it at first. At the bakery, Riddle tasted the Strawberry Tart, and loved it. He ate until he lost track of time, in which he was found by his angry and upset mother, and was dragged back home.
Back in the house, Riddle's mother harshly scolded and reprimanded the distressed Riddle, who begged and cried to his mom to forgive him, but Riddle's mom didn't listen and thus made his studying time even more strict than it already is. In addition to the strictness of his schedule, both Trey and Che'nya were forbidden from ever interacting with Riddle and the two were to not step foot into Riddle's house. As time passed by, and Riddle spent his days doing nothing but studying and following his mother's orders, he adjusted to the harsh and strict life he has to live through.
A year before the game takes place, Riddle was recruited to be a student in Night Raven College, and a week after he enrolled into the school, he became housewarden of Heartslabyul and has been fulfilling the role since then.
Magical Skills
Having received intense training from a very early age, Riddle had developed to be an incredibly skilled magician for his age, even overpowering many of his upperclassmen. Out of the three main elements, Riddle seems particularly skilled with fire magic, and uses it frequently.
Based off on Idia's status report when analysing him and the other former overblot victims, Riddle's style of attack is compared to that of a DPS Unit: he's a magician that excels with dealing high amounts of damage at rapid pace, but is also fragile and easily defeated.
Signature Spell
Are you ready for your sentence? The verdict comes afterwards. Any last words? Off With Your Head!
Riddle Rosehearts (Twisted-Wonderland Manga Episode of Heartslabyul: Volume 1)
Riddle's signature spell is called "Off with Your Head!" It causes a heart-shaped collar to lock around the target's neck, sealing away their magic until Riddle chooses to remove it.[10] Although the spell is seemingly invincible, especially for inexperienced magicians, it can be countered by protective magic[11], or broken by a strong-enough target.
Trivia
- Riddle's first name may be an allusion to Alice in Wonderland's protagonist, Alice Liddell, as "Liddell" and "Riddle" are phonetically similar in Japanese. His last name comes from "rose", a reference to the Queen of Hearts' favorite flowers, and "hearts", the card suit that the Queen represents.
- His first name may also be a general nod to some of Alice in Wonderland's characters, who frequently speak in riddles.
- Riddle became the housewarden of Heartslabyul only a week after he enrolled at Night Raven College, while he was still a freshman.[10]
- He enjoys solving crossword puzzles.[12]
- It seems that Riddle is very self-conscious about his height; he flares up immediately whenever anyone mentions his stature, or treats him differently because of it.
- He claims that his height isn't the problem, but rather those who judge others based on appearance.
- He once furiously states that men continue growing well into their 20s, and that he still has time left to get taller.[13]
- His horse in the Equestrian Club is named Vorpal.[14]
- This is most likely a reference to the vorpal sword, a weapon first mentioned in Lewis Carroll's short poem, "Jabberwocky." The sword later appears in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010).
- In a test, Riddle chooses to answer questions from the very beginning instead of going through them and doing the most convenient ones first.[15]
- He prefers honey over sugar in his tea.[16]
- Riddle irons his uniform shirt every morning.[17]
- When Riddle first arrived at the college, he bought a slightly larger PE Uniform hoping he would grow taller. He still wears it despite not having grown.[18]
- He admires magical healers and almost considered entering the field before changing his mind to the field of law.[19]
- Riddle enjoys the aroma of a freshly baked cake and antiseptic solution, the former being his favorite of the two.[20]
- Since Riddle was often a student representative in the schools he attended since elementary, public speaking does not faze him.[21]
- It is implied that Riddle is two years younger than Trey, and that the events that occurred during Book 1 Chapter 25 were shortly after his birthday and before Trey's.[22]
References
- ↑ Heartslabyul Manga Chapter 2 Page 66
- ↑ Heartslabyul Manga Chapter 6 Page 33
- ↑ Heartslabyul Manga Chapter 13 Page 29
- ↑ Book 1 Title In-game
- ↑ Heartslabyul Manga Chapter 3 Page 104
- ↑ Riddle Dorm Uniform Tap Home 3 Voice Line
- ↑ Book 1/Chapter 28
- ↑ Book 1/Chapter 19
- ↑ Riddle Suitor Suit Home Transition 1 Voice Line
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Book 1/Chapter 9
- ↑ Book 2/Chapter 25
- ↑ Riddle Birthday Boy Vignette
- ↑ The Phantom Bride: Love at First Fright Story Chapter 17
- ↑ Riddle Ceremonial Robes Vignette
- ↑ Book 6/Chapter 66-3-11/PTM-2565
- ↑ Book 1/Chapter 26
- ↑ Riddle School Uniform Home Transition 1 Voice Line
- ↑ Riddle PE Uniform Home Transition 3 Voice Line
- ↑ Riddle Labwear Tap Home 1 Voice Line
- ↑ Riddle Labwear Tap Home 2 Voice Line
- ↑ Riddle Ceremonial Robes Home Transition 1 Voice Line
- ↑ Riddle Model Sheet & Trey Model Sheet
