Dragon Quest: Emblem of Roto takes place in the time between Dragon Quest III and Dragon Quest and tells the story of Arus. This 21 volume series ran in Monthly GANGAN which is where most of the Dragon Quest manga appears. The story was written by Chiaki Kawamata and Junji Koyanagi with art by Kamui Fujiwara. You may recognize Fujiwara from his character designs for the Enix published games Tenchi Sozo (Terranigma) and Grandia XTreme. Emblem of Roto was a successful series lasting from 1991 to 1997. In 2004 Young GanGan ran a mini series called Emblem of Roto Returns. It followed the lives of three of the series' main characters and gave readers an in depth view of Astea, Aran (Jagan) and Quadal. In January '05 Emblem of Roto: Those Who Inherited the Emblem began and follows the story of the new hero, Aros who has lost his memory in the woods of Alefgard.
Emblem of Roto
Many years after the fall of Zoma, the descendants of Roto left Alefgard and divided his emblem into two parts. The brother with the top half created the kingdom of Loran and the brother with the bottom half created the kingdom of Carmen. The kingdoms were peaceful and prosperous for and Emblem of Roto begins 100 years later.
The story opens in Carmen. The King has taken his army out on a mission, leaving his pregnant wife behind. The castle's priest speaks to her and tells her that in the kingdoms of Roto, a prince must be given the proper holy name, which was chosen to be Arus. After fighting a tribe of Shaman, the king and his men stumble upon a temple and the King discovers an evil looking statue. The statue made a strange sound, and the bottom of Roto's emblem fell off the chain around the King's neck. The statue charmed the King who hid it in his bag and returned to Carmen.
In the following months, the King was acting stranger and stranger. He began talking to the sinister statue which he'd hidden in the basement. It's revealed that the evil Dragon Lord is the one speaking to the King through the statue. He told the King to go against the holy name of Arus and name his child "Jagan". When the Queen gave birth, the King went overboard and tried to give the newborn child to the Dragon Lord's minions. The guards (who had been turned into zombies) forcefully took the child and killed many of the Queen's handmaidens. The King, completely possessed, cast a spell and killed the Queen. The last human guard left attacked the King, but only succeeded in tearing his human skin. The King then revealed his new form of a giant monster. Lunafrea, another soldier of Carmen, managed to take the young Arus with the bottom half of Roto's emblem and escaped the castle with the priest. She found refuge with Gran and Kira. Ten years after the events in Carmen, Arus' adventures begin.
At the same time Arus began training with Kira, the Dragon Lord managed to find a direct descendant of Roto in Loran and named him Jagan. Jagan and the Dragon Lord are Arus' main enemies for most of the series. Baramos is also brought back as a zombie. On Arus' journey, he meets many new companions, including Asteaa, a third decedent. He travels not only in Alefgard, but in familiar locations in the upper world as well. But, it's soon revealed that there is a greater force behind the Dragon Lord. His name is Imagine and of course, everything ends in a climatic battle with him in volume 21.
Emblem of Roto 2
Synopsis courtesy of Chrissy Rose"I'll start with a synopsis of "Emblem of Roto -To the Children Who Inherit the Emblem-". Since it's only one book as of right now, it's a lot easier to go into detail here on the much smaller number of characters the story focuses on thus far, as well as the story itself.
The plot, as I understand it, goes like this. You have book 21 of EOR, so you saw how it ended. The heroes defeated Imagine, and everybody went along their merry way and lived happily ever after.
In the ending to EoR, Arus went off on a journey. Poron got cold feet at the altar just before marrying his cute girlfriend who I think was from Zipang. He probably wound up marrying her anyway. Kira and Yao got married before the EOR story even ended, so they go off to start their own family. Kira becomes an armsmaster and trains students. Asteea and Jagan (who as of EoR 19 is now called Aran) head back to Alefgard, to take the throne and rule Radatome (Tantegel) together. Also, King Carmen and his wife return to rule Carmen again.
This story takes place 25 years after EOR ends.
In the years since then, Kira and Yao have had a son named Lee. Asteea and Jagan have a son named Aros. No word in the first book on what became of Arus or Poron. There is an odd incident that occurs five years prior to when the story takes place, where all of a sudden, throughout the whole world, magic goes completely dormant and unusable, causing quite a stir. At around the same time that magic goes dormant, everyone in Radatome Castle mysteriously vanishes, leaving only one person behind. This event just so happens to take place on the same day as the birthday of all three descendants of Roto - Arus, Jagan, and Asteea.
Currently, five years later, the amnesiac Aros is traveling with a bandit gang, since one of the gang's members, A-Kagi, happened to stumble across him in the empty castle right after everyone vanished(she had been scouting for her gang to set up a heist), and took him in when he lost his memory. The bandits accost two easy-looking targets named Lee and Yui in the forest near Radatome one day, and things come together from there.
Aros: The main hero of the story, Crown Prince of Radatome Castle, and son of Asteea and Aran. I think. Aren't they cousins or something? Anyway, he was found five years ago by a bandit girl named A-Kagi, lying unconscious on the floor of the castle with a head injury when everyone else had already disappeared. Since he woke that day, he's lost all memory of anything beyond his own name. Even while working with bandits, he has a gentle and thoughtful, introverted personality, and has an aversion to violence. He is haunted by constant nightmares, as well as flashbacks to events from the past that he can't recall. As one might expect, he is a talented swordsman, and capable of dodging Lee's ki blasts, something Lee claims no one else has ever done.
A-Kagi: A spirited yet practical bandit girl, both willing and perfectly able to shed blood when necessary. She sticks up for Aros, but continually berates him for his naiveté and unwillingness to act decisively when fighting to the death against other people.
Lee: Kira and Yao's son, a talented Battlemaster who is skilled with both a sword and ki-based techniques. His personality is much like Kira's, an open and friendly type who handles things in a rather blunt manner. His father Kira was in Radatome Castle paying his respects to Asteea and Aran when everyone vanished, and he hasn't been seen since. Lee used to play with Aros in Radatome when they were younger, so he remembers Aros, but Aros doesn't remember him.
Yui: Lee's traveling companion, a temperamental archer girl. When the two of them are together, they generally squabble like siblings, but they make an excellent team. Nothing has been said yet about her background.
After the bandits capture Lee and Yui, Lee tries to get Aros' attention upon hearing his name, but Aros claims he has the wrong guy. Aros tries to bring them food out of sympathy, which doesn't sit well with the other bandits. One bandit even pulls him aside and accuses him of plotting to betray their gang. A-Kagi quickly defuses the situation by slashing the man's throat before he can escalate things any further, showering Aros in blood in the process. She tells Aros that she knows he's going to betray them anyway, then proceeds to inform him of his royal lineage, explaining that he couldn't remember any of it, which explains some things for Lee. A-Kagi releases Lee and Yui's shackles, and tells them all to get lost before she calls for backup. When Aros doesn't immediately leave, she shouts for help to illustrate her point, then tells Aros to take back what he lost before shoving him towards the cave exit. Lee and Yui take this cue to drag him the rest of the way out.
After this, the three of them go to investigate the nearby Radatome Castle. Aros gets flashbacks when he sees a tree that he and Lee used to play in. They explore the castle, which has fallen into a state of disrepair. When they hear a scream from inside, they rush to investigate, and find a Boss Troll carrying off an unconscious woman. After they take out the troll and a wolfman, Aros stumbles upon a miniature caged shrine. It opens at his touch, and inside is the Sword of Roto, thrust upright into a stone altar. That's where the first book ends.
Arus
Arus is the prince of Carmen and a descendant of Roto and the prince of Carmen. Along with his cousin Asteaa were given the proper holy names, unlike Jagan. The story follows Arus from when he was 10 to adulthood. Along the way he meets some familiar foes as well as some new faces. He has the bottom half of Roto's emblem.
Kira
Kira is a childhood friend of Arus' that accompanies him on his travels. He's about three or four years older than Arus. In Volume 2, he takes a beating from a group of Slimes.
Lunafrea
Lunafrea, along with a priest from Carmen, escaped with Arus before he could be handed over to the Dragon Lord's minions. She took refuge with Gran and Kira to hide Arus from the monsters for over 10 years.
Quadal
Quadal is a 100 year old sage that traveled with Roto in the story chronicled in Dragon Quest III. He assisted Roto in the final fight against Zoma. He helps to train Arus and Kira.
Jagan
Jagan was born the same time as Arus. He's given the evil name the Dragon Lord wanted the King of Carmen to name Arus. When Jagan appears, he serves the Dragon Lord as Arus' nemesis. He is a direct descendant of Roto, but Roto's armor rejected him. So he stained the holy armor with blood in order to wear it.
Dragon Lord
The character only seen for a few minutes in Dragon Quest is expanded upon in this series. He's a main enemy for most of the series and raised Jagan.
Imagine
Imagine is the force behind the Dragon Lord. He's usually seen as only a face and sometimes in various monster forms.
EoR Returns and EoR 2 Images
Thanks to Sin and Chrissy Rose for the images!
EoR Manga Covers
Thanks to Arron Capone for covers 4-13! Thanks to Sin for covers 14-19!
EoR Art Book & Other Images
