Rothcall Shepard

Rothcall Shepard (ロスコル・シェパード, Rosukoru Shepādo), also known as Rothcol in Japanese localization, is a supporting character in Black★Rock Shooter THE GAME.

Game Version
Shepard was born in May 29, 2020. Originally an information processing researcher, he received military training before becoming a member of the Primary Support Service.

As the war against the aliens along with the future of humanity had become desperate by September 2051, the UEF decided to awaken Stella, an artificially enhanced clone soldier who was also humanity's trump card, three years earlier than scheduled. Shepard was one of the few men who reached Stella's capsule in San Francisco after heading out from the last known human settlement in Moscow.

His initial attempts to wake Stella via computer systems were unfruitful, but she eventually woke up when Phobos began firing at the trailer that contained her. Shepard had to convince an amnesiac Stella that the he and the PSS were not her enemy, but her allies. He also became her closest contact for relaying operations instructions on behalf of the PSS as well as explaining trivial matters.

When Stella failed to respond to a Big Mouth and let Dully and Lars die, Rothcall shielded her from Phobos's criticism, stating that their deaths were not her fault. However, he became angered when Phobos called him a "failure of a scholar", lashing back at him that a scholar wouldn't have been fighting if the military wasn't so incompetent.

After leaving San Francisco, Shepard regrouped with the other surviving members of the PSS, who then traveled to New Jersey to retrieve the Brunhild and the Draco, while Stella rode to New York with the Black Trike to draw the surrounding enemies' attention. The operation was a success, and Rothcall then piloted the Brunhild to the Status Building in New York to pick up Stella. However, Stella was confronted by class-A alien Mazuma at the rendezvous point while being surrounded by Armaments at the same time, which prompted him to provide covering fire for her. Stella battled Mazuma after the latter attempted to shoot down Rothcall, and came out as the victor.

After picking up Stella, Rothcall received instructions from his leader Frank Marion to head for Moscow, as the PSS picked up a rescue signal there. On the way, Rothcall explained to Stella that while she was an enhanced clone, she was still a human nonetheless. Later on, when Rothcall was informed by Phobos that the signal's sender was that of a woman, he was visibly excited with the possibility to save a woman and possibly humanity, much to Stella's disapproval. He then dropped off Stella at the edge of Moscow so she can locate the source of the signal on foot, while he piloted the Brunhild to support the Draco, which came under attack.

However, the Draco eventually crashed after taking critical damage. Shepard landed the Brunhild next to the Draco's crash site. Although he realized that he became the last man alive, Rothcall kept a positive attitude when Stella reunited with him. However, his life was immediately cut short when one of Nafe's Mini Rabbits suddenly appeared and hit him with a beam attack, leaving no trace behind other than the canned food that he was holding.

Manga Version
Rothcall was a scholar in his early days, and he took in his 8 years old niece when her parents died. However, one day he helplessly witnessed his niece being eaten alive by the invading aliens. This event prompted him to join the PSS.

Rothcall enlisted in the military at the same time as Phobos and joined the PSS together. In 2051, he was one of the surviving PSS members sent to wake Stella from her stasis. Rothcall tried to wake her via the onboard computer system, but the slow progress and the increasing desperate caused Phobos to wake her with force by firing his gun on the trailer that contained her. An explosion followed soon after, startling both Phobos and Rothcall before Stella emerged awake and combat ready.

As Stella woke up largely amnesiac, Rothcall explained to her about the alien invasion and mankind's situation. Unlike the rest of the PSS members, he wanted to treat her like a human being rather than a mere living weapon, and looked after her outside of battle. He also told her of his past, and encouraged her to make decisions for herself.

Phobos later received an SOS signal that originated from the Antarctic, and decided to rescue the survivor who sent it. Rothcall and Stella flew ahead to the Antarctic in the Brunhild to secure the area, but the former was not impressed when he realized that two aliens, Shizu and Karli, went rogue and also came along with the rest of the PSS without him knowing prior to departure. Although most of the PSS members were inclined to receive the rogue aliens' support, Phobos and Rothcall remained wary and skeptical of them.

The PSS could not find the sender of the SOS signal in the Antarctic, and on Shizu's advice they remained on the continent to train Stella while staying out of other aliens' detection. Rothcall became more talkative and understanding to Shizu over time, even though he could not forgive what her alien race had done to mankind. However, an enemy force of approximately three thousand Armaments eventually arrived on their position two months later. Shizu instructed Rothcall and Stella to escape, while the rest of the PSS stayed behind with the two rogue aliens to hold back the enemy.

As Rothcall led Stella out of danger, he received a radio call from Phobos, who told him that all men were down, and bade him farewell before carrying out a last ditch attack. This left Rothcall devastated, but they soon encountered a Little Rabbit that came on behalf of Nafe, who was the ally that Shizu mentioned. Nafe, however, had ulterior and planned to double-cross them, but Rothcall anticipated this and shielded Stella from the Little Rabbit's attack, becoming fatally wounded himself in the process. In his dying breath, he told Stella not to hate, but to draw her strength from love. His final words would help Stella regain her sense of self in her final battle against WRS.