Roland Taggart

Roland
Biographical Information
Status:	Deceased
Alias:	Shark Boy
Gender:	Male
Affiliation
Unwind Standing:	Unwound
Allegiance:	Himself
Character Information
Appears in:	Unwind

Roland Taggart was a boy whom Connor, Risa, Mai, and Hayden met in Sonia's shop basement. He is troubled, like Connor but obviously a bit more, especially without someone like Risa to control his temper. Roland was unwound, and his right forearm was transplanted onto Connor.

History

When he was six, he had a beautiful babysitter who shook his sister too hard. It was not specified whether she was killed or just left in a very bad condition.

When Roland was ten, he broke his arm. The doctor told his mom he could have a new arm, or a cast. They took the latter because it was cheaper. He drew a tiger shark on it and, when the cast came off, he got a tattoo to make the shark permanent.

Once, when his stepfather beat Roland's mother, he beat him up, too. The mother took her husband's side and he got off with a warning. Roland, on the other hand, was sent to be unwound.

In UnDivided', the letter he wrote at Sonia's was delivered to his mother in Indianapolis. It arrived the day her divorce was finalized. It took her two years to realize she took the wrong side of the fight. The letter gave her hope that her son was still whole and if he was she would have welcomed him back in a heartbeat, shark tattoo and all.

Personality

Roland had dreams of being a military boeuf but apparently had too much testosterone, or steroids, or a combination of both, leaving him a little too scary even for the military. Like Connor, Roland got into fights at school— although Connor suspected Roland's fights were much, much worse.

Roland is not a killer, but a fighter. He is said to be strong and brave and a good leader. He's manipulative and uses people for his own personal gain. He is intimidating and has a short fuse, having shouted a lot in the book. According to his own mother, he is a lot like his father, who got sent to prison before he was born.

Despite his tough front, Roland is truly afraid of unwinding. He loves his mother, even though she had him unwound.

Roland may have gotten his tattoo because, during these days, kids tend to get tattoos when they're little.

Physical description

Roland is said to look intimidating. He is muscular and has parallel scratches on his face. He has the tattoo of a tiger shark on his right forearm, which Connor called a dolphin to annoy Roland.

Trivia

• Roland's surname was only revealed when Neal Shusterman asked his Facebook fans for help in giving him a surname, which he needed for the film script. His surname was borrowed from Ryan Taggart.