<p>It's because Roa is inside the body of SHIKI Tohno, Akiha's blood-related brother, from before the start of the game as SHIKI was locked away inside the mansion after his Inversion Impulse</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
  <p> until Kohaku released him knowing he would kill his father, who sexually abused her as a child.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>It is not true that:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Yet regardless of the route, Roa and the original Shiki Tohno (which some translations name SHIKI) should be the same person.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Roa is in love with Arcueid while SHIKI is in love with Akiha. This shows that between the "Near Side of the Moon" and "Far Side of the Moon" Shiki is confronting a different person. The Near Side Roa is after Arcueid while in the Far Side SHIKI is after Akiha.</p>

<p>The discrepancy between the two is caused by who the dominating will of the two is. In the Far Side routes, SHIKI's will dominates (while in the near side it is Roa's that dominates).</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>SHIKI is the main antagonist during the "Far-Side Moon" routes, the stories of Akiha and Hisui. SHIKI's inversion impulse keeps Roa from exerting his will over him, resulting in a very deranged individual obsessed only with getting revenge on Shiki for stealing everything from him. Roa doesn't have an appearance in these stories besides a brief mention from SHIKI that something in his mind wants to take over.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Source: <a href="http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Roa#Akiha.27s_route" rel="nofollow">Roa - Akiha's Route (1st Paragraph)</a></p>

<p>The appearance change would probably be related to who the dominating will is. For instance, in his previous reincarnation, Roa styles his new body to suit himself as with Elesia, who looks different from Ciel today.</p>

<p>On the Type-moon Wikia page you'll also notice that Roa and SHIKI share the same page in much the same way <a href="http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Saber_(Fate/stay_night)" rel="nofollow">Saber/Saber-Alter/Saber-Lily</a> do.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-09T04:59:11.043Z
I was about to write a comment saying "maybe it's that Roa's personality didn't take over as much in the 'Far Side of the Moon' routes" --- guess that was probably the right guess.
Maroon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-09T05:01:44.237Z
@Maroon yes, as i quote out from the wikia Roa is mentioned in a Far Side Route being still inside SHIKI trying to take over
Memor-X
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-17T05:11:27.513Z
This makes sense, but I'm still slightly stuck. Why doesn't Roa take over in the Far Side routes? Does this have anything to do with the fact that he shares a mind with Shiki and the fact that Shiki is doing somewhat different things in those routes (compared to in the Near Side routes), and if so, what exactly? (I'm assuming that Roa takes over _after_ Shiki moves back to the mansion, since the events from before the day Shiki returns should be identical regardless of the route.)
Maroon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-17T05:34:26.940Z
@Maroon I'm not entirely sure but it could be that in the Near Side Shiki doesn't kill Arcuied so he doesn't fight with her thus spending time away from the Tohno Mansion while in the Far Side he spends more time in the mansion and close to Akiha, seeing this SHIKI probably gets more defiant because he sees Shiki try and steal Akiha away from him and Roa may have underestimated SHIKI's Inversion Impulse. Another reason could be that Roa learned of Arcuied's weakness in the Near Side and took over but in the Far Side, still as strong as ever he hides away biding his time
Memor-X
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-17T05:35:51.063Z
as for when Roa takes over I'm not sure but I'm quite sure SHIKI was in control when Kohaku released him as it was SHIKI that killed Akiha's father which triggered Akiha becoming the family head and calling Shiki back to the mansion
Memor-X
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-09T04:57:57.103Z
2015-10-17T18:10:20.210Z
2015-10-17T18:10:20.210Z
Memor-X
<p>In the Arcueid and Ciel routes, Roa appears with long black hair in "Western" clothes.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/a52NC.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/a52NC.png" alt="Roa."></a></p>

<p>However, I'm currently playing the Hisui route, and I've seen that the original Shiki Tohno appears in Japanese clothing with short white hair at the very end. (For what it's worth, the adopted Shiki in this route doesn't know about Roa, but <em>the player</em> does since she must have had to complete either the Arcueid or Ciel route first to play this route, and the information appears there.)</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/IVTi9.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/IVTi9.png" alt="Original Shiki Tohno in Hisui route."></a></p>

<p>Yet regardless of the route, Roa and the original Shiki Tohno (which some translations name SHIKI) should be the same person. (The identity of the next reincarnation of Roa should have been decided by Ciel years before any of the different choices leading to different routes were made.) If so, why is there such a discrepancy between the appearance of Roa in the "Near Side of the Moon" routes and the Hisui route (and possibly other "Far Side of the Moon" routes)?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-09T04:31:24.797Z
Note: it's possible that I'm missing information I would have gotten from playing the two routes I have left and finishing the Hisui one. That said, it doesn't feel like something so trivial that I can be pretty certain I'll get an answer if I wait it out.
Maroon
<tsukihime>
Why is Roa's appearance in the Hisui route different from that in "Near Side of the Moon"?
# Why is Roa's appearance in the Hisui route different from that in "Near Side of the Moon"?
Posted by: username_0 on 2015-10-09
In the Arcueid and Ciel routes, Roa appears with long black hair in "Western" clothes.

[![Roa.](https://i.sstatic.net/a52NC.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/a52NC.png)

However, I'm currently playing the Hisui route, and I've seen that the original Shiki Tohno appears in Japanese clothing with short white hair at the very end. (For what it's worth, the adopted Shiki in this route doesn't know about Roa, but *the player* does since she must have had to complete either the Arcueid or Ciel route first to play this route, and the information appears there.)

[![Original Shiki Tohno in Hisui route.](https://i.sstatic.net/IVTi9.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/IVTi9.png)

Yet regardless of the route, Roa and the original Shiki Tohno (which some translations name SHIKI) should be the same person. (The identity of the next reincarnation of Roa should have been decided by Ciel years before any of the different choices leading to different routes were made.) If so, why is there such a discrepancy between the appearance of Roa in the "Near Side of the Moon" routes and the Hisui route (and possibly other "Far Side of the Moon" routes)?
**Tags:** tsukihime
> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Note: it's possible that I'm missing information I would have gotten from playing the two routes I have left and finishing the Hisui one. That said, it doesn't feel like something so trivial that I can be pretty certain I'll get an answer if I wait it out.  
---
## 1 answers
### Answer by username_1 on 2015-10-09. Score: 3 | Accepted answer
It's because Roa is inside the body of SHIKI Tohno, Akiha's blood-related brother, from before the start of the game as SHIKI was locked away inside the mansion after his Inversion Impulse

> until Kohaku released him knowing he would kill his father, who sexually abused her as a child.

It is not true that:

> Yet regardless of the route, Roa and the original Shiki Tohno (which some translations name SHIKI) should be the same person.

Roa is in love with Arcueid while SHIKI is in love with Akiha. This shows that between the "Near Side of the Moon" and "Far Side of the Moon" Shiki is confronting a different person. The Near Side Roa is after Arcueid while in the Far Side SHIKI is after Akiha.

The discrepancy between the two is caused by who the dominating will of the two is. In the Far Side routes, SHIKI's will dominates (while in the near side it is Roa's that dominates).

> SHIKI is the main antagonist during the "Far-Side Moon" routes, the stories of Akiha and Hisui. SHIKI's inversion impulse keeps Roa from exerting his will over him, resulting in a very deranged individual obsessed only with getting revenge on Shiki for stealing everything from him. Roa doesn't have an appearance in these stories besides a brief mention from SHIKI that something in his mind wants to take over.

Source: [Roa - Akiha's Route (1st Paragraph)](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Roa#Akiha.27s_route)

The appearance change would probably be related to who the dominating will is. For instance, in his previous reincarnation, Roa styles his new body to suit himself as with Elesia, who looks different from Ciel today.

On the Type-moon Wikia page you'll also notice that Roa and SHIKI share the same page in much the same way [Saber/Saber-Alter/Saber-Lily](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Saber_(Fate/stay_night)) do.
> **Comments:**
> **username_0** (2015-10-09): I was about to write a comment saying "maybe it's that Roa's personality didn't take over as much in the 'Far Side of the Moon' routes" --- guess that was probably the right guess.  
> **username_1** (2015-10-09): @Maroon yes, as i quote out from the wikia Roa is mentioned in a Far Side Route being still inside SHIKI trying to take over  
> **username_0** (2015-10-17): This makes sense, but I'm still slightly stuck. Why doesn't Roa take over in the Far Side routes? Does this have anything to do with the fact that he shares a mind with Shiki and the fact that Shiki is doing somewhat different things in those routes (compared to in the Near Side routes), and if so, what exactly? (I'm assuming that Roa takes over _after_ Shiki moves back to the mansion, since the events from before the day Shiki returns should be identical regardless of the route.)  
> **username_1** (2015-10-17): @Maroon I'm not entirely sure but it could be that in the Near Side Shiki doesn't kill Arcuied so he doesn't fight with her thus spending time away from the Tohno Mansion while in the Far Side he spends more time in the mansion and close to Akiha, seeing this SHIKI probably gets more defiant because he sees Shiki try and steal Akiha away from him and Roa may have underestimated SHIKI's Inversion Impulse. Another reason could be that Roa learned of Arcuied's weakness in the Near Side and took over but in the Far Side, still as strong as ever he hides away biding his time  
> **username_1** (2015-10-17): as for when Roa takes over I'm not sure but I'm quite sure SHIKI was in control when Kohaku released him as it was SHIKI that killed Akiha's father which triggered Akiha becoming the family head and calling Shiki back to the mansion  
---
