# Rotwang — Metropolis character guide

> Rotwang in Metropolis by Thea von Harbou.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Rotwang

**First appearance:** 0001-metropolis

## Snapshot

A brilliant, bitter inventor whose machines can counterfeit life itself, and whose grief has curdled into a plan of his own.

## Who they are

Rotwang works in the shadow of Joh Fredersen's city, a scientist whose genius is inseparable from his grievance, and whose inventions give him a power the masters of Metropolis do not fully understand. He is a man of old wounds and older obsessions, and the robot he builds becomes the instrument through which his private vengeance and the city's public crisis converge. His presence turns the novel's social drama into something stranger and more dangerous, where the line between the human and the manufactured begins to blur.

## Relationships

### [Freder](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/characters/freder)

_rivalry_

Freder and Rotwang are bitter enemies, with Rotwang scheming against Freder and his father.

### [Maria](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/characters/maria)

_rivalry_

Maria is a target of Rotwang's sinister plans, as he seeks to use her for his revenge.

### [Josaphat](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/characters/josaphat)

_rivalry_

Josaphat distrusts and opposes Rotwang, seeing him as a dangerous manipulator.

### [Freder](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/characters/freder)

_rivalry_

Freder and Rotwang are bitter enemies, with Rotwang scheming against Freder and his father.

### [Freder](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/characters/freder)

_rivalry_

Freder and Rotwang are bitter enemies, with Rotwang scheming against Freder and his father.

### [Josaphat](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/characters/josaphat)

_rivalry_

Josaphat distrusts and opposes Rotwang, seeing him as a dangerous manipulator.

## In the story

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/chapters/iv)

Presents his android creation 'Futura' and interrogates Fredersen about the mysterious plan.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/chapters/v)

Points out Maria as the model for the Futura to Joh Fredersen, and discusses sin and suffering.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/chapters/viii)

Rotwang is the magician whose house Freder enters; he is seen working on a mechanical Maria and expresses frustration at his inability to replicate her smile and tears.

### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/chapters/xii)

Mentioned as the friend Joh betrayed by taking Hel, who loved Rotwang. Joh's sin is described as walking behind him like a dog.

### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/chapters/xiii)

Holds Maria captive, confesses his theft of her soul and creation of a duplicate to serve Joh Fredersen's plan.

### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/chapters/xv)

Rotwang is attacked by Joh Fredersen and later found lying motionless on the floor near the trapdoor, his metal hand clutching it.

### [XXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/chapters/xxi)

Awakens dead but conscious, obsessed with finding Hel. He observes the burning of his creation and pursues Hel into the cathedral.

### [XXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/chapters/xxii)

Captures Maria, fights Freder on the cathedral roof, and falls to his death after seeing Hel's vision.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/characters/rotwang
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metropolis_se/characters