Vance Roland

Vance Roland is an enemy of Red Ryder. He is a Serial Killer that removes thumbs from his victims.

Appearance
Vance Roland is described as a man above average in height that wears black leather pants, black boots and a brown tank top with hair down to his neck and a five o'clock shadow

Biography
20 years prior to the events of the fic, Vance's father was Ambrose City's most famous doctor and his mother was the city's most famous Lawyer, one night, while Vance was visiting a friend, his parent's house caught fire and his father died, the tragedy drove his mother to suicide, detectives deduced that it was an electrical fire, but Vance discovered that the patterns didn't match an electrical fire.

1 year later, Vance found out that the fire was sabotage by someone after his family, after another year of searching, Vance found the man that started the fire and killed him to avenge his parents.

After a while, Vance realised he had nothing to live for, he was broke since his parents had no insurance, leaving him starving and cold, he tried getting money at the carnival, but the carnival rejected him, he tried to make money by becoming a pickpocket, however, he wasn't very successful, and he had to eat whatever local takeaways were throwing away.

After 13 years of this, Vance decided to commit suicide by hanging himself over Ambrose City Bridge when a man tried to mug him, however, the mugger would have killed Vance since he had no money, so Vance killed him in self defense, but realising that killing this man had no meaning, he cut off his thumb to remember it, and then looted the body for a small amout of money.

Vance soon ran low on money, and looking at the thumb he took from the mugger, he used the last amount of his money to buy a phone book and dialed a number at random on a phone, had a conversation with whoever was on the other end and then looked up their address when they hung up, went to their house, robbed them dry, knocked them out, took them to another location and killed them and removed their thumb as a souvenir.

Vance was able to keep this up for 2 years, killing over 100 people, since his victims seemed to have nothing in common, he was hard to track, however, Vance was caught after trying to murder someone on a hidden camera.

Vance spent 5 years in Rollins Asylum, in solitary confinement, when he tricked a woman at the Asylum into thinking he wasn't in his cell, she opened the door only to be murdered by Vance before he left through the door she left open.

Vance continued his killing spree, before kidnapping Emily Andrews, The Commissioner's daughter and holding her for ransom, demanding that the police let him go and allow him to leave the city, however, Vance's plans are foiled when Red Ryder intervenes and saves Emily by making Vance tell Ryder the story of Vance's past, giving the police enough time to arrive at Vance's hideout, distracting Vance long enough for Red Ryder to save Emily.

Vance attempts to kill Ryder for messing with his plans, leading to a fight that ends with them on the roof of the building, Vance charges at Ryder, but Ryder flashes a light in Vance's eyes, causing him to fall off the building, however, Ryder saves him from death, saying he's not a killer like Vance. Ryder then tazes and arrests Vance.

Vance reappears in Breathing in Fear when he is interviewed by Red Ryder about an investigation, Roland agrees to tell him what he knows in exchange for a cell transfer and his thumb collection returned. During this appearance, he is described to be wheeled in on a dolly wearing a straight jacket and Hannibal Lecter mask.

Vance reappears once again as the main villain in Speed Dial, where he has escaped from prison and has taken 3 women hostage, he plays a game with Ryder where Ryder must reach the phones that Vance is calling in time or Roland will kill one of his hostages.

Ryder was able to trace Vance's calls and reach his hideout, where it is revealed that Roland had broken his promise and killed one of his hostages anyway. Ryder was able to sneak through Roland's hideout and defeat him before having him sent back to prison.

Enemies
Red Ryder/David Young

Emily Andrews

Francis Andrews

The Police

Known Victims
Joseph Gardna (NOTE: Even though Vance DID kill Joseph, he did not remove his thumb)

Unnamed Mugger

About 99 unknown victims

Stephanie Transer

Unnamed Female Victim

Weapons
Astra 400 Pistol

Colt M1861 Navy Revolver

Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife

Rope

Trivia

 * Vance is loosely based on the Batman Villain, Victor Zsasz.


 * A plothole is made as to why Vance killed the mugger when he was trying to kill himself anyway, if he had let the mugger kill him, he would have still died.
 * However, in Speed Dial, while he goes into more detail about his origin story, he mentions the reason why he would have prefered killing himself than having the mugger kill him, he always believed in being in control of your own life and he wanted to choose when to end his own.


 * At first, it was unknown what Vance did with the thumbs he collects, however, in his second appearance, it was revealed that he kept the thumbs in a box which he requested to be kept in his cell.
 * In Speed Dial it is revealed that Vance's full name is Vance Arthur Richard Roland
 * In Speed Dial, it is revealed that police have no knowledge of Vance's murder of Joseph Gardna, his first murder victim
 * This may be because even though Vance killed him, since he hadn't become a serial killer yet, he hadn't removed Joseph's thumb, to simulate it, Vance instead wears a string aroung his neck with a clay sculpture of Joseph's head attached to it.
 * Roland commonly refers to his murder victims as 'Zombies' and 'Piggies'

Appearances
First Ride

Breathing in Fear (Brief appearance where Ryder interviews him over an investigation and Roland agrees to help in exchange for a cell transfer and to get his thumb collection back)

Speed Dial