- Mr. Roarke
Mr. Roarke is a
fictional character from the American television series, "Fantasy Island ".The mysterious Mr. Roarke is the host of all of the island's guest, as well as being the owner/proprietor. He charges guests $50,000 to come to his tropical island (where he is the ultimate authority), and somehow makes the guests' wildest fantasies come true.
Though never revealed in the series how he manages to fulfill the fantasies, Roarke appears to have
supernatural powers .In his guests' fantasies, Roarke almost always teaches the guests a valuable life-lesson.
Mr. Roarke was portrayed by
Ricardo Montalban in the original series, and byMalcolm McDowell in the updated series. Interestingly, both of these actors have also portrayed the main villains inStar Trek films.There is compelling circumstantial evidence that suggests that Mr. Roarke is a practicing Catholic. On several occasions he is seen crossing himself to pray, and when he marries the terminally ill Helena Marsh in the season 3 episode "The Wedding", they have a Catholic ceremony.
It is suggested that he is possibly thousands of years old and even immortal. He insinuates that he knew
Alexander the Great amongst other historical figures, and in the Season 3 episode "Unholy Wedlock/Elizabeth" he states outright that he was responsible forElizabeth Báthory 's final imprisonment. In the season 4 opener "The Devil and Mandy Breem/The Millionaire", Mr. Roarke does battle withthe Devil in defense of a guest's immortal soul. Both Mr. Roarke and the Devil remark that this isn't the first time they have faced off, and when finally beaten by Mr. Roarke, the Devil says that they have "all of Eternity" ahead of them to meet (and fight) again.
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