Naofumi Iwatani

"I hoped the whole place burned to the ground, the whole damn world."

- Naofumi

Naofumi Iwatani (岩谷尚文) is the protagonist of The Rising of the Shield Hero series. He was summoned to another world to serve as the Shield Hero (盾の勇者), one of the Four Legendary Heroes.

Appearance
Naofumi has short black hair that spikes in all directions, sharp green eyes and he often wears a scowl on his face because of his cynical outlook towards the world. However, he does express gratitude from time to time.

The armor he primarily wears is Barbarian Armor +3, which has gone through numerous upgrades and transformations. Depending on the situation, he may switch to different sets of armor or clothing.

The weapon in his possession is the Legendary Shield, which was granted to him when he was summoned to another world.

Personality
Naofumi had initially been an exceedingly trusting and positive person. He was also enthusiastic about his situation when initially summoned. However, his mentality abruptly changed after Malty S Melromarc, the princess of Melromarc, betrayed and framed him. Left penniless, framed as a rapist, and hated, Naofumi became distrustful, cynical, and spiteful towards the entire world. He could not trust anyone as a traveling companion except when they had a slave contract. He started to assume that others were trying to get something from him. The Princess's betrayal has left him in an almost permanent state of anger and hostility, although he masks them behind a calm and level-headed personality. This mentality bites him back as he unknowingly pushes away genuine believers of the Shield Hero and Siltvelt envoys. His hatred for Malty is truly without limit, extending to the point where he becomes wholly apathetic and ignorant to advances of women in general. Early on, he even expresses disgust and hatred for women purely because they are of the same gender as Malty, though he never voices this. This is likely due to his entire world view and personality being permanently warped by this trauma. After being framed and becoming hated by the public. He fell into a state of deep depression. He was then aproched by Beloukus who offers to sell him slaves which can be used to fight for him. It is here in the slave merchants tent that he finds Raphtalia. Who is very Sick and actively traumatized from the first wave. He decides to buy her for malicious reasons and his extensive hatred with anything in common with Malty. This even includes gender but he soon realizes he can’t do such cruel things to a innocent child. It is shown early on that he cares for Raphtalia and that he doesn’t want her to be taken from him since he has nothing left. This is first shown when he buys Raphtalia a ball made from balloon rubber. While in the follow up scene where Raphtalia is being bullied by some children trying to get that ball. Naofumi actively scarers them off by throwing a balloon at them since he can’t attack himself. He is actively being somewhat sadistic about causing them as much suffering as he can for being mean to Raphtalia. It is also shown that he is kind and heroic at heart. This is scene during the second wave where he risks his own life somewhat recklessly to try and save the inhabitants of lute village. During this alongside Raphtaia they save many lives since the Melomarc army is off fighting the wave boss instead of helping its people. He does not gain proper recognition for his contributions to the wave. While makes him visibly upset and eventually leads to a scene of malty to take away Raphtalia which is the one thing left keeping him sane. During the party afterward to celebrate the end of the wave he is confronted by the other heros. Malty then convinces Motoyasu to tell Naofumi that slavery is wrong. This escalates with the other 2 heros getting involved where they tell him how hero’s shouldn’t own slaves. Naofumi then rightly points out is legal in this insane country. This escalates and when Naofumi tries to leave with Raphtalia she ends up being gaged and Motoyasu forces him to fight in a Duel. This is while everyone knows Naofumi can’t attack alone. This leads to a one sided duel which against all odds he nearly wins using Balloons. Causing actively humiliation to The king,The Pope, Motoyasu, and most of all Malty. This leads her to actively cheat in the duel which leads to his loss. This leads to Raphtaia being “set free” with the removal of her Slave Crest. After this he begins to fall greater into despair and unlocking the Shield of Rage. This then starts making him reject everything around him and the world itself in its entirety. This includes raphtalia initially trying to comfort him after slapping Motoyasu in the face and calling him a liar and a cheat. And telling him how she was happy and that she wasn’t treated like a slave. When Raphtalia moves to Naofumi to comfort him his rejects her and calls her a traitor. Due to his hatred for everything he sees the entire world as against him. Raphtalia understanding that doesn’t back down and continues trying to comfort him. This reach’s it’s peak when he starts calling his shield cursed and tries to tear it off. She then goes on about how the shield has protected her time and time again. This leads to an emotional scene where she comforts him in large hug. Where she talks to him and explains how she understands how he must be in such pain after what she saw and now understood. He then cries and falls asleep in her lap for a long time. Eventually in the morning they leave during which she gives Naofumi a sandwich which she made. After taking a bite Naofumi realizes he can taste again and cries a little. After Raphtalia comforts him allowing him to not completely fall into despair. He also begins to start caring about life and the world once again for the first time after his framing. He loses the ability to feel all positive emotions due to the unlocking of the cursed Rage shield series. This course of events eventually allows Naofumi to taste food again as he was no longer completely consumed by rage. This is shown when Raphtalia gives him a sandwich after the Duel. Due to Raphtaia he becomes less inwardly hostile towards women but still remains oblivious to their advances. This can be seen after Raphtalia renews her Slave Crest, when she asks him what he thinks of her body, exposed at the time for the application of the crest. He remains actively oblivious to her advances and romantic feeling. He is also somewhat amused and amazed at the point in time when Beloukas is willing to pay 35 gold pieces for Raphtalia after she becomes a beauty as well. While at the slave merchant’s tent Naofumi decided to buy a random monster egg. He shrugged off Raphtalia’s remark that it might have been a waste of Money. His reasoning is that if it hatched into one of many creatures and helped it grow properly he could get a profit. He also reasoned that Raphtaia should not be fighting for him alone. They then return to Lute Village to help rebuild the village after destruction caused from the wave of destruction. They are given a place to stay while they help rebuild the village together with its people. It’s here where Filo hatches from her egg as a tiny chick. Naofumi is initially confused on what kind of bird monster she is. He does understand that she imprinted and him but was not sure which kind the the specific strengths of Filos specifies. Since not all bird monsters that could be gotten from the egg would be useful in combat. So over the course of the next week he watches Filo grow with Raphtalia. They are both surprised by how fast it grew but naofumi assumes it’s from the Slave user’s shield Growth Maturation skill. This shows his ability to properly assess and assume connections between many things. After asking around he finds out Filo is a filolial and names her Filo. Which raphtalia comments that he is very uncreative with names. Which he she points out and Naofumi ignores but is somewhat offended. Shortly after this somewhat peaceful time of rebuilding the village is ruined with the arrival of Malty and Motoyasu. They immediately try and take over the village to force them to leave the village. They plan on using this with an edict of the king to make Motoyasu the new governor of Lute Village there first acts are to force Naofumi and Raphtalia to leave and impose a 50 silver entrance and exit fee. This gets everyone upset and we see Naofumi’s ability to point out the unreasonableness in things when he points out how absurd that pricing is when it only costs 1 silver to rest at an inn at night with food included. This leads to Malty attempting to use her authority with no repercussions until all of a sudden to everyone’s surprise Shadows of the Queen appear and give Malty a letter. This sends her into a fit of rage where she challenges Naofumi to have a race with Motoyasu for the sake of the village. This shows Naofumi to somewhat of a state of glee that there is atleast someone who Malty has to listen to. He doesn’t originally plan on taking on Motoyasu in a race but is convinced with the combined effort of the villagers pleading to him and Raphtalia trying to do him the right thing. It is also here that he learns Filolials hate dragons. During the race he is disgusted by all the cheating taking place. He even points out how it’s so unfair with the appearance of stuff like potholes out of nowhere. This causes him active frustration which forces him to be actively creative with how he plays the race. Once he wins the race Malty gets very agitated and accuse Naofumi of cheating. Naofumi love of watching those who wrong him humiliated and caused him to suffer feel humiliation and pain can first be seen immediately after with when the shadows show up again with proof that it was Malty who was cheating. He gets even more happy when Motoyasu gets to close to Filo which ends up getting him kicked in the crotch much to Naofumis amusement. This causes Naofumi to swear revenge and Raphtalia to be disappointed in Naofumi to which he doesn’t care due to all the suffering Malty and Motoyasu put him through.

In the Otherworld arc he gets very visibly upset when Kyo separated him from his party and primarily raphtalia. He is shown to be very worried about her to the point it interferers with his normal demeanor at times. He actively tries to find her and even goes as far as creating Raph-chan with Raphtalia’s hair and his own blood in hopes of tracking down her location. When he discovers that Raphtalia is no longer in his party menu and slave he immediately begins to fear for the worst. He is however visibly far less stressed about Filo. To the point it is hardly mentioned in comparison to Raphtalia in all sources of the media. He isn’t actively worried until he stumbles upon her being treated as a mere amusement attraction. From seeing this he goes into a moment of rage and the frees Filo in the middle of the night. When they are found he actively mentally tortures the one responsible for Filo’s poor treatment and permanent Trauma. Naofumi himself tends to be very emotionally vulnerable and comforting. This can be seen in his reunion with Raphtalia where he actively held back his tears of joy upon seeing her. His comforting aspect can be seen in the case of Filo where he actively stayed with her to help her recover from the worst experience in her short life. After returning from Glass’ World and returning the Spirit Tortoise’s Energy He and his party are welcomed by the people and the Queen. This great achievement makes Naofumi and his party actively loved and adored by the public. This is while the three other Heroes became hated by the same people that use to admire them for failing and leaving the world a worse place. This leads Naofumi to decide to take them under his wing' and help them see the reasons for this change. This act shows the other three hero’s how compassionate he truly is.

Eventually, he recovers more of his caring side and begins treating Raphtalia like a daughter rather than a slave.

By the time he sets up a base of operations in Rock Valley, he is visibly kind to the slaves under his command while maintaining his strict attitude, as he still does not hesitate to call for discipline when needed.

Naofumi purchases slaves with the justification of giving them a better life. When he buys Raphtalia, he feeds her well, gives her medicine, shelters her, defends her from bullies, and rewards her. He disciplines slaves, however, if they refuse to obey orders. He earns her loyalty through a caring yet stern treatment, such that she chooses to remain his slave when given the option to leave him. He takes these actions because they're practical and beneficial to him in the long run ― an unhealthy, unfed, and half-dead slave would be useless, so he can't understand why someone would mistreat or neglect the slaves.

His treatment of Raphtalia extends to all of his slaves, with them coming to treat him like a parent figure. He spoils and rewards his slaves when they give it their all and perform to his expectations and cooks for them in the middle of the night when they are hungry. His humane treatment of his slaves causes Rishia to wonder whether Naofumi is their slave.

Naofumi is considerate of others to an extent, willing to share a room on a boat with other adventurers and preventing what could have resulted in these ordinary adventurers, who paid a hefty amount to travel to Cal Mira Archipelago, facing eviction from the boat.

Naofumi is also very observant. He dislikes being ripped off and does not tolerate people stealing from him. For example, his grudge against Malty noticeably grows when he realizes her ally has taken what is to be his new Shield and makes a point to defeat him personally. When merchants try to rip him off or if he sees bullies picking on Raphtalia, he sends literal monsters at them, since he can't attack due to only being able to wield a shield. He can be somewhat of a sadist in this sense, to the point Raphtalia tries to warn these bullies to run away.

He has a realistic approach to most things, as he sells the slave hunters to Siltvelt and uses the money he gets to buy back all of the people from Raphtalia's village, much to the horror of Eclair and Raphtalia for his unorthodox actions. Realizing that he can't hand over the bandits to the guards, he extorts everything from them, as the guards may take the bandits' side over him. Though his allies want him to behave heroically and be forgiving, he acts otherwise by holding a grudge and enjoying the misfortune of those he hates.

Naofumi, unlike some of the other heroes, is reasonable most of the time. He is convinced to stay in Melromarc after listening to the arguments of the queen and Fitoria for why he should stay even though he never received any funds from the crown until the end, even after the queen took charge since the nation was suffering from the Spirit Tortoise's rampage. Instead, he receives a territory at his request.

Despite having the most villainous attitude and having a slightly evil way of solving things, ironically, Naofumi is perhaps the most effective of the heroes at getting things done. He even corrects the problems that the other three heroes either start or make worse. He also manages to deal with the Spirit Tortoise, an act that requires him to cheer up allied troops, raise their morale, organize them, and effectively lead people whose pasts would undoubtedly put them at odds with him. Despite being portrayed as this unheroic and evil character, he still holds a basic set of morals, as he is willing to save even people who had scolded or otherwise wronged him.

It was revealed that Naofumi was the first choice of the holy weapon while the other three heroes were utmost third choice. The shield spirit accepted that Naofumi was the only shield hero to suffer the most. The Shield weapon always chooses a worthy person, since he does an important role of protection. But other weapons gave up their best preference, since most of their past summoned heroes were killed early on, without completing their role. The other three heroes may have potentials but still had certain issues. Their reward will be correcting the situation that led to their death in their original world.

Naofumi has a habit of giving people he meets nicknames. His reasons tend to be because they didn't tell him their name or because he hates them. In the latter case, he will give them extremely degrading nicknames such as referring to Malty as Bitch. For most people, he tends to nickname them base off of who or what they remind him of, sometimes add a number if he feels they act a lot like someone he knows.

After Naofumi became the Mirror Vassal Hero of Glass's world, his friends note it suited him given how he always 'reflect' other people's treatment of him right back at them, insulting those whom insulted him first and helping those whom helped him..

Background
From an early age, animals have naturally been drawn towards him. He was well-liked by any animal he encountered and they would act friendlier towards him than most other people. When he was a kid, he was offered a ride by a dog in his local area even though the dog had never once given a ride to anyone. During his time in elementary school, he was never once pecked by the chickens who were notoriously known by his classmates to peck. As Naofumi grew up, he worked multiple jobs at once, including at an izakaya and food-court.

At the age of twenty, he was a sophomore in college and had a passion for video games, light novels, anime, and other otaku-like activities. He would often put his hobbies in front of his actual studies, which caused his parents to believe he was a lost cause and focused all their attention on his younger brother by sending him to a famous prep-school in the hope to secure his future.

However, the pressure and the lack of freedom was too much for his younger brother. Worn out by the stress of studying and jealous of his older brother's freedom, he eventually turned into a troubled teen. He started dying his hair in different colors and even swore around the house.

Naofumi was painfully aware of the fact that he was the main reason why his younger brother turned into such a troublemaker. He took it upon himself to help mend his younger brother's relationship towards their family by introducing him to a dating simulator game. His younger brother was hesitant at first, but quickly got hooked and became an otaku himself.

Because his younger brother found a way to relieve his stress, he rededicated himself to his studies. Afterwards, he became the top of his class and even managed to get into a good high school.

One day, Naofumi went to the library to save money, where he found a book called The Record of the Four Holy Weapons. He immediately lost consciousness while reading it and found himself in another world.

Etymology

 * The name Naofumi means "esteem, furthermore, still, yet" (尚) (nao) and "sentence, writing" (文) (fumi).
 * Naofumi's surname Iwatani means "rock, boulder" (岩) (iwa) and "valley" (谷) (tani).

Trivia

 * Naofumi was summoned to another world through a book called 'The Record of the Four Holy Weapons'.
 * As the only hero to be their weapon's first choice, Naofumi is also the only hero among the Four Legendary Heroes who did not die prior to being summoned to Melromarc.
 * Naofumi has an innate immunity to alcohol and motion sickness.
 * Naofumi's favorite fruit is Rucolu Fruits, which are commonly used to make water barrels into alcohol. Additionally, his love for the fruit became so well-known, it's now used to confirm the Shield Hero's identity.
 * Naofumi, Raphtalia and Filo are featured characters in the second season of the cross-dimensional anime series "Isekai Quartet."
 * Stephen Fu took over the role in season two is the same Voice who played Anti/Gridknight from SSSS/Gridman and SSSS/Dynazenon.