Rodon is one of the two overarching antagonists (alongside Mr. Rimmer) of the sci-fi comedy franchise Red Dwarf, serving as the overarching antagonist of the episode "Waiting For God" and as the main antagonist of the 2020 movie Red Dwarf The Promised Land.
He is the leader of the 'ferals', a cult of felis sapiens who do not worship the cat god Cloister the Stupid (Dave Lister), with Rodon instead seeing himself as the true god of cats who seeks to destroy anyone who doesn't worship him. He is also The Cat's older brother.
He was portrayed by Ray Fearon.
Biography[]
Origins[]
Like all felis sapiens, Rodon is descended from Lister's pregnant pet cat, Frankenstein, who gave birth to kittens in the Red Dwarf hold, whilst Lister was frozen alive for bringing an unquarantined animal aboard. When the rest of the crew of Red Dwarf was killed by exposure to lethal Cadmium II radiation, Lister was kept frozen for three million years, during which time the cats continued and evolved into felis sapiens. Eventually, all but one of the felis sapiens left Red Dwarf, to settle in the rest of the universe, and to eventually discover the promised land of Fushal.
At some point, Rodon was born, and rebelled against the felis sapiens religion of worshipping Cloister the Stupid, and declared himself a god, and all those who worshipped Cloister as heretics, a crime punishable by death.
Encounter with the Red Dwarf crew[]
Three felis sapiens priests who worshipped Cloister escaped execution at the hands of Rodon, using a laser to create a red dot, to distract their guards. They stole a shuttle and fled into space, to return to Red Dwarf, to meet their god, Cloister the Stupid, the Holy Pappadum.
By bizarre chance, the priests chances upon Red Dwarf, but self-styled captain Arnold Judas Rimmer does not want to know about the ship, and declines all attempts to rescue the felis sapiens, who eventually found a new ship, the Iron Star. They are eventually joined by the Boys from the Dwarf, after its computer, Holly, had been restored to factory settings, did not recognise any of the crew, and followed programming to decomission Red Dwarf due to it serving no logistical purpose. The Boys need a new ship and Iron Star fit the bill. The priests instantly recognise Lister as Cloister, but they are soon joined by Rodon and his cronies. The priests are in possession of a polished piece of beetle poo, which all felis sapiens believe is the Anubis Stone; Rodon wants this relic to strengthen his diabolical regime, whilst the priests believe it will allow Cloister to strike down His enemies.
Rodon takes the Anubis Stone and tries to kill the priests and the Boys by bombarding the ship with Meow Missiles, but the targets escape in the Starbug shuttle; unfortunately, it takes damage after flying through the debris of the destroyed ship. Lister ejects the cockput of Starbug from the engines, and the cockpit, with its seven occupants, crashes onto an empty desert planet. Rodon pursues with more Meow Missiles, trying to destroy Starbug, but Lister pilots the cockpit into a sandstorm, which saves them from Rodon, but leaves them buried alive.
Kryten broadcasts an SOS to Holly, who, after prompting from Rimmer, accesses his last saved backup file and regains his knowledge of the crew. Learning of their situation, he destroys the desert planet with a black hole torpedo, launching Starbug into space. Lister pilots Starbug back to Red Dwarf, only to discover that Rodon and his cronies are onboard the ship, who deem the Anubis Stone to be worthless. Rimmer reveals that Lister is no God, but instead is an ordinary man elevated to deity-status due to misinterpretation. Rodon then leaves a bomb on Red Dwarf, to kill his enemies once and for all.
Rimmer reverts to his Diamond Light status (which was discovered on Iron Star), grabs the bomb, becomes intangible, throws it out of Red Dwarf and lets it explode harmlessly in space. Everybody takes a second Starbug, again piloted by Lister, and approaches Rodon's ship. Rimmer projects a red dot with his finger, which distracts all the felis sapiens in Rodon's throne room and causes them to attack him (due to the dot being on Rodon's chest). The flagship has no one piloting it, and crashes into an asteroid, killing Rodon and all his cronies, and bringing his reign of terror to an end.
Personality and traits[]
Rodon was selfish, evil, heartless and cruel. He saw himself as a god, and was not above committing crimes against his own people in pursuit of all of them worshipping him. He also had little regard for even his own cronies, regularly leaving them behind to die in efforts to kill the Boys from the Dwarf.
Rodon enjoyed the pursuits associated with domestic cats, including scratching posts.
