From
TES issue 31 (January 2005)
Series 6.
Level 1/2.
RIDOLFO
This
Venetian troubadour was played by
Adrian Neil. He wandered the
dungeons of series 6 with his long hair and Italian accent, strumming his
lute and spreading news about what was going on in the realm of
Knightmare: Strolling players such as these both gather and distribute news.
Treguard. Ridolfo was friendly to
dungeoneers, and, because of the information he gathered on his travels, he was useful for
passwords,
causeway codes and other helpful snippets of information. His friendliness did not mean that he was a pushover, however. During the series, both
Sylvester Hands and a large
pooka nearly found themselves on the business end of Ridolfos
sword.
Ridolfo saw dungeoneers as a useful source of news, and sometimes exchanged his help for information they had picked up from
spyglasses. Other means of earning Ridolfos friendship included providing him with a musical scroll, singing a song for him, or releasing him from the [
pillory]. The minstrel was always grateful for help and news, and was only too pleased to help dungeoneers with a smile on his face and a song in his heart and on his lute too, occasionally.
Ridolfos freeness with information earned him
Lord Fears enmity and, towards the end of the series, Fear decided to deal with him: This musician is a gossip, and a dangerous one! Lord Fear. Ridolfo made no secret of the fact that he liked the ladies as dungeoneers January and Sofia discovered when he kissed them on the hand - and Fear was quick to take advantage of this. Lord Fear told
Hordriss that Ridolfo had been getting too friendly with Sidriss, so Hordriss turned Ridolfo from a minstrel into a fisherman!
It was up to dungeoneer Sofia to persuade Hordriss to remove the enchantment so that Ridolfo could tell her the level two password, although why he was any less able to do this while he was a fisherman is still beyond me. Anyway, Sofia bribed Hordriss with a magic ring, and Hordriss agreed that he had made a mistake in believing Lord Fear about Ridolfo: Not a very big mistake, mind you, for his reputation with young ladies is well deserved. Hordriss. Ridolfo was in a sorry state when he gave Sofia a ride in his fishing boat, so it was nice to see him back to his normal jovial self later in the episode when he rushed in returned to his musician status and gave Sofia the password just in time to see off
Dreadnort.
Fear Factor: 3 He was a dab hand with a sword.
Killer Instinct: 0 No malice or evil at all.
Humour Rating: 9 Usually had a smile on his face.
Oscar Standard: 7 Slightly caricatured, perhaps.
