| “ | Rogard: That missile is targeted to the Giant's current position! WHERE'S THE GIANT, MANSLEY?! Kent Mansley: Oooh... We can duck and cover! There's a fallout shelter not far from- |
„ |
| ~ Rogard confronting Mansley after he approved the launch of the missile towards Rockwell. |
| “ | Hold him, men! Make sure he stays here', like a good soldier! | „ |
| ~ Rogard after the Giant prevents Kent from fleeing Rockwell. |
| “ | Let's go home. | „ |
| ~ General Rogard told the soldiers to go home after Giant has been destroyed by the missile. |
General Kenneth Shannon Rogard is the secondary antagonist of the 1999 animated film The Iron Giant. He is leader of the US military and Kent Mansley's boss, though by the end of the film, the latter gets fired by him for committing some serious crimes. He also initially thought the Iron Giant is dangerous after Kent lied to him that it murdered Hogarth, but eventually, he learns about the Giant's kind nature and its relationship with Hogarth.
He was voiced by the late John Mahoney, who also voiced Preston B. Whitmore in Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
Biography
Rogard first appears when Kent Mansley calls him using the Annie Hughes' telephone. Kent tries to explain to him about the discovery of the Iron Giant. Rogard does express frustration because Kent is calling him while he's at home, but Kent insists on Rogard to go to his location, immediately believing that the Giant is a menace (because of a broken power station and the fact that a train broke because it hit the giant), despite not trying to know whether it actually meant for that to happen or not. Rogard doesn't believe him however (especially since he has known Kent for being paranoid and hard to trust) and gives him a condition, that being if Kent actually has evidence of the Giant, then he would bring some troops there. Kent arrogantly tells him that he will get evidence and even demands Rogard to make him famous in case he succeeds. Rogard teases Kent more for his pridefulness and hangs up while the latter continuously demands him to do what he wants.
Rogard doesn't appear again up until before the climax, where Kent contacts him to go where he is and destroy the Giant, immediately assuming it's a threat. However, the moment Kent, Rogard, and the soldiers see the Giant inside a big room where Dean puts his works of art, they see the Giant static and disguised as an art sculpture. Kent tries to reason with Rogard, but before he could say anything, Rogard sternly tells him to step outside the room. Right after that, an angered Rogard lashes out at Kent for spending millions of dollars for nothing, along with wasting his time. Having enough of Kent annoying him for more than just that time, Rogard makes the decision of firing Kent as a government agent, and instead giving him a job as a toilet cleaner, believing Kent isn't worthy of his position after being an unwise nuisance. However, when the Giant is forced to reveal himself to the public in order to save two boys from falling to their deaths. Kent spots the giant and blindly lies to Rogard and his soldiers that the Giant is wreaking havoc, even though it isn't even moving much. Rogard is shocked to see the Giant in the city and orders his men to attack the Giant in town after Kent manipulates them into thinking it is a threat to mankind. The Giant eventually escapes the soldiers while protecting Hogarth in his hands, but Rogard and the soldiers sadly don't see Hogarth safe with the Giant before the Giant leaves. When Dean arrives, Rogard does see him but doesn't hear his conversation with Kent. Dean tries to tell Kent to tell everyone that Hogarth is safe with the Giant, and Kent says he'll take care of it, but the moment Dean leaves to help Hogarth, Kent lies to Rogard by saying that the Giant purposely killed Hogarth, which convinces Rogard to call the Air Force and the Navy. Eventually, the Giant is struck down by a missile from an aircraft and is briefly rendered unconscious. Rogard, Kent, and the soldiers close in on the Giant, who awakens and feels saddened when Hogarth seemingly died from the impact. When Kent orders the soldiers to shoot at the Giant, the Giant regains his memories and attacks them all, immune to their attacks and easily destroying their tanks. They all hurriedly drive away and when Rogard orders the battleships to fire at the Giant, it leaves not even a single scratch on the Giant. The Giant heads to the direction of the battleships while Rogard tells Kent with a panicked voice that none of their weapons can stop the Giant, but Kent says that they still haven't used the nuclear missile, and he plans the have the Giant lured away from the town before launching it at its current position. Rogard agrees and tells one of his soldiers to radio a nearby submarine, which will be the one to launch the missile.
Fortunately, Hogarth regains consciousness and manages to calm the Giant into its normal states while Dean is there to tell Rogard that the Giant is friendly and that attacking him is triggering a self-defense mechanism. Rogard is visibly confused because Kent told him beforehand that the Giant is a threat who killed Hogarth. Afraid of his lies getting revealed, Kent strictly tells Rogard not to listen to Dean and that the Giant has to be stopped. Dean even tells Rogard the bad outcomes of the missile launch, but Kent refuses to let Dean ruin his plan to destroy the Giant and constantly tries to convince Rogard that the Giant will destroy them all. Right after that, the Giant presents Hogarth to everyone to prove its innocence. The moment Rogard sees Hogarth alive, he orders his men to hold their fire and looks at Kent, saying "The boy's alive?!". Kent tries to lie to Rogard again, saying that the Giant is tricking them into thinking its innocent, but Rogard isn't fooled by the lie, and he even says "Are you mad, Mansley?", because there is enough proof that the Giant is innocent (and the fact that Kent looks like he doesn't care about the potential bad outcomes of the missile launch, including the fact that he seemingly doesn't care if Hogarth died from the missile). Rogard orders his men to stand down as he doesn't want to trigger the Giant's defense mechanism.
Rogard then tries to call the submarine to have the missile launch aborted, but Kent (who still refuses to believe that the Giant is harmless) snatches Rogard's radio and orders the submarine to launch the missile at once. As the nuclear missile is launched, Rogard is shocked that it's too late to stop the missile and grabs Kent by his collar, scolding him for foolishly endangering everyone in Rockwell (since the Giant is still residing in the town, and the missile is locked on its position there). Kent turns to see the Giant standing several feet away from him and groans as he realizes his dumb move. He suggests that they can duck and cover inside a fallout shelter, but Rogard furiously points out to Kent that there is no way to survive the missile, meaning everyone in Rockwell is going to die all thanks to Kent's paranoia. Realizing that he has ruined his reputation in front of the whole town, Kent angrily renounces his patriotism in front of Rogard before attempting to escape Rockwell in a stolen jeep, leaving everyone to die from the missile. Fortunately, Kent is stopped by the Giant (who blocks him in his tracks and damages the jeep he's using, rendering it unusable). This allows Rogard's soldiers to point their guns at Mansley and keep him from escaping, with Rogard telling them to make sure Kent stays here like a good soldier. The Giant then chooses to sacrifice himself in order to save Rockwell and everyone in it, with everyone watching him fly to the missile. After the Giant flew to the missile and collided with it, most of the people in Rockwell are happy and Rogard seemingly gives the Giant a salute in the wide shot that shows everyone happy about the Giant's heroic sacrifice. However, Rogard is also saddened about the loss of the Giant and tells his men "Let's go home." After that, it's likely that Rogard revealed to the Air Force, the Navy, and the government about Kent's lies and the Giant's innocence. Additionally, it's possible that Hogarth revealed to him about the unintentional damage the Giant has made when it just arrived on earth, since it eats metal (and it's also possible that Hogarth explained to him about the railroad incident).
Near the end of the film, Hogarth receives a package of a small bolt from the General, the only piece of the Giant ever found. Rogard believed that Hogarth should have the piece because he knows about their relationship, so he gave it to him.
Personality
Although he is pretty strict, Rogard is a well-meaning, honorable, principled, and caring general who cares about protecting people when they are seemingly in danger. He is a brave man who does whatever it takes to ensure the safety of others, while also thinking about how certain actions can lead to severe consequences. Unlike Kent, Rogard is someone sensible when making decisions and tries knowing everything first before taking action. Despite his overall serious nature, Rogard does have a sense of humor, such as teasing and laughing at Kent for his paranoia and arrogance, before hanging up while the latter whines at him.
At first, when Rogard thought the Giant is a threat (after being tricked and lied to by Kent), he attacks the Giant with his soldiers, but after learning that the Giant is friendly and harmless, he stops attacking it and acknowledges the fact that the Giant means well. This contrasts to how Kent has a blind belief that the Giant is nothing but danger to mankind, making him short-sighted and lacking in insight.
After the Giant's heroic sacrifice in the end of the movie, he tries finding pieces of the Giant but interestingly doesn't choose to have them displayed in a museum or anything. Instead, he gives them to Hogarth as he believes that he should have them, as Rogard knows about how much Hogarth cares about the Giant.
Quotes
| “ | Step outside, Mansley. | „ |
| ~ General Rogard orders Kent Mansley to step outside before yelling at him. |
| “ | That's lovely, Kent. But let me try to explain how this works... If you told me you'd found, say, a giant footprint, I might send over an expert to make a plaster cast of it. Hell, you get me a photograph of this thing, I could probably get some troops over there! But you tell me you've got a "feeling"? | „ |
| ~ General Rogard |
| “ | YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH HARDWARE I BROUGHT OUT HERE?! YOU JUST BLEW MILLIONS OF UNCLE SAM'S DOLLARS OUT OF YOUR BUTT!!! | „ |
| ~ General Rogard furiously yells at Kent Mansley for wasting millions of dollars on an worthless investigation before firing him from the Government. |
| “ | You scare me, Mansley. You want us to bomb ourselves in order to kill it? | „ |
| “ | Sweet Mother of God. | „ |
| ~ General Rogard upon seeing the Giant for the first time. |
Trivia
- Rogard was not in the book The Iron Man which the movie was based off.