.HACK//ROOTS

.hack//Roots follows the story of Haseo, a black 'Adept Rogue' (a class that can use multiple weapons) and member of the Twilight Brigade guild. In the year 2015, the CC Corp. Building burned down, and with it, most of its data for The World. By splicing data from what would have potentially been another game, CC Corp. created The World R:2 and released it in 2016. The main revisions of this release were that the game allowed for guild and PvP (player vs player) play.

Haseo logs into The World R:2 for the first time and falls victim to the PKers (player killers) that reside within the game. He is saved by Ovan, who prompts him to join the Twilight Brigade alongside Sakisaka, Tabby and Shino which are in search of finding the Key of the Twilight. However, a popular guild named TaN opposes the Twilight Brigade in order to obtain Ovan's unique character data. The Twilight Brigade discovered special items called Virus Cores and believed that they are the key to finding The Key of the Twilight and went into search for all of them. Once they had found all 6 of them, they headed out to use them in a one of the Lost Ground after learning there is a connection between the two

However they discover that it was a trap made by the members of TaN in order to capture Ovan. With Ovan gone and no sign of the Key of the Twilight, the Twilight Brigade disband and previous members such as B-set and Gord quit the game entirely. Soon after, Shino is killed within the game by a mysterious PKer named "Tri-Edge" that somehow put her in a coma in the real world which devastated Haseo. Haseo starts training to get strong enough to defeat Tri-Edge and save Shino from her real life coma. He becomes obsessed with power and becomes a Player Killer Killer (PKK) to find information on Tri-edge. When he completed a special event that promised a special reward, he gains a new power but corrupts also his mind and begins to kill PKers with more aggression giving him the title The Terror of Death.

Haseo (ハセヲ Hasewo?)
Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese), Andrew Francis (English)

The protagonist of the series, and a newbie within The World R:2. Haseo had an encounter with PKers (Player Killers) before joining the Twilight Brigade. He appears to be obsessed with Ovan's enigmatic nature, which he soon discovers isn't so unusual. He is an outsider in real life, and not very good at dealing with people. He seems to care for Shino in a more than platonic way. After Shino goes into a coma, Haseo starts to become extremely depressed and also very angry whenever Shino or Tri-Edge are mentioned. He completed a special event known as The Forest of Pain, which was said to be impossible to complete. His reward was an upgrade that gave him impossible strength (known as the 3rd form in .hack//G.U.). He is now trying to hunt down Tri-Edge, using his newly gained power status to PK players in an attempt to find information. After his transformation he becomes even more mentally unstable and anti-social. While trying to find information on Tri-Edge, Haseo reunites with Ovan who tells him that he will find Tri-Edge at the Hulle Granz Cathedral (one of the Lost Grounds). Haseo fights Tri-Edge but is defeated and stripped of all his power and equipment, ironically returning him mostly to his senses as well. Outside of the game, Haseo is 17 years old and attends a private high school. He lives alone. Haseo visits Shino in the hospital on a daily basis after she fell in a coma.

Ovan (オーヴァン Ōvan?)
Voiced by: Hiroki Touchi (Japanese), Michael Kopsa (English)

The Guildmaster of the Twilight Brigade, Ovan has a strange device sealed around his left arm. He is an enigma to those who know him. Many people think he is odd, due in large part to his search for the Key of the Twilight, an item that may not exist. He is often searching for information on the Key of the Twilight, and is almost never seen around town. Apparently, Ovan's PC data is as large as an entire field, which may be due to the fact that it contains the black matter, the material that make up AIDAs that possess PCs, or possibly the epitaph of Corbenik, the last of the Eight Phases. The data is apparently mostly in his left arm, in which Naobi had unlocked upon capturing him. After the incident, Ovan somehow escapes, not returning until much later in the series. He has also contacted or ran-into Taihaku, the reasons for this are unknown, but it may be connected to his wish to make Haseo stronger. He encountered Azure Kite, and defeated him leaving one witness.