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| “ | Tell me that story. About the princess. Tell me what she looked like. | „ |
| ~ Roscuro beginning a frienship with Despereaux Tilling. |
Chiaroscuro, better known as Roscuro, is the deuteragonist of The Tale of Despereaux. He is a rat who aims to leave the dungeon and see the light for the first time.
He is voiced by Dustin Hoffman, who also portrayed Shifu in the Kung Fu Panda films, Mr. Edward Magorium in Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, in the 1999 Inspector Gadget film, Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man, Mr. Bergstrom in The Simpsons, David Sumner in the original Straw Dogs film, and Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie.
History[]
Roscuro is first seen at the beginning of the film with his human friend Pietro, who are both aboard a ship headed toward the kingdom of Dor.
Roscuro is mesmerized by the aroma of soup being prepared in the castle's kitchens and he escapes Pietro to find the source. In doing so, he finds the castle banquet room and falls into the Queen's soup after she takes the first bite. The Queen then has a heart attack, falls headfirst on her soup bowl, and eventually drowns with no one noticing. For this, Roscuro is chased around the castle until he falls into a vent and plunges into the dungeons. Once there, he is "welcomed" by the dungeon rats' cruel leader Botticelli Remorso.
A few years later, he meets an adventurous mouse, Despereaux Tilling, who has been banished to the dungeon by the Mouse Council for his "unmouselike" behavior, and saves him from being eaten by the cat the latter is sentenced to fight by claiming that Despereaux is his to eat and leading the mouse to his hideout. From there, he begins a friendship with Despereaux, asking him to tell him the story about the princess. Despereaux tells Roscuro of Pea's depression, which touches the rat.
Roscuro approaches the princess to apologize, but she is terrified of him, and he is chased out. Hurt and vengeful, he decides to kidnap the princess. He enlists the help of a servant girl, Miggery Sow, whom he later doubles crosses, and locks in a cell.
Later, Botticelli tasks Roscuro to ring the bell to begin the rats' feast on Pea. However, Roscuro sees the the kindness in Pea's eyes and refuses to do the deed, leading Botticelli to call him "worthless" and ring the bell himself. He expresses horror at Pea's situation, unable to stop the rats from trying to eat her. Despereaux releases the cat to get the rats away from her, fighting off many more in the process. However, Botticelli grabs the mouse and attempts to feed him to the cat, but Roscuro blinds Botticelli by redirecting some of the returned light at his face. This causes the evil rat leader to fall into the gladiator's ring, where the cat chases him into a helmet. Pea kicks it shut, imprisoning them both, and the cat eats Botticelli alive. Afterwards, Roscuro apologizes to Pea, who also apologizes her harshness towards him, and they all reconcile.
At the end of the film, Roscuro is reunited with Pietro, and they head off toward their next adventure.