Lina Carollo

 is "The One True Hero" - a competitor on the ABC fantasy competition series The Quest.

Journey to Everealm
Lina was one of the twelve "lucky souls" who received a scroll bidding her to come to Everealm, to become a Paladin, train to defeat Verlox the Darkness, and compete to become the One True Hero. She was one of the first to enter the underground tunnels which were between the worlds, and met the other eleven Paladins at the riverboat. She also commented on how she anticipated the adventure she was about to enter, and remarked that Everealm sounded like a place where anything could happen. They were contacted by The Fates along the way, who warned them of the danger in Everealm and about Verlox.

At the entrance to the Marwood, Crio, their guide, met them with some soldiers, and guided them through the forest to the Kingdom of Saenctum and its royal castle. Along the way, they were set upon by an ogre, shed their jackets to leave a false scent trail, and put on some rags and dirt to further escape detection. They also discovered the twelve pieces of the mystical Sunspear, and each of them took one piece to keep. At the castle the Grand Vizier greeted them coldly, for reasons Lina and the others didn't know, and reluctantly explained the prophesied Quest for the One True Hero after clearing a few things up with Crio. Lina and her new Paladin friends were taken to the barracks and slept the night away. Lina shared a room with Katherine Smaluk.

Scorpion Challenge
In the morning, the gruff Head of the Royal Army, Sir Ansgar, woke them all up with a start, gave them Paladin uniforms, and ordered them to follow him. Lina and the others listened as Ansgar explained roughly about his task to train them as warriors for the Quest by order of the Queen. He then took them out into a forest some distance from the castle grounds, and instructed them to use large, mechanical crossbows called "scorpions" to shoot arrows over a wall to strike 180 dummy soldiers on the other side. They were split into colored teams, and Lina was in Yellow Team. She elected to stand in the watch tower as her team's eyes and guide the scorpion's aim.

Lina did a pretty good job of directing the scorpion, although she later commented that some hits, she wasn't certain if they really were hits. White Team was doing better than Yellow, in the meantime, while Red and Blue, especially Blue, did worse. After the challenge ended, and Sir Ansgar voiced his displeasure at how few targets as a whole were hit, he listed Lina's Yellow Team as having hit ten targets, while White Team had the most hits, and Blue Team had the fewest. Lina watched quietly and politely while Ansgar presented The Mark of Leadership to Bonnie Gordon, the eyes of White Team, and they went back to the castle.

First Visit to the Fates
Before the first visit to the Fates' Hall, Lina reassured Katie, the eyes of the Blue Team, who had to face the Fates, that she would have her support no matter what happened. When Crio led them to the Fates' Hall, Lina was filled with just as much wonder as all her fellow Paladins at the mystical place, as well as the Fates themselves. Not having to face the Fates herself that night, Lina watched as Katie, Christian Sochor, and Patrick Higgins shot arrows into each other's dummies in the Fates' challenge. Christian won, with the fewest arrows in his dummy, and would continue the Quest. Lina and everyone except losers Katie and Patrick went away to deliberate on which of them should stay. Lina still supported Katie in the debate, but some others were less certain. When the time came to vote, Lina kept her word and voted for Katie to stay, along with Paladin Ashley Guerrero, but all eight of the other Paladins voted for Patrick. Lina said goodbye to Katie just before her banishment and then left with the others to return to the castle.

Strengths
Lina Carollo's major strength in the Quest was that, according to some of the other Paladins, she had the greatest spirit for adventure and a very strong desire to be a great hero, adapting well to situations and learning from her mistakes. She was also very clever, and knew where to look for suspicious devices like the Fire Orbs, which earned her the Marks of Ingenuity and Observation. Her size was also an advantage in the barricade challenge in "Under Siege."

Weaknesses
Lina was one of the smallest Paladins, second only to Jasmine, and not immensely strong, unlike some of her bolder competition like Leticia, Andrew and Shondo. This served her especially badly in the battle dome challenge. She was somewhat prone to mess up on some of the tougher of Sir Ansgar's challenges, and she lost every Fates' challenge she faced except her last. She also commented once that her being ambidextrous sometimes made it hard for her to decide which hand was better to use for a task.

Personality
Lina is strong and independent. She is also very kind to people, a good judge of character, and very clever and smart while doing any job, even when she fails at it. She is also mostly an optimist, though sometimes when she faced judgment before the Fates, she was not very confident that she would stay in the game. Although as competitive as the other Paladins, Lina formed several close friendships with them, such as Katie, Bonnie, Shondo, and Andrew. She apparently loves children, and hopes to become a child psychologist.

She grew up playing Nintendo video games, and her favorites were The Legend of Zelda and Street Fighter series. The former sparked her love of fantasy, and Chun-Li was her favorite hero from the latter. She takes great pride in having beaten all three of her older brothers at these and other games, saying it has helped her become strong and independent in spite of being the youngest girl. She has also commented on her liking for Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings.

Personal Bio
Her strict upbringing has made Lina a strong and independent woman. She grew up playing the video game Street Fighter with her three older brothers and it wasn’t long before she was beating all of them. The school counselor has aspirations of becoming a child psychologist and also enjoys helping to run her family’s restaurant.

(Section below taken from ABC.com - Lina Carollo's profile)

'''What is your earliest memory of the fantasy genre? What made you become a fan?'''

- My earliest memory of the fantasy genre was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I remember being in 4th or 5th grade and always rushing home to beat my brother to the Super Nintendo. I remember constantly day dreaming about the Kingdom of Hyrule and wondering if I might have missed anything when I played the night before.

- I became a fan of the fantasy genre because I loved that there was another world I could escape to where magic, castles, fairies, and secret weapons were reality. I could spend hours playing Zelda and other video games, forgetting to eat or drink because I was so invested in these fantasy worlds and characters where dreams were reality. If I was angry I could take it out by having Ryu and Ken fight in Street Fighter, if I was happy I could have Mickey easily defeat Emperor Pete to find Pluto in The Magical Quest, and if I was excited I could listen to the music of Rainbow Road while playing Mario Kart.

What's the craziest thing you've done in the name of fandom?

- When I discovered Street Fighter at an early age, Chun-Li was always my fighter of choice. Whenever I played the game, my opponents knew they had to choose someone else. It became an ongoing joke between my friends and my brothers to start calling me Chun-Lina. Instead of being offended, I took it to heart and told everyone at school that my new name was Chun-Lina. I practiced my kicks daily, blue became my favorite color, and I convinced my mom to cut my bangs so I could look more like my hero.

How do you define a "hero"?

- A hero never calls him or herself a hero. A hero acts out of goodwill and integrity, not influenced by others but instead influenced by the gratitude of others received unexpectedly in result of words or action made to stand up or protect a person, place, or thing.

Who is your real-life hero and why?

- My real-life hero is my mother. She is the most selfless person I know. Her unbreakable strength and unconditional love has allowed me to become the woman I am today. She came to America in her early 20s without an understanding of the English language or American culture but adapted in a way that would best suit her future family. She is the reason I believe anything is possible as long as you believe in yourself and never ever give up.

Describe yourself in three words.

- Empathetic, Committed, and Unpredictable.

Trivia

 * Lina is the first, and to date only, winner of The Quest.
 * Lina was one of three Paladins who faced the Fates four times before the final episode, the other two being Christian and Bonnie. Lina, however, survived all four judgments and moved on to the final three, while Christian and Bonnie were banished on their fourth judgment.
 * Lina and Andrew share the same love for the Zelda games.
 * Lina is the only contestant so far to earn two of Sir Ansgar's Marks.

Memorable Quotes
"Everealm seems like a place where anything can happen."

- Lina en route to Everealm before the Quest

"You can try."

- Lina refusing to give up the Sunspear to Verlox

"Know what your goals are, know what your dreams are, be a dreamer. Anything can happen."

- Lina before returning home