He might not take an active combat position, but he does, in his own way, show courage. Rather than kick back and let Hilda consign Hyrule to a slow, decaying demise, he stepped in to help Link stop her, potentially dooming himself in the process. Furthermore, Ravio claims to be a coward, but in reality, his actions show markedly the opposite.Lorule's counterparts to the usual heroes (and villain) lack the definite trait of the Hyrule Triforce wielders: Link is courageous, while Ravio is a coward Zelda is wise, while Hilda foolishly tries to steal another Triforce and trusts Yuga Ganon is powerful, while Yuga runs away and needs to steal his strength to be an effective threat.It's pretty clear that Ganon's hate is influencing him. What use would he have in resisting Yuga's will when his will had the same aim that was being achieved right then? Worse, Yuga becomes much more violent and stole the Triforce of Wisdom just to kill Link. Why is it that Ganon never hijacked the plot from Yuga, as per his usual style? Because he was fused with Yuga, and Yuga was pretty much doing exactly what he would have done on his own in that situation already namely, try to steal the Triforce and Take Over the World.Him renting and selling his inventory to Link also makes sense once you reach the end of the game he probably plans to use the funds he raised to help reboot Lorule's economy and finance the rebuilding of the kingdom!.The Sand Rod is useless in the Eastern Palace. Or maybe he knew that Osfala wasn't the hero, and gave him a dud item to slow him down. But why did he rent the Sand Rod to Osfala? Because Osfala thought he was the hero of legend, and probably confused Ravio into thinking the same.

Which is why he rents a bunch of useful equipment to Link. It's revealed at the end that Ravio came to Hyrule to seek a hero who could help defeat Hilda.

Lorule ravio