| Bob Zanotto |
–Bob Zanotto
Robert "Bob" Zanotto is a member of the Psychic Six, and Psychonaut, who as a member of the Zanotto family, specializes in herbaphony and Psychic botany. In the past, he was fired by his nephew Truman Zanotto because the trauma he experienced in the Battle of Grulovia made him a danger to his co-workers. He returned to the Motherlobe along with his husband, Helmut, after Truman's lost brain was restored.
Appearance[]
Bob Zanotto is a very old man. He is not particularly tall, but has a wide body with comparatively thin limbs. He has mostly yellow skin, though his hands and his large round nose are a darker, more reddish color. The top of his head is completely bald, but his remaining hair and mustache converge into an enormous gray beard that obscures most of his chest and has gardening tools, such as a trowel and a pair of scissors, stuck inside. Bob has unusually small, beady black eyes, and has seemingly worn the same rectangular pair of glasses his entire life. The glasses are now cracked and broken, and part of the right lens is entirely missing.
Personality[]
Bob is a generally shy and insecure man. As a child, he avoided confronting his mother, manifesting as semi-willful ignorance of her alcoholism. His wedding vows to Helmut suggest that Bob has always had trouble connecting to other people, and generally feels more at home around plants. The first time Bob is shown coming out of his shell is in a memory where he and the other members of the Psychic Seven watch Helmut perform his Psychodyssey at Green Needle Gulch.
Bob shows a great deal of difficulty relating to other people. He believes that everyone - save his husband Helmut - looks at him with cold, critical, and uncaring eyes. Within his mind, Bob's mental figure of Otto claimed that they only hung out with Bob because he and Helmut came as a "package deal". His other mental figures show a disconnection with his family, as his internal image of Truman can only say "You're Fired!" and his image of Lili resembles her real-world counterpart, but with an entirely different voice as Bob never met his great-niece in person, only knowing of her from photographs.
When Razputin first meets him, Bob had been living as a hermit for many years. The isolation and painful memories of the people he has lost had driven him to alcoholism. In this state, Bob comes across as cranky, standoffish, and at times even aggressive. However, his plants and unconscious self-images - the Bob Bulb - show that deep inside he is a warm and affable person, making it clear that he wants to change. As Raz tries to help him cope with the feelings of loss inside his mind, he soon opens up to reveal the deep loneliness underneath. With Razputin's help, Bob becomes more open to nurturing new connections with other people and repairing his old relationships.
Story[]
Background[]
As a child, Bob lived with his widowed mother, Tia Zanotto, as his father died when he was young. Tia was hit hard by the death of her husband, resulting in her becoming neglectful, letting the household fall into disarray and regularly secluded herself inside her greenhouse for long periods of time, causing a young Bob to take over many responsibilities, including cooking and washing dishes. Despite seemingly spending so much time gardening, however, Bob noticed that Tia's plants started to die off. Years later, Tia died, and after the funeral, Bob went back to the greenhouse and discovered vines that offered him various bottles of alcohol, causing Bob to realize that his mother wasn't gardening at all, but was using the greenhouse to hide her alcoholism.
Eventually, Bob was asked to join Ford Cruller's group of psychic researchers, which would eventually be known as the Psychic Six. Bob worked with the group, and also grew vegetables to keep everyone fed as they conducted their various experiments at Green Needle Gulch. One day, Ford recruited another man named Helmut Fullbear, a psychic stage performer. As Helmut performed his stage show for the group, Bob was instantly smitten. Being insecure around people, Bob tried to deny his feelings at first, but the two eventually fell in love and got married. Meanwhile, the group continued their psychic research, sometimes going so far as to experiment on themselves in order to broaden their consciousness and knowledge of how the mind works. Bob and Helmut spent their time together at the Feel Mobile parked at Helmut's amphitheater, as Helmut avoided Bob's greenhouse, not caring for the smell of the mushrooms that grew there.
Years later, tragedy stuck, as one of their members, Lucrecia Mux, was warped by the war in her homeland of Grulovia into a genocidal monster known as Maligula. Bob and his friends were summoned by the international community to deal with her before she caused any more damage, in what would become the first mission for the organization that was later named the Psychonauts. However, the group refused to harm their former friend, and instead tried to reason with her. After Helmut and Cassie O'Pia tried and failed to reason with her, Bob tried to restrain her by entangling Maligula using vines, while Otto Mentallis prepared to freeze her with his Hyperhyglaciator. Unfortunately, Maligula broke free and tried to drown Bob. Helmut got in the way instead, and was knocked into the lake just as the Hyperhyglaciator went off and froze the water.
After the battle was over, everyone assumed Helmut had died, and they held a memorial soon afterwards. Bob fell into a depression over the loss of his husband, to the point that he became a hazard on missions. Eventually, the new head of the Psychonauts and Bob's own nephew, Truman Zanotto, was forced to fire him as it became apparent that Bob refused to accept help. Bob packed up his things and secluded himself in his old greenhouse in Green Needle Gulch. As he tearfully looked at an old picture of his friends, Bob's emotions finally got the better of him, and his ability to control plants went haywire, causing an enormous tower of vines to lift the greenhouse up to its current location, hundreds of feet up in the air above the Gulch. He stayed there for years, brewing mushroom liquor and drinking to forget the past as his mother once did.
He lived as a hermit in Green Needle Gulch, hardly interacting even with the Gulch's only other permanent resident, Cassie O'Pia. His only interactions with other people were to receive letters from his family, including photographs of his great-niece, Lili Zanotto.
Psychonauts[]
Bob appears on a carved portrait in the Reception Area at Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, made by Ford Cruller.
Psychonauts 2[]
Bob lamenting over his lost friends.
Bob appears in the latter half of Psychonauts 2, when Razputin finds himself in Green Needle Gulch needing to prepare the Astralathe. As the device is covered in thick vines and can't be used, Raz goes looking for the source, finding Bob's Greenhouse at the top of a colossal tower of vines. When Raz tries to ask Bob for help, the old man only gets hostile, throwing Raz out and asking to be left alone. The door to the greenhouse is opened again by one of Bob's own plants, knowing he is in need of help. Egged on by the plant (who even places the Psycho-Portal on Bob's forehead for Raz), he enters Bob's mind to figure out what is upsetting him.
Inside Bob's mind, Raz steps out of the Psycho-Portal, which unlike in most minds, is physically present. He finds himself on a tiny island in the middle of an ocean. Here, Bob gardens endlessly and fruitlessly in three large flowerpots, completely alone and without any seeds to make any plants grow. Raz decides to head out across the ocean to find some seeds for him, using the Psycho-Portal as a raft.
On other islands, Raz can find memories of Truman, Lili, and Otto Mentallis, each expressing their desire to keep Bob away from them. Most notable, however, are three enormous bottles Raz uncorks and enters to access memories of different people Bob had lost or pushed away.
Inside each bottle, washed-up talking bulbs shaped like Bob part the water with their belches, allowing Raz to progress. Meanwhile, a giant moth attempts to hinder Raz, claiming the seeds will cause great pain. Undeterred, Raz soldiers on, first through a swamp that holds memories of Bob's mother, Tia, then a flooded version of the Motherlobe representing when Bob was fired by Truman, and finally, a bog that leads into a mountain-sized wedding cake for Bob and his lost husband, Helmut.
Each seed Raz recovers and brings to Bob burgeons into a small plant resembling either Tia, Truman, or Helmut. However, when all three are reunited, Bob starts to remember the painful memories he tried to bury. The small plants grow huge and hostile, forming the Truheltia Memonstria. Raz fights the plants from his Psycho-Portal as he navigates the ocean around Bob's Island turned into a tumultuous whirlpool. Bob, meanwhile, is trapped in a cocoon by the moth, who tries to keep him safe. Eventually, the Helmut plant declares that he never really loved Bob, which Bob recognizes as something Helmut would never say. He breaks out of his protective cocoon and restores order to his mind, leaving new flowers blooming across the ocean. At last, Bob is ready to accept human connections once again.
Back in the real world, Bob accompanies Raz back to the Heptadome, where the two of them are found by Helmut, currently still in the body of Nick Johnsmith. Bob and Helmut reunite, and Bob frees the Astralathe of vines before they head to Helmut's old stage to catch up.
Soon afterwards, Raz starts up the Astralathe, and the entirety of the Psychic Six, including Lucrecia, meet up for the first time in 20 years. They proceed to work together to power the device so Ford and Raz can seal away Maligula for good.
In the post-game, after Maligula's defeat, Bob and Helmut can be found in the Nerve Center at the Motherlobe, planning to head out to Grulovia so they can attempt to locate Helmut's body.
Relationships[]
Helmut Fullbear[]
Helmut Fullbear is Bob's fellow Psychic Six member, and also his husband. When the two met, Bob immediately fell for Helmut, but tried to deny his feelings. Eventually the two became a loving couple and got married, an event both remember very fondly. However, when Helmut seemingly died during their battle against Maligula, Bob went into a downward alcoholic spiral to repress his grief. In Bob's Bottles, the flowers leading to Helmut's bottle are marigolds, a flower which can symbolize both joy and grief, and is commonly associated with mourning and honoring the dead. When the two are reunited, Bob is overjoyed to see his husband again. The two are later seen planning a trip to Grulovia to seek out Helmut's frozen body.
Lili Zanotto[]
Bob is Lili's great uncle. He hasn't physically seen her in many years, nor has he heard her voice, but he has seen recent photographs of her. Bob expresses a desire to connect with Lili. Lili is aware Bob is not well, but she seems to know what he's like well enough that she can't imagine him attempting to harm her father, Truman.
Truman Zanotto[]
Bob is Truman's uncle. Truman, acting as the Grand Head of the Psychonauts, was forced to fire him from the organization after it became clear that Bob was trapped in a self-destructive spiral, and was causing potentially lethal accidents. Truman seems torn about firing his uncle in Bob's memories, but as Bob continually refused to accept professional help, Truman was left with no other choice. The flowers leading to Truman's bottle are black dahlias, a symbol of betrayal.
Tia Zanotto[]
Not much is known about Tia or her relationship with her son. Tia is, however, shown to have been a neglectful parent after her husband's death, forgetting about Bob's recitals and failing to help out in the household as she went off to drink in the greenhouse. Her behavior and eventual death deeply scarred Bob. Tia's flower trail is made of pink carnations, a flower symbolizing motherly love and a yearning for home.
Otto Mentallis[]
Of all Bob's fellow Psychic Six members, he seems to have the least fond memories of Otto. Though the two are never directly seen talking to each other, Otto is the only one of the group who can be found on an island in Bob's mind. This memory of Otto, though definitely part of Bob's own insecurity, says hurtful things including that the group only put up with Bob because of Helmut, who everyone liked, and implies that Bob was not good enough for his husband. Otto is also the only Psychic Six member who does not appear as a figment in the representation of Bob's wedding in Bob's mind, though he is present in Helmut's mind's version of the wedding. Dr. Touch and Audie O, based respectively on memories of Otto and Bob, are also seen arguing.
Ford Cruller[]
Ford was one of Bob's fellow Psychic researchers in the Psychic Six, and may have recruited him into the group as he also recruited Helmut. At least on some level, Bob resented Ford for what happened 20 years ago: one of the Bad Moods in his mind appears at the wedding area, and its source is the table with the figment depicting Ford and Lucrecia.
Lucrecia Mux[]
Lucrecia was one of Bob's friends in the Psychic research group, but she was also directly responsible for Helmut's apparent death. At least on some level, Bob resented Lucrecia for what happened 20 years ago: one of the Bad Moods in his mind appears at the wedding area, and its source is the table with the figment depicting Ford and Lucrecia. However, when the entire group is finally reunited at the Heptadome, Bob is the first one to embrace Lucrecia, forgiving her for what happened.
Psychic Powers[]
- Herbaphony - Like other Psychics in the Zanotto family, he has a gift for herbaphony.
- Hydrokinesis: Bob, like the other Psychic Six, had enough hydrokinetic and cryokinetic abilities that needed to be boosted by the Hyperhyglaciator.
- Cryokinesis: Bob, like the other Psychic Six, had enough hydrokinetic and cryokinetic abilities that needed to be boosted by the Hyperhyglaciator.
- Time Bubble: Audie O, a mental figure representing Bob, can use Time Bubble.
- Levitation: Bob is shown using levitation while sitting near the Astralathe machine.
- Telepathy: Bob telepathically communicates with his giant vine plant.
- Confusion (possibly): The Moth, a mental figure in Bob's mind, uses confusion as an attack during the Truheltia Memonstria boss battle.
Trivia[]
- On his portrait in Whispering Rock, Bob's last name is written Zanatto instead of Zanotto by mistake.
- Bob Zanotto and his husband, Helmut Fullbear, are shown locking arms in a mural inside the Motherlobe.
- Like his mother, Bob keeps his gardening tools in his hair.
- The letters in Cruller's Correspondence that are addressed to Bob list his location as "Tia's Greenhouse, Green Needle Gulch".
- Bob seems to be environmentally conscious, as he's shown to recycle and separate his trash. He may have inherited this trait from his mother, based on some dialog said by the Tia plant.
- Due to Psychonauts 2 taking place in the 1980s, Bob’s relationship with Helmut could be considered an anachronism, as homosexual relationships were frowned upon in real life during that time.
- Based on Bob's childhood memory mentioning a recital and a guitar being in the kitchen area of his mind, Bob may have played the guitar as a child. However, Audie O, a memory of Bob in the PSI King's Sensorium, plays the drums, instead.