| Gzar Theodore Malik |
–Gzar Theodore Malik talking about Maligula
Gzar Theodore Malik was the ruler of the country of Grulovia 20 years before the events of Psychonauts 2.
Appearance[]
Gzar Theodore appears as a tall, imposing man with a well-groomed mustache and goatee, dressed in a blue and gold uniform with gold epaulettes, a white and red sash, and several medals pinned to the breast. His most prominent feature is his gargantuan crown, a jewel-studded golden sphere nearly as tall as he is and three times as wide. Many colorful jewels and lit candles hang from his crown, giving it the appearance of an enormous, gaudy chandelier.
Personality[]
Though he died many years before the event of the game, many facts about Gzar Theodore can be gleamed from character dialogue and written reports found by Raz: namely, that Gzar Theodore was a greedy, cruel, and callous tyrant who ruled Grulovia with an iron fist. Theodore hoarded much of Grulovia's wealth for himself, leaving the people destitute and starving, while he and his family lived a life of luxury in their castle.
He cared little for the plight of the Grulovian peasantry, and had no qualms against killing anyone who got in his way or questioned his authority. Malik also proved himself to be a vain, jealous and self-serving individual who pawned off blame and held an exaggerated sense of self-worth. Often rigging the elected office of the Grulovian monarchy campaigns so that he and his clan would be unanimously voted back into power. He regularly ran a product advertisement chain where a number of country manufactured product lines featured his visage, using them to push sales in his name. Theodore also proved to be as ungrateful and domineering as he was cowardly, only pretending to be thankful for Lucrecia's assist during the war while harboring envious hatred of her for due to being more so beloved amongst the people than he was.
Even going so far as to demand his new war advisor to disperse growing protestants as the Gzar's misconduct came to light with harsh rains. When his actions resulted in Maligula's destructive behavior, he quickly showed disloyalty out of fear for his own safety and secretly ordered his executioner to do away with Ms. Mux. Only to gather his family and run for the hills after that plan backfired, pushing his former general over the edge. Destroying all of Grulovia as a consequence.
History[]
Not much is known about Gzar Theodore's life before the Grulovian War, when Grulovia was under attack by another, unnamed country. During this time, Gzar Theodore met Lucrecia Mux (who had come back to Grulovia to protect her sister, Marona) after she rescued Theodore's son, Gristol, from a group of invading soldiers. Gzar Theodore then appointed Lucrecia as his Minister of War for saving his son, and her hydrokinetic abilities proved useful, quickly washing away enemy troops with flash floods. The Grulovian's then grew to love Lucrecia, which seemed to cause Gzar Theodore to hate her for being more popular than him.
However, things took a turn once the war was over. The citizens of Grulovia, including Lazarus and Morona, began to protest against the Malik's unfair reign. Gzar Theodore, concerned only with his own power, ordered Lucrecia to deal with them. As the protests continued, Gzar Theodore demanded his general commander to increase her tactics against the protestors, resulting in them becoming more and more cruel. This caused the citizens in revolt to give Lucrecia the nickname "Maligula", which part of her liked the sound of. Eventually, Gzar Theodore pushed Lucy to deal with the protestors once and for all. At first, attempting to disband the protestors by making it rain on them, but the Gzar pushed her to turn up the pressure. The heavy rainfall that resulted ended up breaking the dam and drowning all the protestors. Lucrecia then discovered that her Marona Aquato, her sister, attended the rally, and that she accidentally killed her. Consumed by grief, a murderous primal part of Lucrecia's mind was unshackled, and she retreated into her Maligula persona.
Concerned by Maligula's sudden bloodthirsty attitude and fearing his own safety, Gzar Theodore ordered her to be done away with. However, when the executioner tried to do so, Maligula drowned him in Theodore's pool. Maligula then proceeded to flood Grulovia, prompting Theodore and his family to flee. The Grulovian Royal family ended up homeless, though still in possession of considerable riches. They were provided with a very luxurious suite at the Lady Luctopus Casino, where Theodore stayed until his deathbed. Before he passed on, he told his son, Gristol, that Maligula was still alive, setting in motion the plot of Psychonauts 2.
Trivia[]
- In Ford's Fractured Mind, Theodore's stamp costs 20₵, but he's beaten by Gristol Malik's stamp which costs 30₵.