Psychonauts Wiki
Advertisement


Lili Zanotto

Lili Zanotto is the deuteragonist of the Psychonauts series. She is a powerful psychic and serial truant who would rather garden than go to class. She is the daughter of the Grand Head of the Psychonauts, and veteran at Whispering Rock Psychic summer camp. She is currently stationed at the Motherlobe.

Personality[]

I'm gonna kill you so much.

–Lili to Dr. Loboto

Lili is aloof, standoffish and doesn't let anyone get in her way, being a go-getting girl at heart. She loves plants and animals. Her once dwindled excitement for the Psychonauts was rekindled with the appearance of Razputin, who she fell for almost immediately. She does have a temper at times.

Appearance[]

Lili has cream colored skin, brown eyes, black eyeliner, and red hair styled into two long ponytails. She has four fingers on each hand. She is four feet and one inch tall.

In Psychonauts and in Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, she wears a pair of black fingerless gloves, a pink skirt, thick reddish-pink socks, black combat boots, a yellow and red bracelet, and a red and green tank top with a diamond pattern.

In Psychonauts 2, she now wears a purple and pink shirt with a diamond pattern and mid-length sleeves, blue leggings, a fuzzy pink bracelet on her left wrist and a purple one on her right, purple fingerless gloves, a black leather jacket with rolled-up sleeves, and black combat boots. And blue pants

Background[]

Lili has already passed every psychic test at camp, run every course, won every Merit Badge, and now... she's over it. She's over camp, over the Psychonauts, over the whole thing. Or, at least she was until the day Raz came to camp. Now she finds herself wrapped up in his excitement, caught up in a mystery and caring about being a Psychonaut for the first time in a long while.

–Character blurb from the original Psychonauts website

As the daughter of the Grand Head of the Psychonauts, Lili is a naturally gifted psychic and has earned every merit badge at Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp. She is fond of plants and specializes in herbaphony, preferring to talk to them rather than most of her fellow campers, whom she views as loud and obnoxious. Even so, she sometimes spends time with Melvin "Chops" Sweetwind and Quentin Hedgemouse, and eventually develops romantic feelings for Raz.

Story[]

Psychonauts[]

When Razputin quite literally drops in on the Coach's speech, Lili is the only one of the campers who appears to be the genuinely interested. However, she subsequently acts very abrasive towards him and acts unimpressed by anything and everything he does. In Basic Braining, she rescues him from falling hard on the ground, but only to protect the odd meat plant he would squashed. She then mentions that she's seen similar meat plants in a nightmare of hers.

After Raz has an odd nightmare-like experience during the Brain Tumbler Experiment, Raz exclaims to Lili that Dogen's brain has been stolen by an insane dentist. She reveals that she has had similar dreams and agrees to meet him by Lake Oblongata at nightfall to figure out what is happening. In the meantime, Lili climbs to the top of a tower at the Kids' Cabins to investigate the sleeping Coach Oleander's mumblings, noting that his mumbles sound like various things she heard during her nightmare.

She later meets Raz by the lake, and they agree that Coach Oleander has hatched a plot to take over the world. Lili is thrilled that something interesting is finally happening at camp and impulsively wants Raz to kiss her, but almost immediately, she is kidnapped by the Hideous Hulking Lungfish of Lake Oblongata and taken to Thorney Towers Home for the Disturbed. Dr. Loboto tries to use a special sneezing powder intended to force her to sneeze out her brain, but she has a cold from being underwater, making the powder useless. Nevertheless, he keeps her hostage at the top of the asylum until he figures out another way to steal her brain.

Eventually, Raz comes to save her, and with the re-brained Sasha and Milla's help, they psi-blast her out of her restraints. Unfortunately, Coach Oleander returns and instigates a fight. As Sasha, Milla, and Ford prepare to battle him, they ignore Raz and Lili's protests and levitate them to the bottom of the tower to keep them safe. With nothing much else to do, they discuss their relationship and share their first kiss just as the Thorney Tower inmates destroy the asylum. Coach Oleander then incapacitates everyone except for Raz, including Lili. Raz then battles Coach Oleander.

Once the dust settles, Raz is promoted to a full-fledged Psychonaut to Lili's shocked delight. Unfortunately, it seems she and Raz will go their separate ways since she lives on the east coast and Raz's family travels around often. Lili attempts to leave to avoid the pain of goodbyes, but Raz pulls her back into one last kiss. Almost immediately, Milla and Sasha inform them that Truman Zanotto has been kidnapped. The team immediately board the jet and set off to rescue him.

Psychonauts: In the Rhombus of Ruin[]

Lili helps trace her father's location to the Rhombus of Ruin with the help of her family's Music Box as a Clairvoyance link. Once the jet crashes, she is captured by the Dr. Loboto's fish henchmen and placed as a captive on the sunken bomber. She contracts Psilirium poisoning from the nearby Psilirium deposit and begins reactivating the atom bombs around the plane, believing they're a garden of beautiful flowers she must care for. Raz eventually finds his way to Lili's garden, and finds her softly reciting poetry to one of the bombs she calls "Francis". As Raz searches for a way to cure her of the Psilirium poisoning, he notices the broken music box lying in the food box and uses his psychic powers to repair it, with the help Lili's new pet rat. Lili wakes up from her trance when the music beings to play, and is shocked to find the flowers she was tending to were actually bombs, scolding "Francis" in particular, who was her favorite.

Lili (with Raz guiding her) escapes through the hallway, threatening to burn the fish people around her if they attempt to stop her. She uses Francis to blow up the door, telling the bomb she "accepts him for who he is" and creats a massive hole from which she escapes the bomber. She is briefly chased through a cluttered hallway by a fish guard, but Raz helps her keep it at bay. Lili begrudgingly donates some of her psychic power to Raz afterwards, reasoning that he can do more to help from his position than she can.

Lili reunites with the other agents as the secret base is destroyed, heading into the jet with Raz and Truman's unconscious bodies. Lili stands next to her father as he and Raz both come regain consciousness. Lili, delighted to see her father is okay, excitedly tells him she can't wait to explain something. As she whispers in his ear, Truman juts up from his seat and exclaims "Your -- BOYFRIEND?!" in disbelief, as she had told Truman that Raz was her boyfriend.

Psychonauts 2[]

In the jet after flying out of the Rhombus of Ruin, Lili participates in interrogating Dr. Loboto in Loboto's Labyrinth. She accompanies Truman's body back to his office when they arrive at the Motherlobe. She spends her time attempting to revive Truman with plant therapy, but to no avail. Raz can find Lili in her garden in The Quarry and complete an optional quest when she asks him to bring her a rare fungus growing somewhere in The Questionable Area.

At the Heptadome, Lili and Raz mentally enter Truman's mind to discover that his brain had been replaced by Gristol Malik's. She and Raz work together to overcome the obstacles of Fatherland Follies and confront Gristol on the whereabouts of Truman's brain. She runs off to retrieve it as Maligula is being revived, and returns with it after Maligula's defeat.

Lili is present the next day at the Motherlobe as the senior psychonauts, including Truman restored with his own brain, certify Raz and the other interns as junior psychonauts. She is then found in her garden catching up with her father in the post-game.

Psychic Abilities[]

  • Telekinesis: Uses it to stop Razputin from crashing on a meat plant in Basic Braining.
  • Pyrokinesis: One of her specialties. Tried to set Dr. Loboto on fire during her capture.
  • Herbaphony: The ability to communicate with plants. This is subtly alluded to in the game when she is seen meditating near the strange meat plants in Oleander's mind.
  • Marksmanship: Lili is stated to own every merit badge taught at the camp in Psychonauts. This would include Marksmanship.
  • Invisibility: Lili is stated to own every merit badge taught at the camp in Psychonauts. This would include Invisibility.
  • Levitation: Lili is stated to own every merit badge taught at the camp in Psychonauts. This would include Levitation.
  • Zoolingualism: The ability to speak to animals. Lili can communicate with her pet rat, Harold.
  • Telepathy: Lili is able to communicate telepathically with Raz in Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin.
  • PSI energy transfer: Lili is able to temporarily transfer her psychic energy to Raz in Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin.
  • Astral Projection: Lili can astral project into minds using a psycho portal or a brain tumbler.

Relationships[]

Razputin Aquato[]

Raz is Lili's boyfriend. She loves him very much, having eyes for him since the moment he literally dropped into camp. Despite her subsequent attempts at being aloof and standoffish, she ends up outright declaring Raz as her boyfriend, much to his surprise. It's also thanks to him that her excitement for the Psychonauts was rekindled. Overtime, Lili's perception of Raz matures from her fantasy knight in shining armor to the guy he really is.

Truman Zanotto[]

Truman is Lili's father. They love each other very much. Lili is very protective of her father, and is regretful of how she had wanted him out of her life prior to his kidnapping. Lili knows her father very well, wanting to investigate his mind when she sees him not behaving like himself.

Bob Zanotto[]

Bob is Lili's great uncle, though the two have not seen each other for many years. Bob does periodically recieve pictures of her sent from Truman, but does not know how her voice sounds like.

Lili's grandmother[]

Lili and her grandmother are implied to have been very close. Lili owns her grandmother's music box.

The campers[]

Lili doesn't pay much attention to her fellow campers and prefers to be left alone. She views most of them as loud and obnoxious. Most of the campers, however, look up to her.

Milla Vodello[]

Milla is Lili's mentor. She is very kind toward Lili and sees her as a child that needs protection.

Coach Oleander[]

Coach is Lili's mentor. Coach and Lili were brief enemies during the events of Psychonauts, but their friendship was repaired once Coach was redeemed.

Sasha Nein[]

Sasha is Lili's mentor. Like Milla, he sees her as a child that needs protection.

Ford Cruller[]

Ford is Lili's mentor at Whispering Rock.

Harold[]

Harold is Lili's pet rat whom she rescued from an abandoned bomber. Lili has a close relationship with Harold.

Mephisto[]

Mephisto is Lili's pet dog. Not much information is known about Mephisto, as he has never actually appeared in the series.

Dr. Caligosto Loboto[]

Lili has a strong hatred for Dr. Loboto because of his attempt at kidnapping her father.

Gristol Malik[]

Lili never liked "Nick Johnsmith" to begin with, and despises him even more for kidnapping Truman, stealing his brain, and using his body to impersonate him. Lili easily pummels Gristol into revealing where he kept Truman's brain.

Norma Natividad[]

Lili initially paid no mind to Norma and the other interns until she confronts her at the Heptadome, angrily declaring her a snitch for interrupting Raz while he was helping with the Astralathe procedure.

Trivia[]

  • Lili adopts a stray rat in Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin. She names him Harold.
  • Lili has a pet dog named Mephisto.
  • Her Psycadet rank is labeled as "incomplete", even though she's earned every possible merit badge at the camp.
  • Lili is the only camper besides Raz (and technically Dart) to not have her brain removed by Dr. Loboto during Psychonauts.
  • Elton had a huge crush on Lili until he started dating Milka. Lili ignored him and the drama surrounding it.
  • When Raz quotes Coach Oleander's pamphlet, Lili looks down when he mentions that others treat their talents like a curse, implying that she's had some rough experiences concerning her powers.
  • Using Clairvoyance, Lili sees Raz as a caped Casanova-type lover, her "knight in shining armor" holding a rose in Psychonauts. She sees him the same way in Psychonauts 2, except with his normal clothes.
  • If Raz punches Lili, she'll try to punch him right back.
  • Lili had purple skin in her concept art.
  • According to Campster, Lili likes dark ambient music.
  • If hit with a PSI-punch during Basic Braining, she will insult Raz, saying he "hits like a boy."
  • Lili's favorite books are Psychic History X, Secrets of Psychic Gardening and I've Heard the Mowed Lawn Scream.
  • According to her old Myspace page, Lili's zodiac sign is a Cancer.
  • She is an avid fan of True Psychic Tales.
  • Her mother's maiden name is Martindale.[1]

References/Notes[]

  1. Mentioned on the official Old Psychopedia description.
Advertisement