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| “ | Sam: Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. Mental: I am not your father. Sam: Oh, yeah. That's the other movie. Anyway, I do have a few things I'd like to confess. Mental: Well, that's what the confessional is for, isn't it my son? |
„ |
| ~ Mental in his phone call with Sam. |
| “ | For all the thousands of years your species has inhabited this planet, you have been defined by history. Shaped by the past, driven by the future. Yet you have always suffered. You have always been afraid. Tah-Um will change that. He is the End of History - in the One Infinite, the past, the present, and the future are united. He is eternal and sublime. I am here to teach you that, to teach you to let go of all that you used to be. You belong to him now. | „ |
| ~ Lord Achriman introducing Mental to the people of Earth. |
Tah-Um, better known by the name Mental, is the main antagonist of the Serious Sam video game series and the archenemy of Sam "Serious" Stone.
He is one of the last remaining members in a species of god-like beings known as the Hum-Tah (translated as the "Infinite Ones") and an infamous galatic conqueror who has enslaved and exterminated countless intelligent species. Captain Stone accidentally awakened him from his long slumber during an exploration mission to the planet Sirius, triggering a brutal war that would lead to the destruction of Earth.
Prior to its destruction, the last human alive, Sam Stone himself, entered a machine that sent him back in time as a last-ditch effort to save humanity and defeat Mental, also atoning for his mistake of having awakened him in the first place.
Appearance[]
Mental's appearance remains a complete mystery ever since the first game was released in 2001. Not even the appearance or even the size of his species is known. All that is known is that Mental does indeed have a physical form, as other characters have reportedly seen him, and statues in his honor were built on Sirius, the seat of his empire. Sam, and the player by extension, simply never get to see any of it. A cutscene in Serious Sam: Next Encounter briefly shows Mental sitting on his throne with only a skeletal hand visible, but as the game is non-canonical with the rest of the series it is not a reliable source on what he looks like. Lord Achriman's propaganda in Serious Sam 4 describes Mental as a cosmic entity "beyond understanding, beyond logic and science, beyond anything humanity can ever achieve".
Though he still isn't seen in person, a representation of him does appear in Serious Sam: Tormental. A mask-like red face resembling the symbol of his Horde acts as the gatekeeper of the Vault within his own consciousness, which Sam talks to any time he unlocks another chest surrounding the door. The door itself is adorned with spikes, torches, and chains.
Personality[]
Despite never being seen in person and rarely heard speaking, Mental is highly intelligent and subjects those that oppose him with sustained cruelty. When he finally defeated the Sirians, he had the entire species executed by beheading and then raised them from the dead to serve as disposable footsoldiers in his army. He is not picky with what he uses for his army either, be it taking primitive species and mutating them to fit his needs or granting them magical abilities and advanced technology in exchange for their servitude. One of his favored tactics in assimilating intelligent species is by siding with the worst sides of their cultures (such as religious fanatics) and aiding them in overthrowing their governments, as he did with the Arachnoids.
His primary motivation for wanting to destroy all intelligent life is suggested to be deep-seated loneliness from being one of the last living Hum-Tah, being jealous of other younger species because they escaped the fate of his people. Though it appears that he eventually simply took a liking to conquest and destruction, as he eventually had a daughter named Judy, though the nature of their relationship is uncertain.
He was also reportedly very close with a powerful sorcerer called Mordekai, who had served him loyally for 3000 years. After he died from a botched incantation, Mental went out of his way to resurrect Mordekai as he missed him dearly. Though he was somewhat late with the resurrection, which resulted in some minor brain damage, Mental nonetheless gave Mordekai the important position of teaching his creatures the art of magic for use in "truly evilish purposes".
In Serious Sam: Tormental, which takes place inside Mental's mind, Tah-Um is portrayed as incredibly arrogant. Though he acknowledges that Sam has been a persistent annoyance, he also refuses to consider him as anything more than an insignificant insect compared to his own greatness. Bringing pain to intelligent lifeforms not only brings him joy, the mere existence of something outside of his dominion offends and disgusts him.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Mental was originally intended to be the final boss of the first Serious Sam game, fought in his headquarters on Sirius. This idea was ultimately discarded along with the rest of the other worlds Sam was supposed to travel to. The finished game takes place entirely in ancient Egypt and Ugh-Zan III was made the final boss in Mental's stead.
- When Sam examines the doorbells on the Mental Institution at the end of Serious Sam 2, Mental's personal headquarters on planet Sirius, it lists the names of several other villains that are staying there. Namely himself, Jack Napier, Lex Luthor, Darth Vader, Doctor Moreau and O. J. Simpson.
- In pre-release versions of Serious Sam: Tormental, the Vault gatekeeper was initially an ancient servant Mental entrusted with guarding the Cerebral Gateway. He would initially scoff at Sam's progress until the final chest is unlocked, at which point he had a change of heart and urged Sam to hurry, warning him about his planet's impending demise. When the decision was made to make Mental a more direct presence in the game, the Gatekeeper was rewritten to be a fragment of Mental himself.
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 Villains
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Mental's Horde | ||